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Invisible pins and needles poke at your eyes and skin as you weigh your next move–no doubt a product of this damned incense swaddling the roo–
Wait a minute.
Taking another whiff against your best judgement, uncertainty floods through your skull as the odor enters your nose:
<span class="mu-s">SWOOS.</span> Those bastards are pumping <span class="mu-i">SWOOS</span> into the room!
Your heartbeat quickens as you weigh your options–you know all-too-well what happened the last time you had a close encounter with this stuff, and according to Oti the tiny magical ‘thingies’ react to open flames like dynamite!
The muffled sound of one of the guards clearing his throat outside tells you that you, for all intents and purposes, are stuck–unless you can find a separate way out, that is! Rifling through your surroundings like an Escape Room player on a sugar rush, you start with the obvious option.
Rhaevus is still warm as you begin your search, taking care not to kneel in the rapidly-expanding pool of what you hope is blood beneath him. Your search comes up slim, but not empty: aside from his fancy–and now soiled–outfit and boots all you manage to find on his person is a <span class="mu-s">SACK OF 2000 BELLS</span>, a <span class="mu-s">DAGGER WITH AN ENGRAVED HILT</span>, and <span class="mu-s">A SMALL, FLAT TOKEN</span> that definitely feels magical to you–a <span class="mu-s">KEY</span>, perhaps? You doubt anyone, least of all this drunk, would want to fumble with a keyhole in Zoral…
Oh, and tucked into his collar you find some kind of <span class="mu-s">RUSTY PENDANT</span>--opening it up reveals nothing, but you get the sneaking suspicion that it’s sentimental in value. You pocket it anyways.
Unfortunately for you, that’s about all that turns up in your canvassing of the room, and by the time you’ve finished scouring the corners, walls, and even the pool for anything of use your head is pounding and your vision is swimming!
Gritting your teeth in a vain attempt to stay focused through the growing pain, you try not to meet the gaze of Tzah-Tzie’s sisters as they watch you writhing like big-eyed gargoyles…
‘Rescue’. Yea, that worked out swell, didn’t it? A rueful laugh leaves your lips as you shake your head in disbelief. Sixface had your number from the beginning, dropping you into some random part of the mansion–what good is locating the girls if you don’t even have a way out!?
You cast a furtive glance at the door you entered from–thick, large, definitely built to muffle ‘activities’... and even if you <span class="mu-i">DID</span> take down the guards outside you know damn well that Sixface is probably already on the way…
The prisoners can’t stay here, that’s for sure–even if you hid Rhaevus’ body it won’t be long before Sixface comes to make good on her threat… and taking them all with you? Out of the question!
>CONTD.
