Zagthaan leant over the back of her chair, letting the alcohol dampen everything. She half prayed silently to herself, more out of habit to try and calm herself rather than for guidance.

"Hey, Lucy," Ragnar said into the silence. "When's the best time to go?"

"After the cleaner has done his job, so, whenever the siren stops, or, while the siren is going, because I’ve never seen the cleaner outside of the time immediately after the sirens."

Zagthaan sat back up, looking at the bottle, then to Ragnar. “What’s the plan?” she slurred.

"We’re leaving, put on your pants."

"I left a note for Stigr and Dur to follow us," Abs said. "If they read the note, they should follow us."

"Well, if one of you come help me with my armour and catch me up on what’s happening, I’ll try to keep up and not stumble too much." Zagthaan stood slowly, bottle still in hand. "Ah, Ragnar, shield. Yours is fucked, isn’t it?"

"Yes."

"Borrow mine, I can’t use it."

Ragnar shook his head. "It’s no good to me, no spikes. I ain’t taking yours."

"Yours is damaged," she replied, not comprehending.

"Still no good to me."

Zagthaan crinkled her nose at him in annoyance. "You want me to repair it, let me rest then."

"So, we wait till you get your spells back."

Taking another swig from the bottle, Zagthaan glanced at Lucy and Abs before returning focus to Ragnar. “So, we waiting or not?” Seeing the indecisiveness, she swore to herself and wandered back to the room she had rested in, intending to nap.

As the door closed, Ragnar turned to Lucy. "Any way out of here other than the front door?”"

"Yeah, the back door, leads to the alleyways."

Abs looked towards the back of the bar. "Might be better than the front door, there’s monsters on the street. Might not be any in the alleyway. Is the alleyway safe, or about the same?"

"Could go either way," Lucy replied with a shrug.

"How barred is the back door?" Ragnar asked.

"About the same as the front, I’ve got a pretty solid wooden bar across it."

"Let’s check the back before we decide anything."

"The only thing with the back is that we have to open the door to see out as there’s no windows out to the alleyway."

"Mmmm."

"That’s going to be noisy," Abs stated.

"Only if you’re rough," Ragnar replied, moving to the front window to peer out, Abs joining him. A solitary creature wandered slowly along the street before moving out of view.

"Maybe we wait till morning and the siren stops?" Abs asked Ragnar.

"No idea when it’ll stop though."

"Staying here too long is risky, we need to find the others."

"We’re waiting for her to sober up before we try and sneak out there."

"If we wait too long, it’s bad."

"If we wait too long, it be bad, if we go too early, it be bad. We have no healing and a drunk person in full plate. Noisy. Fog, hard to see. Wait till morning."

"Okay, we wait till morning."

"We were just looking around, not planning on going now."

Lucy moved to the inside of the front door, leaning against the door frame. "I’ll stand watch while she rests."

"I’m just looking outside for now," Ragnar stated, strolling through the building to the back door.

Croakers, Ragnar had started calling them in his head due to their annoying, throaty croaking sound, were wandering around, front and back. Listening at the door, he heated the beam, carefully opening it a crack. The only sound to reach him, other than the distant siren, was the sound of something small snuffling through the trash nearby. Closing the door and lowering the bar, he went back to the bar, sitting at a table near the door and Lucy. Abs sat nearby, cleaning tools and weapons, waiting for the night to pass.

~

Grumbling to herself, Zagthaan tried getting comfortable again, the throbbing headache from the caffeine withdrawals fighting for dominance with the pain from the end of her arm, both keeping her from any truly restful sleep. Giving up after a handful of minutes, she retrieved a small root and a pair of leaves from her healer's kit, putting them in her mouth and chewing on them. As sleep started to overtake her, she gave a silent prayer to the void for small mercies like sleep-root.

~

Abs lost track of how many times he had rolled the pair of dice he'd borrowed from Zagthaan's pack. He couldn't think of a reason such an innocent girl would have a pair of dice on her, but it amused him to borrow them while she slept. If she'd brought any of her puzzle boxes with her, he would have put random things in them, he mused to himself.

Glancing up, he caught Lucy mid yawn and Ragnar giving him a disapproving glance. He shrugged, dropped from the stool and wandered through the bar, carefully opening the door to where Zagthaan was resting. Ignoring the sleeping woman, he tucked the dice back into their pocket, slipping back through the door, closing it as quietly as he opened it.

As he returned to his spot, the distant siren stopped. All three raised their heads, looking at the door, hands going to weapons.

The silence outside was earie. Peaking through the gaps, they saw nothing in the night, not even the cleaner.

~

The siren started up again a few hours later, causing hands to touch weapons again. Shrugging it off, Lucy passed around some rations and a half cup of mead, glancing at the room where Zagthaan was still asleep, but with less concern than before.

An hour later, Zagthaan stumbled out of the room, deep bags under her eyes. She sat heavily at the table with Abs and gave a whispered thanks to Lucy for the food and drink.

"What's the plan?" she grumbled out around the jerky. "I haven't prepared my spells yet, so I'm flexible. Ragnar, want the shield repaired?"

Receiving a nod, she nodded back. "Are we sneaking into the hotel?"

"Yeah, going to try," Abs said.

"Okay, I think I have a spell that can help with that, but it'll tap out my stronger spells. Just gotta hope we find Stigr or that wand he bought. Give me an hour, okay?" With that, she drained her cup, picked up the jerky and wandered back to the room, taking Ragnar's shield with her.

~

Practicing the hand movements again, she nodded to herself before placing the symbol of Torag, a hammer, on the damaged shield. The movements were a bit too jerky for her liking, but the spell pulsed between her and the shield, causing the gaps to close, the wood growing back to fill the gaps.

Nodding to herself, she practised the next spell for a minute before heading into the room. "Ragnar," she said, handing over the repaired shield. "Now, I've got a spell that can help us sneak around better, but it only lasts a few minutes. Can someone help me with my armour first, then I'll cast."

~

They gathered in a circle, packs ready, armour donned and weapons ready. Zagthaan intoned her spell, the sounds emitted from weapons, clothing and armour becoming muffled as her red-grey aura settled over them lightly.

"Lucy, can you tie my hammer to my wrist please?" Zagthaan asked, presenting the handle to her. Nodding, the dwarf did so, using a knot Zagthaan remembered her own mother using. She smiled and thanked the dwarf as they headed out of the inn, closing the door behind them.

~

The late morning light filtered through the dome of fog, barely lighting the area with little more than overcast light.

Ducking across the road at Abs signal, they made their way uneventfully to the looming hotel.

The large building came into view, the once luscious gardens now in shambles, vines growing up the sides of the building, faint light shining out the windows above the door.

"Gondola is in a separate building at the back of the hotel," Lucy whispered.

"Have to go through?" Ragnar asked.

"Correct."

Moving past the brush, Abs led the way, pushing the massive front door open carefully, slipping in and waving the all clear. The light coming from the chandelier was from four, low, flickering candles, barely providing enough light to illuminate the foyer and the massive stairs across from the entrance.

To either side of the stairs, recessed back, were two sets of large doors, with a couple of smaller doors on their left. Masses of vines, coming through windows and mortar, were bunched up heavily in the front corners to the group's immediate left and right. What broken furniture was left had been shoved to the sides of the room.

"Looks like people are mostly going up or out," Abs stated, pointing out the tracks leading from the gathered vines to the stairs up and out through the front door, footprints of various sizes in the dust and debris.

"Which way to the gondola?" Ragnar asked in a low voice.

"Straight through the back," Lucy said with a nod to the doors past the stairs.

Abs, moving to the first door on their left, pushed it open gently, revealing a dusty gift shop. Zagthaan, following him, reached over his head, plucked a keyring off a hook and dropped a copper coin on the counter before exiting. Abs, moving behind her back, pocketed several key rings, a pair of snow globes, a t-shirt and Zagthaan's copper coin before exiting and checking the other door, next to the reception desk. The door didn't budge under his fingers.

While Abs looted and tried the door, Lucy was glancing around nervously, clutching her shotgun in hand.

"How many shots you got with that thing?" Ragnar asked, tapping the barrel with his hammer.

"Eight."

"Ehh."

"It does pack a hell of a wallop."

"Aaaand I imagine it makes a helluva noise."

"Uh, I didn’t think about that, yeah. She’s not quite, that’s why she’s called the boomstick. Maybe I’ll just put this away for an emergency." Lucy proceeded to get out her hammer, similar to Ragnar's, but a longer handle, receiving a nod of approval from Ragnar.

"The main door is closed behind us," Zagthaan stated as she returned to the other two after shopping.

"Thought Lucy closed it," Ragnar replied as the pair turned to look. Several big runes, drawn in blood, covered the doors, linked across the now very closed gap.

"I didn’t close it!" Lucy said, starting to panic. "Are we trapped in here?" She moved to the door, grabbing the handle and pulling hard on it. Where everyone expected it to move, it didn't, as if it were a wall that looked like a door.

"Let me try," Abs said, gently pushing her to the side before trying his picks on the door.

Lucy sighed. "Doesn’t matter, it was forward or nothing, right?"

"Yup," Zagthaan confirmed.

"We’re moving forward," Ragnar stated. "No point going back now."

Zagthaan waved toward the door past the stairs. "There’s also violin music playing ahead, so, eyes open."

"Not creepy at all," Ragnar added.

Abs, listening to the music, scurried ahead, opening the door to the left of the stairs slowly before entering the hall beyond.

Zagthaan, watching Abs vanish, tilted her head towards him. "Hey Ragnar, should we follow him?"

"I mean, probably. The music’s probably coming from the dining hall. They might have a party going."

"Do we really want to get in on a monster party?"

"Why would you not want to get in on a monster mash?" Ragnar started walking, leading the three of them to the hall where Abs was studying a door, the ornate sign next to it stating 'Restaurant Allegro.'

"Well, hey, the last monsters that we saw…" Zagthaan replied, waving the stump of her arm.

Abs looked over his shoulder at them. "Do you want me to open the door?"

"I ain’t going to stop you," Zagthaan replied with a shrug.

The door swung open slowly and silently as the violin music became louder, the only thing between them and the musician now being a sheer curtain.

The stage, large enough to hold a full band, sat elevated on the far side of the sporadically laid out restaurant. As the small group pushed into the room, spreading out from the door a little, they noticed the only other person in there, sitting at a table half way between the door and stage, Stigr, enraptured by the music.

~

Stigr swore to himself as he stubbed his toe on a rock he couldn't see in the fog. He'd already tried calling out, but no one had replied or appeared. Only hesitation at drawing the wrong attention stopped him from playing his drums or yodeling to get his party's attention.

After what felt like hours of wandering, the only thing he could hear being his own noises and that siren, another sound pierced the fog. The sweet music of a master musician playing a violin cut through to him, drawing him to it.

As he followed the melody, he forgot all else and, as if between blinks, Stigr found himself sitting, staring at the stage as the musician swayed, the violin almost dancing under his fingers.

Lost in the music for what felt like barely a couple of hours, he didn't notice as his party entered the room behind him.

~

As they went to speak, the music swelled, drawing their attention to the figure behind the curtain as he started to speak.

While still playing, the figure behind the curtain began to speak.

“Of a musician, is he any less if his form is a monster? Is being a monster a reason to call him not a musician? Where does the soul lay, in instrument, man or monster? Does being a monster exclude you from Eden, when you are less of a monster than those around you? Take a seat children while you ponder these words.

"There was once a musician who poured his soul into his art. People came and went, some leaving impressions, others just faded memories. Then, a sound, sweet to the soul, refreshing to the mind, came and altered the musician, promising Eden. The musician listened, letting the words change his soul and his music, dampening some chords and raising others to forte." As he spoke this last sentence, his playing became sharper, almost dangerous, but no less beautiful. "The new Eden rose in isolation and those who partook of the offering were shunned by others, told they were mad, they brought anger and hatred, not peace.

"Where does the musician end and the monster begin? When does Eden start and Hell end?” The musician flourished the bow with a staccato before bowing.

Stigr, breaking out of his stupor, heard noises behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the rest of the group. "When did you guys get here?"

"Just now," Zagthaan replied. "What was that?" she asked, looking toward the stage.

"I’ve been here about an hour, just listening, I think."

Behind the curtain, the figure loudly cleared its throat before bowing again. Stigr and Abs applaud rapidly, Zagthaan tapping her hammer against her leg in the best approximation of applause she could manage.

"Lovely rendition," Ragnar stated flatly. "Now, get off your arse, we gotta go ride some gondolas."

"We’re doing what now?" Stigr asked, confused.

"You heard me."

"We gotta go to the gondolas," Abs added.

"Yeah, getting rides from gondolas, it’ll be great," Ragnar stated without enthusiasm.

"There are gondolas here?" Stigr asked.

"Not in this room, but yes, there are some here."

The musician spoke up. "The performance itself is what people come for, but a good musician should always show appreciation to his audience." His bow started playing a sweet tune on the violin strings. "You, my audience, are deserving of more than just the performance I have just given." The pace quickened, filling the room with lively music as the five of them felt the music bolster and aid them.

"Thank you," Stigr said, bowing his head to the violinist.

Retrieving a gold coin from his pouch, Abs threw it onto the stage. From under the curtain a tendril comes out, grabs the coin and pulls it back, but the playing doesn’t stop or miss a single note.

Zagthaan stepping back into the corridor, waved to Lucy. "Lucy, where’s the gondolas?"

Stepping to the side of the restaurant entrance, she pointed. "Through the doors over there."

A large, padlocked, set of heavy double doors sat at the end of the corridor between the restaurant and another room labeled as 'Cafe Bates'.

"Would it be advised that we go straight there rather than exploring the hotel?" Zagthaan asked.

Abs gave her a deadpan stare as he moved to the lock. "Yes." Inserting his picks into the lock, he nearly immediately spat in annoyance before stepping away from it. "Don’t they keep keys at the reception desk?" Abs asked as Stigr stepped past him, bending over and attempting to bite the lock, to no effect.

I would presume so," Zagthaan agreed. "Shall we head back to the reception then?"

Pushing back into the lobby, Ragnar and Abs leading, they all immediately noticed two creatures lurching slowly toward them. Though they were humanoid in form, their upper halves a mess of vines growing down from the skulls, with vines trailing from their arms on the floor behind them.

Ragnar, not waiting for any confirmation that the creatures were hostile or that his group was even remotely ready to fight, charged forward, his warhammer swinging wide out from his body before crashing heavily into the neck of the closet creature. A loud CRACK echoed off the walls as the creature collapsed.

The other creature lurched forward, vines picking up from the ground and lashing forward, hitting Ragnar's armour and whipping over Abs' head as he charged in, striking the creature's leg.

Zagthaan, Stigr and Lucy strode forward, weapons raised, but more hesitant to charge than the other two. "I think they’ve got this handled, I’m just going to relax," Stigr stated.

Lucy, hanging behind Zagthaan, smiled faintly at Stigr while clutching her hammer. "Hi, I’m Lucy."

Ragnar ducked, swinging his shield into the creature as the pair moved into flanking, taking lashes from the tentacles while Ragnar struck true with his hammer, hitting an arm.

With a glance at Zagthaan's removed arm, Abs muttered "glad that didn’t happen," to himself.

“Get him Ragnar!” Lucy shouted as the three moved closer, readying weapons and spells if needed.

“Thank you cheer squad," Ragnar replied as he stepped to the side or a tendril lash, smashing his hammer into the creature's shoulder, dropping it to the ground. “You happy?” he asked Lucy.

Lucy gave him a thumbs up, confidence in her choice to come with them starting to spread on her face.

“This is why I keep him around, Lucy,” Zagthaan said, flashing her a smile.

Climbing over the reception desk, Ragnar flicked the latch open, allowing everyone to get into reception to help search. Abs, picking up the work diary, read the entry on the open page. “The manager has taken the keys to access the gondola and has locked them in his office.”

“I guess that’s upstairs somewhere,” Ragnar offered.

“Lucy, where’s the manager's office?” Zagthaan asked.

“Iunno,” she replied with a shrug. “I rarely had any cause to be in here, other than to toss out a few rowdy visitors every now and then.”

Ragnar pushed the door at the back of reception open, revealing a room of office supplies. Some neat stacks of parchment, a few mostly dried up ink pots, a couple of quills, a box of clips and someone’s old lunch sitting in an open brown paper bag came into view. “Stigr will eat that,” he offered.

“Rude, but not wrong,” Stigr retorted.

“You would eat it too,” Zagthaan said to Ragnar as Stigr began to reach for the food. “NO!”

Abs, who had finished pocketing various things, reached up to Stigr’s hip and pushed him away from the food as they all exited back out into the foyer area. “There was a door down the hall from the restaurant, labelled ‘employees only’. I’m going to try that one.”

“That won't work. We tried that one,” Lucy stated as Abs tried his picks on the door anyway. He grunted in annoyance as Stigr approached and leant against the door frame.

“Aren’t you a door-able,” the trollkin stated as if trying a pickup line on the door while everyone stared at him before breaking away and reading the various signs.

Behind the main stairs lay another, heading down, the sign next to the stairs stating ‘Venus’s Tears’ and ‘Bathrooms’. Another smaller set of stairs to the left stated ‘Rooms 201-220’, ‘Lounge’, ‘Reading Room’ and ‘Hall’. The door opposite the smaller stairs up was labelled ‘Cafe Bates’.

“Lucy, what’s upstairs?” Zagthaan asked, studying the signs.

“More hotel rooms,” she said with a shrug. “There’s like, a big hall for events. A small library and a place to just chill out. I think there might have also been a janitor's closet kinda dealio, cleaning supplies and stuff, maybe?”

“Let’s go downstairs, that’s where the manager's office is likely to be,” Abs suggested.

“Why not,” Stigr said.

“We shouldn’t go into the basement,” Ragnar said with a frown.

“Where else do you want to go?” Zagthaan asked, getting a bit frustrated. “Where do you think the manager's office is? Where are the fucking keys?”

“I did say, ages ago, the manager’s office is probably upstairs.”

“Okay, well, let’s go upstairs then.”

“Nope, we’re going to the basement. Nope, basement. You’ve already decided.”

“Fuck’s sake!”

“Basement!” Ragnar said loudly, pointing at the stairs. “Don’t make me push you down the stairs.”

“Let’s just go downstairs,” Abs interjected. “We might be able to find the employees keys.”

They trudged downstairs, entering slightly narrower and not as high hallways. A sign pointing left stated ‘Bathrooms’, while the one pointing right stated ‘Venus’s Tears’. “Shall we go?” Abs said, pointing at the corridor that turned back behind the stairs towards the bar.

“I sure as hell ain’t leading, I ain’t got a shield now,” Zagthaan stated

“Ragnar, lead the way, I wanna open doors.”

Ragnar shrugged. “Well, you are the door opener.” He looked ahead. “The corridor is wide enough, two of us can be at the front.”

The group walked quietly down the corridor as best they could, the two armoured people making various jingling noises as they progressed. Abs, spotting the wide door labelled ‘Venus’s Tears’, stepped ahead and pushed the door open as quietly as he could. With no reactions from the creatures sitting at the various tables, he pushed the door open wider before stepping into the low ceiling bar, the others following slowly and warily.

A small stage with a music stand sat in the corner to their right while the long bar sat along the wall to their left. A few scattered tables had non-moving patrons sitting at them, while the bartender stood polishing a glass behind the bar. As Abs and Zagthaan approached the bar, they took in the bartender. At a glance, it looked like his insides had been scrambled around, then his skin pulled taut over the bones and twisted muscle. The bartender was humming quietly to himself as he kept polishing the same glass. A smaller door on the far left was partly hidden in the woodwork of the wall, but still evident with its heavy frame.

“Looks like a gnoll,” Abs said in a low whisper to Zagthaan. “One of those things that can paralyze you.”

“You mean a ghoul?”

“Yeah, that.”

“I’m reasonably certain he isn’t, but I can use a fucking drink.”

As they approached, Stigr wandered over to the stage, carefully avoiding getting close to any of the tables while Lucy watched the corridor behind them. Seeing her do so, Ragnar gave her a nod while he surveyed the room, watching for any movement.

The bartender stopped polishing as Abs and Zagthaan approached. Putting the glass under the bar, he slid across, moving as if on a conveyor and not stepping. As the creature leaned forward, it gave the pair a toothy smile. Where its normal teeth should be however were small, sharp points poking out of the gums. Cocking its head at the pair, it started tapping the counter, still humming.

“Ale please,” Zagthaan requested as she flicked a silver coin onto the counter. The creature turned its gaze to Abs, finger still tapping.

“Absinthe,” Abs requested, placing his own coin on the counter. The bartender placed an ear towards the coins for a moment before scooping the coins up and gliding away, returning with a glass mug brimming with ale, a dirty bottle and a shot glass. After placing the ale in front of Zagthaan, the creature poured the shot for Abs, the glass overflowing for a moment before the creature stopped pouring, tucking the bottle under the counter.

Zagthaan nodded, saying “thanks,” as they both picked up their drinks and walked back to Ragnar. Sniffing at the ale, Zagthaan took a tentative sip. “I’ve no idea where to look for keys in this room, but I found ale.”

Lucy looked from the bartender to the group. “Do you think…” she started before looking around in and out of the room. “Do you think he wants something? You know, the violinist, maybe? Is there something he wants?”

“What, the violinist wants something?” Zagthaan asked, slightly confused.

“Just like the violinist, he gave us something, I don’t know what, when we gave him something. Maybe this guy is the same? Maybe you could just kill him.”

Ragnar flicked a coin to the counter, watching it bounce a couple of times as it landed.

Abs, watching the coin, leant towards the others. “We got our drinks, but, uh, he’s not attacking us.”

The bartender, noticing the coin, slid over to it, placing his head to it. After tapping the counter twice, it scooped up and pocketed the coin, going back to polishing its glass at it hummed to itself. Zagthaan, inspiration coming to her, walked back over, taking a breath and began wordlessly singing the same tune as best she could. The wordless tune reached the others as the bartender started swaying in time to the music. (Authors notes: This will be one of the few times I state the numbers. Nat 20 on perform from the warpriest)

Zagthaan turned and pointedly stared at Stigr, nodding towards the bartender as she continued singing the song.

“I wonder what she wants me to do? Imma play my drums till I figure it out.” The trollkin raised his drumsticks and started banging a rhythm out, completely at odds with the melody Zagthaan was trying to sing. (A/N: Aaaaand nat 1 from the bard…)

The sound of glass shattering drew Zagthaan’s attention back to the bartender and, as the first drops of blood started appearing from the shattered glass in his hands, Stigr stopped his beat. The creature, dropping what was left of the glass and the now bloody cloth, retrieved new ones as Zagthaan tried to draw his attention back to her with her singing.

After a few seconds of singing, the bartender put both rag and glass down, gliding to the back of the bar, away from Zagthaan. As she watched, he retrieved a very clean bottle before sliding to the cash register. After punching a few buttons, the till draw opened and he pulled out a large coin, easily the size of Zagthaan’s palm, before returning to the singing tiefling and giving her the items.

Quickly putting her ale down, she pocketed the bottle and the coin. “Thank you,” she said as she ended her singing, returning to the group, humming happily to herself. As she approached, she waved them out and into the corridor. “We could go ask the musician,” she said to them.

Abs glanced down the hallway. “Yeah, we could go back up.”

“We could try the other door through the bar,” Zagthaan suggested.

“Let’s try that.”

“We’ll just look slightly embarrassed as we walk through,” Stigr added, pushing the door back open, leading the way through the passive creatures.

Pushing the door open carefully, they entered a kitchen, the clear area in front of them leading to another door, while the walls and further to their right had a variety of benches, stoves and sinks, all to cater for the bar behind them. Ragnar pulled the door closed behind as Abs and Zagthaan placed their alcohol on the nearest counter.

As Abs began poking around the kitchen with Stigr, Zagthaan retrieved the small bottle, inspecting it. “He gave me a potion of healing, about as good as the strongest I can manage currently.” Pulling out the coin, she looked at it. The coin depicted a female prisoner, naked and in shackled, long hair covering most of her body. “Lucy, does this coin mean anything to you?” she asked, showing it.

“Never seen it before.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Found jerky, pretzels, salted nuts and a slim jim,” Abs stated, exiting a small pantry with the purloined items.

“Can I have the slim jim?” Stigr asked.

“Sure,” Abs replied, passing it over before snacking on the pretzels.

The corridor beyond was narrower and less clean, very much a service corridor where guests were not permitted. On their immediate right were two doors, one labelled ‘Alcohol Storage’, the other unlabelled. Further down was another pair, one labelled ‘Pump Room’, the other ‘Boiler Room’. The corridor heading left with more doors visible further down. As they stepped out into the corridor, they noticed the service elevator behind a dividing wall.

Abs and Stigr went ahead, Lucy sticking to Ragnar’s shadow as they hung back near the entrance to the kitchen and storage.

“We’re into staff areas,” Abs whispered, “so there might be alarms if we touch the wrong thing.”

As the pair approached the pump and boiler room doors, more thrashers broke free of the shadows, lurching toward the group, one from the elevator and two from the corridor to the groups left.

The creatures, taking almost everyone by surprise, launch themselves at Ragnar and Lucy, Ragnar shrugging off the two hits, while Lucy took a pummelling from her single assailant.

Growling, dwarven fire reaching her eyes, Lucy yelled, “nah, fuck you!” as her shotgun leveled with the head of the creature, blowing the head clean off the body. “Yeah, fuck you! Coming to my fucking town?!”

Ragnar, charging one of the creatures, slammed it into a wall with his hammer. Watching on, Zagthaan patted Lucy on the shoulder, infusing her with healing magic. “You did good Lucy,” she stated, getting a nod in reply as Stigr let out a scream, the head of the creature Ragnar had hit shaking a little as the magic hit it.

Abs, sneaking around the corner, lashed out with his rapier, the point entering into the base of the creature's skull, the same one Ragnar and Stigr had attacked, making it drop instantly.

Vines lashed against Ragnar’s armour and the wall next to him as the remaining creature lashed out, causing no damage before Ragnar and Abs charged in, working in tandem to bring the creature down.

“Just let the others deal with that,” Zagthaan said as Lucy cracked the shotgun over her arm, reloading it swiftly, while Stigr moved behind Abs to heal him. As Lucy retrieved her hammer. Zagthaan left her hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “Seriously, there’s nothing we can do now, just let the boys play.”

The creature thudded to the ground a moment later at Ragnar hit it with an overhead blow, making it crumple.

“I require some healing,” Abs stated.

“I could use some,” Ragnar added.

Zagthaan raised her eyebrows at Stigr. “You’re the one with the wand.”

Stigr shrugged. “I had money and I figured emergency healing was a good idea.”

“Mhmm, it very much is.

“Surprisingly cheap too.”

“Can I get some healing too please?” Lucy asked. Stigr nodded in reply, expending several uses of the wand to heal the three injured in the group.

After receiving healing, Abs slowly and carefully opened the unlabelled door before poking his head in. Seeing a creature in the far corner, resting against the wall and surrounded in vines, he backed out, closing the door as quietly as he opened it.

“Did you see anything Abs?” Zagthaan asked.

“One of those viney guys up against the wall.”

“Okay, did you see anything else Abs?”

“No, I just closed the door. Doesn’t seem important.”

“I really fucking hope the key is not in that room.”

“It probably is,” Stigr volunteered.

“Do you want to go in there?” Abs asked Zagthaan.

“Well, not overly myself,” she replied. “Uh, how about we pick the alcohol storage door?”

Abs shrugged, saying “okay.” Trying the door, it opened quietly, revealing many bottles and casks. Slipping into the room, Abs whistled low in appreciation, putting a couple of the bottles into his bag. Stigr, seeing Abs pocket a few, does the same.

“If you really want to go into the room next door, we can go in and kill the monster then search it,” Abs volunteered as he came back out of the room. “It is bound to the viney wall.”

“We can stab it,” Ragnar offered.

“Does anyone have a flamethrower?” Stigr asked.

“I mean, I technically can be for a few moments,” Zagthaan offered. “I have firebelly spell prepared and I can burst into flames for a moment.”

“I can do fire breathing,” Ragnar added.

“Cause I mean it’s like, inside a bunch of vines,” Stigr said, waving at the door.

“Okay, we can do a squad thing,” Abs said. “I can open the door, already know how to avoid noise, then you go in and go bwah!”

“If you guys want to, then go nuts,” Zagthaan said. “I’m not going barreling in there.”

Shaking his head at Zagthaan, Abs snuck back in, taking the room in as he did. A wooden desk sat between him and the creature with a motivational poster on the wall behind the door. Sneaking over to the desk, Abs started to rummage through the drawers before a huffing Ragnar slammed the door open, causing the creature to drop from its spot on the wall, vines rising up to strike.

Taking the distraction of Ragnar, Abs stabbed the creature, ducking under vines as Ragnar jumped, aiming to land on the desk. As his feet claws sunk into the weathered surface, the desk collapsed in, causing the dragonkin to fall through its top, trapping him and causing his warhammer to swing wide.

Abs stabbed the creature again, ducking behind the partly destroyed desk to avoid the flailing limbs.

“Hey Stigr, do you think we should go help them?” Zagthaan asked, leaning towards the trollkin.

“Yeah, probably a good idea.”

“After you.”

“Fucking rude.”

“Hey now.”

“You know, maybe they will be fine,” he said, glancing at Lucy.

With a roar of frustration at the desk, Ragnar lashed out, causing the creature to drop to the ground, dead.

“You guys okay?” Zagthaan asked, looking in to see Ragnar standing in the desk. “They’re fine,” she said to Lucy and Stigr.

“Fucking desk!” Ragnar roared, trying to destroy the desk. After a few bad hits from his hammer, he started pushing himself up, trying to get on top of the desk.

“We’re fine,” Abs stated, poking his head around the corner of the desk. “If it wasn’t for Ragnar, I would have stolen everything.”

“Mhmm,” Ragnar said, now standing on the desk, looking at it murderously.

“Talking about stealing everything, is there anything of worth in here?” Zagthaan asked. “Can you check the desk before Ragnar destroys it completely.”

Abs shrugged, moving to check the drawers. Opening the second one, he removed a false bottom to the draw, revealing 30 silver coins in a small pouch, which he pocketed swiftly.

Coming fully into the room, Zagthaan looked at the poster. She saw a male posing in armour, sword drawn and looking up to the sky, the text below proclaiming “Have Courage!”

“You can take the poster, you want it Zagthaan?” Abs asked.

“Nah, I don’t have posters around my room, that’s for kids.”

“I’ll take it,” Stigr said, seeing it. As he tried to pry it from the wall, it crumbled in his fingers. “Awww.”

“Where’s the goddamned fucking key?!” Zagthaan grumbled loudly, kicking the desk.”

“Shall we try upstairs?” Abs offered.

“The bathroom?”

“Why would it be in there?”

“It’s gotta be somewhere.”

Abs smirked. “Imagine the manager's office in a bathroom corner.” Looking down the hall at the pump and boiler room doors, he shook his head. “I don’t really want to go in either of those.”

“Coward,” Ragnar stated, swinging his hammer hard at the ‘Pump Room’ door. His hammer bounced off as if hitting a solid wall. ”Next!” Moving to the ‘Boiler Room’ door, he swung, the door opening widely as the hammer pushed it open.

A wave of heat hit Ragnar square in the snout from the darkened room. Immediately past the door was an open space, some tools and parts in boxes and crates. To the groups right, a fence separated the rest of the room from where the two massive boilers sat in the darkness, its door missing and hinges torn. Stepping into the room, Zagthaan and Stigr, eyes reflecting what little light there was in the hall, saw a chain necklace with a key on it, dangling from a pipe in the far end of the room, it gently swaying in the steam that filled the room.

“Guys,” Stigr said, pointing to the kedy. “I can see a key at the far end of this place, but I do not trust that there isn’t something already in there.”

“Off you go then, I can’t see it,” Ragnar said, waving.

“Ah, it’s at the far end, it’s hanging off a pipe on a chain.”

“You have dark vision,” Abs said. “I only have low-light vision, I can’t see either.”

“I can see basically perfectly,” Stigr said.

“Yeah, so, off you go then,” Ragnar said, waving towards the darkness.

“Could you grab it?” Abs asked.

“Well, yeah, I am tall enough, I just expect that if something jumps at me, you’re not going to leave me to be mauled.”

Zagthaan snorted. “Look, I’ll come with you, I can also see in the dark. You go first, I’ll cover your back.”

“Sweet, will do, let’s go get that key,” Stigr said grinning at Zagthaan.

Zagthaan shot a glare at Abs and Ragnar. “I can’t see!” Abs protested.

“We literally can’t see in there,” Ragnar added.

“There’s fucking torches you can light up,” Zagthaan grumbled as she followed Stigr down the twenty foot long corridor between the two massive boilers.

Stigr reached up and plucked the key off the pipe it was hanging from. As if in response to him taking the key, the boilers started to rattle and shake, the distant siren stopped and a wall candle near the elevator flickered to life, lighting up the side silhouette of a very large humanoid creature.

☆~☆