Here we go again… travelling down an unnecessarily long corridor into an unfamiliar location with no idea what we are walking into. At least it is pretty safe to say that there won’t be a deranged spider monster at the end of this one.

  We walked out into a rather grand room. Various busts of what I assume are various members of the Vox family are stood on plinths along the sides of the room. There are two balconies on either side of us and another in front of us. There are men with crossbows on the side balconies… if we piss these guys off then we are going to be showered with bolts… this isn’t good.

  There is a woman with a boy stood on the balcony farthest away on the left, behind the crossbowmen. The boy has a look of Timothy about him, much as the boy outside did. This one appears to be slightly older. I’m guessing this one must be Josh. He can’t have a third family… surely. They have men standing on either side of them… likely guards to make sure they don’t try to escape. They’re not openly brandishing weapons though… which is a good sign.

  There are various men on the ground floor, all along the sides of the room, underneath the balconies. If things go to shit then they will likely assault us after the first volley of crossbow bolts. Crossbows are time consuming to reload… unless they are repeaters… but they look more like heavy ones. So, the men on the ground will be to finish us off. Each of them carries a longsword and a shield. They’re all wearing light leather armour too. Fighting our way out of this situation would be ill-advised.

  On the balcony directly ahead of us is quite large man in heavy armour. Next to him sits a rather short and not particularly pleasant looking man. He has a gods-awful comb over that isn’t fooling anyone. Why do so many human males seem obsessed with pretending that they aren’t going bald? Maybe it’s because I have never grown any hair, but I just don’t understand it. What is so bad about being hairless?

  Don’t get me wrong… I love Kiyui’s long hair… I think it looks beautiful and I genuinely cannot imagine him without it… but if it turned out to be a wig, then it wouldn’t bother me. I would be perturbed if he decided to go with a combover though… just… why would anybody make that choice? Sorry… getting sidetracked.

  The short man with the combover stood up from his seat and stepped forward to the edge of the balcony. He proceeded to speak in a cold and unsettling manner.

  Vox: “My name is Conrad Vox.”

  Damecus: “We know who you are.”

  Vox: “Then perhaps you can tell me the names of the people who endeavour to interfere with my enterprises?”

  Stolen story; please report.

  Damecus: “Damecus of the Sawtooth clan.”

  Dwynfel: “Umm… Dwynfel Vesidia.”

  Vox: “You are not the usual kind of people to interfere with my business. Do you think you can take over my territory so boldly? Or did you take offense at my business methods?”

  Damecus: “I do not give a fuck about your territory or your business methods.”

  Vox looked puzzled. He looked over at Timothy’s family, then back at Damecus.

  Vox: “Curious… because witnesses definitely claim the presence of a goblin and a lizardman entering one of my establishments. The curator of said establishment has not checked in for his regular appointment. Therefore, I am left to speculate. The conclusion that I have drawn, is that you two visited said established and caused him harm in some way. It would appear that you have arrived at my door before my men have had time to investigate his absence and the rumours of such strange visitors. If you are not the two individuals in question, then your arrival here would indeed be quite the coincidence… no?”

  Damecus: “I make no attempt to deny our presence there. Nor do I deny causing problems for your business practices. I simply stated that I do not give a fuck about them.”

  Vox: “If that is the case… then perhaps you seek a job offer. I could certainly use men like you. My bodyguards are strong, but they certainly lack the strength of one such as yourself.”

  Damecus: “I am here for your head, nothing more.”

  Fuck’s sake Damecus. Now they are definitely going to kill us. You could have just humoured him until at least some of his guards left.

  Vox: “I regret to inform you that that will not be occurring. You may be strong, but I am clearly out of your reach, there are eight heavy crossbows pointed at you, as well as ten swordsmen ready to put you down should you show any signs of attacking. And if you think you can overcome all of that… I have innocent hostages that my men will not hesitate to harm. I would ask you to reconsider my previous offer.”

  Damecus: “Still no.”

  Vox: “Then why? Do I not deserve to know the reason for your ire?”

  Damecus: “You upset my daughter.”

  Vox: “What?”

  Damecus turned to me and tapped his shield.

  Damecus: “Jump on.”

  Fucking what? On the shield? I did as he instructed. As the crossbows loosed, Damecus flung me with a disturbing amount of strength. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I’m moving too fast… oh gods… I don’t have time to look back at Damecus… I need to focus on where I’m going to land.

  I’m heading for the balcony with the woman and the child. Right, that’s his plan. Just like he said before… my job is to protect them… four men on that balcony… I can handle them. The two with crossbows don’t appear to have any other weapons, they can’t defend themselves up close, I can handle them. The other two are what concern me… if they weren’t a physical threat then the woman and child wouldn’t be so compliant. Are they monks? Or have they simply concealed their weapons? Fuck… guess I’ll find out. Here we go.

  Yes, he should have both his bow and his short sword attached to his back... but ya know... AI.