The room's atmosphere is too heavy to breathe, I step outside while the others finish their interrogation; gasping for fresh air I collapse onto the ground. The look in their eyes as we cut them down one by one was too reminiscent. That blood crazed NEED to kill wrenches my stomach into a knot. I nearly hurl into the alleyway relapsing those moments from distant and near pasts. My only comfort comes from a squeeze on my shoulder, and an all too familiar horned shadow appears beside mine. "Are you okay?" Tiamus softly asks. I'm unable to form words but slowly nod, placing my hand over his. "I know when you're lying to me, Navirah." He's onto me.

"I know you know..." I look up at him from my seat on the stairs.

"Then what is it." He takes a seat beside me.

"That look in their eyes.... I can't get it out of my head."

"You're not talking about the druggies are you?" He astutely notices.

"No..."

"You're safe now. Don't you worry about those eyes, I'll cut them out for you if necessary." He wraps his arms around me pulling my head to rest on him. I feel the breath in his chest rise and fall while tears trickle down my cheeks.

"Thank y-" while resting my head on my chest my eye catches something, interrupting my tears: figures rush in and out of view between the alleyway, running in a hurry. Distant shouting grows as the sounds of panic become apparent. "Something's wrong." I lift my head up looking around us. Tiamus stands and rushes inside, I hear his voice firm and comforting:

"Everyone outside, something's happening." the party rushes outside into the alleyway, looking around sporadically. Another figure passes by as just a blur, then another, and the shouting turns to screams.

"Let's go" Survivor says, leading us out of the alleyway. Upon reaching the street the bright sun covers my vision. I close my eyes tightly just as the smell hits me: Smoke.

After they readjust to the light, my eyes spot the pillar rising high into the sky, just now reaching the top of the cliffside overlooking Evercast. While distracted by the black cloud, a man from behind me rams into my shoulder knocking me off balance, Tiamus instinctively toppels the man with a fist to the back of the head, who falls over, his bucket of water splashing onto the ground. "DAMMIT!!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!!!" he hurries to his feet with the bucket and runs back from whence he came. With a hand on his arm I calm Tiamus from murdering him as he passes.

Completely oblivious to the danger it forebodes, Peyt points in the direction of the Mayor's manor and says "Pretty reds!! Mayor House!!" The flames she speaks of begin rising above the palisade wall around the small hill it sits on. "Higher and higher they grows" she continues, giving a small, excited dance in place.

"Let's see what's going on" Saemon suggests, and with a nod from Survivor we all begin walking briskly towards the danger.

Dozens of men run past with buckets carrying water while others come outside their dwellings and just watch. An alchemist's concoction of mesmerization, fear, and wonder plastered on their faces. Our haste brings us to the manner which crackles and roars, passing the unguarded gate, buckets upon buckets of water are tossed on the crumbling walls of the building with no salvation in sight. Captain Molison stands behind 6 guards barking orders. "Move Faster!!... Seth," he points to a young man who just filled his bucket, "go make sure it doesn't spread in the back!!"

We walk up next to the captain and he speaks before we can ask. "The Horned Bastard did this! My men saw him running off with the mayor, this is just a distraction. Find him! They ran along the cliffside."

"We need to talk first" Survivor speaks sternly.

"There's no time for chit chat! Get over yourselves and go find the bitch! JARED GO INTO TOWN GET MORE HANDS!!" his attention is divided.

"It has to do with the mayor." she continues, ignoring him.

"Survivor, there's no time let's go get them and we can take care of it later." I plead. She turns to me, angry at the captain, but she lets it go with a huff and leads us past the burning building. The same young man noted as 'Seth' now smacks his bucket against embers gathering in the grasses to put them out. A small rear door leads us back into the forests along the cliffside.

We travel for nearly an hour, quickly along the base of the cliff following a recent path set by 2 footprints; Thanks to the combined efforts of Tiamus, Survivor, and Tinkerer's experience in tracking. Until the trail suddenly ends at the mouth of a large cave, the six of us crouch low at the entrance, peering into an abyss-like darkness.

"Stay low, stay quiet, If you can't see in the dark, stay close." Survivor draws a 5 foot sword from a scabbard on her side. Tiamus draws his bow, readying an arrow. Tinkerer gets his staff and shield ready while Saemon flips through his book, refreshing himself on the many spells inside. I take a deep breath and calm my mind. All the while, Peyt stares blankly at a rock beetle crawling on the ceiling. Our quiet steps into the dark are only covered just enough by the echoing of water drops showering down from the damp cave ceiling. A musk of anticipation and danger lurks around every corner.

Every turn we take is done with such caution, I've never seen Tiamus at the front of a group like this, he's so.... Zoned in. If we weren't so focused on not dying in this cave, I'd say I was a bit hot and bothered by him taking the lead. The cave entrance turns to a tunnel which opens up slightly as it curves back the other way. Tiamus takes extra slow caution before rounding each corner, when he sees nothing he slowly creeps forward in the dark. The other 4 walk blindly, reaching out to feel each other's presence from time to time. I walk on, following the train in front of me.

As we turn another corner, a soft orange light and a low hum begins growing, deeper in the tunnel reflecting towards us off the walls. The turn we've taken widens into a larger chamber. with nothing in sight Tiamus continues pushing forward getting ready to take another winding turn. WAIT, STOP. A shimmer catches my eye. Immediately I point at Tiamus and pass a message through the astral weave. "Wait, something's wrong." he stops, whipping around to face me. I bring a finger to my lips and force a light to emanate from my opposite hand shining brightly in the room. Just out of reach on ledges at the edges of the room, twinkling in the light from my hand stand two motionless suits of shiny clean armor. Everyone freezes, bracing for any movement.

We sit still, waiting for them to move or react yet nothing happens. The motionlessness of the armor grows anticipation and anxiety in my body, until Survivor decides to initiate a melee. Using her long blade and her height she reaches onto one of the tall ledges and smacks against the feet of one of the armor suits. It immediately bursts into action jumping down from the ledge landing behind her. Across the room the other suit practically falls on top of Tiamus. Peyt begins shifting her form once again into the small raptor and jumps straight into the fray gripping and tearing at the leg bracers of the armor with that animalistic look in her eyes, snapping many of its buckles off and spitting them out.

Not realizing the threat at its heels, it comes barreling straight past Survivor and heads right for me with its fists in the air. Spike gauntlets come crashing down into my face with a "CRACK". Searing pain ripples from my mouth to my spine and all the way down. But the pain doesn't last long. As it spread through my body like a wave, it is retracted with the same speed until it's completely gone. I watch in slow motion as the fist retracts from my face a few inches, then time resumes and the punch goes a few inches in front of my face, barely missing. Out of the corner of my eye Saemon is just finishing his spell, twisting a floating hourglass in his hands, the sand floating upwards.

The humming in the air grows louder, stealing my attention away from being saved, accompanied by various scrapes of metal as the enchanted 'creatures' clamber around the small cavern. Something's coming. TInk grabs a vial off his belt full of green swirling liquid and downs it in a hurry. He lines up the two armors in a straight line from himself, yet I also stand in range. "NAVIRAH MOVE!!"

he warns. I quickly side step around the armor and he releases a long stream of acid into the air coating the armor in front of me. It begins melting away with a hiss. Across the room I spot Tiamus kicking off the other armor set to jump onto the ledge they once stood motionless. Loose. He fires an arrow right between its steel plates.

The armor that barreled at me raises its fists high in the air, I hold my breath hoping I am fast enough to roll out of the way. Its torso twists away, bringing his fists down directly onto Peyt who screeches before grabbing onto its armored fist, carried away up into the air. "THPPT". Another arrow. This time between the shoulder plate. With a quick incantation, "Strike True!!" I place a word of blessing over Tiamus, Peyt, and Survivor. A piercing yell cuts through the air as another light enters the room.

"Gaaaahh!!" I whip around to face the scream of Saemon who now stands beside me with a large metal... horn? Through his chest. A drop of blood falls down his chin from his lips. This head drops limp and behind him stands a large, metal stag, the plates of its body burn red hot from a fire inside, the humming of a raging fire crackles inside. It lifts its head and Saemon with it throwing him to the side. Then it rears on its hind legs to try and smack me in the face, I just barely duck in time.

Survivor comes from behind with her greatsword slicing a gash down the side of the Stag which erupts with fire over her arms. She winces against the pain. Tinkerer comes rushing over, covered in grease, leaving in his wake a lifeless armor suit, he smacks against the last suit with his quarterstaff. Paired with Tiamus's arrow, it collapses, losing the magic which kept it aloft. The Stag stands strong against our onslaught of staves, swords, and magic. It rears back once again, nearly stomping on Saemon's unconscious head. I slide onto the ground beside him and hold out my hands to heal him before he's lost. The hole in his chest closes and his eyes open wide keeping my hopes alive.

The beast gives a metallic screech and bucks wildly kicking Peyt into a wall. On impact her form melts away into her larger lizardfolk appearance. She moves her jaw back into place with a "crack" before grabbing her staff and smacking it on the side, denting its metal flank. A barrage of attacks from the group finally down the beast and the humming of its engine subsidies with the bright red glow fading back into the darkness. "Drip" "Drip" "Drip" SIlence. Once again. Yet this time joined by heavy breaths of recuperation.

"Catch your breath quickly, but we have to keep going." Tiamus whispers. Peyt rushes around excitedly to each of us helping to heal our wounds. I close my eyes to calm my mind as Saemon speaks silently in the dark.

"Navirah... thank you... for saving me." At first I nod a response but after a moment I remember he can't see so I give a verbal:

"You're welcome" and we sit in the silence for a few minutes until I hear Survivor's armor begin to stir and she takes up arms with Tiamus.

"Let's go" We resume our train through the dark around another corner, and more sounds echo down the chamber. Yelling. Screaming. Yipping? Laughing? Hyenas.

Our walk slows to a crawl as the sound grows closer, and the tunnel opens to a large, torchlit cavern. The roof rises into the air as tall as tall as an oak, dozens of torches flicker light into this area. We halt at the entrance quickly taking in the scenery of the busy room, still shielded by the dark of the entrance tunnel. To our left a few tables line the moist cave wall. They are covered in various swords, bows, and armor pieces. To the right the cavern floor suddenly drops into a pit, just below I can barely spot too-many-to count hyenas leaping 3, 5, 7 feet into the air at 3 dangling figures. Tied to stalagmites high in the air struggle and scream Lisle, Mayor Jeffery, and Philton Goldbeard.

"Your stupidity. YOUR failure. YOUR OVERSIGHT. And where has it led you?!?" A figure stands on a small mound in the center of the room screaming his hatred at the three through his red, horned helmet. Covered from head to toe in metal armor. Mayor Jeffery shouts back in agony:

"I don't know who you are or what I did to you!! We can make this all go away, just let us down!!"

"YOU KNOW WHO I AM!!! YOU KNEW MY DAUGHTER!! YOU KNEW MY WIFE!!! YOU LET THEM DIE!!! you did NOTHING!!" He flails his arms to his side with a stomp, the rage in his voice palpable. I recognize the voice, but where from? Philton, mouth covered in blood, mumbles,

"I know who you are." Just barely.

"YOU IGNORED MY WARNINGS AND HUNDREDS DIED, THEN YOU HAD THE AUDACITY TO CONTINUE YOUR WAR ON EVERCAST BY THROWING IN YOUR LOT WITH THESE PEOPLE!?" In his rage, he didn't hear Philton. With a motion of his hands the ropes unravel one wind and the figures drop a few feet towards the pit, prompting another howl and laugh from the Hyenas below, 3 of them are grotesquely larger than the others and twice as vicious. One smaller hyena manages to climb on top of another and leap off, it latches on to Lisle's boot for a moment growling and shaking violently before he kicks it off. It hits the ground with a yelp and the other hyenas cackle louder.

Tears fall from Lisle's bloodied face. The mayor stares forward trying to keep up a stoic demeanor in the face of death while Philton tries once more to boast of his findings but his voice, muffled from the blood on his lips falls again on rage-deaf ears. "But maybe your cohorts were fated. That's the funny thing about fate. Justice always comes. And she carries an uncanny irony doesn't she?" He stares down at the hyenas below and a cackle from his lips matches their own vicious mockery.

I've got to do something. My body moves forward FOR me. Without thinking, my lips start moving: "This isn't Justice this is Vengeance!!" I shout out into the chamber. He whips around with ferocity, his rage already at the maximum, cannot be affected by our unexpected appearance.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT JUSTICE!!!?!?" Lifeless eyes welded on a slitless helmet stare at me empty while I feel the others slowly move in around me, weapons drawn.

"I know who you are." Philton tries again a little louder.

"TO YOU, PHILTON GOLDBEARD MY NAME IS ONLY RETRIBUTION but GO AHEAD!!! Tell them the monstrosity you have created, as the last name your sour lips will utter." he grabs his helmet and pulls it off revealing a familiar face:

"Aaron ... The blacksmith."