(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

"Thanks, Annah."
"No need. I'm keepin' this one for meself."
I didn't argue.
With only a little more poking around, we found the stairway up.
"Oi, d'ye hear that? Th' bones of wickerwood are bleak in sound, and they've
sweetened the marrow of the dancing land," a gruff voice murmured.
"Nay, 'tis a rat. Get away ye sod it's mine! Has a message for me, it does,
from the whispering council to see which to kill next."
"It's jess a rat ye barmy sod! Best te eat it before it tells them where the
Nimbus of Nine hides tonight."
"NO! NO they fly with crimson wings, and will put all the laughing ones in
the abyss if we do not appease in blue-blurred smiles!"
With their mad, inane chatter in my ears I had trouble focusing. By the
Powers I could feel my forebrain trying to eat its way through my skull just
to silence the insanity.
I opened the door and came upon two unsurprised thugs. Their hair was in
disarray, and their lips were flecked with blood as one held the mangled
corpse of a cranium rat in hand. Soft blue eyes gleamed and swirled with the
motes of chaos as they stared at me as if they expected my arrival.
"Hello," I said, and blasted the nearest thug with four rose-hued magic
missiles.
Two against one... it was too easy. Dak'kon moved swiftly and his blade shot
upward, impaling the thug's head through the chin, pinning his jaw shut so
he couldn't scream, even in death. Morte barreled over my shoulder,
head-butting the wounded one and sending him crashing into the wall.
We stood silent for a moment as I held a finger to my lips. When no
thudding of boots or the clatter of approaching guards came our way,
however, we continued upward.
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