Getting stabbed hurts a lot… it’s not like I expected it not to but... And it’s all a big crazy melee now! With soldiers fighting the caravan guards, Humplebumble under a wagon again, Rhogkun throwing balls of fire around, and the Swindle-panther screaming like crazy down in the cage. I think he turned back though, because I see those blue bees fly up and get some people. Variel shot a whole bunch of people with arrows. Soldiers, I mean. Some of the fight I don’t remember, ‘cause Peony stabbed me again, and I think… I think I almost died. The next thing I really remember is being on the ground and looking up at Maxwell.
After that I scramble away from Peony and try to stay out of everyone’s way. This whole time Prim’s been sending me those worry-thoughts that taste like copper in the back of my throat, but now that just kinda mingled in with the actual blood. I try to make sure he’s safe, cause he’s my responsibility now.
And then someone new shows up. A half-elf woman, and she seems to know Peony and Maxwell both. I make sure she also knows that Peony is going around stabbing random innocent people. And maybe her just being here made a difference, because by now Peony looks real bloody, and she turns tail and tries runs off. She almost makes it too, before the bees get her.
Variel makes sure she isn’t gonna die though, and gets the shrine soldiers to back down. Then Swindle asks for my help and we go around trying to make sure as many people don’t die as we can. We actually do a really good job. I guess I’m good at healing too.
Swindle volunteers the caravan to take Peony to justice in the next town, which, if it can’t be execution, he’ll settle for jail. The half-elf lady, her name’s Azalea, and she’s gonna stick around and help with that. Her and Max are real old friends, so I guess she’s okay. Humplebumble is extremely unenthused about near everything, and I don’t really blame him. This is a whole big mess that I’m just going to try and stay out of.
Oh yeah, and I saw Rhogkun go over to Humplebumble and ask him about those books we found. He wants to know if anyone in the Menagerie speaks Dragonic. So I tell him that I can maybe read it, and he hands the books over to me. But even though I look at the pages for a really long time, it’s still all just squiggles to me. I really thought… I mean. Well Prim’s a dragon, right? Cept I guess he only talks in pictures. It’s not like he writes notes to me. And there was that…. other time. But that wasn’t really….
Anyway, I guess Humplebumble speaks Draconic for sure, and he can read and write too. So he’s gonna help Rhogkun decipher the books. One of them’s full of spells! I wonder what they are. Hey wait wait… hopefully the other one doesn’t have whatever secret god-knowledge that ghost lich got killed by…. That wouldn’t just… be in a book for anyone to put eyes on, would it?
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