LogFAQs > #905012687

"Their hearing isn't very good," Maria explained to the others in hushed tones. "But we should probably not talk too loudly. I should also mention that, based on the research notes I was reading, they found it impossible to tell when these things were asleep or awake."

"We haven't had much luck either," Dismas said, thinking of the one that almost got Cata.

Instinctively, Cata rubbed his bruised arm. Somehow, having it mentioned, caused the pain to return in a way that he had forgotten. The numbness of the last few hours had been a bit awkward, but that was preferable over this kind of pain. He looked on, into the room, and began counting the monsters. "Five by my count. I don't think that's a fight we can easily win. If at all."

Shall we turn back? That's the question he wanted to ask. But the greed in Dismas eyes said there would be no turning back. And Maria, the other person mostly interested in taking charge and driving the group to go one way or the other, was too emotionally detached from the situation. Fear, which naturally should have prevented her from doing anything too dangerous, seemed to be an emotion that she was missing.

"Fighting them would be dangerous, I agree, but we may have another way," Maria told him. "Based on my risk assessment analysis it should be possible to neutralize the threat quickly, quietly, and effectively without much danger to ourselves."

Abom grunted, tilting his head at that message.

Maria glanced at the big man. "I'm going to knock them out."

Cata felt the hairs on his neck tingling. Was it really fine to go with such a risky strategy? It wasn't like they had tested it out on any of these monsters before. This was the perfect situation for things to go terribly wrong. From his point of view, the level of risk seemed way too high.

"How is your arm? Your aim?" Dismas pressed her. "Are you sure you can take them all down at once?"

"Well... Hm." Maria thought about it for a moment. "I suppose it will be more effective if I rely on your help," she admitted. "I'm used to working alone and so the thought hadn't crossed my mind. Here, give me a moment to mix some kind of bomb delivery method for those powders."

Maria went to one knee and undid her carrying case, taking out some of the supplies she had looted from the laboratory above. "Keep your eyes on the monsters while I do that."

It was a grueling two minutes as Cata found himself watching the darkness beyond once more. Rather than focusing on the threats in the room before them, Cata couldn't take his attention off the far doorway. Once again it was only an open portal; one that revealed the blackness of his deepest imaginations. The threat in his mind was likely greater than whatever could possibly lay down there.

Or, more terrifyingly, it wasn't.

Maria handed a bomb to Cata and Dismas, while taking one herself. With those three throwing in synchronized fashion they should have been able to blanket the area in a thick powder and catch all of the monsters with the knock out gas. Then it would be up to the fighters to move in and slay the beasts while they were down.

Dismas set aside the heavy crossbow, leaving it loaded and leaning against the hall. If Maria needed to pick it up and fire it, the bolt was ready. Though he urged her NOT to do so unless it was an emergency. "The last thing I need is an untrained aim firing a bolt into my back."

For a close situation like this, he borrowed Cata's dagger. The weapon wasn't good in a hand to hand fight, per se, and it wasn't something Dismas would bring into a melee. But for cutting the throat of a weakened and dizzy foe that couldn't fight back... the dagger would do.
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