Tulip this. Petra that. Barris\u2014ugh, that name alone scraped down my spine like a dull blade. Astrael\u2014don\u2019t even get me started\u2014and that insufferable halfling bard. On and on, her voice winding through the air like a buzzing insect I couldn\u2019t swat without staining the sheets.
I\u2019d been letting it wash over me, tuning it out, drifting into the pleasant afterglow of Zal\u2019s earlier brutality\u2026 until I caught the shift in his expression.
That subtle narrowing of his eyes. That slow incline of his head. The almost imperceptible flex of his jaw.
And then\u2014those fateful words.
\u201cWe\u2019ll locate them.\u201d
My head snapped toward him, the silk of my robe whispering across my skin.
He wasn\u2019t joking.
He wasn\u2019t posturing.
He actually meant it.
My stomach twisted in that dangerous way it does when I know trouble\u2019s already sewn into the seams of my life.
Mother. Fucker.
What in the Herebos was he dragging me into? Some doomed rescue? A political mess wearing the skin of a favor? Another of his labyrinthine games where every move costs more than you realize until your own blood is on the board?
My lips curled into a sharp, humorless smile as I looked between them\u2014Aurora with her wide-eyed urgency, Zal with that infuriating air of unshakable command.
I rolled my eyes so hard it\u2019s a wonder they didn\u2019t get stuck in the back of my skull. \u201cOh, of course,\u201d I muttered, voice dripping with sweet venom. \u201cLet\u2019s just collect every stray and headache in the city while we\u2019re at it. Maybe we can open an orphanage while we\u2019re on this noble streak.<\/strong>\u201d
But inside? Inside I was already counting the ways this could spiral out of control\u2026 and calculating how many throats I\u2019d have to slit to keep it from dragging me under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kourentzes.com\/konstantinos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/189.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nfree the NPC …!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Let\u2019s just collect every stray and headache in the city while we\u2019re at it. Maybe we can open an orphanage while we\u2019re on this noble streak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[576,54],"tags":[1124,1123,1128,1134,1125,1126,1133,583,1132,1131,1129,219,1127,1130,1122],"class_list":["post-1298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dnd","category-story","tag-arynthea","tag-aurora","tag-chaotic-evil","tag-character-pov","tag-dark-fantasy","tag-dnd-roleplay","tag-dnd-storytelling","tag-dungeon-master-tips","tag-fantasy-drama","tag-grimdark","tag-npc-banter","tag-political-intrigue","tag-rescue-mission","tag-underdark","tag-zal"],"yoast_head":"\n