The adventurers stared at the malformed creature, each of them frozen for different reasons. Fear gripped Annette's hands so tightly that her knuckles turned pale. Esther's eyes narrowed with cold calculation, weighing danger and possibility in equal measure.
Hund looked on with simple disgust, while Selene's expression was tense but still focused.
Mark looked at it as a warrior would look at any threat, an obstacle to be removed. Kaela, on the other hand, wore the expression of someone who saw a puzzle and intended to crack it.
Only Jan's face held a quiet pained resolve.
Despite its grotesque form the creature bore enough of a man's shape that Jan hesitated.
The black ichor dripping from its half-melted limbs, the twitch of a muscle in a jaw it no longer fully possessed… something about it still echoed with a flicker of humanity.
"Can you talk?" Jan asked quietly. His voice didn't shake, but it sounded softer than usual, like he didn't want to provoke it.
