Fate Weaver's convergence

C49

"What did you mean by 'she's not lying?"

Upon getting far enough away, Cressida asked Sophia in a worried voice.

"I mean that she wasn't lying. Cressida, you KNOW I would tell if she was. She just wasn't."

Sophia replied, frustration evident in her voice as she slumped onto her coils in hers and Cressida's sleep tent.

"Thirteen suns as an Imperial interrogator, and I'd never seen such outlandish claims from someone sane... That aside, their survival from an encounter like that. Gods... I can't think about what could have happened otherwise."

Sophia groaned as she took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"We need to talk to Lorn... I can't worry about anything else without consulting her first..."

"We will; she should be back this afternoon or close to the evening. She supposedly won't stay outside the walls past sundown, so we can expect to see her. As for the Bulette, a number of the lumber workers are clearing a path at the moment, and coupled with guild workers, they've already started pulling the corpse to the roadside."

Cressida herself was busy holding her own composure, maintaining her levelheadedness.

"The question right now is how they even managed to kill it. The lightning arc clearly hit the Bulette, but lightning magic would usually ground through them. For such a thing to be burned as it was, there must have been another cause."

The two of them were quiet for some time before Sophia spoke out.

"Grounded... a grounding rod... They could have used something that bypassed the armor. We'd used the cart-mounted Javelins to pin down Bulettes and other large monsters for magic users in the imperial forces... maybe they bypassed the armor for Beryl's strike to be effective. Supposedly Lightning arc was used twice. Maybe they bypassed the armor somehow..."

Sophia pondered as she laid across herself. Stuck with her own thoughts, Cressida opted to continue her initial work for now.

"I'll go sit with Beyl for now. I honestly can't even relax without being near her."

Sophia expressed her worry for their daughter.

"While we wait, I'll make my rounds... I want to see what I can figure out myself. Love you."

"Love you too."

Kissing the top of her wife's head, Cressida left their tent to settle to her own method's. Rather than wait, she'd go to look for herself.

It was roughly two hours since Lorn and Avery had slain the pair of Bulettes uncovered in the center of the quarry. The Elf and Arachne were walking back to Brenton together after they'd finished checking up on the total kills and each team that was hired for the subjugation. With the transportation of the spoils organized and the wounded tended to, Lorn and Avery needed only to make it back by nightfall. They were making good time as they were only an hour's walk from the wall. With nothing else to do, the two decided to discuss their next move as they walked in order to kill time and keep their progress steady.

"The Bulette's were pups, any idea where the den-mother may have been?"

Avery asked Lorn for her thoughts on their primary targets.

"We have nothing to go on. For now, all we can do is set patrol quests for the area. At the least, one Bulette is still easier to deal with than what we ended up culling today. I'd say we did good enough... not great... but good enough."

"Something that large, I'm surprised it didn't have a larger effect on the ecosystem. Even for Stalkers to still be active in the area. It's weird.."

"Did nothing show up on the carving counters? Any loose-lipped adventurers?"