Li Wei's assessment was not exactly wrong, but it was not exactly right either.
The fighting had indeed begun, but it had nothing to do with them.
"Time of death was probably within the last half hour."
Li Wei rose from the corpse and spoke. Before him lay a follower of Bane clad in heavy black armor, his face twisted into a snarl, his mouth open, and a flail still clutched in his hand. Yet however vicious he looked, he was nothing more than a corpse. A sharp wound had ripped straight through his throat, and judging by its depth, there had clearly been no saving him.
Well, he had been lying on the ground for half an hour. There was definitely no saving him now.
"Looks like someone got here before us."
Li Wei looked ahead. Several more bodies lay sprawled in the distance, all freshly killed. Their attackers clearly had not planned to sneak in as his group had. Instead, they had stormed straight inside and slaughtered everyone in their path. The upside was that nearly all the small fry guarding the place had already been killed.
"W-we have to hurry! What if something happens to Miss Caldwell?"
The elf mage's expression changed dramatically. She did not know who had attacked this underground cult hideout, but their methods certainly did not make them look like decent people-or rather, criminals preying on other criminals was the norm in Baldur's Gate. The cultists might have had their reasons for abducting Miss Caldwell, but the people cutting their way inside would never care about something so trivial.
The group abandoned all caution and hurried deeper inside. Following the bodies on the ground, the
group soon passed through the dungeon's winding passages and reached its depths.
Gradually, the clash of weapons, angry