When Renato did not respond, Reggie kept smiling and talking to himself:
"Would you like to come in and sit for a while? Renato, did Lailas send you to find me?" He tilted his head slightly, as though thinking hard. "Someone here needed my help, so I got held up a little... I'll go see her in a bit."
In the candlelight, the Bard's appearance was even more disturbing.
It was not just that his clothes were full of holes and stained with blood. The fingers of Reggie's left hand had fused together, and his entire arm was skinless, leaving the muscles and blood vessels exposed.
Something was clearly wrong with him. Renato was not sure whether the Bard had gone mad. He cautiously circled to one side, positioning himself and Gorlag to flank Reggie, and said:
"Reggie, you've been 'held up' for almost two days. The two Harpers Lailas sent to find you have gone missing too..."
His gaze swept over a corner of the courtyard, where two corpses lay. Judging by their clothes, they were undoubtedly the two Harpers.
Well, no need to keep looking.
Reggie frowned, looking bewildered.
"Two days? Has it really been two days? No, no..."
He raised his left hand to clutch his head. As he moved, overgrown bones pierced the exposed flesh, spilling a puddle of foul blood.
At the horrifying sight, the barbarian Gorlag tightened his grip on his battle axe and moved closer, ready to cleave the freak before him at any moment.
"Someone came to find me? Yes, yes... someone did come to find me." Reggie muttered to himself, oblivious to the blood splashing onto his face. "Two people came to find me. I knew them both. They were good lads, but..."
"Calm down, Reggie." Renato soothed the Bard while