While Deccanus healed up and rested Adam looked around the apartment properly. Ultimately it was in a poor state, as one would expect, but it was not without useful finds, though nothing worth mentioning, still it was nice to get at least a few things into his backpack. By the time he was done Deccanus was healed and standing on the exposed balcony that overlooked the lake, Adam moved to meet him at the railing.
"Are you feeling alright?" Adam asked, noticing his bandages were taken off.
"Yes…" Deccanus said, though unsure himself, he gently touched his cheek where he was hit, the spot still looked tender, but as per usual, stimpacks are miracle workers, he was more or less fine. "Though I'm not sure if I made the right call…" He said, uncertain as he gazed out to the lake. Adam walked over and put a hand on his shoulder while he remained behind him.
"Change is never easy, it's sometimes the hardest thing we can do, accept change." He said softly. "When I woke up this world had changed so much from the one I was used to I was in survival mode, I didn't know my way around any better than a child. But through perseverance I succeeded in making something of myself." Adam paused and then turned to look out into the lake with Deccanus.
"I'm sure you will come to more hard questions you will be forced to ask yourself in the future. However, one thing I know for certain, those questions can only be answered if you are still alive. So live, Deccanus. Live, and use your life to make use of the skills you learned in the Legion. Perhaps one day you will wake up and find that the person you have become you like far better than the man you were before."
Deccanus sighed loudly and then spun around to look at Adam.
"There are likely many more lakelurk kings in the building now that we have engaged them." Deccanus said, changing the subject entirely. Adam could tell he didn't want to think more on the subject and let the matter drop.
"How many do you think there will be?"
"I am uncertain." Deccanus paused to think. "There could be 2 or there could be 10, in my opinion, no more, no less." Adam paused to consider.
"What about setting a trap?" Adam offered.
"What kind of trap?" Deccanus asked, intrigued but confused. Adam looked down at the floor.
"With a little bit of work I can make a pitfall to drop them at least one floor, hopefully more when they have momentum." He stomps his foot on the wood twice. "Wood is sturdy but still showing its age." Deccanus thinks for a moment and then nods.
"Then all we would need to do is draw them into the pitfall, the fall itself should be enough to kill them at best, at worst it will hurt them." Adam nodded.
"My thinking exactly."
"I will follow your lead."
Adam and Deccanus then left the room after moving the dresser and Adam began his work of creating breaks in all the boards next to the stairs so that when a sufficient amount of weight tries to cross them they will give way. He didn't worry about hiding the aesthetics of the cracks too much. He very much doubted these creatures would be looking to see if the wood is broken when they are making a mad dash for him and Deccanus.
"Deccanus. Do you think you would be able to drive them up here without getting caught?" Adam asked as he worked.
"Yes." Deccanus returned, without hesitation. It was either overconfidence or it was a realistic measure of his own ability, Adam couldn't tell which it was, but he wanted to put his faith in Deccanus.
"Alright." Adam said as he put on the finishing touches. "Then when you reach the last step and get onto this floor you have to jump over to this spot." Adam said rubbing his boot on the ground where it would be safe to reapply weight.
"Understood." Deccanus said as he prepared for the difficult situation he was about to throw himself into with a casual hop over the broken planks now.
"And Deccanus?" Deccanus paused to look at Adam. "Don't die." He grinned at him. Deccanus simply nodded in response and jumped over the freshly made pitfall, landing easily. He then began to make his way downstairs to draw the others back up.
Adam had no choice but to wait. Wait and hope Deccanus could do it. In the meantime he posted up on the other side of the hall, rifle poised at the stairs, ready to fire at a moment's notice if needed.
A minute went by, then two, then three. Then he heard that same scream as before, though he was far enough away it didn't hurt his ears or make his insides do a flip, though it did not feel great, even all the way up here.
About 20 seconds later Deccanus came bolting up the stairs and with a jump that even a professional race horse would be proud of, he easily cleared the pitfall and made his way to Adam, throwing himself against the wall and using that to stop his momentum immediately. He then flipped around, grabbed his rifle, and then prepared with Adam to fire if and when necessary. They did not have to wait long.
Moments later 6 lakelurk kings began to run up the stairs, following in the wake of Deccanus, though obviously not running nearly as fast as he was. In fact they were quite slow, some were running like bipeds, some were running like quadrupeds, but all were about the same speed, and they all looked more than ready to tear the flesh off Adam's face.
And then they fell. They fell hard. The floor broke underneath the combined weight of the ones in the front and sent them careening downward. He could hear even more floors breaking further down. Though he didn't have time to examine his success as the trap had only taken out the front 4, the two in the back were still very much able to try to attack them.
However, neither creature seemed able to jump over the gap. It seemed despite being amphibians they were poor at land travel, maybe they were fast swimmers?
This did not stop them though, they still had their long range screech, which they had no intention of withholding.
The first one screamed, creating the blast of air behind it, however Adam was prepared this time, having understood that this vocal attack of theirs was directional not omnidirectional. So once he was out of the way he opened fire as quickly as he could. Deccanus joined in emptying his ammo fast.
The first one went down without issue, however the second one looked to be ready to screech next, Adam, out of ammo for his rifle, threw it to the side and then used his new holster to quickly unclip his laser pistol and shot the creature in its open mouth. This ceased the screech long enough for Adam to fire a number more times into the monster, finally felling it with a satisfying 'critical'. The creature turned to ash with the last shot, atomized completely.