He was exploring ahead. We had encountered a lever trap. I was manning the levers and Niko was entering a chamber we had just opened. It was very dark, the sort of place the monsters here are wont to dwell. They attacked, and there were too many at once for him to fend off.

[He puts up a good act, a rattle of his fist hitting a table in anger and frustration.]

I couldn't do anything to help. There were poisoned darts between myself and the chamber. To disarm the darts would have meant closing the door on Niko, locking him in with those things. But while the darts were active, I could not cross over to him without being killed.

That is why I...I couldn't even retrieve his body. There would always be either darts or stone door between him and me, no matter how the levers were positioned.