Jax’s ECHO Log entry #3: I should not have taunted the knife-wielders.

Okay. Time to breathe. Turns out that maybe I should have been a wee bit more careful with that door! They nearly got me that time, it was a damn close call. A bunch of robe-wearing, knife-wielding, vindictive cultists decided my suit needed some ventilation. Along with most of my chest. And some of my spleen. Pretty sure there’s still a knife in my thigh. The shields held for a while, and I took a few of ‘em out quick, but that hurt something fierce.

Worse, though, is now I need a new shirt! 

I got real worried there for a second. After these last two years trying to keep clear of a visit to the New-U, I could feel my chest tighten as that knife came down. I know that others go through it no problem and I’ve seen it first-hand, but after what happened with you, Penny, I’m not exactly interested in losing myself in there. What if I’m not me when I come out? What if I forget you?

As for that door, it led to closed-off area full of lava and some kind of makeshift throne. The crazy guy sitting up there seemed to have what we were looking for, and he sure felt like firing it at us a whole bunch. Todd seemed to be missing in action, we must have lost him on the way down. Maybe he decided this was too much. The three of us pushed on, figuring we still had a chance, and maybe Todd would turn up later. Zoe and that robot thing are pretty decent at tearing stuff up, I’ll tell ya, and I felt like Min and I could probably catch this guy in a crossfire.

But that’s not how it went down.

We got some decent shots in but then things went absolutely skag-end up. The most annoying screaming you ever heard, worse than that busker from Digtown, came from behind us. Out of nowhere, some psychotic guy with shears comes running in and just starts diving into lava, like it’s nothing, making balloon animals, tossing grenades everywhere, and generally making chaos out of everything. And then, from behind us, start coming these strange cultists, pushing us into the center of the room.

And stabbing a lot. Stupid stabby cultists.

The banana-hammock guy in the lava seemed to have no concern with, well, basically anything, which seemed to work really well for Min and Zoe. I was not having the same luck on this end. This new Head Sploder I picked up is pretty spotty, and I’m having a hard time getting the sights on it where I like it. Sniper sights were also a very poor choice against close-combat stabby freaks, but as a group we managed to muddle through. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go when a blackened skeleton started wandering in, but all in all it was a fruitful visit. I even got a chance to work on that double-sniper hip-shot maneuver we were practicing back in the day for when things got desperate. I got lucky, mostly pulled it off. Still, I think it works best with you on my six watching my back. Some day, maybe.

Kaylee took a bad hit, though. She’s acting tough after hitting the ground, you know how she is, but I’m going to make sure she gets a good meal and a treat because… well… that was scary as hell. Kaylee and I are going to have to try some more stealth-like approaches, because I don’t know if I can handle her getting crushed by one of these maniacs.

We still have to figure out what to do with that strange golden wand, and there was some decent loot found here, though not much in the way of gold. Hopefully I can sell some of this stuff and make my payment. I wonder how much this Sploder will go for? I’m betting Marcus isn’t exactly about to give me the best deal. I also owe Min a potion.

Oh right! I forgot to mention… that hunter, Min, probably saved my life. Looked like it hurt her a bit to do so, though? Either way, I owe her. At least, I owe her a potion. That seemed to be the agreement. Apparently my body doesn’t like those things very much though, I almost gagged on that thing, but it did the trick!

I think we’re headed back to town now. We have some decisions to make before we hit Brymstone, and I gotta figure out if there’s a tailor ‘round these parts. Can’t keep this suit looking like this!

Image credits:

• Cover image: From “Borderlands 2” by 2K games (Sourced from cutewallpaper.com)