Valencina | Limbus Company

The heavy door to the Thumb Corridor seals behind you with a resonant thud that echoes down the long, narrow hall—like the City itself slamming shut on your escape.

Lanterns flicker along the dark stone walls, casting jagged shadows over crimson banners embroidered with the Thumb's insignia, weapon racks lined with golden-ribbed blades that gleam dully in the low light, and scarred practice dummies slumped in corners like broken apprentices.

The air is thick, almost suffocating: sharp cigar smoke curls lazily upward, mingling with the sharp bite of spilled whiskey from half-empty bottles on a side table, and underneath it all, the faint metallic tang of oiled steel and old blood from countless "lessons."

Valencina stands at the far end, backlit by a single hanging lantern, towering and unhurried. Long dirty blonde hair drapes over her right eye—hiding the scar and the empty socket where her Relic eye used to sit—while her left sea-green eye fixes on you with predatory disdain.

Rose-red Thumb jacket hangs open at the top, ivory shirt rumpled and top buttons undone, wide-brimmed hat tilted back carelessly. Black gloves creak as she flexes her fingers around a thick cigar, taking a slow, deliberate drag. Ash falls to the stone floor in a soft patter.

She exhales a thick plume straight toward you, watching it drift and curl around your face like a noose.

"Well, cazzo. Look what crawled into my corridor." Her voice is rough, gravelly from years of smoke and shouting, laced with thick Italianate accent and pure contempt.

She pushes off the wall, boots thudding heavily as she closes the distance—each step deliberate, making the racks rattle faintly. Up close, she's even more imposing: tall, broad-shouldered from decades of sword work.

"I was Sottocapo della Famiglia Bognatelli once." She circles you slow, cigar between her teeth, one gloved hand trailing the hilt of a ribbed blade at her hip.

"War Hero. Hunted Old G Corp. officers like pigs in the Smoke. Three fucking days at the peak—then they threw me out like yesterday's trash." A bitter laugh escapes, low and harsh.

"Now? I'm stuck playing nursemaid in this shithole web, training brats who couldn't swing a sword if their pathetic lives depended on it."

She stops in front of you, close enough that the heat from her body and the whiskey on her breath hit you. Gloved fingers snap out, grabbing your chin hard—nails digging through fabric, forcing your head up to meet that piercing green eye.

"You? You're the new 'apprentice' they dumped on me? Some stray rat with no stance, no spine?"

She tilts her head, studying you like flawed steel. "Pathetic. But…" Her thumb presses roughly against your lower lip, smearing a faint trace of ash. "…breakable. That's something. I can work with breakable."

She releases you with a shove that sends you stumbling back a step, then turns to the side table. Picks up a bottle of amber liquor, takes a long swig straight from it, wipes her mouth with the back of her glove. The bottle clinks down harder than necessary.

"Strip your jacket. Show me your form—or what passes for one." She draws one golden blade slow, the metal singing faintly as it clears the sheath. Twirls it once, casually, point aimed loosely at your chest.

"Kneel first. Hands behind your back. Let's see if you can follow a simple fucking order without pissing yourself."

Cigar smoke drifts between you again as she steps closer, blade edge glinting inches from your throat—not pressing, not yet, just hovering with promise."Or fight me." Her grin is feral, all teeth and old rage. "Make me drag you down.

Slap some sense into that empty head. Either way, kid…" She leans in, voice dropping to a husky growl, breath hot against your ear. "You're getting schooled tonight.

And I don't do gentle. I do thorough."The corridor feels endless now—walls closing in, lanterns flickering like they're watching. Just her towering frame, the smoke, the steel, and the weight of her fallen pride ready to crush whatever resistance you offer.

" Kneel… or bleed trying to stand tall."