[PurpleXVI]

Ulik, Lorath, Evon

As Lorath descended, no one leapt out at him to demand an explanation for his sudden presence, and no monsters attempted to make a dinner of him. The building was entirely devoid of life except for the three adventurers.

The elf passed though many empty rooms on the top floors, all seemingly normal except for the lack of people, before he found anything interesting. Three floors down, he began finding bones. No one seemed to have been felled by violence, instead undamaged skeletons laid in their beds, or in the case of what had once been servants' quarters, on their cots, as though they had died peacefully in their sleep.

He found no weapons and no sign that magic had been used against them, but as he examined the grisly scenes, he did stumble across one re-occuring figures. Small chalk statues that had been concealed in various niches and under beds, even a few that had been stashed under pillows. They looked vaguely humanoid, like a teardrop with stubby arms and legs, and a variety of branch-like protrusions from the top. The only decoration was a line of three coloured circles down one side, red, yellow and green from top to bottom. Some of the statues were surprisingly well-made, even despite the brittle material used, while others looked like they had ben made in a hurry and had already lost several limbs.

There seemed to be no explanation for them.

Venturing further down, he found more of the statues, and more of the skeletons, but no signs of violence until he reached the throne room. It had obviously once been a splendid chamber, full of paintings and tapestries, but when Lorath got there it was only ashes. Scorch-marks covered the walls and only a few remaining frames or shreds of cloth on the wall showed that it had once been something better. Buried in the thick layer of black ash on the floor were a vast number of bones. They had been scattered about, making it hard to determine anything, but the few skeletons he found intact did not appear to have died in peace.

The only unscorched body was on the throne, a skeleton held together in a sitting position by it's regal-looking dark blue robes, decorated with waves and creatures fo the sea. A long dagger had been thrust between it's ribs piercing the location where a human's heart would be.

Lorath eventually reached the ground floor and found no more fire damage, only a repeat of the scene on the upper levels whereever he went. Searching the armory, he found it raided, not a single suit of armor or weapon remained. Aside from the dagger in the regal corpse's chest, he hadn't found any weapons on any of the corpses, either. Nor any armor, all had been wearing only clothes.

When he came upon the kitchens, he was struck by a strong smell of rot which he easily pinpointed as being spoiled food. Barrels of fruit and racks of unsalted meat were mouldering and fermenting in almost every chamber he searched, though he did come across a few still-edible things, mostly dried fruit and smoked or salted meat.

Eventually, the elf made his way to the front gate, only to find it an impassable barrier. The mechanism which held the drawbridge in place had been jammed, and the chains which allowed the inner porticullis to be raised had been broken. It looked like it would take a while for even a skilled craftsman to fix, either that or a lot of brute force.


Anne, Bas, Tamora, Balth

Balth gave Tamora a disdainful look, "I have come to expect this thing from Anne, but you, too, Tamora?" He sighed, "You both seem to have a talent for confusing reasoning with secret knowledge. To me, it's been obvious that something's been following us. Something, or possibly someone, has been moving around in the bushes on the other side of the river all day, and what about that halfling? It's entirely possible that I'm wrong, but I don't think we should take any chances. I know that I'm not going to."

He then listened patiently as she spoke again, "I still have not repaid my debt, and even if I had, I would stay with you, I'm finding myself curious about you three and your purpose here. Besides, if I was to leave, I would be the first victim if something is truly after us, even animals know that lone prey is easier to bring down than a herd. I'm staying, at least until it's sure that we're not being hunted."

Bas could find little to commune with in the clearing, it seemed that the spirit of the area had not been contacted in a long time and was slumbering deeply. All he received was a single image, a view of himself from the perspective of an animal on the other side of the river, out of sight behind the foliage.

The druid also got an impression of the creature's mind, it was most definitely a predator, and not just any predator, but a pack hunter.

Even though Anne was more a person of the city than of the forest, or at least not as attuned to nature as someone like Bas or Tamora, she had exceptionally sharp hearing in any circumstance. With the surrounding lands being suddenly silent she was not forced to tune out all the sounds that would normally have distracted her, and this let her hear a few things that none of the others did, as they spoke at length, or in the case of Bas, settled down to meditate.

From the upper branches of some of the trees at the edge of the clearing, specifically ones near the river, she heard creaking that could only have been the product of something heavy setting all it's weight down on the wood.