Guided Quest - Farm Heroes

[Cahill]

Eric stood, looking at the manor from his new viewpoint inside the walls of the keep as Skie made her entrance. The various structures were, just like the paving that made up the courtyard, a bit downtrodden with age, showing signs of weather wear and invasive plant life in cracks. With better sight of the inside he could also determine what most of the buildings were, including stables, storage shacks for implements and what seemed like a kind of barracks.

‘Dungeons now as well?!’ Eric thought as he heard Skie. Before he could comment on it though, she began making her way towards the manor, prompting him to follow grumpily. The few feet between them was one of the factors that saved Eric. He quickly jumped backwards at the sound of arrows being loosed. Thanks to the cracked and broken terrain, even though he was out of the way of the deadly projectiles, Eric was not totally unscathed. He had landed on his backside, “That will be sore in the morning,” he voiced.

He looked towards the mansion, seeing that Skie had made it to the buildings wall unhurt. The arrow bolts had stopped by then and lay scattered and pegged into the ground. Eric couldn’t make out where they had come from, however it was clear it was from somewhere further up the wall that Skie was now hugging.

A few droplets were making their way down to the ground as the half-elf stood and patted dust from his clothes. “Everyone Alive?”

[Tythiss]

Tythiss had opted to let the others find their way into the walled courtyard. His mind was still reeling over the fact someone had actually made a gold dragon that was alive and breathed fire. It would obviously need to have a cooler flame, or a pulse to prevent the weak gold from melting.

There were of course the voices of his companions, the woman had scaled the wall and the elf after. Still reverse-engineering the dragon in his head, Tythiss walked distractedly to the wall. One clawed hand gasped the stone as he left himself up to being the ascent.

If they were brave enough to circle the fuel underpressure around the nozzle when firing that could work too...

The saurian's head crested the wall just to be greeted by an arrow plinking off the stone in front of him. The spray of loose dust and the sound started Tythiss and made him lose his grip and balance.

Using his tail, He was able to right himself and end the fall into a tumble that left him on his feet in the end. Quickly he spun to face the archer, his poor eyes were not really allowing him to see much at all.

Rather, Tythiss ran back up to the wall, and hugged it until the plinking sound of the arrows subsided. He heard a voice calling if everyone was alive.

"Yes!" He called over the wall, and began to ascend again. It would seem that he would need to keep his wits about the situations at hand, rather than get caught off guard.

[Skie and Avery]

"I'm alive," she called, but felt detached. Her heart was still pounding, making her voice sound small to her own ears. Her arms shook and she could feel the cold sweat that had broken out under her shirt, making her skin crawl. But she was indeed alive, and after a deep breath and a moment to let the rush of blood to her brain sort itself out, she began to head towards the back door of the fortress. She made sure to stay close to the wall and to test each step before she took it this time.

When she got to the door she tried the handle, letting it swing open as she dove back so that if the door were trapped she wouldn't be caught in it. This time, however, there was nothing unpleasant waiting for them with the exception of a billow of stale air and the stench of rot that rolled from the dark hall beyond the door.

I'll let the next person who posts decides what's in the Great Hall. Really have fun with sensory details with this one - what's rotting in there. Is it forgotten meals on tables, or something more sinister?

[Tythiss]

Tythiss vaulted over the wall, and deftly landed on the other side. Quite nonchalantly, the reptile walked across the arrow littered courtyard as though the shafts of the arrows were stems to flowers in season.

The woman, Skie, had just opened the door to the keep and vaulted back, no doubt expecting some axe to fall from the ceiling to remove her pretty head from her slender neck. As she edged back towards the door, Tythiss brushed passed her and met the hall tongue first.

The smell was indeed old and thick, the humid air was old and stagnant. The taste of earth and mildew hung in the air. A ,no doubt, once splendid reception hall sprawled before the Saurian as he walked inside. Pale plants struggled for purchase in between the stone and mortar, struggling to find the light that was not going to come. A few tapestries still hung stubbornly on rusting and rotting poles. Their once vibrant color dulled and marred with dust, grime and mold. A squalid spread of furniture decorated the walls and had since fell into ruin.

Adorning the walls were paintings, well, frames that once held paintings. Each now a ghost of the past staring into emptiness with dulled and fading eyes. The light from the door was barely strong enough to pierce through the darkness to light the far walls, but Tythiss' eyes did not fail him in low light, he could see a feasting table, and a few doors leading off from the hall. As Tythiss took another step the scratch of his talons were answered by the skittering and scampering of some rodent off at the end of the hall, its noises echoing hollowly back to the party.

The Saurian thumbed free his HHMAK looking back at the others, his tongue flicking free again tasting the air.

"It tastes... off." He commented in a hushed tone that seemed to echo louder than spoken.

[Cahill]

Eric watched as Tythiss slip past Skie, but didn’t start towards the door until the lizard had disappeared inside, tail and all. Skie was still standing in front of the door when he reached it. A musty smell emanated from the inside the hall, but pushing on he entered, opening the door wider as he came to stand behind his small companion.

Gray light spilled through the doorway, illuminating most of the room. Everything seemed pretty much the same, faded and dust covered. As far as Eric could make out, much to his dismay, there was nothing worth exceptional value. No large stash of gold that dragons were rumoured to guard over and no dragon for that matter. No sign or smell of it. There was no smell of smoke and no charred furniture or burnt decorations. There weren’t even cindered corpses or gnawed on bones of previous adventurers or animals.The only trace of life was the sound of a rat or two, that and the sound of Tythiss’ slithering tongue and Eric’s breathing. It was audible outside that the wind was picking up, a drizzle coming down lightly.

“No use standing around, is there?” He voiced, talking over Tythiss’ words. The half-elf quickly produced flint from a small pouch at his waist. Two torches, one on either side of the main door, sat waiting to be lit. Turning he drew his dagger, reached up and scraped it across the flint. To his surprise the, fabric at the top of the torch caught fire instantly, illuminating the room further with a dull orange glow. The second torch was quickly lit with the first and Eric, flame in hand and flint and dagger put away, moved deeper into the room.

“Expected more from a place that looked so scary,” Eric said over his shoulder moving to the table in the middle hall. “To be honest I’m pretty let down, considering all the sinister stuff you guys were saying.” His voiced echoed loudly. The table was empty, except for five ornate candleholders, each fitted with their own candle. Surrounding the table was a number of chairs, neatly pushed in, excluding the one at the far that was facing away from the table.

“Coming soon?” Eric said looking toward the main door and leaning on the back rest of a chair.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

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