With a dose of urgency the dark elf’s vision focused in towards the faun-woman’s gesture. Behind the boarded windows and door was a quaint wooden home with trimmings of pale brick. Clay and stone protruded from the corner of the home to form a chimney. Had she not been told just now that a family of sorts was inside, Lilly might well have assumed the dwelling to be abandoned.

Dismayed, distressed, and concerned by the entire situation, the young drow eventually began to relax as the woman she had just met introduced herself.

Philomel. It was a nice name. A distinguished name. A name she could afford to calm herself around.

“It’s nice to meet you, despite our circumstances,” the well-spoken elf assured, “my name is Lilly.”

In her bewilderment the inventive girl skipped many of her normal pleasantries as reality began to set in. Epidemic? If they were truly at ground zero of some pestilence then she was surely one of the least lucky beings on Althanas. Multiple paths of fate raced through her mind until the logical part of her brain eventually caught up.

Her leather bound novel was secured within her bag as the neurotic heroine brought out a strand of pinkish cloth to drape around her mouth and nasal passages.

With a matching sigh the girl confessed, “if it’s airborne I’m likely already in trouble, so here’s hoping.” She fiddled with a screw on her gauntlet, while nervously trying to crack a smile behind her clothed disease barrier. Clearing her through she summoned the courage to suggest, “perhaps we should… I mean it’s probably only right for us to check on the inhabitants.”

Nudging her shoulder towards the boarded home with disdain the elf winced slightly. Reasoning that while it may be their moral prerogative to offer aid she was equally terrified they’d find more dead bodies.

“Would you like to take the lead?” Looking down at her boots briefly her gaze returned to the matriarch, “you seem more prepared for what we’ll find in there than I am.”

Lilthis didn’t believe her own words. But she also didn’t want to be the first to set foot in that house.