Castle of the Bloody Night (Open) {October Event!}

[Briarheart]

When we spun into existence, the first thing swirled into view was a towering structure off in the distance, encased in the shadows of the night, the outline of its various towers and ramparts illuminated by the waxing moon.

It was exactly as it had been described in the letter given to me by those two aristocrats or nobles or whatever in Radasanth whose names I've already forgotten. They were looking for a bunch of sellswords to team up and try and retake their ancestral home in the ass end of the world, I think? None of that mattered. What did matter was the reward--full access to any treasures that were horded within the stone walls of the ancient structure. Take with you what you could carry once the place was secure and the demons shooed away. When the three of us had lunch together, I asked about their library. The sister in particular was pleased that I was more interested in the spoils of the mind than of the material.

So, here we are a week later, the lingering magicks of our teleportation stones fizzling out, their soft aquamarine glow dying in the cold night of the Tular Plains.

Hype pulled her cloak just a little tighter around her lithe frame. "I already don't like this."

I slid my mythril mask down over my face and straightened out the cuffs of my shirt. "It is pretty ominous, isn't it."

Hyperion, once she heard of my plan to break from the group and go exploring on my own, insisted that she come along. In fact, she wouldn't shut up about it until I gave in. Me? Go it alone in a demon-infested castle smack dab in the middle of the part of the world map simply labeled "Here Be Monsters"? Despite having all this plague and acid and cordyceps and regenerative ability? Unacceptable! Out of the question!

Quietly, I was thankful that she was with me for the trip. Hers were an extra pair of shoulders that could carry another bag packed with any rare books I managed to scrounge up.

Apparently we weren't the only ones who were sent here by the siblings. Someone had built a decent bonfire to act as a summoning beacon for any other curious assholes in the area. I just hoped that the castle's current residents were too busy doing demon things to notice it too.

As we approached the warmth of the fire, I could start to make out the features of those huddled around it. Two others similarly wrapped in cloaks, a squat girl with the head of a raven that I immediately marked as something Hype was going to try and hug by the end of this adventure, and--

"Mister Nevin!" Hype bounded towards the alchemist, her briar-knit arms shooting out from inside her cloak as she rushed towards him, intent on giving him a greeting hug of a lifetime.