1 Chapter 1 – Entering Lerwick

"Where is this blasted town!" Victor says in a harsh and grumpy voice while staring at the ground as he drags his feet through a dusty path, Una turns round abruptly with a stern look towards Victor "well if i remember it was you that insisted on walking through the last village without a break, 'we will get there faster if we just keep going'" she says sarcastically imitating him, Victors head falls lower and looks around in embarrassment Una turns sharply back and continues walking. Krum walks past Victor briefly looking at him smirking and quietly saying "if Krum was you, krum would be Quite" he chuckles again and continues to walk past.

The weary Adventurers are walking down a Long and Winding path through the hilly countryside the sun is high and there isn't a cloud in the sky, all are looking very tired and worn out all trying not to drag there feet as they trek onwards, after hours of hiking as the Trio get to the peak of the final Hill they see the path leading to a small town in the distance "finally" says Una "looks like we are finally here". Victor steps forward next to Una "so this is Lerwick" he says looking over the town from a distance "doesn't seem in dire need to me" he continues, "well what exactly did you expect?? " Una asks "well you know fires, crumbling buildings, screaming you know bad stuff, this.... this just looks like a.... quite town" Victor says in a disappointed tone, Krum stands over both of them and nods in agreement with Victor "men" Una says "its all about the obvious with you, maybe look closely.... Even Krum should be able to see what's wrong". All three start to walk looking at the town closer and closer "where people?" krum asks "that's what you meant wasn't it.... Yes i get it no town should be this quite this time of day" Victor responds "what exactly are we doing on this mission?" he questions Una, "i told you im not sure the letter we received simply asked us to come to the town and Report directly to the mayor's office, all it says is the town is in dire need and this is a personal request of the mayor himself and for our troubles we would be rewarded greatly. After that I did a small amount of research on the town and found that it's actually quite a affluent trading town and if you remember the moment I told you that you insisted we headed off straight away" Una explains 'yes yes i remember" Victor says sarcastically "anyway i responded to the letter sending a carrier pigeon to say that we would arrive within 3 days" Una continues by this point all three have reach the main gate they see it is a large wooden gate very sturdy but wide open a no guards anywhere in sight. Krum walks forward "we here now, no more talk lets go" he says as he confidently walks into the town.

The town is quite the only noises are shuffling coming from within the houses "strange" Victor says "weapons ready something is not right here" he says to the others while drawing his sword, the others hold their weapons and all three begin to walk slowly and quietly through the streets keeping an eye on all angles. All of a sudden from the corner of a building just steps away from Krum, come's a panicked Belo and a rather large and sweaty middle aged man "AT LAST!!!" he exclaims, in shock Krum jumps up raising his axe and begins to swing before quickly pulling up his axe at the last second plunging it into the corner of the building just above the now ghostly pale mans head. The man looks up at the axe just inches above his head, shaking as he does so then collapses to the floor Krum pulls his axe out of the wall and holsters it on his back and then leans over the unconscious man "Krum sorry" he says. Una harnesses her bow too and approaches the man "dont worry Krum he isn't hurt he just got scared, stupid man bursting round the corner on us i wonder who he is?" Una says to herself she looks him over he is wearing fine cloths and has many rings and fine jewellery on him she notices a crest embedded in his ring "its the mayor" she says in a confused tone Victor looks over "are you sure?" he responds "yes look his crest.. Its the same as the crest used to seal the letter we received, but why is he out here and alone?" she asks aloud at that point the man begins to regain consciousness he looks up at the trio and begins to quickly try to stand up im a huff, Victor, Una and Krum all take a step back as he regains his footing and brush's himself off he looks at the trio takes a breath and asks "are you the ones from the Adventurers Guild i have been waiting for? " Una nods back, "thank Highgar for that, please follow me back to office I will explain everything to you there I will also give you food and drink you must be weary from your travel here" he says to them "lead on sir" Victor says and with that the man turns round and begins to quickly walk towards a large building at the end of the road and all three follow at pace.

As they approach the building Una gets a sense of being watched and quickly turns to look but she see's nothing "what is it? Victor asks quietly, Una continues to walk on "i sensed something... Dark, something isn't right in this town keep alert" she says back Victor nods as they walk through the doors of a large and regal building.

Inside is a well decorated hall and waiting area with a well crafted chandelier hanging from the ceiling and suits of armour and paintings decorating the walls, on the floor is a large circular rug it looks different to the rest of the room like it's much newer Una spots this immediately, the man continues to walk over to a door at the far end of the room " please follow me into my office then we can sit down and I'll talk you through everything" he says as they all follow behind. They all enter the office as the man sits behind his desk, too there surprise in one corner of the room is ritual circle painted on the floor with broken and burnt out candles around it and dried blood stains around the carpet and up the walls. "bad.... " says Krum as he looks over the mess "yes" says Victor "bad indeed" he turns directly to the man behind the desk looking in anger and raising his voice "And what exactly has been going on in this town!" he says slamming his hand on the desk, the man bows his head in shame "please sit, i will explain" he says softly and with a sadness in his voice Una places her hand on Victor arm and gestures him to sit "please explain" she says as she and Victor takes a seat, Krum continues to look over the ritual area picking up small pieces of candles and glass and examining them. The man looks up and takes a deep breath "i know this... Mess, must be a shock but please hear my story. As you see me now i am Lord Turmore elected mayor of the town of Lerwick but before this and well many years ago i was once a rather talented Conjurer, nothing major just small items and animals etc. Well once I had made enough money to settle in this town I gave up practicing my magic and decided to settle down" a small smile comes to his face as he is in thought " I eventually got married, had a beautiful daughter and the perfect life. It wasn't long before my name became well known throughout the town and I was put up as a candidate for the mayoral election and as you can see i have won each time since then and still retain my office" the mayor says. " that's great for you but this does not explain what we can see in this room and why the town is so quiet" Victor says bluntly, the mayor nods "yes sorry so as i was saying I have been wearing this time for many years and over this time we have prospered and become quieter well-known town throughout the area, however the last few elections have been extremely close how much to my shame I have to say I was not looking forward to losing my position. A few weeks ago I came up with a plan I would conjure some small creatures not normal ones but maybe Fey or small demon, nothing that guards couldn't handle these creatures with them be released into the town at various places" the mayors voice becomes more panicked " you have to believe me I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt or anything to happen all I wanted was to summon some sort of creatures that would cause a little trouble maybe break things and cause mischief" he begins to settle down again " I was planning on explaining to the people that are using some old magic will be able to get rid of these creatures, i would look a hero and my re-election would have been assured" he places his face into his hands and whimpers, Una leans forward "please continue, what happened here? What did you summon? " she asks calmly Victor is blurring the man with a slight anger in his eyes but staying silent. " as you see I didn't want anyone else involved in this so I decided my office was the safest place, I we can watch should have been a simple ritual don't think it was going out sleepy fine until SHE entered" the mayor said sadly "who?" Una asks "daughter" Krum says from the corner "Krum smells her scent, like yours" he says looking at the now tearful man, the mayor nods and continues "just as the ritual was beginning my daughter, Bethany, walked in on me. I told her to leave but she insisted on stopping me and then tried breaking the summoning circle but some how altered it, the circle gave of a bright blood red light then a force of unknown energy burst out knocking me to my desk and my daughter back to the doorway after that all i saw was tall dark shadow with evil eyes emerge from the circle and quickly fleeing the room taking my daughter with it. You must believe me I wasted no time the second my daughter was taken I immediately called the guards at top of my lungs and made them give chase, the most the chase it up to the large houses at the top of the hill on the far end of town where the creature to refuge in one of the empty houses however that's as far as they got as soon as they began to close in on the house other demons began to block their way, this happened 3 days ago and it was then that I sent the letter to the guild asking for help. Since then the town has been a complete lockdown only the guards are allowed to roam the streets but most of them are guarding the area up by the house" the mayor sits back in his chair and wipes the last tear from his eye. "so you have brought us here to be your personal demon Hunters" Victor says "cant say ive had many Run inns with demons.... however once we inspect the area im sure we can offer assistance, i see no reason your daughter need suffer for your stupidity" he says standing and beginning to walk out the office "we need rest and food" he says to the mayor as he get to the door glancing over at the mayor "erm um yes of course the... The.. The luck shoe inn just round the corner I have arranged for all of you to stay there as well as food and drinks and anything else that they can provide that you may need" the mayor replies nervously, Victor walks out without looking back "come on Krum" he says firmly, Krum looks over to Una "its ok Krum, go, make sure he gets a drink and calms himself" she says to him with a small smile. Krum nods and follows Victor as Una turns back to the mayor "now i have some questions..."