Meeting The Team

Kal walked out from behind some rubble and started to clap.

"That was beautiful, the synergy between you guys is amazing. Hard to believe you just met yesterday. Also that looked exciting, some blood pumping action. You must have gotten a thrill from it."

Elara looked at him, anger clearly visible on her face.

"Why didn't you help us? It would have been less fraugthful if you had joined us."

"I knew you could handle it alone." Kal replied in a casual manner.

Kal's reply infuriated her, she got up from where she sat and attempted to charge at him, but Silax pulled her back. She turned to look at him, and he just shook his head at her.

She turned back towards Kal, still very angry.

"We could've have died. What were you thinking?"

Kal placed is hands in his pockets and replied calmly.

"But you didn't."

Silax didn't say anything to Kal, he already understood the kind of person Kal was.

'He just does whatever pleases, regardless of the consequence. Saying anything to him wouldn't change a single thing.'

"It's alright Elara, we should take this time to recover our energy, this has already delayed us. Nothing we say now would change anything, what's done is done."

Elara looked like she still had more to say, but in the end decided against it.

The fight had lasted for over an hour, they spent another hour resting. They only had four hours left till the crimson moon came out.

Since they didn't know how long they would have to explore the castle, they wanted to make sure they got there before the moon was out.

They set out once again, leaping across the boulders and crumbled walls of the Whispering Ruin.

After they got past the ruin, all that was in front of them was a vast plain of greenery.

Kal was once again in front of the group leading them.

"From here till we get to the castle is safe, if we continue at the pace we've been traveling, it should take us just over three hours to get to the castle."

They travelled the rest of the way without incident.

After four hours of travel, they got to an area filled with trees. All the trees in the surrounding were bare, with no leaves on them, the ground itself was dead and grey.

In front of them, about a hundred meters away some tents pitched just on the periphery of the trees. 

By the time Silax and his group got there, four people were standing outside the tents. On getting closer Silax noticed there was elf sitting high up in the branches of one of the dead trees.

'He must have been the one who alerted them."

A short man, in dark colored clothing was the first to speak.

"Welcome back Kal. Honestly didn't expect you to make it back in time." 

Kal waved his hand in greeting towards the new group.

"You know better than to doubt me Tommy. When I say I'll do something, I do it. How have things been, any new developments?"

"None. Things have remained the same, just a boring old castle." Tommy replied.

"That's good too. This is Silax, he's the one who gave us the job of locating the castle."

He gestured towards Silax, then turned to look at him.

"Silax, this is Tommy. The giant of a man with the mace is Chad. The lovely lady with the glasses is Susan. The elf with the bangs is Alarynn, and lastly the elf in the trees is Elune."

They all said hi to Silax, then they looked at Elara, they knew her, but were surprised to see her. Although they tried not to show it, Silax had already noticed, but pretended as if he didn't.

Kal found a rock to sit on and invited Silax and Elara to join him. He also called Susan over, before sending the others away.

"The rest of you pack up and let's get ready to head to the castle. It'll be night in less than an hour."

Alarynn, Chad and Tommy went to pack up their things and make sure they were ready to leave by the time the moon came out.

"Susan here is our resident expert on all things Artiyaem, she also understands ancient elven script, she's a vital member of the team. She was also the one who discovered the scroll that alluded to the Crimson Night."

The mention of the scroll piqued Silax's interest.

"A scroll? Can I see it?"

"I handed it over to Jack, I thought he would have shown it to you." Kal replied.

"No, he didn't. I would have liked to read it myself, in case there was anything else mentioned, maybe what to expect when the sky turns red."

"You can trust in my skills when it comes to deciphering cryptic symbols and unravelling the secrets hidden in ancient writing." Susan interjected, feeling like her abilities were being questioned.

"It's not an issue of not trusting your abilities, another pair of eyes just helps to see things clearer." Silax replied her.

Kal was the one to respond this time around.

"No use worrying over that now, we will soon have the answers to our questions. We should take this time to get some final rest, we've been traveling almost nonstop for two days."

"I hope we don't have to get into any more fights, the last two days have been too taxing on me." Elara said.

Elara seemed to be fed up with the constant battles, it was not something she did usually.

When the sky started to darken and turn rose colored, they decided that it was time to move.

Alarynn wore fitted trousers and a tunic with intricate embroidery on the sleeves. She also had bracelets on, with runes carved into them.

Chad was dressed in leather armor, fitted with a plate of metal over the chest. He carried a mace in his right hand, with its head resting on his shoulders.

Tommy wore dark colored leather jerkins, breeches, and boots. He had a longsword with a golden hilt strapped to his side.

Susan was dressed in a surcote over her dress, with a belt tied at her waste, she carried a bag filled with scrolls and maps. She had no visible weapon on her.

Elune the final member of their group, wore a tunic with split sleeves and reinforced boots. He had his bow in his hand, and a quiver of arrows slung across his shoulders.

They eight of them walked past the trees that surrounded where they had camped, just in time for the sky to become completely colored in red.

In front of them, surrounded by skeletal trees, stood the forlorn husk of Castle Varneil. Its once-proud spires had crumbled into jagged teeth against the relentless sky, and its once-grand halls ravaged by time. It had been picked clean by previous explorers, all that was left were things of little to no value, left to decay along with the castle.