The hall was shrouded in shadows. The moon had long since passed the zenith, leaving no light to see clearly. Tacha searched through her inventory for the magic lamp she brought from Kirio. She bought it on a whim, not really thinking she was going to use it so soon.
Magical Sprite Lamp (Green)
A lamp that makes use of alchemy magic to guarantee a bright and reusable light. Perfect if you find yourself wander in pitch black darkness!
A fist-sized sphere of green light, encased in a prism, floated up to Tacha’s head level, illuminating the whole hall.
Aside from the hallway she came from, there were two more entrances, one on the left and one on the right. Unfortunately both were blocked by broken rubble and statues. Of the most intact pieces, she could make out some canine features.
The pool at the center was dried out, with some persistent vines growing out of the marble floor. Only the statue at the centre was mostly intact, wearing fur clothing and a black medallion that was carefully painted, resembling the one that Kirio showed her before. The left hand was raised on the side, as if it was supposed to hold something there. The right hand was in front of it, hand closed on a missing staff or sword.
However the head had no face. It was wearing a luscious hat made of plumes and fur, with orange marbles inlaid upon it. But the facial features seemed to have been purposely erased by someone.
Tacha got coser to the statue to touch the face, having to get on tiptoes to reach it. The surface was rugged, slashed countless times by a bladed weapon, but she could still make out the position of the eyes. She could feel two tiny holes in both of them, something that the vandal couldn’t erase no matter how much he tried.
Grandma Tacha left the statue alone, and got closer to the mural behind the statue, on the only wall without an entrance.
If the statue had only its face broken, then this mural was completely ruined. The once bright colors were scorched beyond recognition, and more than one place was destroyed and slashed apart. Only the corners were somehow intact, maybe they were not deemed important enough to be destroyed.
Each of the corners had one symbol: a red moon on the top left, an amber eye on the top right, a white sun on the bottom right and lastly, a fanged black wolf on the bottom left.
Tacha would have loved to have seen the complete mural, but alas nothing could be seen aside from a few inlaid opaque gems there and there.
With no other option she searched the whole room for something, anything that could give her a clue. Under the rubble near the right passageway, she found an amber sphere that resembled a cat’s eye, very carefully stashed away. Could it have been because the vandal wasn’t able to destroy it?
She looked at the statue, then at the sphere, then at the statue again. She then put the sphere on top of the left hand, finding it to be a perfect fit. Tacha waited for a bit, but nothing happened. With much reluctance she took out the purple sword and looked over the other satue’s hand.
After much internal debate, she took out one of the fragrant wooden sticks that she had pocketed the night she had died to the giant radish, and with a triumphant smile she inserted it in the statue’s hand.
To her dismay, it wasn’t thick enough. She tried all of them, but not even one was the right fit. She thought she could cheat the system, but she was smacked in the face by reality. With trembling hands, she gave up the purple sword. Once slotted in, with a click, the floor trembled and behind the statue a spiral staircase heading downwards appeared.
She gave it a glance before taking the sword back. Unfortunately for her, the secret passage closed right away. It looked like she was not destined to keep the sword.
Looking at the secret entrance, Tacha decided that it was time to cook some food. She might have no weapons, but at least she was going to have enough food to stuff her enemies to death!
Making a little bonfire with the wooden sticks, she cooked all of the food that she had.
Inventory
Star Crystal, Molly’s Soft Bedroll
Iron Pot, Fire Starter (x2), Simple Cultery, Bronze Coins (x65), Simple Bandages (x2), Twilight Berries (x3), Spirited Radish (x16), Wild Stuffed Chestnut Rabbit, Salted Spirit Mushroom(x2), Wild Berry Salad (x2), Steamed Fruity Spirited Radish (x7), Mixed Salad (x5), Steamed Spirited Radish (x25)
Wild Stuffed Chestnut Rabbit
Rabbit meat stuffed with chestnuts and mushrooms. Some fragant plant was used to give it a peculiar aroma.
Hp: +30, Hp Regen: +15%, Agi: +2
Salted Spirit Mushroom
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Made by cooking togheter Spirited Radishes and some mushrooms. Effects may vary!
???
Wild Berry Salad
This dish was created by using some aromatic leaves, Spirited Radishes and a mixture of berries with a sprinkle of chestnuts. Who knows if the ingredients used were poisonous or not?
???
Steamed Fruity Spirited Radish
Spirited Radish cooked over a pot. It was mixed with some white berries of unkown effect.
???
Mixed Salad
A salad made with different ingredients. The effects are a mystery with each bite!
???
Steamed Spirited Radish
Spirited Radish that was slowly cooked in a pot. Nothing special, but you could swear that you could hear some muffled screams while cooking them…
???
She kept uncooked only some of the poisonous berries and some of the radishes. Maybe she could still throw them at the enemy?
Tacha didn’t dare to try any of the foods. The only one that she felt sure about eating was the rabbit. Going by the description, the rest sounded poisonous, or at least with debuffing effects. As for the rabbit, it was better to eat it when her Hp were low. With her she had only a couple of bandages that were very inefficent while in combat. She would need to lose a couple of minutes to use them. She might even be dead before they take any effect.
With one deep breath, she went down the spiral staircase. It was alright. The quest giveth and the quest taketh away. There might not even be a fight down there. Yep, she was going to be optimistic.
The staircase felt narrow and suffocating. If Tacha didn’t have the floating green source of light, she might have turned around already. She didn’t know if it was some kind of nocebo effect given by the quest description or the general attitude of the village towards this place, or if it was just the cramped ambient, but she felt scared of what might be waiting for her down there.
Finally, she reached the end of the stairs. Her floating lamp illuminated the dark ambience.
There was a foul smell mixed with the musty smell of a closed up space. She tentatively took one step, her foot landing in a slimey texture.
Hans’s words came to her mind ‘I went there once and nothing was weird there’ ‘They’re old, dusty ruins. Interesting maybe if you’re interested in old civilizations. Some weird scripts here and there, but nothing that would scream ‘cursed’ or ‘treasure’’ She had not seen even once the ‘weird scripts’ that he mentioned. Everything was just in ruins, beside something ‘cursed’ was definetly down here. Was he lying to her or did someone destroy the place after he came to look at the ruins?
Then a gruttal sound reverbrated in the small place, followed by some splish-splash sounds. Tacha’s heart skipped a beat and in reflex she took out a couple of Twilight Berries. She regretted not buying those expensive knifes at the blacksmith!
ᴥᴥᴥ ≈ ° ≈ ᴥᴥᴥ
Frӧst had to run around blindly in the forest near the shrine before finding the right way for the ruins. He had gotten a few scares from the night mobs that wander around there.
If it was for him, he would have never rushed to the ruins at this time of the night, but his mysterious ability kept going off for some reason.
??? is whispering. The timeline is going awry.
??? is agitated. Berith is consuming the seal.
He couldn’t read it, but for sure there was something wrong happening.
The entrance of the ruins were exactly as he remebered, but upon reaching the main hall with the pool he stopped on his tracks.
Both of the side corridors had collapsed and were blocked by debris, plus the mural was almost completely destroyed. When he came here in his last life, the mural was only a bit burnt in different places and the corridors lead to a few rooms where artifacts and ancient scripts could be found.
Someone had come and wrecked most of this place.
He felt a pang in his heart thinking of the mural. Layla was trying to decypher it during her questline. He only remebered there being some ancient symbols and a battle against an ancient monster.
Only the four corners were left intact. Looking at them, Frӧst remembered the main line Layla was famous for: ‘The rising crimson moon is followed by the curse with the eyes of gold. Bless the land to call forth the guardian to swallow the moon, all for the cycle to begin anew’.
Many theorists said that the ‘curse with eyes of gold’ were the Night Crunchers, since they had the same characteristics. However beyond that, they never understood how to summon said guardian to get rid of them. Maybe this time he could figure it out.
He noticed the remains of a bonfire near the pool. Touching the ashes, they were still hot. It hasn’t been long since someone had stopped here. Then his eyes landed upon the secret passage. He never knew there was one, but the one that destroyed this place might be down there to finish the job.
??? says that the Devouring Plague is spreading in this place.
He was as ready as he could be. He wasn’t going to let Layla die to this mysterious individual!