{-Casrane-}
They had one last thing to do before they headed off to Ilataesi: gather information. They all needed to have a clear idea on what they’d face moving forward. Their information came in fragments, as they slowly prepared and made their way closer to their destination.
“I heard they got those storms,” Vureta had said thoughtfully. She seemed busy doing something else at the time, but gave them enough attention to answer their question. “Not normal storms—not thunder and rain, and not the kind of hurricanes Kehnore would get occasionally. When they get storms, they’re bad. From what I heard from it, what comes down doesn’t even sound like it’s rain, but it isn’t hail or snow, either. People have told me that it… stings or burns, I think is what they said? If you’re in it too long, that is. But I don’t know how ‘too long’ is in comparison to regular rain. I think they said it had something to do with the runes?”
So, when they’d stopped by to see Cahacu, they asked specifically about the runes. She expressed a desire for them to stay safe first, before continuing to reply. “They’re all over the place there. You’ll never find caves that glow more, or forests filled with tainted monsters, as you would there. I don’t think anyone knows why—but we don’t need to know why to understand what it means. It’s likely going to be one of the most dangerous places you’ve come across so far. It isn’t the people you’ll have to worry about—in Ilataesi, it’s like nature itself wants you gone. And nature is a lot harder to tame than any person.”
Lastly, they found a Nafrius priest, who was willing to tell them more about these natural dangers. He was actually in Ilataesi City; they found him right before they were about to go out to see what they could find for themselves.
He considered it for a moment or two after Casrane had asked the question, long enough that she wondered if she’d asked the wrong person. But, eventually, he did answer, “I suppose, if there’s one thing to be wary of, it’s the monsters. The runes, the storms… a little troubling, sure, but nothing a few careful adventurers couldn’t plan for. The monsters, however, gain more power from the runes—where the runes are, the monsters will congregate, so I’d advise being careful around those parts.”
“Do you know where they are?” Casrane prompted. She knew where they were supposed to be going and what they’d ultimately end up doing. But she could pretend, right? That there were a little more things to control here, that she could forge an ultimately better path…
The priest shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. I’m quite unfamiliar with the place—I haven’t been here long. If I had to guess, anywhere in the mountains… which really isn’t much, given where we are. Just be careful and it won’t get too dangerous. You look like a reliable bunch.”
Casrane still had to fight to force her smile. “Alright, thank you.” She stepped back to be a bit closer to the twins and quickly closed the quest completion menu.
“What are we doing next?” Myr asked. “We’ve talked to a couple of people, but… we really don’t know what we’re supposed to do here…”
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“We’ll see what everyone else has to say,” Casrane explained simply. “What we need will trigger eventually.”
She actually knew exactly where they’d be going and what they’d need to do, she just… wasn’t so sure how happy the game would be if she started mildly sequence breaking. She had a feeling that it was happening already—they just needed to be told that there was a reason to leave town.
Luckily for them, it happened before they even left the inn. Both of the twins stopped before she could tell them it was important, meaning everything knew that this was supposed to happen.
“I didn’t see too many monsters where I was,” one person, an NPC only named Adventurer, said. “I thought it was strange but, you know, no use complaining. It was better for all of us with a lot less monsters to worry about.”
“Makes you wonder where they all are,” a second, Traveler, mused. “I can’t imagine they all just disappeared.”
Then the third, Explorer, shook his head. “I saw a bunch of them wandering into one of the caves north of here. Pretty sure I saw a girl with them, too.”
“Wait, and you didn’t do anything for her? What if they were attacking her?”
“They weren’t. Besides, even if they were, I didn’t have anything with me. With how many monsters there were, I would also need rescuing.”
Casrane stepped up to them and asked, “Excuse me, but where exactly did you see this?”
He looked up at her for a moment before shrugging. “Up north there’s a huge cave system—I saw them there. Don’t try to think yourself a hero, though, or else you’re not going to get very far.”
“You don’t have to worry,” she mumbled. “I know what I’m doing.”
Especially now that the quest menu popped up again, with the short and sweet objective, Find out what happened with the monsters and the girl.
“I’m guessing that’s the sign you were waiting for?” Llewel prompted.
Casrane nodded and gestured for the twins to follow her as she left the inn. “Don’t worry, it’ll be alright as long as we stick together.”
“I knew it would be, as long as you’re with us.”
They didn’t say anything while they traveled, though; they just followed the signs and eventually got to the destination they were trying to reach.
There was no sign of a girl, but there were definitely plenty of monsters. Even if they didn’t seem to notice the three of them at all. In fact, they looked much more interested in something else entirely—something deeper in the cave, something the smaller of them tried climbing over each other to see. The three were able to walk through the crowd of monsters without issue or opposition until they were able to see what they’d all been gathered around.
It was a girl—though not exactly a girl, since Casrane knew she was older than she looked—in the center, and clearly not a fan of the surrounding monsters. She kept muttering to herself and trying to shove them away from her, up until she realized the three of them and froze.
“Looks like you could use some help,” Myr remarked. Before doing anything herself, though, she looked at Casrane and mumbled, “Can we help her?”
“Of course,” Casrane responded with a small smile. “That’s what we’re here for. Just be careful around all of the enemies—they’re not the strongest we’ll have to fight, but there’s a lot of them.”