Chapter 271: 037 – Ghost Town 2
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"Could the orcs have attacked this village?" a soldier asked while increasing the grip on his sword.
The squad quickly formed a tight circle around the captain, since she was a spell caster they would protect her while she prepared the appropriate spells to deal with the situation.
The captain scanned the area closely and formed several more flames and scattered them all over the place, to avoid giving away their location.
"Are you blind and stupid?" Colten rebuked the soldier who spoke.
"There are no bodies, and there isn't a single drop of blood on the ground," he said in a condescending tone.
"Maybe they saw a group of orcs approaching so they fled the village, then the orcs torched the village," another soldier posed.
His words weren't immediately shot down, and soon the squad took it to be the most likely possibility and they increased their grip on their weapons while looking around with ever increasing vigilance.
"I just can't understand how a group of orcs managed to reach this part of the territory without being noticed," Colten finally said, his words meant that he didn't deny the soldiers theory.
Also his words were something that had been on everyone's mind, the soldiers, the members of House Kurt, the advisors and their lord himself, none of them could offer an explanation.
The main place that this region had contact with orcs was through Port Cove, it was a trading hub that humans and orcs used to exchange goods and every couple of years the ships from Adyr would dock at the port.
For the orcs to be here they would have had to dock at Port Cove, then cut across the territories of House Kurt, not to mention go past the estate of House Kurt before reaching the main road and moving to this village.
A map of the region.
That was also the easiest method for any group of orcs to reach this area, any other method of approach was extremely unlikely, and even this method was also borderline impossible.
Which is why House Kurt was currently suspicious of House Hauton, they were the likeliest candidate to have been able to sneak orcs into the region, then sending them to stir chaos on the part of the road that House Kurt was in charge of.
With Lord Kurt's recent banishment from Riverfall, the local lords of the region were all set on making things difficult for House Kurt, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for any enemies.
While House Kurt was focused on some wild goose chase with some orcs they would be free to steal territories belonging to House Kurt.
"Colten take five men and do a sweep of the perimeter, if this was the doing of orcs it's possible that this is more than a ghost town but rather a trap for us," the captain whispered her orders.
Colten grumbled about getting the shitty job and grabbed a torch that he found lying on the ground, after lighting it he selected a small group, to go out and scan the perimeters of the village.
The captain continued to make her way through the village, she sent her soldiers to search through the buildings that still remained.
A few houses collapsed when the doors were pushed open, but after several scans of the area there was only one thing that was found to be common throughout all the homes.
It didn't surprise her the first time a soldier told her that nothing was taken from the homes not clothes or the food provisions they stocked up, the soldiers even came back with coin purse's that were filled with the life savings of some families.
Sometimes when people panic it's possible that they would throw all things to the air and flee, for their lives, but it kept happening over and over again.
Even the soldiers were starting to feel concerned, what could possibly make an entire village with over two thousand people, to flee without even taking the most basic of things from their homes.
After ordering a search of the burnt down houses, the sound of the soldiers shoving and breaking parts of the houses made a loud din in the village, but before long, the soldiers were able to find things that survived the fires.
Their search only increased the oddness of the situation, because not a single house had any of its possessions taken.
The more they thought about it the more unnerved they became, something passed through here that was so scary, that it made all the people flee, neglecting all their earthly possession, yet, their was not a single corpse or even a drop of blood anywhere to be seen.
It made absolutely no sense at all, and by now the soldiers would have by far preferred walking into a village that was littered by corpse's, at least then they'd have an explanation.
Boom. Bang. Crash.
The sudden sound of objects crashing resounded loudly throughout the dead still quite of the village.
Several of the soldiers jumped at the unexpected sound, and they could still hear the sounds it was growing softer, but it sounded like something hard bouncing up and down.
They all turned to their captain for direction, with fearful looks on their faces, they were all trained soldiers, but this was something they never experienced before, this entire village was completely unsettling.
The captains brow was knitted tight with concern, "Get into a tight formation, keep your spears up and archers keep your bows nocked at all times," she whispered her orders to them seriously.
They started to move in the direction they heard the heard the sound coming from, they proceeded at a turtle's pace with taught nerves.
When they drew closer they could hear what sounded like wood being dragged around, "Halt," the captain ordered as they approached a corner.
"Look carefully at the lay out, I'll be extinguishing the flames, we don't want to completely give ourselves away," she said.
The soldiers nodded and did as told, a few minutes later they walked with extra slowness and did all they could to move as quietly as possible, and behind them they could see their captain moving her hands to prepare a spell.
Having an adapt spell caster at their back filled them with confidence and allowed them to continue, but when they thought they had a chance at sneaking up on their enemy, they heard someone speak.
"Oh my blessed name, why in the world are you people making so much noise, it's like a game of clink and clank with you people," they heard someone start to complain in a disgruntled tone.
"Who goes there?" an archer shouted and let loose an arrow.
It was just a warning shot but everyone could feel the panic set in.
"The dark makes you so skittish," the man said with a crazed laugh, "Imagine if the darkness accompanied you everywhere you go,"
The captain of the group could tell that they were already discovered so she wasted no time and unleashed a series of spells, the ground started to rumble and flames lit up the area.
When the ground finally stopped shaking the soldiers turned to see a blindfolded man with shoulder length black hair caught in a trap of earth.
The earth formed a pillory around the man locking his two hands and his head, while the ground around his feet sunk for a few seconds before the ground hardened.
"Locking me up just like that," Lirian mused with a light and delirious chuckle, in his hand was a large mug of ale and despite the awkward position of his hands and head, he jerked the mug slightly and sent the ale splashing into his mouth.
"Did all of you come to help me finish drinking my friends?" he asked and unsuccessfully attempted to point at the barrels.
"I've… been waiting for yyyyyou to-to-to come for me for soooooo long now," he slurred but his finger accurately pointed at the captain of the squad.
The soldiers were looking at him with confusion they could now see a bunch of empty barrels scattered all over the ground, which explained the loud sound from the look of things they'd wager that the drunk man in front of them stacked the barrels and toppled them over.
The soldiers went completely red in shame as they recalled how terrified they got by the sound, what would the lord say if he ever found out, that they were scared out of their wits by tumbling barrels.
The captain frowned as she looked at Lirian, other than his good looks she couldn't find anything special about him at all.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"J-j-j-j-just a wondering traveller, Lirian is mmmmyy almighty name," Lirian introduced himself with a flare of his hands, then he splashed more ale into his mouth.
The captain frowned in annoyance at his disrespectful attitude so she indicated for one of the soldiers to take the mug of ale away.
A soldier quickly approached, but his steps suddenly came to a halt as he collapsed to the ground, as everyone looked on they realised that he was unconscious.
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"Could the orcs have attacked this village?" a soldier asked while increasing the grip on his sword.
The squad quickly formed a tight circle around the captain, since she was a spell caster they would protect her while she prepared the appropriate spells to deal with the situation.
The captain scanned the area closely and formed several more flames and scattered them all over the place, to avoid giving away their location.
"Are you blind and stupid?" Colten rebuked the soldier who spoke.
"There are no bodies, and there isn't a single drop of blood on the ground," he said in a condescending tone.
"Maybe they saw a group of orcs approaching so they fled the village, then the orcs torched the village," another soldier posed.
His words weren't immediately shot down, and soon the squad took it to be the most likely possibility and they increased their grip on their weapons while looking around with ever increasing vigilance.
"I just can't understand how a group of orcs managed to reach this part of the territory without being noticed," Colten finally said, his words meant that he didn't deny the soldiers theory.
Also his words were something that had been on everyone's mind, the soldiers, the members of House Kurt, the advisors and their lord himself, none of them could offer an explanation.
The main place that this region had contact with orcs was through Port Cove, it was a trading hub that humans and orcs used to exchange goods and every couple of years the ships from Adyr would dock at the port.
For the orcs to be here they would have had to dock at Port Cove, then cut across the territories of House Kurt, not to mention go past the estate of House Kurt before reaching the main road and moving to this village.
A map of the region.
That was also the easiest method for any group of orcs to reach this area, any other method of approach was extremely unlikely, and even this method was also borderline impossible.
Which is why House Kurt was currently suspicious of House Hauton, they were the likeliest candidate to have been able to sneak orcs into the region, then sending them to stir chaos on the part of the road that House Kurt was in charge of.
With Lord Kurt's recent banishment from Riverfall, the local lords of the region were all set on making things difficult for House Kurt, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for any enemies.
While House Kurt was focused on some wild goose chase with some orcs they would be free to steal territories belonging to House Kurt.
"Colten take five men and do a sweep of the perimeter, if this was the doing of orcs it's possible that this is more than a ghost town but rather a trap for us," the captain whispered her orders.
Colten grumbled about getting the shitty job and grabbed a torch that he found lying on the ground, after lighting it he selected a small group, to go out and scan the perimeters of the village.
The captain continued to make her way through the village, she sent her soldiers to search through the buildings that still remained.
A few houses collapsed when the doors were pushed open, but after several scans of the area there was only one thing that was found to be common throughout all the homes.
It didn't surprise her the first time a soldier told her that nothing was taken from the homes not clothes or the food provisions they stocked up, the soldiers even came back with coin purse's that were filled with the life savings of some families.
Sometimes when people panic it's possible that they would throw all things to the air and flee, for their lives, but it kept happening over and over again.
Even the soldiers were starting to feel concerned, what could possibly make an entire village with over two thousand people, to flee without even taking the most basic of things from their homes.
After ordering a search of the burnt down houses, the sound of the soldiers shoving and breaking parts of the houses made a loud din in the village, but before long, the soldiers were able to find things that survived the fires.
Their search only increased the oddness of the situation, because not a single house had any of its possessions taken.
The more they thought about it the more unnerved they became, something passed through here that was so scary, that it made all the people flee, neglecting all their earthly possession, yet, their was not a single corpse or even a drop of blood anywhere to be seen.
It made absolutely no sense at all, and by now the soldiers would have by far preferred walking into a village that was littered by corpse's, at least then they'd have an explanation.
Boom. Bang. Crash.
The sudden sound of objects crashing resounded loudly throughout the dead still quite of the village.
Several of the soldiers jumped at the unexpected sound, and they could still hear the sounds it was growing softer, but it sounded like something hard bouncing up and down.
They all turned to their captain for direction, with fearful looks on their faces, they were all trained soldiers, but this was something they never experienced before, this entire village was completely unsettling.
The captains brow was knitted tight with concern, "Get into a tight formation, keep your spears up and archers keep your bows nocked at all times," she whispered her orders to them seriously.
They started to move in the direction they heard the heard the sound coming from, they proceeded at a turtle's pace with taught nerves.
When they drew closer they could hear what sounded like wood being dragged around, "Halt," the captain ordered as they approached a corner.
"Look carefully at the lay out, I'll be extinguishing the flames, we don't want to completely give ourselves away," she said.
The soldiers nodded and did as told, a few minutes later they walked with extra slowness and did all they could to move as quietly as possible, and behind them they could see their captain moving her hands to prepare a spell.
Having an adapt spell caster at their back filled them with confidence and allowed them to continue, but when they thought they had a chance at sneaking up on their enemy, they heard someone speak.
"Oh my blessed name, why in the world are you people making so much noise, it's like a game of clink and clank with you people," they heard someone start to complain in a disgruntled tone.
"Who goes there?" an archer shouted and let loose an arrow.
It was just a warning shot but everyone could feel the panic set in.
"The dark makes you so skittish," the man said with a crazed laugh, "Imagine if the darkness accompanied you everywhere you go,"
The captain of the group could tell that they were already discovered so she wasted no time and unleashed a series of spells, the ground started to rumble and flames lit up the area.
When the ground finally stopped shaking the soldiers turned to see a blindfolded man with shoulder length black hair caught in a trap of earth.
The earth formed a pillory around the man locking his two hands and his head, while the ground around his feet sunk for a few seconds before the ground hardened.
"Locking me up just like that," Lirian mused with a light and delirious chuckle, in his hand was a large mug of ale and despite the awkward position of his hands and head, he jerked the mug slightly and sent the ale splashing into his mouth.
"Did all of you come to help me finish drinking my friends?" he asked and unsuccessfully attempted to point at the barrels.
"I've… been waiting for yyyyyou to-to-to come for me for soooooo long now," he slurred but his finger accurately pointed at the captain of the squad.
The soldiers were looking at him with confusion they could now see a bunch of empty barrels scattered all over the ground, which explained the loud sound from the look of things they'd wager that the drunk man in front of them stacked the barrels and toppled them over.
The soldiers went completely red in shame as they recalled how terrified they got by the sound, what would the lord say if he ever found out, that they were scared out of their wits by tumbling barrels.
The captain frowned as she looked at Lirian, other than his good looks she couldn't find anything special about him at all.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"J-j-j-j-just a wondering traveller, Lirian is mmmmyy almighty name," Lirian introduced himself with a flare of his hands, then he splashed more ale into his mouth.
The captain frowned in annoyance at his disrespectful attitude so she indicated for one of the soldiers to take the mug of ale away.
A soldier quickly approached, but his steps suddenly came to a halt as he collapsed to the ground, as everyone looked on they realised that he was unconscious.
"Could the orcs have attacked this village?" a soldier asked while increasing the grip on his sword.The squad quickly formed a tight circle around the captain, since she was a spell caster they would protect her while she prepared the appropriate spells to deal with the situation.The captain scanned the area closely and formed several more flames and scattered them all over the place, to avoid giving away their location."Are you blind and stupid?" Colten rebuked the soldier who spoke."There are no bodies, and there isn't a single drop of blood on the ground," he said in a condescending tone."Maybe they saw a group of orcs approaching so they fled the village, then the orcs torched the village," another soldier posed.His words weren't immediately shot down, and soon the squad took it to be the most likely possibility and they increased their grip on their weapons while looking around with ever increasing vigilance."I just can't understand how a group of orcs managed to reach this part of the territory without being noticed," Colten finally said, his words meant that he didn't deny the soldiers theory.Also his words were something that had been on everyone's mind, the soldiers, the members of House Kurt, the advisors and their lord himself, none of them could offer an explanation.The main place that this region had contact with orcs was through Port Cove, it was a trading hub that humans and orcs used to exchange goods and every couple of years the ships from Adyr would dock at the port.For the orcs to be here they would have had to dock at Port Cove, then cut across the territories of House Kurt, not to mention go past the estate of House Kurt before reaching the main road and moving to this village.A map of the region.That was also the easiest method for any group of orcs to reach this area, any other method of approach was extremely unlikely, and even this method was also borderline impossible.Which is why House Kurt was currently suspicious of House Hauton, they were the likeliest candidate to have been able to sneak orcs into the region, then sending them to stir chaos on the part of the road that House Kurt was in charge of.With Lord Kurt's recent banishment from Riverfall, the local lords of the region were all set on making things difficult for House Kurt, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for any enemies.While House Kurt was focused on some wild goose chase with some orcs they would be free to steal territories belonging to House Kurt."Colten take five men and do a sweep of the perimeter, if this was the doing of orcs it's possible that this is more than a ghost town but rather a trap for us," the captain whispered her orders.Colten grumbled about getting the shitty job and grabbed a torch that he found lying on the ground, after lighting it he selected a small group, to go out and scan the perimeters of the village.The captain continued to make her way through the village, she sent her soldiers to search through the buildings that still remained.A few houses collapsed when the doors were pushed open, but after several scans of the area there was only one thing that was found to be common throughout all the homes.It didn't surprise her the first time a soldier told her that nothing was taken from the homes not clothes or the food provisions they stocked up, the soldiers even came back with coin purse's that were filled with the life savings of some families.Sometimes when people panic it's possible that they would throw all things to the air and flee, for their lives, but it kept happening over and over again.Even the soldiers were starting to feel concerned, what could possibly make an entire village with over two thousand people, to flee without even taking the most basic of things from their homes.After ordering a search of the burnt down houses, the sound of the soldiers shoving and breaking parts of the houses made a loud din in the village, but before long, the soldiers were able to find things that survived the fires.Their search only increased the oddness of the situation, because not a single house had any of its possessions taken.The more they thought about it the more unnerved they became, something passed through here that was so scary, that it made all the people flee, neglecting all their earthly possession, yet, their was not a single corpse or even a drop of blood anywhere to be seen.It made absolutely no sense at all, and by now the soldiers would have by far preferred walking into a village that was littered by corpse's, at least then they'd have an explanation.Boom. Bang. Crash.The sudden sound of objects crashing resounded loudly throughout the dead still quite of the village.Several of the soldiers jumped at the unexpected sound, and they could still hear the sounds it was growing softer, but it sounded like something hard bouncing up and down.They all turned to their captain for direction, with fearful looks on their faces, they were all trained soldiers, but this was something they never experienced before, this entire village was completely unsettling.The captains brow was knitted tight with concern, "Get into a tight formation, keep your spears up and archers keep your bows nocked at all times," she whispered her orders to them seriously.They started to move in the direction they heard the heard the sound coming from, they proceeded at a turtle's pace with taught nerves.When they drew closer they could hear what sounded like wood being dragged around, "Halt," the captain ordered as they approached a corner."Look carefully at the lay out, I'll be extinguishing the flames, we don't want to completely give ourselves away," she said.The soldiers nodded and did as told, a few minutes later they walked with extra slowness and did all they could to move as quietly as possible, and behind them they could see their captain moving her hands to prepare a spell.Having an adapt spell caster at their back filled them with confidence and allowed them to continue, but when they thought they had a chance at sneaking up on their enemy, they heard someone speak."Oh my blessed name, why in the world are you people making so much noise, it's like a game of clink and clank with you people," they heard someone start to complain in a disgruntled tone."Who goes there?" an archer shouted and let loose an arrow.It was just a warning shot but everyone could feel the panic set in."The dark makes you so skittish," the man said with a crazed laugh, "Imagine if the darkness accompanied you everywhere you go,"The captain of the group could tell that they were already discovered so she wasted no time and unleashed a series of spells, the ground started to rumble and flames lit up the area.When the ground finally stopped shaking the soldiers turned to see a blindfolded man with shoulder length black hair caught in a trap of earth.The earth formed a pillory around the man locking his two hands and his head, while the ground around his feet sunk for a few seconds before the ground hardened."Locking me up just like that," Lirian mused with a light and delirious chuckle, in his hand was a large mug of ale and despite the awkward position of his hands and head, he jerked the mug slightly and sent the ale splashing into his mouth."Did all of you come to help me finish drinking my friends?" he asked and unsuccessfully attempted to point at the barrels."I've been waiting for yyyyyou to-to-to come for me for soooooo long now," he slurred but his finger accurately pointed at the captain of the squad.The soldiers were looking at him with confusion they could now see a bunch of empty barrels scattered all over the ground, which explained the loud sound from the look of things they'd wager that the drunk man in front of them stacked the barrels and toppled them over.The soldiers went completely red in shame as they recalled how terrified they got by the sound, what would the lord say if he ever found out, that they were scared out of their wits by tumbling barrels.The captain frowned as she looked at Lirian, other than his good looks she couldn't find anything special about him at all."Who are you?" she asked."J-j-j-j-just a wondering traveller, Lirian is mmmmyy almighty name," Lirian introduced himself with a flare of his hands, then he splashed more ale into his mouth.The captain frowned in annoyance at his disrespectful attitude so she indicated for one of the soldiers to take the mug of ale away.A soldier quickly approached, but his steps suddenly came to a halt as he collapsed to the ground, as everyone looked on they realised that he was unconscious.
