On a Haunted Hill

Dante's blood boiled. His daze was broken by the pain in his lower lip, he must have been biting it. General Galan had just told them the last reported location of Alan. If it was possible to catch Alan by surprise that would change everything. Suddenly he would not be guessing and hoping from one foot to the other he could strike and end this on his terms. General Galan continued, "Lucian and I must stay behind. We have matters to deal with here. Captain take your team including Morgan and Lady Mogath, if she'll go, and investigate. Its on the wall of the world. This has the exact location." Dante took the parchment from General Galan's hand with a ferious snatch. "Yes sir."

A quick trip to the Isle to talk to Vadellya and back to gather Morgan and Greyson and a quick casting of Vadellya's magic and they all stood on the mountain side looking up at a crumbling ruin of a castle. In fact, Dante found it hard to picture where the castle ended and the moutnain began. He thought if someone was not paying any attention they may pass by barely noticing a castle was even here. Trees and shrubs grew over space where must have been walls and battlements.


It was all uneasy. Dante wasn't sure why his instincts told him there was trouble but he extended his dragon sense. He looked for life any sign of someones breathing of scent. nothing. Only the smell of death. "It appears empty, lets stick together and find any clues of where Alan maybe. Stay sharp he could be anywhere." Dante shook off the stange haunting feeling in his gut, sure Alan had bested him before but he could not afford to get nervous. Now he was the aggressor.

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Morgan did not like this place. Something about it seemed familar. She did not know how. She certainly had never been here before. No one had for a very long time, at least by the look of it. No one but rats anyway she thought as she kicked a rock at a resting rat up ahead in the path. It scurried off less startled but seeming more annoyed. Morgan gripped her hand tight bracing for some unseen impact. The stones all around her were worn down, crumbled. Looking down to the rock she kicked she saw a smooth surface. Below the dust rested hidden marble. She tried to take in every detail so she could remember why this was...someone ran past her.

Morgan spun around but saw nothing. Was that a child? What is a child doing here? It could not have been. She was letting her feelings get the best of her. No kid, no one, not even footprints. But she knew what she saw. Then there was a voice so soft she realized it had been speaking since they arrived but she had not heard it. Raspy and short only he elf ears allowed her to hear, "Tell your friends to leave." She called out, "THERE IS SOMETHING HERE."

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"Colla morpht si my tolle" Vadellya cast as fast as she could to reveal the truth behind any illusion. Not only did the scene surprise her but there were people. Not real people, they must be ghosts of some type."

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Greyson took Morgan's call with alarm and focused his essence to be more acute and atuned. To hear more to see more and feel more. Every spec of dust was now distinguishable. Every changing gradation of the rocks where the sun and rain had reached compared to the stones below which had been more sheltered. And he hears something break. It was directly beneath him in a lower level about 15 feet below his right boot. Something metalic breaking against stone then the sound of shredding metal. Something alive was hear and it was trying to escape.