The Ninth of Greentide, D.Y. 500
-----The call in the morning seemed a bit too early. Nonetheless, when Garrison rousted Sol and Raven from their slumber, the morning light was filling the sky to the east.
-----A smile crosses the woodsman's face as he watches the two heroes rise. With weariness showing on his face, Garrison says quietly, "This village doesn't look much better in the daylight. Romney and I haven't seen a living thing for the past two hours." Looking at the door to the workshop, the woodsman asks, "Should I see if the women folk are up?"
-----Just then the door to the workshop opens and Rinda is there with a scowl on her face. "No need," the huntress answers, "You two outside whispering and moving around sound like a herd of oxen in this deserted place."
-----Sarah is seen behind her placing Chessie inside his magical cage. The young mage then rubs her eyes and complains about not having a washbasin to clean up with.
-----Garrison flinches and replies to the huntress, "Sorry. Is Mirian up?"
-----"No," Rinda says curtly although a hint of a teasing smile crosses her lips. She then looks at Raven and says, "My love, I must give my praises to the Great Hunter this morn. We will need to walk back to the woods at the beginning of this village."
-----"Right," Raven answers before looking at Sol. "How soon do you want to start out?"
-----"Not too soon," Sarah chimes in through the doorway, "I still have to look over my spells."
-----"I'll head out now, like I told our mystery fellow last night. I want t'speak t'him as quickly as possible. Ye need t'head out, but ye'll be able t'find th' rest o' us. Sarah, why don't you keep Mirian company here whilst ye go over yer spells? Romney, ye an' Garrison look after our base o' operations here an' th' horses. Lovan, come wi' me." As long as there are no arguments, Sol proceeds as planned to the location of last night's unseen speaker.
-----Raven frowns, but does not disagree. "Rinda and I will take our horses," he tells Sol. "If you run into something, give a yell. Other than that, we'll meet you back here."
-----As the two hunters leave, Sarah gives Sol a kiss. "I'll look after things here," she tells him. "Try not to run into too much trouble." With a serious expression, she adds, "I'll be studying my strongest spells in case we need them."
-----After another passionate embrace, the young warrior steps outside with the storm priest. The morning that greets them features the sun shining from a partly cloudy sky with a very light breeze wafting about. The deserted look of the village appears no less dishearteningly although the feeling of menace that accompanies the night is gone.
-----The surrounding buildings seem to be suffering from various degrees of decay and abuse. Some of the structures appear simply abandoned while one building located in the distance from the main thoroughfare has been burned to the ground.
-----Romney and Garrison nod grimly as Sol and Lovan begin walking down the street toward the encounter with the mysterious resident of the village. Meanwhile Raven and Rinda ride in the opposite direction toward the outskirts of the village; their horses' hooves thudding along casting uncanny echoes into the overwhelming silence.
-----As Sol and Lovan march down to the next block of buildings, they pass the sights that were merely shadowed to Sol the night before. On the right, Sol sees the large barn of the former cooper's residence as well as the small house beside it.
-----Up on the left, the home with the stone foundation where Sol spoke with the whispering voice looms. As Sol points the place out to Lovan, he notices the front door is standing ajar as if someone has forced the door from the outside.
-----The storm priest raises one eyebrow and begins striding carefully toward the home.
-----Sol frowns as images of what may have happened flash through his mind. Speculation at this point was pointless however, at least until the place was searched. The Gorian headed quickly towards the door and opened it up. As he headed in, he announced in a clear voice, "Friend, it's Sol, from last night. Are you well?"