Into the Keep

Urgent Rescue Mission

Location: Emberkeep Ruins, Western Fringe

Objective: Recover and escort Lady Elira Thorne, apprentice mage and daughter of House Thorne. Last seen near the outer perimeter of Emberkeep.

Quest Level: Bronze

Threat Level: Moderate magical anomalies and unstable terrain.

***

As the adventurers march forward, the presence of the looming, abandoned keep grows more apparent as it rises into view on the horizon. Its dark stone walls stand in stark contrast to the light blue sky. Their task, simple: rescue the lost apprentice mage, Lady Elira Thorne. Though the Keep is known to harbor strange magic, the White Tigers don’t fear. Why should they? They are a Silver-ranked party, after all.

“So that is the infamous Emberkeep?” The words escape Nixie just as she feels the air thickens, its heaviness pressing down on her, causing her to almost choke on the last word. Emberkeep—its rumors are wild. Stories of ghosts, undead, and mages' curses. But it is of no threat; many places have rumors like that.

“Its magic is quite... thick,” Liora responds, raising her staff into the air. Particles of blue and purple begin to gently swirl around the soft, glowing blue crystal that tops it, like two small mixing dust clouds. Kael looks from her staff to the Keep on the horizon. As he brings his scope to his eyes, he scans its exterior. Though Kael is the youngest with the least amount of experience, he leads the White Tigers.

“We’ll enter at the breach,” Kael commands, pointing toward a section of the keep where the crumbling wall had fully fallen away, leaving a large opening about the size of two large men.

“I can’t see?” Brann questions, straining his eyes in the direction their leader is pointing.

“Of course you can’t see. Kael is looking at it through his spectacles,” Thorne says, banging the back of the large man’s head.

“You didn’t have to do that, Thorne.”

“Come, White Tigers, we need to make haste.” On Kael’s command, they came to attention and quickened their speed. Not to a run, but a heavy jog.

As they closed the distance to the Keep, the breach Kael referenced came into view. The wall around it cracked as if it were smashed down, the broken pieces of debris attesting to that fact. As the party reaches Emberkeep, Nixie dashes ahead in a low crouch. The sound of her footsteps in the grass, almost nothing. Her eyes scanning their surroundings before locking on the breach. Once a few feet from the debris, she slows, crouching lower into the grass. In her mind, she knows there is nothing to be on edge about. It was just an abandoned keep... with a bit of lingering magic. ‘We aren’t even in the damn building yet, get a grip.’ Her thoughts run. Every step closer she takes, she feels more of her hair sticking up. The rest of the party behind seem to feel the same as their speed slows and their bodies lean more into the grass.

Zigzagging across the debris towards the entrance, Nixie examines every piece of anything she finds. What is she looking for? Clues. I mean, this is the most obvious entrance into the Keep. Even if abandoned, one doesn’t just go through the front door, especially not when there is such an easy entrance like this. Coming up on the breach, her eyes spot a brown lump just outside the breach. Picking it up, she examines it before lifting it into the air. “I found a satchel.”

“This is definitely the crest of House Thorne,” Kael says, his finger sliding across the carved metal bottom holding the crest of House Thorne. On the ground in front of them lay the contents of the bag. The bag didn’t contain much: a few potions and a notebook, with several pages torn out. “Your thoughts, Liora?” The plain blond-haired half-elf moves her sight from the dark depths of the breach over to Kael. “There is definitely something... off.” Looking back into the shadows of the Keep, she continues. “This place is known for having some strange magic.”

He could tell, she gave it away in the way she stood so close to the breach, her eyes gazing into it as if she was trying to read it. She wasn’t afraid, just on edge—they all were. The closer they got to the keep, the more he felt it... There is definitely something off. But they need to move forward, their target was in there and they need to get her out.

“Prepare yourselves... It’s time to go in.” With that, everyone pulls to attention, Thorne gathering up the contents of the satchel and placing it at his waist.