A nice start

The first day of the journey was fairly uneventful. Andreas led the way, chatting to Pepper about the Yul Empire and how their artifacts were still being found even to this day. The girl listened and asked questions for a while and then the conversation drifted to Andreas being a writer. While they kept themselves occupied, Silvan studied the diary and worked on Stone Tongue. After a few hours of riding, the party stopped by a stream to have a light brunch.

Pepper was very curious and asked them both lots of questions. She had never left the village before and wanted to know everything about the outside world. Silvan told her about his people and being a Beast Tamer, which led to her asking questions about the brothel. Pepper blushed deeply as Silvan told her about his business and he got the impression that the young woman was still a virgin. She was certainly attractive, but her desire for adventure had been enough to keep her from falling into bed with the first boy that smiled at her.

Soon they were on their way again. The roads in this area were traveled frequently by traders, so the path was easy to follow and there was little chance of danger. Most monsters avoided busy roads, and this one didn't have quite enough traffic to attract bandit attention. It was nearly six when Andreas suddenly told them they needed to cut off the main road and take a small trail that wasn't used to as much traffic. The village he had traveled from wasn't connected to the main road and was almost as small as their own village. They would be traveling for a few days on winding trails.

After a few more hours of travel, the road was starting to get dark. They were looking for a camp site when they came to a clearing in the woods. Most of the clearing was occupied by a fenced in yard that had goats and chickens running around. Sitting close to the fenced in area was a dark, two storied house. The wood on the house was stained black from age and rot, and the roof looked to have a few leaks. The door to the house had once been painted white, but it had faded over time and there were signs of flaking where the wood showed through. Silvan almost would have believed the house was abandoned, but he saw a candle flicker in an upper window and for a moment a shadowy figure moved in the house.

"This place looks creepy guys," said Pepper. She sounded a little frightened looking at the old house.

"Indeed, but we are running out of daylight," added Andreas.

Silvan knew that it would get dangerous if they kept traveling in the darkness, but he couldn't help but agree that the house didn't seem like a good place to stop. He couldn't quite place it, but something felt wrong about the place to him. He took a deep breath, but only smelled the goats. He saw movement in the window again, but couldn't tell who or what was there. His companions were looking to him for guidance, but he wasn't sure himself. Should they brave the trail at night or take a chance on the old house?