Western corridor. You and your companion will go there.

Skeptical phrases from Gascon hurt your ego: “So, can you demonstrate at least minimal usefulness, commoner? In what direction should we go now? Does that chatter you told my lord have any truthful basis? A very… unpleasant ending awaits you - if your so-called “help” in finding a cure for the curse of Canlur turns out to be only a disappointing series of pathetic attempts by a clumsy peasant to show the basics of tracking skills ... "

Your right hand, which is holding the torch, trembles slightly. Because of the cold? Or out of fear?

You look around. Your companion frowns and looks at you with an irritated expression on his face. Behind his back is a large two-handed steel sword. Weapons, the very sight of which gives you extremely... painful memories.

He says: "Have you swallowed your tongue out of fear, peasant dung Wolfkiller? There are three corridors here! Where should we go?"

You respond, wiping the sweat from your forehead with your left hand, “We need to go west. If you look closely, you can see barely noticeable old traces in this direction. The tracks are old. These tracks are probably about a couple of weeks old.”

Gascon walks forward a little and bends down. He examines the stone floor and walls.

Then he comes back and says, “Really. There are extremely inconspicuous traces in the western corridor. Someone walked here, but that was a long time ago. Judging by the shape of these tracks, I can assume that it was a human or something of similar size. Well... you're not a completely useless idiot. Go ahead!"

You and Gascon walk west along a dark corridor.

The light from the torch illuminates an extremely small area. Your vision is minimal - it's only enough to avoid tripping over a stone and falling.

You're walking for a long time.

Over time, you notice that the walls of the corridor no longer look like a man-made underground passage, which is made of lined stone.

Now the area you are moving through is like a network of underground caves that are connected to each other. Your gaze sees stalactites and stalagmites. Your hearing catches the quiet sound of falling drops of water.

You are mentally trying to explain to yourself what you see now. Probably, in ancient times, unknown builders of the watchtower (of which only ruins now remain) built a secret underground passage next to the watchtower. Was this secret underground passage originally connected to a network of underground caves? Or did this connection occur later and was unintentional (for example: due to rock falls)? You do not know. You can only make unfounded assumptions about this.

As you walk, you see dark greenish moss on the walls of the caves. And on the walls of the caves you can see glowing mushrooms of bluish and yellowish shades.

Gascon also sees these examples of underground cave vegetation.

He notices your gaze and says: “Don’t even try to touch these mushrooms if you don’t want to risk your health. Mushroom spores can have a poisonous effect!”

You nod. As an experienced tracker, you immediately realized that touching this underground vegetation was extremely risky. You didn't intend to do this. It’s a bit of a shame that Gascon continues to consider you a foolish peasant who, due to stupidity, can start picking these mushrooms. Probably, in order for this stern warrior to respect you even a little, you will need to do something extremely significant.

So, you and your companion continue walking westward through these underground caves.

Fortunately, you do not encounter any threats on your way.

It makes you think, “This path has probably been used by someone for a long time. This unknown person is interested in a secret underground passage that leads to the ruins of the watchtower... A suspicious and alarming fact... Judging by the direction... we are moving towards the village of Olinsford. Soon we will be approximately near this village. I already guess that soon we will probably find a way up..."

After a couple of tens of minutes, your assumption is justified.

The path through the caves could be continued. It would be possible to continue going west.

But you find a wooden staircase in one of the caves that leads up.

This ladder is secured with rusty iron pins to the stone wall of the cave. The staircase is long and leads high up (you peer into the darkness - the light of the torch does not allow you to see anything special).

You are now approximately below the village of Olinsford

Gascon orders you impatiently: “Get moving, commoner! Climb up! We need to find the one who is responsible for the trouble that happened to my lord! And we need to find a way to eliminate... the "problem"..."

You carefully climb up the stairs.

Gascon climbs after you.

After five minutes you reach a closed wooden hatch.

A powerful blow of your left hand against the tree.

Another blow.

The rotted wood could not stand it. The wooden hatch is broken.

You and your companion climb up.

You look around.

The path along the stairs led you to some old basement room. Muffled sounds reach your ears. These are probably the walking sounds of the person who is now in this house. In the house whose basement you and Gascon invaded.

However, you are not inclined to worry about violations of the boundaries of private property. This is clearly not the case. After all, the owner of this house is clearly connected with some dubious matters. Ordinary respectable persons do not have a secret underground passage in the basement that leads to the ruins of the old watchtower. Perhaps the one who lives in this house has information about those... “problems” that you need to solve?

You move among all the old junk that is lying around in this basement: broken wooden boxes, bags of dried herbs, some barrels that stink...

The light of your torch illuminates the basement space.

And suddenly…

You see something... frightening in the far corner of the basement...

About five meters away from the stairs that lead up to the main rooms of the house, you see something... something that resembles small altars.

Your keen vision notices details...

It would be better if you didn't see this.

You are coming closer...

Gascon follows you.

Seeing what you are looking at, he quietly swears in the rudest and dirtiest words.

You see a wooden table on which there are small stone figurines, which are surrounded by decorations made of wicker branches and dried plants.

The stone figures are painted with something... something stinking...

It's a familiar smell... An experienced hunter like you will immediately recognize the smell of blood and decaying flesh.

On a wooden table near these... “altars” there are sacrificial offerings.

You look at these offerings with disgust, feeling the urge to vomit...

Cuted human ears, cuted human fingers....

And also...

In a small glass container... some kind of solution containing the torn out eyes...

Stone figurines smeared with blood depict some disgusting images. In total, you see four stone figurines: one depicts an anthropomorphic creature with furry legs, hooves, a huge dick and a thick belly (the creature has powerful horns and thick matted hair on its head); the second stone figurine depicts something... unnatural - a six-legged spider, which, instead of the usual spider head, has the head of an old human woman with long tousled hair; the third stone figurine depicts a multi-armed incomprehensible creature (it seems he has eight arms; but he has no legs at all!) who has no face... he only has many toothy mouths and eyes on shapeless flesh; the fourth stone figurine depicts a fox standing on its hind legs and holding a strange staff in its front paws (a human skull is visible on one end of the staff, and some kind of flower is visible on the other end of the staff).

It is clear that your find does not bode well.

The owner of this house can be dangerous.

You try not to panic.

You strain your memory to remember at least something about the frightening things you just found.