Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

He walked into a massive ancient hall rather than a room, a hall of that sized couldn't possibly fit in the third floor, it was physically impossible, the whole house would be crushed under it.

*BANG*

Behind him the door closed of it's own accord. Of course it did, because why not?

He was not bothered by that not very much in fact. He had built up some resistance to some of these things by now.

What really got him was this hall he was in right now, even after getting inside he was still awestruck by how big it was in contrast with the outside.

It was like a village square but an indoor one that was sculpted right inside a mountain.

There were two sources of light, of course the ever present candles everywhere and… moonlight for some reason.

Aldrich looked at the ceiling but not to mention the moon not even the sun should be able to shine here. The ceiling looked like the inside of a cavern and completely closed off.

Something was obviously not right, not that there ever was anything right in the nightmare realm.

But still… things here still followed some basic rules of life right? But this hall didn't.

Aldrich walked under the shadow of one of the massive pillars and noted some dried blood all over it, or was it? It was hard to tell, maybe it was old paint?

Aldrich did not rush, he was here expecting a fight to begin with, why waste the element of surprise? He was also in new environment so it was better to be cautious and explore carefully.

It was the silence that helped to decrease the tension a bit, this was a good indicator that there were no Husks around.

Aldrich advanced further but he didn't find anything that stood out, as he was getting closer to the center of the room he noticed something strange about the pillars.

They were everywhere.

No hall needed that many pillars, and it looked like they were built haphazardly with no regard or a purpose, suddenly he looked up again at the closest pillar and stopped in his tracks.

This particular pillar and many of the others that Aldrich thought were disjointed and randomly placed was made of cages stacked over each other almost to the ceiling, which is why Aldrich— at first glance though they were regular pillars.

The cages were not empty, they were stuffed with the rotten corpses of people. Aldrich backed away thinking they were Husks but upon closer inspection he discovered that they were truly dead.

All the bodies had torture marks all over them but the fatal wound that killed them was a perfectly circular hole in the middle of the forehead.

This was true for all of the bodies without exception. The flesh of the corpses was dark green with blue spots, some of which had melted and fused somewhat with the other corpses.

He summoned his courage and touched one of the bodies and his fingers sank right in, he hastily pulled back in disgust. Fuck he should have worn a gauntlet for this shit.

But he furrowed his eyebrows in thought a moment later, that was weird, how long had these people been dead?

If Uldin was to be believed then it should have been more than a thousand years, right? So how are the bodies not skeletons at least? It wouldn't be strange of they were dust not to mention skeletons.

And the whole in the middle of the forehead… it was too smooth, you couldn't leave a mark like that with a sword or a spear, you would need a special tool for this.

So this is what happened to those people that the armored husk hauled up here. But what was the superior doing to them here? And where is he? He had a feeling he was about to find out.

Aldrich wanted into the center of the hall which was ironically devoid of pillars and cages, all but for one pillar in the center.

Much bigger than all the rest and pure white, it shined brightly under the light of the moon. It was also carved with mysterious symbols and signs like the door.

Finally the central pillar had an additional statue which was carved very badly like everything here. It should be depicting some kind of serpent that coiled around the pillar.

The head looked strange and crooked to the point where one couldn't make out an expression. In Aldrich's opinion it ruined the aesthetic of the central pillar, the only decent looking thing in here.

,m But of course he was not here to critique the architecture of the place, he looked around scanning for the superior around the central pillar.

Hmm, weird, he thought that he was going to confront the superior here but this place was just as empty and desolate as everywhere else was.

Aldrich walked in to the central pillar carefully, slowly, his senses in full operation to detect even a hint of danger or movement from anywhere. But even as his hand touched the pillar nothing happened.

However, not intending to slack off he check on the poorly made statue, just to be sure. After all, he did encounter a statue that turned out to be a real person recently.

He touched the statue of the serpent which should be quite long considering that it coiled around the pillar twice, should be around five to six meters long.

Nothing happened after he punche it, it was tougher than it looked, Aldrich gave it a few more hits and backed away immediately. Silence.

Aldrich shook his head, he walked around the pillar to look for more clues. He needed to get the basement key, that was the only safe way to access the underground pathway to the Overseer's mansion.

Suddenly he move much faster, there was a mark on one of the pillars behind the central pillar. It was a…

Seal of Tindalor.

It wan an inactive seal just like the one under the bridge. Aldrich bit his finger, drew blood and activated the seal, to lessen his disappointment.

At least he did something although it might not be that significant in the grand scheme of things.

Aldrich had to think of another way now. It was an unexpected turn of events for the third floor to be completed empty.

This meant that he had to ask Uldin about the path the old Lost Ones used to get there or he would be lucky if it was mentioned in the journal.

These options were always there but Aldrich wanted to do it this way because the underground tunnel of the Unseen Hand would lead him directly into the core of the mansion basically it bypasses all the defenses and obstacles in the way.

Of course the Overseer's mansion was protected heavily, otherwise why would the Lost Ones have to lay siege to it twice and still fail? It was a place that became the burial ground of immortal-like beings who besieged it in numbers.

That kind of confrontation is something that Aldrich would like to avoid of possible. But at least for now he had to think of another way.

Strange thing is in the armored husk's memories he clearly remembered the superior going up here to perform his own experiments after losing communication with the others.

He was supposed to be here, his experimental subjects clearly were.

Aldrich placed his hand on the seal of Tindalor and returned to the real world dissatisfied.

****

Aldrich and the party had breakfast, consisting of grilled sausage and beans along with a side dish of Guce cheese. This was a beast which looked like a cross between a pig and a cow, it was used as cattle around these parts.

Aldrich liked the cheese very much and even wondered how this Guce itself would taste with some honey and garlic sauce. After breakfast the receptionist called for him.

Aldrich walked over curiously, he had gotten most of what he wanted here, but he did not mind hearing more.

"You have something for me?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh, yes, I do, but keep your voice down," she whispered, which intrigued him.

"Oh, what is it then?" Aldrich wasn't interested in much else at the moment.

"I heard, that… yesterday" she said while looking around in seeming fear, "a group of inquisitors arrived in town almost at the same time as your group."

"… what? Inquisitors? What are they here for?" Aldrich asked in shock, and then he looked left and right.

"I don't know, nobody does" The woman replied, "they went to the lord's estate as soon as they came in."

Aldrich breathed a sigh of relief, of course he hadn't done anything to be afraid but even if you didn't do anything, if they think that they need you for a case then the inquisitors will take you all the same.

In fact the inquisitors will question anyone as long as you have come into contact with a suspect, no matter how brief said contact was.