Blood in the Woods

8th of Fall Spring, 4201
 
Ingram was right. Yesterday was interesting.
 
Patrick organized a dinner party in the Brazen Steed, and yesterday the guests of honor were younger than usual. He invited Dorian (his nephew), Lise (a local priestess of Awnia) and I to attend – which felt like a dream. Theses dinner parties Patrick throws are filled with some of the best delicacies on the Highlands, and they are never the same (I work there, so I would know). That alone would make the night incredibly special, but Patrick had another surprise for us: he also invited Lance, Rilan and Alex. Now, I know those names are probably meaningless to you, but they do mean something here in Brille, and they all have something in common: they all have left.
 
Lance was the son of a couple of blacksmiths, and he decided against perpetuating the family business. He left Brille to join the army and forge a path of his own. Rilan was an orphaned boy I had met in the orphanage (miss Petrov could not always keep an eye on me, and so left me in the care of the nice nuns on occasion). He was a small boy for his age and real shy. A few weeks before I seen the Pattern, he followed some strangers out of town and disappeared for three years (aka until now). And there is also Alex. We had a fling a few years back. She was older, she was odd, and she was cool. She had some different notions on how things should be, and she was also fearless (a combination that kept her in as much trouble as she would keep other kids out of). We dated for almost a year, but things did not work out well. She left when Lance did, also do join the army and get her full citizenship. I am glad for her: it seemed important to her. I cried a lot those days – I guess I missed her.
 
And then, all three of them were back on Brille. And were going to attend dinner. I was so excited to meet them all again – and I was not disappointed. Seeing them soothed wounds in my spirit I did not know they were there. For a moment, everything was right. But then, of course, it was not.
 
Lady Matilda Blackwood came to the Steed, and she had ill tidings. You see, in the spirit of community, lady Blackwood kept a few of trusted employees mingling with the foreigners – the people coming to Brille due to the Aurinian ruins found close by – and those emp0loyees heard that some thugs had been hired to abduct the students of Daniel – an architect with great knowledge of Aurin. She came to Patrick for assistance, and Patrick asked for our help – which prompted all of us to say yes.
 
The next hours were hard. Those thugs murdered Daniel – that apparently had not died without a fight – and took the students into the Glooming Woods, not ten minutes before we arrived (I had sent Ingram ahead of us to keep an eye on Daniel’s house and he told us). We gave chase and, an hour later, we found them by an old tree doing some for of ritual. They killed one of the students – Isolde – before any of us could do anything, and her blood spattered on scrolls hanging from the tree, forming writings of sorts. One of the men took the scrolls and sent them away through carrying pigeons. We fought the thugs to protect the other four students, and we won. But you see – all the men we fought had this weird rune etched into their foreheads, and that rune did… things. Gave them magical powers, killed the ones we managed to subdue and even brought some of them back as undead! I really must look those things up.
 
We returned to the Steed, where we told Patrick and lady Blackwood what had transpired. They were grateful for our help (lady Blackwood even gave us gold for it). Then, we were left with three clues: the mysterious rune etched in the forehead of the thugs, the direction the pigeons went to carry the scrolls, and a tablet that Daniel was trying to reach before he died. I am going to work and try to figure out what is special about the tablet. I hope it can help us figure out what those people were willing to murder the students for. I was surprised how much Isolde’s death had affected me. It felt like it opened wounds in my spirit I did not know I could have. I knew I cared about the people of Brille – I just did not know how much.
 
All in all, it was an interesting day. Just like Ingram had told me it would be.