The Ruins of Amberfalls

Quest

You have been hired by the Scholars of the Crest to visit and investigate the Ruins of Amberfalls. The Crest is aware of your unique abilities and is interested in what happened in Amberfalls' demise. After some research before you have begun the long journey, you have found there was a massacre at Amberfalls, but little detail on how it happened and why. (More details about the ruins are found in the Background section)

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Investigating Amberfalls

After three weeks of sleepless nights against many rock pillows, finally, you have made it. Amongst the dense Fern, are round stone hovels with steep coned chimney shoots, which doubles up as the roof. To think these structures would be kilns is a mistake. Astonishingly, these structures have lasted for so many decades of neglect. Derelict houses, covered in overgrown vines, shrubs and thick moss.
Your companion mount trots to a halt upon your silent command. You open the papyrus sheet of locational imagery to calculate your bearings. This must be the place. Amongst the ruins, you recognise the Ancient Gnomish architecture of Amberfalls.
Where do you go? Once you've explored Amberfalls, you may then Set up camp

The Marketplace

Even though it has been centuries since the massacre, much of the village has not been fully submerged by the earth. You are able to follow the lumps and bumps of the earth, as they are too regular to look natural, especially with the telltale signs of the few weathered rooves which still stand today. There's a long, 15 foot wide, shallow trench, which stretches 30 feet ahead before it opens to roughly about 100 feet each side. You slowly follow the path as you approach the mouth of the opening, in the centre of the opening is a small, 3 foot opening in the ground.
The Oculus opens.
Within about 2 seconds, the ground gradually transitions from your feet to about 5 feet below you. This is a feeling you have never experienced before with the Oculus. You are not floating or flying, and you still feel the ground which was once beneath you, or rather it is still beneath you. The opening in the ground stands as a well, accompanied by market stalls.
Quickly enough you manage to gain your balance and bearings, as a familiar chill passes through your calves and feet. A Gnome pushing a, in their perspective, a regular cart filled to the brim with a variety of fruits and vegetables; apples, carrots and a Gnomish delicacy, Lemonberries. Looking around you see many Gnomes, talking, laughing, bartering. Centuries ago, these Gnomes did have an economy, communal areas and culture as you hear a Gnomish lady graciously singing to a crowd around her who weeps at her soft melodies. This small community, full of hope for their future as they merrily enjoy life.
High pitched screaming snaps your attention as you twist your body to find the source. Gnomes are running towards your direction. Their expressions; eyes open wide, their breathing are shallow, tears flow down their cheeks. One Gnome, an older gentleman of a Gnome, stumbles. Another, a younger female grabs his hand and aids him to his feet. He runs a few strides, then turns his head. He is searching for his daughter until his face drops as he looks up behind him.
"Papa?" She weeps, as you also look up. She's floating, 5 feet in the air; with her curly ginger hair has indents which weren't there before. She's not floating, she's being lifted up.
The older Gnome falls to his knees, as he witnesses the horror in front of him. The mixed sound of crunching, squishing and the older Gnome's voice, "what are you?"
The Oculus closes.

The Ruined House

Examining the rocks around you, there is a distinct pattern to them. Houses here were round stone hovels, but they also had garden space around them. From what you know, these Ancient Gnomes were renowned for their gardens. In fact, their gardens were a key part of their culture. They would replant their gardens from Roses to Tulips, purely because Roses were out of fashion. By looking at the overgrowth, it appears Poppies and Lavender were their final trend.
One old Gnomish home has a small ditch on its side. Investigating further, it leads down through an old round window. What would surround this opening is an oak frame, but now this hole in the wall is bare. The ditch is wide enough for you to climb in, which you do.
The Oculus opens. The ruin fades into a round, cosy cottage with small beds on one side as a great hearth stands in the centre. Sat around the fire are 4 Gnomes, playing a game with dice. They don't notice you, as the Oculus prevents you from interacting with them. Instead, you watch 1 of the Gnomes, taller than the others and appears Male; who stands up to make his way to the window you are stood.
"What is it, dear?" The older female Gnome around the fire, holding her two Gnome cubs.
"I thought I have heard something, wait there," His bushy eyebrows squeezing to the centre of his forehead immediately rise. Within an instant, glass flies towards him. Screams from the mother and her children, as you see the Gnome lifted up from his feet. His hands grasping at something invisible in front of his neck and then snap. The male gnome falls limp, then launched to the left side.
The Mother shields her cubs, as she quivers "What do you mean, alive?"
The Oculus closes.
The ruins return and to your left, a small skeleton lies on its side. On the floor around you are scattered bones, large and small. You kneel down, as one catches your attention, so you investigate. It's a small, thigh bone; and you recognise it to be one of the children's and...
...Are those teeth marks?

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Set up camp

After exploring the ruins, you understand whatever transpired here long ago was sudden, unexpected and horrifying. As night begins to rise and light fades, you set up camp by the lonely well. The campfire is lit, and you're eating the usual travelling rations of hard tack; flavourless but functional. You stare at the well.
The Oculus opens.
Bodies, limbs and blood decorate the well. It is silent around you, except for the splashes of rain on the mud below you. It is just as dark as it would be without your campfire, but the moon does provide the light you need to see the brutality around you.
A muddy and bloody handprint appears on the well. Then a second. The gore upon the rim of the Well shifts and drops to the ground. Then a larger slump splodges on the ground. More prints in the mud appear from the larger dent in the ground until all that is left are footprints. Firstly close together, as you follow them, aimless it seems to their direction until they suddenly sprint in one direction.
You make chase to these footprints, curious to where they would lead you to. Who is leading you? Why can't you see them? You follow the tracks and it leads you to the local stream. Then you lose them.
Heading back to camp, you try to contemplate what has just transpired. Somebody or something, no, someone survived. What was always believed to be a disaster which nobody had survived, there was one who did. One who still lives to this day.
At the well, you about sit back to where your camp was when you hear footsteps. Heavier and meatier than the tiny ones before. You look behind you to find where it is coming from. Nothing. But you hear it, getting closer. The ground shakes. Wait. Not the ground in the vision shakes, your ground shakes. A low growl vibrates your shoulders as the warm breath at the back of your neck gives you goosebumps.
The people of Amberfalls weren't murdered. They were eaten. Devoured by a predator, which has now caught another one of its prey... you.
The Oculus closes.

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Background

Once a thriving community, Amberfalls was once a growing settlement. The people of an old tribe known as the Shirwu were its inhabitants, until what is now known as the Amberfalls' Devouring.
The Shirwu is an Ancient Gnome tribe. There are historical records who describe these Gnomes as a peaceful community, who used to enjoy and worship the blessings of Nature; as they believed in Nature as their god of sorts. Less of a figure and more of a presence and energy; Essence.

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Character

You are a Hallowed Hunter, a trained Ranger of sorts, with skills to seek out Hallowed Beasts. As part of your standard travelling gear, you also wear a rare amulet of great power and responsibility called; The Oculus. This amulet gives you the ability to see, hear and speak to the dead; as well as experience visions and sense (eg, smell, taste, feel, etc.) significant moments within the area.

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