Askers

Close to the middle of the Great Forest lies a small abandoned village, or, ruins of one. I had the chance to stop and go ashore while travelling on a ship to Nilaminra. There was a feeling of... not dread but curious uncertainty of what lies ahead of me. The wooden structures are decrepit and old and many cannot be called buildings anymore, more just walls and floors. But they are unlike any architecture I have seen before. It is clearly old, maybe Kyrian or before the Nini united Nilaminra. But the most extraordinary structure I have seen there close to intact is the large statue of a young, or perhaps a middle-aged, form of Askersound, the God of Rivers and Waterways. He stands with his hooked spear in one hand and the other outreaching as if offering aid. Few settlements have such a statute without reason...

And as I stood there I saw them. Orbs of light in between the houses, moving out of sight and in the distance. I held firm to my book and looked around before I heard a sailor calling out to me that we should leave. I braved a single lasting stare on the statue and thought I could see a faint, sorrowful stare back from the God. This ruin, hunted or not, bears something hidden, mystery, horror or a story to be told.

— Everam, Teller of Nimenra

The ruins of a settlement can be found close to halfway across the Great Forest from either side. Only the brave go ashore, perhaps the curious too, but many stay away and no traveller is recommended to stay for long. The only sign of a name hangs on a decrepit sign just outside of the ruins, Askers. No records exist of a village so far into the forest which has spawned the belief that it is pre-Kyrian or even one of the only remnants of a forgotten past, of human tribes and perhaps even a forgotten people.

A place forgotten

The settlement lies lonely inside the forest right next to the river Vieavon. The forest has claimed much of it, few structures are whole and many are but walls crumbling or overgrown forest fauna. Explorers who have gone ashore have found remains of inhabitants and in the buildings that are whole found furniture in a state of wittering. The village has clearly been inhabited once long, long ago. Who it belonged to is impossible to say according to these explorers for the fact remains that they dare not to explore for too long or further due to what they find, see and feel when walking through the village.

Eeriness of dread and fear

As one goes by the ruins, one feels the sensation of being watched by some entity that is not an animal. It creeps down the neck and chills run alose across the back, arms and legs. Constantly the feeling fills one's soul as they passby. But if one goes ashore dispite better judgment, thei feeling becomes not intensified, but more... intentfull. The feeling of dread starts as if one prepares that something will lurch out at you. Small critters that create sounds can make the braves jitter in fear as they walk around the ruins. For each minute that passes it feels like hours, the intentfull eyes still locking on every step one takes towards buildings, walls and features further in. At the village center, this feeling has overwhelmed most people and they turn back with hurried steps, or fearfull sprints to their boats.

Type
Ruins
Founded
Unknown
Alternative Name
The Hunted Village
Population
0
Location
Forest of Telamirein
Owner
None

Inhabitants?

Despite belief that the settlement is abandoned due to its state, there are some passersby who have claimed seeing creatures that stand upright inside the ruins. While delerium and the fright of mind can be blamed, it does leave many questioning about this hunted location. Some think that what these people are seeing is the spirit of thouse who have lived there. Others say that it is some remnant of what was Humans... and now are something else. Scholors, the rational ones, claim that it is statues seen only for a glimps as merchants always hurry on by the ruins.

There is also a controversial belief that the lights seen inside might be inhabitants of the ruins, spirit or something else...