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[h3]A Home of Stone and Air[/h3]

[i]Afternoon, 17th of Sun’s Height, 4E206
Ken Muhyr
Ilessan Hills, Glenumbra, High Rock[/i]

Their journey had been tense, but ultimately uneventful. 

The sunrise had come as it always did, which was an immense relief to them all. Fortunately the world had not been cast in eternal darkness. In the light of Magnus, it was like the horrors of the Serpent’s night had never happened. Birds chirped once more and a warm summer breeze whispered down the fields and forests. The group packed their belongings and set off in silence and formation. 

For two days they travelled along the empty roads that led away from Daggerfall, as fast as their feet could carry them. Strange as it was, there was no sign of the undead that had chased them out of [i]The Loyal Hound[/i], and Solomon deliberately led them around the smoldering ruins of the inn, wisely giving them a wide berth. He had no desire to cross paths with the headless horseman once more. He wondered where the undead had gone to -- perhaps they had crawled away somewhere else to die once more, or the sinister force that animated them had directed them out of the sunlight. Either way, their journey was unimpeded, in part because they continued to avoid any inhabited areas, even going off-road where necessary to stay away from the villages and hamlets that Solomon and Bruno knew to exist. They could not be sure that encounters with other people would not turn out to be dangerous, and Janus had managed to heal himself -- to Solomon’s pleasant surprise -- so they did not need to risk it. 

The night they had spent on the road, however, had been less pleasant. An early darkness fell once more and they sought cover in a cave a little ways away from the road, having already arrived at the foothills of the Ilessan range that sheltered Ken Muhyr -- the group had made good time. Solomon kept first watch and grimaced when he could sense the burning lights of the Serpent overhead in the black-soaked skies once more. 

He could not see anything but he could hear things moving through the trees in the distance. Throughout his watch, Solomon kept a firm grip on his falchion until Janus relieved him, and once in his bed he laid awake, tense and… afraid. What little sleep he managed to get was filled with waking dreams of dead men grasping him from below and pulling him into the pitch-black deep, the iridescent eyes of slaughterfish circling him as he sank. 

But the morning came once more and banished the horrors of the dark. The forested hills turned silent again, save for the sound of birds and small critters that dashed through the underbrush in the shade of the pine trees -- the road they had followed had petered out and given way to forest and sloping grassland. Solomon, however, could not shake the feeling that they were being watched as they traversed the uninhabited valleys, mountains rising up on either side of them, the snow-capped peaks gleaming in the sunlight. If it weren’t for the situation, the scenery could only be described as idyllic, but he couldn’t enjoy it and as much as he tried, he could not catch anyone or anything in the act of spying on them. He picked up the pace instead. 

They finished the second leg of their journey just after noon, further away from any areas of civilization than Solomon had been in years. The walls of Ken Muhyr rose up to meet them as they turned around the bend of the babbling brook they had followed on Solomon’s directions. “At last,” Solomon mumbled to himself, and hope filled him at the sight. “You’re still here.”

The keep was built into the side of a mountain and overlooked one of the valleys that lay nestled between the the Ilessan range’s tallest peaks. A single drawbridge crossed the semi-circular moat that surrounded it, and tiers of fortifications and courtyards crept up the mountainside, culminating in a series of towers and turrets that lorded over the lands below. It had clearly been abandoned for a while; there were many holes in its walls and several of its structures had collapsed entirely, strewing debris across the courtyards and cascading down the mountainside. But the parts that still stood were sturdy enough and plentiful enough to shelter them from most of the elements… or worse. 

“It’s a little worse than I remember,” Solomon said over his shoulder, “but it’ll do. Come on.” 

They filtered into the keep through the gate and the first thing Solomon did was raising the drawbridge with the mechanism inside. Once he was finished, the spymaster exhaled deeply. For the first time since the zombies had broken the windows of the inn, he felt some measure of safety. It would take siege engines -- or wings -- to reach them now. They went up, through the courtyards, passing training dummies, stables, forges and even a complete and functional ballista, until they climbed the steps of the great hall. 

Dust and cobwebs coated the inside, from the black-and-white tile floor to the vaulted ceiling above, and a strong wind coursed through the near-empty space. Only a few crates of unidentified supplies and a long table greeted them, a far cry from the feast-worthy hall that the room must have been once upon a time, and parts of the ceiling were supported with rickety-looking wooden support beams and structures. 

“Alright,” Solomon said and turned around. “The doors to your left and to your right lead up to various rooms and suits. Claim a bed and make yourselves at home. For those with combat skills and the inclination to use them, the keep has bowels too,” he explained and pointed to a staircase in the far corner that descended into the rock of the mountain. “That’s where the store rooms and the armory are. Knowing old castles like this, something has probably moved in and made its home in the dark there by now, so I want to clear that out as soon as possible, lest we’re ambushed in our beds by hungry spiders or goblins,” Solomon said. 

He didn’t mean to, but his gaze found Joy and Henry as he continued. “As for the rest of you, this place could clearly use some housekeeping and I’m sure we’re all hungry. Down the end of the hall is a hearth and a kitchen -- see if there is still anything we can use, and feel free to make a fire there. We’re as safe here as we’re ever going to be.” 

Then he looked up at the ceiling and the rooms he knew to be above them. “There’s a library here, though I don’t know how many books are left, an alchemical workshop and an arcanery. Feel free to use and peruse them at your leisure.”

Solomon clapped his hands together. “Let’s get to it, people!”