The last stop was the barn. The large doors opened with a heavy wooden scrape, revealing a spacious interior lit dimly by lanterns mounted along the walls. Empty stalls lined both sides, their wooden gates neatly secured. The space was clean, but the smell of animals lingered faintly in the air: hay, leather, and something…

For the next hour, the group agreed on a quick walk-around of the outer buildings, wanting to get a sense of the property while at least a little daylight remained. The drizzle had softened into a faint mist, and the forest seemed even denser now, the trees forming dark silhouettes against a fading gray sky.…

Returning to the floor below, Kyrie found the room already feeling different now that she wasn’t weighed down by her backpack. She moved more freely, drifting from one detail to the next, letting curiosity guide her. She had just reached the bottom of the stairs when her attention settled on one of the mounted creatures…

Kyrie decided the first course of action should be to put her things away. The others were still exploring downstairs, voices drifting faintly up through the open stairwell, but she preferred getting settled first. It gave her a sense of grounding; something familiar before diving into whatever this weekend was going to become. She found…

A small cluster of Agents had gathered around the book, which sat sealed inside a reinforced glass case beneath the watchful eye of a mounted camera. The containment area of the library reflected faintly off the glass, giving the object an almost museum-like presentation; if museums displayed ticking bombs. Two nearby tablets rested on adjustable…

The heavy wooden door groaned softly as it opened, its hinges sounding deliberate rather than neglected, as though the tavern itself had been waiting for someone to enter. The adventurers stepped inside one by one, shaking rainwater from jackets and bags, and were immediately greeted by warmth; not from heat, but from atmosphere. The interior…

Kyrie lingered near the back of the group, shifting her weight carefully as she listened to the others introducing themselves. The drizzle tapped softly against her jacket and the canvas of her backpack, the quiet rhythm blending with the low murmur of unfamiliar voices. She preferred it this way: observing first, speaking later. Phillip and…

The little tavern sat almost flush with the roadside, as though it had been set down there long ago and the forest had simply grown up around it. Dense trees pressed in on all sides, their dark silhouettes blurred by a light evening drizzle that softened the world into muted shades of gray and green.…