Fires, Follies, and Sacrifices (Part 2)

“The Frozen Abyss is all they say,

And all that I say as well.

But Kaltbury, in particular

Is the closest place to hell.”

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

            The only clear-cut fact about Jazmin’s Tavern was that it had burned to the ground. Anything else would just be speculation. With the rubble the way it was it was impossible to tell what had started the fire, if it was an accident or not, or if there was any reason as to why no one escaped. The only thing in the area surrounding the inn that the Ranger could clearly identify was what happened to the Thief. The tracks and the way the Bard lay dead led him to believe that the Thief had killed him and then ran away. Such actions matched his personality as well, so it seemed likely to be what happened. But all else was a mystery. He wanted to put the blame for this tragedy on the Shadow Demon, but that just didn’t seem to be the case.

            The Martyr meanwhile was thinking not so much about what had happened, but rather what it meant for them moving forward. Jazmin’s Tavern was about the only place in Kaltbury that had the necessities to live. Sure there were other homes and buildings in the town where they could at least escape some of the cold, but they were all abandoned and empty, barren of food and supplies. She had learned this the first day she got here when she had walked inside the church. She was told to learn from the priests there, but there was nobody inside and it looked as though it had been deserted for quite some time. The Scholar had found similar results when he had visited the library. It too was vacant. But neither of them had decided to leave because of what they found. After all, it’s not like the Martyr had any reason to go back to the church. She enjoyed her life at the tavern more than she did back home. And as for the Scholar, just because there was no librarian didn’t mean there weren’t any books. Many tomes were still intact and he had planned to make use of his stay. Unfortunately however, it had ended rather abruptly.

            And so the Martyr went to express her concern for their situation to the Ranger, who appeared to be lost in thought, but she was interrupted by the Witch before she ever got the chance. The Witch had been thinking down the same line as the Ranger, trying to piece together what had happened. But as to where he was more concerned with the fire, she was more concerned with the Shadow Demon. When they had gone to check on the Prince they had found him dead and unpossessed, which now made sense. Once the Shadow Demon had left the Swordsman’s body he had traveled into the Bard, provoking the Thief to do what he did. But he was no longer possessing the Bard and all the others bodies were incinerated, which meant…

            The Ranger caught where she was going with this. The Prince, and he was right next to the pond as well. They’d have to hurry back to stop him from breaking through the ice…