The Castle of Ciarán
This is not a place for the living
Not anymore
My name is Colrac Kiez. I was a ghost slayer trying to make this place livable again. Like so many others before me. Please heed, you who find this: something ancient haunts these castle halls and I do not think it is entirely human in origin. Its source, I sense, is located on one of the deeper levels. Try to find it. Try to destroy it. For everyone's sake.
General
Ever since Duke Aerryth Fargrove mysteriously disappeared one calm autumn night along with every servant and castle guard, his castle has stood abandoned at the edge of Fargorve, which is now a mere shadow of its former self. An influential city turned into a backwater place for the lowliest of people. And that in just over a few years.
The castle is the culprit in all of this. Or rather, whatever inhabited it once all its former residents left.
Restless residents
Whatever it is that now resides inside the Castle is not alone. Fargrove residents, explorers, and ghost slayers that have been wise enough to leave the Castle grounds while they still had the chance, speak of restless spirits wandering the halls. Some say it is the former servants and castle guards that have arisen to do their duties once more, while others whisper that they aren't even human ghosts.
Light and shadows.
Screams and Laughter.
Something that is usually noticeable on nights with a full moon or a new moon is that flickering lights from seemingly hundreds of candles will be alighted in the castle hallways and numerous rooms; many will be visible through the crystal windows all the way down to Fargrove. Shadows of humanoid figures will be visible on the walls of most rooms and hallways if one is brave enough to reach the castle grounds. Horrid, tortured screams might echo in the chilly night air that many try to justify with as fox screams or the wind. Something that does not work for even the most stubborn of people once the laughter of children starts to be heard.
They only appear to go lower on volume once one enters the castle. They will still be heard but muffled and seemingly far, far away.
Cleaned and Dusty
The hallways and rooms of the castle are both cleaned and dusty. At irregular intervals, areas are either covered in thick layers of dust or cleaned to the point of being shiny, no matter the material. There is no pattern visible in the strange chaos.
In some places, footprints can be found in the dust, but it is not clear if it is from previous visitors, even if most would like to think so.
Bloodstains and frost marks
Here and there on the floor, roof and walls, as well as one various furnishings, one will find wet bloodstains and frost marks seemingly at random and in various amounts. A fascinating aspect of theirs is that the bloodstains radiate cold, while the frost marks radiate heat, and the temperatures either decrease or increase respectively the closer one moves towards them.
Their source is unknown but they are more common on the lower areas and where the howling winds scream louder.
Corpses and messages
I think i have noticed something of a pattern with the strange wet bloodstains. If one takes the pathways with the highest amount of bloodstains it will lead you to two things: an old corpse of a former explorer or other (Definitely not a former servant, that much is clear. Also no apparent wounds. Starvation?) and a cryptic message carved on a surface near it, or on something found on the corpse's person. The messages are written in an unknown language I haven't seen before, but the words does sound similar to Skavania and Athnes. I better take them to Austin when I am done here. Maybe he can figure out their meaning.
Larger on the Inside
Maybe it is just me but I am certain this castle is much much larger on the inside than on the outside. The amount of rooms and hallways are staggering. And I have walk for hours on end in one direction without taking to many turns. And yet I see no end.The stranger thing is, is that Fargrove can always be visible to some degree or another if i look outside one of the large windows. I just hope I can find my way out later.
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