Final Fantasy

CHAPTER 6 - ARC 2: CURSE OF THE WESTERN KEEP

Putting the wheel back together was the easy part, but there was nothing to be done about the engine. Bruce figured it was better to remove it altogether as it was just dead weight, but Ben had the idea to then use the parts to construct a makeshift harness. Some of the pipes and bolts coupled with some cord and belts Ben grabbed from the Ogres, they had a pretty decent jury-rigged carriage.

As for the wolves that were meant to lead it, it was simple enough for Conner to lure them into a trap-- he'd even managed to get three of them-- but leading them back was going to be difficult. That is of course, until Ava reminded him of her sleeping magic. "Consciousness of life... slumbers." And just like that, the wolves were put to sleep. Drug back to the carriage, the wolves were put in the harnesses and everything was set. All in all, it took maybe two full hours of work.

Now they just needed to finish the journey without taking another hit. Conner snapped the reins, waking the wolves, and then they were off. The wolves were already startled enough by the change in scenery, but the snap of the belts jolted them into running. It wasn't very fast at first, but they were quickly gaining speed. A little too much speed, actually. In fact, they might've been going faster than before.

Ben peeked out of the front of the carriage beside Conner, looking down at the wolves. "What did you feed them?"

Conner shrugged, struggling to hold on to the reins.

Ben looked back at Bruce. "You did disconnect the engine, yeah?"

Bruce nodded. "You're looking at pieces of it there!" He pointed to the harnesses before returning to gripping his seat. The whole carriage was shaking and rocking and threatening to toss them back out again.

After all, they'd already gone through so much to reach the Western Keep. And they'd taken so much time just to get this far, it was actually getting kind of boring. Why waste the daylight, as Conner had said? Why not just bring them to their destination if they were so adamant on reaching it? Why not drop them at the front door while we're at it?"

Ben looked around. "Anyone else... hearing voices?"

The others didn't feel like answering.

The carriage picked up speed, the wheels creaking, the walls cracking, the windows popping and the wolves yelping as they fought to stay in front of the rumbling box. It was almost running them over, as though whatever was pulling the carriage was trying to leave the wolves behind. Then all of a sudden it jerked to a stop, tipping ominously. As the dust settled and the carriage fell to the ground-- crushing all four wheels beneath it-- everything went eerily silent.

Slowly, Conner leaned backwards into the interior of the carriage. "Hey... we uh... we're at the Western Keep."

The heroes got out of the carriage, dazed, but with weapons at the ready.

The massive structure was in ruins. Most of the upper floors were smashed in, nearly all the roofs were gone and all manner of critter and insect seemed to have made their home here. All in all it looked haunted, complete with bats flying out of the holes in the roofs and webs stretched across the bushes and lower sections of the walls. Yet as crypt-like as it was, they needed to check inside.