Eight Intertwined

128 - Stalked

When the travelers arrived in Stonegard once again, Cyrus couldn't help but smile to himself. It was nice to be back in town again even if the group's last visit there had ended on something of a sour note. They were getting there a bit later than he would have liked, he had to admit, but he couldn't say he was surprised. It was difficult to track the passage of time in the Frostlands given the thick layer of clouds that obscured the skies at all times. Unless the sky was high in the heavens, nobody could truly figure out just what time of day it was. In other words, it was hardly shocking at all that the group had gotten there later in the morning than they had initially planned. Thanks to the Warp Staff though, they were still in town considerably earlier than they would have been had they been walking, so that was something they could be grateful for. 

Cyrus was the one who spearheaded the journey up into Stonegard after the Warp Staff deposited the group at the bottom of the tower of stairs leading into the first street of the city. He gladly tucked the Warp Staff away into his bag for safekeeping, patting his satchel once the staff was out of sight. He could already tell he would be met with grave danger here, and he needed to be ready to face it. 

This was where he would be able to find the next piece of the truth about From the Far Reaches of Hell. He had found a crudely translated and haphazardly bound copy in Gideon's layer beneath Quarrycest, and while a valuable clue, it was far from being the tome itself that Cyrus had been searching for all this time. If the copy had been bound in Stonegard, then the original tome must have passed through town at some point, perhaps even recently. Ideally, it was still there, though Cyrus couldn't say for certain if that was the case. 

At the very least, Cyrus could say he was starting this leg of his journey off on the right foot. He hadn't heard any news of Stonegard having issues with abductions, disappearances, or experimentation, and given what had happened in Quarrycrest, that was exactly what Cyrus needed to hear: nothing at all. He had feared the owner of the actual tome was there in Stonegard taking people hostage from the shadows for the sake of their depraved, disgusting work. Gideon had been at work for the last year though, and there had been no news of such cruelty taking place in Stonegard when the group was last passing through the area. Surely that had to mean there was nothing too horrible happening in town, at least not yet. 

Cyrus was still a bit concerned about all of this though, so after he secured the Warp Staff in his bag, he reached a bit deeper into the satchel before pulling out the haphazard book he had acquired from Gideon's lab. He could still smell blood coming off the cover when he focused even though he wished with everything he had that he could banish the stench as soon as possible. Cyrus shook his head as he flicked through the pages, hoping to find any signs of the truth within the book that would point him in the right direction. There had to be something within Gideon's work that would be able to tell him who had initially put the book together or who had owned the original tome before passing it off for translation. The answer simply had to be there even if Cyrus had no idea how he was meant to search for it. 

Around Cyrus, the rest of the travelers were debating discussing what their next course of action was. They would need to go to help Z'aanta by testing to see if the herb of grace worked on the statue, though there was no strict time limit on that. Beyond that, it wouldn't hurt if they asked around for any potential information they could use when it came to finding the tome. Not one of them spoke of this aloud though, instead remaining as quiet as they could stand. None of them wanted to disturb Cyrus while he was lost in thought as he clearly was at the moment.

Beyond that though, no one wanted to risk earning the attention of unwanted eyes. As soon as the group set foot in town, they felt someone watching them. It had been a while since they were so acutely aware of the fact that they were being watched. In fact, it had last come up weeks prior when they were in Quarrycrest. That sensation of being watched had come rushing back full force though, and nobody wanted to risk saying anything out of line in case it earned them the ire of the person who was watching them.