Beast of the Hunt

Chapter 4

Fraeths 13th Guhnai, 3£205

After ten days we arrived in Smyth we looked around the hold for anyone close to the person she described she was supposed to be meeting, we were having a tough time till she decided to take a break from walking around she sat down but i kept looking around. I saw a general goods shop and told Clara id be right back, that i was gonna grab some supplies with what little money i had. She was ok with that so i headed to the shop. I walked through the door and saw the merchant kneeling down beside the fire pit in his store. I stayed there for a minute until i eventually spoke up, "I dont mean to intrude but could i take a look at your wares" he stood up and turned around to look at me his face was quite distinguishing, he had a large cut going down his eye with what looked like a cloudy eye. "I've got a couple things if youd be willing to buy them" he waved his hand while walking past me ushering me to the counter, "So what type of supplies er' you looking to buy" i thought to myself on what i wanted holding up my hand to show i was thinking, "Have any food by chance or ingredients?", he pondered for a second and said, "actually to be fair to say i dont have much foor i only got a few apples, carrots, and a few other small items. Supplies are running short with the caravans not wanting to come through Smyth due to weird things going on around here" i looked at him with a puzzled look, "What type of weird things?". He looked cautious to say anything so i didnt budge i said id try to come back later as i was going to walk out he spoke up. "People have been disappearing in the dead of night in the past few day three people have gone missing the strange part is...well everyone sees at least one of the people before they disappear and they all seem well changed, cut off, or isolated. I feel as though there's something in this town thats kidnapping these people. The jarl has sent no men in aid of us so it looks like hes turned his back on us. Which i know is untrue for he loves his people all the same beggars and all alike. Well now that ive told you maybe you can leave while you still can and not be caught by whatever this thing is." he seemed to be truely hurt by this incident thats been happening so i budged a little with him "Has anything in particular happened to you or anyone you know?" he had what looked like a sad gloom in his eyes and in his expression "Well...my wife had been happy by my side for years then one day it seemed to all change, she didnt want to look at me when i called for her, she didnt smile at me she seemed cut off...another thing was she had something of ours that was not alive yet nor dead.. Something she was so happy to welcome into this world, to love, to embrace.. But now it all seems to have come crashing down.. She had a name for the child for both of its genders whether it was a boy or a girl but didnt want to say it until it was born for she didnt know if it was a boy or a girl.. The baby was to right ourselves a new beginning a new way of living but now its all gone" after hear this he had started to break down i didnt know what to say but i felt for him losing the person you love isn't something anyone ever wants to have happen so i said what i could to him "i feel for you sir i really do, no one should have to feel the pain you feel, no one so mark my words i will help this hold in any way i can i will see to that" he looked at me and said "thank you mister i greatly appreciate this may you have the best of luck on your travels" after that i waved to him goodbye and walked out of the door. I saw clara still sitting down near the road. "Hey i might have something to take care of here" she looked at me puzzled so i followed up with what i said "there is strange shit going on around here and i feel for this man actually this "strange" the has been happening throughout the area and id like to get to the bottom of it so this man may sleep in peace and with reassurance that everything will be ok" she kept looking at me then smiled "well isnt that just sweet and cute" i tilted my head and just shook my head. We started chatting for a minute before i started looking into the whole thing but before i could leave Clara looked past me "There they are" she pointed to two people walking towards us one was male the other female they came up to us and ushered us to walk with them. While we were walking with them the man spoke up "I thought you were coming alone clara" to which she replied back "So did i but i realized that itd probably be easier to have help" i just kept listening to them talk while walking without speaking up the female then spoke "as you may know this hold is in dire trouble there have been cases of missing people, people showing up dead, and even food going missing to the point where no one will deal with the hold merchant wise as for the jarl he hasnt lifted a finger so we both looked for someone for hire which is you clara and whoever that man is. We need you to go to this location and figure out whats going on tips have led us to this area being behind it" after that they handed clara a paper an they walked away from us "So where are we going clara", "looks like its a cave southeast of here" i didnt know what to say because it all seemed strange with the people and the area but i went with it "Well lets head there then and stop lollygagging" so we both went in the direction of the cave. We finally got to the cave and clara said "I'll tell you this one more time princess follow my lead an you'll have some fun hopefully" , "ok well like I said im listening an following" Clara started walking inside the cave as i followed and all became but utter darkness.