Eric studied the ancient map meticulously, shaking his head and grumbling to himself as he tried to make sense of the landmarks and weathered markings. As soon as Ka’tra mentioned a place lost deep in the frontier away from wandering eyes, Eric immediately thought of the map from the Pryde family and his quest to unlock its mysteries. They had decided to put the search on hold until they took care of the mission from Flynn and found the Tarth, but it seemed fate stepped in and provided a clue to its origins.

Eric stretched the thick parchment out on a flat boulder. The bright morning sun provided ample light to examine the rough sketches. There were recently made markings from the scribe who decoded the somewhat randomly drawn shapes and lines that depicted rugged geography. This helped tremendously to understand the location marked as the destination on the map’s center frame.

Ka’tra and Clarke both made their way over after seeing Eric hunched over the boulder and grumbling to himself. They positioned themselves around the map in a way to prevent casting a shadow over the parchment. Ka’tra leaned forward and glanced across the details outlined and grunted. His eyes darted back and forth for a few moments and then he looked back up at me.

“What is this all about?”, he questioned sharply.

Eric looked up at him skeptically. He wasn’t sure if sharing details with Ka’tra was the smartest move, but he decided his help could prove invaluable. Ka’tra would provide needed protection and guidance to help them safely travel to the location depicted by the map. “I have a gut feeling this map may help us find this ancient settlement you spoke of. The details of where it leads are unknown, but it has ancient origins and I believe it may point westward into the frontier,” Eric replied while running his finger across the map toward westward from his best estimate of their current location.

Ka’tra’s eyes narrowed and he more carefully examined the map. He looked doubtful initially, but as he slowly digested the information on the map his eyes slowly grew wider, and an unintended devilish grin grew across his face showing a few of his thick teeth.

“Interesting. May I ask where you acquired such a valuable artifact?” he asked as he recomposed himself.

“It was a gift,” Eric said flatly, unwilling to offer anything more.

He merely shrugged and said, “The details are irrelevant. If this map is what you say, I have no doubt it will lead us to the place I seek. The rumors have always promised a great reward could be found to those who could locate the lost settlement. I will not take this contribution lightly when the time comes.”

Eric knew if the map led them to a lost settlement, it would open up a lot of questions about what the Pryde family expected to find. Without knowing more about the location, it was still a guessing game at best so Eric made a mental note to consider possibilities later.

“Unbelievable!” Eric gawked as he stared upward. The group found themselves standing at the foot of a massive fortification. The thick stonework rose over ten meters high and stretched hundreds of meters in both directions. Despite the devastation to the structure caused by centuries of erosion and what appeared to be a truly epic battle at some point, it was still magnificent.

Eric stared up at it in awe for a moment. The ruins of the mighty fortress stood the test of time. Clarke and Ka’tra stood next to him with similar expressions, slowly admiring the craftsmanship of the structure that endured hundreds of years of isolation. It was a forgotten place, utterly desolate and detached from civilization. The only living things passing through the area were wild monsters moving through the thick forest. The forest had slowly taken over the massive construction with overgrown greenery crawling up the stonework, and fully grown trees peaking over its tall walls.

It took the group over a week of fast-paced travel to arrive in front of the massive outer wall. After analyzing the antique map, Ka’tra led the party deep into the forest that stretched endlessly beyond the Kleot’s western borders. The weather slowly grew colder, and Eric was thankful for the warm clothing provided by Ta’zar. By the time they arrived at their destination, snow flurries were swirling, and temperatures plummeted at night. Eric chalked it up to some sort of geographical depression or strange magic causing such a dramatic change in climate.

Fortunately, they evaded most of the creatures lurking in the depths of the forest thanks in large part to Ka’tra’s experience and sharp instincts. And although they got off to a rocky start after their brief time in the Kleot’s underground city, the three of them slowly began to form a bond. The battle with the Rackler combined with the excitement of potentially discovering a long-lost settlement stuffed with treasure was intoxicating. Ka’tra even provided Clarke with the gift of the Kleot language.

Eric later decided it was probably half out of generosity and half out of frustration at the constant need to interrupt their conversations and translate. Eric learned from Ka’tra that many races had magic allowing them to imprint a spoken language onto others. In the Kleot’s culture, it was an honor to receive such a gift, indicating a friendship in the recipient. Eric took it as a good sign they were starting to chip away at Ka’tra’s tough exterior.

“This stonework is incredible. These blocks must weigh several tons each,” Eric said while running his hand across the weathered stone wall that cast a long shadow on top of them.

“The legends told by my ancestors spoke of great architects who spared no expense to provide protection to the inhabitants who lived here,” Ka’tra said. He looked up thoughtfully toward the top of the wall where loose rocks had slowly started crumbling away leaving behind the remains of what appeared to be a once well-constructed parapet.

Ka’tra felt overwhelmed to find a place that had only been a legend to him. Discovering a lost secret that became nothing more than a rumor after generations of storytelling felt like a staggering discovery. He hoped their exploration of the site lived up to the stories told by his ancestors.

Eric looked back to Ka’tra and his wandering gaze and asked, “What do your people say happened to this place? Why was it abandoned?”

Ka’tra turned to face him and replied, “The rumors of the downfall of the settlement are somewhat unclear. The only details spoke of a significant influx of savage monsters swallowing the then timid forest casting a deathly cold over the land which led to the death of thousands and eventual large-scale destruction forcing its abandonment.”

Eric noted the gaping holes and cracked stonework that pot marked large portions of the once intimidating outer wall. It had taken some larger than life monsters to create the type of damage he observed. It was a frightening for Eric to consider some creatures in his new world could cause such devastation.

“Why would something of this magnitude be built so far into the frontier?” Clarke questioned after a brief silence.

Ka’tra shrugged mildly and said, “Also mostly unclear, the rumors describe a wealthy nobleman who discovered an underground cavern containing an artifact of extraordinary power. It allowed him to harness incredible influence and strike outward to lay claim to vast swaths of territory. None of the allegations have ever been validated, though. All of them lost to the sands of time.”

“Maybe we will finally find some answers,” Eric said with a hopeful glance forward.

They made their way northward along the wall looking for a gap or entrance. It didn’t take them long to find a massive gash in the stonework about halfway up the wall. Rubble spilled from the gash allowing an easy climbing route up and through. They crawled up the ruins and made their way toward the promising sight of the inner fortress. They reached the gap in the wall and froze at the sight. An unexpected scene greeted them. A massive courtyard laid out before them and was covered in hundreds of skeletons.

The skeletons were all fairly motionless. Only a handful stumbled around while the others looked frozen in place as if they had been standing idle for years. Knowing the age and location of the fortress, Eric thought it was a real possibility they could have been stagnant for decades. Their bones had a murky brown coloring and gave off a dark aura. Most of them wore nothing to cover their bare bones, but Eric noticed around the outer edge of the courtyard some of them had on dull and rusted chainmail or simple plate armor. There were also many carrying similarly deteriorated metal weapons of all varieties, but the most common being some sort of long sword.

Eric scanned beyond the courtyard below and picked out the blurry remains of buildings that stretched outward in a well-designed pattern of cross streets and intersections. He also noticed the land rose sharply into a well-fortified keep at the center of the fortress. The keep was an impressive structure and seemed to have held up much better than the outer walls and scattered buildings. It stood tall over its domain, conveying an intimidating presence to anyone or anything that may attempt to disturb its sphere of influence.

Eric exchanged a quick glance with Clarke, and they nodded to each other solemnly before slowly making their way back down the rubble with Ka’tra following. They reached the bottom after carefully picking their way down to the ground to avoid any unnecessary noise and motion.

Eric let out a shallow breath. “It looks like not all the residents were put to rest. There must have been a thousand of them in that courtyard alone, and I’d make a few gold pieces wager on there being much more to get past before reaching the structures farther within the fortress,” he continued in frustration while trying to keep his voice to a low growl.

“I take it as a good sign. The skeletons existence indicates this place has been untouched by anyone for an extremely long time. We may be the first living things to have seen the inner courtyard since its initial destructions hundreds of years ago,” Clarke replied logically.

Clarke approached situations from a logical and analytical perspective. He immersed himself in strategy and combat tactics so it was only natural for him to analyze situations logically and perceive them as scenarios to solve with the resources available. Eric bit his lip, thinking about the mass of skeletons they would have to deal with to get to the central keep.

Eric looked toward Ka’tra and found he was wearing an unimpressed expression. “We can handle any number of them. A strong wind will knock them over,” he snorted.

“Have you fought this type of enemy in the past?” Eric asked.

“Not exactly but I am confident they will not pose a threat to us,” Ka’tra replied smugly.

Eric tilted his head questioningly and looked to Clarke for advice. Clarke shrugged and said, “I say we go for it. We have Ka’tra to thank for getting us this far. If he is confident the skeletons are weak fodder, then we can handle them by quickly moving through the outskirts of their ranks and finding a way to bottleneck them closer to the keep.”

Eric couldn’t help but feel anxious about the idea of bull rushing through potentially thousands of enemies, regardless of their perceived strength. Ka’tra’s confidence wasn’t able to shake him out of the off feeling, but he felt like there was no choice. They were too far along to turn around and go back. The potential gains were so close and almost within grasp.

“Alright, I still think we should be as wary as possible. There is no telling if skeletons will be the only enemies guarding the fortress,” Eric said.

His companions nodded, and they started the climb back toward the opening in the fortress walls. They wore focused expressions preparing to face a numerous enemy as the wind started howling and snow flurries picked up limiting their vision.

Eric gritted his teeth as they passed through the gap. The enemy numbers seemed, even more, overwhelming the second time they were within view of the expansive courtyard. Ka’tra motioned toward the left side of the courtyard that ran along the outer wall. Eric followed his finger as he drew an imaginary route through the boundary of the courtyard and through a gap in the collapsed stone structures toward the middle of the fortress and inward to the keep.

Eric took a deep breath and gripped Shadowspark tightly between his hands, a habit he had been forming during times of stress. Clarke counted down from three with his fingers and on one they dashed down the rubble that was spilling out of the opening toward the crowd of skeletons waiting below.