Aelfric sighed in relief as he spotted the guild hall up ahead, nestled into a small clearing among the massive trees he had been traveling through for quite some time. It would be good to be able to rest somewhere safe from the various monsters that had been harassing him frequently on the way here. He tiredly picked up the past and hurried through the front door of the large wooden building to settle down for a few hours of rest.
After resting he began walking back out into the forest, heading towards his goal for being here in Pandora. Several of his family's old stories told of ruins dotting Pandora that were related to their primary interest, the legendary heroes of ancient civilizations that predated the modern kingdoms. They had long wanted to explore this area and investigate the ruins, however, it had been too dangerous to do so before. With his new guild having an outpost here, however, it gave Aelfric the perfect staging point to begin exploring the area.
Sadly while Aelfric had an idea of the general location of the ruin's he was after, he didn't know their precise location. When combined with the difficulty of navigating the through the dense, dark forest that filled this area it resulted in him having an extremely difficult time of locating his target, or anything except more trees for that matter. In the end, it took him hours before he finally saw the telltale signs of crumbling masonry indicating at least some form of old buildings.
It was a crumbling wall that while currently only up to Aelfrics knees, he suspected was originally large enough to provide a significant defense against any attackers. Stepping over the old wall, he could see that there were numerous remains of what looked like stone houses in various states of disrepair. A few were almost still standing, while most were just the foundations and some even hand trees growing up through them. The seemed to be arrayed in a loose circle within the walls and centered on a somewhat larger, more intact structure.
It was to this larger structure that Aelfric made his way towards, navigating his path through broken buildings and trees. As he came closer to the central structure he could make out more details, revealing clues as to what its original purpose might be. The large vaulted columns leading to a massive doorway with indicated that it was probably an important communal building; a template or perhaps a government building of some kind. To either side of the door was a statue, or at least what appeared to be a statue. One of them was missing the upper half of it's, however the other was mostly intact and showed a large, buff man wielding a club.
Walking up towards the statue, he ran his hand over the weathered plaque at its base. While he couldn't read the language it was written in, Aelfric had long recognized the ancient characters that spelled Hercules' name. Grinning in excitement, Aelfric moved towards the door; this was the place he was looking for. Ready to explore, he stepped through the door only to be slammed backward by some kind of paw like arm. The force of the blow sent him skidding back several meters and felt like it broke several of Aelfrics ribs.
Whatever it was that attacked him didn't advance outside, however, seemingly content to stay hidden somewhere inside the structure. As much as Aelfric wanted to explore these ruins immediately, whatever creature was located inside it seemed outside of his current abilities. Sighing in annoyance, he turned to leave and began heading back towards the guild hall. He would return another time, either when he was stronger or with some backup
After resting he began walking back out into the forest, heading towards his goal for being here in Pandora. Several of his family's old stories told of ruins dotting Pandora that were related to their primary interest, the legendary heroes of ancient civilizations that predated the modern kingdoms. They had long wanted to explore this area and investigate the ruins, however, it had been too dangerous to do so before. With his new guild having an outpost here, however, it gave Aelfric the perfect staging point to begin exploring the area.
Sadly while Aelfric had an idea of the general location of the ruin's he was after, he didn't know their precise location. When combined with the difficulty of navigating the through the dense, dark forest that filled this area it resulted in him having an extremely difficult time of locating his target, or anything except more trees for that matter. In the end, it took him hours before he finally saw the telltale signs of crumbling masonry indicating at least some form of old buildings.
It was a crumbling wall that while currently only up to Aelfrics knees, he suspected was originally large enough to provide a significant defense against any attackers. Stepping over the old wall, he could see that there were numerous remains of what looked like stone houses in various states of disrepair. A few were almost still standing, while most were just the foundations and some even hand trees growing up through them. The seemed to be arrayed in a loose circle within the walls and centered on a somewhat larger, more intact structure.
It was to this larger structure that Aelfric made his way towards, navigating his path through broken buildings and trees. As he came closer to the central structure he could make out more details, revealing clues as to what its original purpose might be. The large vaulted columns leading to a massive doorway with indicated that it was probably an important communal building; a template or perhaps a government building of some kind. To either side of the door was a statue, or at least what appeared to be a statue. One of them was missing the upper half of it's, however the other was mostly intact and showed a large, buff man wielding a club.
Walking up towards the statue, he ran his hand over the weathered plaque at its base. While he couldn't read the language it was written in, Aelfric had long recognized the ancient characters that spelled Hercules' name. Grinning in excitement, Aelfric moved towards the door; this was the place he was looking for. Ready to explore, he stepped through the door only to be slammed backward by some kind of paw like arm. The force of the blow sent him skidding back several meters and felt like it broke several of Aelfrics ribs.
Whatever it was that attacked him didn't advance outside, however, seemingly content to stay hidden somewhere inside the structure. As much as Aelfric wanted to explore these ruins immediately, whatever creature was located inside it seemed outside of his current abilities. Sighing in annoyance, he turned to leave and began heading back towards the guild hall. He would return another time, either when he was stronger or with some backup
