In the m, the party gathered to prepare for the jouro the Duchy of Yeston to see its Duke and deal with him after his soldiers attacked Aurea’s bandits’ encampment. Thankfully, they had horses here ready for them, so the journey wouldn’t take as long as it would’ve otherwise. Aurea quickly got on a white horse that she was already fortable with. Heraculitus ahalia both got on brown horses who were calm and ready for the journey ahead. Ildefonso, with practiced skill, jumped onto a chestnut colored horse while Tempano, after putting a b on the saddle to prevent his body from freezing the horse, got on a grey horse. This left a bck horse as the only o. It looked at Isidore with curious eyes as Isidot on it and patted it.

  As the heroes rode off, they looked back at Aurea’s remaining people, who waved at them and cheered for them. Even just days after being chosen as heroes, they were already being praised for their as. It was a good start, and it was inspiring for them.

  Yeston was only a day’s ride, so the party rode until su and ohe sun had set, they made camp along the road. They agreed they would all take turns keeping watch over the camp while the others slept. Isidore volunteered to take the first shift since he wasn’t tired at that point. So while the rest of the party got ient to sleep, Isidore stood by the campfire a watch over the road and woods nearby. Annoying, he noticed he still felt like he was being watched by some presend he had long siermi had to be because of the Old God trace he ran into a few days ago. Still, he had no way of knowing if that enter left him cursed. Eventually, one of the other party members relieved him and he went to sleep.

  The m, the party again mounted up and rode for Yeston and around noon, they finally made it to the town which surrouhe castle the Duke lived in. Isidore couldn’t pce it but somethi off about the castle and general area. Just a general sense of uneasiness pervaded the air. Almost as soon as they arrived, a crowd of peasants surrouhem. Upon seeing this, Aurea said to the party. “We o get past these people quickly so that we get to the Duke.”

  Isidore had another idea. “I think we’d find it more useful to see if they have any information about the Duke.”

  “I agree. If we rush in there blindly, we might miss something or offend him.” Tempano agreed.

  “Who cares what he thinks? His people attacked us!” Ildefonso replied.

  “Exactly. They attacked us and they tried to wipe out the people I hold dearest.” Aurea said.

  To this, Heraculitus again cautioned restraint. “Still, things could only get worse if we don’t know the person we are dealing with.”

  Euthalia agreed. “To get the best oute, we o have information and these people are our best hope.”

  Seeing the rest of the party wanting more information about the Duke before meeting him, she yielded to them and the party stopped in the ter of the crowd. Aurea stood at the head of the party and introduced them. “Greetings citizens of Yeston. I am the Hero Aurea and with me are my panions.” The people cheered, and a man came up to greet them.

  “Ah, you’ve finally arrived. rayed to the Auspices to send you to aid us.” The man said.

  “What do you mean?” Aurea asked, unaware of the townspeople’s plight.

  The strange sense of uneasiness grew in Isidore’s head and it looked like it did in the man’s mind as he hastily replied. “Please e with me and I'll expihing.”

  Aurea turned back to the party to gauge their opinions and saw them shrug slightly to say that they didn’t see an issue going with him. So she turned back to the man and said they would follow him. The man hurried them inte house he ter of the town, out of view of the castle. Inside, he properly introduced himself. “I am Alous, the mayor of Yeston. We… have a problem…”

  Curious, Aurea asked. “What type of problem?”

  “It’s the Duke. I fear something has happeo him. Nobody has been in or out of the castle in days, and we’ve heard nothing from him.”

  Euthalia asked. “Have you told any higher authorities?”

  Alous shook his head. “Nobody has e here in days. The st group of people that left were a pany of soldiers. I hope they spread word of our predit.” He then looked down and csped his hands in prayer while the party looked at each other awkwardly, knowing they killed a lot of those soldiers.

  Then he tinued and asked, “So why did you e to his town if you didn’t know about our problem?”

  Aurea quickly replied. “We had some business with the Duke.”

  “Wonderful. He should expect you then.” Alous said.

  pletely ign that, Aurea pressed on. “Is there anything we should know about the Duke before we meet with him?”

  Alous thought for a sed. “Well, even at public events, when he es to join us, he’s always been distant.”

  “What do you mean?” Aurea asked.

  “Well, even when I go to speak to him about matters of the town, he always seems to have something else on his mind and never speaks to me beyond the basics.”

  “Getting ba track. Did you notiything usual before you lost tact with him?” Isidore asked.

  “Now that I think about it, there was a strange group that visited the castle the day before. I think they were from a pany. Malgold maybe?”

  Ildefonso smmed his hand oable at the mention of his father’s pany. “Are you absolutely sure?”

  Startled, Alous shrunk back a little and replied. “I think so. I mean, their symbols looked the same.”

  Ildefonso turo the group. “We have to go there right away!”

  Euthalia quickly stopped him. “Hold on, I uand he’s your father, but what makes that sent?”

  “Before I left his service, I knew his researchers were w on something, but I never figured out what it was. But if my father was behind it then we have to assume the worst.”

  Aurea looked at the party and asked. “Well, shall we?”

  Everybody agreed and so they said their goodbyes to the mayor, who wished them good lud hoped they would succeed. As soon as they stepped out of the house, they immediately noticed something was wrong. Heraculitus was the first to speak. “Something isn’t right here. The aura of this pce is wrong.”

  Isidore, remembering his past feeling of unease, asked. “You feel it too?”

  “Yes, something isn’t right. I’ve only noticed his feeling when dealing with certaiics.” Heraculitus said, and it was clear those weren’t happy memories for him.

  Just then, a pair of guards turhe er, although they weren’t the guards the party had seehey ehe town or the ohey had fought at the bandit encampment. These guards were different and had rger bodies, and the party couldn’t make out their faces under all the armor they wore. When the guards saw the party, they immediately charged the party.

  Isidore ahalia were the first to draw their ons, and they each squared off with a different guard. Only for them to toss the two heroes aside with inhuman strength. The two heroes quickly got back up and saw Aurea holding off one guard while the other was slowly pushing forward through the bined fmes of Heraculitus and Ildefonso. Isidore dashed forward towards the guard attag Aurea. The guard turned just enough to block his ssh. Isidore followed it up with another ssh, getting into the rhythm of the fight as Aurea attacked with her twin daggers. Finally, he noticed an opening and, as if guided by a higher power, his bde sliced through a gap in the armor, causing the guard to fall and Aurea to stab the guard in the neck with her daggers.

  The pair then turheir attention to the uard, who seemed to be ued by the fmes of the two magic users. So they switched to their backup spells, with Ildefonso sending a short lightning bolt into the guard’s chest, which stu for a sed. Then Heraculitus sent a dim bst of light energy flying into the guard’s chest where the lightning had struck, causing it to fall to its kempano then appeared from nowhere and, using his dagger, sliced the back of the guard’s legs, causing the guard to be stuck. This gave Euthalia the opening she needed, and she cut off the guard’s head.

  “What the hell?” Tempano said, as he took off the helmet of one guard. The party gathered around him and saw that the guard wasn’t human. He was a demon and quick examination of the other was a demon as well.

  With full fidence, Aurea turo the group and said. “We have to get to the Duke and figure out if he’s w with the Demon King.”

  They agreed with her without words and quickly rushed towards the castle. They didn’t e across any more of the demons until they reached the castle gates, which were wide open. There, another pair of demons awaited them. Again, they charged the party, but this time, Euthalia and Isidore predicted their moves. Isidore rolled off to the side and drew his bow while Euthalia’s shield took the blow and allowed her to ehe demon in a sword fight. Isidore pulled ba arrow on the bow and released it. The arrow flew and embedded itself into the back of the demon’s neck, causing it to turn around, givihalia the opening she o thrust deep into the demon’s chest with her sword.

  The other demon approached Isidore as he drew his scimitar and prepared to fight. He exged a few blows with the demon and saw that it perfectly tered his moves. However, it didn’t have the time to capitalize on it as the rest of the party fell on the demon and easily killed it because of their numbers. With that dealt with, the party made their way into the castle.

  Inside was dark, with nobody around, not even servants. It was eerie, and the entire party was on edge with them, expeg an ambush around every er. However, nothing happened, and they made their way through the castle and scoured every room they came across. In every room, it was the same story: a pletely empty room with no signs of life in any er. Strangely, though, they heard noises of movement and muffled voices. They assumed something was hiding from them. But what?

  Still, they pressed ever onwards aually found a staircase leading further into the castle. The party tinued upwards aually came to the entrance of what they assumed to be the grand hall. Aurea took point with Euthalia and Isidore close behind her. “Get ready,” she said as she opehe doors. The doors swung open, and the party ehe room, ons drawn and spells at the ready. Only to be met with a strange sight.

  I the Duke at the head of a table with six ptes already set for each member of the party. The Duke smiled and said. “Wonderful! The guests have arrived. Please take a seat.”

  Aurea automatically refused. “We’re not doing anything until you tell us what’s going on here!”

  “What? I simply wao give my huests a warm wele.” The Duke said welingly.

  Ildefonso derisively ented, “You honored us so much that you sent demons to attack us.”

  “What? I would never? My guards may be strong arained, but they certainly aren’t demons.” The Duke ughed as if trying to disarm the situation, only none of the party were buying it.

  Isidore felt there was something wrong with him. This wasn’t at all the type of person the mayor had told them about. Something about his aura was off and a quice at Heraculitus firmed it, as his faly grew more and more ed. The Duke again spoke. “Please sit a us talk all about what brought you to my humble town.”

  This time Ildefonso ignored what the Duke said. “We know you’ve been w with the Malgold Trading pany, so tell us everything you know!”

  The Duke put his hands attempting to seem i. “I don’t know about any Malgold pany. I’ve never even heard the name.” Despite sounding pletely sihe party knew he had to be lying at this point. Everybody khe name Malgold for his vast web of eic power. Whether they worked for one of his panies, slept in buildings structed by him, or ate food delivered by his ships, everybody from the highest lords to the lowest peasants knew of him.

  Then a chill went down Isidore’s spine. Instead of the usual feeling of being watched passively, he now felt as if the things that were watg him were now actively watg him and he heard faint ughter only he could hear. It seemed the Duke heard it too, and he quickly faced Isidore and said in a shaky voice. “No- The ughing ones?”

  In a panic, he pletely dropped his guise of being an affable nobleman and instead sent a bst of magical energy across the entire room, hitting all the party members but focused on Isidore. The bst sent Isidore flying, a his head hard oone wall. With fading vision, he saw the Duke begin to levitate and saw his eyes glow a deep purple. Then Isidore fainted.