"Well." Mieri declared as she ascended the final step to the central dais of the temple. "This is fucking creepy."
Vel Basten, or what this ruin had once been called, had once been a city built after the second Elven War. A creation and wonder constructed by the victorious Anirian people after their domination of the Elven folk, the city stood not on the cusp of the Falwood, but within it's breadth. Built within the span of a hundred years, in it's time it had been a marvel of engineering and sophistication.
Meant to be a taunting mark of humanity against the Elves, it had been the first to fall when the third war began almost three hundred years ago.
Since then it had been abandoned. A piece of Anirian history that was let go at the behest of the treaty which ended the war. It's population, or what little remained of it, evacuated to safer territories and the city itself left behind to be reclaimed by the forest around it. Trees and vegetation now sprouted from the ancient stone, and the buildings crumbled slowly as time continued to wear down upon them.
Much of Basten's history was lost, and for many it remained a piece of idle curiosity. A sight to behold, though one that not many braved due to it's place in the Falwood. A fact which had not done anything to deter the band of researchers whom Mieri and the other Initiates had been sent to retrieve. None of whom had been heard from in nearly a month. Long passed when they were due to return.
For nearly a week now the Dreadlords in training had made their way through the Falwood until eventually arriving at the city gates. Both of which had been long torn down. As they stepped into the city proper, they found it silent save for the soft patter of rain that began to fall from the heavens. "I guess we should look for a basecamp."
Mieri offered to the others, slowly turning her head and pushing some of the wet hair from her face. "They'll have set up somewhere."
