We promptly left the inn and made our way over to the estate, Torrid mentioned that it was likely a few days travel deep within the nearby woods. On our first night heading towards this estate Ambition wanted to start a fire but Tordrid said it wasn't a good idea, "It'll attract unwanted attraction, that bastards guards have trained their dogs to seek campfires whether it's just random folks who are only their just camping nearby or people who want his head, like us. Plus, some of the wildlife has grown bold here, wolves and wildcats especially, bigger stronger, and prouder, and more than happy to tear into an unsuspecting camper or hunter's throat."
Ambition put down his flint and went to help pitch tents in the dark, thankfully he, like some of the others, has natural darkvision which thankfully lets them see things much clearer in the dark than most. Sadly for us humans, we have to figure out where everything is with their help. "Ambition can you help me find the bedrolls?... Ambition?" I looked around as I kept asking his name, "Ambition I swear to-" "Boo!" I must have leaped what felt like 50 feet, "By the fucking allfathers what in the nine hells is wrong with you?!" I said angrily as ambition laughed his ass off, "Ah, sorry my friend I couldn't resist." he said tossing a bedroll my way. I shook my head as I carefully made my way to the tent, the cold wind was chilling down to the bone. Once inside the tent, we all squeezed together to keep each other warm.
It took a while for me to sleep comfortably but I did eventually manage to get some shut-eye. We had slept for about three to four hours, I've had to sleep less when I had to be on the ship, however, we were on a strict mission so I had to get as much rest as possible to properly function. Thankfully dawn was beginning to break over the horizon and we could properly put away all of our belongings to continue the journey ahead.
A few days pass and nothing too interesting has happened, we've come dangerously close to a pack of guard dogs but nothing too major. We finally made it to the estate and watched several guards make their rounds as we carefully made our way to the secret entrance hidden within the tall grass. "How should we do this?" I asked. Tordrid and the others thought for a moment before ambition spoke first, "We know there's a secret entrance in that grass, and from what we can tell no one has found it and closed it back up, so I say we all crawl our way inside now, pick the locks and charge into wherever this bastard is hiding, he won't expect it and we'll be out of here in no time."
I looked towards him and shook my head, "First part sounds good but it's too risky during the day." "Do you suggest we do the plan at night?" Torrid said, "It would be best, besides there's enough torchlight for us to use so won't need to rely on other means." "Means such as?" "Oh, I don't know maybe loudly whispering instructions to one another eventually shouting and letting the guards know our location?" Ambition opened his mouth to speak but immediately closed it, "Point taken." Tordrid sighed, "So we wait until nightfall, take a rest, Crowfeather and I will take first watch." Everyone nodded and found a place to rest for a while until night came.
While they rested Tordrid and I sat next to each other and kept an eye out for any guards making their way over to us. "So...how did you become a paladin?" I asked, "How or why?" she responded, "Both I guess." She rolled her eyes before taking a glance over the area then back to me. "A long, long, time ago, on the northwestern tip of the thunder coast, I lived with my family, My mother, my father, my three brothers, and my four sisters. I was the second youngest in the family and even though times were hard and we would constantly argue and fight we still loved one another, the youngest especially. My dear sister Riswynn, she was the glue that held everyone together everyone in and out of town loved her and she was the only one who supported me in becoming a paladin. You should have been there, Paladins of all kinds came by, all from their various sacred oaths. The oath of devotion, the ancients, the open sea, and the order of paladins I chose was that of the oath of vengeance."
I gave her a confused look, "The oath of vengeance?" I said, "Aye. We fight the greater evil, we lend no mercy towards the wicked, by any means necessary we take out our foes, and through restitution, we help others affected by our foes." "That sounds like a lot." "It was, but I joined with them for many reasons, the bastard in charge of our town had been taking advantage of all the non-humans and refusing to help them. I even overheard him talking about simply exterminating them or even going as far as to sell and enslave them." "That's horrible." "I know, but no one else believed me, not even the rest of my family. When I left and came back a coup was in full effect and I had to fight back with the other paladins who joined me. When the fight was over I learned that my mother, three of my sisters, and two of my brothers had died. They all tried to fight back the initial attack but were eventually outnumbered. My father and the others told me that my youngest sister managed to escape."
"I imagine you found out she became this man's servant?" I asked her, "I did, they told me to find a man with a snake on his crest." "And here you are now, taking your oath to its full effect." She simply nodded. She then started to shiver a cold wind began to blow through, I wrapped my arm around her covering her with my cloak, "warm enough?" I asked. She looked away from me but I could tell she was blushing. "You know after a few years of rebuilding the town, going on adventures with random folk looking for an ancient treasure or paid to take care of a clan of violent orcs, I thought I could settle down, put away my axe and my anger, maybe find somebody to share a life with. But when I heard what happened….I knew I couldn't just stand there and cower in fear at these people in power, enough had been taken from me."
We sat there for two hours before we switched with Ambition and Maryanne. It went on like this for hours until night finally covered the sky and the ever so noticeable sea of stars was beginning to appear. Everyone was fully rested and ready to enter this estate. "There's an even number of us so I'd say we go two at a time." I said quietly, "Ambition you and Rurik will go first." They both nodded and began to crawl on their stomachs slowly but surely beginning to disappear into the grass, one they were gone, Maryanne and I followed suit. It felt like hours but we managed to find and go through the hidden entryway. We stayed still making sure the last two entered safely. "Now comes the hard part," I said walking up to the back door which was of course locked.
The others surrounded me as I began to pick the lock once it opened, a chill went up my spine, something about this place seemed...unnatural.