Continued from S3: Ny'essa, of the cathedral of Chaos. “She was beautiful,” Roland admitted to Syn, Rynard and Blade, his voice almost wistful as he remembered her. “Charming, and alluring like no woman I had ever met.” Then he shock his head, as if to turned his thoughts away from someplace he did not intend for them to go. “She told me that she had discovered a forgotten trove of ancient treasures lie near here, a tower raised during the height of the Bright Empire, and asked me to mount an expedition into the Marshes to claim it. She was quite… ‘persuasive’.” His eyes seemed to glass over for an instant, and then he faced them with a hint of pride. “I refused her! But, allowed her to continue her research here. Knowing what she wanted, I should have cast her out… But, I didn’t!” “When she failed to win me over,” he continued, his voice tinged with regret, “she must have turned to my younger brother; Orlan. Like every other man in the castle, he was mystified by her. She convinced him to do what I refused, and somehow he organized a small group to take her into the Marshes with out my knowledge.” “It was only a few days later that the disappearances began,” he admitted. “They went unnoticed at first; Starting with peat farmers at the edge of the bogs. But now every man, woman, child and beast with in a day’s ride of Marshes has been taken by… something! I have only heard of sightings of some dark form… a winged creature… seen in the night sky.” “Not even a Melnibonean is mad enough to build a tower in those Marshes,” Rynard commented, then turning to Syn he added; “No offense indented.” “There were no Marshes of the Mist at the height of the Bright Empire,” Syn replied coldly. “They were created by the Doomed Folk of the Silent Lands as a barrier against the armies of Melnibone. But they failed to stop us. However, when we finally faced them, we found them such twisted and hateful beings that we left them to their miserable existence.” “If this tower does exist,” Syn turned to Roland. “It has stood for thousands of years undisturbed... and it should have been left that way!” To be continued on S3: The Beast, demon of Blood Foutain tower. Thanks for looking... Hope you enjoy! Comments and suggestions always welcome and appreciated!