Tohav guides his horse towards the Double Bolt Inn, the first building on the left of the main road into the village. The sounds of drinking and talk appear to be coming from behind the front door of the inn. The inn is a single level wooden building.
After Tohav passes within the front door, all conversations cease and half of the people in the inn get up and leave. The Innkeeper appears willing to sell beer and rent a room, but does not appear to desire to share any words with Tohav. When Tohav asks about the funeral, the Innkeeper tells him sadly, "Shaunnra grew up here in Twilight Hollow. We all loved her very much. Several weeks ago, she set out to find the lair of some bandits who were preying on outlying farms. Her horse brought her dead body back to us. Her Holiness Andress couldn't raise her. Only she undersands why, but she told us that Shaunnra's soul was trapped somewhere between life and death. We pray for her release."
As the other party members ride into the center of the village, the shutters on a house on the right slam abruptly as you get closer.
In the center of a village before the great stone temple, atop a tall rectangular plinth of granite stands a life-sized statue of a crying man wearing robes. The sculpture has aged and weathered from rain. Although its too dark to read, engravings probably surround the base.
Ahead of you, you see that some of those who participated in the funeral are heading into the church. Others are heading towards their homes.
You head down a long alley enfolded by the Temple's walls into an inner courtyard. The smell of aged grime rises from the uneven cobblestones. You step beneath a raised wooden portcullis into a rain-soaked, diamond-shaped court-yard with doors leading into the church proper.
A robed woman leans against a stone cistern in the courtyard's center. The woman bows and says, "My blessings for your safe arrival."
Suffering has put wrinkles at the corners of the cleric's eyes. Her pain tugs down the edges of her mouth. She wears her hair in ragged tufts, cut short and without style. Dressed in drenched robes of mourning, the cleric tries to smile with a welcoming gesture, but her lips don't quite manage the smile. "Thank you for coming. I am Andress, Head Cleric of this temple dedicated to Saint Tylis of the Church of Ilmater. I'm afraid I must beg a favor from you -- one which our poor village could never repay.
"I only have limited knowledge of her fate, but my sister Shaunnra suffers as few have ever suffered. I tried to raise her, but I couldn't. Something has her soul and won't release it. She can't go forward but neither can she go back. I prayed and Ilmater sent me a vision of the horror that has stolen Shaunnra's immortal soul. Her imprisonment serves no purpose but to amuse a merciless creature. This creature exists somewhere between life and death, in a valley west of here.
"Shaunnra went forth into that valley to battle brigands, but something far more terrible found her and slew her. Ancient ruins litter that valley, that date back to the age when the Stormriders of Talos ruled the Sunset mountains. Perhaps the brigands tried to loot the ruins and woke some ancient horror from its sleep.
"Will you save my sister's soul from a fate worse than death?"
