VS 
Symphony of the Knight
For four years, Ser Mercedes Chauvet had traveled the land on a knight-errant, seeking out every opportunity she could find to prove her chivalric virtues by helping those in need and hone her martial skills. She would travel along the main roads, stopping in villages and towns to hear the people’s woes and help how she could.
As of recent, Mercedes travels had lead her off the main roads. The well-kept cobblestone roads were now replaced with dirt paths created by riders who had come before. The Knight had heard word of a strange cursed village hidden away in a valley. After three days of traveling in the rain through thick and rugged forests, Mercedes arrived at her destination.
It was a dilapidated little hamlet with muddy narrow streets and termite ridden shacks with bowed thatched roofs that seemed ready to collapse at any moment. The most noticeable vista was the large and ominous castle tucked away in the mountains overlooking the decrepit town.
More off-putting than the looming castle was the eerie and omnipresent silence that permeated through the town. Though it was evening, there was not a soul to be seen or heard. One could at least expect to see a stray dog roaming the dirty streets in search of a scrap to eat or hear the sound of children at play but alas, Mercedes was alone with only the sound of rain pitter pattering against the mud.
The Knight came to a mossy two story building with a crude sign hanging over the door that simply read “INN”. Mercedes dismounted her steed and tied it to a post in the ground which she could only assume was for hitching. The dark skinned woman entered the establishment and was instantly met with the suffocating smell of rot and mildew. The only source of light, a single wax candle on the front counter illuminated the face of a pale sickly woman.
“I’m sorry if I frightened you,” Mercedes apologized. “I was searching for a place where I might stay.”
“We’re closed! Now be gone with ye!” The pale woman shouted, her sunken eyes quivering in her skull.
“Oh… I’m sorry I bothered you. Do you know of a different place where I might find stay?” The knight asked politely.
“You can bugger off the way ye came if ye knows what’s good fer ya!” The woman shrieked. Mercedes was taken aback by the woman’s yelling but stayed resolute.
“Pray tell me, is it true that this village is cursed?” she inquired. The woman behind the counter clamped her mouth shut and began to shake uncontrollably. “Please, tell me, I might be able to help.” Mercedes said with a gentle smile as she pulled her white cape and pointed to the black eagle coat-of-arms that adorned it.
“Hrng…” The woman groaned. “We be cursed alright…”
The woman told of a creature that lived in the old abandoned castle, as she spoke, her shaking became more severe. She told how the beast drink the blood of its victims and how occasionally people would simply disappear. She warned Mercedes that none who went to the castle ever returned but wouldn’t try and stop the knight from going. Mercedes thanked the woman set off for the castle.
There was a path leading up the mountain which had at one time been inlaid with bricks but years of neglect had left the road rocky and warped. Whip-poor-wills and owls began to sing their nocturnal songs as the evening sun was replaced by pitch black night. The recent rain, caused the moon’s light to be drowned out by thick clouds. Mercedes lit an oil lantern she kept tied to her saddle and continued her trek by its light. Every sudden noise caused her head to turn and her heart to race but eventually she arrived at the castle.
While surely impressive in its time, the castle now resembled the rotting corpse of an elephant with its crumbling dull grey walls covered in thick vines as nature tried to reclaim the man made structure. Its skeleton shown through where parts of the roof had caved in exposing the decaying support beams and rafters. Tall pointed spires and towers jutted into the sky like massive stone spears.
Mercedes dismounted her horse and approached the derelict fortress. She wore a small shield on her left arm in in that hand, carried a lantern. Her right hand rested firmly on the hilt of her silver rapier ready to draw at a moments notice. She tried to stride bravely towards the castles massive black doors but found herself doing a sort of shuffle instead. Once she reached the door, Mercedes would use the heavy iron knocker which caused an echo to ripple through the castle’s dead halls. If there came no answer, Mercedes would try and force the heavy door open herself.
