Beyond the party the expanse is wondrous. The crystalline structure seem to expand almost as if building a mountain. They are growing towards the sky in a direction. They travel over the crest and from its summit he spots an odd sight. Some 50ft ahead a lone horse now trotting towards the party. There is no rider and the horse looks plenty spooked. The horse is running from their first sight of city ruins. An I'd pyramid like structure sticking out of the ground. It's composed some bare broken bits of stone but mostly entombed in crystal!

Ragnar steers his horse to intercept the one coming towards them, calling out to it in what he assumes is a soothing voice for a horse.

"Easy there, horse." Ragnar says. "Nothing here's going to hurt you."

He tries getting a hold of any loose reins and bringing the horse to a stop, looking to see if there's a saddle or any other gear.

Animal Handling: 13  to get the horse to stop.

(-1 to Intelligence.)

Ted pumps up his chest at Ragnars compliment. “Actually, I haven’t. But who needs experience when you have natural talent.” He smiles and takes a bow.

As Ted looks in awe at the crystaline pyramid, he is distracted by Ragnars movement as he tries to calm the horse. Shaking his head out of his stupor, he yells ahead to Zira and Gen. “I didn’t think anyone else had made it this far. Are there any other groups from the institute out here at the moment?” 

Turning to Echo he mutters, “Hey, can you fly up and see if you can see the horses rider anywhere?”

The horse banks to the right of Ragnar trying to avoid him. Ragnar sees the horse looks writhed as if wandering for days without food or water and its saddle is slightly askew but it seems to be some sort of mount. The horse soon settles down near the party seeing more animals among you.

"It looks terrible," Vayna says frowning as she hops down from her own horse with a water skin and walks over.

Murmuring in Undercommon to the horse it bobs its head shying away from her until she pours water in her hand and holds it out. The horse drinks and drinks more its coat is visibly spattered Areon can see with blood and the saddle itself the leather he immediately recognizes the scroll work from the smithy and elven leather workers from Timbergrove!

Ragnar hops back up onto his horse.

"This could be a trap, so keep your eyes open," Ragnar says. "But it's more likely someone is in grave danger and the sooner we get to there the better."

He starts towards the direction the horse came from, keeping his eyes open for danger ahead.

Perception: 24   

Ragnar notices a very distance camp. A tent stands about 400ft away just near a large overgrowth of crystal and an immense stone ruin. The ruin looks like a complete arch with several other broken arches littering the ground round it. The barren landscape yields little else in the surrounding area immediately by the party. Ragnar however can also see some half dozen or so figure frozen in the crystal same as before.

At Areon and Ragnars concerns, Ted bolts into action, trying his best to control his horse and dart after Ragnar. “Come on everyone, we’ve no time to lose! Those blacksmiths deserve to see their son again!” 

Breaking the line, Ted leans forward in his saddle, having heard it makes you more aerodynamic, and more importantly, look really cool. “Echo, look for survivors!” 

Echo Perception 11

Ragnar looks over at Areon.

"If he's alive, we'll find him," Ragnar says.

He continues towards the distant camp and the tent, keeping pace with Ted.

OOC: How far ahead is Echo going?

"Yes," Zira begins. "Seems we're not the only ones having faced misfortune," she adds frowning as she, Gen-ga, and Vanya follow Ragnar.

Echo flies ahead and about 80ft ahead the owl notices another horse but it's not moving and another 20ft moves beyond communication with Ted. The party continues to move forward passing the dead horse and Zira presses on. Vanya seems to be focused on the ruins while Gen-ga looks to Zira.

"This is the site right," Gen-ga asks as Zira nods.

"They seem to have found it as well," Zira says. "We will check for survivors but we need to negotiation ownership," she adds.

Approaching the tent rhe party finds a burnt out fire and the remnants of a camp. The tent is leaning crooked on its pole and the site looks like it's seen a struggle. The party can see one body. It's faced down in the sand and crystal unmoving.

Ragnar slips off his horse, pulling his battle axe out and sliding his shield into position in one fluid movement.

He quickly approaches the tent, looking for movement of any kind on the way, then pushes the tent flap open to look inside.

Perception: 28  

Ragnar sees a scene of horror inside. Two half-elven men lay with there throats cut on bedrolls like they were attacked while sleeping. There's a chest of some kind turned onto its side and it's contents spilled out: a pouch, three books, a jeweled chalice, and one large shining black stones covered in runes. There are two other empty bedrolls on the tent that seem to have been slept in.

Ragnar's face becomes stony as he enters the tent. From a relatively young age he has seen blood shed, though normally it has been the crews of his father doing the shedding. 

"There are two dead in here," Ragnar shouts back to the others. "And two missing."

He looks more closely at what has spilled out of the chest, quickly scooping it together and putting it back inside. Picking it up he carries it out to the others.

"The chest could have been knocked over when whoever killed those two came in, or there was something specific their killers were looking for," Ragnar says, opening the chest to show Gen-ga and Zira what's inside. "Bandits would have taken everything."

He looks around the camp.

"Maybe a disagreement. The other two decided to kill these two and take whatever they were arguing over."

Nodding back into the tent, "Anyone recognize those two?"

Neither of the elven look like Clarrisa or Astrid Harker. They both have a blue tint to their skin like moon elves. They do however have ornate armor and weapons that are the same fey-touched design as the saddle. He recognizes the leather work as well as the metal work.

"This...they were killed like Dolan and Wendell," Vanya says looking over Areon's shoulder. "It's...its just like them," she says backing out of the tent and walking over to stand with the horses pass the body face down near the burnt out fire.

Erika keeps her axe at the ready. "Be on the lookout... if they have died the same as Dolan and Wendell, then their restless spirits may be floating around as well."

Looking sadly at the bodies, she says, "I can only hope Astrid's son is down below and did not fall prey... or be the one who wielded the blade."

Erika begins gathering up the bodies, lying them side by side. "We should burn the corpses before we leave. Lest they too walk again."

She then takes a look at the items in the chest - anything she recognizes, either from training or lore?

History 20

Ted frantically searches around the camp, calling out to the others. “The blacksmiths boy, Jens, .... he‘s a dark skinned fey-touched in breastplate with a scroll design. We owe those two, so I hope we can find him alive!”

Checking in each tent, he looks over the bodies for someone of that description. Investigation 8

Erika notices that the chalice and tomes look Ellyrian but the runes on the stone are foreign to her. The chalice seems ceremonial while the tomes look to be journals of some kind by a well known Ellyrian alchemist and enchanter, Cerys Welza. A female gnome who created potions and objects of great renown.

Ted doesn't recognize the other man face down in the dirt.