Under the watchful eyes of Nliru the party resumed its movement and quickly arrived at the circle. The stones were placed in what appeared to be a market square. The circle was completely surrounded by shabby little stalls, save for the exits into four streets, and some space right in front of it, protected by the sanctity of the structure. The stalls seemed to have been abandoned in a hurry, although it wasn't very clear – food was mostly gone, only bits and pieces, and garbage left in its place, while such inedible goods as raw grain, leather and cutlery lay unattended. The adventurers didn't notice any town residents, living or dead, here at first. After initial observation was made, most of their attention became centered on the stone circle.
The outer blocks reached twice the height of Vig, who was the tallest one in the party. They were plain, cut from rock without much subtlety, raw, unpolished, but emanating some wholesome, primal energy. Inside the outer circle was an elevation of earth, and on it, smaller stones arranged in a shape of table. They were given much more care than the rest, their sides smoothed to the point of gleaming in the moonlight, and beside that they bore intricate engravings. Most were strange runic symbols, and in the middle of the top were several circles, decreasing in size, placed inside one another. However, that was hard to make out as the top was stained with a thick layer of baked blood.
Will moved to the stone table immediately, intrigued by the engravings. Vig started, too, but paused to ask cautiously, “Will, do you know what exactly these stones are?”
“You've never seen anything like 'em?” said the halfling. “Well, local folk usually use them to call to gods, that sort of thing. I'd say they used this one to make sacrifices.”
“Oh,” said Vig. Glancing back, Will noticed the Northerner clutching something on his chest with his right hand. He smiled.
“Don't bother. I bet the gods of these people are long dead. Or they wouldn't let them disappear, right?”
“Who knows,” said Vig keeping hold of the amulet. His words infected Amlemth, who stayed away from the circle, while Nliru wasn't anxious to get down from her advantageous position, either.
Will crouched by the table, his eyes gleaming in anticipation of a good test of his skills. But all he had to say was a low “Wait, it's a... fellows!”
“What is it?” exclaimed Amlemth.
Retreating from the table, Will pointed towards one of the stones of the outer circle with his hand. Vig and Amlemth had to take a few wary steps to the side to see what he was pointing at. There was a silhouette of a human figure that appeared to be seated behind the stone.
Readying his axe, Vig said loudly, “Show yourself, elf!”
He was answered by silence, and a little baffled looks of Will and Amlemth. Neither one of them spoke, though.
Quietly, the Northerner directed his two companions to advance on the stranger from two sides. About ten man-steps away they stopped. Vig raised his weapon menacingly.
“Your magic won't aid you!”
Again he received no answer. The figure remained seated, its legs stretched on the ground self-assuredly. Just when Vig was about to rush the enemy, a voice chirped from above.
“But he's dead!”
The three companions looked up to find Nliru on the roof of a building a bit ahead. She moved by tops and now had a more or less open view of the stranger. The fact that he had done nothing to stop her was in favour of her conclusion. She quickly got down to the ground, and together with the rest of the party surrounded the body.
It was a man, killed brutally. His head had been turned into a featureless mass of gore with a terrible blow of some heavy blunt weapon and stuck to the surface of the stone. His clothes, soaked in blood, were of a civilian, although there lay a large dagger near his hand.
“I...,” said Amlemth in a constrained voice and turned away. He wasn't the only one to find this surprise rather unsavoury – Will squinted into the distance over the corpse. However, Nliru didn't seem to have any problems of such sort and approached it without as much as a wry muzzle. She carefully opened pockets, sticky with blood, on the corpse's jacket and felt around in each one, bringing out a wallet and a keyring. The wallet looked quite heavy and sounded it, and on the ring there were two iron keys. Nliru lifted the finds in her hands, so that the rest of the party could see them.
Will suddenly grew tense and looked at the kobold warily, but didn't say anything. Vig and Amlemth were interested, however.
“So, whoever killed him wasn't after the money,” said Amlemth.
“He wasn't after the money himself”, said Vig.
“Why?” asked Amlemth.
“Because if he stole they would take it back, or dump body.” Vig frowned and looked around suspiciously. “Except... What do you see on roofs, Nliru?”
“Mostly nothing. Well, inside some trees there I noticed a little shvakrus, as if people were stumbling through in a hurry,” Nliru paused. “But from the roofs I saw... no one.”
The rest of the company observed her for a moment.
“So, what do you make of it, Vig?” said Amlemth.
Vig scratched his chin.
“I thought they made trap and him as warning. But they couldn't hide everyone. It's too empty.”
“And they ain't too hasty with springing the trap,” said Will. “So what are we going to do? It seems dangerous to stay, but it's too puzzling to leave!”
The End