JP - The Village Ruins - The Black Raven Tavern

Alex thankfully passed through the gate of the keep without incident. Walking down the road he felt at peace in solitude. Part of him even debated returning to the keep after he was done. After oh out here there's no one to judge him, give him sideways glances, or run away at his mere presence.

Approaching the tavern he casted an illusion to hide himself from the guards as he entered.

The tavern looked clean, as if it had been in service just last night but scrubbed clean and waited until the evening to reopen.

“Why you hiding behind an illusion?” A little boy with blond hair and cream colored fur suddenly asked Alex, staring right at him.

Alex jumped before turning to face the little boy "hello there why are you in here by yourself?"

“I’m not alone,” He retorted. “My big sister is with me. She’s strong.”

“Jacob, leave the stranger alone!” An older female hissed as she hopped down next to the younger of the two.

"I was under the assumption the tavern was off limits" Alex said while composing himself as he looked over the girl.

“We’re cats,” Jacob said with a cat-like smile. “We don’t listen to anyone’s rules.”

“Jacob, shush,” The woman hissed again and crossed her arms, leaning toward the mage and sniffing. “You smell of strong magic and…what is that stink? It’s like something…dark…”

Alex blushed as she got closer to him "my name is Alex I'm a mage investigating this tavern's magical properties."

“Well, it does stink of icky magic in here,” Jacob explained. “Is this place haunted?”

Crouching next to Alex, the woman rolled her eyes. “Excuse my little brother, he has an active imagination and is at that rebellious age.” She explained. “My name is Beatrix Williams and he’s Jacob.”

“Hi, Alex the mage,” Jacob smiled. “What kinda magic ya use? Do ya heal people? Can you make brooms sweep on their own?”

"Elemental magic but I also know utility spells as well" Alex replied to Jacob eager to change the subject as he returned his focus to Beatrix "it's nice to meet you both, have you encountered anything strange since entering this building apparently it's been burned down several times and rebuilt itself."

Beatrix shook her head. “Not yet anyway,” She admitted. “And again, sorry about him. He loves mages…”

Alex smiled genuinely for the first time in a long time "it's all right in all honesty that's a breath of fresh air." Composing himself he looked around the tavern inspecting the the bar "amazing there's even food and drink here ready to go."

“I wouldn’t try it,” She replied, looking at the bar. “It all smells…off.”

Jacob nodded in agreement.

Alex nodded in agreement there's something about the food that was off it just seemed too perfect. "Have either have you been down into the cellar?"

“No,” They both said together.

“I don’t like the smell…or the noises.” Jacob admitted. “Beatrix said not to go down there anyway.”

"Your sister's very smart, be sure to listen to her" Alex replied moving towards the cellar touching the top of his staff. He mutter a spell, causing the orb on top to light up. "Anything happens head to the castle keep look for a man named Bai" the mage spoke before entering the cellar and closing the door behind him.

Beatrix and Jacob shared a glance, choosing to wait. They weren’t about to just leave this guy to fend for himself, even if he was a strong mage.

The cellar was ridiculously clean, not so much as a sign of rats or dust. It was well stocked, plenty of barrels and bottles of drink. Smoked meats hung from the beams.

"Never thought I'd be creeped out by a properly cleaned cellar" Alex said allowed as he explored deeper into it "still I'll take this over the witch hunters."

Besides the usual drinks one expects in a tavern, there were several cases of mage’s blood. Perfectly aged.

Alex paused as he came across them licking his lips. He wanted nothing more than to reach out to touch them. He was starting to feel the cravings even harder than earlier. Though it didn't make sense, part of him was resisting trying to get through his mind why would a tavern have this.

Beatrix tapped her foot. “What is taking him so long? What is down there?” She asked, pulling out her dagger.

“Are you gonna go help him?” Jacob asked.

“If he needs help, yes.” She replied and reached for the door.

Obviously this was not a normal tavern. The cases of mage’s blood continued to exist in neat stacks, just waiting for Alex to help himself.

Alex tore his side away from the cases and continued deeper into the cellar his hands shaking. "The core should be in here somewhere."

The cellar was massive. And it seemed like every other case was a case of mage's blood. Most of the smoked meat hanging from the beams was pork and beef, but as Alex ventured deeper he would notice meat with a strange cinnamony smell and an almost shimmering quality- unicorn meat.

"Won't tempt me there's nothing left for me in this world that I want" he whispered to himself his body was shaking and sweating even more. He didn't know if he was going through withdrawals or if it was the tavern messing with him. He tried to push forward deeper into there but every step felt like he was walking in quicksand.

After a while the cellar seemed to repeat itself, as if Alex was walking in circles. There was plenty of mage’s blood though, he would not starve down here or die of thirst.

Alex cursed He knew what it was trying to do He already taken his emergency vial earlier and you felt like he was from wandering down here for hours. "Hell I could be down here for days for all I know" he whispered his throat feeling dry.

A bottle of mage’s blood was standing on a stack of cases of mage’s blood. The label on the bottle had an inscription. On vaarallista mennä yksin! Ota tämä.

Alex tried to resist but couldn't anymore his head was pounding his sweat was turning black. Grabbing a bottle he drank from it greedily.

It was the finest mage’s blood ever. For being a poison. Drinking it was probably a huge mistake. The cellar stretched endlessly before Alex, but if he looked back over his shoulder he could see the staircase.

“Alex?” Beatrix asked from where she stood at the base of the stairs. “What are ya drinking ya fool?!” A brick was in one hand while her dagger was in the other. She didn’t want to kill him, but if he kept drinking that nasty smelling stuff, he would be in a far worse situation. “Ya need to get outta here! Come on!” Putting her dagger away, she reached for the bottle to stop him.