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Mel jerked her head up, body tensing at the sound. An owl, nearly as large as her, perched a floor above her, peering down at her. She stared back, wondering what a bird that size ate when it got hungry. And shouldn’t it be going to sleep soon? Owls were night dwellers, weren’t they?
“Who.”
“Melody, but my friends call me Mel. Mind if I look around?” She suppressed a giggle at her stupid joke, answering the owl.
“Disturb not the followers of Ava within and we shall have no quarrel, Melody.” The owl’s voice rolled out in a single deep tone. A battered corpse dangled off the edge near the owl, the beast nudged it with a claw, sending it the floor below. Mel stiffened again, staring solemnly up at the giant bird of prey. The owl narrowed its eyes and preened its feathers, watching her intently.
“Ah…of course.” She forced a smile onto her face and slowly, occasionally glancing back to the owl, started looking around the room. The room had clearly once been like the exterior of the tower, polished blue gray stone, shining golden decorations, small tables and chairs expertly crafted, bookshelves loaded with texts. But something had clearly changed. Tables and chairs had been reduced to splinters, bookshelves collapsed. Scorch marks and gouges scarred the walls and floors, and what once might have been a luxurious red carpet was ripped and torn to pieces, and rotted from water and exposure. Skeletal remains still in tattered clothes were scattered around the room, scraps of sky blue on some and a mud brown on others. The corpse the owl had dropped stood out a little from the rest, the clothing on it being more leather than cloth, maybe an explorer like herself?
Content with her quick look around Mel nodded cautiously to the owl and left the tower for the fresh outdoor air. A monster in the dark below, and a giant owl guarding the dead above. She followed a balcony around the edge of the tower, finding a good overlook for the valley. Down below, nestled behind the Worm Complex was what looked like a battlefield, if the craters, scorch marks and bodies were anything to gauge by. Splintered wood and rubble from both buildings were present. Could be something worth scavenging there, and there were no menacing beasts waiting there.
<span class="mu-s">Where do you search and scavenge?</span>
> Bird Tower, just avoid the dead
> Worm Complex, whatever it is in the dark you can handle it
> The Battlefield, try to get some more information on this place
> Write in?
