>>5547525>>5547552>>5547555You opt to try one of the smaller buildings first, just so you can get a better idea of what you're dealing with. It'd be kind of foolhardy to just touch a mystery orb or go right into the thick of it first, after all!
You opt to try the building with the dark green house first, which has stained glass windows with designs of tomes and staves on them. Although the doors are frozen over, it's a simple enough matter crack the comparably thin layer of ice keeping the windows shut and slide it open. The noise, of course, immediately quiets the voices inside down, and as you slip through the window you're greeted with the sight of a remarkably old man and a considerably younger woman, both of them wearing outfits you would politely call 'strange' and wielding staves similar to the ones on the windows.
"Oh my! It seems we have a visitor, after all this time! I was beginning to think our luck was completely gone, it's been so long." The old man says, while his younger companion eyes you and Azalea critically.
"If you're some kind of thief, then you picked the worst place to rob. And if you're not, then you must be extremely unlucky, because you're stuck here like the rest of us now." The woman says, confusing you somewhat in the process.
"Uh, what do you mean? I got in just fine, why wouldn't I be able to get back out?" You ask, but her response is interrupted by the old man.
"Oh, nevermind her! She's just a little cranky because she can't figure out how to conjure up a better pie." He laughs, earning a sour expression from the girl.
"Wait, do you mean that barrier outside? Is it keeping everyone IN instead of OUT?" Azalea chimes in, eyes wide from realizing the implication.
"Yep. Things come in, but not even our strongest spells can help us get out. If you try too hard, it'll start to freeze you until you're little more than an ice sculpture." The girl sighs out. Well, you wanted to find out...at least you didn't find out the hard way, right?
"What's causing it? Is there really no way to get out?" You ask.
"It's all because of the <span class="mu-b">Great Demon Ei Scream.</span> Around five years ago, him and his cronies came up here disguised as wandering scholars and extorted our Lord for all his riches once they slipped past our defenses. He gave them everything they wanted, until the demon asked for his daughter's hand in marriage, so...he kind of threw a fit, and sent his minions to go around freezing everything. Everybody in the castle was frozen solid, and he managed to invert the Heat Barrier Crystal to keep us all trapped in here. Us townsfolk have been able to survive all this time thanks to me and the old man's conjuration magic, but it's no way to live, damn it! It's just that none of us stand a chance against him." She explains.
