Westin looked about as he followed Wick through the room and the short hallway, his dagger  in hand, ready. As they stepped outside, Westin took a breath of fresh air, relishing it a bit.

At Wick's prompting, he comes to a near stop, letting Wick move ahead some 20 feet, before resuming. His eyes are peeled for any danger, especially danger to Wick though he does take occasional, quick glances behind himself to ensure nothing is sneaking up on him.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:02, Thu 07 Nov 2019.

Near the well, there are signs that a fight had taken place, ground heavily trampled and the pack that Karel had worn lying amongst the weeds.  There were signs of blood having been spilled, and near the well itself was a pile of bones which looked like they had come from smaller animals--rodents, for the most part.

Wick moves back towards Westin.  "It doesn't look good." he says, keeping his eyes on the area about the well.  "I saw Karel's pack, and some blood near about, not to mention some snake skin.  My guess, we got a big snake in that well and it tried to put the bite on Karel.  Let's get some backup, then we can look around some more."

Westin's eyes widen as Wick shares his discovery of blood and of Karel's pack. "We must look for him! He might still be alive! Did you see any signs where he might have gone or," he gulps, "been dragged to?"

Westin looks around nervously, dagger pointed out in front of him. This little task was quickly becoming much more than he had bargained for. Far from being a deserted but otherwise boring house, it seemed to be teeming with threats, at least so he was beginning to feel. Malachy's apprectice! He must have known! No wonder he had asked for Westin to return the book, knowing the place was overrun and beset with dangers while suggesting that Máelodor was still living there. That nincompoop!

Wick shakes his head.  "If something put the bit on Karel and none of us knew anything about it, there's no guarantee that we can handle it and we don't do them any good if we go missing too.  You go get the others, I'll keep looking for Karel and help him if I can.  My best guess right now is down that well."

Wick turns back and starts moving towards the well, trusting that Westin would go get the others.

"And let you disappear with no idea what happened just like Karel?" Westin questions. "Not a chance. I'm not leaving you alone out here. We stick together. If something does come out and grab you, I will see what it is and be able to report to others what it is so they can come free you."

Wick, trailed by Westin, approached the well.  The well's surrounding structure had fallen a long time ago, rotting wood just barely holding the shape of the peaked roof that had once covered the well.  There were several signs of what could well be a body being dragged into the surrounding vegetation, and some sounds of rustling or rattling from deeper in the overgrown yard.

"Maybe we should go back and get the others," Westin says to Wick nervously, his dagger in hand and ready. "Something is moving back in the weeds though I don't see anything. Maybe Telemachus can help. He's a Druid, isn't he?"

Wick nods, "Best to be safe."  Wick starts to walk backwards, eyes still on the weeds and the well, looking for any sign of what's making the noise.  He glances back at Westin from time to time, trying to make sure there's a good buffer zone between them.

As Westin and Wick backed toward the house, they still did not see the source of the noise.

((OOC:  If returning indoors, go ahead and post in the other thread.  At the moment, Dak is downstairs and down one wing while the rest are upstairs in the opposite wing at the front.  The position of the others is closer to where they were when Westin and Wick went outside.))
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:35, Thu 14 Nov 2019.

Armed with sword in one hand, javelin in the other, Dak emerged from the side door, finding Wick outside with a wary look toward the well as he was walking backwards toward the house.

Wick looks at Dak, "I think some sort of snake or something tangled with Karel and if I had to put some money on it, I'm thinking it's in the well."

"Where's Karel?" Dak asked, trying to spot the man while not going past Wick.  "How was he?"

Telemachus came on out and his eyes scanned what clues he could see before he nodded, "If the snake was large enough that it decided to attack him either it would crush and eat him or paralyze him with a poison and swallow him whole for digestion later...both cases it would retreat to its den or lair for safety."  Circling slowly rather than moving swiftly or jerkingly he tried to get an angle where he could see if it was still topside or had retreated and thus he'd need to head closer to the well to find out if it was dry and the proud home to a very large snake...

Lenelle whispered a short but sincere prayer for Karel.    She hardly knew him at all, but it was a terrible enough demise for anyone to suffer.   If dead he was.

"Given this place was a mage's abode, I pray it is only a natural snake.  And not something worse."         Mace in hand, she awaited Telemachus to say yea or nay, as to the presence of a very hungry, very serpentine, something-or-other.

Westin stood back and let the others take the lead. It would not help Karel for him to become a victim of whatever it was as well and might divert resources from Karel. Even so, Westin kept his eyes peeled, ready to cast a spell if the need and opportunity presented itself. One thing he noticed was that Ric was not with the group. He cast his eyes about but failed to spot the man to his increasing agitation. He held his dagger even more firmly, determined that Ric would not make him a hostage again. Though he desperately wanted to ask the others what had happened to Ric he bit his tongue instead. The focus needed to be on Karel. He would find out Ric's fate soon enough.

By this point, the rustling sounds had come to an end.  While Telemachus looked carefully, he did not see any signs of the snake in the vegetation on the ground--though there were a few fragments of snake sheddings to be seen.

Looking down into the well, he could tell that the well was now dry, and it appeared that the stones on one side had collapsed into the depths of the well, making what appeared to be a den.

"Do you see Karel?" Dak called to Telemachus.  He circled around toward the side of the house Karel should have come from and looked for any sign of a struggle and the blood Westin had described.

As Dak circled back toward the path that Karel should have taken, he saw the pack on the ground, some flattened vegetation, and some blood on the ground--not, perhaps, enough to be all of a man's lifeblood, but certainly signs of a significant injury.

"No..."

Telemachus kept his shield at the ready as he narrowed his eyes down into the well, "The well looks dry though and part of the wall on one side has collapsed and looks to be showing the opening to a den of some sort.  Either I'm seeing a large piece of shedded skin at its opening or the tail of a very large snake..."

Wick motions at the well.  "I wanted to make sure you guys knew what was going on before I went to investigate and Westin wasn't willing to leave me alone to check it out."

Now that there's backup, Wick makes his way towards the well.

As Wick looked at the side of the well, he could see the things that Telemachus had described, but could be fairly certain that this was part of the actual snake that he was looking at.

The condition of the side of the well was such that Wick could probably climb down, if he wanted.  Some of the larger bits of broken material might be enough to support a rope, although it was not certain that the wood would not subsequently give way.

((Climb walls if climbing down the edge of the well.))

"Throw a rock at it," Dak suggested.  "See if it moves."

He picked up the pack and did a final look around to see if Karel had dropped anything else.  He couldn't remember if the man had any weapons on him, but he'd hate to leave something lying around in the tall grass if they did find him.

While the others investigate the well, Westin joins Dak insearching for anything else that might have been dropped or discard by Karel. "Do you think he's...," Westin asks, looking over at Dak.

"It didn't look like that much blood," Dak replied to the elf's open question.  "He may still be alive."