@wolfsmuses || Closed spooky starter 🎃
"It certainly is looking like a ghost town here," Hakkai mused, looking around at the quiet empty streets, when the sun had barely even begun to set.
It's not that the place was uninhabited. In fact, they had just arrived and were planning to replenish supplies and secure lodgings for the night, only to find most of the establishments closed. Locked shut. The rest paid no mind to the travelers as they scurried on to their homes, like an age-old routine.
Come to think of it, he recalled overhearing the words of gossipmongers from the last village. Something about an old abandoned shrine at the outskirts of this one, said to be terribly cursed that it had driven the locals to shut themselves indoors before sundown in fear of being haunted by whatever evil that lurked. There were even claims that the villagers had resorted to offering human sacrifices to appease the restless spirits.
Of course, they were all simply rumors, but it would appear a good chunk of it was proven true. And while Hakkai enjoys a good horror story now and then, something about this plot did not sit right with him.
Before he could ponder on it further, however, a voice beckoned. An elderly gentleman, who seemed to be observing them with great interest, particularly-
"Young man, you are... the High Priest Sanzo, are you not?"
