None of the four had expected the Harvester to show up right about when Solace was positioning xirself to remove the nuisance of a ghost dog courser thing.

But there he was, heralded by the song of the dead as he scythed through reality, spinning into the arena with a sly little cha cha as the candles lit with an orange gleam, forming a sort of haunted spotlight on the pumpkin king. He hadn't stayed long, only long enough to apologize about the strange ghost, scold the damned spectre and whisk it away with the swish of his cloak, everyone watching with a strange awe as he tipped his hat (an oversized leaf that seemed quite coincidental) opened a rift with his scythe before it sealed again, leaving not even a footprint to signal that he had even been there in the first place. 

Solace was the only of the four who seemed unaffected by the sudden presence and disappearance of the Harvester of Souls.

Leiken had always thought of him as something far more noble, far more solemn... not the entity that had just come sliding onto the scene with an almost playful air about him. Euele too had thought the same, having heard stories of a frightful and solemn creature who collected lost souls and ushered them into whatever lay beyond life. Melt had stepped back, out of sight, yet still they had not escaped a watchful wink from the one who would someday come for their soul. They'd been far too worried about what may have happened if they'd had to talk to the figure out of legend to even form another thought.

It took some time for the group to be able to move again, finally breaking out of the stun lock as they passed through the other side still trying to shake off the surprise of the previous encounter.

"Do you think we'll be running into him ever again?" Leiken voiced the thought that had just begun to haunt Melt's mind.

Solace shook xir head. "Not likely. I've been working with him to collect lost souls but it isn't that common to just run into him like that." Xey shook xir head. "We should keep going. We need to find somewhere to set up camp."

Euele gave a nod. "I agree. That was a tough fight. We're pretty lucky we didn't get injured more than a few scrapes and bruises." She heaved a sigh and glanced down at Acherna. The little creature was curled up in her usual place, only this time she was sulking. During the fight she had been knocked from the sky by the apparition, she hadn't been hurt but her ego had been bruised and she was refusing any type of soothing motion that Euele could offer. The silly little thing would probably be better after a night's rest.

Solace lead the way, down the hallway leading away from the arena into a large squarish space with a narrow hallway and some type of strange cells lining both walls. The ceiling was high above, the cell walls not going all the way up, the doors stopping at a courser's chest. When Solace peered inside, xey almost jerked back, the skeleton of a courser curled up against the far end in a pile of sludge that must've once been hay. Solace took a step back, swallowing back the horror as it flitted through xir mind. 

"Why didn't they just leave?" Melt's voice shook Solace from xir thoughts. "I could easily jump over this, I think any courser could." The hearaldic courser walked further down the isle, looking into stall after stall. "They all could've left... but... there's so many here. I wonder what happened. Or why they ended up in such a strange place."

Euele's skin twitched as she looked at the floor, avoiding looking at the corpses of those that could've been kin. "I don't know. I don't think I'd want to know, either. This is horrible. We should just get through here and leave." Leiken nodded, ducking his head and following closely in the starry puck's hoof prints, not even wanting to know what the others had seen. Melt slowly followed after, unable to keep from peering into each prison cell as the group advanced through the odd dungeon.