<span style="color: #00FF00">Valehna sniffed at the air as they approached the house. The place was definitely not normal. In fact, she could sense the Beyond here, flitting its energy in and out of the fabric of the real world. He nodded to Ester when she asked her about it.<br/><br/>Speaking mostly to Tal, she whispered, "I wouldn't trust everything my eyes see."<br/><br/>She saw Mesaraih's leg buckle a bit in front of them, but once he recovered, he put a hand on the door and opened it. "What the hell does he he think he's doing?" she hissed under her breath.</span><br/><br/>Mesaraih opened the door, his hands shaking slightly, and peered inside. The house looked somewhat different on the inside than the outside. While the outside had seemed meticulously cared for, in an almost impossibly perfect way, the inside was not. It was still homey, but the walls seemed more rickety, the furnishings seemed cracked, and things seemed overall dirtier. It was well lit, with lots of candles spread across the room on tables and desks, and their flames seemed to burn unnaturally brightly. The back of the house seemed to be a greenhouse with more plants, although less of them than the garden outside. A bed of carrots and poatoes, a small cherry tree, and a few almond trees.<br/><br/>The most surprising thing, however, were the three children in the room, all between 4 and 7 years of age. They had stopped what they were doing and ran over to an old man in robes who was poring over some books and began tugging at his hem. "Hush," he told them, giving each of their hands a small brush. They seemed to relax a little.<br/><br/>The man turned around to face Mesaraih. He was bald but had a thick beard, and his eyes were all white. He seemed blind, yet Mesaraih had the strange sensation that he was looking right at him. "I have food and other supplies here, including weapons, armor, and potions," he said. "It won't be free, however. Tell your friends to come inside before they come to harm."<br/><br/>Mesaraih nodded. "I hope you're not lying to me," he said to him, as he turned around to open the door. Once he did, he blinked a little. The outside looked completely different. No longer were there gardens and fruit trees. Instead, it was a ground littered with dismembered darkspawn corpses, and strange looking black snakes with glowing red eyes slithered among the floor, the dead trees, and the sides of the house.<br/><br/>He felt his voice almost catching when he said, out loud so the others could hear, "Uh... I think it's safe to come inside."<br/><br/><span style="color: #00FF00">Valehna began to approach the door more carefully, trying to sense what could be at work in the place. She didn't have time to come to many conclusions before the illusion of the house was stripped away and everything changed before her eyes. Most disconcerting were the snakes, which were all over the ground around her, though thankfully they seemed to avoid coming too near.<br/><br/>When Mesaraih poked out of the door, she asked, "Really? You're sure about that?" she gesticulated around herself with her hand.<br/><br/>Mesaraih nodded, though a bit uncertainly. "There's an old man inside. Looks to be a mage. He said he's willing to offer help," he responded.<br/><br/>Valehna sighed. "I can't say that convinces me that this isn't a trap... but alright, let's see what he wants." She walked into the house as well, stopping short at the sight of the children. <br/><br/>"What is this?" she whispered to Mesaraih. He shrugged.<br/><br/>"I'd like to know that as well," he said.</span>