Lost Garden of Ravencroft Estate

Deep in the humid island's jungle, an unkempt path leads to a rusty fence that seems to be randomly placed in the vegetation. Overgrown with vines and weeds, its very easy to miss. The double gates have fallen into disrepair and have left any who are venturous enough to cross through its threshold. Exotic plants and overgrowth are what greet those who pass the archway into the vast, heavily forested area. It seems thicker than the rest of the jungle, till a clearing caused by a stream running through what shows to have been once a grand tropical garden cuts through it.

An ornate fountain made of slate, now in ruin lies at the source. Various stone statuettes jut up from pedestals, either covered in moss or broken. All save one:


The peculiarly posed figure is untouched by nature, save the overgrowth and vines climbing around her curvaceous form after the past ten years. Her large, terrified gaze looks out to a cave entrance, her mouth agape in an eternal gasp of surprise, or perhaps even a scream! Such a startled looking figure seems as odd as this abandoned garden left to decay in the middle of the jungle, at the base of a ridge. Somehow, over the past ten years her statue has not been at all chipped or damaged by the hurricanes or floods, having once been under the waves of the Blackmoth ocean for two years after a particularly nasty tsunami, till the water finally receded. Left, practically untouched and undiscovered like this Lost Garden. There is something... mystical about her appearance though... something that makes her just look.... so alive.

Lapis swung her machete down across vines as she made her way through the dense jungle, following an ancient map and just as ancient lead to a vault of treasures which lied in the depths of this infernal jungle. "Uggh... I hate this humidity! Its absolute hell on my fur...!" Complained the lone thief as she hopped over a log and felt mud splash her thigh. She groaned at this, glad that the thigh boots provided some protection and that her skimpy attire consisting of a tabard style hoodie with cat ears and a breastless black leather leotard made the heat less unbearable... to a degree.

"Ughh... why couldn't Dominique choose a less... crappy place to plunder from, huh? What the hell was she thinking...?" Lapis or Tali Kali Al-Makki, the direct blood descendant of Kali Al-Makki or 'Dominique Blackwillow' moaned as she trudged on.

Tali/Lapis was as far as she knew, the sole survivor of the Ebonshifters Guild since that Syrexx toad demon thing swooped in and devoured the Guild Master and half the Mentors! She managed to get out with all hairs still intact, and as a bonus, the ledger of the guild used for the past 2000 years. Give or take. It was a lot smaller than you'd think, but it was enchanted like that. When Tali was alone in Cretu, and needing morale she decided to flip through it. Given the text was forbidden to look at without permission and she grew up knowing of her familial legacy, Tali was curious to look through her ancestor's feats and decided it was worth validating to curb her curiosity. However, Tali discovered that Dominique's last mention (aside from a funeral honor service held by August Darkstalker every year up till his death), was she had been 'abandoned' in a treasure vault of some sort on what was now modern Illurich Island. Both Dominique and the horde of riches were left to gather dust and be forgotten, and that gorgons had been the cause of much of their misfortune.

"Hup!" grunted the 5'5 nekomimi, leaping over another large set of tree limbs before landing in some sort of clearing. Lapis had figured this old lead was worth checking out, if not only to pay homage and her respects for her fallen ancestor, but to claim a horde of riches left unclaimed by the guild out of fear! Forgotten more likely! With that money I'll be able to relax and not worry about a damn thing the rest of my life! Hell, maybe I'll even rebuild the guild if I run into other survivors! Or even better, make my own guild!!... maybe. Haven't thought that far yet- She told herself when she gave pause to the sight before her.

---

In the clearing in front of her, Lapis confronted a garden of statuettes that were in various states of disrepair and being actively reclaimed by the jungle surrounding the young 18 year old neko. She noticed one in particular was in far better shape:



"Woah... her tits are huuuuge!!" Gasped Lapis, who inspected the statue, gripping the sizeable stone mounds and looked directly into the statue's face. Her spheres were nice and smooth, well carved... but she found the woman's terrified expression too unsettling to continue her playful delinquency.

"Creepy... so lifelike..." mused the Nekomimi, before she slowly shifted her attention elsewhere. She was reminded of the warning of Gorgons, and perhaps she witnessed one such victim amidst many. Pity, as she did not know how to cure these survivors of their imprisonment in stone let alone care to do so if she had! She was on a tight schedule, and only had a week or so before the current would be ineffective to sail through with her current mode of transport! She'd be stuck here for at least a month if she missed that window!

"If I can't find my ancestor's treasure, I'll have to rent a motor boat next time..." She sighed, before making a thorough search of this stone garden.