You are all able to duck behind the corner and hide yourselves in some rubble. As you wait for a couple of minutes the sounds following you seem to cease and it doesn't appear as though anyone is nearing your position.
I believe the question now is...how long are we willing to wait?
Ahead of you seems only the thick and dusty mist and the buildings truly give way to ruin. There is a peace to the desolation however and these ruins seem untouched by modern hands.
Might as well search it, since searching for things seems to be the only reason we're still in the ruins.
You head inside through what is a mostly intact doorway, though the door has long ago fallen apart. The building appears to be residential, though well decorated and well appointed as there are sculptures carved into various stone areas of the walls. As you walk into the first floor you find what seems like a welcoming area, a dining area, somewhere for food preparation, and a large room that was likely used for entertaining as well as stairs upward.
Martin, searching through the first floor you seem to find nothing of note. Just broken and rotted wood as well as the remains of long ago wasted away papers.
Qalendar follows Martin into the building with a shrug, taking his time to look around.
Qalendar, it takes you quite some time to thoroughly search the three story structure. It looks like it was the home of someone wealthy or important and is quite spacious throughout compared to the other buildings you've seen. There are a lot of books and journals scattered throughout the area, most of which have decayed or otherwise been ruined. You do end up finding a few dozen pages scattered throughout that are still intact enough to read and all are written in Elven.
Aside from the various pages, you find the following things of note:
1 Masterwork Elven Curve Blade (Medium)
1 suit of Masterwork Studded Leather (Medium)
1 wand
Gems and jewelry worth a total of 387 gp 43 sp
Qalendar collects the items and carefully places them on a table on the first floor.
Any sign of whatever is following us? No? Then let us continue.
The young man again doesn't bother to stop and examine anything he finds, preferring to wait till they've returned to their camp.
Martin will read the notes.
If the area is now searched, Kayla is ready to move on to the city center.
The group moves steadily toward the dust and you all notice that it is quite present and almost fog-like rather than seeming to come from some sort of weather effect.
Once you step into the dusted area you immediately notice two things. First that the ground itself appears to have been devastated by some sort of catastrophe. The earth is charred and cracked and seems to be the result of an inferno or something similar. Second, you feel weaker the further inward you move. It isn't yet enough to interfere with anything, but be it the dust or something from the ground, you can tell that it is almost draining your vitality the closer you move to the center of the city.
This might be something we should investigate from observation first, rather than exploration.
"I'm with Q. Might be best not to mess with something that destroyed a civilization. Let's just loot our way back to the dazzler's camp and call it a day."
"You mean in case there is an enemy," Martin corrects.
You all cease your progress forward and pull back a bit. When you head back toward the edge of the area the effect seems to subside and it doesn't seem like there is any lingering damage.
Qalendar, bending down and looking at the damage to the surface you can easily conclude that this is the result of some feedback from an arcane spell. It looks like whatever happened was an unintended consequence, but you can't tell what the original purpose of the spell was. You have heard of situations like this before however - something like wild strands of raw magic ripping through a plane and damaging things in a large area. It seems likely to you that this area was either eradicated completely or potentially even ripped into another plane; either way whatever person or group attempted the spell that caused this catastrophe must have been extremely powerful.
Qalendar touches the ground, sniffs the air, then stands. This is... He frowns slightly, There is an enemy. Though perhaps not one you would understand. Observation from outside of this...area...would be preferable.
"Very helpful. Thanks for that illuminating information. Anyways, I don't think that there is anything that we can do here. Let's head back to the dazzler settlement."
If there are no objections, Nipper will scout ahead, moving them in the general direction of where they started.
Without a hint of sarcasm, Qalendar responds with a sincere smile, You're welcome.
"Eh... you and the fighter got us into this mess. If you want to leave without finishing what you started, that's fine, but any zombie attacks will be on your head."
Qalendar blinks, but continues smiling, That is an interesting perspective. He shakes his head and chuckles. With a shrug, he says, The things you learn when having to work with others.
He follows Fingernipper out of the area.
"The justification you gave to the rest of us was that destroying a harmless, peaceful undead scholar would make the mages safer, because any nearby zombies posed a threat, even the mindful one that seemed to be keeping the mindless ones in check. I'm just saying that, if we're going to leave the ruins without hunting every elf with less self-control than the one you put down, any harm they cause after will rest entirely on your shoulders."
Qalendar chuckles again as they walk, Yes, you have made your assumptions about our motives and your predictions about the future quite clear. He smiles and seems genuinely interested as he says, But please, continue, this is...fun? No, that's not the word. Enlightening? He shakes his head, No, I'll think of it...
"I'm stating your motives as you gave them at the time, trying to justify why you put the rest of us in danger by attacking something non-hostile in cold blood. As someone who likes to follow my actions by logically thinking about the consequences, I'm merely pointing them out. If you'd like to retroactively change your justifications, or explain why any dangerous results that come of us leaving these ruins now aren't the fault of whoever suggests doing so, feel free to."
Qalendar blinks again, looking confused for a moment, Did I say that we should leave the ruin? The young man suddenly smiles and then laughs, I think you misunderstand me. I'm not interested in convincing you of anything. I'm only interested in your observations. I always find it fascinating what people can convince themselves of. He chuckles to himself and shrugs again.
"Ah, apologies then—I thought that was exactly what you were suggesting. Lead on, then."
The ruins are quiet as you start to move and things seem almost brighter and more life-like as you exist the dusty area.
Qalendar continues to look amused, No, thank you. That's quite alright. He says, as he follows Fingernipper.
Kayla tries to remain stealthy as they walk, still wondering about who or what was following them.
The group moves back toward the camp, returning to the more intact ruins. As far as anyone can tell, all that surrounds you is silence. You peek from building to building, trying to prioritize the larger ones on the path back to the mages and while most are empty, you are able to pick up a few things along the way.
Collectively you find the following from cursory searches of the buildings along your path:
Two broken sets of studded leather (medium)
Two broken longswords (medium)
Three scroll cases
Gems and jewelry worth 27gp 3sp
13gp 103sp 22cp in coins
Qalendar continues on in silence, looking about the ruins with idle interest.
The gate that you passed through to enter the city proper nears and it seems that nothing is disturbing your progress. It remains dark on the other side of the gate and the area looks the same as when you first passed through it.
Qalendar continues to quietly follow Fingernipper.
As you pass back through the gate to the outskirts of the city, the darkness returns. The buildings remain as you left them and you are easily able to pick your way back to the mages' camp where you are greeted by a young man that you have seen before but not been introduced to.
"Good day travelers,"[b] he says, bowing his head slightly. [b]"Can I help you with something? We...were not sure where you had gone or how things had been progressing."
I'm sure we'll let you know when we know. Though I expect that some of us are going to tell you something now. Qalendar says idly as he looks back over his shoulder. Finally, he looks at the man, Do you need something?
"Well, we saw nothing threatening or violent," Martin adds, "Though a few of the other got rather overzealous on that front. I'd recommend generally staying out of the ruins."
The young man waits for all of you to finish speaking before responding.
"I don't need anything, no. At least I don't think so... And what did you find if it wasn't something threatening or violent? We are already at the edges of the ruins, are you saying that we need to move?"
"Move? Probably not, but it couldn't hurt to post a few sentries. The ruins are loaded with undead. They probably won't bother you, but better safe than sorry."
The young man pauses, opens his mouth as if to speak, and then if no one stops him, runs off in a bit of a panic to talk to the others at the camp.