Orian immediately took an on guard stance as the moan echoed through the manor, expecting an angry specter to fly at him at any moment.
Nothing flew at him however or made any hostile attacks after 10 minutes, so he reluctantly released the magic he had charged up.
Closing his eyes to focus, he picked up several rapid dull thuds as if someone was knocking repeatedly on a wall, as well as what sounded like heavy breathing.
It was coming from one of the rooms upstairs.
The furniture in the entry hall had been covered in cloth sheets in the hopes of protecting the them from dust.
A large portrait of Raven, the original owner of the house was hanging above a long dead fireplace.
Raven was a Griffin with a crowlike head and feathers with a rear body of a black panther.
A large flight of stairs led up to the second floor where the sounds originated from. As he started to slowly walk up the stairs, Orian had the sinking feeling that the eyes of the portrait were following him.
He stopped and listened at the doors that led towards what was originally the master bedroom.
There was no doubt about it, the moaning sounds, whimpers and thuds were coming from this room.
Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves he positioned himself in front of the doors before kicking them in and rushing into the room.
A feminine scream sounded as he rushed in, Orian couldn't bare to look at the sight in front of him and averted his eyes.
In the center of the room were 2 griffins that Orian figured were still teenagers based on their small builds.
One was a female while the other was a male.
The female currently had her front lowered to the ground while her hindquarters were raised into the air and her tail moved to the side.
The male was currently raised on his back legs and they were both in the throngs of passion before Orian barged in on them.
Now they were both frozen in place with mortified expression planted on their faces.
"Dude!! What the hell!!?" Exclaimed the male.
"Sorry!! Sorry!! I thought you were something else!!!" Exclaimed Orian.
"If you're here to use this space to meet a girl at least wait your turn!! Damn dragons!!" Exclaimed the male.
Despite his embarrassing situation, the male had yet to withdraw from the female and seemed to be waiting for Orian to leave so that he could resume.
Orian was just about to leave, when something suddenly occurred to him.
"Hold on... Razor said this house was supposed to be abandoned? So what are you two doing in here? Despite the obvious that is?" Asked Orian.
"Come on, man?! Can't you give me a break?! Just 10 minutes is all I'm asking for?!" Pleaded the Male.
"I'm tracking the whereabouts of a missing dragonling who's life may be in danger, you'll forgive me if I'm not feeling 'coopertive'!!" Stated Orian.
"M-m-missing...? I told you this was a bad idea?!" Stated the female.
"You said you wanted excitement!!" Retorted the male.
"Didn't mean this!!" Stated the Female.
"Come now!! Everyone else has been coming here!!" Retorted the male.
Orian cringed at the appropriateness of the word.
He sighed at the young people's antics and shook his head.
"Am I correct in assuming you and your friends are responsible for the strange noises and lights at night?" Asked Orian.
"What are you crazy?!! No one is stupid enough to stay here after dark!! During the day it's a perfectly normal abandoned house though!!" Exclaimed the Male.
"Look!! Just get out of here!! This place isn't safe for teenagers!!"
"Listen uhhhh.... can you please do us a favor and not tell our parents about this?!!" Pleaded the female.
Orian gave them a venomous glance.
"Go!! Before I...!!" Started Orian.
He stopped when his nose was hit by a scent other than musky, sweaty teenage griffins.
Death and decay... a very strong scent of it...
Something had clearly died and had begun to decompose.
He followed his nose to the wall beside a large bed that would comfortably fit a single adult griffin .
His eyes fell on a crack in the wall where a strange green light was shining through.
The smell was clearly coming from behind the wall.
Using Lumomancy, he conjured a light beam at the tip of a claw and slowly began to cut a hole large enough for him through the wall.
Once he was done, he tapped the wall with a single claw and the wall fell inwards into a secret room.
The moment it was open, the strong miasma of death and rot blew out of the hidden room and into the bedroom.
Orian coughed as the pungent smell struck him and even the griffins noticed as they gagged from the stench.
"Stay here!!" Warned Orian as he proceeded alone into the room.
The first thing he saw was a large ritual circle drawn on the ground, a small table was placed up against the wall with a bowl filled with ingredients Orian wasn't able to identify.
A single lit candle with a green flame was burning beside the bowl and was currently the only source of light in the room.
Orian's eyes fell on a spread out mould laying on the ground near the edge of the circle.
He walked over to table and picked up the candle before carefully making his way to the mould.
As the light fell on the mould, his breath caught in his throat.
"By the Elders!!" Exclaimed Orian.
Laying before him was the corpse of a dragon roughly the same size and age as Lavender had been described.
Though Orian had no idea how that could be possible because this corpse looked like it had been dead for months.
It's eyes were still open and had turned milky white with no features. It's once purple scales had dulled and were dry and flaky.
It's lips had pulled back, revealing a ghastly grin with yellowed teeth.
"What did you find!? What's wrong?" came the concerned voice of the female griffin.
"Don't come in here!! Fetch Razor immediately and don't come back!! Go!!!" Yelled Orian.