Characters who ask the right questions can hear some of the rumors and legends surrounding the castle’s fall.
1. Why is the castle abandoned? The Order of Illustration committed suicide by drinking poison. The Tutors discovered this several weeks later and buried the dead.
2. Why did they commit suicide? Most of the Order died during the war. Those that returned and wrested control of the castle from the goblins were not the best of the Order and could not live up to its ideals. Over the next few years they became more and more isolated and eventually just gave up.
3. Could it have been more than just suicide? Maybe they thought they were taking part in some ritual that would give them more knowledge. But it clearly didn’t work, as they all died.
4. Did they all die? Some of them might have decided against suicide and left the castle. While there was no evidence of it, maybe some of them didn’t take poison, and left afterward. Several volumes of the Order’s spellbooks were never found, and there were fewer bodies than people expected.
5. How many fewer? Just fewer. It isn’t like anybody knew how many of the Order were left by the time of the suicide.
6. Why did it take so long to find out that the Order was dead? The Order kept to themselves after the war. They no longer took part in town activities or even library activities.
