Finishing For The Day

Will nimbly makes his way over to the doors, carefully avoiding the pit immediately before them. After checking for traps and listening, he opens up the doors just a crack and winces as the heavy bronze doors creak and groan. He peers through the doors and then closes them again:

"As we thought, there is a staircase going down behind the doors. It is a pretty ornate staircase that must lead to somewhere fairly important and carries on to the north. I saw that it was light down there, but the stairs went down steeply and a fair way down, and so I couldn't see what was at the bottom of them."

Bennett nods:

"No desire to go down there, not right now, anyway."

Will then closes the door firmly behind him and then continues on northwards, carefully crossing over the pit that Yaz fell into earlier, with the rest of the party following a few yards behind him. They all continue to move as quietly and as stealthily as possible, which is not very quiet at all, what with the heavy armor that the warriors are wearing.

Will leads them around the corner in the corridor and stops as he gets to the doors to the north and the south of him. Firstly he tries the door to the north. Yet again it is open. After a listen and a quick test for traps, he opens the door and peers in:

"It leads to another corridor heading westwards," he says. "There could be some more stairs at the end of it. Let me have a quick look and see if I can tell where it goes."

The others wait outside as Will goes a little further in to investigate. He returns less than a minute later in order to report:

"The staircase turns to the south after a while, which must mean that it leads back under the temple. The stairs were crude and quite dusty. It doesn't look as if it gets used very much."

Bennett mentally notes the back way into the Temple, not assuming for a minute that they won't use it.

"I bet that hallway leads to the cages," Yaz adds, "if it goes under the temple like Will said. I wanna go down and see. It might not even be connected to the rest of the place at all."

There is then a small amount of debate as to whether or not to take a quick trip down the stairs or not. Eventually, the others see that Yaz is fairly adamant about checking it out now. Seeing that Yaz is very badly injured and will stand no chance should his hunch prove to be wrong, Will agrees to accompany him in order to check out what is below.

The rest of them wait in the entrance of the corridor, keeping silent and listening intently with hands close to weapons in case they hear the sounds of combat from down below.

It is not to be, however, and they all relax a little as they see the two half-elves returning. The smug expression upon Yaz' face tells the others that he was right:

"I was right," Yaz says smugly. "The stairs lead down to the fungus pens, nothing more, nothing less."

"Unless there were any secret doors," Will interjects.

"Whatever," Yaz adds. "The Nemotz dudes have also left us all the tools that we would need if we wanted to get rid of them as well. Just before we got to the pens, we went through a storage area containing six 8' long torches, which I guess are for keeping them at bay, plus a small barrel of lamp oil."

"They also left the keys to the cages hanging up with it," Yaz adds, rattling the keys in his hand.

Will closes the door behind him and turns his attention to the door to the south. He goes through his routine to detect for traps and to listen, but can't hear anything, nor than he find any traps. He tries the door but finds that it is locked.

"Don't it jus' join up wiv the big staircase what's goin' down?" asks Gronk, who is obviously keeping an eye on the construction of the building.

Will shakes his head in response:

"No, or else I would have seen the opening," the bard responds. " The stairs went down steeply and so there could be something behind this door, but it must lead to somewhere really small."

"Let me have a try and see if I can solve the mystery," says Jihan, hobbling forwards supported by the Padre.

The elf pulls forth his set of tools once more and crouches painfully before the lock. He takes a couple of metal tools and begins to work on the lock. After a matter of seconds, there is a satisfying click as the lock is disabled.

Bennett smiles at Jihan finally getting a lock:

"Good to see you nail that lock. I worried that you weren't a real thief after all!"

"You'll see, brother..." he mutters cryptically, a small self-deprecating smile on his lips.

Bennett raises his eyebrows quizzically, but says nothing.

Jihan continues to grin for the first time in a while and places his tools back into his pouch. Will then proceeds to open the door a crack to see what's behind it. He peers in for a few seconds and then turns back to report:

"There's a very narrow circular staircase heading upwards," he says, shaking his head slightly. "It was dark up there, but led to another room about 20' up. I don't know what it is that's up there, but it's going to be tricky to go up, because only one person can be on the narrow staircase at any one time."

Bennett smiles again:

"We have to check this room out. If we're leaving, this room is too interesting to leave behind. I'll lead the way."

Aneira looked mildly curious also, but said nothing.

"Yes, let's see what's up those stairs!" mumbles Yaz through swollen lips.

Bennett smiles at the injured druid:

"We should do something, as nothing has changed. We didn't take a hit in wasting those guards, and with our luck being so good lately, why not ride it a bit further?"

"Maybe our new friend can check it out?" Jihan suggests, his head tilting slightly in a backwards motion towards the guards.

Bennett nods:

"At least he can tell us what he thinks is up there. This ground should be traveled, or if not there should be rumors as to why."

He turns toward Yaz:

"Ask your buddy about this place, if you please?"

"If he wants to," says Yaz. "Hey, friend, what's your name anyway? Do you know what's up the stairs? Ya wanna find out?"

"I'm Marek," says the guard that Yaz charmed.

"I'm Mirek," adds the one that Aneira charmed.

"And the bloke who's up there is Patrik," Marek adds.

"And what might Patrik be doing up there?" asks Yaz.

"He's the one who's opening the traps," replies Marek.

"Yeah, lucky bleeder," adds Mirek. "Best duty of the lot, that is. You get to sit in a nice cozy little room and just keep a lookout to make sure that no one enters the temple who's not supposed to. As soon as they step on one of the trapdoors, all you have to do is press the button and, WHAM, the mushrooms get an extra meal."

He is grinning now, and obviously finds this all very amusing.

Marek looks over at Yaz:

"Looks like you had a trip to see the mushrooms yourself. That must have made old Patrik's day, that must have."

"Mebbe it's time t'make 'is night too," the Padre says quietly to Yaz. "C'n Marek there tell us if there's any other way out o' tha' room other than th' old stairs? Can't have 'Patrik' goin' t' 'lert whoe'er might be downstairs."

Marek shakes his head:

"Nope, it's only a tiny little room up there, just enough for whoever's on watch, so there's no way to get downstairs apart from the stairs up."

"There's only one way down to the temple from here, as far as I know, and that's down the main staircase. Well, that's what I reckon, at least. None of us guards have ever been allowed down there, so there might be another way in or out," he adds with a shrug.

Bennett bares his teeth at the fellows:

"What say you talk to your pal and tell him he needs to vacate that post?"

He smiles:

"You all think we can stay here now? If we control the traps? I'd bet this guy can tip us to lots of interesting things. I'm betting the priests aren't totally immune to their own traps, and maybe we can bash one or two of them?"

Yaz stares at Marek for a number of seconds, then smirks through his rapidly-deteriorating face.

While the rest of the group is busy discussing other things, Yaz peels away from them as inconspicuously as possible. He heads to the guards' chambers to the west, sits on a bed, and takes out a small stick of charcoal and some holly berries from his belt pouch. He then spends ten minutes casting over the box, after which he draws a careful charcoal line around the closure.

He goes back to the group and motions to Marek quietly.

"Marek," he whispers to his guard friend, "c'mere for a sec."

Marek nods and then obediently heads over to see his new friend.

Yaz heads to the up-stair, bringing a finger to his lips to tell Marek to be quiet. He then holds the box out to Marek:

"Don't open it," Yaz says quietly. "It's a gift for your friend, Patrik. Actually kind of a joke. Will you give it to him? It'll be really funny."

Yaz grins as wide as he can considering his rotten face:

"He'll love it."

Marek grins in response and takes the box from him:

"Sure," he replies, "anything to help out a good friend."

"OK then... go up to the room," Yaz replies. "Tell him you managed to fight off the intruders, and you wanted to thank him for dropping that bastard tree-lover into the fungus. Then hand it to him, and come back here, I need you for something else right away. OK?"

He laughs mischievously.

Marek laughs along with him and happily climbs up the stairs until he gets to the top. The walls are thick and so the party can't hear what is going on, but after a couple of minutes, Marek comes back down the stairs.

They can see that the guard has no longer got the box, but the smile on Marek's face has gone:

"No," Marek says to Yaz, shaking his head, "Patrik didn't go for it. He said that he's been watching me and Mirek wandering around with you all and helping you out and didn't believe that we could have managed to take out all ten of you what with their just being the two of us. He reckoned that we must be charmed, or something and said that only a complete moron would fall for a stunt like that one."

Marek gives a shrug and looks back at Yaz.

Getting no response from the guards, Bennett gets a bit angry:

"Get up there and tell him to leave his post! It can't be worth him dying!"

"That was what I was going to do," Marek replies. "But then my new friend came up with his brilliant idea of giving him a present. I've no idea why he didn't want to accept it. If you offer him the same deal as you did to us, then I'm sure that he'll come along with us."

"Of course he will," Bennett replies. "He's not a stupid fellow, I think. Go ahead and go up there and have a little chat. He'll surely see the light."

Yaz is not listening to a word Marek is saying, however. The druid might have looked irritated, if any expression at all had been recognizable on his face through the rot:

"Figures himself a smart one, does he? Alright then. I'll get him myself."

Bennett, casually conversing with Marek, does not notice Yaz heading upstairs until it is too late.

Yaz brushes past Marek, limping quickly, and climbs the stairs into the upper room. As the druid gets halfway up the stairs, Yaz sees Patrik's face peering round the door. As the guard sees the half elf hurtling towards him, he picks up the 'gift' that Yaz gave to him and hurls it down the stairs at him.

The box lands on the stairs before Yaz and explodes with a loud "BOOOOOMMMM!!!"

Yaz recoils from the explosion. In his terribly injured state, it could have easily finished the druid, but luckily the box landed a few stairs above him and so the half elf managed to avoid the worst of the blast.

Yaz is now even more pissed than he was before. He draws his scimitar and charges up the remaining steps into the room:

He enters the small chamber abruptly, then stops himself.

He smiles:

"Hi, Patrik."

Patrik's response is to lash out at the druid with his longsword, but the druid sees it coming and ducks out of harm. He then tries to counter with a stroke of his scimitar, but the blast has left him disorientated and his shot is way off target.

Patrik strikes again, but in the confines of the crowded control room, it's hard for him to swing and the shot misses the druid by a wide margin. Yaz is now REALLY angry. He puts all of his feeble strength into one incredible blow against the stubborn guard. The shot is perfectly targeted and, to his total amazement, he manages to lop the guard's head off in one strike, sending Patrik's head tumbling into the control room.

Yaz stands panting for a moment, trying to regain his breath. He gives his thanks to Prirodna for guiding his arm in his moment of need and then takes a look around him. He sees that the control room is a crowded room, some 30' long and 10' wide. There is a seat in the middle, which has four levers within easy reach. Underneath each of the levers has a wheel underneath them, which are connected to chains that go through the floor of the small room. He sits in the seat for a moment in order to get his breath. He sees that from the seat, the occupant has a great view out over the entrance hall.

Having recovered his breath, Yaz walks back down the steps and rejoins the others waiting for him downstairs.

"Tha' was bleedin' brilliant, ye bloody psychotic," Kokal grumbles. "E'd 'ave been 'nother scou .... errr, ALLY. 'As tha' rot ye got melted ye brain?"

"An' speakin' o' which, 'ow 'bout 'ealin yeself o' it 'fore ye infect th' rest o' us? Mebbe ye need some 'elp fr' th' priestess?"

Yaz, shuffling wearily, looking and feeling like the walking dead, is not prepared for the priest's verbal assault. He looks weakly up at the man, and starts draining his sinuses into his throat as he has done so many times before. This time, however, he turns to face him, and horks a wet looger at Kokal's left ear with ferocity. Fortunately for the Padre, Kokal sees it just in time and so Yaz' looger misses and starts to dribble down the side of his chainmail.

"Stick it in a termite tree, orc-blood bastard..." the druid mutters venomously.

Winnacer's eyes open shock wide as he watches blood tinged sputum roll down Padre Kokal's flank, leaving a shiny mucinous trail in its wake. He takes a few steps towards Yaz, watching Padre Kokal closely to see how he reacts to the insult.

Fae watches the whole proceedings with a bit of amusement in her eyes, though she does nothing to stop the two of them from fighting. Kurtek's wand is near at hand in case it really gets out of hand.

"Tha's it! Tha's all I'm takin' fro' th' likes o' ye!" Kokal rages.

"If ye won' 'eal yeself, then I don' see any other choice but t'do wit ye diseased carcass jus' wha' we did t' th' pus-sack outside. But I ain' goin' t' soil m' star wit ye."

Kokal drops his pack, and fishes out three bandages and a vial of liquid from a pouch on his belt. Working quickly while his eyes with rage at Yaz, he saturates the cloth, then wraps one strip around his head covering his mouth and nose, and the other two around his knuckles, then advances on the druid.

Yaz sits on the floor, leaning against a stone wall, obliquely watching Kokal wrap himself up in bandages. He fails to respond to the priest, preferring instead to sit and struggle to regain his breath from the fight with Patrik.

Xavier, his mind distracted, becomes suddenly aware of the commotion occuring between his unlikely fey comrade and a man of the Holy Church of Rodengast.

The Saxon leaps to his feet, his body nearly tangling itself in its haste with that of Winnacer as he leaps between the two combatants. Facing the furious Padre he speaks:

"Halt, mein freund, der Fey is delerious and knows not vhat he does. No man in his right mind vould issue forth such insult to a man of the cloth. If his mind was true, such an insult vould warrant death. Please, Padre, hold thy wrath, in Rodengast's name, I deplore thee as a soldier of the Inverted Sword, not to strike down this delirious Fey imbecile. To strike down a sick man is not worthy of the sword we bear "

Wanting to avert a fistfight in the middle of the Nemotz temple, Winnacer stands in front of the druid. As he does so, Bennett grabs Kokal, not aggressively, but with enough force to restrain him:

"Come on, Koky! Yaz is mentally loose even when he is in tip-top shape, and I think the fungus has gotten to his brain. We don't fight in the group, man, even when somebody really, really deserves to have his ass kicked."

Bennett does not bother to direct that statement, assuming everyone in the group knows to whom it refers.

Winnacer smirks:

"It's OK to grab each other aggressively, attempt to groin each other, threaten to kill each other regularly, taunt each other ruthlessly, shoot arrows in the backs of each other, but to actually punch each other is unheard of and unforgivable. Considering the purity of the souls ready to condemn your actions, I'd think you are better off doing as is commanded upon you by Radegast."

"Load o' crap, 'at is," snarls Gronk under his breath, "only 'ing I see 'at be unforgivable be you's Mr. 'oly attitude."

Bennett turns back to Winnacer:

"And it's certainly okay to use your god-given powers to drive one of the party members out into the snow where there are Nyemetz looking for them, putting them in great danger, because you want to physically assault a rape victim! You're such a f***ing hypocritical bastard Winn, it's unbelievable!"

"Mein Gott, for Rodengast's sake, be at peace all of you," Xavier adds, trying to calm the situation down. "This is not der time to be at each other's throats. Lets us turn our aggression not against each other but at der whoresons who think disease and pestilence and its spread is a form of devotion. Rodengast save us. The bastards across der lake are more sick than any Nemotz whoreson. Atrocities such as rape and torture are bad enough, but to experiment on the living vith disease is a crime unimagineable. Let them be our focus to our anger, ve have time to argue later!"

"Absolutely," smiles Aneira coldly, "I'd much rather be raped or tortured than taken ill."

Bennett turns briefly toward Xavier:

"All that you said is right, Xavier, which is why I am here. It certainly isn't out of any loyalty to our leader. It's all about the greater good here, which is what I was trying to preserve before Winn's interference."

Winnacer's face smoothes out as he looks at Padre Kokal:

"But you won't be beating the crap out of Yaz today."

He gives the druid a bit of a shake:

"He certainly deserves it, but you know in turning the other cheek you are the better man. As it is not the personal indignities we all must suffer in the service of Bohavia that matter, but the results we achieve. Beating Yaz into a pulp endangers all of those we have set out to save that rely on us to shatter their bonds. A dollop of sputum on your mail can be cleansed much easier than the blood of the prisoners you would carry around on your hands if your actions indirectly led to our failure here."

"There are no rules here to govern your actions, no matter what some may wish to believe. Thrashing Yaz silly is quite a Just reward for such a thoughtless action."

"'en ya sure as 'ell be needin' a good whackin'," Gronk mutters as he continues to listens to Winnacer's speech.

"But in your heart is the wisdom and patience to endure the trials that even your allies can subject you to," Winnacer continues. "Set your mind to the task at hand and trust in Spravedelna to mete proper Justice to those who act in thoughtless consideration of others."

"Yeah, that'll happen," interjects Bennett. "I notice that your continual greed and arrogance haven't been touched by your false goddess! That others may be standing up for their beliefs isn't an option here, as long as Lord Winnacer can dictate everything from his throne!"

Gronk shakes his head at Winn's last statement:

"I be hopin' ya pray 'at you's goddess be havin' mercy on ya 'en, ya sure be needin' it."

Bennett spits on the floor in disgust:

"You know what f***ing kills me, Winn? This whole righteous victim bit! It's such bad acting that you'd get thrown out of any theater I've ever heard of. F***ing tragic comedy is what it is! At least Kokal has the right to get pissed off! F***ing leader, yeah right!"

"NO?" Kokal growls, still enraged but not fighting against being held back from Yaz. "But spittin' fecid mucous inta m' face, THA's OK t'do in th' group, eh? An' tha's TWICE th' scrawny gnat 'as challenged me. 'Ow many times ye thin' I'm gonna give t' tha' charity?"

Bennett smiles at the Padre:

"What I am saying, is that when we are in the process of fighting our real enemies, we don't engage each other. It's not a rule that our lord and master approves of, but it just makes sense. You have given as much as you have received, Kokal, in your snide words and insults directed at Aneira and Yaz. They neither one instigated your arguments with them, and their conduct is their business. You have chosen to direct hostility at those physically weaker than yourself, and they have every right to be offended at that. Look back at your part in the evolution of the conflict and perhaps, unlike King Winnacer, you will be able to see that you share the blame. I have no wish to make an enemy of you, Padre, as you are a stout fellow, and a worthy ally, but I have had quite enough of zealots believing that their religion makes them more right than anyone else. If you want to have a confrontation with Yaz, then it's something that will have to wait until we get out of here. That's all I am saying."

"No fights in th' group, 'less they be th' kin' th' likes o' 'im favor, eh?" asks Kokal. "Well, tha's YER rule. 'Ere's mine: 'E does anythin' like tha' again, by Radegast, I splatter 'is brains ... what'ere 'e c'n be foun' t' ave an'way."

"I made no such rule," says Bennett. "However, I will let you know that, if you offer up a physical threat to my brother for whatever reason, you will find you do not face only him. No mistake, if it's you or Yaz, you lose, no matter what provocation. Yaz will fight his own battles, do not mistake me, but if you offer him a threat when he is disabled by illness or injuries received fighting for a fair cause, it will come to blows with us, and I don't fight with my fists. That's not a threat, but a promise."

Bennett is emotionless, much different than his confrontation with Winnacer.

"Just make sure to wake me for anything really ugly," Aneira murmurs, a slight smile on her face.

"Simple. E'en fer 'im," the Padre mutters.

Kokal withdraws, deliberately loosening himself from Bennett's grip then unwrapping the soaked bandages from his hands and stowing them in his pack, muttering all the while.

"No bloody challenge t' take 'im now an'way. Already more 'n half dead," the Padre grumbles.

Eventually, the druid and the priest of Radegast calm down and Bennett walks over to Gronk:

"Hey, Gronk, perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to go and have a look at the controls for the traps upstairs. I know that you dwarves are the best with mechanical items."

Gronk nods his agreement and heads up the narrow set of stairs and spends a few minutes fiddling with the controls. Once he has got the hang of them, he walks back down the stairs in order to report his findings:

"Weren't 'ard to figure out at all," Gronk reports. "There's four levers up there, one for each o' the four trapdoors. The trapdoors will only fall in when the lever is pulled. Yer can walk over them normally 'orright, unless the lever's pulled. I reckon that's why we passed over the first one without it fallin'. The guard wouldn't 'ave been able to see us comin' until we were all over it."

"To reset the traps, all yer needs to do is turn the wheels. They operate a winch which pulls the trapdoors up an' so resets them. Takes about three minutes o' winchin' to get 'em set back in position."

Will closes the door and carries on eastwards until he gets to the northeastern corner. He goes through his routine in checking for noise and traps and then peers inside. He immediately turns back to report, screwing up his nose as he does so:

"It's just a midden," he says with obvious distaste. "Disgusting."

He then proceeds to the door on the east wall. After going through his routine yet again, he opens it and peers through it:

"It leads to another 60' long corridor with three doors to the east and another at each end. Apart from the door in the north end, it is totally the same as the layout on the west side of the building."

He proceeds through the door and tries the door to the north first of all:

"Another midden," he reports after closing the door rapidly.

He then walks 20' down the corridor and tries the first of the doors on the east wall. After going through his routine, he opens it, has a look inside, and then throws the door open to the rest of the party. They look in to see that the room is very similar to the one that they first entered through Yaz' hole in the wall. It is a simple room 20' square that they see contains only bare essentials. In the room are two bunk beds that have thin mattresses and single sheets. There are two unlocked footlockers under each of the beds, which contain nothing but black and yellow robes, rope belts and sandals. There are prayer mats on the floor and the room is lit by eight candles set in wall sconces.

"No merc'd live in a shit'ole like this," comments Gronk. "Mus' belong to some priests."

They check the room carefully in order to try and determine whether there is anything of value contained within, but the priests obviously live a very spartan existence, as it contains nothing.

They all file out of the room and Will closes the door behind him before moving on to the next one. He opens the door and they all see that it is absolutely identical to the once before. They spent a few minutes looking through the footlockers, but see that it is also identical in this respect. in that there is nothing except for the spare clothing.

Getting a little tired now of opening doors that simply prove the fact that the whole area is deserted, Will tries the next door. He checks for traps and listens inside, but to his immense lack of surprise, there is nothing. He opens the door and .. .

'WHOOOOOSH!!!!"

A jet of freezing cold air comes from the door and hits Will. Luckily, the bard was not right in front of the door and so he is saved from the worst damage from the blast. Even so, the cold goes right through to his bones and he knows how Jihan felt after incurring the wrath of Viirin back in the cellar of Bosco's Tower.

Anticipating that there might be someone, or something, either hostile or valuable inside, Bennett kicks in the door. However, inside the room is fairly similar to the two above it, except for the fact that there are just two single beds here. There is also a single desk in the corner of the room, upon which rests a stack of parchments and a quill and ink set.

Upon seeing the parchment, Faewen'il moves over to the table to see if it contains anything of interest. After a few moments, however, she shakes her head:

"Nae, they no be scrolls or nothin useful like tha. They jus be notes about the duties o the priests. Whoever stays here nae be very important in tha church."

After searching the room once again to ensure that they have not missed anything, they head out and Will studies the last of the doors, at the southern end of the corridor. After his freezing experience, he checks the door a little more carefully, but still finds nothing and so he gingerly opens the door. This time he gets no shocks and so opens the door wider.

They all look in to see that this room is used both as a kitchen and a dining room. Within the room are two long tables surrounded by wooden chairs, taller tables for preparing food by the western wall, a fire pit on the eastern wall, and barrels holding assorted foodstuffs and water.

"Great, food," says Gronk, getting a little peckish, as it has been a long time since lunch.

"Hey, careful," cautions Yaz. "Everything else in this place is rotten, so the food's probably bad as well."

Yaz takes a look at the barrels more closely and sees that they contain some vegetables and salted meats. Another barrel contains what appears to be fresh water.

The druid gives a little shrug:

"Well, I guess it LOOKS OK to me."

"Them mercs 'ave got to be eatin' somethin," Gronk says looking longingly at the food.

Winnacer adds:

"It would be best to secure this food at our camp. We will need it if we plan on bringing any survivors of this place with us on our way to Olmutz."

Bennett grabs up a load of food, as much as he can carry.

They investigate the area more closely, but there is nothing else of interest.

"Well, that's the first level of the place checked out in its entirety," Winnacer says, "except for the locked room in the northwest corner and the staircase up to the roof. It seems as if everyone has fled."

"So what is the plan now? Is there anything else we need to do tonight or can we leave it to continue in the morning?"

"So do we want to secure the door down?" Jihan asks, having had plenty of time to think over such things while he sat during the fight. "We could use some planks from the guards' bunks, and drive a few of my wedges in for extra insurance, or we could just barricade them with beds and footlockers in general. We might as well do both..." the elf says, fishing out several wooden and metal wedges from his myriad of pouches and hangers.

"Aye," the Padre nods."Seems t' be one thin' most o' us c'n 'gree to. An' let's be quick 'bout it, 'cause I thin' our luck in no one comin' up out o' there -- what wit' all the noise we been makin' -- might be 'bout due t' run out if we don'."

"I can cast that fire trap spell on the double doors leading to the stairs, unless anyone else has better ideas," adds Yaz.

While the others talked, Aneira walked over to Bennett and began to cast healing spells upon him. She cast three of them in total, one after the other, until the warrior was totally healed.

Bennett smiles happily, though he asks her:

"And what about you, fair one? You need healing as much as any of us, even though you have freed yourself of the taint of the swamp."

Upon her refusal, Bennett shrugs, keeping his position close to her, as always, to make sure she isn't injured.

While Aneira is patching up Bennett, Winnacer walks over to Gronk:

"A word, Gronk," the LawBringer requests.

Gronk is happy to oblige and so heads out of the room along with the young Lord. Away from the limelight Winnacer continues:

"Even in the short time you have spent with the group, you have shown a great amount of courage in fighting for the cause of Bohavia. I want you to know that your efforts are appreciated by me, even if we may not always see eye to eye. To the eyes of Spravedelna you have proven yourself a reliable comrade, and certainly worthy of a gift from myself to you."

"We have yet to find a suitable coat of armor to fit your frame, and I often worry about your safety when ensconced in such light armor. If it suits you, I would like to give you my shield. Legend has it that it was carried by many dwarven champions before being lost within the Tower of Boscobelous. It carries the Mountain Mark of Zemnye as well as some slight magicks of protection. In my mind, only a dwarf could do such honor to another dwarf's shield. And so I offer it to you."

"I'd be 'appy ta carry you's shield," Gronk replies quietly. "Don't 'inks we ever gonna be seein' eye-to-eye."

Gronk chuckles as he finishes speaking, looking up at the tall frame of Winnacer.

Once Gronk and Winnacer have returned, Bennett speaks:

"I'm still adamant that it doesn't make sense to leave here now that we have cleaned the first floor out and we know that there's just one way downstairs which can easily be secured by Jihan and/or trapped by Yaz. There's still that one room in the northwest corner that we couldn't get into. Although Jihan couldn't get through the door, I'm damned sure 'Regret' can."

"Aye," agrees Gronk, "'specially if ole Thunder 'ere gives 'im an 'elpin' 'and."

Bennett smiles:

"So that's settled. Who's coming with us?"

Everyone tails along with Bennett and Gronk as they head over to the opposite side of the building and then look on as the pair of them hack away at the lock. It makes a hell of a lot of noise as they chop away at the wooden door and so Will keeps an eye on the staircase, just in case those that are below decide to finally come up. However, they do not and after a few minutes the wood is almost through and Bennett finishes off the job with a mighty kick.

As the door crashes open, they all peer inside the room. They see that it is another barracks area, although there are just two bunk beds and two singles in this room, making it more spacious than the others on this side of the building. Apart from that, however, the room is identical, and is very utilitarian, showing no signs of decoration whatsoever.

Bennett is most unimpressed, hoping this would be an armory or something.

"This is where the sargeants, the Lieutenant and the GermSpreader used to sleep," comments Marek, quite helpfully.

"I'd be careful 'andln' anythin' that maggot-box touched," Kokal says, staying well away from the GermSpreader's bunk.

They wander into the room and see that, same as is the case in the other rooms, there is a footlocker underneath all of the beds. They rifle through the footlockers and find that it contains a bounty much more generous than the other rooms. In total, they obtain 218 gold pieces, with the majority of the coin coming from under the GermSpreader's bed.

Bennett gathers up about fifty of the coins

They check the room once more to ensure that they have not missed anything, but find that there is nothing else other than the coin there.

Winnacer sighs upon seeing that the first floor of the building is now completely checked out:

"Well, I think that we're all agreed that this is as far as we want to go this evening. However, we are still not decided upon where we are spending the night."

The young Lord then looks over at the injured elf:

"Jihan, come with us across the water. With your leg broken, you won't be able to help out much in the case of attack nor can you run away to save your life."

"I ain't goin' t' tell anyone they GOT t' stay or go," the Padre says, looking mainly at Jihan, "but I thin' splittin' up c'n only lead t' twice th' trouble. Plus, I'd thin those of ye tha' need mendin' 'ould do best t'stay near th' menders. But, wha' do I know? Mebbe ye prefer hikin' back an' forth o'er forest an' stream wit cuts an' split bones an' drippin' blood an' pus. Don' soun' too great t' me, but t' each 'is own I guess."

Jihan looks at the Padre and then at Winnacer and Fae:

"What the Padre is saying makes sense," he says with a sigh. "It's a four mile hike back to the base camp and I'm just going to slow everyone down."

"My main concerns are for the squires and the horses. If some of you are going to return to them in any case, then that is at least one weight off my mind. I will just have to pray to the Three that securing and trapping the door is sufficient to stop those that are below from attacking us during the night."

"An'way, I really don' see 'ow th' outside is any 'safer' than th' guards' quarters," continues the Padre. "We've 'tacked 'em both inside AN' outside this place t'nite. If I were in charge o' defendin' this place, I'd send troops back t' th' walls AN' into the woods t' hunt an' guard fer us. Prob'ly th' last place I'd look is right under m'nose in m' own troops' beds. But we c'n set up a good guard 'ere e'en if they DO try it, plus bar an' trap th' doors fro' below too. An' th' priestess is right tha' we prob'ly can't camp far 'nough 'way t'be totally safe an' then still make it back 'ere tomorrow in 'nough time t' clean this place up ... an' not 'ave t'go through this damned debate all over again t'morrow night."

"Could be tha' the Nemotz jus' ain' got th' manpower fer searchin' all over fer us, though -- but seems our two new frien's 'ere should know, eh? Why don' someone they like better than they prob'l like me ASK 'em already?!?! -- so mebbe they're all keepin' below waitin' fer us. But in either case, th' huge 'tack durin' th' night some o' us're concerned 'bout seems unlikely."

Bennett looks at Kokal, then at the charmed guards:

"How many of you are left here, anyway? If all of you never went downstairs, it seems to me that only the priests are left, huh? Any idea how many of them there are? How many people have gone downstairs? The more info we get from you regarding this spells out your fate when we get done. So far you haven't done a damn thing to impress me."

Marek looks a little nervously at Bennett. It's obvious that he is petrified of the warrior. He looks a little puzzled and then starts to count on his fingers. Once he has used up all ten, he asks Mirek to hold up his fingers and starts counting on them as well. Once all Mirek's fingers have been used up too, he takes off his boots and starts counting on his toes. He then stops counting and reports back to Bennett:

"There can't be many of us guards left now at all. I reckon that there just Sargeant Horachek and a couple of the boys left. I reckon that they must have gone downstairs with the priests. There are eight acolytes, two priests and the High Priest that must be down there as well."

He smiles and then holds his hand out towards Bennett:

"C'mon, mate, that's got to be worth a few pieces of gold to you."

Bennett shakes his head:

"Damn, you're a ballsy son of a bitch. How about this? If your information proves out, and we wipe this nasty place off the face of the earth because of it, I'll give you a magical weapon for your very own. I swear I will on the grave of my friend, Zsolt. If you don't want that, I'll drop you a handful of gold for you and your partner to split. How's that for generosity?"

Marek considers the choice that Bennett presents him with, but finds it too much for him. He turns to his comrade to gain his input:

"So, Mirek," he asks, "what's it to be, the magic item or the gold? The choice is yours."

Mirek now starts to nod his head from side to side, deep in thought:

"C'mon now, got to hurry you," adds Marek. "Which one of these great items are you going to be taking out of the temple with you soon? Will it be a great magickal weapon to make you the pride of mercenaries throughout the land, or will it be a handful of glittering gold pieces? Hurry up now, the clock is ticking."

"THE GOLD!" shouts Mirek. "The gold."

Marek nods his head in agreement and then turns back to Bennett:

"So the gold it is then, guv'nor."

Bennett smiles, somewhat disappointed:

"Okay, you got it."

"An', as Bennett 'as said, th' guards ain't sick, so their quarters're prob'ly safe 'nough fer a few hours," continues the Padre. "An' now tha' we know 'ow th' traps t' th' fungus work, we'd really 'ave t'be daft t' fall fer 'em again."

"An' on top o' it not bein' any less dangerous out there than in 'ere, it's freezin' outside t' boot -- e'en if it won' bother the magess 'cause o' her spell or the priestess 'cause o' .... 'er bein' th' priestess .... th' rest o' us're goin' t'be mighty uncomfortable tryin' t'sleep -- an' we STILL might see some action."

"See t' th' lads an' th' old man an' th' animals if ye wan' to," Kokal concludes. "But th' barracks're th' bes' option fer t'nite. An' we should all stay together."

Once the Padre has spoken, the room falls quiet. It is obvious that all have made their decisions as to where they shall be spending the night and aren't in the mood for changing their minds.

Winnacer sighs:

"Very well, if everyone is adamant regarding their decisions, then there is no point in discussing the matter any further. Let all of those who are going back to camp now come with me."

Faewen'il, Xavier and Gronk start to follow Winnacer. Bennett comes with them too. Winnacer looks at him with surprise.

"I want to bring Maire over here where I can keep an eye upon her," he says, "But then I'm coming back."

"I'll come with you too," says Yaz, jumping up in order to join with those leaving the temple. "I want to make sure that the other horses are OK too."

The six of them then depart, leaving the other four party members plus the other guards in the room. As he leaves, Winnacer looks back at those who stay behind with sadness, wondering if he'll ever see the rest of them alive again.

The six of them then head out of the hole and make their way around the side of the building until they get to the ferry.

On the way, Bennett has a few words with the druid, shaking his head the entire time:

"You're a fucking psycho, man! I can't believe you went up there to kick that guy's ass by yourself! You've got some kind of fungus growing in your colon, and your head's cracked from running it into Jihan's, and yet you walk up there like goddamn prize fighter."

Bennett continues to shake his head:

"I think I won't smoke any more of that stuff after all!"

He smiles and pats his crazy friend's back as they head over to the ferry.

"That would be a mistake," Yaz replies with a grin. "And shit, I got 'im, didn't I? Yeah, I got him." He nods to himself. "That's what happens to coward-ass Civs who try to drop ME into cucumber gardens of death. I shoulda waited though -- I didn't mean to chop his head off. I coulda made him suffer. It coulda been painful."

They all get into the flat-bottomed boat and Winnacer unties it from its mooring. Bennett then starts to haul upon the chain and easily manages to maneuver the boat across the short distance over the lake.

Xavier, with a mischievous smirk on his face, pats Bennett on the back and says:

"Ha, mein freund, der trip back in dis boat is far more comfortable to me than my last trip across the lake!"

Bennett laughs, somewhat embarrassed:

"Well, it's a better boat in any regard!"

Upon reaching the other side, they tie up the boat securely and then start the four-mile journey back to camp.

While the others are making their journey to the camp, those remaining in the temple see to their security. The Padre supports Jihan in order to get to the large bronze doors leading downstairs. The elf then proceeds to secure the doors using several lengths of wood taken from the beds, as well as a number of wedges taken from his pouch. After ten minutes, the doors seem to be totally secure.

The four of them then set up watch arrangements for the night. Jihan takes up a spot in the doorway that leads to the western wing of the building, enabling him to clearly see if anyone should manage to get past the barricaded doors and also the guard upon the door of the Guards' Quarters where the rest of the party is sleeping. The Padre agrees to take first watch and sits in front of the hole that Yaz made. He wraps himself in blankets in order to keep warm, and then keeps an eye upon both what is happening outside and also upon Mirek, who is watching the opposite door, where he can also be seen from Jihan's position. Will and Aneira choose one of the bunks and fall asleep before it is their turn to take watch.

Meanwhile, the others complete the two hour journey back to the camp where they see that Milan is on guard, crouched over the campfire, while Oldrich, Tadeus and the charmed guard sleep in the back of the cart. Milan looks very relieved at seeing the members of the party arriving, although looks worried when he sees the few numbers returning. Winnacer tells him the situation regarding the split in the party and Milan looks highly relieved. The squire then goes and wakes Oldrich and Milan and then starts to pack up the tents in order to strike camp, assisted by the others.

It takes just ten minutes in order to stow the tents onto the wagon and then everyone mounts up and starts on their way back to the camp. Maneuvering the cart back through the forest is not so easy in the dark, but Gronk manages to help Milan navigate through the trees until they are on the trail. As soon as they get underway, Oldrich falls asleep once more in the back of the cart. Faewen'il also decides to stay in the back of the wagon during the journey, reading from her spellbook as she makes the journey.

Xavier also climbs up into the back of the wagon, opposite Faewen'il and smiles. Sensing the cold he drops his cloak around her shoulders and then sits opposite her with his back against the sideboard of the wagon.

"Don't let me disturb you Fae, its been a long day I'm sure his lordship and der others are enough to keep eyes open for danger this night," the Saxon says. "I hope der cloak will allow ye to concentrate better. Chattering teeth are no good for reading."

Fae gives him a slight smile as she gathers the cloak more closely about herself for the journey to their new campsight.

Xavier then rolls over to his side, and tries to sleep a little.

It takes slightly less time in order to make the return journey to the temple on horseback, but it still takes an hour and a half, meaning that it is some time after midnight before the temple comes into sight. Once it does, Winnacer speaks to all around them:

"I think that we should strike camp off the track, but somewhere that we can see the temple from. I suggest that we set it up close to where we crossed the lake."

Bennett shrugs:

"Set it up where you like, I'm off back to the temple now. Are you coming Yaz?"

"Yeah," Yaz replies, "but I want to take the horses over with me so that I can look after them."

It's a tough exercise to guide the wagon through the forest, but after several false attempts, they manage to maneuver the wagon through the trees and select a spot between the trees a short distance away from the swamp from where they have a view of the temple across the lake.

Once the camp site has been selected, Yaz unhitches the cart horses and takes them along with the other horses and leads them through the snowy forest back towards the ferry, where he joins back up with Bennett and Maire.

Once Yaz has gone, Winnacer shivers a little and then speaks to the squires:

"Let's get the tents set back up and a fire lit so that we can all get some rest."

"That nae be necessary," Faewen'il interrupts. "I be learnin a new spell that be allowin us to keep warm for tha night."

With that, she produces a small crystal bead from her pouch and begins to cast. As she finishes her chanting and gesticulating, a shimmering light blue opaque hemisphere some 15' in radius materializes around her.

Once it is formed, she passes through the hemisphere and speaks once again:

"I hope ye nae be expectin me to do this for ye ev'ry night, but I'll allow ye to share it with me for tanight."

Xavier, as if a changed man, steps into the magical ring, without fear. As he passes Fae, he whispers to her ear:

"Danke, mein liebe, it be nice to return to our country cottage. A lovely home it be, but so many guests for dinner. I should have warned you!"

Xavier then whispers something to Faewen'il and laughs loudly.

Winnacer, Xavier and Gronk all walk through the wall of the hemisphere. Inside they find that it is a balmy 70 degrees, very different from the freezing temperatures outside. The two squires and Oldrich also enter the hemisphere, bringing blankets with them, and settle down for the night. With seven people inside, it is a little crowded inside, but a great deal more pleasant than simply spending the night in a freezing tent.

Winnacer takes first watch while the others get their rest.

Meanwhile, Bennett and Yaz take the ferry back over to the temple along with the horses. Although the ferry is large, it is not large enough to accommodate the 14 or so horses and mules that they have with and so they make two journeys over the lake rather than risk the danger of having it sink as a result of the weight. Eventually all of the horses are transported over the lake and Bennett and Yaz lead them towards the hole in the western wall of the temple.

As they get there, they see that the Padre is still on watch behind the hole. They also see that the hole is too small to lead the horses through and so the only option is to leave them outside the temple. Yaz goes back inside the temple and gathers up all of the blankets that he can find from the Guards' Quarters and proceeds to lay them over the horses' backs in order to keep them warm on the cold night. He then walks over to the kitchen area and brings some pots of clean water for them to drink. He then proceeds to read them bedtime stories as he takes over the watch of the hole from the Padre.

Bennett smiles, seeing Maire is under better care than he could provide, and leaves the steed to Yaz's watchful eye.

Bennett, meanwhile, passes Jihan in his position as the warrior head up the stairs that lead to the guard chamber. Here he sits himself in the chair and spends the night awake, keeping watch over the entrance hall beneath him.

For three hours, there is no sign of movement in the Temple. Then, in the small hours of the morning, Bennett and Jihan both hear a creaking coming from the doors to the lower level. Immediately that they hear it, they both grab their weapons and look towards the door in anticipation. The door rattles for a few seconds, but Jihan's barricades hold, and whoever is down there gives up on their attempt to get out.

Bennett is very anxious for a few minutes but, realizing the priests cannot escape, he calms down, allowing himself a smile. He does not bring down his watchfulness level though.

The rest of the evening is quiet for both those within the temple and those within Faewen'il's hut on the bank.