Off the Beaten Track

Albert follows Rook's instructions and makes it along the roof with a much better pace than before. "You're right, a lighthouse would have been useful." he chuckles at Rook's comment.

When they make it to the tower and notice there is no door, Albert takes some time to ponder. "I'm not sure what the best approach is here." The fog is so thick here, he can barely see the top of the tower. Does it even have a top? He can't really tell.
He scans the walls of the tower for any kind of crack or hole. A way to have a peek inside. There must be a spot where those vines broke through the cracked wall. He rips some plants off the tower and peers into a small opening now visible.

"I'll climb up and take a peek through the window," Rook says quietly. "You keep an eye out on our surroundings, make sure nothing evil is following us. If it is clear inside, I'll let you know." With that, Rook began to climb up the tower with a monkey like agility. When his he reached the sill, he carefully peeked his head up over to learn what he could inside.

Albert nods to Rook "Okay. Be careful up there." He then turns around and scans the area as best he can in this fog. "Was that a shape moving there?" He mumbles to himself as looks downwards towards the ground and squints to try and see better, but it's too difficult to tell. "Hmm, could just be a bush or something." He dismisses it. It's probably too far away to be a threat anyway.

"What do you see up there Rook? Should we come up too?"

Rook crawls up through the window, staying low. He holds up a finger towards the others, telling them to silently bide a moment, then creeps forward to check the rhythmic movement sounds.

Rook regarded the bell silently. There was no wind strong enough to move this thing, so it's agitation was obviously part of the evil haunting this place. Not the worst he had seen this day, though, and it seemed to be no threat at this moment. He quietly headed back down to the window, motioning for the others to climb up and join him. He helped anchor a few of the vines to give them a secure grip on the way up.

Albert takes a last look around but doesn't spot any oncoming threats. He then climbs up the vines after Asha has reached the window. When he gets to the window he realizes that his broomstick is going to be an issue. "Asha, can you take my broomstick? It's not going to fit through this window otherwise." With her help he manages to climb through. It's obvious to everyone that this is not Albert's strong point.

Finding himself on the precarious stairs, Albert accepts his stick back from Asha and uses it as a sort of walking cane to more easily have some steady footing. "Are we going up or down?"

Dirk was sketching the architectural grotesques and decorative features of the temple. The artstyle was something he's never seen before, whatever this temple was, it was from a more ancient culture than the ones in the area.
He's been putting off going into the temple, something about it gave him a really bad feeling. I'll eventually get going inside this. . . He reassures himself, rationalizing why he wasn't entering. . . .but it won't hurt to jot down a few of these features.

He hears voices coming from around the corner; he hopes it isn't those bandits that were stalking the area. He slowly looks around the corner and sees a group of people on the roof, a couple of them climbing the belltower. He spots the destinctive outfit and signature broom of an old friend. That can't be. . . is that my old bartender? He watches closely to make sure it is. After hearing Albert's distinctive voice, he decides to cry out a greeting:
"Ahoy there, is that my good old beermonger Albert that I see?" Watch it, it could be an illusion. He thinks as he puts his hand on the hilt of his machete.

Albert peeks his head out the window after he just climbed through. "What was that? Did anyone else hear something?" He looks down and follows the captain's gaze to the origin of the sound. Hang on a second.. Is that?? "Dirk?!? Is that you?" He turns back for a second "Rook, I think it's Dirk outside. That guy with all the stories. You remember him, right?"

"What are *you* doing here, Dirk?" He calls out with his head through the window again. "You should probably climb up, we just had to run from some evil things lurking about down in the temple. They might still be around."

"Well you know me, I'm here to see the sights and make new tales to tell at the bar!" Dirk lets go of his machete hilt. That seems to be Albert alright, question is, what's he doing here? Dirk climbs up the vines. "Say, are you here to set up your new tavern? It's a right piece of work this place, bet you'll have some creepy clients here."

"Ha! I don't think so." Albert chuckles at the thought of starting a tavern here, but then suddenly a gloom envelops him when he thinks about the loss of his bar. He tries to shake it off and puts on a brave face.

After a quick introduction of Asha and the captain he continues. "Honestly, I'm not sure how I ended up here. We followed a mad man through the fog and ended up here. I think the captain can probably explain it better." He lets the captain fill in the details and tells him about the skeletons that had risen from the bones on the temple floor. "So that's why we're up on the roof. I'm not sure if you remember me telling you, but I used to be an initiate at the temple of Raynor, way back in the day. Since I've found this place I have had a strong feeling that Raynor needs us to cleanse this evil place. With that in mind we're trying to get inside in a way that doesn't involve dozens of living bones." He ponders for a moment. "I guess it comes down to fate." Whether he said "fate" or "faith" is unclear.

"How did you find your way through the fog? You have a keen eye for these kind of monuments, Dirk, did you notice anything of interest?"

Dreams and tattoos huh? What that person said really interested him, but since she was a stranger he didn't exactly want to start interrogating her.
He responded to Albert; "Found my way through by luck or the will of the gods, I spent a rotten amount of time looking for this temple, at one point I thought the place didn't exist and that my studies have once again deceived me. But then I had quite the queer dream last night and it showed me a way through the mist. So off I went and here I am. As for anything of interest that I've noticed, well, you know as much as me. Never seen the likes of this place before."
At this point he starts climbing the vines of the tower. "You know, I've also been feeling like I've been driven here. I guess the hands of your Raynor are drawing us here for a purpose. To be well honest, I haven't the guts to enter the place by myself, better to enter with you guys, especially since you mentioned the skeletons."

Albert helps Dirk through the window and the captain soon after. "Well I don't know for sure it was Raynor's doing, but things seem to have aligned a bit too favorably to be a coincidence. Especially since we've all had some kind of dream drawing is deeper into the temple."

He gives Dirk a warm smile. "Either way, I'm sure we can use the extra pair of hands. Is there anything you know about this temple from your research?"

Dirk looks around and down at the hole, he looks at the people around him and meekly says "I'm Dirk by the way, an old pal of Albert. . ." He spots Rook "Ahoy there Rook!". Dirk takes out his rope and tries to find a place to tie one of the ends on. He starts to prattle on as he does this. "I've got a strong hunch that this is the temple of the Horned Moon, you see, I've been following a lead I picked up from some tattoos on the bodies I've du-. . ." He looks at the two people he doesn't know. "I mean, tattoos on some folk that I've seen. They all have similar symbols, and I believe they are connected to a cult that worships beings that come from a distant star." He winks at Albert "These very same star people that I love talking about at your bar. Anyway, I believe these star people built this very temple we are in, I mean look at the bricks here! These weren't fashioned by any tools we know of, and this architecture is alien to this region of the world. If my guesstimates are correct, this temple holds something called the Horn of the Moon, which is said to grant eternal life!" At this point, Dirk has finished tying the rope to a small pinnacle right outside the window.