Off the Beaten Track

"I'll take first watch; Asha you take second and Albert can take third. I'll wake you in a few hours."

Rook is tired as well, but he's not willing to drift off without some sort of watch, not in this creep old place. Anyway, he's too keyed up from finally finding something worthwhile. He stays awake and continues to pick away at the bone pile; he's not willing to dig too deep, having memories from his youth of rat nests hiding in old bodies down along the canal edge. When the moon starts dropping, he nudges Asha awake and finally beds down himself, the nice bit of clink he picked up wrapped securely in his belt sash.

"You are too kind." Albert smiles warmly at Asha and accepts the offer of the blanket.
When Rook mentions keeping watch he nods a bit reluctantly. He had hoped to get a good night's rest, but he knows Rook is right in doing so. He wraps the blanket around him and tries to get some shut eye.

A weird dream enters his mind that night. He was walking down a dusty corridor when a person crossed the hallway a bit further down. Just in a flash he saw the outline of a rather plump woman, or at least that's what it looked like. He decided to follow, perhaps against better instinct, but the figure was moving away from him as fast as he could run towards it. The woman turned a corner and Albert heard the clink of metal on the tiled floor. She dropped something He thought when hearing the sound and rushed around the corner. The figure was nowhere to be seen, but there on the floor was a small brooch. A silver leaf with golden filigree. Albert recognized it instantly. "By the gods! That's aunt Mertle's brooch!"

Aunt Mertle had always been his favorite aunt, but she lived in another city, many miles away. They would write a letter to each other pretty much weekly, but about a year ago the letters stopped. Her last one mentioned that she did not know when she'd be able to write again, as she was moving to a different place. Albert had waited patiently, but a new letter never came. And now with the bar gone, she won't have his address either.

"Aunt Mertle?" He called out to the empty hallway. The reply was not what he had expected at all; Startled by the sudden yell, Albert jumps up from his sleeping spot. "What is it, Asha?" He looks a bit confused when no threat is to be seen. When things quiet down again he can hear the scurrying sound coming from the wall and decides to check it out.

He hands the blanket back to Asha "Here, get some more rest. Maybe best to so over there." He points to the wall opposite where the noise was coming from. "I'm guessing it's about time for me to take watch anyway." He gestures to the others that they are free to get back to sleep if they so desire and checks the wall, where Asha was standing, in the torchlight.

---

While keeping watch Albert's thoughts drift off a bit. Aunt Mertle, here? It couldn't be... Maybe the temple has information... But it was just a dream, Albert... If there's even a small chance... He's troubled by what all this means.

Even as Rook was waking, his hand was on his blade. He peered around suspiciously at Asha's shouts, but it seemed as if Albert was tending her. He remembered dreaming of Beka again; he hadn't thought of her in years, but since seeing Callum she'd been on his mind.

In his dreams, she'd been waiting for him, down a long hallway, beckoning him. In real life, his infatuation had been been very one sided, he was too young to catch her interest, by five years at least. She had been more interested in the older lads, the ones already bladed and blooded. She'd attached herself to Callum... until the bastard killed her.

He shook his head, surprised how strong his feelings still were. He glanced up at Albert examining the wall, hearing the scratching that had attracted the other's attention. "Everything alright?"

Albert checks the wall, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. A hole in the wall somewhere or secret passage, maybe? He uses a hand to feel for crevices as he guides the torch along the wall.

Rook is sitting up, watching Albert investigate the wall. He rises to his feet as the other man seems to find something. "Well? What is it? Do we need to leave this room?"

"Looks like a small hole in the wall. About big enough for a goblin's hand I'd say. Perhaps we've got one of those critters in the walls." Albert looks around the room and sees the others yawning with a tired look on their faces. He smiles reassuringly "I think it's best if we just ignore it for now. I'll just prop up the hole and keep an eye on it."

Albert picks up a rock from the floor that's just about the right size and uses his foot to wedge it into the hole. "There. It's my time to keep watch anyway, isn't it?" He dusts his hands off and waits for the others to close their eyes.

During the next few hours he keeps an eye on that hole as well as the door. Albert also takes the time to whisper a few prayers and asks Raynor to protect his new found friends from the evils of this temple. While praying he uses his thumb to lightly draw the symbol of Raynor on each of their foreheads. Trying his best not to disturb their sleep.

Albert watches the blocked crack when he hears sounds coming from that area, but doesn't otherwise interact with any of the sounds. As long as they're out there, and we're in here, we'll be alright. He's quite tired still from the long, eventful day. Not as much physically as mentally. Feeling sorry for myself isn't going to help us through the night. He tries to stay awake for as long as possible, sitting down near the door to be able to hear any signs of danger.

He wakes up and looks around quickly, afraid something might have happened. No, it's alright. I just nodded off for a minute there. That's not good. He gets up and walks towards the captain, softly tapping her shoulder. "Sorry to wake you, captain, but I feel like I'll doze off if I keep watch any longer. Could you take over?" He whispers, hoping not to wake the others.

Rook was not reassured by Albert's comments about goblin hands; he'd dealt with the worst that the streets could throw at him, but those were human evils at least. He'd never encountered any sort of monstrous beastie before, and he was hoping that'd still be the case here. Still, he figured, that hadn't cut his throat while he slept thus far, maybe he could risk getting through the night. Ultimately his exhaustion was the deciding factor, the long march that day had simply taken too much out of him.

As he crawled to his feet the next morning, he started second guessing his decision. It was broad daylight now, but seeing those bones laid out around them was creepier than anything that occurred during the night. This was temple induced madness, had to be. One of the others had to have done it, and since the other two were still sleeping, that left one likely culprit.

His hand drifted toward the blade in his sash, though he did not draw it. He nudged the others awake with his foot, and called out softly to the captain as stood looking at the symbol on the wall. "Er... good morrow to you, Captain. Are you... uh... feeling well? ...No events during the night you might wish to mention? Perhaps a new hobby you've taken up...?"

Albert nods to Rook when he wakes him. He gathers up his belongings and walks towards the crack in the wall. With the light coming from the main hall it's easier to see it now. He pries the wedged rock out of the crevice and peers into the hole. Nothing but darkness there. But there was something on the other side of that wall! I has to have a secret space. Maybe there's another door in the main hall that leads to the other side of this.

"By all that's holy, what happened here?" He says as he sees the bones laid out across the floor. Thinking back to his guard duty he remembers all the noises of that night. That must have been what I was hearing. Who would do this and why? When he arrives at the spot where Rook and the captain are standing he asks "Rook, do you see any footprints in the bone dust? Maybe it'll give us a clue to what we're dealing with."

He looks around at all the bones trying to figure out a pattern or something that sticks out in all of this. There has to be some kind of clue somewhere in this mess. he thinks as he walks towards a human-like pile of bones. He kneels there and looks for any kind of mark or symbol. He sighs. I'm going to need more help here, Raynor.

Albert takes some time to look at the different bone groupings. He studies the way they are laid out first, then looks at the bones more closely. You can hear him thinking aloud while he looks around "Hmmm, this one seems to have the same number of bones. Could it have something to do with the belongings we took from the big pile?"

"AAH!" Albert can't help but yell when his fears come true. He stands up and kicks the now human-shaped pile at his feet, trying to scatter this pile and perhaps a few of the others further down. "The bones are moving, guys! Watch out!" He looks back and finds Asha at the back of the room. "Watch my back." he says as he positions himself in front of her, knowing she'll have a hard time dealing with the bones she seems to be deathly afraid of. Then he grabs his broomstick and waits for the inevitable.