Off the Beaten Track

Looks like the place is deserted. Albert thinks as he makes his way cautiously into the bandit camp. They probably headed out to raid some unfortunate caravan.
A faint whiff of smoke creeps into his nose as he gets closer. Hmm... Could be a campfire. Best not to linger. I'll find my stuff and head out before anyone notices me. he concludes while heading into the nearest tent that looks like it could contain supplies.

"Now, if I were a bandit... Where would I keep the mugs and such?" he mutters to himself while searching the tent, trying his best not to cough too loudly as dust flies up from the things he touches. Damn these lungs, they'll be the death of me yet.
Alas... no luck here."They're probably using them for their dinner. Damn it... Those mugs aren't made to hold stew. They'll be ruined!" He might have to head towards that campfire after all.

Rook shifts irritably, rubbing his arms and legs against the chill dusk. "If it's just a single old man, why are we still hiding in the brush? We can have this same discussion circled around a warm fire." Without another word he crept forward to the edge of the clearing, then stepped jauntily forth, walking towards the campfire without a care in the world. He kept his hand on the blade in his belt, but made no threatening gestures. "Good evening to you, greybeard. There's a lovely smell coming off that stewpot of yours; perhaps you'd be willing to share with a cold and weary traveler?"

Albert sneakily tries to makes his way over to the campfire, poking his head into a few more tents along the way just in case. He stops when he hears voices coming from up ahead. Darn, I was hoping to get out of here without seeing anybody. He creeps his way around the back of a couple of crates trying to get a view of who he's dealing with here and spots a couple of figures around the campfire. Hard to tell who they are from over here.

A cloud of smoke drifts its way to where Albert is standing as he's trying to figure out whether those are bandits he's met before or not, triggering a coughing fit. He ducks behind the crates but that's probably too late. Crap! they've surely heard me. Now what do I do? Running will be tough while I'm still coughing.

Finally recovered from his coughing fit, Albert takes the chance to peek over one of the crates at the campfire. Oh good, looks like they haven't spotted me yet, I guess I'll..."Auw.. What the?!?" He reels as something just clawed at his hair. Turning his head to find out what hit him, he sees a bird-like shape darting back up into the air. Is that a falcon? Why is it attacking me? Well this couldn't have been timed any better... he remarks sarcastically in his head.

Before realizing it, the bird is back for a second fly-by, knocking Albert onto his behind, out of the cover of the crates "Oof". Covering his head and trying to stay low, he crawls towards the figures at the campfire. "HELP! HELP! I'm being attacked!"

Those witnessing this can see a middle-aged man, with brown hair and a quite well kept beard, crawling towards them. He's wearing a light brown cloak that has obviously seen better days. A grey cloth backpack moves from side to side as he makes his way forward, the movement slightly restricted by a broomstick that's been stuck between the straps of the pack in a diagonal manner.

"Right..." Rook paused uncomfortably, trying to figure out how to deal with this addle-brained old man. And why does he sound familiar...? He shrugged and continued up to the campfire.

"You can rest your worries on that front, greybeard. I've met the rest of your camp already, and they'll not be back. You are right about them not being friendly, but my troops managed to rout them without too much trouble. There might be a few stragglers, here or there I suppose, but I brought along a few henchmen just in case that sort of unpleasantness popped up. They'll be along eventually, I suppose."

He stood carefully, waiting to see the old man's reaction. He was barmy, as far as Rook could tell. Best see how he reacted to the disappearance of the rest of his band.

At that moment, he heard the cry behind him, and spun around to see a man struggling with a bird; no, not any bird, the rich girl's falcon. And that wasn't just any man either, but "Hells, I know you! You're Old Albert the barkeep, right? And now a bandit?"

What strange confluence of events was this?

"Watch who you're calling old there, sonny!" Albert hoists himself up from the ground as if making a statement, his eyes fixed on the falcon, ready to dodge another swoop. Between the buttoned opening of his cloak a glimpse of blue. His clothes underneath the cloak appear to be of better quality.

He takes a second to look at the person who seems to know his name. "By the gods! Rook! What brings you here?" He walks forwards to give Rook a firm handshake. "I haven't seen you in a while. How have you b... MY MUGS!" He shouts with excitement as he spots 2 wooden mugs with a symbol of an antler on the side near the campfire and hurries to pick them up. Forgetting all about the bird and Rook he spits in one of them and cleans it out with the inside of his cloak, revealing more of this barkeep's attire.

Rook is confused by the barkeep's appearance but stands ready to shake his hand, when the other suddenly runs off in a crazed fashion towards some wooden mugs. Taken aback by this, Rook actually backpedals from the fire a bit. "Be careful, my friends," he calls to his companions still hiding in the bushes, "There is something strange going on here! Both of these men are touched in the head! I think there may be a curse upon this place!'

Albert turns back towards Rook, mug still in his hand. "Oh, right. Terribly sorry about that, you must think I've lost my mind." He takes a few steps closer to Rook, presenting the item he just picked up. "You see, these bandits had stolen some of the mugs from my bar. I came here hoping to find them because it's one of the few things from the bar I have left." The smile he had gotten when seeing a familiar face, and the mugs quickly fades and turns into a solemn gloom as Albert remembers what happened not too long ago.

He forces a smile back onto his face, trying his best to shake this sadness in his heart. "So, don't worry, I've not gone mad." Yet. he thinks to himself after speaking those words.

Albert finally takes the time to look around, seemingly noticing the others for the first time. "Did I.. interrupt something?" He says hesitantly while eyeing the different characters near the campfire.

Rook gave Albert a uncertain glance. "You're not mad, you say? You sought out this bandits' encampment, alone and armed with a broom, and you're not mad? That's your claim?" Other than that, the man seemed stable enough though, and not dangerous, at least at the moment.

He brightened when he say Meht approach. Finally, some back up. "...and it seems the woodsman is the first one to have the sense to come in out of the woods. Albert, this stout fellow is my fellow guard and close companion Meht. Meht, this man who has the unfortunate luck to be holding two tankards, without a drop of drink in either, is Albert the Barkeep, owner of... wait, did you say 'few things you had left'? What happened to your tavern?"

Albert nods amicably towards Meht then looks back at Rook and sighs heavily. "Yes, sadly, the bar is no more than a pile of rubble right now. it happened about a fortnight ago. I was out to get a shipment of bread from the docks and when I came back the bar was on fire. It was already partly collapsed by that point."
Those close enough to Albert can see his eyes get teary as he recalls that day.

"I'm not sure exactly who or what did it. If you ask me it was probably those demonic things... Whatever they're called." At this point he looks up at the sky with a pondering look. "Maybe it's just Raynor, finally forcing me to get back to the temple and finish my training. If you're looking for 'a sign' I guess there's no better one than your house literally being on fire!" he ends the sentence with a smirk full of irony."And yes, I came here basically unarmed. Some of these bandits were regulars, they owed me a favor and as I'm down on my luck right now, I was hoping they'd help me out. But all they did was laugh at me. I guess it was foolish of me to think otherwise. I was pretty sure however they had stolen some of my stuff before, so I waited for them to leave and came to get it myself."

"So tell me, what brings you to this camp? Are you making the province a safer place?" After uttering those words, Albert loudly clears his throat and spits some flehm on the ground.

"Ah, good day, Captain..." Albert racks his brain but can't find the captain's name. ".. of the guard. Nice to see you again. Say, you wouldn't happen to need some more men on duty, would you? Things haven't been going very well for me and I'm in dire need of some money." I might as well give it a shot... "I can take care of your wounded!" He adds hurriedly when he notices the captain is actually thinking it through.

Hmm, that kid looks familiar. Could it be...? Hmmm.. Perhaps, perhaps.. He smiles warmly at Asha, then remembers that he's holding those mugs and puts them away in his backpack.

Albert explains the situation to the captain as he did to Rook, hoping that will clear everything up. He also adds "By any chance, have you heard any information about the destruction of my bar? Could it have been those things? Did someone get arrested for arson recently? Anything at all."

"Well maybe if they had helped me out, I could have saved that man..." Albert says bitterly, regretting those words instantly as they echo back into his ears. He adds "My apologies, that was... heartless of me." and sighs audibly, slumping his shoulders. "It's been a rough couple of days."

At this, Albert picks up a small flask of cooking oil near the fire and shuffles over towards Cook. He puts a hand on his shoulder and speaks solemnly.
"Perhaps I can give him some sort of funeral rite? I'm no expert but I've seen it being done before. Raynor will hear my call and guide the man's soul to where it needs to be." At least, I hope he will. Maybe it's been too long. Can I still count on Raynor's blessing?

Without really waiting for an answer from Cook, Albert ducks into the tent. This poor man. He thinks when seeing the body. From the looks of it he had no chance without serious medical help. He puts some of the cooking oil on his thumb and starts to say a prayer while drawing a circle with a triangle in it ((Raynor's symbol)) on the bandit's forehead.
While doing this, he takes the time to examine the wounds more closely. What threat was Meht talking about? Was this more than just a wound from a bear attack?

Albert touches Jondur's wounds, trying to make an educated guess on the severity of them. He asks Cook "How long ago did this bear attack happen?". Is it normal for wounds to get bad in that time span? Is there more at play here than natural infection?

"Raynor, please hear my prayers and guide this lost soul to the heavenly realms of battle. Though he may not have perished in combat and we have not the means for a pyre, he was a fighter at heart and has received his last rites. Lend me your divine vision to see these wounds, so that I can protect those that would sustain them in the future." Albert is speaking in a low voice with his head bowed over the body. He absently puts the rest of the cooking oil in his pocket.

After all this Albert returns to the group, once again with a saddened expression on his face. "I have done what I can" he tells Cook as he sits down near the fire and coughs loudly a few times.

Feeling the attention of Raynor once again, Albert is both overjoyed and fearful at the same time. Stuttering in his prayer as it overwhelms him. Overjoyed that Raynor still acknowledges him even after all this time, yet he knows that he will have to prove himself worthy by conquest. Probably even more so than ever before. Thus fearful of the consequences, might he fail.
He still blesses me with his presence. I'll have to work harder to call upon his knowledge. But what does he mean with 'In due time'? Is this a threat? A warning? A destiny? Maybe it has something to do with this temple I keep hearing about.

When the captain brings up the subject of the temple again, Albert is eager to join the conversation. "Say, Captain.. What is this temple you speak of? I suspect that Raynor may have brought me here for a reason. Perhaps our paths were destined to cross in this bandit camp."

Rook has been standing back, watching and listening to see what might be revealed, but this was too much for him. "Wait a minute, Captain. We came up here following some bandit map. Back in camp, you said that there was nothing to worry about, that this temple wasn't anything of note. But I saw your face when you saw that tattoo, and since we got here there's been this strange fog, and you've suddenly become intensely concerned with this temple. If you know something, even if it is rumors and stories, you have to tell us."

He points at the Cook sitting in front of the campfire. "As for you, I just figured out where I've seen you before, though it's been a hand of years since then, but back then you were in a Templar's cage, weren't you? The ones they put for witches and warlocks and whatnot. We used to dare each other to sneak up there and poke him, see if he was still alive, sometimes we snuck him bread or wine. You just did that gesture that he used to do, and that's what made me see it. I think you've more sense it than you let on, old man - let's hear your tale."

Albert eyes the captain suspiciously for a moment. Rook has a good point. There's something fishy going on. And what's the deal with this strange old cook? Best keep my wits about me. he thinks to himself. But for now it's probably a good idea to stay on good terms with the captain.

"Right. Well we probably shouldn't head out now. We're already losing sunlight. I suppose we can rest here for the night and head out in the morning. What do you propose we do, captain?" Albert watches the captain's reaction to him saying this.

"Ah yes, you're probably right." Albert concedes. When the time comes to leave the bandit camp, he heaves his backpack onto his shoulders once again, ties his shoe laces firmly and waits for the captain to lead the way.

"It's your call, Captain." Rook shrugged. "Lead the way, we'll be right behind you."

Albert is a bit puzzled. He would think that a captain knows how to navigate at dusk, heck probably even in moonlight. However he knows better than to go pointing that out right now. At this point he'll follow quietly. She probably just made a simple mistake.

Albert turns to the captain, clearly as confused as she is. "I've only been here once before, earlier today. Then I hid behind those bushes over there until the bandits left their camp." He points towards a few bushes that the group recently passed a few times. "I don't know what's going on."

---

When he hears her wondering about how to persuade Cook he replies "Well, I've found that just asking is often a good way to start." and makes his way over to Cook with a warm smile on his face "Say friend, I seem to be a bit lost, do you happen to know the way out of this fog?" he says quite slowly as he's not sure just how much sense is left in the old man's head. "Have a map, maybe?"

Albert is very anxious in this thick fog and the creeping darkness, which is getting worse by the minute. On a day like this he'd normally be sitting indoors by the hearth. This is taking him way out of his comfort zone. He sticks close to Rook for protection as well as to remind his brain that he's not alone here.

At some point he hears a strange sudden noise to his left and his heart skips several beats, but nobody else seems to have heard it. "Did any of you hear that just now? From our left? A-a-are you sure this is the right way...?" Everyone can hear the concern in his voice. He grabs his broomstick from behind his back and starts to use it as a guide for the 'road' ahead, comforted by the fact that he at least has something to defend himself if need be. His trusty broom wouldn't let him down My trusty broom won't let me down! he keeps telling himself, just to feel a bit better.

As he nears the temple, even before knowing he's almost there, the feelings of fear slowly start to fade. When his eyes fall upon the large structure it turns into something else. A desire to explore... no, it's more than that... a desire to connect with this place. If a man was somehow able to become friends with place, that would be it. This must be what Raynor wanted me to find. Why did I fear his call? He shakes his head as if wanting to snap out of these weird mood swings. Don't get too comfortable... We don't know what's to be found inside. He waits to see what Cook and the captain will do next.

Albert looks in the direction of Cook's finger, visibly startled by the sudden scream, and leans sideways to see what's behind the captain. Not even considering that cook could be pointing to the captain herself. "Who? Where? What do you see?"

"Hells below!" Rook swears, slapping his hand over the mouth of the old man. He glanced over at the Captain, and hissed urgently to her. "We have to do something about him; his mind is broken, he's too mad to be trusted loose. We should truss him up and gag him, or we'll have this addle brained cove calling up the devils themselves with that screeching. That's if he don't just decide to knife us first when we ain't looking."

"Watch out there, Rook. He might bite you!" Albert says, half joking half serious. He relaxes a bit again after being shaken up by that scream.
"I agree, we can't leave him here, who knows how much attention he'll draw to himself standing here alone."

"Speaking of going into the temple... has anyone seen a door? This just looks like a blank wall to me." he says, walking closer and looking around for a way in. "Rook, can you bring him closer? He seemed to know the way so far."

Rook stayed in place and continued to struggle with the old man; he had a wiry strength despite his age. He winced when Albert mentioned biting; he hadn't considered it, and he could only hope that Albert hadn't just sparked that idea in the madman's head. "Get a hold of yourself, man!" he hissed in the old man's ear. "Be silent! I'm not joking about gagging you continue that wailing! Are you ready to be sensible? Nod once if you understand."

Albert nears the wall.

As Albert ponders about the annoyingly vague ways of the gods he realizes Fire might actually help here. He looks back at the group and yells, loud enough to cross the distance, but hopefully not too loud to draw unwanted attention. "Does anyone have a torch? I think we might need it to find a way in."

"OK... but I mean it." Rook grumbles as he eventually takes his hand off the old man's mouth, ready to clamp down again if the squawking resumes. After a few moments of blessed silence, he finally turns the old man loose. "I'm watching you, greybeard."

He looked up as Albert called for torches. "Yeah, I've got a few... wait, did you seriously come out here with nothing more than that broom?"

Rook frowned a bit as he pulled a torch out his satchel, and sparked it with flint and steel. Roughhousing? It was your face that he was screaming at... he thought bitterly. The captain kept being both insistent on continuing forward, and while also claiming to know nothing of what awaited them, and in that moment he decided he wouldn't be be caught as a sap in whatever her ploy might.

"Here you are, captain." He thrust the torch into her hands. "Probably best for you to carry it, so you can spot whatever you are looking for." As she proceeded forward, he hung back a bit before following. If trouble did start, let it focus on her; he wanted to be able to slip into the shadows.

Albert holds out his hand to accept the torch when offered. "Ah, perfect. Now let's see if there's a way in." He gets closer to the wall hoping that, if there *is* a way in, Raynor will guide him to it. That's pretty much the reason why I'm here, isn't it?

"I only bring the things I expect to need, by the way, Rook." Albert says as Rook gets closer, not shifting his attention from the wall he's inspecting. "I wasn't exactly planning on a late night stroll through the fog. Normally I'd be cozy by a campfire by now." There's a hint of annoyance to be found in his voice but he ends his sentence with a short chuckle to not start any arguments. It's already turning out to be a long day, no need to make it worse.

Let's just get inside this temple and then maybe we'll find a nice place to rest for the night.
"Does anyone see any markings or levers or anything?"

"Aaaah!"Albert is caught off guard by the statue and takes a few steps back before realizing there is no danger there. "By the gods, that startled me." He continues along the wall until the entrance is in sight, looking back every now and then to see if the others aren't wandering off.
Looks like that cook has decided to come quietly now. What a strange fellow.

"I think there's a way in here, captain." He says, pointing towards the entrance. Albert waits for the others to catch up and subtly (or at least trying to be) lets them take the lead. Probably best if I'm not the first one to go in, it might be a dangerous place

Albert quickly pulls the torch away from Cook. I knew he was going to try something. What's going on with this guy? "Oh you want the torch now huh? Well you could have asked!" he turns around to give Cook an earful but sees that he's already continuing on to the entrance without the torch now. He blinks in disbelief.

At that point Asha strides past him, just about in range to strike Cook. For a split second it crosses Albert's mind to just let her do it, but even before he's decided on his action in is own head, his arm reaches out to grab hold of Asha's coat and stop her from getting that hit off. Was that reflex? Or is something messing with my head? He shakes away the thought.

"Asha, please, calm down. We might still need that old fruitcake"

I warned you all... ran through Rook's head as the old man inevitably attacked the others in the courtyard, but he didn't say a word. He was sure now that what he had thought earlier was true; this place was cursed, and whatever this curse was had scrambled the last bits of the old wizard's brains in the time he'd been living here. He was just the worst case, of course; Everyone else was acting odd as well. Everyone but himself, obviously.

He hung back near the wall and watched the scuffle ensue. If the captain could turn a blind eye when it suited her, he felt no need to risk his own skin. In the meantime, he stayed alert for any trouble that might be drawn by the noise. In the flickering torchlight and glimmers of moonlight, he mapped out the path he'd use to climb the ivy and stonework if trouble did rear up.

Albert lets go of Asha when she snaps out of her rage. "Yes, I know. He's getting on my nerves too." he says while staring at Cook's back, his eyebrows in a frown. "Let's try to not let it get to us. We should keep a close eye on him, though."

"I think you dropped this, Asha." Albert picks up the club and inspects it by the torchlight.

"Uhm... I don't know. I just know that you had it in your hand." Albert drops it and wipes his hand on his cloak. Yuck, who knows where that's been. "You might have found a remnant of an old civilization." He says jokingly, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. "I guess you're a historian explorer now." He pats Asha on the shoulder "Come on, let's get back to the captain."

Rook follows after Albert and Asha, still trailing a few steps behind, but staying near the edge of the torchlight. He stares down at the bone club as he makes sure to step gingerly over it. "You seriously have no memory of picking it up? Because I did not see you reach for it either." He says to her in a low tone, unwilling for his voice to carry far. "There's something dark about this place, right? You both feel it as well? Folk are acting strange, and the old man is definitely touched. I'm not generally one for religion myself, but if either you know any sort of prayers that might be able to offset a curse, now might be the time to hear it."

"I agree, Rook. Raynor spoke to me earlier with a warning. Or was it a premonition...?" Albert walks with the others to where the captain is while talking. "If only the gods didn't speak in riddles. Maybe I'm just rusty after all those years, hell I was surprised to hear anything at all."

He hands Asha the torch mid walk and grabs a little trinket from one of his pockets. Hard to see what it is in the flickering light, but when Albert starts praying it's easy to assume he's holding some prayer beads. "I'll say a few prayers, Rook, but I can't promise it'll be any help." His prayers sound like a low hum as he mumbles the words that were drilled into his brain so deep that he couldn't even forget them if he wanted to.

"Raynor seems a little uneasy about this place, guys. There's something in there that needs to be dealt with." Albert says to the others when they meet up with the captain again. "This is not a temple as we know them in the city. Let's stick together once we're inside." He looks around seeing if everyone is accounted for. "Where's the old man?" This doesn't bode well... We need to find him before whatever is inside this temple does. I pray you're not sending me to my doom, Raynor!

"Yeah, well, Raynor's not the only one having bad feelings here..." Rook mutters, staring into the dark doorway. "Any chance Raynor's sending you messages about a big pile of coin as well?" Then the crash and thunk sounds echo from inside, bringing focus back to Albert's concern about the old man. "...um... speaking of sticking together... You go first."

"No message about treasure, I'm afraid. But I don't doubt it's in our best interest to cleanse this place." Albert also hears the noise from inside. "Oh crap, did he go in by himself?" He runs to the entrance and peers inside the hole Cook made in the vines, using the torch to see. "Over here!" he calls back to the others.

Albert kneels near Cook's body. "Gods... what a way to go." Even though he didn't really know Cook at all, a sadness descends onto Albert and he takes a moment to say a prayer for another fallen soul. He throws the torch into the pit towards the wooden spikes, giving Cook a makeshift funeral pyre.

Afterwards he gets up and looks around. "Where are we? Who is this temple for?" He wonders aloud as he walks around, checking the walls for any signs of a deity. Every now and then looking at the floor to hopefully spot a trap before it's too late.

As his eyes adjust to the darkness deeper down the hallway, Albert discovers a symbol on one of the walls. It looks like the head of a wolf with goat's horns. "Has anyone seen this before? It's not any deity that I know of, at least." The symbol isn't something that was set into the wall while it was being built, but rather something that was painted on the wall afterwards. Hmmm.. Could have been vandals, a cult maybe? The symbol has an ominous feel to it. "I guess it could be an old deity though, but would it be an evil one or a good one?"

"Judging by what I've gathered from my prayers, it's probably not a good symbol." He says to no one in particular. Albert seems to talk aloud when he's pondering. "At least it's not drawn in blood, I guess. Ha!" He makes himself chuckle, possibly from unease.

He turns to the light where he can see Rook and the captain. "What do you make of this?"

At this point Albert realizes that he doesn't even know the first thing about cleansing a temple. How has he been tasked with doing this? What does he even need to make it happen? A simple prayer probably won't do, but that's pretty much all he's been taught to do. He sits down, the sudden weight of this task finally hitting him. "What does he expect me to do? I didn't ask for this. Why me? Why not some experienced priest? I don't even know how to cleanse water, let alone an evil presence!" He starts to shiver and pulls his cloak tighter around him.

"No idea. I've heard tell of a wolf in sheep's clothing, but never a wolf in goat's horns... It's not] one of the symbols in that bandit's tattoo. Whether that means anything for us, good, bad or indifferent, I don't know." He begins to examine the stonework of the hallway, wondering whether other traps might be concealed therein.

He pauses when he hears Albert collapse behind him. "It can't be as bad as all that, my friend. You ran a bar after all, you must have some experience in cleansing things... think of this merely as handling a different type of spirit." He pauses for a moment. "You did cleanse your tankards, right...?"

At that, he brightened. "Ah, the tankards! There's your answer." He smiled at the older man. "You attacked a bandits' camp alone, to reclaim some mugs, all for sentimental purposes. If I were a high and mighty god, peering down at the mortals below, that's who I'd choose as my hand in the dark corners."

He struck a pose with his arms folded across his chest, and stared down with an expression as if he were a judgmental grumpy old deity. "Not an old priest but a bold priest, that's what this situation calls for!" he intoned with mock solemnity.

Albert looks up at Rook, his kind words giving Albert new strength and resolve. He reaches his arm out in a gesture to ask Rook to help him back up on his feet. When Rook takes his forearm, he does the same and they hoist Albert back up together. "Thanks, Rook. I needed that."

He takes a moment to calm down and catch his breath after his moment of panic and watches Rook inspect the wall. "You know, you basically called me an idiot for walking into a bandit camp with just a broomstick earlier." He can't help but laugh at that. "You were right about that too!"

"I know there's the goddess Larinia, I believe she's the god of the moon. Her symbol is a wolf, but it doesn't really look like this one and it definitely doesn't have horns. Could it have something to do with her?" He looks around "Maybe we need some more light to get a better look at this place" he says as he inspects the walls and ceiling, looking for oil lamps or sconces. "There has to be some kind of lighting that they used here in the past." that last sentence being somewhere in between a statement and a question. "Captain, can you light some sconces if you see any over there?"

Albert peers around the room to see what has appeared with the flickering light of the sconces. He grabs his broomstick and uses it as a guided, as if he were a blind man trying to find his way, in hopes that any trap along the way will be sprung by the stick instead of his legs. He shuffles towards the center of the temple to what looks like a pile of branches.

"Maybe we can light this bonfire. That'll gi..." He stops abruptly when he notices he's made the same mistake as with Asha's club. "These aren't branches, guys. It's a pile of bones! Who would do such a thing?" He prods the pile with his broom handle. A part of it collapses, sending several bones clattering on the floor. A few break or crumble into dust with the impact.

"Woops, sorry about that. It was less sturdy than it looked." He says as he picks one of them up to inspect. "I think getting rid of these is a good start to cleansing this place." Albert puts his stick away and starts to lug some bones to the entrance.

Rook finds a few more trapped tiles; hinged to allow a leg to fall through and get trapped under the stone. The unfortunate victim would be trapped there unless they had someone to help them lift it off. They are spottable, easily avoided but hard to disable. He points out two more as they travel down the corridor.

As they reach the pile of bones, Rook felt a mix of emotions wash over him. "Obviously not the bandits dumping corpses here... something that has no regard for profit. At least they seem to be a tidy sort. Well, at least this won't be a wasted trip." He carefully approached the pile, kneeling looking for some choices pieces of jewelry that would be worthwhile to snatch; he wasn't interested in digging through those old bones for every single coin, but there had to be some good clink somewhere in this pile.

Albert returns to the bone pile after dumping some of them outside. On his way he passes by Asha and gives her a smile. "They're just bones, dear. Whatever part of them was alive, it's long gone."

He sighs when he reaches Rook, who is kneeling by the bones. "This is going to take forever and I'm already tired." He turns towards the captain "I know it's not ideal in the slightest, but maybe we should just find a smaller room and have a few hours of sleep. Maybe we can bar the door to keep unwanted guests out. Although it looks like no animals bother coming here, judging from these bones. It seems nobody has been here for years. What do you think?"

He notices Rook checking the bone dust for valuables and spots a few old looking coins. Bending over he spend a few minutes picking them out of the pile. "Did you need these?" He asks Rook kindly. "They look old. Older than the ones we use these days anyway. Wonder if they're still worth anything. Well, these fellows won't be needing them anymore, either way." He pockets some coins that Rook doesn't seem to be interested in.

"So, if this is a temple. There's bound to be an altar." Albert looks up and spots a raised part of the room that could very well be an altar. "Maybe there are some clues to be found over there. Did you check that part of the room for traps, Rook?" Albert starts to walk towards it. Carefully unless Rook confirms there to be no traps ahead.

Albert makes his way to the raised part of the room. The altar he expected there to be is indeed present. However it's not in a good state. The giant stone slab has been knocked over onto its side. A single large crack separates the 2 parts of it. "What a shame, this was once a great altar, I'm sure." I hope whatever made it topple over isn't still lurking nearby.

After checking the altar from a few angles, Albert concludes there's nothing very interesting about it. Or maybe it's just too dark to see it clearly. Or maybe I'm just too tired He thinks when he notices a headache springing up behind his eyes.

Albert sits on the floor and props himself up against a corner of the vestuary. He knows he should probably offer to take watch but decides to only add his name to the list if somebody else mentions it. I'm sure one of the others knows what to do in a situation like this. I'll follow their lead. He feels quite safe knowing someone with experience is around to take care of these kind of things.

When everything, or nothing, is discussed and handled, he tries to use his backpack as a makeshift pillow. It's not the most comfortable position, but he's beat. He says a quick prayer, as he usually does, closes his eyes and is snoring soon after.

"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.

"Hells below! I knew there was a curse on this place, I knew it!" Rook swore as his eyes roamed over the scores of skeletons arranged around them. Some sort of black sorcery was causing them to twitch even now. "Up!" he shouted, dashing towards the vines and beginning to climb. "We need to get above them, where they can't surround us!"

Albert looks over at Rook. He's right, we need to get somewhere safe and come up with a plan. But he notices a few twitching piles of bones on the way to the entrance of the temple. "Let me try and clear a path." He says urgently as he walks carefully towards one of them.

He takes a deep breath and raises his broomstick, then lets it come down with as much force as he can muster. As the weapon hurtles towards the ground Albert yells "In Raynor's name, I banish you!"

"Go on ahead. I'll keep them at bay." Albert stands guard with his back to the entrance while the others escape. The display of Raynor's power just now has given him both an adrenaline and an ego boost. I could handle the rest of them too, if need be, right? At least that's what he feels like right now. "Those things will think twice before trying anything, after they've seen what I just did to their buddies!"

Rook doesn't see Albert's miracle, having already taken off in a dash towards the vines and higher ground. All that he hears is indistinct shouting. He had no intention of fighting dead men, and even less of facing whatever dark witchery could call something like them up. He hoped the others were smart enough to follow him, but at the moment he was more concerned with his bones not ending up in that pile.

Albert backs away towards the entrance when he knows the others are already there and doesn't argue with the captain when she tells him to climb up first. He slides his broomstick onto his back and grabs a handful of vines. With this rush of adrenaline running through his veins it feels like he's walking ... or climbing ... on clouds.

Even though he feels invincible right now, Rook can tell Albert is having a rough time climbing. He'll make it, but he's definitely not experienced with vertical movement. As he climbs up, Albert is unfazed by the gargoyle and even tries to use it as a hand hold.

Albert helps Asha and the captain up onto the flat surface above the entrance. He nods to Asha "They're not following us? That's good news!" He looks around "Is anyone hurt?"

"Listen, guys." he says when they've calmed down from the tense situation just now. "I don't know about you all, but I'm planning on going back in there." You can see the determination on his face as he talks. The tip of the broom handle sticking up above his head is still slightly glowing from the radiant energy it had a few moments before. "I had a dream last night about something that the temple may have answers to. Besides that, I believe Raynor has tasked me with getting rid of this evil presence. How scary that may be." He looks at Asha when he continues "Now, I don't expect any of you to follow me. Hell, you barely even know me, but I could sure use your help! In any way you can give it."

"Asha, I'm sure these things will be frightened of your kind personality. What do you say?"

He then turns to the captain "Captain, I'm sure your tactical knowledge would come in handy. Will you lead us into battle?"

Finally, he holds out his hand to Rook. "Rook, can I count on your fighting prowess and dexterity? I'll get you free drinks for life in my next bar!" He winks.

Albert smiles at Asha when she confirms his view on her personality.

"I don't know if the dream was real, Captain" He says when she answers him. "But I'd like to find out." He notices something about the way she asked that and continues "Why do you ask?"

"I'm scared too. But I feel that Raynor is with us and he will lend a hand if we ask for it. He did so just now when I turned the bones between me and the entrance to dust. I take that as a good sign."

Rook looks a little cross-eyed at Albert's broomstick, still enveloped by the remains of divine power. "...I dreamt as well. I saw a girl waiting for me, a girl I... knew. She is dead and gone though, I know this." He gives a short bark of laughter. "Hell's below, I might still be dreaming right now! That would explain how you have god's own broomstick, there."

He looks at the older man's outstretched hand and sucks in a breath between his teeth, hesitating. "I can be quick with a blade as necessary, my friend. I take no joy in it, but I can bleed a man if I must. But this? Cursed magic? Restless bones that with no blood to draw? There is no god watching over to keep me safe..."

He runs his hand through his hair, unnerved by Albert's resolve. There was something else to consider; as he dashed to escape, he'd seen the glitter of gold, actual gold, from where the bones had been moved. It would have been folly then to try to grab it, it would have done him no more good than it had done those who laid atop it. But if the four of them were truly to be committed to this action of folly...

"Ugh... I must be a fool. I will help you, but let us at least proceed with craft, if not wisdom. There is more than one way in or out. This temple is abandoned, at least by the living; surely the must be some wear on the architecture, another opening, or maybe a window. Let us stay on the roof and move quietly until we locate this alternate ingress. At least then we might not march directly into the clutches of that dead host below. Perhaps we can find stones to drop on them from above; a brick might work better than a knife in this case."

Albert follows Rook across the roof, stopping every now and then to check for cracks or loose stones. It's too hard for Albert to see inside. There's not enough light there. Maybe if we could fit a torch through one of the cracks we'd get an idea. But then again, we wouldn't fit through anyway.

The overgrown bricks are difficult to walk on. Most of them seem to be covered in moss. There inside of the temple has gone quiet, as far as he can tell. Although at one point he could hear the crumbling of stones below him when he had to to a small jump to keep his balance on the slippery roof.

As he makes his way across, Albert slips on a rock and tumbles backwards. Luckily he manages to fall onto a bit of soft moss, cushioning his fall. "What's that up there?" He spots something now that he's looking up and points up towards the east, or at least what he believes to be the east. Through the fog there's a vague outline of darkness. It's not visible at eye height, but clearly shows like a shadow in the fog when looking up at it. "Looks like it could be a tower. That might be worth checking out."

Rook scrambled over the tiles alongside Albert, though with a bit more success. He supposed that traversing old rooftops was new to the bartender, but it was second nature to him. Despite the morning sun, there was a fog hanging over the area that limited sight. He helped hoist the other to his feet as he fell. "The mist is making everything slick. Don't step on the vines, you've got to use them; bring your foot down softly on the tile next to the vine, listen if it makes any noise like cracking or groaning, then hook your foot under the vine before you move on to the next step. It'll give you something to pull against if you slip."

He focused when he sees the tall structure that Albert pointed out. "Hmm... could be a bell tower, or a chimney; I could see a temple needing one if they burnt many offerings. Hells, if this fog is how every morn is here, it could have even been a lighthouse to lead the faithful to worship. Whatever it is, it's worth a look." He scrambles forward towards it, checking his footsteps along the way.

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.

Albert looks at the space between the stairs and tries to look up to where the bell is. A glint of metal seems to be making a reflection every few seconds. "You said the bell was swinging but there's no sound and nobody making it swing, Rook?" He grabs hold of the rope that Dirk just secured to the wall, just in case "Mind if I use this for a second, Dirk?", and keeps a hold of it while he swings his brookstick through the empty space where he thought he just saw those tendrils. "I might be seeing things, but it looks like one of those black tendrils is right here."

Albert holds the rope and leans forwards, dangerously close to the edge.

"Wow!" Albert lets go of his staff to keep from tumbling into the void. It clatters to the floor down below. "Well fudge!" He yells. "Great... now that's somewhere at the bottom of these stairs." He looks down and shouts "That stick had better still be there when we come down, or there will be hell to pay!" at no-one in particular.

He steadies himself and turns to the others. "Did you see that? There's something there. It pulled the broomstick out of my hands and I'm pretty sure that's what's powering the bell." Albert may have been too preocupied to notice the short shift in mental tension.

"There something odd about that bell, did anyone feel that when he stuck the broomstick there? In any case, it's a good thing my rope held you up." What a queer place this is. . . Dirk stares at the bell, imagining the fantastic creatures that might've made it. He climbs up the stairs to get a closer look at the bell, being careful not to slip and fall. Once he gets close enough to the bell, he starts making a sketch of it in his notes. He examines it over as much as he can from where he is, looking for any lettering, markings, or decorative details that might hint at it's purpose.

Albert follows Dirk up the bell. "Yes, that rope saved my behind back there. Thank you!" He looks up at the odd almost sound-less bell, swinging from side to side. "What an ominous thing. Do you think we should break it so it stops swinging?" Albert lays a hand on the edge of the bell as it swings towards him. He closes his eyes and tries to connect with it on a spiritual level, if such a thing were to be possible.

Rook shakes the graverobbers hand after a slight moment. "It seems this valley seems to draw folk in from all over... Well, as Albert has said, the corpses here are a bit more lively than you are most likely used to. This whole place is cursed, and an army of dead bones stalk the ground floor below. We should keep our voices low."

He points up the stairs. "There's naught up there but a church bell. It's swinging wildly with no rope pulling on it, and no clapper to toll its chime, but it continues to swing without regard for the expectations of mortal bells. I didn't notice any dire threat from it though, but we should be careful, lest we draw the ire of some unquiet ghost." He squirms with indecision for a moment, before reluctantly saying "I suppose I should lead the way... The wood of the stairwell is old and rotten; any missteps could be a quick trip to the bottom..." He leads the way over to the stairs and begins heading down, checking the steps for hazards as he goes.

Dirk puts away his notes and stares at the swinging bell, almost hypnotized by the movement. "I'm gonna ring it." He takes his machete out and gives the bell a firm tap with the hilt.

Albert pulls his hand back and shivers. "This thing oozes with evil essence. I don't know what to make of it." He watches Dirk scribble away in his notebook.

When he notices Dirk trying to ring the bell he quickly covers his ears. Albert's been near a church bell before. At this distance, if the bell had had a clapper, they'd all be deaf by now.

Rook leans over and feels the broomstick; he'd expected it to be hot, given the glow from it, but it surprisingly felt like any broomstick. He picked it up; the barkeep had hauled it all the way out here, and his god had blessed it; he was sure to want it back. The deep pool attracted his curiosity for the moment. The stairs going down implied that it wasn't intentionally filled with water... there could be anything down there, really. He grinned to himself. Maybe one of the others could be talked into taking a swim.

He continued down to the door, examining the rusty hinges and lock. It was sure to try to screech if he opened it like this. He quietly knelt down at the keyhole, trying to look and listen through it - when the deep toll of a church bell sounded from above. He dropped his face in his palm. "Not just fools, but damned fools, all of them..." he muttered to himself. He stayed still, listening and waiting to see what might come of this new development.

Dirk doesn't think to cover his ears, he's too curious at what the sound will be. Instead he's shocked and intrigued by the strange loud noise. Fascinating! It's as if it collected all the sound around and projected it at once!

"By the gods, Dirk. Are you trying to make us all deaf?!?" Albert says in an angry voice, the bell still ringing in his ears. "I'm going to go check on Rook and get my broomstick back. Who knows what that sound may have woken up in this temple."

He tries to carefully descend the stairway in search for Rook. As he makes his way down, a strange feeling emanates from his backpack. A sort of buzzing noise. No time to stop for that now. I'll have to check it out later. Albert makes a mental note of it.

"Sorry guys, I didn't mean to ring it so loud." Dirk notices a strange humming noise, he finds it's coming from his machete. An eerie image of a horned wolf flashes in his mind. He feels the vibration slowly dissipate in his hand. Strange, that thing's never done that before. He got the machete from one of his grave robbing jobs, the person it belonged to was a priest of some sort, Dirk used to entertain himself with the thought that it was a holy weapon. "Hey Albert wait up, I'm coming with!" Dirk quickly but gingerly goes down the stairs to catch up to Albert.

Abert doesn't wait for Dirk, but it's not too difficult to catch up to him as he's being careful with every step. He does look behind him from time to time to see if Dirk, Asha and the captain are still following. When he looks back, it's obvious from Albert's face that he's not happy right now. Those who frequented his bar, however, know that this usually doesn't last long.

When he reaches the water Albert thanks Rook for finding his broomstick and looks around. "Did you find anything here, Rook?" Albert is specifically interested in the tether that seems to be attached to the bell and tries to find out where it's coming from. Is it going down into the water? He takes some time to investigate.

Albert looks at the water and checks for ripples. If there's something in there, it'll make some kind of ripple I'd just have to find the origin of it. It's quite hard to do without the torch being in his hand, but he tries to see once his eyes adjust to the light level down here. No use in trying to use his hearing right now... that bell will leave his ears ringing for a while. The reflection of the light on the water makes it a bit easier to spot possible ripples.

"Does anyone have a sword I could borrow?" He asks while still looking at the water. "I'd like to check if this dark tendril can be cut. I'm not exactly sure where it is, though. But it must be somewhere around here." He squints to see if that helps at all.
"Dirk, you have good observation skills, right? Do you see a kind of ethereal dark rope going up to the bell?" The walk down and focusing on the evil presence seems to have cooled Albert's temper down a bit.

After he sees the rope was used, Dirk goes back up and unties it, bringing it with him. After he rejoins everyone, he responds to Albert; "Nope, I haven't seen any sort of ethereal dark rope. You sure it wasn't my rope?" Dirk looks closely at the pool, trying to see if he can see any sign of a ethereal rope.

"Right there where you just swung.. I think.." Albert is confused by what he's seeing. "It was right in the middle, but I don't see it anymore now" He scratches his head and thinks it over. Could it have something to do with my broom?

After a minute of pondering he gives it one last shot to try and find the dark essence with his broom handle. This time he's ready to pull back if it tries anything funny.

Rook hands the barkeep back his broomstick without comment. For the graverobber, he has nothing but a scornful look and a sharp tongue. "Perhaps you'd like to hire a crier to bellow greetings to the monsters as well? A vanguard of trumpeters to announce you?"

He settles back in front of the door, and goes to work on it with his tools. He speaks to the others as he tries to work his way through the mechanism. "I heard it, Captain. Something within has responded to our challenge. Unfortunately, I think this is the only path to and from the bell tower, at least so far as I have seen. Unless one of does feel like a dip in that pool, that is..." he gave a wry chuckle as he said it.

"Did you see it too, captain? There's something there! I feel it, but your sword seems to go straight through." Albert is puzzled by all of it and unsure what to do next. "You know what? I'm going to give it a good whack and see if that's enough to break it. Any objections?" He looks around at the others.

"I'm all about giving things a good whack to find things out. I say go for it, can't be worse than tapping a bell a little bit like I did up there." Dirk takes out his machete and holds it firmly, ready to strike anything that comes out. "Just in case something foul emerges from that pool."

Albert holds his stick in both hands, ready to give that thing a good old whack."Uhm... I guess be ready for anything, really. I don't know what to expect either. Worst case, that bell is going to come tumbling down. But I sure hope not!" He looks around one last time. "Roald, are you ok over there?" Albert waits for confirmation and then continues. "Alright, here we go. Let's hope this is what Raynor wants me to do."

He draws the symbol of Raynor on his own forehead as a good luck charm then grabs his broom firmly again and swings hard towards the tether. Raynor, help me sever this evil tendril! He thinks just before the stick hits the 'rope'.

Rook was focused almost entirely on the lock mechanism. The rust was proving troublesome, and he was focusing more on speed than stealth now as he tried to scrape some of it away. It was more noise than he'd normally be comfortable making, but after the bell ringing and with all the talking going on behind him, he supposed that didn't matter as much any more. At this point he was more worried about being trapped against this door should something come down the stairs.

As far as that goes, why were they chattering away like gulls back there? He'd been trying to block them out, to focus on the task at hand, but as the question popped into his mind he began to worry. The words '...Worst case, that bell is going to come tumbling down...' and he suddenly realized ignoring them had been a mistake. He squeezed in tighter to the door and pulled franticly on the tumbler; this feckless priest seemed to be in a hurry to meet his god face to face, and Rook was not interested in joining him.

After Asha and the captain left, Roald was the only one standing guard by the window.
I'm fine, nothing out of the ordinary here! Do you need some help down there?

Startled by the strange phenomenon happening above is head, Roald takes a few seconds to compose himself. Then hurries down the slippery stairs to warn the party of the event taken place in the tower.
Being in a hurry he is not very careful on his way down.

ooc: maybe an Athletics roll to not slip and fall down ?

Reaching the bottom of the stairs he opens his mouth to warn the others, but nothing comes out.

Roald didn't expect to see the skeleton