Descending the Temple Depths

As soon as Dirk hears the scuttling noises, he takes out his machete, ready to strike at any creepy thing that dares show itself. "Do any of you also hear that? I hope those aren't friends of our skeleton friend from earlier. Let's all be on our guard!" This place just keeps getting creepier and creepier.

Dirk's comments put Roald on edge. He takes out his blade. You never know...
For some strange reason something his dad use to say keeps going round and round in his head like a mantra.
You don't make friends with salad,... you don't make friends with salad,... You don't make friends with salad,...

Albert's too busy distracting himself from the almost suffocating darkness. He doesn't like it here. Even with the glow of the mushrooms, the lack of light is troubling. He keeps whispering his prayer while the others grab their weapons.

"In the darkness where I be
His will be the light I see
From Baram to Crystal Bay
Raynor's fire will light my way"

Albert looks around when Falur's mention of being prepared finally registers in his distracted brain. "Huh? Is somet..." His words break off when he notices the different shining weapons that his friends are brandishing. A smile covers his face. It's probably too dark to see but audible in his voice when he says "By the gods, this is wonderful! Raynor is blessing us with his light!" He doesn't notice that the captain apparently didn't get said blessing. "Oh we'll make short work of this temple now, I'm sure of it."

Where Albert was timid and fearful in the dark before, he now seems to be striding with confidence. Possibly too much confidence, considering the situation. With his 'staff' firmly in hand he continues to chant, but now in a normal praying volume and no longer whispering.

"When the moon shines on my head
Everyone has gone to bed
All I need to do is pray
Raynor's fire will light my way"

Deoring, seeing the others pull out their blades (and "staff"), follows suit. He draws his short sword and tries to make sense of the scuttling noises.

What could that be? Which direction are noises coming from? he wonders. And how did they get their weapons to glow?

Rook stays quiet and continues to listen intently, unlit torch in hard, hoping to locate the noises. He did not bother with his dagger for the moment. If these thousand skittering legs carried a commensurate threat, no belt blade would serve as a deterrent to that.

''I don't think so Falur, I just took mine out and it is glowing as bright as Albert's staff. To my knowledge there is also nothing special about this old thing. It belonged to my grandfather who gave it to my father. I never saw him use it, not even handle it once. I always did find it kind of odd why he took such great care of his butchering steel, but let this one rust in a corner of our basement. Before I left home I cleaned it, sharpened it and took it with me. I would be surprised if my father even noticed it's absence''

"I don't know much about vegetation or mushrooms, but my broomstick was already glowing before we entered this hallway. So I don't think it could be caused by the spores." Albert says is response to, what to him seems like, a lack of faith from Falur. He makes a mental note. I guess Falur is not a very religious man. Maybe I should teach him the words to 'Raynor's fire will light my way'.

''when DID you first notice it Albert? Did it glow before the bell rang?''

Albert looks surprised. "Really? I know there was a flash of light when Raynor helped us with those skeletons, but I didn't realize it lingered." He takes another good look at his broom. "It's quite faint though. Makes sense that we wouldn't notice it in daylight or torchlight. Auch!" He jerks and swats his thigh. "Something bit me! We should talk about this later guys, let's keep moving and get away from these creepy crawlies." He rubs the spot where he got bitten just now.

''CHANNELING RAYnor's power!?'' Roald is almost shouting the first words, but when he hears is own loud voice in this eary environment, he whispers the last one.
While talking he makes sure he keeps on moving. ''But that's amazing Albert! No doubt the glow of our weapons is a sign that He is with us''
Roald straightens his back. Fresh energy boils up in his body.
And...is that a smile on his face?

Dirk whispers loudly; "SSSHHH! We might be drawing more of whatever those creepy things are with our loud voices!" I wonder why their weapons are glowing? Must be Raynor's blessings. . . He looks at his own machete, remembering how he pried it from the dead hands of a long dead priest. He chuckles to himself. It figures that mine isn't glowing, Raynor probably doesn't take kindly to stolen things.