Descending the Temple Depths

As Roald's sword plunges in between the segments he feels a shiver going through the centipede. In the corner of his eye he sees his friends hacking at it.
The next thing he knows, he's flying through the air. Everything is suddenly in slow motion in his mind. He knows there will be a whole lot of pain real soon when suddenly something pulls at him.
''OOMPH'' Is what escapes his mouth when he hits the soft ''ground'' he landed on.
He finds himself looking in the eyes of the captain who's hugging him akwardly.
''are, ... are you ok? I mean thank you, I mean sorry....''
''roald'' quickly gets up and helps the captain on her feet.
''you saved me there...''
He turns to the side, his back against the wall and overlooks the slaughter. He's used to blood, and killing animals, but none of them ever tried to return the favor like this beast. Then as if a switch is turned, his legs feel like Jelly and he slides to the ground. His hands are shaking and he starts panting heavily.

Albert is still a recovering from the bad air in combination with the effort from helping Deoring. He can hear the clink of weapons and the crunch of them piercing a hard surface. Then silence returns. Even though his eyes are adjusted to the darkness by now, it's difficult to see what happened further down the corridor. "Asha, ... are you ... alright?" His breathing is still not back to normal, making it difficult to say multiple words in one breath. He's not sure why his only concern right now is Asha, it just came out without thinking about it.

He sees Falur stepping his way and lets him pass to get to the water. The stink of the bug hits his nose, making him cover it with his cloak until Falur has disappeared down the hallway. He grabs his waterskin for a few swigs and stands there, leaning against the wall to get his stamina back.

''Thanks again'' Roald looks at the captain. ''That could've turned out quite ugly for me, I don't know what got into me... If it weren't for you, I would have been severely wounded for sure.
In the dimm light the captain's face seems kinder. Down here there is no need for a constant frown and strict face to keep the guards from slacking off.
''I wonder what her name is'' he mumbles.
Oh no, was that out loud?
Roald's face turns red, good thing no one can see it.

Rook gives Falur a look. "You will warm quicker if we are walking. Besides, the longer we stand here, the more of this muck will seep back into your wet clothes, no?"

He gestures towards the hallway stretching ahead. "Please, my friends, the longer we stand here the more of this fungus invades our lungs. Let us move on, and the religious chat can happen somewhere more conducive to the conversation. Raynor is a fire god, after all, surely he would be more pleased to be discussed after a torch has been lit?"

After waiting for Falur to get back, Albert finally looks like he's okay to continue onward. "Wow, that's a lot of questions there." He says when Deoring bombards him with a list of them. "Well, you may not know this, Deoring, " He continues "But I used to be an initiate at the temple of Raynor. That's was about 25 years ago though. They taught me many things. The difficulty is remembering them after all those years." He stops talking when Rook interjects.

"Hmm, yes, Rook is right. We could be walking and talking at the very least. He's right about the fire thing too!" Albert winks at Rook though he's not sure if that's even noticeable in this darkness.

As they continue onward Albert tries to answer Deoring's questions. "You see, he is the god of conquest, and any conquest will have battles. That's why some priests are trained to use Raynor's energy to heal fallen companions. Some even have the knowledge and strength to bring someone back from the dead! However that takes such a toll on the body that anyone who would attempt it without the proper training could fall over and die themselves in the process."

He tries to remember the other things that Deoring asked and then goes on. "I'm not sure what exactly is causing our weapons to glow. I've read about gods imbuing objects with their holy power, but had never seen this before. It's just as new to me as it is to you, I'm afraid. All we can do is put our trust in Raynor and let him guide us down the right path." He adds a religious proverb at the end. "He who accepts the fire, shall no longer fear the cold."

Dirk sits down and rests against the tunnel wall, watching in silence as everyone else cleans and recovers from the monster battle. Although the tunnel smells horrible and the party is surrounded by dangers, Dirk feels. . . happy? Most jobs he'd do would be robbing graves in the dead of night and trying not to get caught. Whatever this is, it feels a lot more fulfilling than robbing corpses. I might consider a career change, heh.

Dirk pulls out his parchment and starts sketching a picture of the centipede. He also notes down the behavior it exhibited in battle, and notes other details such as the burning blood.

After a while, the group starts to move down the tunnels. Dirk follows, this time taking a position somewhere in the middle of the group. He can't help but notice the conversation that Albert and Deoring got into. Dirk has noticed a lot of religious talk ever since he joined the group, it's been kind of making him a little uncomfortable. Dirk decides to confront the subject to help ease his mind, he pipes into the conversation;
"You know what I like about you Albert? You're not one of those fanatics trying to get everyone roped into your Raynor worship. I never knew you were part of the temple cult, to be honest, temple cults freak me out a little, no offense to Raynor. I just feel like it's a lot of pressure having the eyes of a god over your every action and trying to live according to some arbitrary code of conduct. I never knew you as the zealous type. Come to think of it, why did you stop being an initiate?

"It's fine, Asha." Albert smiles and puts a hand on Asha's shoulder. "I don't think Dirk meant any offence." He then turns to answer Dirk's question. "Why I stopped? Well, the monk life wasn't for me. Let's just say I was a bad student. But I always kept Raynor in my heart and I consider him a friend. Now it looks like he has tasked me with cleansing this old temple. I'm not one to turn away a friend in need."

Albert can't help but give a little chuckle. "You know, I never thought I'd be having such an impact on you guys! I'm glad you all came along." The thought of his friends helping him on this 'quest' gives Albert a different kind of glow. The kind where he's smiling all the way down the shroom and bug infested hallway.

''I wonder what that stain is?'' Roald tries to get up and pretends to have a sudden interest in a patch of centipede goo a couple of feet away.''Oh it's just more centipede blood. ''

He feels his strength is coming back and his hands aren't shaking anymore.
Where's my sword? Roald tries to remember where he put it... ''oh yeah right,...''
With a ssjllrrrppp he pulls his sword out of the carcass.
''always clean your knives and hatches Roald'' His father's voice rings in the back of his mind as he walks back to the water and cleans the blood of the sword. He splashes some water in his face and rejoins the group behind the captain.

Rook starts forward as the others continue their prattling about Raynor. What the barkeep had done with the dead bones above was impressive, he'd admit, but Raynor was not the one ankle deep in this muck at the moment. An eternal god could surely stand a few more minutes wait on the praises to his glory.

He'd not planned to accept the lead position, but it was better than continuing stand around in this muck... or sit in it even, as the graverobber was doing. Madness, truly. Rook was no more stranger to filth than any other street rat, but this place was an infection waiting to happen...

With a sour expression on his face, Rook shoved the unlit torch through his sash, keeping it at the ready. Then he began moving forward carefully, trying to move swiftly and silently along, his sense sharp for more stirrings in the gloom ahead.

'' We might have another problem'' Roald says as the group starts walking. '' I noticed that the skeleton by the waterside is,... Well it's gone. So: something took it, OR the water level is rising, which means we should hurry, I don't want to be down here when everything starts flooding.''