The Penitent comes to an abrupt halt in front of the carved symbol. His smile fades as he takes it in, the expression replaced with one of melancholy.
"It is the one who does not understand us, the one who lacks forgiveness," he murmurs, seeming lost in thought.
After a brief moment, his smile returns.
"I forgive him for not forgiving!" he crows happily, seemingly to no one in particular.
As the Penitent moves forward to examine the wall, the buzzing sound that first attracted him starts up again. The sound is in stereo as two gigantic albino flies fly down from the roof of the structure toward the monk!
"What is it with all the bugs?!"
Grinning, the Penitent looks up toward the sound of the buzzing.
He raises his gnarled hands, curling them into fists. Wiry muscles tense as he briefly crouches then springs toward the creatures.
"I told you it was demons!" he cries out in glee, "I only speak Truth!"
She mutters under her breath, half-growling. "Demon bugs. Yaaaaay."
"Let us send the demons back to where they belong, whatever form they use."
The Penitent springs forward, his eyes wild and fever-bright, meeting the flying creature in mid-air as it dives down toward them all.
Cassander moves in to assist the Penitent.
The Penitent pounces on the approaching vermin and grapples it, pull8ng it out of the air. Trezsia moves forward to engage the other fly, and Cassander double moves up to help the Penitent with his grappled prey.
The Penitent's fly attacks him with a questing proboscis.
But the Penitent easily fends off the fly's attack.
Xion likewise charges after the fly on the west side of the passage.
The fly attacks Xion as she approaches.
Its proboscis attaches and deals some damage as it takes a bite out of her!
The Penitent meets the demon headlong in mid-air, clutching at it wildly. He wraps his wiry arms around the creature, seeking to trap its buzzing wings in his grasp as they both crash down to the floor of the passage in a tangle.
His grip tightens down as he and the creature struggle and thrash, the Penitent howling in glee as he wrenches the creature violently in his grasp.
"Strike now, angel!" he roars to Cassander, "Show this demon what its lies have wrought!"
"I shall smite the foul vermin, although I know not whether it can speak, let alone bear false witness." Cassander brings down his sword upon the begrappled bug.
Tasnim and Vitalia stay back with Anevia, Aravashnial and Horgus while the battle rages. Anevia inches forward at the sound of combat, but moves much too slowly to approach this round.
The penitent pins the gigantic wriggling fly to the ground, it's wings moving quickly and making a frustrated buzzing sound as it's six legs thrash against him.
Trézsia swings her two-handed axe with a grunt as she tries to strike the gigantic albino vermin.
Trezsia strikes a frightfully strong blow against the giant fly hovering over her head, nearly laying it low.
Cassander uses the opportunity the Penitent provides him to slice into the frantically strugging vermin.
The creature struggles against the Penitent's grasp.
The creature nearly manages to thrash its way out of the Penitent's pin, but ultimately fails.
Xion aims to return the favor, bite for bite.
The bloated, pasty fly turns it's compound eyes toward Trezsia and attacks its tormentor!
Cassander does not let up his assault on the bloated fly.
Tasnim keeps pace with Anevia as she limps forward, bow drawn. Vitalia stays with Aravashnial, who is calling out "What is it? Demons? Do you need me to cast a spell?" and Horgus, who is obviously keeping Vitalia between him and all the commotion.
Tightening his grip on the squirming creature, the Penitent savagely twists at the creature's head.
"Repent, and you will be spared, demon! Speak your Truth and absolve yourself in the Dawnflower's Light!" he cries out as he squeezes and pulls, "Repent, or return to your foul dominion!"
With another mighty swing, the paladin attempts to knock the grotesque being from the air.
Trezsia lays her target low, and it falls to the cave floor, twitching. The Penitent squeezes his fly ever tighter, and it's thorax strains as he strikes a blow against it. With no other option, it struggles again, weakening in his grip.
It manages to free itself a little from the Penitent's firm grasp. Cassander tries to strike a blow against the vermin, but it's writhing is so frenzied he misses.
Xion, her target taken out, moves over toward the other vermin and makes to cut it down in turn. She spares the force of the attack in favor of accuracy, hoping to prevent the creature from flying away.
Xion steps up and hacks at the fly that has managed to escape the Penitent's pin. Her careful blow cuts its head cleanly off, and a second later it's wriggling ends.
The Penitent laughs from his crouched position as Xion's blade whistles past him to decapitate the creature.
He looks up at the young woman with a wide smile, his face spattered with viscera.
"And now you have come to my aid, in return!"
He scratches at his beard, auburn tinged with grey, then shrugs.
"It does not feel so long..."
With that, he springs lithely to his feet, looking around happily at the rest of the gathered party.
"We are victorious once again, in the face of the demonic hordes!"
The changeling grins at the energetic man and shakes her head amusedly. "Everyone alright?" she asks, glancing around, then takes a moment to examine her own wounds.
"Hordes? The hordes are back on the surface, not these miserable creatures," Trézsia says mournfully, "Let us proceed. Er, once everyone is capable." She eyes Xion's wounds.
The Penitent looks at Trézsia with wide eyes and an even wider grin.
"Yes, there are more! More that will face our holy redemption, more that will be shown Truth! There is no time to waste!"
With that, the Penitent springs forward, moving happily forward into the encroaching gloom of the leftmost tunnel.
"Follow me, I will find the way!"
Cassander endeavors to keep up with the manic monk.
The structure inside this cave, though a little rough and squat, appears to be intact, with a door on the side.
"Hey! HEY! Don't go running off! We need to protect the wounded," Trézsia calls forlornly after the bug-squeezing fanatic.
Vitalia and Tasnim escort Aravashnial and Horgus into the room. Anevia stays planted in place, staring at the large hammer on the front of this strange underground building.
Cassander looks over the features of the structure. "I would not expect to see construction in this cavern. I cannot imagine that anything wholesome would live down here." He listens at the door for signs of habitation.
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The Penitent looks back, slowing as he realizes that his companions seem distracted by something.
"But...but there are more demons to find..." he calls out, sounding slightly disappointed. He gives one last look down the dim passageway he had been navigating before finally jogging back toward the others.
"Is this the way?" he calls out happily, smiling once more, peering toward the door from over Trézsia's shoulder as if noticing the potential passage for the first time.
"I do not hear anything, but we should be cautious nonetheless," Cassander says, his fingers on the hilt of his blade.
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The Penitent nods solemnly. "Cautious, yes," he murmurs.
He then brushes lithely past the angelic man, gripping the door and attempting to wildly wrench it open.
The Penitent, hearing and seeing nothing unusual as he examines the door, reaches to open it. It opens easily, revealing amazing construction. The door is heavy stone, and the cobwebs and dust on the place indicates it has been abandoned for a very long time, but it's easy swing indicates it was exceedingly well made and perfectly balanced. Inside, there is revealed a small nave. A few feet in the wall breaks into an open doorway that leads into some other room, and at the end of the nave there appears to be a basin. The dust and cobwebs in here indicate that nothing has moved within these wall in quite a long time.
Cassander moves into the room carefully, peering into the darkness with his supernatural sight. He approaches far enough to look through the doorway into the next room, always on the lookout for possible dangers.