The way down is narrow and dark, but Ruika's dancing lights illuminate the way. The bottom of the stairway leads into a stone hall, ten feet across. Darkness lies beyond the reach of the magical light, leaving no end to the hallway in sight. Two more passages are close by.
An eerie silence lingers in the cool, damp air.
Ruika nods at the peace from the group as they advance into the crypt. 'What will be down here, this is a temple to the ancient Djinn and the elemental heroes of the desert?' she theorises.
"Right direction?" she hisses quietly.
"Go to right." she says softly, her instincts calling her.
Corneilious casts Light on The Bastard of Blackwall
Ruika knows the use of caution despite her orc-ish upbringing. The controlled rage of the berserkers could be impressive, but a poorly directed hand worse than useless - it could be detrimental. So having said her piece as to which direction that they should go in, she waits and plans.
There's a soft tickle against her leg, for a second she thinks it might be the cat-mans tail. Her annoyance soon slips away as the soft vibrations from the purring fox against her calf eases all her tension.
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Garruth shakes his head and coughs softly "There is a lot of dust in here... and something rotten... I'd rather steer clear of whatever it is. Right's as good a direction as any."
The Catman was making an effort to keep his tail in check, tempting as it was to tickle the ladies with it, this probably wasn't the best time, Ruika would probably get mad at him. She was a bit of an enigma, Garruth couldn't tell if she was pleased by his attention towards her, or annoyed... perhaps she wasn't annoyed by the flirtatious behaviour, but rather annoyed more-so with herself because she enjoys it. The fuzzy sorcerer decides that must how it is.
Off the group heads towards the right?
The dark cowled figure swishes, her little feet pad softly down the corridor. The rotten scent upon the air is not so pungent to her as once again she's glad of the cover afforded by the dark hood of her robe.
She nods to the small pugwampi as she moves forward further into the catacombs of the temple.
Jaykae nods and follows, her nose twitching from the smell of the rotten here but she also plays a tune lightly on her flute for courage. The twin believes that it might be a good time to bring up everyone's spirits as this scent makes her feel down. It must also have an uninspiring effect on everyone else.
Alik grunts as Ruika continues to charge ahead of him. Shaking his head he attempts to regain the lead in order to protect the hooded female.
"Your power is more favored by the gods than mine, Secret One. You should let the monsters break their teeth on me and not your tender flesh."
"Well said." she nods in confirmation of words suitable to a warrior. "Though not my nature to hide." the words holding obvious contradictions coming from the dusky shadows.
She's starting to feel a bond with this motley group of performers and holy men, despite her reserved nature. 'Perhaps they can help me achieve my ends.'
As the party steps into the crossroads, the source of the smell becomes readily apparent. Scores of skeletal remains litter the ground of both passages, tossed from the funerary niches lining the walls. Evidently however, the bones do not just belong to the honored dead. Even a casual glance at the scene shows signs of a struggle. Some skeletons lie jumbled against the walls, their skulls crushed by the blow of a weapon. Many of them wear faded orange robes. The carnage stretches on in both directions as far as the eye can see.
Ruika looks with caution at the bones, realising that sometime that which may eternal lie, with strange aeons even death may die. And that which fought these may still exist. However she heads further down.
Falling back in order she plods towards the first intersection and looks about. 'I hope they don't rise from the dead behind us...' she thinks.
Just some naughtiness:
Dwarves!
Of course there's the Dwarven Forge one, and Itar's Workshop
:whistle:
Assuming the halls are not still too cramped, Alik will ready Freaksfire. Otherwise, he will look at the dead bodies for potential abandoned melee range weapons.
Jaykae will stay with the others as closely as possible, her eyes darting from one dead to the next to see if there was anything interesting or unusual about them. If she sees anything that looks of interest (shiny, jewelish, like money bags or looking like books or musical instruments) she will take a closer look.
Corneilious will move to J-29 and guard the passage from surprise threats from the rear while the party moves ahead.
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Garruth grins towards Ruika, "Don't think of it as hiding think of it as strategic support. And as Alik said, we don't want any teeth on your tender flesh." He leans in closer to her to whisper
With everyone being so attentive Garruth decides he should make an effort to be on his toes as well, and since scents are harder to cover up than visual cues he might find something the others don't notice. He sniffs at the air again, though he's careful not to take too deep a breath with all the bodies around.
With a glance at Corneilious and his strategic position, protecting them from the vanguard. The witch gives a pause, trying to assess the origin of the yellow robes and their religious significance; if any.
'Were they worshipping the Djinn, or part of their number? An ancient group, succumbing to a tragic end?' she has more questions than she can answer.
For the monks in these monasteries, robes of orange and yellow were often worn because of their resemblance to the sun's colors, and of course, to those of fire.
As you go farther down the passage, there only seem to be more and more bones. The branches to the right and left hold only more of the same. The terminus of the passage comes into sight, where lies a pile of skeletons with terrible, broken bones.
"Holy Sun Monks of Dawnflower." she says pointing at the bones strewn upon the floor. There's a slight shiver down her spine, not just at the thought of what did this but at being bathed in sunlight - it searing your flesh turning it to ochre. Quickly she represses her thoughts as she carries on.
"Hey there's a mace in there. This one here but it's probably too heavy for me to get." Jaykae looks up at the others with puppy eyes as she is curious.
"On the one that doesn't belong to the order?" Ruika says with a nod. "Better be careful it doesn't rise."
The skeleton's fingers offer little resistance as Alik picks up the weapon. Asides from being rather heavy, upon closer inspection the mace's metal has a bluish tint to it.
"Good eye, Jaykae. Sensibly done, Alik." Ruika compliments the pair as they move down the corridor carefully. Slowly she moves down the passage as part of the retinue, beside her the little pugwampi and around her feet the soft little fox. 'An ancient temple, I wonder why they despoil it so and how it came to fall...'
With the lights playing down the passage, tension rising in the air and the groups progress slowed she moves forward. The feral confidence of her upbringing coming to the fore as she tries to move the group, thus hoping they can secure the temple in readiness for their strike against the evil gnoll scourge.
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He smiles towards Ruika, then is distracted by the finding of the mace, and looks over where Jaykae indicated "A mace? Hmmm it looks heavier than I am used to. I don't intend to be getting that close to enemies if I can help it, but if noone else wants the mace I could probably put it to use."
The catman moves along with the group being sure to keep more or less in the middle where he's not only fairly safe from a sudden attack, but also surrounded by the alluring ladies.
"Yeah, want something hard in your hand if you meet enemies." Ruika replies to Garruth, affirming he can take the weapon if he wishes. She gives him an appraising glance looking up and down his body; 'No, fighter he. Wouldn't last five minutes.' she says softly half-to-herself, half to Lyssa.
Jaykae is beaming with the praise now and is happy to be with the group. She looks towards her sister to see how she is doing and tries not to bump into anyone.
The group quickly reaches the end of passage, meeting a cool stone wall. Looking down the other branches in passing, you see nothing asides from more battered skeletons.
Ruika nods firmly knowing that they need to clear out this temple, she moves forward hoping that the others are surrounding her.
"So many cross-roads, where choices are made - paths taken." Ruika says cryptically. "A temple upon a cross-roads, a nexus of the djinn and worshipping the Dawnflower. An obscure saint, Vardishal, revered for his works beneath the hot sands." The orbs she created cast weird shadows upon the stone walls, and highlight a pale face deep within her hood.
"Hum, hum. What are you saying Ruika? I'm not familiar with this, is it a reference to a story that you know? I would not mind hearing a little something," says Keiko, putting a finger up to her lips and tapping them a couple of times in thought.
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Garruth eyes flick over to Ruika as he spots her looking him up and down "Enjoying the view darlin? I think if it were me eyeing you, you would tell me it is not the appropriate time." Or that it's not appropriate at all, it was hard to tell with her. Which actually made the teasing that much more interesting "But don't worry, we should be done clearing out the area soon." The catman says with a wink.
"There appears to be a lot of empty passages, perhaps there's noone left in here but us?" He nods towards Keiko with a smile "Yes I would like to hear Ruika's stories as well, and yours of course... I'm curious about your ability to change your appearance. Can you take on any appearance you like? Do you always choose such beautiful forms?" The feline sorcerer inquires with sincere curiosity.
With a soft snort, a small chuckle at Garruth, Ruika nods.
"Yes, around fire tonight. I will tell you stories, stories of the spirits and my tribe." Ruika nods feeling a certain bond with the group as the fox at her heels rubs softly. Somehow the presence of the furry creature makes Ruika more accepting and thoughtful.
'Perhaps these can be your tribe.' a voice not her own whispers in her ears.
Tilting her head at the strange thoughts, vaguely reminiscent of her sisters, she tries to remember follow the flow of conversation. "Yes, beautiful appearance Keiko."
"Beautiful? I just took this form 'cause I might have needed to bite someone's face," says Keiko, eyes turning momentarily towards the pugwampi. "I'm practicing with forms but I'm not good yet, I feel like I'm close to figuring something out..."
"Orc is good form." Ruika says gruffly as she looks at the dead-end. "This part clear...." there's just a hint of chagrin having taken the group the wrong way.
Spinning around, the motes of dust are disturbed and hang in the air. With a slightly snuffle she rubs at her nose, and looks over her shoulder to the dead-end for a hidden door
Before she turns and moves down the corridor hoping no-one points out the error.
Jaykae looks about curiously and chuckles as Ruika gets teased by the big cat man. The larger woman was taking it very well so she saw no reason not to chuckle when she wanted to. Her eyes kept moving about the room and her ears were listening to everything she could hear. Song ideas were always coming to her mind and her new friends were giving her quite a few.
The stone walls are rather smooth, devoid of anything that would indicate that some kind of door is present.
Ruika looks down at the little companion; "Bet you no be down here, pugwampi?" she asks the obviously leading question before moving forward.
Alik moves before the proud 'orc', knowing his strength could protect. The conjured lights bob beside the powerful warrior. Ruika turns and swishes past Garruth & the sisters; "Is good, no? Exploring the depths." the feral lady seems to be starting to enjoy this.
Lyssa runs up out from Ruika's cloak, climbing up her clothing and knocking her outer cowl loose. "Mmmwah." the lady grunts as her companion pushes the limit of her exposure, the sly fox attempting to change her mistresses aloof habits.
The ifrit and the witch move down to the opposite hall, where even more evidence of past conflict is found. Leaning against the wall is an armored corpse, standing apart from the naked and robed skeletons. Dressed in yellowing leather armor, the skeleton has a sheathed dagger on its belt.