Despite her brother now being effectively immortal, the hit Sir Balin scores on him still sends Senara's heart plummeting. Reaching for the vial hooked to her belt, Senara's finger deftly undo the loops holding it in place before bringing it up to eye level. She gives the glass a swirl, sloshing around the slimy, red-orange contents inside as she waits for an opening to throw it, eager to see the cursed water's effects on a devout Mitran.
[dice=Devil's Spit]1d20+4-4[/dice]
Impressive Ella admits to the one man fighting half a dozen. Impressive and idiotic. Too easy to be surrounded.
Godfrey grunts in pain as the man's viciously fast strike slips past his guard and cuts raggedly across his chest. He smiles victoriously as his wounds clear under the ministrations of his allies, "I'm afraid that will not be enough. But allow me to return the favor! Tseykhn vi meyn hart!"
Blows rain in upon the Knight. Sir balin suffers tremendously as one of Kaellan's claws rake a long large wound into him. His shield provided little cover as he lowers it in pain to receive a rather unflattering spray of spittle from Senara's assault. He raises his arm to attempt to wipe the unholy liquid from his eyes only receive a nice clean gash from the swordsman.
The man is bloodied and finally he wipes his eyes clean and looks upon the group, a gaze of determination in his eyes. He drops the shield, grips his blade in two hands and swings hard at the two men once again.
There is an ear piercing scream of metal digging hotly into metal as the longsword digs into Kaellan's armor but the armor does it's job in protecting the demon. Sir Balin's eyes open more in shock as he looks around at the amount of enemies surrounding him. His eyes betray him, for he knows death is coming.
"You see it now don't you dear knight." Ileosa said with a grin upon her lips. "Now tell me, how dearly to you wish to live? What past events that you have yet to set right come to your mind now. Or maybe you think of the people you might have wronged? There is still a chance you know. A small chance to live. It will only take a few moments and a signature. Those here can be persuaded I assure you." She told him with a small shrug. "What do you say forsaken?"
Ella actually grins at Ileosa's manipulation for once. She is rather enjoying the pious knights dilemma. Will the fear of death turn him from his faith, did he really believe he was a good enough person to warrant his god's reward in the afterlife? His decision filled the normally uncaring giantess with anticipation. She is still ready to gut him the moment his blade decides to raise for another swing. Either way this goes well, she thinks at least.
Godfrey grins savagely as the knight's fearsome attack meets the iron-like of the devilish Kaellan. "A pity, knight of Mitra, that our dance must end so soon." He prepares to strike, but Illeosa's appeal halts his blade... momentarily.
As his charming companion speaks, Godfrey slowly sides out of the knight's direct line of vision. When he judges himself well placed, he lifts his blade and brings it crashing down in a weak point in the man's armor. "A lesson: never let an enemy out of your sight. And never be distracted by a pretty face." He rips his blade free with a savage wrench as he smiles down at the former Sir Balin.
Sir Balin's eyes don't portray fear but perhaps regret? All the same, they narrow as there is a sudden lul in the combat. The young woman offers him a deal but his face only contorted into a frown at the offer. He starts to speak "I'd never betray my...." before Godfrey, taking a bit of careful stepping finds the right spot. Ella's claws dig into the panels of the full plate armor he is wearing and wrenches it to the side just enough for Godfrey to see his opportunity. He dips his body low and pushes straight up under the man's ribs, before he pierces both Lungs with the long blade.
The knight's face drips of a cold sweat, his color paling from his face, he turns and sees the man beside him. His body shakes ever so slightly as Godfrey whispers loud enough for the others to hear given the tight quarters. "A lesson: never let an enemy out of your sight. And never be distracted by a pretty face." It seems almost as if the knight has a rebuttal when the blade is savagely ripped free from his side and the blood that had begun pooling in the man's lungs finally has a clear exit.
He crashes to the stone ground and comes to rest, face up. The violent movement of the body reveal....a pendant that had been hidden underneath the armor. A silver dragon with sapphire eyes.
Senara watches with a heavy-lidded gaze as Sir Balin struggles for his last breaths, the lady heady with the feeling of satisfaction, of vengeance exacted. The siblings crowd around the fallen knight as the light in his eyes grows dim, wanting their faces to be among the last he sees as he realizes how is faith in Mitra was for naught. Only once his death throes have ceased do Senara's eyes alight on the pendant resting atop his battered and blood-stained breastplate. Kneeling down next to the body, Senara clutches the medallion in her hand and lifts it up for closer inspection. While she is confident that is indeed the pendant they were tasked with recovering, she isn't willing to leave anything to chance where their trial is concerned.
"A curious token for a Mitran zealot to keep close to his heart, don't you think? I find it hard to imagine dragons as being conventional motifs within the church."
With a satisfied smirk, Godfrey watches as the pendent slips free of the Mitran knight's armor. "And that is the cherry to top our little tête-à-tête off, Sir Balin. I'll defer to your imaginings, Lady Davorim, on Mitran iconography. I'm afraid it's never piqued my interest." Cleaning his blade with a casual command word, Godfrey sheathes his sword and then begins a more thorough investigation of the dead man. "Antdekn dem sud," with his spoken command and a soft greenish glow in his eyes, Godfrey studies the dead knight intensely as he looks for anything worth taking.
Reveal a secret.
Ileosa took a step up next to Senara and looked at the necklace form then knight. "... Senara my dear I believe you might have found the necklace we where sent in here to get." She suggested. "Did they say it was silver with sapphire? That is what I remember. But they didn't tell us anything more." Ileosa pointed out.
"Not to mention this room was titled 'Serve thy master well and be rewarded.' after all." She said as she tapped her chin. "So if the master here mean the one of our contract it is likely that necklace there."
Ella is obviously happy. While kneeling next to the dead knight, one corner of her mouth is tilted upward given her a deep dimple, her multicolored eyes gleam as she looks down at the corpse, then up at each one her... what was it called... Knot.
Senara and Ileosa's expert manipulation confusing the poor knight, the ferocity of Kaellan's claws digging into him, and the precision of Godfrey's blade ending him. Even their drow healer
All this time Ella hated being here, being forced to be here to specific. Now she believes she Might understand... just a little. Her claw reaches up, a soft but brief caress of her dark unholy symbol, the other corner of her mouth pulling upward.
But she is acting like a mushy fool, not becoming of a strong warrior. Coughing to cover, she moves over to Triss. "They are still bleeding." nodding to Kaellan and Godfrey. "Can you heal them as you did me?"
Triss steps back into the room as it seems the Knight is crumbling to the ground. When Ella mentions the others wounds she kinda raises her head a bit to peek at them and tilts her head. "Yea, Olright. I get yah. Those do look a might bit painful, I can probably work something up. But, I hope we're done after this man. This last bit of magic is probably gonna deplete my reserves, so I'm gonna be as useless as a pretty young thang with a head full of straw at a library." she said as she seemed to wipe something off her hands that wasn't there.
She walked up to the two men and and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. Blood red light pulsed from her hands and the wounds began to knit.
She wiped her hands on her breeches and locked her hands behind her back as she kinda stalked around the two men and double checked her work. "Hmm, yep. I do good work. I think you two will be quite alright." she said nodding a bit and just walking out of the room and leaning against the wall in the next room to wait on them to be done with whatever they were doing.
Ella's odd eyes track the drow as she swishes and sways around the room. While entertaining, her insertion in the knot will always be too suspicious to warrant any form of trust. Still, injuries are unavoidable, and with her skills, she is invaluable.
As the others heal, and loot, Ella will ask Senara, "Your brother knew him?" nodding to the cooling corpse of Balin.
Godfrey's answer to her speculating brings a faint smirk to Senara's face. "Nor mine," she admits, her gaze never leaving the pendant. "But let it not be said that I learned nothing throughout our trials. Know your enemy. I assume there must be some reason behind the variation other than stylistic differences. Perhaps it denotes rank, or membership in a specific order." Senara shrugs, making sure the others know her guesses are just that as she continues her appraisal of the pendant. "Well, questions for the Cardinal, I suppose." Showing little concern for the still warm body the symbol hangs off of, Senara brushes a thumb across its surface then watches as it sparkles in the lantern light when she turns it and tilts it. Real sapphires. This must be the one. "I thought it might be," Senara answers Ileosa with a smile, ripping the pendant from Sir Balin's corpse with a callous tug. "But I wanted to be sure. It wouldn't do to bring back another imitation. The Cardinal doesn't seem like a man who tolerates mistakes."
Her eyes find Ella's next, the imposing woman still managing to tower over Senara despite both of them kneeling over the fallen knight. But more noteworthy than the other woman's physical presence is the slight upward curl at the corners of her mouth. One of Senara's brows similarly quirks upward in question at Ella's curious behavior. But when Ella seems to realize what she's doing and takes steps to cover it up, Senara mercifully lets it go without comment, though her sly smile remains as she rises to watch Triss tend to her brother. She nods her thanks as the drow finishes healing Kaellan before turning back to answer Ella's question. "Knew him, no. But Balin was there the night I brought Kaellan back. He didn't recognise me, but I guess I can't fault him for that. There was a reason he was the most famed 'witch hunter' the Mitrans had. He's probably sent scores of the church's enemies to their deaths. But apparently Kaellan's face is a bit more memorable," Senara comments, her smirk taking on a slightly cruel edge as she does. "I can't tell you how satisfying it was to watch you all cut him down." Then, lowering her voice a bit, Senara gives Ella a knowing look as she says, "But maybe I don't have to."
While the men work to identify and divest the knight of his equipment, Senara circles back to Triss's earlier comment. "Are our lessons at an end then?" she asks, dangling the pendant from her fingers. Finding it was, after all, the objective they had been sent down into the basement to complete, not necessarily the lessons.
Briefly Ella's eyes widen at Senara's words, accompanied by the barest hint of color to her otherwise pale cheeks. Brief, since annoyance covers it all up, just probably at herself more than at anyone else.
Godfrey, having completed searching the former Sir Balin for anything of notes, peers over Senara's shoulder as she studies the man's pendant.
"A pretty enough bauble and, unlike that other fake, it was actually somewhat dangerous to recover." The ruddy glow of Triss' healing emphasizes his point. He nods appreciatively, if grudgingly, at the drow woman for her healing. "I suspect this might even be the real thing."
Consumed in his task and then in his own musings, Godfrey only replies to Senara's tale after a long pause, "I'm glad that we saw justice served then, Lady Davorim. Your brother was, of course, a great help." He eyes the devilish noble a moment, saying to him, "I suppose I should address you directly, Lord Davorim. I'm afraid your -ah, how to put it- newfound skill at arms and bodily might bring out old habits from my time among a circle of devil summoners. I mean no intentional disrespect, of course." Godfrey graces Kaellan with a bow and a smirking grin that are just on the right side of respectful.
"Now, to practical matters, in addition to his obvious knightly accouterments our dear departed Sir Balin Witch Hunter possesses a cloak and a vial of some potion or another that may interest us. The cloak will steel your body and soul against the magics and poisons we may encounter. The potion appears to be a curative. I'd also note that his armor is a rather fine example of its kind, though it may take a bit of cleaning after our -ah- handiwork"
"With that little bit of scavenging out of the way, I'd like to suggest that we decide where we are off to next. There are a few passages we haven't explored, if we wish to be thorough in our search. I'm still in possession of substantial magical resources should we wish to continue." He eyes Triss out the corner of his eyes, "There is, of course, certain risk associated with continuing without healing. And we are supremely likely to have completed our task" Godfrey gestures to the knight's amulet. "Your thoughts, friends?"
"He was also the man who clapped me in chains." Ileosa told them as they went about looking over the necklace. She hoped that this was the item they had been sent to find. However she did believe that what Godfrey was suggesting was a good idea. They would need to ensure that had the right item.
"Does anyone have any idea how many hours have past?" Ileosa asked as she looked to the others. "If we still have time we can rest and bit and get through the rest before leaving... but I believe this is the pendant we where sent to get."
"He was busy" Ella states slightly emphasizing Was, to Ileosa statement about the knight. "I believe they said 'no one will help you or let you out until the pendent is procured.'" Meaning she thinks that if they have the wrong one, they can't get out, not that they die. "Finishing all nine lessons might give greater status." remembering the arrogant witch from breakfast.
"A point I hadn't considered, Ella. And an important one. You might even say we'll learn something valuable from these lessons. As for time, I'd guess a couple of hours given how cautious we've been. Hard to tell with no sun or stars to help mark the time." Godfrey mulls over the situation for a moment before saying, "I'm inclined to press on, given further contemplation. The idea of trying to rest in this miserable, dank hole when there is reasonable luxury available after another hour or two of work is intolerable. Any objections?" He tries to meet the eye of each of his companions in turn.
"We've no idea what the other trails will hold." Ileosa pointed out. "Without a healing hand we could very easily end up dead." She went on to say with a cross of her arms. "Just how much power do you have left Godfrey? And you dear Senara?" Ileosa asked to prove a point. "Some risks should be taken when we've no other choice, but we have a chouce right now." She explained. "Tell me, how many trials have we gone through?"
Senara listens to all the different points offered before she voices her own. "I would think the Cardinal would be pleased to learn what quick studies we are. We were able to accomplish the task in seven steps instead of nine, after all." But her arch smile betrays her statement for what it is: a little lie meant to hide her true desire to return to the idle comforts of the manor proper. The teasing look her brother gives her suggests that no one in the room is falling for it, so she concedes to the group's plan with a put-upon sigh. "But I suppose there is something to be said for being thorough."
Senara answers Ileosa's question with an airy wave of her hand. "I've no need to stop and rest just yet. I've only just scratched the surface with my magical reserves since we've been down here. Frankly, I've been wondering when these supposed trials are going to begin," she jests, knowing full well that Ella, Godfrey and Kaellan have weathered the brunt of the danger posed by their lessons. "I can see to any wounds we might sustain clearing the rest of this place," she assures the group, particularly their point persons. "Although my ministrations might not be as gentle as Triss's."
The party feeling secure in their victory, decides to be thorough and experience all the lessons. With Godfrey in the lead and Kaellan taking up the rear, the group makes their way past the room filled with undead corpses and down the hall towards the skipped room. Coming in through the side that wasn't planned for, they find no special writing over the door.
After careful checking, they are certain there is no trap on the door and open it. The room is pitch black and with the light spell spilling into the room, there is still nothing quiet within the light yet to see.
In the center of the room is a two inch tall brick circle. Inside the brick circle is bare earth.
In the very center of the room, they finally see what seems to be a man sized purple mushroom with a strange bulbous cap. When the light touches the mushrooms fibrous body, it suddenly begins emitting an almost impossibly oud, piercing wail. Nothing can be heard over the noise.
Godfrey replies to Ileosa's concern nonchalantly, "As Senara says, we have some healing at hand. As for my own magics, I certainly shall have enough to see through whatever minor threats remain. Don't forget the baubles I've recovered from your Warden's spellbook. As for the number of trials, I counted perhaps seven?" Drawing his sword anew, he picks his way past the rapidly cooling corpse of the Mitran knight and calls back over his shoulder, "Let's see this to the end. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And I have a great deal of gaining to do before my thirst for it is slaked."
Godfrey peers into the room warily, seeing nothing but also skeptical that all is as it appears. Recalling the room with its magical darkness, he beckons to Ella and nods at the darkness ahead, "I don't suppose you can see anything in there, can you?" He waits at the entrance, sword at the ready for her reply.
"I can." She sometimes forgets normal people can't see in the dark. "It looks like a brick planter like you see in fancy houses. A brick circle with a very large mushroom growing in it. Man sized with a strange bulbous cap." She looks around a bit more, and see nothing else.
"Do you say mushroom?" Ileosa asked as she raised an eyebrow. "I guess this area could grow mushrooms... though it seems a little odd." She stated with a shrug. "There was nothing above the door this time, so can we properly assume this is on of the trials?" Ileosa began to wonder. "Ella you can see, can you aim a crossbow like mine?"
"I am better with throwing" she lifts her spear as an example, "but yes. Do you want me to try shooting it?"
"If we can get light upon one of the bolts and have you shoot it at the mushroom you see it might allow others to look it over." Ileosa suggested.
"Geheimnisse enthüllen." Recalling the last lightless room they had come across, Senara searches for any magical auras within the chamber. A small smile curves her lips as she gives Ileosa's concerns some thought. "I do think this is one of the trials, but had we not discovered the secret passage before, we would have entered through the other side of the room. I don't think the Cardinal saw a need to have the lesson inscribed above what should have been the room's exit. Although"—her smile grows a bit as the next thought occurs to her—"the idea that we've just stumbled across the Cardinal's secret garden and are now inadvertently planning to destroy his prized mushroom is rather amusing."
Ella nods at the plan, even with the potential of rare mushroom killing. They should be fine, unless the lesson here is Don't Kill My Mushroom. The thought makes her grin just a bit.
The crossbow bolt flies true and in the split second the light hits the Mushroom, it begins to scream! It's wail is beyond deafening, drowning everything out...for the two seconds it exists. After that, the mushroom does appear to slump and go silent.
"That was... interesting." Ella says without sarcasm. If nothing else seems to appear in the room after a bit of a wait, she'll go look at it. A screaming mushroom! But of course will look for traps along the way.
The party scours through the room attempting to find anything that might have been the reason for this room. However, it seems that everyone comes up with nothing as they search the room for the unknown. They are left to speculate as to the nature of this room.
Should one of them open the door to the "entrance" of the room, they would find the words "Secrecy is our greatest ally. Exposure brings death."
Ileosa covers her ears as the mushroom screams before she takes her crossbow back from Ella. "Thank you dear Ella that was helpful."
"Ah..." Ileosa sighed as she made her way to read the text above the door. "We didn't see it because we came in from the wrong side. I believe we where meant to sneak through this room." She suggests before stepping back in. "However there seem to be only two was in and out of this room... and we've been through both... Where is the last trial?"
Godfrey casts a skeptical sidelong glance at his amazonian companion as she describes the room. It might be that Ella has taken too strong a blow to the head. Something that Triss didn't or couldn't fix. His skepticism is proved unfounded seconds later as he's momentarily deafened by the screeching of the dying mushroom. Gritting his teeth and wiggling a finger in his still ringing ears, he grumps, "Oh yes. Interesting. Certainly..."
Godfrey assists in the search of the room though the only thing of interest he finds is the time to aim an irritable swipe of his sword at the already dead, over-sized fungi.
"There was another door, as I recall. Before those metallic cobras or asps or whatever they were." Godfrey looks around a moment then gestures off vaguely in a direction that likely has no bearing on the actual way to the room. "Just a short distance, I'm sure. Shall we?"
The party makes their way back towards the last lesson. The enter the Chamber that once house the vampiric mist that accosted Ella so rudely. To the north they find that the door had been barred much like the one they entered to get to the chamber with the mithral cobras. A bit of heavy lifting done and thy make their way down a very short passage. They find a wooden door and atop it, inscribed "Cruelty is a tool, not a pastime. Be ruthless to thy enemy but reward those who serve thee well."
The message gives some pause for consideration.
They open the door after checking for traps and find only one thing, a torturer's rack. The crude, yet cruel, implement is functional and ready for use but is currently empty. The chamber is lit by an oil lantern that hangs from the center of the room.
As people spread out slowly to search the room and come to understand the lesson of the chamber, a very very faint whimpering is heard. Godfrey is the first to hear it and calls the room to silence and stillness. Soon, Ella and Kaellan both manage to hear it so very faintly. Between the three of them they manage to track down the origin, a young, very battered, youth. With the opening of the Secret Chamber and his self exposed, he shrieks in agony and fear.
"A child." she calls back to the others, once she sees him. Calls back loudly because that thing can make some noise. Holding her spear out between her and him, point of course pointed at him, she is wary, keeping her eyes on the child.
"I don't think we are supposed to kill it." the lesson doesn't seem to indicate it. Ella's voice is matter of fact. "Maybe it has some information we'd need, and it can tell us nicely or we use that." her head tilts toward the rack, still focusing her gaze on him.
The young man squeals as he is revealed and upon seeing the spear, he drops to his knees and buries his head in between them. He yells between sobs so that he can still be heard. "Please...Don't hurt me, he has already hurt me. Mitra protect me, I only wished to find Ser Balin. Please...take me to him, I'll tell you everything you want to know."
"Ella please." Ileosa cooed as she stepped foreword calmly to speak with the young man. "You are Ser Balin's squire aren't you?" She asked gently and even knelt down next to him.
"I will not hurt you little one, tell me why are you here?" Ileosa said.
Godfrey pauses a moment, musing up at the inscription burned above the door mantle. A simple enough message. I'm no sadist, but I suppose one runs into all sorts when you serve the First Lord of Hell. He enters the room cautiously with the others. His keen hearing picks up the soft and tremulous sounds of terror from the room. He motions to the others to listen, though it is Ella who's first to actually find the source of the whimpering.
He watches dispassionately, his hands resting on his sword's cross guards, as his companion's work their magic in turn. With a smile, he says as he joins the ruse, "No little one to see here, my friend. This is a fine strapping young boy. Surely no other to be found. Best do as she says though, son, and give us a report on what you're doing in a place like this and what you've seen so far."
Ella will pull her spear up from a ready to kill stance to a simple guarding one. Then she'll simply stand menacingly as the others talk to the boy.
The young man raised his head and looked up at Ileosa. He looked over her shoulder at Ella and cringed slightly, remembering her threatening manner. He looked back at Ileosa "Yes ma'am. I'm I'm Timeon." starting stammering out.
"Please miss, have you seen Sir Balin? We were out on patrol and then a man we were hunting appeared. He overwhelmed us for the moment and I lost track of Sir Balin but I know that he would prevail so I followed after them. I I can get along in the wilds a bit and I followed their tracks into a rundown manor but when I got there I was caught and chased by the evil man. He beat me and almost killed me but I lost him in the...well, in this cellar. It was horrible, I thought I was going to die. I couldn't find Sir Balin and I heard the man coming so I hid." he says offering his tale to the friendly young woman.
"Oh poor thing." Ileosa began as she gently pulled the young lad up from the floor. "Who was this man you where hunting? How could he overwhelm Sir Balin?" She wondered. Almost with a motherly hand, Ileosa began to clean the lad up allowing him to take his time while answering.
Seeing that the boy is responding better to Ileosa then to his own questions, Godfrey simply stands and listens. He's not one to let ego get in the way of furthering his own goals (most of the time).
Senara tries to keep the distaste from showing on her face as she regards the trembling boy revealed by the group's search. What service this sniveling squire could possibly offer them Senara doesn't know, but it's clear enough that the boy is meant to serve some purpose else she doubts the Cardinal would have let him get away. But to what end? Conversion doesn't seem likely considering the unfavorable impression Thorn had undoubtedly left upon Timeon. To say nothing of how weak the boy is. Nevertheless, she allows Ileosa's scheme to play out, trying to look the part of a concerned rescuer simply there to lead the boy to safety. Leaning toward her brother, she asks, "What exactly does a squire's training entail?"
Ella doesn't understand what the need for the boy is at this point. If Balin was alive, he could be used against him, but now... still the lesson should be tried.
To pass the time she'll look at the torture device.
The young man with a bit of gentle reassuring begins to describe the scene and the criminal in question. It's an awfully twisted scene indeed. The Cardinal, based upon the description, used a series of spells to carefully injure the young lad and lead him throw the maze without the kid knowing better.
Once he's done telling his tale, he looks up hopefully at the crew. "Please, tell me. Have you found Sir Balin, did he escape? Is the criminal dead?" he asked in rapid fire.
He blinks a bit at the other woman's question and pauses. The question almost sobering him a bit "Well..um, ma'am it teaches a man how to take care of the gear they eventually may have and allows them to learn what it is a knight can teach them till they become a knight. It gives them experience before they face danger." he says trying to explain his position and role.
"Shhhh, calm yourself." Ileosa said gently as she reached out and motherly placed her hand upon the side of his face. "Why don't you come with us? We will help you look for Sir Balin, and if we do not find him you can stay with us." She told him. "There are nobles here whom you can serve if... the worse has come to pass for Sir Balin..." Ileosa said though she tried to make it sound as if she hoped it hadn't "We will still look after you."
The boy is shaken but earnest in his words. He seems to trust you and your demeanor appears to be working for him.
His shaking seems to calm as the motherly touch does it work to cement a bit of maternal bond on the young lad. He looks up at Ileosa with innocence in his eyes. There is still fear there of course but it seems to be getting overtaken just a bit with other emotions.
"Ma'am, this place is dangerous. The man, he chased me all throughout it. There are dangers everywhere. There a vicious metal made snakes and a giant mushroom that screams when light falls upon it. It draws the living dead towards it! But, I found a hidden passage and that's how I slipped away from the man and the monsters. I almost left through a passage that led back up into the manor but there was something scraping about up above and I was too terrified to try and run by myself." he said in earnest.
His words...as the party has managed to experience are quite true.
"Call me Ileosa young one." The inquisitor instructed him as she moved some of his hair out of his face. "We know well the danger, we faced the snakes, taken care of them ourselves. If you stay with us and do as I say we will be safe." Ileosa told him before she met and held his eyes. "You can do that for me can't you? Promise me, after all a knight to be would keep his promise would he not?" She asked trying to give him the feeling of acceptance among their group.