As the little dragonet landed on Dapple's arm and clawed her way to settle on a shoulder, Dapple could feel the little creature shuffling through memories as a way to convey a more complex thought than the desire for spicy for spicy sausages. It wasn't comfortable, and there were memories best left untouched, but Dapple knew better than to try to fight the determined little beast. Small she may be, but her weapons were formidable.

Dapple sat at Fast Toes' side as he held court in the tavern he currently favored. One after another, rogues and thieves and cutpurses would come by to pay their respects, casting looks of pure venom at the mop-headed "boy" beside the Thieves Guildmaster. Dapple would have preferred to be elsewhere, but any time she started to slink away, the hobbit would lay a firm hand on her arm.

"Stop it, my boy," Fast Toes hissed out of the side of his mouth as he grinned and nodded magnanimously at a passing thug. "It does'em all good to see I've noticed your efforts, and that I approve. They'll be less likely to act against you openly, though I can't help what happens when you're on your own. Mind you," he paused to take a swig of ale," there are some that won't care what I think, not being the thinking sort themselves. Have a gander at that big lug over there, the one devouring a chicken."

Dapple turned her head enough to see the man Fast Toes indicated, a big man with arms the size of tree trunks, but a slackness around his mouth and eyes. She'd seen him around before, knowing Fast Toes used him for jobs that needed more strength than subtlety, but something had always made her steer clear of him. She looked back to her guildmaster, letting the question show in her eyes.

"That's Blart. His name's probably Bart, or Bartholomew, but ever since getting kicked inna head by a carthorse, he don't say much more than Blart. He was only seven or so when it happened, and you have to treat him like a boy that age...give him one simple task at a time, and don't give him too much to think on...he's just a kid inside, still.

"Make no mistake, lad," Fast Toes left off his posing to give Dapple a serious look, 'he's one of them boys as likes to pull the wings of flies, and kick kittens and kids. He's hurt you just to see the color of your insides, then run off to find himself a new toy. Watch yourself. I seen you take down a Green, and never seen anyone move so fast, but you mind yourself around Blart. That kind of evil is its own power."
Dapple blinked and rubbed her head, considering what Sunset may have been trying to tell her. If a dangerous bully was all they faced, she'd would have likely been reminded of Tonno, so it had to be more than that.

As Arien indicated that they would head north, the little thief nodded, but held up a hand. "This..thing - it's powerful, but there's something childish about it. The taunting, the toying with us, even the dead used like puppets...this thing's intelligent, but not very sophisticated. We need a strategy, because it's got us on the brute strength front."

Dapple thought a little more, then looked to Adrian and Flynn. "This thing uses spiders as guards, and the threads..they're rather spider-like. What's a spider afraid of other than birds? Can either of you bring up the illusion of a big, hungry bird? At the right time, it just may be the distraction we need to get past those threads. "

The poison had succumbed fully to Adiran's immune system, or at least enough for him to function properly once more. Arien's choice to lead the party forward made little difference to Adrian at this point, as his job was to prepare himself physically for the next time battle came as well as mentally for the next arcane attack they would surely face. This entire cursed place was magical, and only really two of them had any idea what sort of power that required to bring about.

Valentine had come to respect Sunset's powers, and made no attempts to block them or do anything other than submit to her visions. A proper warrior used all tools available, if only in a peripheral capacity.

The memories that came back were at the Academy. Boys were showing off to girls, girls were rolling their eyes at boys, and prestidigitations were around every corner. Jealousy ran rampant as girlfriends and boyfriends were traded back and forth, except one student took it to the extreme. His name escaped Adrian but the memory was perfectly intact. Typical Red trainee... more interested in the desired outcome than any possible consequences. Half the reason he began skipping class to train with the Grey's in the first place. The other half being a lazy usage of magic as a crutch, but his feelings on that issue were already well known.

Several minor curses, an accidental demon summoning, and some very angry instructors later the boy found himself placed in "remedial" training (never to be seen again, at least in that form. Surely the Reds found some use for a trainee wizard that could accidentally construct Abyssal gates) and all Red trainees had to attend an extra set of classes on warding and spell awareness.

He took the hint. This thing is powerful, but has no idea about or respect for the abilities it wields. Everyone seemed to get the same message.

"This thing uses spiders as guards, and the threads..they're rather spider-like. What's a spider afraid of other than birds? Can either of you bring up the illusion of a big, hungry bird? At the right time, it just may be the distraction we need to get past those threads. " Dapple had a plan... admittedly he didn't know much about animal behavior. It might work.

"I could turn myself into some kind of bird. I could probably fly as well assuming I don't run into any webs or hit another magical barrier. I am very cautious to use magic around it because of the raw power it wields. Personally I don't think it even understands what it's doing. Sunset's story to me reminded me of an Academy recruit that accidentally summoned a minor demon. Perhaps this thing could do the same - only on a much larger scale? Maybe that is how our two demon friends came into being. If the time line we originally constructed holds then we can still stop it from doing whatever it's doing."

OOC: Excuse my heavy handed approach here to finish off the tower and move you down the corridor. We seem to be lagging in posts lately.

The party sweeps the entire room and finds nothing unusual. The room to the northeast is a storage areas with many blankets, mats pillow and other sundries. A quick peek up the circular ladder reveals only a small watch tower above, un-manned.

Leaving this room, the party finds that the spider bodies have disappeared. They have vanished. leaving only traces of blood, slime and venom as evidence that they were here and not illusions.

Moving down the two flights of stairs through the eastern corridors, the party comes to a hallway branching off south. after Maximus initially looks around the corner to see it is unoccupied. The doors down the hall are all closed. He continues on to check out the door to the north, which is closed but would lead to the other tower and then further down to see the corridor turns south to more stairs down.

The gladiator returns to the party waiting by the first south corridor. Before he can ask which way to go, the sound of a door opening comes from the south. You all look to see something move from the one doorway on the west and across to the door to the east, closing the door quickly behind as it did.

Startled, you all look at each other - did you just see what you thought you saw?

OOC: Check PM's for further details

Well this is not good at all...
"It appears something in this area has the ability to read our minds or at least peer into our memories. I know the man I saw to be dead, barring some unholy and extremely potent magical abilities. But yet he was one of the few Imperials I wholly and fully trusted. This appears to be a trap, or a bait of some kind. We should exercise extreme caution."

Adrian looked to Dapple and Char, a bit dissapointed as to not finding anything interested yet in their search. "So if we were to go through with this bird plan, of what type of bird would I be assuming the shape? I admit I don't know much about spiders and their predators. It's best to get this decided upon now in case our puppetmaster is drawing us to another confrontation."

If only he was more powerful. If only he could shield his mind or better yet deduce what exactly they were facing...

Maximus, along with the rest of his companions had checked out pretty much most of the interior floors and area’s of the Monastery pausing to allow the rest of the party to spread out he continued to follow them and stood blocking the South door. Looking behind him to the south to prevent the possibility of a rear attack, a quick movement caught out of the corner of one eye, was confirmed with both.

Then as suddenly as he had seen it, it was gone but the ex-Gladiator had no doubt at what he had seen.

“Jal?…JAL!” Maximus called first in disbelief and then in surety.

Unable, and perhaps unwilling, to stop himself he made a move towards where the figure of his lost friend had appeared then disappeared..................

The search was yielding nothing, but Char wasn't deterred. The hunt was a game of patience and steadfastness. It was a match of cunning versus instinct, and of knowing the terrain, or at least knowing what the terrain could bring. Char had seen the building from the outside and he could imagine the rooms that filled the interior, painting a picture of it in his head as he crept the halls. When they came upon the area they had dispatched the spiders within, Char held the rest of the party back while he quickly checked the ground for any sign of how they were removed (OOC: Tracking check please).

Moving on Char made his way to the back of the party allowing Maximus to take the lead while he continued to look for any sign or markings of potential threat from anything that would have passed on before. When they arrived at the first southern corridor, he took up watch at the corner while Maximus proceeded on, putting his swords away and notching an arrow and watching the length of both halls with an eagle eye.

When the door opened and Eftari emerged casting Char a single sideways glance before exiting sight, the ranger couldn't contain his surprise. His heart skipped a beat and his stomach clenched all at once. Looking to the others he could see that they too were surprised, and yet how could they know who Eftari was, and why would it surprise them instead of setting them in pursuit. Clearly though, they were as surprised as he.

“Jal?…JAL!” Maximus called first in disbelief and then in surety. The gladiator began to go forward, but Char dropped his bow across his chest and shook his head, for it wasn't Jal that the woodsman had seen and at that point he knew there was foul magic afoot.

"It appears something in this area has the ability to read our minds or at least peer into our memories. I know the man I saw to be dead, barring some unholy and extremely potent magical abilities. But yet he was one of the few Imperials I wholly and fully trusted. This appears to be a trap, or a bait of some kind. We should exercise extreme caution." Adrian declared.

Char looked towards him and gave a nod. "Aye. I' wa' da same fer me. Some-tin wan' us t' go dat way fer sure."

"So if we were to go through with this bird plan, of what type of bird would I be assuming the shape? I admit I don't know much about spiders and their predators. It's best to get this decided upon now in case our puppetmaster is drawing us to another confrontation." Adrain's question was something Char expected from a city-dweller.

"Small bir's eat spi'ers. Large bir's eat mea'," he replied. "Sparrow, robin, er da like."

Replacing the arrow in his quiver, Char slung his bow and drew his swords again. "We canna le' de invi' go. We shou' knock."

Kilgim followed his friends as they explored the room and tower to the north. It appeared to be a simple storage area for the temple's previous - as it now in all misfortune seemed - inhabitants. Having witnessed the power of the creature controlling the dead bodies and summoned spiders, the dwarven cleric had little hope left for finding his fellow clergymen still alive. Not being the most optimistic person out there, Kilgim could only hope some of the priests had found a place they could defend and hold against the attacks of the evil one or better yet, had managed to flee the carnage. Though in his heart he knew the chances for the latter were virtually none. Should someone have escaped, he would no doubt have run straight to the village below.

It was a surprise to Kilgim to see the spiders gone. The gigantic beasts had bled like any living being, but now it appeared they had been summoned through the use of powerful magics. The bald dwarf had next to no understanding on how sorcery worked or what type of spells were needed for such a feat. But logic stated that summoned monsters would be far more common should the magical process be something any wizard considered easy and could handle.

As the group moved on, Kilgim took his place in the rear. In his mind it was the best place for him for two reasons: In the case of a combat situation (which seemed fairly evident to take place), he could easily observe their party to see who needed his help - be it physical or magical. And in the back, the warrior-priest would be able to protect Adrian against any assault coming from the rear or front. Of it "protecting" sounded a bit too boastful, at least Kilgim would be the first to take the surprise blow instead of the unarmored mage. For some reason, despite the seriousness of the situation, the thought made the dwarf chuckle.

Then they reached a hallway heading south and all thoughts of happiness vanished from Kilgim's mind. He felt a freezing chill touch his soul as if some invisible creature had grasped his heart with icy claws. He didn't see the hallway properly from his rear-guard position, but the green eyes did catch one door opening and another one closing. And it was right away clear that he wasn't the only one who'd seen or felt something. Adrian, Maximus and Char had witnessed the same thing as well, but in addition they seemed to have seen someone they knew to be dead passing across the hallway.

Having only held the Blackaxe in his right hand at the ready, Kilgim swiftly drew his second battle axe as well. "Aye. Seems like a trap t'me as well. Perhaps we'd better let our curiosity be 'n check the rest o' the temple first?"

Maximus was sure he had just seen his dead friend Jal move from doorway to doorway and was moving to catch up when he found Char’s bow blocking his path.
For a moment the big ex-gladiator was of a mind to take the bow and snap it in half, but then Adrian’s words finally reached his brain.

"It appears something in this area has the ability to read our minds or at least peer into our memories. I know the man I saw to be dead, barring some unholy and extremely potent magical abilities. But yet he was one of the few Imperials I wholly and fully trusted. This appears to be a trap, or a bait of some kind. We should exercise extreme caution." The Mage declared.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself he nodded his thanks to the Ranger and resumed his place in front of the party......

Flynn, in these last hours, had rapidly come to understand exactly why the tales and songs he had heard of the Heroes of Freegate were so fantastic… What he was having a difficult time comprehending was exactly how those other bards had managed to keep everything straight and in order long enough to be able to weave coherent lyrics or prose from it all. This lot seemed to fall from one fantastic event to another with scarce enough time between each to so much as sneeze, let alone begin to sketch a composition of any sort… he had begun to wonder, in fact, if any of those other bards had ever actually travelled with this troupe and, if any before him had, how they had managed to survive the journey with memory in tact… surely none of them had the time to do so whilst trudging the wilds or the dungeons…

Attacked by puppets and taunted by the puppeteer… chasing down an impetuous cutpurse only to find him scarcely alive… having to see to the lad and his dragonette’s well being (and getting slapped in the face… and scratched on the hand… for the efforts) while the party was simultaneously beset by spiders the size of small ponies… and now this…
Flynn could have sworn that, just a moment ago, he saw the Lady Dionlyspe cross from one door to another in the very room where he now stood with Freegate’s Heroes. The vision, as fleeting as it was, was so clear that he could smell her perfume and hear the rustling silks of her skirts and light falls of her feet as she crossed the floor… and his heart sang for brief moment to see her… until, as similarly bewildered expressions and glances passed from face to face of those around him and the big pit-cat Maximus actually called out for Jal, Flynn came to the realization that what he saw could not possibly have been Irinya… She was dead, after all… He’d not have his fiddle were that not so, would he? The fingers of his left hand curled, almost uncomfortably, about the neck of the instrument even as the fingers on his right sought out the hilt of his scimitar…

"It appears something in this area has the ability to read our minds or at least peer into our memories,” Valentine said, “I know the man I saw to be dead, barring some unholy and extremely potent magical abilities. But yet he was one of the few Imperials I wholly and fully trusted. This appears to be a trap, or a bait of some kind. We should exercise extreme caution."

Char looked towards him and gave a nod. "Aye. I' wa' da same fer me. Some-tin wan' us t' go dat way fer sure..."

Replacing the arrow in his quiver, Char slung his bow and drew his swords again. "We canna le' de invi' go. We shou' knock."

“Aye,” Flynn agreed after a moment spent considering the situation, “Although, I suppose, there’s no need to knock… I believe we’re expected…” His right hand drifted away from the scimitar’s hilt, then, and took hold of his fiddle-bow as the instrument found its way to nestle in the crook of his neck… The bow skipped across the strings and the resultant tune conjured a confidently expectant smile on the half-elf’s lips … “Mayhaps we should just stroll on in and see who all is at the dance, eh?”

The bow was, once more relegated to his left hand and the right, at last, drew the scimitar forth from its slings…

Char looked over at Kilgim with surprise registered on his face. If he were to plan an ambush a distraction of such intriguing subject matter would be a perfect draw...for that matter, it could be a distraction altogether! Keeping them from discovering the true objective while their enemy bolstered their strength. Of course, this was a temple to a benign god, and despite the horrors that had occurred within its hallowed walls, there might be a chance that some good was still present, and the visions his friends and he had just witnessed could be that source's method for drawing them towards some form of assistance--something the ranger felt they most certainly needed especially considering the precognition they'd all had earlier.

Looking from the dwarf to the knight, Char wondered if Arien shared his thoughts. Meeting his friend's eyes he thought he read something of the same within and turned back to the others.

"Do der be any magi' way t' see if'n it be goo' t' follow one way 'er de utter?" he pointed down the hall with his sword. "Dis cou' be goo' er ba', an' Kilgim do say a'nutter goo' er ba' pat'. Der no' be tracks no' markin's t' speak t' me, an' both paths be holdin' meri' an' woe potential.

"If'n we no' 'ave a magi' way t' see, den me 'r Da'Moon can see t' da door 'fore we deci' one way 'er 'nutter. I no' keen o' leavin' dis a' our back be it goo' er ba', an' if'n da god o' dis place 'ave any t' do wit' it still," he looked to Kilgim now. "Couldn'a 'e gran' us a boon t' aid us i' our battle wit' dis' she-demo'?"

(OOC:Just a response... move along)

Adrian took a second to ponder Char's question. He had to translate it, answer it, then re-translate it to a laymen's term.

"Well, magic is very different. It's sort of like weaponry. You don't give an archer a battle axe. The spellcraft of which you speak is something that the late Jal would have been able to perform... probably. I can't. Even if I could, since I believe we are quite literally altering the course of time I doubt it would do us any good.

I don't know which is better tactically... but we shouldn't ignore the bait."

Maximus listened to the talk of caution from Kilgim and Adrian but having not been touched in the last combat and angry over the spider creatures use of Jal’s image so uncaringly had no use for it.

“Bah let us just move forward and kill the evil thing, and if it be a trap we will make it a trap not for us, but for it, and any foe it may call to come before us!”
The huge ex-glad was more then willing to shed the creatures blood in gallons for daring to try and trick him with the image of his dead friend, a friend greatly missed.
Your time draws near creature I will bath in your blood this next eve.!

Dapple listened to the others speaking in hushed tones, her own eyes screwed shut as her insides churned with relief and fear and regret and remembered tragedies. For she'd seen Gart - Amberlynn's man-at-arms, the retired Green who travelled with Amberlynn and her daughter on the gem runs, and kept the jewel shop safe with his grizzled face and battle scarred arms. It was Gart who had found Sapphirine in the alley, Gart who had carried her home, and burned her torn and bloody clothes in the fireplace. It was Gart who, after staring into the fire for a long time, had turned to face Dapple watching warily from the shadows, his grizzled face both wet from tears and resolute with a deep anger. Dapple's training had changed after that, from simple defence and evasion to the killing strikes and devastating kicks that only Greens knew. Unspoken was the understanding of what Dapple would do with the training, and it was the loss of his pride in his former unit that had aged him so fast.

Dapple was relieved to realize that it couldn't be her old trainer she'd seen; the one Green she'd let live. He would have been very old by now, and likely dead, but if it had been him, he'd have only tracked her down for one reason. No matter how ashamed he was by those Greens, he shouldn't have taught his secrets to a monster like you. If it was him, he was coming to right a wrong. Lucky for you it was just a trick.
"If'n we no' 'ave a magi' way t' see, den me 'r Da'Moon can see t' da door 'fore we deci' one way 'er 'nutter. I no' keen o' leavin' dis a' our back be it goo' er ba', an' if'n da god o' dis place 'ave any t' do wit' it still," Char looked to Kilgim. "Couldn'a 'e gran' us a boon t' aid us i' our battle wit' dis' she-demo'?"

Dapple blinked when Adrian responded instead of Kilgim and belatedly she realized how badly distracted she'd been by the apparition. Adrian was most definitely answering an earlier question.

"Bah let us just move forward and kill the evil thing, " Maximus interrupted, " and if it be a trap we will make it a trap not for us, but for it, and any foe it may call to come before us!”

"By all means, man mountain, do go first," Dapple's words may have seemed sarcastic, yet her tone was deadly serious."That blade of yours may save you for a time, and serve as the distraction we need to flank this thing we face. I, for one, agree with Char, though, we should at least verify what lies behind the door of our visions."

She checked her daggers in their sheathes, and drew her hood forward to shade her face, but in the gloom, she waited Arien's word.

"By all means, man mountain, do go first, That blade of yours may save you for a time, and serve as the distraction we need to flank this thing we face. I, for one, agree with Char, though, we should at least verify what lies behind the door of our visions."
Maximus heard the boy’s words and though he knew the young lad spoke seriously could not help but smile at the under lying sarcastic tone. Turning to face him, Maximus gave the boy a nod of acknowledgement, seeing that once more Dapple seemed to be coming back to his old/young self.

The memories of wounds so recently sustained perhaps in the back of the boys mind for the moment........

The party stood for a moment, pondering the events that had just occurred. Two paths available and something that seemed to be leading down one – was it a trap?

“Perhaps I can enlighten our way.” Flynn said as he drew forth a deck of cards from his side pouch. “These are the tool of my people for telling of fortunes and predicting the future. Although I make no claim of clairvoyance, they have guided my path to safety before.” He crouches on the floor, shuffling the deck and then puts down seven cards in a cross pattern on the floor. “All major arcane, I might have guessed,” he mumbles, and then casts a card to the east and another to the south. The one to the south shows a man at a table with a scroll in hand and items on a table before him – The Magician. To the east is a tower, with a lightening bolt crashing down to render the building in half and occupants being cast down from the heights – The Tower.

“That is very clear for a reading.” Flynn says standing again, “Wisdom and knowledge lies to the south while destruction and chaos await us to the east.”

“I’ll take Wisdom then over the chaos.” Arien says, “Dapple, check the door our host is leading us toward. Maximus – stand ready to open the door.”

The corridor to the south has three doors, two on the left and right across from each other and another at the end. Dapple checks the right side for traps and then nods to Maximus. The gladiator steps forward to open the door, with weapon at ready as Dapple moves back to the shadows.

The room is a library, a very large library with books and scrolls on shelves that go head to toes on all available walls. Toward the back of the room near the far wall is a large desk with a few book on it, a ink pot, a stand with quills, and a tall wooden chair. There is a musty smell in this room that one associates with paper and dust. There is no one in the room and no signs of anyone passing within.

As the party enters the room to look around, everyone gets a feeling of safety and protection – as if the tension of the temple and the mission has been left behind in the corridor. Kilgim knows this feeling, having felt it before in temples and churches – the room is a protected sanctuary. Even Sunset, who has been on edge since entering the temple, seems to relax on Dapple's shoulder.

As you start to look around for things that might be of interest, suddenly one of the books on the desk opens and the cover makes a loud noise as it hits the desk. *CRASH* The pages flip violently and then settle – opened to about three quarters through the tome’s content. There was no wind to cause it to open, and no one was close enough to touch the book.