Chapter 2:
As the group walks around town the next morning, they're approached by a man in green.
The man introduces himself as 'Kolsc' and proceeds to speak what is an obviously rehearsed speech.
"What is it you want us to do?"
The group discusses the matter amongst themselves in hushed whispers.
"We just got here... and we need Raedric's permission to settle. This sounds like a bad idea. Kolsc may be right about Raedric being a bad leader, but look at that tree! I don't want us to end up there!"
"There's more to this than meets the eye. What's Kolsc's angle here?"
"Who cares what his angle is? Just say something that'll make him go away. All morning we've heard villagers gossiping about the underground Temple of Eothas. We need to check it out for good loot.."
Firedorn looks back at the Giant Tree, at all those poor villagers strung up and left to hang there. She makes her decision.
"I will find Raedric and deal with him."
With Kolsc satisfied, the group is free to check out the underground Temple, specifically any treasures and loot they could find.
"Shut up, kid. We go where we want."
The group descends down the stairs and soon find themselves underground. They're hailed by an injured man leaning against the wall.
It seems he had a request for the group, regarding the former Priests who once worshiped here.
After agreeing to find the remains of the departed clergymen, the group leaves the stairs behind and step into the proper Temple area.
They step into a dimly lit chamber, suddenly the world spins and swirls for Firedorn. The Paladin asks the group to halt as she begins to see things in a purple-pinkish haze.
"Is... anyone else seeing this?"
The group shrugs in confusion. Seeing what?
The group leaves the chamber, with Firedorn struggling to keep up. The weird visions and noises continue to haunt her, room after room.
After closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and attempt to suppress the strangeness, she leads the group around the old, dinky halls of this place. They find several books, notes and the blurred vision starts to die down. Relieved, Firedorn straightens her posture and leads the group more confidently. However, they soon find themselves in a predicament. Whatever beasts got to Wirtan were still out in force.
Using her newly acquired Blunderbuss, Johnnie Walker blasts the Skuldr Whelp into oblivion. Spiros and Firedorn charge at the larger Skuldr, ensuring that the others are well protected.
The weight of numbers soon becomes too much for the Skuldr, and they're quickly overwhelmed by the group.
After clearing more rooms and hallways filled with creatures, the group comes across three large bells, next to a massive locked door. The door presumably led deeper into the Temple, where the bodies of the priests would be.
The group attempts to reason their course of action.
"The note we found suggested that the big bell comes second, not first. So that's the middle bell I assume."
"How do we even know if the Bells open the door? There should be a key somewhere in the area that does the trick."
"Right Hand tone... first or last..."
The group turns to Firedorn.
"Are you okay, Firedorn?"
Ignoring Dobby, Firedorn walks over to the bells. She rings the bell on the right first. Then she rings the bell in the middle, and then the bell on the left side, before ringing the right side bell once more.
Firedorn leads the stunned group down the stairs. How did she learn how to do that?
Exploring the empty rooms and hallways of this lower Temple level, the group takes what loot they can find. Books, scrolls and some gold here and there.
They eventually come across a small room, right at the end of the structure. The group enters the room, and finds it littered with dead bodies. The priests.
Firedorn notices a purple glow emanating from one of the corpses, and reaches out to touch it.
"I'm sorry, I hope you find some peace in the next life."
As the spirit fades away, Firedorn moves to gather their remains. The others in the group were stunned by what they had just witnessed, and it would surely be a topic of discussion once they had returned back to the Inn.
In the meantime, the companions kept their questions to themselves and aided Firedorn in bringing the remains back to Wirtan. Besides, Firedorn was visibly shaking with anger. Best not to push the issue now. At least the trip back upstairs was uneventful. With the way clear, they didn't have any issues coming back the way they came.
"You lied to me, Wirtan. Those priests. You let them die!"
"How could you betray them? They trusted you."
"You worthless bastard. You abandoned them to save your own skin."
Firedorn sighs. She wouldn't kill the man in cold blood, though arguably he deserved it. Yet handing him over to Raedric would probably yield him the same fate. The priests were long dead, their spirits finally able to move on.
"It's not too late to make amends, Wirtan. Bury their bones like you promised, and try to live a better life than you have so far."
Sensing four pairs of inquisitive eyes at her back, Firedorn leads the group back to town. Undoubtedly, her companions had plenty of questions that needed asking, and answering too. But that would have to wait until another time.
Spoiler
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