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Forbidden Temple of the Great Falls

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Zato slammed his cane on the ground, catching the attention of the few monks who had started coming in for lunch, and anyone else
"Attention!" he called, his voice was loud, and more firm.
"I have just become aware that there is an extremely toxic substance in the library. I want all of you to spread the word, and rope off that area. Am I clear?"
 
Alyssa decided to remain behind and finish breakfast. Her matters could wait for the time being, particularly once she had found some wooden spoons. Retrieving the bowl and box she made her way into the dining hall and found a couple familiar faces who were settled down for a game of cards after their night watch. Sitting down next to them she swapped some stories while they got her up to date with the latest gossip and deeds that had taken place within the Temple's walls.

Having finished the stew and lost considerably miserably in several rounds of guards Alyssa threw in the towel and left the small group in good spirits. Too used to taking care of her own dishes on the road she headed back to the kitchen to wash up the bowl and spoon herself rather than dump it on an initiate.

Entering the kitchen she found it empty of the commotion from earlier, some of the younger initiates here were busy cleaning and in the midst of food preparations. One girl seen Alyssa standing a bit awkwardly, unsure of where to go to stay out of the way and she wandered away from her wash basin and forcibly took the bowl and spoon away.

"T-thanks." She choked out at the abrupt nature of it, damn kids.

She didn't hear Zato or the one new monk, Al was his name, arrive. Alyssa did however hear the sharp crack of the cane which brought her, and everyone else's attention on the blind monk. Watching them go right to work like obedient little bees left her with a stir of pride at seeing everyone responding quickly and clearly. The monks were not ones for idle hands. Unsure of her own place in this maneuver she approached the pair.

"Toxin in the library? Was there anyone inside when it happened?"
 
"I'm not sure. I think Mary, Korsarro, and Arngeirr were, with Vernasus and Valetni. Speaking of which, have you seen the first three?" Zato replied.
 
"God... we're just wasting valuable time here."

Brother Vernasus shakes off his better judgement, and shoves open the door. He grits his teeth and lets out an audible growl as a foul substance spills out on top of him from a bucket and he feels a stinging sensation underfoot as he steps into the room.

"I swear, when I get my hands on him!"
"Arn... watch your step."

He quickly raids the cupboard and grabs the bottles before tossing an old stained rag to the huge man.
"Pee on that damn thing and wrap it around your face. We may need your help in the library"

With that, he sprints off once again back to the library as fast as he possibly can. He opens the door and shoves both bottles into Valenti's hands.
 
"MEOW-MEOW Mister Kor!" she giggles

"Thank you for the gift!"

she pads over to the Quack cupboard to show them her new clothing

"Look what Mister Kor gave me!" she squeaks excitedly at them.
 
Argeirr mutters curses and prayers to Hel under his breath as he listen to Veransus. He holds the rag, having not yet relieved himself upon it.

"I say, brother Veransus," the anger in Arngeirr's huge voice is beginning to seep through, "I say I must attend to this relic. I can do only so much with one hand and I cannot allow it to be damaged in this fiasco. I apologize, noble monk, but I must first return it to the reliquary and perhaps leave it under guard before I can render any aid. I am useless while I am forced to carry this box."
 
Knowing Zato's sense of hearing was much superior to her own, she let him surmise that Kor and Mary had been found. Arngeirr despite his self-professed huge stature was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

"I can't say I have, last I knew he had taken off with you for the reliquary."
 
Korsarro jumped up, waving his arms inside the kitchen "Me, Mary and the huge man got out fine, Arn is heading back to library to see what he can do though I think" he shouted, hoping his words would reach Zato. He turned to Alyssa "Your days on the road have clearly left you unused to the spoiling we get here." he chuckled quietly to himself. He turns back to Mary and nods happily "Make sure you wear the damn thing when the alarms go off, alright? It'll protect you."
 
"Thank you Brother." Valetni coughs, "Now flee!"

And with that, he sets to work.
Quickly dousing the largest concentrations, the leather gloves soon begin to dissolve from the byproduct.
By the time he is done, Valetni staggers to the door, coughing bloody spittle with every step. He manages to knock once, his charred, twisted hands screaming in pain, a second time, weakly, and then collapses in front of the closed door.

Regret.
 
"Good, make sure they stay away from the library. What a mess this is...." Zato said as he started to calm.
 
Vernasus made his way out of the room, as fast as he could and made it out into the hallway.

Before he had time to think on his now UTTERLY IMMENSE hatred for a member of his own brotherhood, his head became light and he promptly passed out as the floor rushed up to greet him.
 
Thanks to proper directions this time, Morr found his way with relative ease, entering the hall. It was as he had imagined, an array of tables with banks and chairs, of course practical in its nature. Along with some servants, he also spotted the man who had tried to give him some of his brew, the blind one, he remembered.
Also a female in armor, which he could only find irritating but supposed she had to hail from another country with... different traditions.
He also heard the old man's alarming speech.

Asking for one of the guards to alert brother Blake just in case, Morr made his way over to the old monk "Hail, brother monk, I have recovered, I hear there are problems, is it in the range of my capabilities to help?"

He supposed that provision would have to wait for now.
 
The small girl reads the picture book to the baby Quacks sitting in the cupboard, showing them the pictures and laughing as they quack.
 
Regret.

It was one thing Valetni had forever carried with him. Regret for so many actions, for so many words.

If he could only have gone back...

The Jealousy, the Rage, the Fire, the Screams. Yes, that event twenty eight years still held much regret for him, so much regret that even now he was trying to put things right.

But even deeper, even further back, there was regret.

Vernasus. A name.

Brother Vernasus, a person, an acquaintance, a friend, a rival and then finally an enemy.

There was much that Valetni regretted, and as the cold, impassionate embrace of death brought him into its arms, Valetni felt Regret.

And then he felt nothing.
 
Alyssa made a note of the particularly tall armored figure. She didn't recognize the armor intimately, but the make of it was familiar to her. Exceptionally well made heavy plate. Likely a newer member or maybe a visitor. Regardless, he seemed interested in helping which was a good point for him.

Korsarro's excited presence pulled her attention away from Morr and Zato.

"Yeah, don't want to get to used to it though. Might get a bit soft."

She gave her half-smirk and nodded at Kor's midsection. Overhearing Zato's confirmation that things were under control and they were relatively safe she motioned Kor over when she settled down at a table full of potatoes in varying states of being peeled.

Giving a conspiratorial look at the short monk she gestured towards the box.

"Want to see what I picked up? It's fine if we just look, don't pull the damn thing out though."
 
It was cold.

It was cold and he was crying.


He couldn't remember, there was something... the temple... something had happened, something important.

No, that was silly? There was no temple. Only his father. His father wrapping him up in a basket as the demons tore through the city. Screaming and burning, and his mother in a red pool on the floor, and that smell... OH GOD THAT SMELL.

He remembered the cart. The cart that took him away, as the city burned. He remembered his father crying as he turned his back on little crying baby vernasus and charged towards the horrible, horrible monsters.


And then he remembered Zato. The first face he ever saw as the cart rider knocked on the huge temple doors and ran. He remembered the quiet whispers telling him not to be afraid. He remembered... and he... he remembered never letting himself be afraid again.
 
Korsarros face could barely contain the joy that filled him at those words "YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES!" he shouted, quickly covering his mouth and nodding, all the while half-giggling to himself. He moved from foot to foot, his eyes fixated on the box and nothing else, save for occasionally looking over excitedly to Alyssa. He pokes his belly as he waits "It's not too bad... Just more mead than practice these days is all!" He looks back up grinning, still hopping from one foot to the other before staring at the box once again "come on come on, I'm gonna end up burning off all the mead at this rate!" He chuckles to himself.
 
"It's nice that everything is under control, but should not Valenti and Vernasus be here to confirm that fact?" Al's tone carries equal measures of worry and wondering as his opinion is voiced.
 
Appearing from nowhere, the huge man Arngeirr arrives in the kitchen. He is still toting the huge box containing what has become known as the Shame of Anvindr. His face is like a stony mask, sullied with simmering fury. He sits down at a table, the box set in front of him. He glares straight forward, his eyes starting off into nothing, little more than pools of swirling madness.

He was Arngeirr Anvindrson. And this was shaping up to be an awful day.
 
Carefully Alyssa produced a brass key and undid the lock, opening the wooden top gently. Inside was red velvet cushioning and tied down gently with quality fabric was a simple series of pale white, fluted chimes. The material was made of bone, the donor was unknown to Alyssa but the acid etched sigils lining the lengths of the hollowed bones marked it clearly as a daemonic vessel.

She opened her mouth to tell Korsarro about how she got it when Arngeirr stormed in, his gregarious demeanor replaced with an overtly aggressive one. The huge man positively smoldered, putting even Vern's legendary temper to shame.

"Arngeirr," Alyss'a voice was soft, a sharp or loud note would not help any, she simply wanted to gauge if he was aware of his surrounding or was brooding deep in thought. "You seem...out of balance."
 
He was just lying there, like Mister Rattles...

"M-M-m....."

she was scared

"M-Mister, Mister Vern?"

he wasn't moving...

She shook his arm again

"P-Please wake up Mister Vern..."

her eyes filled with tears

"Don't leave me..."
 
Al forgets his concerns as the normally mountainous Arngeirr storms in. His hugeness seems to have switched from alpine to volcanic in the short interim; the gentleman seems positively furious.
 
Brother Vernasus begins to awake from his stupor as he feels the warm tears dropping onto his face.

He opens his eyes to the sight of Mary crying over him.

"Don't... don't worry little one, I'm still here." He takes a moment to try and clear his foggy head, and his eyes grow wide as he begins to fully comprehend the situation.

I'm still in the hallway, and... oh gods.

"Mary! Where is Brother Valenti?"
 
Again his request for nourishment had to wait when the man whom he had earlier dared entrusting the defence of Mary to, who was, unlike any other man he had met in his life, on eye-level with him, stormed into the room. Although the man was visibly seething, Morr grasped his resolve and walked over to him

"Sir, if you would allow me, I would like to offer you my thanks, for taking care of milady- Mary."
 
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