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Forbidden Temple of the Great Falls

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She shifted, Feathers hopped off and began to waddle around the open space, happy to be able to stretch his wings again.

Mary got up and ran heavily into the monk's arms, sobbing all the way, her tiny hands gripped at the back of his robe as she continued to cry.

"I-I'm so-orry M-M-" the words were cut off and turned into indistinguishable mumbling as she buried her face in his shoulder, small arms holding her tight against him.
 
"Shhh, there there...." Zato tried to calm the girl. Thoughts already raced through his head, namely, what to do with Mary. They had already traveled too long to turn back on a mission this urgent..... But, could she really be properly cared for without the individuals on this quest? No doubt she only came from a fear of loneliness, given the events just a few weeks ago.... He would have to consult the others, but first.....
But first, he would hold Mary until she stopped crying. At least he could assure her that much.
 
Urist was very worried.

He knew this was not normal for a warrior such as himself.

This worried him even more.

He chose this moment to move towards the smithy wordlessly.

'Ey ought to 'ave knives, forks, swords, ladles, axes...
 
Valetni turned a curious eye towards Urist as he began to edge away from the rest of the group, but shrugged. The guards would keep an eye on him, it was not concern of his.

He silently turned, and made his way towards the barracks, directing one of the guards to take his chest for him, and be careful with it lest he doom them all.
 
Sergeant Belatia, after having directed the Truckwell siblings to guard Urist as he sought his way to the armory, stared at the happening around Zato and the suddenly-emerged Mary. Blinking once, she made her way over "Mary, what are you doing here?" she asked, her tone sharp.

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On closer inspection, the sculpture, easily twelve feet tall, had carvings to signify open, bleeding wounds, flowing over the memorial's entire body, over ropes into the well.

Apparently, the Hellguard's desperate digging in ancient times had unveiled a priorly untapped source of fresh water, though not to be used by the revealers, instead by those to come after them. With the 'blood' flowing in, the message was easy to be interpretated: "With our blood, we grant life."
Morr began to kneel before the statue, uncaring for his aged body's protests, bowing his head in apparent reverence. The taint was persistent, however, his knowledge that this gesture was made without true human reverence, or rather the lack of capability to show human reverence, filling him with the same self-hate he always felt when he looked at milady Mary.
 
The gryphon walked alongside the wagon at full pace, wincing with each step but not requesting a slower pace. He spent the time silent, staring ahead down the road, but without an aerial vantage point his eyesight could only do so much; still, whenever the caravan crested a hill he would briefly stop and survey the terrain ahead.

On seeing their destination, Swiftbeak sighed with both relief, and some amount of sadness at the devastation of the surrounding landscape; not that he had any particular love for trees, but the hunting in these parts would certainly be poor. Still, beggars can't be choosers...

The mention of his name drew his attention, and he looked with some confusion at the Hellguard which reluctantly addressed him as 'sir'; waiting a moment to ensure he had heard properly before bowing his head lightly. His expressionless face hid his swell of pride.

"Thank you. I was pleased I was able to lend my aid; it is the first time this body has been of benefit to anyone but myself."

As the group began to split around him, the gryphon turned to head back to the wagon; he had wanted to ensure Zato would not need assistance in navigating the fortress. He opened his beak to speak, and-

Quack.

His eyes snapped to the now-revealed Mary, briefly blazing with fury; thankfully, her face was hidden in the monk's robes and spared her the sight of his anger. He calmed himself before speaking, and wary that the girl was already upset, he addressed Zato rather than her directly.

"This fortress, and this mission, is no place for a civilian, let alone a child. We must tell Sir Morr of this immediately." Aware of the girl's state and proximity, he tried to keep his voice level but firm.
 
His guards were distracted, and so Urist took the moment to lunge towards the smithy.

Armory'd 'ave a key, I reckon, an' 'ere oughtta be 'least a smithin' 'ammer in 'ere, could b' good 'gainst demons 'an 'ere lot.

He tried to use his injured arm to open the door, winced, and then pushed the door open with his other arm.
 
Vanessa got off the wagon and ignoring everyone but Urist. She followed the man knowing he was supposed to be gaurded. she had the dagger in her hand in case he attacked.
 
Urist was happy to find the smithy empty, aside from himself and many metal things.

He shuffled about on the shelves for a moment, found an unusually small hammer, seemly for carpentry. Can't 'ey juss' use a bigg'r 'ammer fer' th' small nails? Putting the thought aside, he tested the weight of the weapon, found it to be good enough, and stowed it in his pack, under some stale bread.

Continuing his search for weapons, he located half a bottle of... something... under a shelf, shrugged, and took that too.
 
"She was already here when I found her" Zato said to the approaching two.

"We.... should give her a moment before she explains; she seems quite distraught" he asked.
 
Benjamin Truckwell, along with his sister Carmen Truckwell, had managed to lose the still under suspicion of demon-possession standing Urist out of their eyes in their surprise of having Mary suddenly tumble out of a barrel.
Carmen kept, as always, relatively calm and Benjamin had learned long ago that panicking had been one of the reasons that his four brothers, eight cousins and two family pets had died the most unlikely of deaths, thus he too tried to keep his calm as they began to search, asking the resident Hellguards whether they had seen a man with a bandaged arm.
 
Valetni opened the chest once the guard had left. Only cracking the lid, he slipped his arm in and felt around until his fingers grasped the smooth finish of his journal. He retrieved the journal, and then took up a pencil from inside his robes. Allowing the lid to close, he locked it with a key that hung from a chain around his neck. With the chest secured, he unsteadily made his way to the bed. Just as he sat down, a fit of coughing overtook him. When the wracking cough finally subsided, he glanced at his hand, and seeing no blood, merely wiped it on his robes before he took up his journal and began to note down his observations of the dissection while they were still fresh in his mind.
 
Vanessa stood outside of the door watching the man close. She shook her head in wounder at how the man was taking stuff with out asking. She did not shocked for her uncle try the same thing. She thought bought what she should do.
 
Mary pulled her head away from Zato's shoulder, the crying had stopped and she was quiet now. The well-used sleeves rubbed the girl's red eyes and face, wiping away the damp tears.

"I-I really am sorry..." she muttered

"...I just didn't want you to go on your own..." she continued, face hidden by the sweater's sleeves and dipped hood.

The small duck ruffled it's tail feathers and stretched it's wings, looking curiously around the new scenery.
 
Following the directions granted by the other Hellguards, the Truckwell siblings ran to the smithy, passing by Vanessa, inside, to see Urist rifling through a shelf.
Carmen immediately attempted to grab the huge man, pulling him back, which was helped by his still damaged arm, while Benjamin lay a hand onto the grip of the heavy crossbow that sat on his back, just to be sure "What have you been doing here, man?" he asked sternly.

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"That's no excuse, Mary, you're in danger here, can't you understand that?" Belatia replied sharply, while waving private Aron to her "Private, tell sir Morr of this, I suggest he has her sent back tomorrow with two of us as escort."

Nodding, the Hellguard Aron set off, letting Belatia turn her attention back to Mary who still clung to brother Zato "Brother, I suppose you are going to take care of her for the rest of the day?"
 
"I suppose I should, since she came for me anyways" Zato said, turning his head towards the voice.
He considered it for a moment. He was old, and since Mary was stubborn enough to follow them.... he considered returning with her to the temple. That decision could wait, though.
 
Urist froze, thought fast, and turned.

"I were, eh, drinkin' thas' what! I was drinkin' an' dinna' wanna share any of th' drink!" he stated quickly, turning, and holding the bottle he had picked up in hand. "But now ya' got me, an' I guess I'll be sharin' if you gots a mug!"

He truly wished he had a free hand to ready a weapon with.
 
"Thus, milady Mary tumbled out of the barrel, revealing that she had been with us for the entire duration of this journey?" Morr asked, to be answered by another nod from soldat Aron "It is truly astounding how you managed to tell me that using only a series of nods and silent stares."

She just shrugged.

Looking at the soldat for another moment, Morr made his way back to the wagon.

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"Drinking. In the smithy. Right." Detaching the crossbow, he began to load it "Carmen, search him, he's probably managed to hide a weapon on him somewhere."

Nodding, Carmen began her search. But even after a good fifteen minutes, she found nothing.

"Huh, looks like you're clean after all. I could have sworn... alright then, move." gesturing to the open door, he unloaded the crossbow and clasped it back on "Back to the wagon, or the barracks if you want to sleep."

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Reaching the carriage, soldat Aron following behind, the small figure of milady Mary was only barely visible as she clung to brother Zato, giving Morr a good excuse to again avoid looking at her, turning to weibel Belatia instead "As per your suggestion, I will see to it that she is sent back tomorrow with an escort, but for today, let the men rest." shifting his view to brother Zato, Morr asked the elderly monk "Brother Zato, your condition will impede your orientation in this foreign environment, do you wish for me to assign one of the Hellguards to show you the way?"

Looking over the resident Hellguards commencing in their unloading of the wagon's last supplies, Morr raised his voice to let everyone hear "I am going to speak to the commander now, if you wish to hear his clarifications from his own lips, I suggest you follow me. Otherwise, I will inform you when we are assembled in the barracks."
 
"That would be quite nice, thank you" Zato replied, nodding his head.

"But, Mary, are you alright? You must have been in that barrel an awfully long time."
 
The girls tiny voice whispered in response to Morr and Zato's conversation.

"I did come out at night, I ran out of things to eat early on, so I had to come out to borrow food..." her face still covered by her sleeves and hood she began to step away from Brother Zato, the young lady's shoe-clad feet kicking slightly at the ground beneath her as the miniature body swung back and forth slightly.

"b-but I could help Mister Zato..." the damp sleeves lowering slightly so that only her large eyes were visible.

"If you'll let me..." the eyes blinked, and, still slightly red from the earlier bout of crying, peered out at Mister Morr and Mister Zato.
 
Vanessa quickly put the dagger away and walked away. She saw she was not needed. she then made her way back to the wagon. She saw mary and smirked but said nothing. She started looking at the food for ideas incase they wanted a meal.
 
The gryphon swung its head back and forth in a gesture of disapproval, but there was nothing he could do about the situation except silently assure himself that the Hellguard would keep the girl out of his way. That duck, however, had tumbled out of the barrel with her; clearly, it must have been a barrel of food. Tired, hungry, and made impatient by his wound, the gryphon walked over to the small creature, still stretching its wings, and tried to pluck it off the ground with his beak.
 
The duck moved, quacking loudly at its attacker, it stretched its wings out to make himself seem bigger and began pecking it's own beak out at the much larger bird-thing.

A sharp pain suddenly emerged between the Griffon's eyes, springing up rapidly on his beak...

"NO, BAD BEAKY, BAD." Mary had produced her stick again, and was rapping it down upon the great creature's head and beak as she addressed it like a small child.

"STOP, BAD BOY, YOU NO EAT MISTER FEATHERS." her voice was strict and firm, a perfect imitation of the one that everyone used so often on her.

"BE A GOOD BIRD BEAKY, YOU TWO BE FRIENDS." the girl's face was level with the Griffon's now.

"NO~. EAT~. YOU UNDERSTAND? NO~. EAT~." she drew the words out to make sure he could understand her.

The small girl now stood between the two birds, one hand on her hip as she held the index finger of her other little hand close to the Large Creatures face, pointed out at the Griffon in the same way one would a bad dog.
 
At the sight of the little girl standing before the gryphon, several of the resident Hellguards began to pull out and load their crossbows.

"Put your weapons down!" intoned the gravelly voice of the massive knight that was Morr "Sir Swiftbeak is not going to hurt her, this I swear by the flesh that I yet possess. Besides that, fire at him now and you risk hitting milady Mary."
His command made some of the Hellguards stop, while others looked at him with unbelief, denying the order.
 
The gryphon felt something tap its head, and stopped its jaws- Inches from the duck's flesh. It pecked ineffectually at his tongue.

Swiftbeak lifted his head and watched Mary berate him with obvious confusion, ears folding back; as much as she was scolding him like a confused puppy, he almost looked like one as he tried to piece together the source of her temper. It was just a duck, right? Why did it have a name?

And then it donned on him. While he would have scoffed at the idea of keeping livestock as a pet, this did not seem the time.

"My... apologies, Mary. I did not know this duck was your pet. I will refrain from eating..." He blinked, and breathed deep, trying to retain his dignity. "...Mr. feathers."

Looking up from the girl, he noticed he was standing amidst a crowd of Hellguards, many raising their weapons, apparently ready to lay down their lives.

"...Just how many of you are friends with this duck?"
 
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