Gwythe looks at the weapon rack and shrugs, and then picks up the second sword and tucks it into his belt on the other side. He takes a few steps and then adjusts their placement to try and make them more comfortable, and then walks over to the table and peers in puzzlement at the piece of paper.

Tindo flattens out the parchment and is relieved when it does not burst into flames or anything else. As Gwythe approaches he can see that there are some written lines on the parchment.

[Private to Gwythe; Tindoome Uurraumo: The note reads:

Final offer... and it would be wise to accept, the earth temple will not rule for long.

Six female slaves of great beauty, military adviser to the fire temple, a flaming sword of great power and a ring of fire elemental control.

Reply via the courier. Retain pretense of allegiance to the earth temple and that scum Romag but the wizard must die as proof of your acceptance.

]

Gwythe looks at the paper for a second, tilts his head and then shakes it with a shrug, looking at Tindo. "What does it say?"

Tindoome clears her trought and reads aloud after having read for her self




Final offer... and it would be wise to accept, the earth temple will not rule for long.

Six female slaves of great beauty, military adviser to the fire temple, a flaming sword of great power and a ring of fire elemental control.

Reply via the courier. Retain pretense of allegiance to the earth temple and that scum Romag but the wizard must die as proof of your acceptance.



This message was last edited by the player at 16:56, Tue 19 Aug 2008.

Kalador stepped over and said,"Tindoome, that sounds interesting, but what do you suppose it means? Does it say who wrote it or to whom it was written?" He stood with the bow leaning up against his left shoulder.

"Make sure the council sees that note when we return to the village. The mage might be able to discern something further from it."
"I think it is time to move on."

"Sounds like a bribe," Iviana offers.  "Probably to the previous owner of Gwythe's new sword.  Though..."  She trails off a little, looking troubled, and then shakes her head.  "I read a book, once, that talked about the Temple, and an attempt to control the elemental forces."

Arek snorted, shaking himself awake where the wall leant against him for support.
"Eh? Wha's goin on? Why're y' all stan'in about? We g' a ruin ta clear ou'."

Kalador nodded,Iviana's explanation made sense to him. He said,"I think Arek is right. Let's get going." He prepared to follow Arek or Ronalt, whoever decided to lead the group.

Gwythe pulls one of the swords out and swings it experimentally, and then steps back into the corridor from whence they came. He walks slowly forward, waiting for someone with a light to follow him, peering into the darkness.

Once he reaches the stairs [26 on the map] he will stop and look at them for a few seconds.

[Private to GM: Where do those stairs lead? Or are they part of the trap, I can't make sense of it from the map.]

"We bin 'ere before."
The butt of Areks staffsling prodded at the rubble underneath the raised portcullis.
"Kee' goin' up tha' way."
His grey beard poked towards the main stairway and what they assumed used to be the ogres lair

Leading with the lantern lighting the way ahead of them Ronalt walked with his sword drawn ready for trouble. ~ogres, just what we need now.~

The party retraced their steps to the west then continued to the base of the stairs.  looking up those that had come in from above before recognised the area.  There was a tunnel leading to the north that they had used to access this level before.  That time they had been halted by a battle on the surface that almost overwhelmed them. The portcullis that had proved a trial leaned against the wall useless.

Ahead there was blank wall which clearly must contain a secret door, if the map was correct. The map 'extracted' from the goblin had described this as containing mage ogre what ever that might mean.

[Private to Gwythe: The markings might mean the old portcullis but then again....]

Kalador had his sword drawn as well. He kept a close eye on their surroundings. Just what were mage ogres? Kalador thought that he probably didn't really want to know the answer to that. He tried to look for any secret door that might be there as well.

Tindoome frowned at the taught of that particular connection of words but she shook her head cursed at her own lacking experience in the art and took a deep breath before glancing at the leaders. She her self stood at the back as usual "The goblin might have just bin impressed, but watch out if that’s really what he told us this might get messy. " She was speaking in a hushed whisper "If we open the door and there is a bunch of them on the other side, don’t rush in I will flood the room with the wile stinking mist and that will brake them up. You can chop down the ones that come at the doors with notions of fresh air"

Kalador nodded and made ready to defend himself.

Ronalt was ready, the use of tactics finally made him smile. The group was starting to think together than as individuals.

"Sounds good," Iviana nods her own agreement, flipping her flail up to rest across her shoulder.

Gwythe looks in confusion at the door, but pulls out a sword and stands slightly to the side of the door, waiting ready.

The party seem to have an excellent plan and everyone takes their places, then waits.  The closed door in front remained closed....

Ronalt gestures for another to open the door with his blade as he has both hands already full.

Gwythe shrugs and reaches out and opens the door, quickly stepping back to the side of the doorway.

The door opens into a darkened room.  By the light of their torches they could see this was, or had been, some sort of alchemist's laboratory. Benches covered with strange apparatus now mostly smashed lined the far wall. Shelves with jars of reagents and odd looking animal parts the wall on their left. A door was opposite them and another in the same corner on the left wall.  All was quiet.

"Hmmmm, bat wings and newt eyes. We should let those gifted in arcane have a look inside to see if anything can be salvaged for use."
"Lets secure the far door before we search."
Ronalt illuminated the room, walls and ceiling with his lanterm to make sure nothing lurked in the darkness before moving the far door to listen.

Tindoome patiently waits for her companions to take guard at the other doors before moving into the room and starting a very careful and thorough examination of its contents looking in each place even going trough the truble of looking under every object and peering under benches to make shore she doesn’t miss anything knowing full well how secretive a bunch are wizards