Chapter 3 – Yuan ti temple
The next morning the Trio awake to cold chill in the air and a grey cloudy sky, they gather their equipment, sharpen their weapons and getting the mission details and map from the guild before they begin to head out into the forest that the temple is said to be in. Una leads them through the forest using her knowledge of nature to find any track marks made in the forest floor "the morning due may be hiding some of the tracks and it appears it has rained in this area over night, tracking will be tricky" she says whilst kneeling to the ground inspecting the soil and grass.
After many hours of travel through damp and dense forest Una begins to noticed small speckles of blood on the ground around her feet, followed quickly by marks in the ground and the bark of the trees. She kneels to the ground then stands to the nearest trees inspecting them closely the pauses for a few seconds, "a skirmish when down here" she says inspecting the marks on the ground again "many creatures walked through here it looks as though one tried fighting, but was not successful" she follows worn path then looks to a small bush and reaches in pulling out a severed finger and shows the other two, both with a slight cringe on their faces "well at least we are on the right track" Victor says while slowly drawing his sword, "we are getting close" says Una " from now on we be as quiet as possible draw your weapon Krum you may need it soon".
The group travel on at a much slower pace, carefully stepping and looking around in all directions with caution for the next couple of hours until at last they come to a parting in the forest and can see a large opening in the trees with a tall pyramid style temple in the middle of the clearing. The temple is built of a yellowish stone and seems well crafted with snake ornaments at each corner of the pyramid. Each side has a staircase leading to the top and each side has an opening on every other level, "we go there? " Krum askes quietly as he is able and points towards the temple, "yes but first we need to find the best way in" says Victor pulling out the map they where given by the guild " according to the information we were given most of the prisoners seem to be kept on the bottom floor through the entrance straight ahead with only a few, like our departed source being kept in cells in other levels. We also know that most the sacrificing seems to be done on the tip of the pyramid, with that the last tier before the tip is most likely where the Queen resides, my suggestion is we circle around the pyramid to the east, we climb the first level and enter through the second level opening. From there we go through floor buy floor until we find the Queen's Chambers, we do this as quietly as possible and avoid a fight as much if we can".
Krum looks confused and is just staring at Victor as if the words just went through one ear and out the other until he shakes his confusion and askes"so we no kill snakes?", "im sorry Krum, but they almost certainly out number us and if we alert too many we may be overrun, the best course of action is too only take out those who cannot be avoided, if we follow this route" he says gliding his finger across the map "we should get round most pathways seeing as much of the temple as possible and still avoid any Yuan ti when we can, do you both agree?", both Una and Krum nod, Victor carefully packs up the map and they all stealthily walk through the edge of the forest round to the east of the temple carefully looking about for any signs of movement coming from the temple.
Once they are at the forests Edge Victor looks up at the sky and notices the clouds beginning to part and a bright sun beaming through the gaps onto the temple and forest "it may be a good day after all" he says smiling to the others. After a quick scout around they quietly sneak across the opening up to the staircase leading up the pyramid, as soon as they get to the second level Victor takes the lead with Una following and Krum behind all holding their weapons as they begin to move into the opening quietly. Looking around they see a long corridor made of the same yellow stone with carvings of serpents and Yuan ti people across the walls, it has lit torches every few meters on the walls lighting the way nicely. After a few feet into the entrance and they begin to hear a strange hissing noise.
Using hand signals Victor leads them further on, slowly step by step until they see a small in Cove to the left of the corridor, there slanted against the wall holding a spear is a well built humanoid creature with a snakehead and scaly shoulders wearing a decorative golden colour collar that hangs down over his chest, its eyes are closed and it appears to be snoring whilst creating a hissing sound. Victor signals to Krum to take him out, Krum quietly steps forward gripping his battle axe with both hands, Victor and Una both stand clear and once ready Krum takes a mighty swing at the creature cleaving clear through it neck and in to the stone wall behind him with a loud smashing sound the head rolls off the blade of the axe and lands at Krum's feet. Panicked at the loud sound, Victor runs forward and looks down the next corridor, left and right, to see if anything heard the noise and is coming, as he looks around he cannot see any creatures but can hear a faint noise coming from a door not far to the right, he then turns around and looks directly at Krum "you must control yourself more!" he says in a quite but strict tone. Krum looks down in shame after pulling his axe free of the wall then Una places her hand on his shoulder "dont mind him, you know how he gets when were on a mission just remember 'quite'" she whispers smiling at him with a wink, Krum looks back up and grins.
Una walks to the front of the Trio she raises her hand out ahead of her and whispers a quiet incantation, her eyes then begin to glow a starry purple colour and her hand then begins to give off a dull yellow light, "that's new... " Victor says to Una, she replies "I've been practicing more magic and with this spell i can detect any magic within a certain area, handy huh" Victor nods and smiles "well if they have any interesting magic we may as well take advantage as we are here" she adds as she begins to follow the corridor down to the left. After about 20ft Una suddenly stops and her hand begins to shake after a few seconds the glow around her hand stops and she drops her hand to the side and falls to her knees with an expression of great fear and with watery eyes.
Victor rushes over to her and places his hands on her shoulders " what's the matter! What did you sense?" he asks in haste "im, im sorry" she replies catching her breath "i was overcome.... , there is a great evil if we continue down this path judging from the magical power i got hit by im not sure we could handle it we must find another way" Krum steps forward looking down on Una and Victor and says "Krum protect you" and gives wink back to Una. Victor helps Una to her feet and she thanks both of them then signals to go the other way, Victor looks ahead and says "I'm sure there are more creatures up the other way, but if you're sure, we shall take them head on, i think they are in that room ahead through the door on the right" he pointing back down the corridor to the simple wooden door. Una regains her footing and says "let me go first, I can silence the area the you to can finish them" she says taking the lead again, they all slowly walk down the corridor and sneak up to the door they hear the sound of multiple creatures hissing and talking a strange dialect behind the door, Una places that Palms together and whisper spell and nods to Victor he then quickly pushes opens the door and Una unleashes a bubble type aura from he hands that engulfs the entire room, the room is small and has nothing but the three strange creatures and three seemingly straw beads behind them again well lit like the corridors, Victor and Krum charge in and attack the tall lizard type creatures looking back in shock at the sight of these warriors bursting in.
Krum wields his battle axe and swings wildly at one of the creatures in the room once again cleaving straight through their head and into the wall this time no noise comes from the blade hitting the wall thanks to the spell Una has cast. These creatures although they are upright and have four limbs I'm much more scary and reptilian in look with hunched backs and wearing nothing but the scales they where born in with sharp claw type hands they look like a more de-evolved version of the first Yuan ti the encountered. Victor swiftly draws his blade and cleaves it across the chest of the creature killing it instantly and spraying its thick dark blood across the wall next to it. The last creature then lunges forward to attack Victor but Victor manages to catch its long claws with his blade then in a swift motion spins into the creature stabbing a knife into its chest pushing it away as he pulls the bloodied blade back out killing the creature without a sound, he then nods to Una and she ends her spell. Krum looks at Victor and asked "how you do that?" referring to the move he did killing the second reptilian creature, Victor smiles and puts shakes the blood from both his blades as he holsters them again and says "its simple my friend, i anticipate my enemies actions and react accordingly, simple" Krum looks back confounded "ant-is - epat??" Says Krum slowly, both Una and Victor laugh "i think sticking to your style of fighting is probably best" Victor says patting him on the shoulder and walking past him, Krum still looking confused shakes off his thinking and follows Victor back out the room.
As they leave the room they continue to follow the corridor round through the temple, quietly sneaking through after a short time walking through many same looking hallways they come across a spiral staircase leading to the next level Victor hand signals for further silence and to confirm they are heading up. As they approach the top of the stairs they begin to hear footsteps and hissing sounds coming from behind them at the bottom of the staircase "quickly in here" Una whispers heading towards the nearest door they all quickly go through shutting the door behind them and wait for the footsteps to go past, while they wait they look round the room and ahead is a small corridor in front of them that leads into a larger steam filled room. There is a smell of water and flowers in the air the walls carving have changed to snakes and Yuan ti bathing, the footsteps stop just outside the door and then there is a knock at the door they all look round but no one from inside the room seems to respond, the creatures outside begin to hiss louder and knock again this time a little louder they also speak a serpent language out loud.
Victor signals for both of them to come a bit further down the small corridor once they walk past him he stands a couple of metres away from the door and holds up his palm facing the door, his hand then begins to glow and in front of him appears and illusion image of the corridor behind them as if they weren't there. As soon as he Cast the spell, the creatures knock once more and then open the door, three of the snake head humanoids look directly down the small corridor the three are in but seem to not see anything buy an empty hall due to the Illusion cast by Victor, they look around then shut the door and continue walking away. "that was close" says Una "but what where they looking for" "her" says Krum victor turns round and says "you mean who?" "no" says Krum "her!" pointing towards a large snake creature with a woman's torso emerging from the pool of water on the other side of the room.
The creature is large and very intimidating yet seems concerned and begins to slither forward at speed to strike the group, she catch's Victor across his left arm with her talon type claws, creating a deep wound, Una looks to Victor in concern then immediately gets hit by the large serpent tale whipping her and knocking her into the wall behind, Krum goes for a swing at the monster but it swiftly doges out the way, she then begins to wind her body around Krum constricting his arms to his side and forcing him to drop his axe, smiling the creature begins to lean and move towards Una with he fangs drawn to attack, Krum seeing Victor wounded and Una Knocked down musters his strength and explodes with rage, his scales glowing a brighter red and in one movement he flexes his arms and breaks free of the serpents coil, he then grabs her tail and swings her into the wall across the room and away from his friends, the creature lunges forward and swipes at Krum but her claws just bounce off his gleaming scaled skin he then clenches his fist and in one big punch knocks the serpent to the floor unconscious the then readies his fist for a second punch but just as he takes a swing Una shouts out "no, dont finish her" Krum pauses mid punch and begins to calm down his scales returning to their natural colour and he looks back at Una "Krum should kill!" he says in gruff angry voice, Una shakes her head "im sorry Krum but we can learn more from her if she is alive, perhaps even about the Queens location", Krum grunts and walks away from the creature to pick up his axe.
Una holds a small gem in her hand and places it on Victor's wound it begins to glow a pale green colour and the gash that was on his arm begins to heal and seal itself leaving only a very faint scar. Una and Victor then proceed to tie up the creature. Once they have secured it they wake it up, the creature Wakes do all three of them standing over her and cowers back against the wall "can you speak the common language?" Victor asks, the creature looks back and nods "if you value your life then all we need to know is where the Queens chambers are" Victor continues, the serpent looks up "my Queen is found in the centre of the temple through the great light, but it would do you no good" she sniggers "why is that? " replies Una " only those with the palm can pass through the night and the palm is a guarded treasure the other side of this floor " the creature sniggers again "you wont get to it alive you should leave now" she continues to hiss and laugh at the three, Krum steps forward and brings down his axe through her shoulder and chest splattering her blood across the walls as her body falls into the pool she emerged from now floating in murky, bloodied water. Victor and Una both look at Krum in surprise "snake lady annoying" he says lifting his axe over his shoulder and walking away, Victor and Una stand and catch up to Krum as they begin to navigate there way to the other side this level.