Troupe by troupe the survivors of Gole collapsed in exhaustion on the Temple steps. Raenor, Durin, Elmric, Aieris, and Darren met and spoke together, with the acolytes nursing Gorn nearby.

"How many made it?" Durin was the first to ask the grim question. Elmric was the first to answer, "Forty-two including my company and those who travelled with us through the forest."

Darren added, "I had exactly twenty with me." And finally Raenor, "There were only thirteen others. That makes seventy-five survivors, plus ourselves."

No one was in the mood for talking, most were still mourning the loss of so many lives, worrying about the villagers fleeing to the south, and trying to rest their aching muscles. Oddly, Aieris, probably the most exhausted of all the captains, was the first to break the silence. "Well if we're expecting to survive, we should have a bloody plan."

"Indee-" Raenor began to reply, but stopped abruptly, a strange expression sweeping over his face. "What..." He sniffed loudly. "What is that smell?"

In the several seconds after the question, they all looked at Durin. The dwarf sniffed his armpit and shrugged. Raenor shook his head, "No, not that smell..." It was at this point the ranger realised something everyone else had overlooked. Not long after, Elmric and Aieris noticed it too. In a few moments, all of the captains were looking around the temple courtyard and up the steps.

"This place is empty. Where are the other acolytes?" Elmric was most confused of all of them, being a frequent visitor of this place.

Raenor even unsheathed his longsword, searching for signs of conflict. But there were none visible in the courtyard. A face set in stone, he began climbing the tall temple steps.

"Master Ranger, what was it ye smelled?" Durin called up to him, preparing to go himself.

"Bodies."

---
OOC: Be careful with what you guys do now. This is a little less free reign and a little more narrative. Don't perform too many large actions, and don't make many assumptions, I will cover them. In other words, try to aim for inquisitive posts and such, I'll fill in the blanks.

“Bodies,” Durin repeated. “Alright, all ye wounded, continue on to Midgaard. Healthy militiamen, ye guard their backs.” This was unexpected indeed! “How could the Venurian horde make it here before us?” the dwarf asked no one in particular. “Could this have been their objective the entire time? Aye, what horrible demon coulda done this? These were only men o’ the cloth. They were no harm to anyone.”

“Shh,” Raenor hushed the lamenting dwarf. “I am not sure we are alone right now.”

Having quieted the mournful dwarf, Raenor tightened the grip on his sword. In the moment of silence which had followed Durin's orders, the slight creaking of his leather gloves seemed blasphemously loud. Turning to Durin, he dropped his voice so only he could hear.

"I can't be sure of anything from here ," he looked worriedly up at the yawning temple doorway. The doors were flung wide open, but this seeming serenity belay the fear that it raised in Raenor's heart. Steeling himself, he kept talking. "We need to find out what happened here...and that means going up." he nodded towards the doorway. "Move slowly and quietly..."

Without waiting for the dwarf's response, Raenor started cautiously up the temple stairs, every sense straining to pick up something, anything, which would provide a clue to what had happened here. His mind was keenly aware of every movement, every rustle, every breath of air. Step by step he and Durin climbed, until Raenor stopped him just below the lip of the entryway.

"Wait," he murmured in the dwarf's ear.

With that, he crouched low and climbed the last few steps, concealing himself under the lip of the stairs before carefully looking over the lip and into the temple.

The stench of the bodies entered his nostrils freely now as he looked into the main hall of the Temple. From his vantage point on the stairs, he could clearly see three slain acolytes. One was mangled across a pew, limbs flailed in every direction during his last moments. Another had crumpled against the wall, the splatter of blood around him still recent. The last was in the middle of the hall with a broken off spear still impaling her abdomen.

Raenor continued to scan the hall intensely, but found no sign of movement anywhere. Durin quietly crept up a few steps and peered through the Temple entrance. It was a miracle the axe handle didn't snap in his hands, and it took most of his willpower not to scream with rage at the sight of the dead priests.

Elmric stood up, unfastened his shield once more,and slid his spear out of it's holder slowly and quietly. Elmric steeled himself against the acrid smell of burnt and dead flesh, and stepped inside.

"Damn." Elmric muttered to himself as he saw the three acolytes, and even worse, a neophyte in the shadow of the door, burnt, but still barely recognizable. Elmric had many thoughts racing through his head, most of them not agreeable to his calling...but he stepped inside, and stood behind Durin.

"Well, Durin. It looks like things may have changed..and not for the better." Elmric said quietly, wondering how many more atrocities there were to be found.

Watching all of her comrades rush into the temple that smelt of death, Aieris decided it would be wiser to stay outside. With all of them inside the temple, something might come out of the woods at any moment.

So she sat down, cross legged on the ground, and got herself some rest.

Still, she did pull out her bow again, though it would not be terribly effective with the now-damp bowstring, and her much dwindled supply of arrows.

With the thirteen arrows left, she might be able to shoot five of them before the bostring stretched beyond any further use, and it would be unwise to string another before the rain stopped.

Aieris and Darren were the only two captains outside the temple at the time as the militia disappeared from view, moving as fast as they could south. That path would lead out of the forest quite quickly and would take them to a nearby farming village within a few days travel. The storm had died down to a minor drizzle, but bowstring and shirt alike continued to get wrecked.

Elmric, Raenor, and Durin had entered the main hall of the Temple. After soon finding it too unbearable to continually search the mutilated bodies, they took to figuring out their next destination. There were two doors, one large which led to a long promenade, opening up other prayer rooms, statue rooms, the quarters of the High Priest, and the gardens. The second smaller door led to the rather impressive library and it's plethora of accompanying studies.

Durin moved away from a fallen acolyte to quell his now seething rage. Taking a deep breath he softly spoke to his comrades, “We stick together. I canna say what horror did this… but I won’t see another meet this fate.”

Both Elmric and Raenor understood and agreed without a word. It was clear that Durin was not the only one deeply disturbed by this scene. Elmric shuffled in closer to Durin so that he could speak as quietly as possible. “What do you suggest we do?” he questioned to either of the two companions.

“Smaller door, smaller beast,” whispered Durin. Raenor grinned at the suggestion of the dwarf close behind him.

The smaller door opened up into a cozy preparation room where priests would organize scriptures, tomes, and anything they needed during mass. Long oak tables were lined with stacks of commonly used texts, herbs, and religious symbols of Avelia. The room led down a hall which in turn opened up into a small lounge area, about thirty by thirty feet, with several chairs nestled by an extravagant fireplace.

Normally this would all look quite luxurious, but things were a mess. Signs of combat were everywhere, and curiously enough, a gargoyle corpse was near the center of the lounge room, surrounded by five dead acolytes.

Raenor, Durin, and Elmric moved very carefully through the room, straining their senses to pick up the slightest sight or sound of an enemy. Following the halls adjacent to the fireplace, they heard the sound of several gargoyles conversing and arguing about their orders to collect any useful tomes about healing magic.

Raenor told the others to stay back for a moment and crept, using all of his stealth capability, towards the opening of the main library. He peeked in and saw three gargoyles knocking over shelves and stacks of what seemed like endless amounts of ancient tomes, occasionally finding one and throwing it into a central pile.

Darren, bored of sitting, wet, outside the temple, unsheaths his sword in a dramatic fashion. In an attempt to impress Aieris he slashes the air, obliterating many imaginary foes.

Aieris, however, used to Darren's antics, just rolls her eyes and looks elsewhere.

As Darren really begins to get into the practising, he shouts, "Have at you!" and continues darting and weaving around the foe he seems to see. Slash, weave, thrust, jab! He continues practising for awhile, and warms up his cold, wet, muscles, while Aieris continues ignoring him.

Finally, he flourishes his sword and sheaths it, after wiping it off as best as possible, under the circumstances. Darren poses in a way that looked good in his head, but to Aieris seems just plain silly. She stifles a laugh and bends over her bow, checking to see how much longer it will last.

Darren continues to pose, not realizing what an idiot he looks to the archer.

Ignoring the posturing playboy beside her, Aieris took the time to take care of her bow. The rain had stretched the string beyond further use, so she took the string off, and let the bow return slowly to its normal state.

Standing, she pulled her dagger from its sheath, and looked towards the temple.

"I wonder what they are doing in there" she muttered, mainly to herself, as she expected no intelligent answer from the poppycock next to her.

Raenor drew back from the doorway to consider his options. Three gargoyles. One gargoyle would not have been hard to kill from ambush, but Raenor knew that if any of the gargoyles escaped, the enemy would come flooding down on them before they could get away. That meant he couldn't attack them alone.

Turning away, Raenor made his way back to Durin and Elmric and pulled them into the shadows near the wall. Gesturing at the door, he whispered: "There are three gargoyles in that room, gathering books. I can't take kill them on my own, but we would win in an ambush. The danger of that, though, is rousing whoever else is in the temple. Any suggestions?"

“Any suggestions?” Raenor asked. Never being one for a subtle approach, the dwarf offered his two copper. “I’m not the greatest at sneakin’ up on people…maybe ye could position yerself to get the drop on one, and I can rush ‘em, axe swingin’.” Durin brandished his axe proudly, to the bewilderment of his companions. “.. sorry, wrong time for vanity.”

The three stood and thought for the moment, taking time to ensure the safest course of action.

"If we attack, allow me and my spear to lead." Elmric whispered quietly. "The extended reach may very well allow me to kill a gargoyle in one blow, without alerting the others until that one dies. However, we should decide soon, or we'll be found by a worse group...and I'd hate to see my temple's precious texts fall into the hands of these heathens."

Hearing the quietly smouldering anger in the holy warrior's voice, Raenor nodded, a plan formed in his mind. "Very well. Follow me."

Creeping forward, Raenor gestured to the relative next to the door. Raenor flattened himself against the wall, and the dwarf and paladin emulated him as best they could. Glancing through the doorway, he checked to make sure the gargoyles were still distracted by their book gathering. Seeing that they were, Raenor darted across the opening and flattened himself against the wall on the other side of the doorway.

His plan, he hoped, would lead the gargoyles into an ambush. The first half of the plan involved knocking over the long oak table nearby, in order to create enough of a commotion to move the gargoyles towards the door. Then the second part of his plan would come into play.

Readying his sword, he nodded to Durin and Elmric, who both readied their weapons. The dwarf stood out and back a little, ready for whatever Raenor had planned. Pausing only to steel himself, Raenor took a deep breath and kicked the heavily laden table over. There was a series of crashes which rang in the air momentarily, and then he waited. There were some surprised sounds which emerged from the library, and a moment later, Raenor could hear the heavy footfalls of the gargoyles as they approached the doorway.

This is the part of the plan he'd debated with himself. Raenor took three steps from the wall and turned to face the doorway. With a low shout, the three gargoyles levelled their weapons and began to charge towards him. Moving backwards as fast as he could, Raenor lead the three creatures right past Durin and Elmric, who were ready.

Stepping out from the wall, the dwarf swung sideways from his stance, sinking his axe into the armoured groin of the first gargoyle, knocking him off of his feet and sending him sliding towards Raenor. The fall of the first gargoyle knocked the second and third off balance, and Durin's axe had little trouble finding the neck of the second stumbling gargoyle. There was a spray of blood and the decapitated body began tumbling towards the ground. The third gargoyle had regained his balance and began to turn towards Durin when Elmric's spear pierced its' belly. The gargoyle looked down in surprise as Durin cut the legs out from under it, sending it crashing to the ground.

The first gargoyle, stunned but not slain by the dwarf's axe blow, began to regain its bearings as Raenor stabbed downwards with his sword through its heart. The gargoyle's legs and arms flailed wildly in the air for a moment before going limp on the ground. Leaning casually on the sword - which he had not yet removed from the gargoyle - Raenor looked around the room. "Well I'd say that went pretty well. Shall we examine the library?"

"Of course. I want us to put the books back for now, perhaps take one or two so that our troops can learn the teachings of Avelia a bit more personally..and maybe, just maybe, learn to heal." Elmric said, flicking the blood off of his spear, off to the side.

"I'm just glad that went well. That was risky."

Elmric, assisted by Raenor and Durin, put most of the books back in their proper order. Some of the stacks had been completely toppled over, and they conceded by organizing them into a semi-manageable pile, otherwise it would take hours upon hours to sort.

As the paladin put the last books away, he recalled several which may be of use to the company, and carried them along as they exitted the library. They moved back cautiously through the corridor and lounge, checking at each feasible point to see whether they had alerted others. A few minutes later, after finding nothing of importance, and no sign of trouble, they had arrived back in the main altar room.

"What's the plan now?" Raenor popped the question, even with the obvious answer at the front of all their minds.

"We should alert tha lady, miss Aieris, and tha swordsman, Darren. Only the forest around tha temple and tha big door there has yet ta be searched."

"I agree, but we must make haste, every moment may cost us more innocent lives."

The trio arrived back at the steps of the temple a few minutes later to find Aieris and Darren where they had left them.

"HAI-AH!" Darren made a spectacular flourishing manoeuver at the air, but as amazing as it was, he still looked like a fool. Drenched, absorbed in his swordplay, and socially blind and deaf, he continued his practice even after Elmric, Raenor, and Durin finished pacing down the steps.

"Huh...er...bloody....mm...." Aieris grumbled out of her dream as they woke her up, entering reality again with a big yawn. "Whataya want?"

"Our fears were realized. There are gargoyles in the temple, which means the Venurians got here before us somehow." Raenor explained.

"Impossible, we were moving quickly, they were probably already here before the battle at Gole started." Aieris rolled her eyes, still yawning and streteching a bit.

At this point, Gorn was awake as well. He pulled himself to his feet with the help of Amelia and Celeste, and walked slowly to the group of captains.

"There may still be survivors...hostages, inside. We must go back." Gorn turned and started climbing the steps.

"Sir, yer in no condition ta be climbin'...or fightin'!" Durin protested, looking around to make sure everyone else agreed.

"It's my choice to climb, or to fight, Durin, but if you'd like to help me, then I suggest you come along."

Still protesting, the dwarf was eventually forced to concede. Gorn, Durin, Raenor, Elmric, Darren, Aieris, Celeste, and Amelia all climbed the temple steps and entered the main hall. As they approached the large doors, every weapon was unsheathed. Aieris tied her unstringed bow to her back and brought out her black-bladed knife. Even the two acolytes wielded their sturdy maces in anticipation of a fight.

Raenor, being the stealthiest of the bunch, opted to open the door and peek ahead. He signalled an O.K. and opened the doors a little more, allowing everyone to make their way through. Foot by foot they made their way down the hall, much to the discontent of Aieris, who wanted to get out as quickly as possible. They passed by other preparation rooms, silent prayer rooms, each one littered with another acolyte or neophyte body.

Amelia and Celeste were visibly on the verge of tears by the time they reached the end of the hall and came to the main statue room. There was much evidence of a fight in the large, circular room. The once beautiful statue of Avelia was defiled, almost beyond recognition, hacked to bits and smashed apart. Nearly a dozen acolytes fought and died here, weapons still nearby and the blood still relatively fresh.

"This is blasphemy...this is...this is horrid. This was a peaceful temple, and the acolytes, they were like children!" Elmric couldn't hold back his rage much longer. Even those not dedicated to a holy order were overwhelmed by the mercilessness of what they'd seen.

"The acolytes are not untrained, and yet I see no slain Venurians." Amelia croaked, her eyes watering now.

"That will soon change." Elmric growled through gritted teeth.

"Elmric, now is not the time to be blinded by your rage. You said gargoyles did this?" Gorn said, attempting to calm them.

"We saw gargoyles searching through the library, as for what did...this, I do not know..." Raenor answered.

"Oh joy. You, ranger, give me your bow if it's still dry. Now that you've dragged me into the thick of things." Aieris pointed her finger rather rudely at Raenor, who sighed, untied his bow, and handed it to the elf.

"Since you asked so nicely." The ranger muttered back, receiving a 'hmph' from Aieris as she took up the bow and grabbed an arrow.

"Come, the gardens are up ahead." Elmric gripped his spear hard. "I am glad I sent Jim and Rini to protect Gole's survivors, I would not have wanted them to see this."

The party started making their way down the corridor. Raenor, Elmric, and Durin took up the lead, with Darren, Gorn, and the acolytes in the center, and finally Aieris guarding the flank. The corridor was not terribly long, but crossing it seemed to take hours. Light from the outdoors lifted the dimness away and it made it impossible to conceal oneself anywhere.

As they marched to the opening into the gardens, the cries of a man echoed down the corridor from beyond. "Please...no more...no AGGGGGHHHH!!!"

"The High Priest!" Celeste exclaimed, trying to move to the front of the group to get a better look. Everyone readied their weapons and prepared for the worst as they stepped into the gardens.

The peaceful atmosphere Elmric had seen earlier was gone. The oak benches were destroyed and tossed aside, some cleaved and hacked apart, others still burning. Even some of the bushes and trees were smoking heavily from the various fires that had started. The scortched fields, which was once the garden, was remarkably empty except for four figures.

The High Priest was on his knees, beaten, bloodied, and battered. Looming over him was a human wearing a decorated suit of platemail. His face was not visible beneath the large, similarly decorated black war helmet with protruding horns that mimicked a demon. At the Priest's neck was his shortspear, adorned and embellished with intricate, weaving patterns of valueable ores and gems. At the base of the spearhead, a red avian feather was attached to a small ring and welded into the spear. At the man's hip was a longsword, sheathed in its scabbard, of identical craftsmanship with another signature feather at the hilt. On either side of the man and the cowering High Priest stood two enormous gargoyles, both well over nine feet tall, clad in full platemail armour.

"Master Priest!" Durin cried out, even he had visited the temple a number of times and spoke with the High Priest.

Everyone stood in shock for a moment as they took in the situation. Aieris was the first to act. She grabbed an arrow from her pouch and nocked it, pulling the string back slightly. "Bloody Venurian scum, get the hell out of this temple."

Each one of them, even the enraged Elmric, was taken back by the intensity of the man's voice. A simple, deep chuckle that sank into their hearts and snuffed out anything resembling hope or goodness, the voice did not even remotely resemble a human. The man turned to reveal powerful, glowing red eyes which originated from somewhere inside his helmet. The two gargoyles also turned to face the party.

"Stay out of the way." The man brought the shaft end of the spear behind the Priest's neck and jerked his arm forward, sending the Priest sprawling painfully several feet forward. "And you'll live."

Unable to contain her will any longer, Celeste broke off from the group with her mace held at the ready and tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "Master! I'm coming!"

"Celeste! No!" Elmric, Gorn, and Amelia all shouted in unison. Elmric tried to break off from the group and follow her, but a hand grabbed his shoulder and held him. Raenor unsheathed his longsword with his offhand and muttered grimly. "It's too late. Get ready."

The man stepped in front of the High Priest as Celeste charged towards him. She entered close-quarters and swung...too high. All that came before the long silence was the abrupt shriek and the spearhead protruding through the back of her robe. Then her body fell to the ground with a light thud.

"CELESTE!" Amelia screamed, her tone a mixture of utmost rage and anguish with tears now freely flowing down her face too. Luckily, she was held back by Gorn, who was also bowing his head and trembling.

"Was I not clear enough?" The man chuckled again.

"You fleabitten SCUM!" Aieris shouted back.

"She was only a girl, have you no honour?!" Elmric roared, brandishing his spear and using every spare ounce of his willpower to remain in his current stance.

"Honour? Why would I have honour in a place like this? Nothing but false beliefs and dirty secrets. Since your...heheh...ex-companion was foolish enough to cross me, I'll have your own kind deal with you." The black-armoured man pointed with his spear to the High Priest. "You. I'm finished with you. Deal with them." An instant after he finished, a pinkish-red stream of energy weaved out of his hands and coalesced around the spearhead. The magic then whipped around the High Priest's head and weaved about, causing him to scream in agony and roll around on the ground. Suddenly, the magic disappeared and he stopped and stood to face the party, his eyes glowing deep red.

"...As you command, Master." The High Priest said loudly and clearly. The black-armoured man turned to his two escorts and spoke.

"Make sure he finishes the job. Then finish him." With that, he turned and started walking away from the party into the forest beyond, and out of sight.

OOC: Double posting due to the extreme length of that last post.

That's the end of Chapter One folks, no replies in this thread. That is the beginning of our first official boss battle, which will begin immediately when I create the Chapter Two thread.

I'll detail the specifics of how the battle should be run and how tough the opponents are at the beginning of the new thread. In the meantime, I suppose this thread should be locked? Anyway, leave that to the mods.

Great work everyone, I had great fun, see you in Chapter 2!