They walked along the river for three days. The forest had continued to thin, and the terrain had grown hillier by the day. The river cut through the hills, and they stayed by the bank of the river, which made the travel easier. The tracks still led in the same direction, and they were all able to see the areas where the group had camped each night. In each of these camps, they found animal bones, but no source of fire, and Maroftis informed them that the bones came from an animal that hadn’t been cooked prior to eating. They took his word for it, and they followed with more caution. The tracks were still old, but if whoever they were following decided to stay in one place for multiple days, they could come upon them at any time.

They were running low on food, but Taloc was able to catch small game while the others followed the river, Maroftis was able to swim and catch fish, and Vanya identified and collected edible plants as they walked. She used her commune with nature ability to get a sense for where to find suitable plants. With the knowledge gained from the ability, she didn’t have far to go to forage for food.

The tracks had started to follow a path just north of the riverbank, where there were fewer trees and underbrush. This helped speed up their travel, as the path was easier to navigate. Abruptly, the path took them to a clearing in the trees next to the river, and there was a stone staircase leading up a hill away from the river. Ewtain and Taloc went up the stairs to scout, and upon reaching the top, they motioned for the rest of the group to follow.

The scene at the top of the stairs was startling. There was a clear line where the land changed from the verdant greens that they had been surrounded by since arriving on this world to dead and broken ground. There was a large temple of some sort that looked like it belonged in ancient Greece, and the path leading up to the building was lined with enormous statues of great-horned beasts that stood as if guarding the area. At the end of the path, there were two more statues that looked like humanoids with bird heads. They were in a seated position and looked reminiscent of those from ancient Egyptian times.

Vanya sniffed the air. “This feels wrong. Like some sort of curse is on this place.”

“This not look good either,” Maroftis said as he scanned the desolate area.

“We could just leave and avoid this place entirely,” Vultressant said. His suggestion was met with silence, so he decided to make another one. “Or we could go find a nice, safe place to set our bind points and then go storm the temple.”

“I want to check it out,” Taloc said. “The bind idea is good, so we should definitely do that.”

“We could just bind at the bottom of the steps, and if we die, we’ll be close and can get back in the fight,” Ewtain said.

Vultressant shook his head. “That could be very bad. What happens if you die and we have to retreat? If whatever is in there gives chase, then they might be able to just camp your spawn spot. Also, we have no idea what shape we’ll be in when we come back, and we might be a far cry from being able to fight.”

Ewtain shrugged. “Hmm, okay.” He started walking back down the stairs.

They went back along the river in the direction that they had come, and after a half hour, they moved north of the river and set their bind points in a densely wooded area. When they returned, Taloc scouted the area around the temple while staying clear of the line where the desolation began. He found no signs of any tracks along the perimeter, so it was likely that anyone in the area was currently in the temple. “I guess we go through the doors,” he said upon returning to the group at the top of the stairs.

“Any chance that they’ll be friendly?” Vanya asked. Taloc just raised an eyebrow, then looked pointedly at the broken earth and eerie temple. “Fine,” Vanya sighed. “I suppose that the ‘evil temple’ residents are likely to attack, but a girl can hope.”

Vultressant cast fire resistance on everyone but himself and Maroftis. Next, he tried out his new spell, enhanced speed, and put it on Taloc, who seemed the best choice. Ewtain already had plenty of speed and Dex, and Isla had a shield. Finally, he put his personal shield up, and the blue light enveloped him before fading away. Outside in the sun, it was not discernible at all. In the dark, the shield did glow dimly—but Vultressant didn’t care—he just wanted protection. Vanya followed by buffing everyone in the party with her bless spell.

They walked to the temple entrance without incident, and they readied their weapons before sending Maroftis up to push open the large door. It swung open with surprising ease. A circle of bright candles in the center of the long room cast light on the area within and around it. Shadows filled the rest of the temple, as the only other light was from the door that they had just opened.

Next to the candles were six robed figures, and in the center of the circle, hovering near the ceiling, was another figure in a robe; this one was much smaller than those that rang the circle. All seven of them were murmuring something.

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“We should probably stop whatever it is those guys are doing,” Ewtain said in a whisper.

Before anyone could respond, Vanya pointed inside off to the right. “There are more over there,” she said in a low voice.

Vultressant couldn’t see anything there, but he knew that Vanya had night vision, so he trusted that she could see what he could not. He decided to send a bolt of fire in that direction so that he and the others could see what they were dealing with. This would alert everyone to their presence, unless the light from the door had, but it seemed worth the risk to get a visual of the situation. The bolt exploded into the wall and shed light on three humanoid creatures. Two of them wielded swords, while the third had no obvious weapons but wore what looked to be a bandolier over his clothes. What, are there guns in this world? Vultressant mused as he prepared another spell.

Maroftis, Taloc, and Isla moved to intercept the figures, who were now heading toward the entrance. Ewtain started to go with the others, but turned and hid behind one of the many pillars standing within the temple.

The figure wearing the bandolier was smaller than his sword-wielding friends. He was probably only a few inches shorter, but he was significantly slimmer than the hulks with the swords. When the two groups met and the loud sounds of steel clashing rang in the air, the smaller foe took up a position to the side of the fray, about ten feet away. After a significant clash, the melee fighters all took up defensive positions, and Vultressant was able to send a bolt at one of the enemies. It struck his target’s abdomen, but the armor absorbed much of the impact. The spell had done some damage since the creature’s HP had dropped by about 5%. The fire did illuminate the target, and from the lower teeth protruding from its mouth it seemed likely that they were fighting Orcs. One of the larger forms said something like ‘Easy meat’ to no one in particular, and a notification flashed on Vultressant’s HUD that he had just learned their language.

The smaller Orc used the distraction of the bolt of fire to deftly throw two darts at the group. One of them was blocked at the last second by Isla’s shield, but the other struck Taloc in the shoulder. The Orc was readying two more that he had retrieved from slots in his bandolier when Ewtain yelled, “Incoming!”

The small figure floating near the ceiling threw a small sphere of fire. As the sphere approached, it picked up speed and volume. By the time that it reached them, it was easily fifteen feet in diameter, and it landed in the middle of the melee group. Isla was able to mostly protect herself from the blast with her shield, but it failed to keep her from harm entirely. Her exposed legs briefly caught fire, and she took a moment to smother the flames. Taloc had scurried behind a pillar for cover faster than Vultressant would have thought possible; it was probably the speed spell at work. Maroftis and the two melee Orcs took the full force of the blast, and all three were knocked prone. Ewtain and the dart-throwing Orc were quick enough to avoid the attack entirely as they fled the blast point in opposite directions.

The two Orcs on the ground moaned in agony, and when she had recovered enough, Isla took the opportunity to dispatch one of them. Maroftis had been injured by the force that the blast had made, but he was healed by the heat of the flames, so he was able to get up and put the other Orc out of its misery with a few claw attacks to the head and neck. The third Orc was now running towards the back of the temple, but the six figures that had been in the circle around the flying caster had drawn swords from within their robes and were now heading towards the entrance. A few benches near the melee had ignited and continued to burn. The flames illuminated the front end of the temple.

Vanya ran to help Isla, who had mostly avoided the flames with her shield. “How are you?” Vanya asked.

Isla looked dazed, but she managed to say, “A lot better than them,” and pointed at the two fallen and rather crispy Orcs. “The fire resist spell and the shield prevented most of it, but I’m down some HP.” Vanya nodded and cast healing touch on Isla, who sighed in relief as her burned skin miraculously healed. “Ooh, thanks much. I’m good. Go check on Taloc.” Isla turned and ran towards Maroftis, who was currently surrounded by swordsmen.

Vanya looked around, and she saw Ewtain circling around the group and Vultressant shooting his fire spell at the flying mage, but there was no sign of Taloc. Vanya had run for cover when Ewtain alerted them to the incoming spell, but she thought that she’d seen Taloc running as well. She moved towards a wall and saw legs behind one of the pillars. When she arrived at the pillar, she found Taloc sitting with his back to it, and when she called his name, he was unresponsive. She examined him for signs of injury. She found no burn wounds or any major contusion or laceration. When she tried to move him, he slid away from the pillar that had been supporting his weight, and he slumped over and lay on his side. Vanya then saw a dart sticking in his shoulder, and she quickly pulled it out and inspected the wound.

The skin was red and swollen around the entry wound, and Vanya thought the swelling was very large; it reminded her of someone having an allergic reaction to a bee sting. She cast her neutralize poison spell, focusing all her remaining mana points on it. The swelling around the injection point slowly began to lessen, and Taloc started to breathe more deeply as his condition stabilized. He suddenly regained consciousness, looked around, and stood up.

The sudden movement startled Vanya, and she ended the spell. “How are you?” She asked.

Taloc quickly viewed his stats. “I’m down a couple of health points, and I have a poison debuff that will have me moving slower for a while, but I’m good. Did the bastard with the darts die in the blast?”

Vanya shook her head. “No, I saw him running away.”

“Damnit! Okay, save your mana, because that poison may even be able to put down Maroftis.”

“I’m out of mana,” Vanya said, “but I’ll save what I recover.” Taloc nodded, and they went to help the others. Maroftis and Isla had killed two of the robed swordsmen, and they moved ahead to engage the four that remained. The four had taken up a defensive position, likely protecting the floating caster. He was hurling small flame projectiles at Vultressant. His shield spell was holding, and he sent his own fire bolt back at the caster. Vanya saw the spell connect with the caster, but the attack had little or no effect on him. She scanned the room for Ewtain but did not see him.