Speak No Evil

[Draconian]

[JackieCat, maybe another? If you're interested, let me know!]

This place always creeped her out. Taich pressed her fingers to the mask covering her lower face and looked ahead into the quiet light of the slowly setting sun. It stained the clouds above red and cast an orange glow on the trees. Off in the distance was a ruined temple, what could have once been a gloriously large and magnificent structure was little else but rubble on the surface.

The surface wasn't where they were supposed to be going.

It was underground that their destination was. Well, Tristan's destination, but she had to carry him everywhere so it might as well be their destination. "I love the smell of this place," came the husky voice of the bow before the teeth closed and the eye emerged, swiveling around to take in the sights of the ruined place. The voice belonged to that of a large man, but it simply came from the grotesque bow.

"You don't have a nose."

"I could if I wanted to."

"Shut up." Taich gave the bow a shake and took a few careful steps closer. At the entrance were golems. Either made of clay or rock, she couldn't tell. "Ready?" Was her quiet question before she rose the bow, plucked a hair from her pony tail and pulled the string back. The strand of hair turned into a black obsidian looking arrow and she let it loose, aiming for one of the two golems.

The arrow shattered against it's chest and Taich quickly ducked down behind a fallen pillar. The sound of stones scraping against one another told her it woke up. A quick look over the pillar and she saw it's core. The source of it's power. One good shot to crack it and it would crumble like the old rock it was.

It was awake now though.

Taich also wasn't counting on the third Golem, which had probably been at the base of the pillar she was hiding by, having looked like little more than rocks. A stone hand wrapped around her waist and began to squeeze. A strangled cry and she pushed at the hands before taking a breath, pulling a hair and shooting another arrow at the golem she was after in the first place. The black arrow hit it's mark, the core in it's belly and sure enough it went down like rubble.

The golem that was holding her held her out and she kicked her legs, though they weren't long enough to reach their mark. She was going to die here, squeezed to death by a golem, "This is all your fault, Tristan!" She gasped at the bow, who simply chuckled. "Those are some lame last words, die with me close enough to eat you, you're delicious."

[JackieCat]

There was a ledge or rock about twenty feet off the ground outside the temple, and crouching on that ledge, shrouded in shadow, was a large man.  Even at six foot nine he was completely concealed in the darkness cast from the ruined masonry above.

He watched silently as the young woman and her talking bow walked past below, and up to the entrance.  She seemed to know that the golems were there, but she apparently thought she would be able to fight all three of them and win.  Strangely, she pulled a piece of her hair from her head and strung it onto the bow, where it turned into a black arrow, many people would be amazed, but Kornos had learned to expect anything from anyone.

She shot at one of the golems, but the arrow shattered and the third golem, the one behind the pillar the woman was by, stood up and grabbed her around the waist and started to squeeze.  The woman shot again at the first golem, and she hit it's core, sending it shattering to the round, but, looking back at the woman, Kornos knew she would die if something didn't happen, and happen soon.

He could let her die, but what would be the point?  It would be a waste.  Kornos rose and spoke a ancient word, and black tendrils of shadow appeared around his hand, twisting and twining around each other.  Kornos threw the black shadow magic at the golem that wasn't holding onto the woman, he hit it's core and it shattered, then he leaped down to the ground and pulled out his broadsword, and the same dark shadow magic was twisting all along its blade.  Despite his size and weight, Kornos moved silently towards the young woman and her golem attacker.  When he was at them, he brought his sword around and struck a mighty hit at the golems deformed stone leg.  Shards of stone flew, but the golem sustained no real damage, but it did reach down with one hand to grab at Kornos.

The man sun aside more gracefully than anyone could have believed a man of his side could and got in front of the golem, he drew his sword around and stabbed its core, the golem dropped the woman and Kornos's dark magic crawled around the golem as it fell to pieces.

Kornos walked up to the woman and briefly nodded his head to her. "You have a very strange bow there."  Kornos's voice would be unexpected to most, it wasn't loud and deep, but soft.  Though the soft tone made it many times more menacing than any deep voice could be.

[Draconian]

Black spots were in her vision and she took a deep panting breath, rolling over onto her side  before getting onto her hands and knees, Tristan clutched tightly in her hand. The Golem was destroyed and she was sure she would be feeling it in her ribs for the next few days, even with Tristan's passive magic flowing through her. She got up slowly and looked towards the.. Savior? Taich held her middle, still only taking little breaths because the bit ones made her ribs ache.

"Strange? I think the words you were trying to say were 'devilishly handsome'."

Taich frowned at the bow for a moment before looking back to the man. The extremely tall man. Damn.

"Strange is a good word for him," She said breathlessly, wincing every now and then. Taich nodded her head forward, her long pony tail of hair flopping over her shoulder in the process, "Thanks. For getting the golem's, I mean." Not for keeping her from turning into a fine jam or anything. Her free hand was still at her sides and she took another few careful breaths. "What are you doing all the way out here?" She looked towards the temple and then back at the man, hoping that he wasn't some sort of guardian. She'd failed the golem test, there was no way she could pass a giant man test.

[JackieCat]

"What am I doing here?" Kornos said, ignoring the bows comment. "What are you doing here."  Before she could answer or refuse to tell him anything, Kornos held up a hand. "And as I have just saved your life, you must admit I have at least some right to have my question answered before I tell you why I'm here."

Kornos sheathed his sword in the sheath on his back and crossed his arms across his wide chest.  It wasn't a threatening gesture, but it wasn't too friendly either.

Kornos looked at the young woman's bow, it was strange, but not surprising, there were many different kinds of magical items all around the lands, items with spirits of demons or other magical entities imbued within them.  This bow could be one such intelligent life-form, or it could simply be a bow with an easy spell put upon it rendering it able to speak, though Kornos did not assume the latter.

[Draconian]

Taich crossed her arms over her chest, pressing the face cover to her nose to make sure it was still in place. Her long auburn hair hung from the pony tail, always within reach to pluck a hair and loose an arrow. Lavender eyes looked the man up and down and she had Tristan clutched in her hand tightly. "You didn't have to save me," She supplied, standing there as tall as she could.

The man was intimidating. If she didn't have Tristan with her she would have probably shrunk back. "You chose to save me, you have no right to anything." She practically felt the eye roll movement in Tristan before he spoke up.

"For the love of the gods, Woman! We're here looking for an artifact. A really old cup. I think it'll be in the temple."

Taich gave the bow a glare before rolling her eyes and looking back over at the temple. The broken bodies of the golems. Probably way more where those came from. Sure enough, from around the temple came another one, smaller than the rest. Probably a patrol now that the guards were destroyed.  Twisting gracefully, she plucked a hair and Tristan turned it into a black arrow. It flew true and the Golem crumbled like rubble by the temple door.

A pained gasp and she pressed her hands to her sides, wincing, giving a abortive gasp and holding her arm to her ribs. "Shit. Who knew stone could squeeze so hard?" She said in a fake jolly manner giving the man a half smile to ease the tension. Or the guy was just made out of intimidation and tension. That was also possible. 

"Well I could have guessed."

It never felt nice being called an idiot - however subtly - by a bow with a mouth-eye on it.

[JackieCat]

Kornos raised his eyebrows. "Of course I didn't have to save you," he drew his sword again. "And if you would like for me to put you in a similar state that you would be in now if I hadn't saved you, which would be dead, I could."

Just then another golem stepped out from behind the temple.  The woman destroyed it easily, but then she doubled over in pain.

"You're looking for an artifact?" Kornos frowned.  "A cup, is it magical?"  He looked closer at the woman. "And did you break a rib?  Or two?" though by the tone of his voice it didn't really sound like he cared about her ribs.

[Draconian]

The look the man got was a simply bored eyebrow raise when he threatened to finish the golems job of well.. The golem wasn't going to cleave her in two, but this guy seemed like he was able. Was he just a lot of hot air? Taich licked her lips and held Tristan in front of her, cradled in her eyes.

When he wasn't talking, the slit on the sight of the bow was a single intelligent looking blue eye. However, before he spoke, the lid, covered by serrated teeth, closed and then it was a mouth. Tongue and everything. The man's voice that came out of it was something a gentleman could have, though there was always a sarcastic snarky lilt to it.

"Is the cup magical?" The bow repeated, "No, the cup isn't, but it's important to something else. Sort of like a... Corner stone to an important ritual. Belonged to a warlock from a long time ago and I want it."

Taich frowned at the bow before looking away, "I didn't beak anything. Maybe a crack or a fracture, I'll be fine in a few hours." She looked down at the bow, frowning slightly before she began to walk towards the temple. Maybe having someone with her would be a good idea, the man seemed capable. Taich looked over her shoulder and offered a small smile, "You're welcome to come along, we're just here for the cup, you can have whatever else."

[JackieCat]

Kornos was there for something inside the temple as well, but he didn't say anything to the woman and her bow.  Despite the trouble with the golems, the woman seemed like she was a considerable fighter, and a good shot with her bow, if they came across any other monsters in the temple she could be useful.

He followed her to the temple, and when he got there he stepped through the ruined entrance, ready for golems, or other things, to attack.  He stood in the entrance for a moment letting his eyes adjust to the dark, he knew he was temporarily blind to attack, but within seconds he could see better and stepped further into the dark temple, his shadow sword at the ready.

[Draconian]

Besides the guards at the door, there was little else and Taich followed after the silent man.

She supposed that meant he was going to come with her. Hurray for company. It was even nice company. Chatty even. All of those were lies and Taich had to hold back a sigh, simply because it made her chest ache to do so. There could be worse company. Y'know, something with more teeth and possibly want to eat her.

Wait, that was her bow.

Closing her eyes for a moment when they went into the temple, she held out Tristan.

"All clear. For now."

"Thanks, Tristan."

"Anytime, Taich"

So, she took careful steps inside while inside the temple, frowning and looking around.  It was mostly ruined, there were no golems inside. There was just rubble and broken statues to honor gods from long ago. Tristan gave a shuddering sigh, like the noise of someone trying not to cry. Taich ignored it and walked on, brushing her hands over the statues.

"There has to be something else. Maybe... A switch?" She knocked the heel of her boot against the ground and it sounded hollow towards the middle of the room. "Do you have a torch? Or... Anything useful, Big Guy?"

[JackieCat]

"I do not know what enchantments could be over this place," Kornos said in a quiet whisper. "Your bow is obviously something. . . different.  Can it tell if there is any magic here?  My sword can sense most magics, but if the magic is extremely powerful and well-hidden then the sword cannot detect it.  There is a strong aura of magic, but it is of a kind neither I nor my sword can recognize."

At her question about the torch Kornos turned to look at her. "Would it be wise to announce our presence here?  As I said, I don't know what magic could be here, or other creatures lurking in the dark.  I can see in the dark, but if you need a torch, I have one."

He pulled a torch from his pack. "Do you want it?"

[Draconian]

Taich just blinked and stared at the man, he went from being stoic and silent and threatening to kill her to... An encyclopedia of knowledge and various things about himself. The sword thing caught her interest and she frowned at it, giving a look down at Tristan for a moment. He did nothing. It wasn't one of his kin.

Well thank the gods for that.

"We've destroyed golems. If there is anything to know we're here, that alarm was set off a while ago." she said simply, giving the torch he pulled out of his pack a long look, "Though, since it seems to worry you, Tristan will be our eyes." Taich looked at the bow, "eye."

"Bitch."

Taich smiled down at the bow and then took a few more steps forward. A stone sunk down into the ground and a note rang out through the temple. Music? Taich took a step back, hitting a different note. "Tristan," She said softly, and then he began to hum a tune.

And so, Taich found the stones and stepped on them to his tune and sure enough, the rumbling of  the ground gave way to a staircase and she looked down at the bow, "Who knew you could sing?"

"There's plenty about me you don't know."

"And what I do know is so useful," Taich said sarcastically and rolled her eyes, looking down in the abyss and stood up beside it. "Since you can see in the dark, care to go first Big Guy?"

[JackieCat]

Kornos raised his eyebrows at the sight of the staircase being opened my musical means, and when the woman suggested he go first, he was immediately suspicious.  She very well might know what's down there and be telling him to go first so he would be killed.  Or not.

His eyes were now completely adjusted to the dark, and he looked down the staircase.  It was steep and there was a curve, so Kornos could not see to the bottom.

Kornos readied his sword and started down the steps.  They were damp and narrow, and, despite his size, Kornos had no trouble.  As he walked he tested the step in front of him with his sword, and sure enough, on the seventh step, when he pressed it with his sword, four arrows shout out of the wall and into the opposite.  They would have killed anyone who had stepped there.

"The seventh step," Kornos said to the woman. "It may be able to reset itself."

[Draconian]

[Feel free to describe what the inside of the underground temple looks like ;3]

Okay, Seventh step.

"And the rest of the stairs?" She said, slowly going down them, avoiding the seventh step like the Big Guy had warned her to. That was it? He was just gonna stop on the stairs?

[JackieCat]

Kornos stepped over the seventh step and continued downwards, feeling each step with his sword before stepping on it.

"The rest of the stairs could be booby trapped as well," he said in answer to the woman's question. "And they could either me magically or materially set."

He pressed another step and this time spikes came up from the floor, but Kornos was well out of harms way. "Spikes, eighteenth step."

[Draconian]

Taich looked around.

"So far there hasn't been anything magical." Pushing her long ponytail of hair over her shoulder she took careful steps, "Constructs and music locks." She shrugged and she took a few more steps, having not kept count. "Tris?"

"You're on fifteen"

"Thanks."

And so, Taich skipped the eighteenth step and ran into the Big Guy's back. "Are you always so careful? Where's your sense of adventure?"

[JackieCat]

Kornos didn't even move the tiniest bit when the woman ran into him.  He looked over his shoulder at her. "My sense of adventure?  Would you rather have run down these stairs and, if you didn't get shot at by the arrows, get impaled a few steps down?  Believe me, I have a sense of adventure, I would just not rather use it to get myself killed."

He took a few more steps, and now they were around the corner.  Kornos continued carefully down, coming across no more traps or any magic.

At the bottom of the steps there was a medium sized room, empty, and across from them another door led down another passage.

"I would not advise taking that doorway," Kornos said, looking around the barren room.

[Draconian]

Taich gave a shrug, not having counted on having company on the trip anyway. "Getting impaled is half the fun," She said, looking around the room. The dark room she couldn't see in. The air felt stale and heavy. Like it was the same air in the room for the past few hundred years.

"No?"

So Taich started towards it.

Slowly she smacked the sides of the door way and then poked at the bottom from beside the door. "So what's wrong with the door?"

[JackieCat]

Kornos rolled his eyes as she walked across the room. "Oh, nothing is wrong with the door, exactly," Kornos said, still standing at the bottom of the steps. "It's what happens after you walk over the floor in front of the door and touch the door.  There are multiple pressure points which trigger the reaction.  Whatever happens next will have been dormant for hundreds of years."

Sure enough, a second later the stone on the middle of the floor exploded.  A huge armored worm bust through the rock dust and debris and leaped across the floor towards the woman.

The worm was huge, and Kornos drew his sword against it, slipping the blade between the scales and into the soft flesh beneath.  The worm screeched in pain but continued to go for the woman.

Kornos stepped back to see how she and her bow would fare.

[Draconian]

Taich just dodged out of the way, a few quick movements backwards.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She snarled at her company. Who did that. Who stabbed it and then stepped back. Of course she noticed. He was just as dangerous as the damn worm! Screw this! Taich notched her bow and the next time the worm came lunching she gave a direct deposit into the worm's head.

Of course it was a worm, so it just kept coming, a bow in it's not-face wouldn't do the trick. "Kill the damn thing, you idiot!" She snarled at the man while the worm destroyed the room and eventually she shuffled her way over to the giant of a man who could have fixed the problem immediately but then decided to just not do it.

[JackieCat]

"You did not die," Kornos said, raising his sword and leaping at the beast, his shadow covered weapon cutting deep into the beast.  "If you had been in great danger, I would have stopped it."

He continued to speak calmly and softly as he attacked the beast, and though it attacked back, there was really nothing it could do against the giant man.

He slashed at its head, and it shrieked as the sword cut deep across its head.  It turned and, taking one last halfhearted bite at Kornos, who dodged it easily, crawled back down the hole it had came from.

"There," Kornos turned to the young woman, then walked around the huge hole in the floor and to the door across the room.  "Ah, there is something wrong with the door," the man said, tapping it with his knuckle.  "It is not a door.  It is simply a wall made to look like a door."

He pulled out a torch and lit it so the woman could see.  "We need to find the real door, and quickly, before the worm comes back with five others of its colony."

Kornos moved around the room, feeling and tapping the walls, trying to find the real door.