Roleplay Kingdoms

The shifting in the magic of the world and the tremors had brought notice to this temple from ancient Terel'Liren. Curiosity and concern over what power could cause such potentially dangerous effects even so far away had caused the Firstborn to scramble to send out a contingent of guardsmen in their shining flexible plate, Magus-Scholars and a number of other specialists. The convoy would reach the source of the tremors eventually, to find this temple and the inscription.

They quite ignored the inscription's admonishment to be swift. These were not a people to rush into things. A camp was set up a distance away where the tremors were less violent as their scholars poured over the inscription, examined the temple and their Magi started to analyse the magic emanating from the structure.

Eventually, however, they would have to venture within. A small contingent of guards, ten in all, with three of the Magi would enter the structure first to scout it out and deal with any dangers inside before the more scholarly members of the expedition would enter. Sure this magic scroll seemed interesting, but even if they couldn't retrieve it they were not about to pass up this opportunity to bring back at some interesting tidbits of knowledge.

The Terelain expedition didn't panic as their armour, weapons and magic was taken from them. These were trained professionals and panicking would solve nothing. Instead, as soon as the voice had stopped talking they had decided to send the Magi out of the Temple, best to keep the ones most reliant on their magicks away from things. For the rest, the soldiers had decided to split into smaller groups. A group of three would directly head into the Temple and ascend the floors to secure the Scroll of the Legion whilst the rest would map the bottom floor of the temple and remove any traps or creatures lurking therein. Once the lower level was secured the scholarly part of their expedition could enter and begin cataloguing and examining the place. Of course these scholars knew that time was of the essence since structures like these had an irritating propensity to collapse in upon themselves or sink into the earth once their treasure had been claimed.

The three chosen soldiers who would go deeper into the Temple were dark-furred Moralinri Terelains as was so often the case in the Royal Army. One was female, shorter than the males and lither but no less deadly for it. The two males were broad of shoulder and strong, though stripped of their offensive and defensive magic these soldiers had trained for many centuries and had seen combat in many different parts of The Expanse over their long years and had fought most common foes one might face, either cunning foeman or brute beast.

These three, Lieutenant Nivren Maliar, Private Miheren Heru and the female, Sergeant Laera Imelien, advanced down the corridor warily. Short swords were held ready, eyes scanned the way ahead and behind and above, ears were straining for any sign of foe or trap. Lieutenant Maliar was a Blademaster of the Sapphire Rose School and had at least a passing familiarity with all forms of weapons, though like most Moralinri he had a preference for sword and spear. Sergeant Imelien meanwhile was quite adept at Tae Kil Raan and like almost all Moralinri had learned the War Forms alongside the Peace Forms since she started to walk. She had attained the rank of Master long ago and all the long centuries had only honed her skills in unarmed combat. Finally, Private Heru was youngest and least experienced of them all, with barely a century of combat experience. The young male had not quite mastered all of his Forms yet and he was at most a generalist in common weaponry and he was still rather brash and easily goaded in comparison to his older peers - his alaer was still not as strong as it would be in time. Nevertheless he had all the natural advantages of his people - flexibility, agility, claws and teeth and excellent vision, hearing and scent.

The Terelain Army had always been a small thing, but it was amongst the most well trained and best equipped the world had ever known and was a fully professional fighting force with a long and glorious history. It was long past time that it's soldiers fasted a true test of their mettle and perhaps the Temple of the Legion could do just that.

Lieutenant Nivren, the older taller male with dark black-grey fur and golden eyes, raised a hand in wary greeting, his Common musically accented like most of his kin, "Hail Achaian. Indeed we seek the scroll for the glory of the Second Kingdom... and of course to safeguard it's magic against misuse by the Younger Races. Such things bear study and greater protections than a temple clearly designed to find the worthiest bearer of this artefact than actually keeping it out of the hands of those who would misuse it. I imagine you are here to secure it for Achaia, however... it is a pity we must come into conflict over this matter. I do hope that we can at least keep things civil. I have no wish to cause a diplomatic incident by slaying a citizen of another kingdom if I can help it."

Laera kept a wary eye on the human, testing the weight of the shortsword in her hand. It would serve as a weapon if she had need of it, though she was quietly confident that her arts would be enough to see her through without having to resort to anything so crude as a blade.

The young Private meanwhile had his eyes fixed on the door, sword held ready for use if it came to it, ears flicked forward to catch the sounds coming from beyond it, when he spoke it would be in the song-like tongue of his people, a language rather difficult for outsiders to learn, "There is something beyond that door, Lieutenant. Orders?

Golden eyes flickered to the younger male for an instant before returning to the door, "Let the Flicker-Life face the first danger, it will give us some idea of what to expect from this place. I do not think he is in too much danger yet on this first floor. The true challenges are further ahead. Remember your alaer Private, there is little that Laera and I have not faced over the years."

The younger male nodded slightly, "Of course sir, you need not worry about me. I'm ready for whatever is coming our way."

Laera smiled slightly, her voice soft and lilting, "I hope so, Private. It's your turn to buy the drinks when we get back home. It'd be quite the pity if you got yourself killed and we had to buy our own."

The Terelains were not, generally speaking, a cowardly race but they were pragmatic and they were patient. It was, perhaps, the greatest strength of their kind. Why rush into things blindly when you have someone else there eager to probe the dangers? Why care what the Flicker-Lives think of your actions when they will be gone before your child even grows to their majority? Their notions of honour and morality were fleeting and ephemeral things, given over to changing within a handful of centuries or even less.

since the chamber would not let them follow unless the Achaian wanted them to, which the Terelains doubted since this was at the end of all a competition, they would move towards the exit in search of another route into the interior of the temple. in any event if they happened by some traps or monsters on the way that was one less danger for the rest of their people scouring the lower level clean of its dangers for the scholars.