Ling smiles a little sheepishly and nods at Nik. She watches as Alaris beheads the fleder, clenching her fist a little each time another head falls. "The job was to deal with the fleder, why don't we finish that and then get the hell out of here. That daemon is not our problem. We take out the fleder, we get paid." She shrugs and looks up at the ceiling in exasperation, already expecting Alaris or someone else to contradict her. "Who cares why it was inside the fleder, maybe that's what they do for fun. And we're not entirely for hire," she gins, "only when we want to or if the money's good!" Leaning against the wall next to Shiva with her arms crossed, she watches their faces as she waits for instructions. You should go after the daemon, it is your job to take them out, little underworlder. With a sigh, Ling rubs the bridge of her nose between her eyes. Go away, whatever you are, I really can't deal with you right now.

Quote from ZeeOfIstus>>

"I'm alright to continue, thanks Alaris. I'm suddenly feeling more invigorated, actually."  

She rolls her neck and rotates her shoulders, seemingly more spry than she was moments ago, "I suppose this is your doing, Astrid? And what you've said about this mezzoloth is quite polarizing, an abberation and yet a sword-for-hire. We seem to share a profession with it."

     The dwarf nods again nods to the blue tiefling. "Yes. I hope it will be enough for you until we can take a better rest." She then turns to regard Ling. "If that fiend is behind the fleder problem then just dealing with the fleder may not be enough." Astrid glances between the two sets of stairs. "Still though, we should make sure there are no more of those younglings in these passages." 

Nikolai spends a moment using his magic to cause the fleder gore splattered across his clothing to disappear and takes a brief moment to center himself and regain some of his magical prowess. He absently shuffles his tarock deck in a trance-like manner, allowing the worn card edges to slide through his fingers with a practiced ease. After a moment he turns his attention to the group again. "Look, there is something wrong here. I do not like not knowing why something happened. I'm less in this part for the money as I am my own interests. How did these monsters reproduce? They are not natural creatures, this should not be possible." He gestures to the remnants of flederling scattered among the tunnels. "If they suddenly can reproduce, we need to know how and why so we know how to fight them." With that, Nikolai retrieves a funnel-shaped attachment for Astra furora and screws it onto the barrel. "Alaris, Caio how about the three of us lead the way into the southern room to ensure there are no more of those little beasties. We should destroy any nests we find."

Alaris starts toward the southern passage, then pauses. "I doubt that the brat prince will accept our word that the problem has been addressed - who has a sack to fill with fleder parts?" After thinking for a moment, they continue, "Oh right - *I* carry all the extra stuff." With a grin, they tug a rough oilskin sack out of their pack and put three fleder heads into it. Tying it shut, they enlist Nik's help to secure it to the top of their pack in a way that will keep it silent and stable. Then Alaris looks up and nods to the others.

"That oughta do for starters, anyway. We ready?" they ask Nikolai, moving towards the southern passage carefully and quietly.

The southern staircase leads down to the same ruined dining hall full of broken tables that Ling found before. A door to the south leads into the sooty remnants of a kitchen, while a passage to the east opens onto a corridor of what must once have been dormitories.

Ling rolls her eyes, not caring why or how the fleder do whatever they do. "Fine, we'll go look then." 

Nodding at Alaris as they collect a few heads, she follows them into the southern part of the corridors. When they find dormitories behind the dining hall, Ling rubs her hands in excitement. "Now let's see if they kept any goodies down here - finders keepers!" 

While the others search the kitchen and dormitories, Shiva wanders to the end of the corridor, where she finds a cluster of leathery sacks attached to the wall where Ling previously saw the fledgelings nesting. The small pouches are covered in coarse hair, and a viscous, sticky fluid oozes from within. Each of them is like a pocket of skin, attached to a fat fleshy substance that is set into the wall where the stone has fallen away. The amorphous mass still pulses with warmth and life.

Ling goes through the beds and trunks, crinkling her nose and holding items well away from her clothes. She finds some very dusty bed clothes, many of which have rotted through. Everything down here seems abandoned and falling apart. The wood is decayed. The partitioning walls between the dorms have holes in them. Doors are hanging or missing from entry ways. This place has seen better days. "Yeah, nothing. Where to next?" She looks at Nik, raising one eyebrow with a persiflage of subservience.

Nikolai joins the others in searching the dormitories, absently shuffling his deck with his left hand while holding Astra furora in his right. He begins looking through the refuse and destroyed room with the others and discovers a strange, metal rod about about 1' in length. He glances over his shoulder towards Ling and holds it high. "Nothing, eh, young one? You must calm your impetuous nature otherwise you will miss even the most obvious of things." He spends a moment looking over the rod and discovers a button along one side. "...curious..." He makes sure the rod is not point towards anyone or anything and presses the button... He grins wildly as the rod abruptly expands into a 10' long pole! "Hah! This could prove quite useful!" He presses the button and it collapses down once more. He shakes his head as he slips it into one of his pouches. "Religious fools. Using this as a balance for a bed." He scoffs as he continues looking through the room.

      Astrid trots down the steps behind the others. With the others checking out the living quarters, she pokes her head into the kitchen. Pulling the silvered dagger from its sheath to protect from any fleder pups that still may be lurking about, she begins to rummage through the cupboards. She lets out a shriek when she finds a fleder and stabs it with the dagger, though quickly realizes that has already expired. With a nervous laugh she withdraws her weapon and continues her search. 

     "Hmm... What's this?" A dull golden shine catches her eye and the dwarf gets down on all fours to retrieve the shiny object. "Well now! That's not just your run-of-the-mill mug," she says pleased with her find. She continues her search a bit more finding only fleder droppings before rejoining the others in the dorm. "I found this nice little mug in there," she announces to the others holding up the bronze handled tankard. 

"Oh you love my nature - I'm sure you can put that to good use on someone." Ling giggles. "Maybe they kept it by the bed for a reason." Looking over when Astrid yelps, she sees the dwarf walk up to them with a shiny piece of bronze. "Mh, that will sell!" She nods at Astrid, not quite smiling, but no longer glaring either. While she has not said a word about her healing Shiva earlier, it seems the help has not gone unnoticed.

Alaris smirks at the banter between Nik and Ling. Listening to them vent in the aftermath of battle was one of the pleasures of knowing them, but the paladin was less invigorated by their victory than usual. The oppressive predator still on the loose unnerved them, and so Alaris remains at a high state of alert, especially feeling the lack of the warning enchantment of Hope's Edge at this moment. Processing the conversation between Astrid and Shiva and Nik, their heart rises into their throat a little and they squeeze the pole of their glaive, white-knuckled with sudden concern.

"Mercenary daemons don't work for free any more than we do... aberrations showing abilities they could never develop on their own... someone with access to both the Lower Planes and transfiguring arcane power is behind this. Nik, what are they doing... and are we in over our heads here?"

While the others chat and search the room, Caio becomes a ghost. He slips through the shadows into the next rooms, and sends Ghoul ahead after that. Seeing nothing of particular interest, he recalls the bird and returns to his companions before anyone even notices that he is gone. "The path ahead is clear, just more storage. And another of those things.” he gestures to the strange fleshy sac. “No sign of that fiend though. I say we clear these then move back up to the chapel. We can dispatch any remaining creatures and seal off that entrance if it's possible. There's clearly more going on here but the job was only to clear out the fleder. We can report what we've found to Francesc and see if he'd like to commission us to investigate further." While not as pressed as Ling, he seems to share her desire to move on.

Ling chews her lower lip while Alaris speaks. "What I'm more concerned about is," she narrows her eyes, "whether Francesc knew about this. If he did..." She flashes Shiva a devious smile. "He'll have to pay for that."

"Wow, Caio. And you say I'm the one who sneaks off, hmpf! Well then, if we're free roaming chickens again, let's go and finally check out that church." Ling quietly makes her way back to the central corridor and moves towards where she thinks the entrance to the church will be.

At the eastern end of the central corridor, a pair of doors open up onto the antechamber that the larger fleder came out of. Overturned braziers lie on the ground to the left and right, and on the far side of the chamber is an entrance into a large cross-shaped room. Each end of the cross houses a statue of a warrior of some kind, and four stone coffins topped with carved effigies are spread about the area. Three stand against the outer walls and one stands free in the centre of room. The filth and animal refuse that has been spread about the entirety of this complex is especially intense here.

While the others are checking the small room, Nikolai turns his attention to the vile, disgusting amalgamation plastered to the wall. He looks down to a small, golden orb attached to the handle of Astra furora and with a twist and click, the orb comes free. Nikolai winks while he tosses it up into the air where it seems to hover as a bright golden glow suffuses the orb and Nikolai points his relic towards the aberrant mess of fur and fat. Nikolai squeezes the trigger over and over as rays of celestial fire lance out from the little orb with each trigger squeeze, searing and melting the disgusting mess. The smell is abhorrent and Nikolai fights to avoid gagging as the miasma overwhelms the room and the sound of the melting fat sounds more like the dying squeals of a beast than anything he'd heard before in a kitchen... It is several moments before Nikolai is finished as he catches the little orb as it falls from its position into his palm and the tiefling steps out of the room, fighting back the contents of his heaving stomach. He leans his forehead against the cool wall to calm himself for a moment and steel his resolve for the next unpleasant experience...

Alaris looks back, hearing the scorching blasts from Astra Furora, and nods with a grim smirk. Then they turn to enter the crypt-like antechamber. "Wow, is it disgusting in here... Ling, watch my back, okay? I don't like the feeling of this place, not one bit." They move clockwise around the room, looking at each sarcophagus in turn and poking through any piles of remains and offal with the blade of their glaive, looking for any signs of doors scraping along the floor or any other such tracks of a hidden portal.

Ling pulls the side of her hood over her mouth and nose when Nikolai sets to work, warding of the stench. From under the thick cloth, she mumbles: "Filthy rat things." When he comes back upstairs and leans his head against the wall, she rubs circles on his back for a moment, exchanging a glance with Shiva. "Dis-gus-ting! Ew." Leaving him be, Ling nods at Alaris and watches tensely as they search the crypt. Something about this does not feel right and Ling stays very alert, but nothing happens. After Alaris gives the all clear, she steps into the chamber herself, careful to avoid the waste on the floor. She takes her time to search the wall, inspecting the floors and ceiling as well. Rounding the statue to check for any hidden buttons or levers, she too finds nothing. Ling takes a step back to try and figure out what she might be missing, when her foot suddenly sinks a little into the floor. With a soft click, one of the floor panels moves under her weight and a door opens in the wall, revealing a dark passage. A triumphant smile dances across her lips. "Found it!" she whispers.

At the sound of the click and sliding stone, Caio’s hand immediately jumps to his blade. He relaxes as he sees the new passage and walks over to put a hand on Ling’s shoulder. “Nice work. Before you run off into some fleder’s jaws, how about we let this free roaming chicken check it out.” Ghoul squawks in protest at being compared to poultry, but the bird obeys and flies off down the dark passage.

     Astrid shoves the mug into her pack, giving Ling a curious look at the suggestion of selling her find. She eventually follows behind the others and finds the strange growth on one of the walls that seems to have their attention. She turns up her nose when she sets eyes on the oozing mass of hair and flesh. "Certainly not anything fiendish about that!" she says turning away and looking to keep the contents of her stomach within. "Well, whatever has allowed these things to reproduce is beyond me." She steps away as Nikolai begins to burn it away. The smell of the seared, monstrosity flesh again causes a reaction but this time the dwarf is unable to keep her breakfast down. Sensing the sensation she quickly steps into one of the rooms of the sleeping quarters and, with one heave, spills all over one of the dilapidated beds. 

     The dwarf takes a moment to compose and quietly scold herself. She grabs a quick drink from her skin to rinse out any remnants. Without a word or glance to the others, Astrid hurries off toward the main corridor and on to the crypt. "We just can't get away from this stench! For once I'll be happier once we get to some fresh air above!" Trying to forget her moment of weakness she looks for something to focus on and begins to examine the sarcophagi. After a moment of examination of the central tomb. "A shame really that their heroes resting place has been disturbed by these things!" 

    She wanders over to Ling and the hidden staircase. "And what did you find here?"

Shiva's reprieve is a relatively silent one as she begins to wander around the corridors of stone and wood, absent-minded in her surveillance of the area around her. After pointing out the flesh sacs adhered to the wall, she trails behind the group as they move into the dormitories. Stopping at a thin bedding cot covered in rubble and cobwebs, she is reminded of the paper thin bed that she called her own for so many years. Stooping to pick up a wool blanket lying in the dirt of the chamber floor, she wonders how similar her life was to that of the religious folk that once resided here. Apart from the nights of blood, fear, and fury, the serenity of her isolated days in that cell might have been lauded by the monks of this place. The thought makes her chuckle to herself, before dropping the blanket back into its place. 

As the group moves into the antechamber, Shiva reflexively wretches as the stench collides with the back of her throat. 

"PUTAIN DE MERDE."  she coughs out as she doubles over. With her eyes watering, she responses to Ling's earlier comment  "If any of this shit is that prick's fault, I'm really gonna kick his ass."

As she begins to look around, she hears Ling find the new passage and walks back over "Nice one, girlie." She says smiling brightly

When Caio sends Ghoul down to inspect the staircase, a look of realization suddenly crosses Shiva's face, "Alaris! I just remembered, what I mentioned about having plans earlier. If you wanted to look into The Bull and just what kind of dealings he's involved in, I'd be more than happy to help. I'd also be happy to help you replace him if we find him to be a monster of a man." There is anger in her eyes, but beyond that, a focused determination.

"Ghoul!" Ling whispers, but the bird is gone. "He'll fly into a wall or something, call him back, there's probably not any light in there either!" Turning to the other's she holds out her hands: "So, can we just collapse this staircase or do you want me to go make sure it leads to the church first? It's not going to lead anywhere else, so I say let's blow it up. Isn't that a job for you, shorty?" Grinning, Ling rests her hands on her hips now and looks between Nikolai and Alaris for approval.

As Ling waits next to Shiva, she adds: "I'm more than happy to take a very close look at him, count me in."