Beist looked at each of the three tunnels behind the dragon head statue and the symbols on the wall. He wasn't exactly an expert in hieroglyphics, but he tried to read them at least a little. It didn't make much sense to him. Was it an indication of sacrificing a snake on an altar during a solar eclipse? No, that didn't make sense. Maybe the half sun was a symbol of Solaris or maybe a symbol of some heretic of Solaris. Maybe the symbols didn't mean anything at all, but were some kind of code.

Beist looked down at the little drake snuggled up against his stomach. He had hesitated to leave them behind when Leni-Aura had suggested it since he enjoyed their company so much, but this really might be dangerous. He didn't want Nimbus to be hurt for his selfishness. He knew Dora was pretty capable in a fight, but he also worried for her safety. He couldn't help being concerned for her. He reached his hands into the robe and pulled out the little drake who gave a small chirp of complaint.

"My apologies. It seems like it may get a bit dangerous ahead." he said as he turned around and placed Nimbus on Dora's back. "Dora, please stay back here and watch him. I trust you to handle yourself in a fight, but someone must watch this one. Can I leave him to you?"

Dora gave him a small nod and pushed the top of her head into his chest. He gave a smile and plenty of pets to her before she backed up and started carrying Nimbus back down the tunnel to be a little safer. The drake seemed excited to spend some time with Griffon. Beist gave them a little wave as they walked away. He trusted her to take good care of Nimbus. She could handle herself in a fight with anything small and if anything threatening did show up, she could fly away with him.

Beist turned back to the others and asked. "Now, which tunnel should we go down? I don't know if these symbols are an actual language, and if they are I cannot read it, but here are some possible interpretations of mine." he said before explaining his previous thoughts on the possible meanings of the symbols.

Leni-Aura's ears flick as she looks between each of the tunnels, along with the hieroglyphics, that Javal points out when they approach the entrance. She frowns slightly, trying to recall anything about the hieroglyphs on the wall from the story she had listened to in the Dancer's Den. She murmurs slightly beneath her breath, going through line after line of poetry that she remembers, but none of them are striking any kind of realization on the hieroglyphs. "I'm not... actually sure." she admits, frowning slightly as she narrows her eyes.

The half-sun and the rock could be in regards to Solaria's Stone, yes? What about the snake, though? The dagger? The castle?

She crosses her arms over her chest, looking back to Beist when she hears a tiny little chirp of complaint. She sees the beast-man pulling Nimbus from his robes; the little drake looks mildly offended, but perks up the second Beist places him on Dora's back. She smiles gratefully at the gryphon when she seems to agree, and gives the beast-man a fond nudge. The two head out towards the entrance; regardless, she feels a little nervous leaving Nimbus unattended. He can be a little... immature, but Dora is plenty to take care of him, right?

As she buzzes with an irritated concern for the baby drake, Beist speaks up; she perks up, ears tilting back in slight embarrassment as she fully turns away from the tunnel that Dora and Nimbus went down. "Mh." she huffs, bouncing forwards to face the hieroglyphs while Beist explains what he thinks they could mean. "A heretic of Solaris...?" she murmurs, narrowing her eyes at the symbols.

... If that was true, it could explain why none of these hieroglyphs made sense.

What kind of god leaves behind such a curious combination of images, that mean absolutely nothing?

"It's possible it's some kind of code... maybe from one heretic to another? I don't recall this in the legend."

Then again, she doesn't actually know much about Solaria in general, so that could not mean much; but does this mean that the temple they're in might not actually be Solarian in nature? She breathes a huff through her nostrils, ears tilting back as she looks at the three tunnels. She perks her ears, closes her eyes, and falls silent for a moment until she hears... the very distant, very light roll of a gale down the rightmost tunnel.

She looks towards it, and hops over to the side to look down it. "I hear wind." she remarks, pointing it out to Javal and Beist. "There's an opening of some kind somewhere farther down this tunnel, so... this could be promising. If nothing else, it'll probably lead to an exit... Let's start here?"

Javal grabs his katana and slashes through the snake statue and holds the statue head under his arm and says, "I've had some run in with cultists these seems like a sun cultist thing to do". He says, "At least i got a cool momento from this cool statue head". They then proceeded further down the tunnel suddenly the tunnel leads to a large cobblestone room empty with some more snake head statues all around. The room has a cobble stone floor that has lava many lava pools around the room are very very hot and javal is already sweating a lot. He starts breaking the snake statues trying to figure out a way to drag them out of here for trophies when suddenly the room begins to rumble. Suddenly 3 beings jump out of the lava pits. Before them are three big hellhounds that are currently snarling and drooling lava from their mouths. Javal gets into a stance and says, "It appears these fellows are the guardians of this place".

Beist looks around at the cavern, fascinated. He'd never actually seen lava in person before since he's never visited an active volcano. before now. The inner idiot child in him very much wanted to poke the lava, but he knew that was a bad idea. Lava is dangerous and if he popped some kind of bubble and made it burst and fling lava onto him, it would be horrendous. He'd been told the wood used to make his walking stick had been treated in lava, though.

Another note he took, was that it was stiflingly hot in here. Even with some parts of his body being covered in scales instead of thick fur, the giant man produced a lot of heat. He couldn't take such hot places like this. He took off his cloak and tucked it into his bag, breathing heavily. He was almost panting. He couldn't sweat thanks to his scales and fur not allowing it, so panting was his only way to let out the excess heat. He even resorted to slipping the robes off of his shoulders and letting them hang from his belt. He's glad he had left Nimbus with Dora. The little drake would probably have been upset by the lack of hammock for it to lay in.

Beist is a bit startled when Javal begins to chop off the heads of the stone statues around the chamber, but is far more  startled by the three hellhounds suddenly bursting from the lava pools around them. He moves behind Leni-Aura, far too large to hide behind the tiny warrior, but he still feels a bit safer. Javal is a bit ahead of them, by the statues. He's definitely in the most trouble right now.

"Ah, Leni, I'm afraid I'm not much of a fighter and I can't take this heat. I'll try to help with this battle as much as I can, but I'll be relying on you both." he pants out behind the Rabbitaur.

He holds his walking stick at the ready, in case any hellhounds get past the two fighters and head his way. He wasn't sure the fire enchantment on it would help at all against creatures that had just burst out of lava, but it was better than being empty handed.

Leni-Aura follows as Javal leads them through the tunnel into a larger, more expansive room; she steps cautiously over the cobblestone— warm to the touch— and looks around at the snake heads. It’s… a bit unnerving, not that she’s frightened of snakes or anything, but… well, they’re all quite empty-eyed, aren’t they? She tightens her fist around the haft of her spear, ears flicking as she listens to the pop of lava from the pools nearby.

They emit a great heat; enough to make Leni start to sweat beneath her armour, let alone…

“Are you okay?” she asks Beist over her shoulder as she takes a look behind her; the large beast-man is panting heavily; he’s already shed his cloak. She almost fears he’ll drop from the heat— but the thought leaves her mind when she hears a crack. She turns sharply to see Javal slicing the head off the snake statues, “Be careful!” she calls, furrowing her brows. “You don’t want to—”

The floor rumbles as the lava pools pop and bubble; charcoal paws drag themselves from the depths of the bits, gurgling lava from between the gaps of their canines. Leni-Aura takes a pace back, eyes widening slightly at the sight of the Hell Hounds.

“You’re kidding,” she growls under her breath, brandishing her spear for the fight. “It’s okay, Beist; just make sure you don’t get any closer to the pools or the dogs.” She shuffles her paws as the lead hound tips back its head; a long howl makes the confines of their environment rumble. Small stones fall from the ceiling and skitter down the rock wall; the other two hellhounds behind, slightly smaller than their companion, lunge.

One heads towards Javal, while the other rushes Leni-Aura; the rabbit snarls, charging forwards with her spear brandished. The beast’s jaws snap at her; she parries to the side, ears flattening as a sputtering of lava escapes its gnashing canines. A thrust into its shoulder sinks her blade into its cracked flesh; lava and fire sputters from the wound as the beast yowls and bites at her. She jumps back— rocks skittering across the floor— and sizzling into one of the lava pools as she does so.

Javal is ahead of both of his friends in a fighting stance with a katana snarling at his current foes three hellhounds drooling magma from their hands. He realizes that he is the center of the hellhounds wrath that are all snarling at him fiercely. He overhears his furry friends words of support and says, "Do not be worried friend beist me and friend Leni can handle these fiends". The largest of the three hellhounds roars and causes the cobblestone room to rumble. Both smaller hellhounds charge at both warriors. The one headed to Javal is charging very quickly Javal can only assume its going to start with some sort of grapple or headbutt to the gut. He manages to throw out his stone rook and suddenly his purple gargoyle friend Gustave appears ready to help Javal in battle. The beast tries to smash its head into Javal's gut but he is resisting it using his katana to try to lessen the blow. The beast then scrambles to the floor and tries to bite Javal but Gustave punches it in the head causing the beast to yelp loudly and focus its attention on gustave.

She manages to halt herself before she goes flying into the lava, and leaps with great urgency to her side as the hound comes flying at her.⁽¹⁾ It splashes into the lava pool, sending scalding hot droplets around the immediate area. Leni-Aura manages to avoid it, although she hears a hsssss as a part of the wooden haft of her spear sparks into a small flame. She claps her hand quickly over it, smiting the fire before it can keep burning.

Fire brimming over the beast’s back, it climbs back out of the lava; snarling as it paces towards her once more. Its steps are slow and creeping— calculating— and then it pounces. In a particularly dangerous move, Leni doesn’t move: and she thrusts sharply with her spear, straight into the beast’s gaping jaws. Her spear enters through the roof of its mouth, and stone cracks as it pierces fully through.

The fire on its back flares; Leni-Aura winces back with the heat, ripping her spear from it as the beast begins to thrash and snarl. Fire spits from its mouth as it backs up; rocks and pebbles from its stony hide fall, as though the beast is collapsing— until it backs itself into the nearest lava pool, and collapses into a rocky pile inside of it. Lava hisses and sputters as the remains of the hellhound sink, leaving Javal’s beast, and the alpha heading the pack.

There’s something odd about the alpha, though; as though the beast doesn’t want to fight. It hasn’t moved an inch from where it howled earlier, its eyes watching her— almost respectfully. It looks towards Javal as he fights with the other, observing the battle; and it’s that little look of… intelligence in the beast’s eyes that keeps her from trying to slay it, too.

"Is it watching us?" she mutters beneath her breath.

---

^{(1) Long Stride}

The alpha hellhounds's gaze drifts between each of the three, taking in their battles, before stopping on Beist. It lowered its stance, ready to charge at him. Its intentions became clear Leni-Aura had finished her test. 1 hound for each intruder in single combat. A test of sorts. And this alpha hellhound had singled out the largest, most threatening among the group as their own alpha.

"Eh? Wait, no, I-" Beist began, realizing the hound's meaning, but knowing it had made a crucial mistake. Beist should absolutely not be considered the alpha in this group! He just happened to be the largest, but he's not the best fighter at all!

The hellhound bounded toward the slightly panicked, panting beast man, a snarl escaping its mouth as it ran. Beist realized he wouldn't be able to escape this battle. He'd have to face the beast head on. He looked away and swung his walking stick as the beast rapidly approached and heard a crack and a whine as he felt it connect with something. He looked back toward the beast and saw its jaw dislocated, probably even broken, with blood dripping from its mouth. He and the hellhound both looked at each other in surprise.

"Ehem, uh, had enough?" Beist said, trying to sound intimidating, but failing thanks to his shaking, frightened voice.

The hellhound's eyes narrowed, and it leapt at Beist. No longer able to bite, it tried to rake him with its claws. Beist held his arm up to block the claws, receiving several slashes to his forearm and dying the fur there red, but he struck out with the arm below it, punching the hellhound directly in the stomach. It let out another whine as more blood gushed from its mouth, the crunch of broken bones coming from its caved in torso. It fell to the ground and turned to stone before crumbling into a pile of rubble like the other.

Beist had won his fight, but he seemed a bit sickened by the whole ordeal. He looked to Leni-Aura and raised his hand in a slight wave, showing he was fine, before noticing the blood stain slowly spreading on his arm and looking surprised. He pulled out a potion from his bag and drank it. The wounds closed and the stain stopped spreading. He walked over to the Rabbitaur and quickly whispered.

"I believe this is a test. We cannot interfere with Javal's battle, or there may be consequences. I just hope the gargoyle of his does not cause a fourth hound to spawn. I'm glad Dora and Nimbus stayed back, or they may have been tested as well." Beist said to her as he turned to watch the battle between Javal and his opponent.

---

Bull's Strength
Stone Giant
Minor Health Potion

The beast tries to bite off Gustave's arm but Gustave manages to shake it off. Javal tries to kick the beast to get its attention which he succeeds in. The beast runs ready to charge at him again but this time Javal is ready he raises his blade upwards then once the beast is almost upon him the slashes downwards putting all of his weight on this strike. The beast drops behind him and falls it was if slashed into two halves. Javal kicks the remains of the beast into the magma behind them as a sign of respect. Javal says, "You fought well fire spitting dog friend but I fought better". He then turns to see what is going on with Beist the biggest hound is not silently watching beist just defeated it, "My apologies for taking longer" suddenly the room rumbles once more and a cobblestone door in front of them opens, "I guess that's the way forward let's go guys hopefully we run into some more action". He carries a snake head statue under his arm and the group proceed ahead. 

Suddenly, the creature looks to Beist; unexpectedly, it lowers its stance; and Leni-Aura quickly realizes that it’s going to charge. She narrows her eyes, lowering her own stance as the Hell Hound starts to sprint towards Beist; she swings out as it passes her, but the creature leaps easily over her spear, and pays her not a single ounce of mind as it rushes on. She looks on after it, ears perking in a slight panic. “Beist, watch it—!”

Crrrrck!

She rears back in surprise as Beist slams his staff across the hound’s jaw. Crimson drools from the sound of the creature’s mouth as its sharp eyes narrow; Beist sounds terrified, even as he tries to bluff the hound but… can she really interfere? There are three hounds; three intruders; and she is realizing, as she helplessly watches the hound scrape and scratch at Beist’s arm, that this is a test for each of them… and Beist is not really a fighter, is he?

He is big, but she has never seen the old man fight—

Another bone crunching crack has Leni-Aura eating her words sooner than she expects; and the creature crumbles before Beist in a pile of stone and rubble. Quickly, the rabbit hops towards Beist, weaving around the remains of the hellhound as Beist waves at her. “Are you okay?” she asks, ears lifting as she watches him down a potion; almost immediately, the wounds on his arm stop bleeding.

Curious…

She knows that Beist is an alchemist, but she rarely sees this kind of alchemy.

She looks up as Beist moves closer to whisper, and she nods regretfully. “It seems that way,” she agrees with a mumble. “I’m glad they are not here. Nimbus is too young for this.” She shakes her head, looking at her hands for a moment, before looking back up at Beist with a curious gleam. “I did not know you could fight.” she adds, before looking back towards the Tiefling as his fight comes to a climax.

Javal and his gargoyle fight bravely; and so too, does the beast. The hound is no match for him in the end, however— the tiefling slices through the creature, turning it into piles of rubble easily, before sliding its remains into the magma pit. She shakes her head as Javal approaches, “No, you—” she cuts off as the room starts to shake and shudder; she grips her spear tightly, snapping her gaze towards the door— but it only opens.

No more hounds emerge from the pools. No more threats. They have passed the test.

Eyes showing her relief, Leni-Aura nods as Javal mentions it must be the way forward. “Yes… quickly.” she agrees, hopping after the tiefling as he leads them through the door.

As the three pass through the threshold, the hallway begins to shake and shudder once more. The door behind them closes again; but just before it does, there is one last glimpse of the remains of the alpha hellhound roaring back to life in a cascade of flame to take upon its duty once more.

The hallway is dark; it's ashlandic lava rock, if she had to make a guess.

The floor becomes colder the further they get from the lava room and the wind begins to whistle through the halls… until eventually, the hall widens into a room, with a window of the sun carved far above them, allowing in glimmers of light which shine upon a shard of… something, far out across a bridge of unsteady rock.

"I am fine, thank you. I drank a potion that can heal minor wounds. I have another one on me if you might need it. I'm really not a fighter. I'm just... well, I'm stronger than I look. And I know I look strong already. Perhaps we can talk more later, when we're somewhere less dangerous. And less hot." Beist replied to Leni-Aura a bit sheepishly. He'd never actually told her he was born a Werebear and that he possessed the supernatural strength of one still, even in such a large, beastly form. He hadn't been trying to hide it exactly, it just wasn't a topic he liked to bring up since it reminded him of his failures and insecurities.

Beist is eager to leave the scorching hot room so he can stop panting like a dog and cool down. As the group passes through the door, he's a bit worried about the door closing behind them. His ears lower and his face is clearly filled with worry as it shuts. They might need to find another way out of here and back to Dora and Nimbus. He just hopes they're doing alright out there and are safe.

With the temperature growing more comfortable as they walk down the hall, Beist is able to put his robes back over his shoulders and redon his cloak. He looks down at his companions as they move and whispers to them, hunching over a bit to lean closer.

"Do you think this place will have more tests? Perhaps those glyphs were clues for more trials we may have to face. Hm. This is all so mysterious, isn't it? I hope we don't have to fight anything else. I wouldn't mind a riddle trial. I love a good riddle." he spoke softly, trying to add a little humor at the end to lighten the mood.

When the group finally exits the hall and enters the large room, he looks up at the window with awe. It was quite beautiful for such a strange, dangerous place. He was surprised to see the window here. He looked at the bridge leading to a shining shard of something. He was curious about what that might be. The scholar in him really wanted to find out, but he was hesitant to cross such an unsteady looking bridge. A normal sized person might just cause the thing to collapse with his weight. He was almost certain someone as large as him would break right through it with one step.

"Um. I'm not certain I could cross this bridge. I believe I might be a bit too heavy." he said, embarrassed. His ears flattened and his cheeks grew a shade darker. "Perhaps I should stay here with one of you while the other one goes and sees whatever that is. I don't think that bridge could hold two people at once."