[center][b]Sarah's Request[/b][/center]

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Kasim was rather amused when he saw the door shoved forward despite his own prediction. He was even further amused by the pit beyond, and others in the group might have heard him whisper "I knew it" as the door sailed into the blackness below. Eins didn't follow it, which was all well and good, but then mage fellow didn't fall and that was somewhat unfortunate. When he saw that the room beyond was one large pit with some some bridges spanning it, Kasim retained hope that maybe he'd get his chance for heroism in the future. For a brief moment he considered bumping Naream off a bridge and then saving him, but he decided that wouldn't work as being both the cause and solution to a life-threatening problem wasn't very heroic at all.

The dwarves out on the bridge finally caught Kasim's attention when they spoke with their eerily synchronized voices, telling them to turn back and leave. This was to be expected, of course. Just as bottomless pits were only natural in ancient temples, ominous warnings to turn back were also natural. Whatever malign force lurked in this place would prefer not to deal with interlopers at all, if possible, so scaring them away made sense. As the warrior and spider lady each had their say, Kasim noticed the door and levers on the other side of the pit, which was clearly their only way forward. Forward was the only obvious, of course, since the entrance had sealed shut. Odd then that they would be told to turn back, since they couldn't actually leave; did the force controlling these fellows on the bridge think they would just wander the halls until they had their minds stolen as well? How would...

"Oh." Kasim glanced at the spider lady with a slightly smug smirk. "Darkhammer said if we slept on the black stone our minds would be stolen from us. The Dwarven group came in here two days ago, probably unaware of the danger of sleeping here. It could be mind flayers anyway, but whatever is doing this is in control of the temple structure itself, if it can take control of anyone sleeping within. I hope it's only a few of them though, and that whoever was left on watch realized what was happening and hasn't slept yet, if they still live."

Kasim pulled off his gloves and then readied his bow, with an arrow nocked but held relaxed for the moment. "I figure the only way to free these dwarves of this control is to get them out of here or kill whatever is causing it. We should avoid killing them if possible, but we must get past them if we wish to retrieve the artifact. If we can keep one alive, I can do some digging and try to get some information." He purposely avoids mentioning his telepathic power, though anyone aware of the phenomenon would likely understand his meaning anyway. "So unless those dwarven fellows have somehow been broken of their mental chains by listening to us talk, I think the time has come to actually deal with them." Kasim draws back on his bow with his full strength, aiming for the dwarf on the right with the intent to try to hit him in his weapon arm to incapacitate but not kill him with one powerful blow, but he waits to fire until the dwarves show some sign of aggression or one of his companions moves to attack first.