[center][@Zool][@Loksfjoer][@Saiyan][@Teyao][@Zapdos][@Jay009][/center]

And so, Second Chance had secured the outside perimeter of the Temple of Hades, leaving nothing left to do but head inside and complete their mission.  Adam's dutiful decision to give their hostages a proper search and pat down was not a wasted one.  The Druid recovered the man's spare wand, aswell as a hidden knife in George's wristband - one that could have been used to attempt an escape even while bound in the tree.  The interrogation had unvieled some new information too.  The temple layout was much like Barracker had guessed from his experience as a Paladin devoted to Hades, but there was also new information in the form of a secret passage.

Would it be a trap?  Was it worth finding out?  Much like Second Chance's decision to take on the Gold Contract instead of the easier Silver ones, the risk was high but the reward would be higher-still should the party come out on top.

[center]_____________________________________________________________________________________________________[/center]

The entrance hall was large but quite simple in it's decor, much like artist's impressions of Hades in the large painting above the closed double-doors straight across from the front entrance.  The smoothed stone floor had only a wide stripe of carpet that went straight from the front entrance up to and presumably under the double-doors into the main corridor.  Lamp light illuminated the area from the sconces on the walls.

To both the left and right of the entrants were regular wooden doors, the left leading to the shrine rooms and, deeper into the temple, the scullery and canteen.  The right side door did lead to a short corridor that took a sharp left turn and led to another door, which would lead to the library.  The library itself was a large and long room, segmented into sections of mazey shelves, sections of open floor area and sections of seating area too.  Decorating the place were beautiful, statue-like suits of plate armour, and paintings on the wall depicting [i]The Hollow Fields[/i], [i]Hades[/i] and notable legends connected to him.  

As for the rogue inhabitants of the temple, most had retired downstairs to the sleeping and living quarters, after spending another long and tiring day in ritual, offering up their mental energy and a small portion of their life essence to their lord [i]Drath'tuthan[/i], the being who would grant their souls eternal pleasures in the void of the Oblivion Plane.  Many of the cultists were not so drained that they couldn't go and get something to eat, and so there were a dozen or so in the canteen.  Guard duties were taken up in the main corridor, and the guards who would go to the temple entrance decided to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to their posts, thinking that George's band of raiders would be outside the temple, making it safe to dally half an hour in the canteen to fill their bellies.

And then there were the few bookworms who couldn't resist a few hours spent in the library, perusing the bookshelves of educational materials that might be useful to their worship, or simply looking to lose themselves in the pages of some interesting tales of the Mythic Age and before...................