Dala followed Cyril into the left room. Half expecting something to jump out at Cyril as soon as he opened the door, she had prepared her remaining knives to stab at the problem. Instead, a bunch of old books sat there. Dala's eyes lit up as she caught a glance at the books. She hoped that a few of them were history-related or had some information on agriculture or a variety of other topics. Cyril took most of the books but Dala eyed some of the crumbled paper, curious of what it once was. They went into the other room to see what was hidden away.

The other room was filled to the brim with dust and the walls towered above them with imposing darkness. Cyril told her to shut her eyes and at first she was about to tell him she had seen more horrors than he could count. Then she realized what his actual plans were and closed her mouth. Covering her eyes, she waited until the sparks of light weren't as blinding. The screech sounded like a dying cat mixed with the hyper pitched voice of something inhuman. A humanoid figure made of smoke glared at them with ruby red eyes. She could tell how much the thing hated their presence.

Suddenly, a metallic object flung out from underneath the bed and into the air as though it was being puppeted by some unseen strings. A smile formed on Dala's face as she realized that whatever that blasted thing was, it could touch the sword. If it could touch the sword, then it could be hurt by it as well. The young woman dodged to the side as the sword darted towards them like an angry boar. As it turned around to take another swipe, Dala snatched the hilt and held it for a few seconds. The sword, still being puppeted by the dark creature, lifted into the air. Refusing to let such a unique sword go, Dala was also lifted into the air.

"I got it!" Dala shouted to Cyril "Now the sword is mine!!"

The sword began shaking violently as it tried to throw her off. She managed to hold onto the sword but was being flung around the room like a ragdoll with an iron grip.

"FUUUUUCK YOOOOUU SWOOOORD!" She shouted as it started spinning around.

As the miasma retaliated, Cyril quickly entered a defensive stance as it drew a weapon that was hidden beneath the bed. Preparing to dispel the malevolent energy, his train of thought was interrupted by Dala grabbing at the sword, then being flailed about as she and the specter fought over it. The folklorist watched the scene for a few moments before remembering why they were here. Using a talisman would be difficult with the two moving around so much, so he decided to directly attack the miasma. With his staff in hand, he infused it with light magic and waited until the timing was just right. When he saw the miasma controlling the sword had moved into an ideal position, Cyril swatted it with his weapon with a loud whack! 

There was a screech followed more more repeated hits until the ominous condensed fog was completely obliterated. The force holding onto the sword vanished, leaving the old decrepit weapon behind. He let out a sigh of relief and waved his hand to fan the dust away. "Alright, it's finally go–" He then realized that when he was hitting the specter, Dala was still hanging onto the floating sword. His eyes went wide. "Ahhh!" Things were happening too fast–with no time to think, he dove underneath Dala in hopes of breaking her fall. There was nothing else that was able to soften the landing unfortunately, and any leftover bedding would just disintegrate.

The weapon thankfully didn't have any grudges attached to it. It was beat up and had seen better days, but it was better than nothing. There was no sheathe for it, which explained the rust and junk encrusted around the blade. The design was archaic and the craftsmanship had a certain level of quality due to still holding itself together. But most importantly, it was Dala's first real piece of loot!   

Dala clutched to the handle of the sword with all her might as it waved around the room, trying to throw her off. A screech pierced the air as the thick fog scattered. The sword stopped swinging around and for a moment Dala believed the sword had surrendered to her superior strength. Then it fell. She and the sword dropped to the ground but luckily Dala found somebody to cushion her fall. The young woman held up the rusty sword in delight and pride. Even a cursed sword was no match for her! 

"I got it!" She exclaimed with a big smile. 

Dala hopped off of Cyril and observed the sword. Then she looked down and spotted Cyril still lying on the ground. The monster must have gotten to him. Poor little man. He was truly too weak for this harsh world of ghosts and ghouls. She would have to be extra careful to protect him from whatever darkness lie in the corners of this mysterious temple. Approaching the unfortunate man, she held out her hand to help him up. 

"Come on Cyril. We can't be laying around all day. There's work to do!" Dala joked. 

Once he was standing, she held out her sword and began to observe the rest of the room for any more dangers. 

Cyril gave her a thumbs up and dusted himself off after she helped him up. The room was safe with the miasma gone, and there was nothing of value left now Dala had the rusted relic of a sword. "Well…I guess that's it for this room. Hey you know this kind of reminds me of those rooms in boarding schools, not that I've actually been to a boarding school." His mother told him about those once. They were like schools you lived at with other students and teachers. Monasteries often had rooms for resident clergy to stay in too, and based on his assessment of the architecture this was one on a very grand scale. Back in its heyday this would have been an excellent fortified position based on…wherever it should have been in the world before. They wandered around the dormitories a bit, not finding much aside from trash and dust. There weren't even cobwebs in some rooms, meaning the spiders didn't feel like it was worth living here. There were no bugs.

By chance they happened to find a very ominous looking stone arched alcove flanked on both sides by lit sconces. From the looks of it, it must be something important. A headless statue with is hands in a praying position rested in silence beneath a thick blanket of dust. The inscriptions were worn off and unreadable. Cyril stared at the statue and tilted his head back and forth. "This looks important. I don't see any hidden buttons or levers…" As he continued to check, he noticed there was a seam in the stonework of the wrists of the statue, obscured by accumulated dust. This was most certainly odd. Normally statues were cut from a single stone, otherwise it would fall apart unless they used mortar or some kind of adhesive. 

Instinctively he reached out to grab the statue's hands, only to stop himself. As a child he had a bad habit of doing things without thinking: like taking an orange from the bottom of a pile, trying to make friends with animals, tasting edible flowers in gardens that he recognized from books… Cyril was worried that if he tried to move the hands, he'd break it or something. He was hesitant, but his curiosity was urging him to try. Looking back at Dala, he asked: "Do you think we should try moving the hands? They look like they were attached separately from the main body." He also didn't see any other obvious mechanisms as of yet.

"A boarding school? Guess they really do eat children here."  Dala said as she looked around the decrepit room.

She had never had much of an interest in boarding schools but she had heard rumors from street rat orphans when she was much younger than the wealthy would ship their unwanted kids off to boarding school to get eaten. These were some of the many rumors she just assumed were fake as it seemed a bit too dramatic and pointless to actually be reality. But the rooms were creepy and almost evil looking that she had to assume that no real children survived past the eating point. They continued onwards, realizing that there was nothing left in this room. A strange stone statue lacking a head caught Cyril's attention while Dala was observing the rest of the area. When Cyril spoke up about the statue, she turned her attention to it.

"Heck yeah! " She exclaimed.

Without a moment of hesitation, Dala whacked the stone hands with her newly acquired rusted sword. When the metal blade hit the hard stone a ting echoed throughout the temple. Unsatisfied by the statue's silent contemplation and the fact it wasn't doing anything, she began hitting it over and over again. After a minute, the sword must have hit the right spot. There was a click and the sound of gears moving beyond the wall alerted them to the vault's opening.

"See? This is the effort of patience." Dala instructed Cyril, "Now let's go in and see the awesome shit it has!"

Perhaps there would be a pile of glittering gems or some ancient court drama records? She loved hearing the tea of ancient civilizations, especially since they had nothing to do with her and were typically more dramatic than a romance novel on drugs. Dala turned to Cyril with a big excited smile as she beckoned him to follow into the vault.

With some finangling, the hands were moved into the correct position. There was the grinding of ancient gears and mechanisms, causing the floor before the statue to recede, revealing a steep stone staircase leading down. The tall stone slab of a door to a vault loomed above the carved bedrock. From the depth of the staircase it would seem this doorway led to something deeper below. When the two approached the stone slab pulled away granting passage into an immense underground cave system. Though part of the caves looked natural, it was clear most of it had been artificially hollowed out. Damp air filled their noses and sounds of a current echoed off the dark walls. Focusing on the reverberation, Cyril determined there was an underground river somewhere. There were winding paths leading through the caves into passages from where they stood. Old standing torches flickered to give the dim place some light.

The caves were so deep that it was hard to grasp just how far they went. He stood in amazement for a while before entering. "This looks almost like…a secret training ground! Like in those stories of warriors who train hidden in the mountains. On one hand it acts as a place to test one's skills, while being a secondary stronghold in times of seige." His eyes were wide with awe, like a child seeing a magical beast for the first time. "Oh, that means there are probably lots of traps here too–to keep intruders out and all." If there were any treasures here, they'd be better than what they found in the rooms. "I can't say what kind of traps we'll find. There could be complicated puzzles or simple arrow traps. But there's some levers and mechanisms around, and I can hear running water." 

The grinding of stone came from behind as the entrance to the vault closed itself. It would appear the best way now was to go forward. There were three distinct paths visible from their current position: a path leading down to an obscured passage in the distance, one going up to a level set in the wall next to a short cliff, and a broad path leading to a sheer drop before a turbulent underground river. There was a continued path on the other side, but it was too far to jump or bridge across. There were no signs of enemies nearby and it was peaceful if you ignored the roaring water.

"Winding paths, whispering wind, echoing dark caverns… This is a quality hidden cave lair." Dala stated with a smirk.

Throughout her adventures, she had seen a few cave lairs. Most of them were not hidden and the entrance was only a trapdoor. Even the caves were often disappointing as they were small, quiet, or otherwise boring. These caverns in comparison were exactly what she had been hoping for when going on her first trip. The fact that it had been artificially hollowed out flew right over her head. Cyril called it a secret training ground which only increased her excitement.

"Let's go in!" She exclaimed despite Cyril's mentions of traps, "We NEED to go in!"

When the vault closed itself behind them, she didn't even notice. There were three paths but Dala didn't even consider the other two. Grabbing Cyril's hand, she raced down the path that lead to an obscured passage. While running her foot stepped down on a stone that stuck slightly out from the floor. There was a click sound as she stepped on it. Jagged spikes sprouted out from the ground and Dala barely managed to stop herself from stepping into it. She managed to stop and held out her arms so Cyril wouldn't fall into it. Catching her breath, she pointed to the trap.

"That…is dangerous floor. We can't step on it. Thankfully there's only one." She stated with a confident smile.

The confidence was ripped off her face as spikes popped out of the ground all around them. One false step and they would be feeling a lot of pain. Now Dala was starting to get worried but she knew she couldn't show it for the sake of gentle Cyril. He was probably terrified!  The poor thing. Turning to him, she gave him a shrug and tried to play the dangerous system as merely a small problem.

"The good news is that we have plenty of time to figure out how to escape!" Dala declared.

Just as she finished saying that, a large round stone was dropped from the ceiling by some unseen mechanics. The boulder was massive and more than enough to squish them. It began rolling down the path at alarming speeds.

"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!" Dala shouted in frustration!

Before he could think about their current choices, Dala pulled him towards the path that led to a tunnel passage. "Wait–" He was cut off by the yanking, his eyes going wide when in her haste, Dala set off a concealed pressure-plate triggered spike trap. Thankfully Dala stopped just short of it, but he was starting to think that maybe it wasn't always so great to be right sometimes. If there was one of these, then there surely would be more of them–which revealed themselves after a slight delay. The folklorist's face was slightly perturbed by their predicament. They couldn't just stand still if they wanted to progress. He nodded in agreement when Dala pointed to the bright side of things, only to hear something rumbling in the distance. 

Turning to see the incoming boulder, he quickly shook off the initial shock and his mind went into overdrive. This path probably was lined with these retracting spike traps, but fortunately not all of them would trigger at once. If he was an apprentice in a secret martial order, how would the examiners expect you to escape? Scanning the walls, he tightened his grip on the strap of his bag. "I have an idea, but we're going to have to be quick. Dala, hold onto me as tightly as you can and don't let go." As soon as she was secured, Cyril jumped with as much force as possible–pushing himself toward the walls. Quickly shifting his footing, the folklorist ran along the length of the wall of the passage at an incredible speed without stopping. At this moment, he had a very focused expression and seemed like a completely different person. His eyes were locked onto the light that likely signaled the end of the tunnel.

Exiting the passage at last, they were met with a deep pit below a high rock wall. The boulder was still coming after them, and there weren't any obvious ways to escape. As imminent doom rapidly came closer, Cyril glanced up at the rock wall opposite of them. He had no time to double check, however he felt the pit was a trap. He could feel the muscles in his legs starting to burn, but grit his teeth and crouched slightly before pushing off into a jump one last time. Having given 110% in the take-off, the two sailed high up into the air as the boulder crashed down into the pit, landing onto a ledge. The ledge led to a continuation of a path, meaning this was supposedly the correct answer to the trap they had triggered. Any ordinary person would've died by implalement from the spike traps or be sent down into the pit to be crushed to pieces. Cyril rolled onto his side, taking in deep breaths after narrowly escaping certain death. "The defenses here are no joke," he said, coughing. "If we were off by even a few seconds, we'd be goners."

The path up ahead led to a carved arched doorway with two torches by the sides. The way was already open, and some old crates and munitions were lying about inside. From the looks of it, this was a small storage area. The interior was more organized and racks of ancient weapons were mounted against the walls. They were all identical in appearance, likely sparring equipment used for trainees in bouts. Still, they were in better condition than the sword Dala scavenged earlier. Spears and shortswords were present, unguarded for the taking.

Without a drop of hesitation, Dala grabbed onto Cyril locking her arms into place. He leaped at the wall and began running along the wall faster than even those big cats she had seen in Onnen. The exit of the passage was in sight but so was a massive pit. Dala closed her eyes and tightened her grip on Cyril as the boulder barreled toward them. Cyril made his guess and they landed on the ledge safely with only a few seconds to spare. Seeing that they were safe, Dala jumped up and pumped her fist in the air with a big smile.

"Fuck yeah that was awesome!" She shouted, "You were like an epic warrior ninja!"

The coughing from Cyril caught her attention and she knelt down next to him with a small canteen filled with water. It was one of the few items she had been able to keep since they got dumped on this island. After offering him a drink and helping him to his feet, she began to investigate the arched doorway, choosing to be more careful of traps to prevent another boulder situation.

Or at least she tried to be careful but when she spotted the gleam and glint of shiny weapons from within, she simply had to get her hands on them. She quickly dashed into the room and snatched herself a sword and a spear despite the fact she only needed one weapon. If only she had her bag with her! She could have stolen all the weapons and sold the remaining ones for later. Once she was geared up enough to look like a mini warrior ready to go on a warpath, she turned to Cyril with a big old smile.

"Alright where to next?!"

When Dala praised him for pulling through to avoid imminent death, he gave a small smile. Somehow he was sure that this sort of thing was exactly what ninjas had to endure before they could perform their tasks. Fortunately there weren't any more traps around the archway, which was rather nice of the original builders. Getting up after drinking some water Dala offered, he looked at their surroundings until she came back with several training weapons. He didn't object to her taking them since they'd just rust away down here, but he did give them a good look to check for any magic. "Hmmm, well let's see if we can find another exit out. There's probably a training ground somewhere nearby if these weapons were left here. It's probably a secret passage I bet, something for emergencies in case they needed to flee." With how old this place was, Cyril was positive there weren't any animals in these tunnels. Most creatures couldn't survive on water alone.

"I think this place might have an armory too. It's the most secure place in this entire compound and outsiders normally wouldn't get this far." He added. For a temple situated in an open valley, underground was safer than the surface. As they moved on they passed several wooden training dummies and equipment for martial arts. What was notable was the relative peace and quiet down here compared to the dorm rooms up top. Near the end of the training hall there was a dry wooden plaque that once had been lacquered, the lettering worn out and eroded by the cold dry air. There was another board with several wooden pegs sticking out, and small thin tablets of carved grayish white stone were hanging off of them. He stopped in front of them, turning his head this way and that with a hand on his chin. "Are these…name cards? I don't see any words on them. No, wait–maybe they're like those things you take to show people at the door before they let you in?" The word he was looking for was probably 'pass' or 'ticket', but you could get the gist of what he implied. He decided to take one from the top row of pegs, selecting a stone tag with a tiger engraved into it. There were four other beast themed patterns present: a serpentine dragon, a phoenix, a large tortoise, and a lionlike horned beast. 

Further ahead was an open cavern and the sound of roaring water in the distance. A cold damp draft was coming downwind from that direction. The noise became more deafening the closer you got, and there were many pools of cold water leading up to the underground waterfall that fed into the pools. The air here was unusually chilly, and a strange glow came from the pools. There was no obvious path leading out in sight, however there were strange statues of giant toads cast from bronze positioned by an empty cave wall. A thick green coating of patina made them look even more lifelike,  and their mouths were open. What purpose they served was anyone's guess.