Two strikes bounced off Catarina's shield, giving the fighter an opening to impale the beast through the chest with a stab of her sword. The creature came to a halt, possibly dead as she pierced it's heart. But then again, Catarina didn't know if these stony monsters had hearts. Or any organs for that matter. Did they even bleed? She was about to find out. Yanking her sword out forcefully, Catarina spun on her heel and chopped off the Gargoyle's head in a single swing. Sure enough, no blood, just stones. Catarina learned something new today.

Looking back she noticed that Malkai had somehow turned into an elephant. Catarina didn't know much about magic of magecraft, but she was fairly certain that turning into animals were classic druid magic. Malkai didn't strike her as a druid of all things. She'd expect Vivian to be one, what with being an elf, but as Catarina mulled on it for a few more seconds she supposed it should have been obvious. The lack of metal armor, the big bird, the wooden mask. She just dismissed him as a regular barbarian. Granted, she didn't exactly think better of him just because he was a druid. He was still an off-putting man, and now Catarina wondered what other secrets he was holding back. Why couldn't people just be honest with each other?

Regardless, the last of the gargoyles were quickly dispatched with the combined efforts of Vivian's magic spider and Malkai being an elephant. Catarina followed Vivian down the stairs, noticing a new path leading downwards. Catarina would have made a quip insulting the dwarf if she didn't see his body laid up near a corner. It would appear that he had died, and Catarina wasn't one for speaking ill of the dead. Though she was curious: She had imagined that the dwarf would have gone out fighting, weapon in hand and blood all over him, possibly torn to pieces. But right now the dwarf looked rather peaceful, almost as if someone had laid him to rest. It couldn't have been one of them; they were too busy fighting the gargoyles. Was someone else here?

Without the dwarf dismissing her paranoia, Catarina made her thoughts known. [color=fff79a]"Don't you think it's a bit odd for the dwarf to be laid out like that? I could understand it if one of us had done him those honors, but we were fighting the gargoyles. And those things don't seem to be the type to give much respect to the fallen. You don't... Perhaps someone else is here? Would they also be looking for the chalice?"[/color] The fact that the chalice wasn't here made Catarina even more paranoid. Trapping the cup made sense; classic dungeon design right there. Rigging it in such a way that it would be further away once the trap was sprung was also something she expected. But last she checked, they were the only ones here.

Unless... There was another group that had come here before. Catarina tried to wrack of mind to remember if another group had come here by the request of the mage's guild. But Catarina couldn't remember. She was almost certain that the temple had only recently revealed itself, so surely the mage guild wouldn't have already sent people inside before them. And surely they couldn't have come afterwards; the doors had closed on them the moment the chalice was disturbed. but then Catarina remembered that orcish warrior from before. What if she wasn't alone? That would explain why she left the group at night. It wasn't because she was so arrogant that she'd go in alone. But that she already had others waiting for her. So Catarina came to the conclusion that the orc's other party came in here first. That would explain why the orc was found dead, because she triggered a trap that the others would avoid. They likely also avoided the darkmantles by coming in when they were probably asleep or something. Or maybe they were eaten, and now there was only one or two survivors left. They knew they couldn't take the chalice without a trap triggering, and thus they waited for Catarina and the others to activate the trap first, then take the chalice during the confusion.

[color=fff79a]"We have to hurry! Someone must have taken the chalice!"[/color] Jumping to conclusions, Catarina quickly sped herself up ahead of Vivian, though still careful to avoid any more traps in the form of long hallways, trip wires, and pressure plates on the stairs.