Traps? What traps?
The temple was easy enough to find with Corinna’s guidance, the trail approaching past some standing stones with an odd squirrel standing sentinel over them. As Hippofilius and Theo settled down to commune with the beast, I noticed Calliope venturing forth to scout off down a different path through the forest and strode quickly to follow her, aware that while she was most likely able to fly herself out of trouble, always having some backup is a good idea.
The miniscule dragon’s mind constantly brushing against mine was an odd disorientation, the weird duality and overlaying of senses becoming increasingly difficult to handle the more input I received from him, so eventually I stopped and settled myself for a moment, focusing on connecting my mind more completely with the little creature. In that moment, a full sense of identity swam into existence; a fierce, independent but deeply loyal creature who was at that moment happily looping up over the treeline to help us without any request needing to be made.
Aeneas (it shocked me as that name naturally connected itself to this bundle of thoughts and emotions in my head) scouted the temple from the air and despite some plantlife objecting to our approach and briefly ensnaring me, I destroyed the capturing greenery and the neighbouring pillar’s inhabitant (definitely out of practicality and not out of any pique at all. None.) and we made our way into the temple building.
We were greeted by a towering statue of Sydon with a reflective shield channelling light into a narrow tunnel dropping into a cavern below that Aeneas again scouted. He was wary of blocking the light but was able to see that the light seemed targeted to land on a tree stump and some sort of urn. After rigging a makeshift cover to quickly shut off that light should we be in that cavern at some point and need the confusion, we turned and made our way into the next room, where we were confronted by some sort of acidic goo creatures. As incompetent as he was, Pythor’s hammer is supremely well balanced and incredibly effective, thundering into the blobs with a truly satisfying splattering impact. The acid, however, quickly took effect on Braz’s armour and so we hurried to rid ourselves of their assault as quickly as possible.