Kizabum flutters in through the door way,<strong>“It is done Master, it is done!”</strong>He declares triumphantly, twirling mid-air and causing the rings in his nipples to jiggle. “The bird is dead, shrivelled by your most powerful death magic, it never stood a chance. I would have brought its skull to you as a trophy Master, but of course on death the bond is severed and the creature disappears, not like a normal bird. As I am sure you well know Master....” the imp settles gently on Pride's shoulder, a little thick for the perch, but his wings help him balance. “Now the enemy is no longer watching, what is Master's will?” Kizabum chortles into a clenched fist, waiting for further instructions or to be dismissed.<br/><br/>Out of the kitchen area Mahsati emerges, leading her new pet in tow. The scorpion accepted her water and the offer to fight for food, or whatever it was the primitive mind interpreted from the elf's dance. It does click its mandibles at the others present, in particular Denhala and Cardinal Pride, as they are the least physically imposing, the easiest prey, but  Mahsati is confident it won't actually attack them. Still, they should avoid being alone with it, least they fancied to.<br/><br/>Exploring the rest of the temple reveals no further surprises. Every room is bare, no furniture, nothing stockpiled, and no further animals nestle in the corners or cracks, unless they learned to hide straight from the Shadow Fox herself. The second floor has eight rooms, each identically sized, 15ft by 15ft, with a uncovered doorway, the walls decorated with elven runes acknowledging the harsh environment of the desert, and praising the hidden wonders that allow the people to survive in it. Four of the rooms have windows, likewise uncovered and exposed to the elements. They are still hot in the late afternoon, they would have received direct sunlight in the morning hours, and there are heaped mounds of sand at the base of each window. Opposite these the other four rooms are cool, but dark as they have no windows, and not even a place to rest a torch. The top floor is a single room, 40 by 60ft, with the same carving as the entrance room had, but stylized and tangled, forms intertwining in the more limited space. This is the most holy room of the whole temple, where the elves would sit in a circle, a light depression in the centre of the room where the cainper leaves would be burned, the Seer or Seeress leading the others through the trance that would take them beyond the confines of the smoke filled room, to distance places, pasts or futures.<br/><br/>With the mercenaries still at least a few hours away, the group also explores the surroundings area. Sure enough there was no way to escape through the temple, unless you count the windows. Perhaps they can make a run for it with the bird dead, but the mounted mercenaries would be faster, and if they count a skilled tracker amongst them the group could be surrounded before they got far away enough to shake any pursuers. If the fight is to happen here, the mercenaries will be forced off their horses to enter the temple, and examining the terrain, the Cardinal concludes the archers will likely be ordered up onto the rim of the valley. It makes sense, they cannot fire into the temple with any accuracy, so this way they will be ready to pick off any bandits trying to escape, or cover a retreat from their allies. Knowing their likely move, ambushing the archers becomes a possibility, but they will likely be split into two group, one on either side of the valley. A common precaution commanders take against the possibility of an unexpected fireball or other mass killing ability.<br/><br/>For potential use in the long term, Mahsati finds the water source that once fed the basin in the kitchen area, hearing it bubbling through a thin crevice, no wider than an inch. It was diverted, but has not dried up. The rocks will need to be cracked open to make is accessible, and it will be a 20 minutes trek from the temple to fill a bucket, but that is doable, and is a useful features for a site to have if it is to be settled by those who cannot conjure water from thin air.<br/><br/>It has been two hours since the group arrived, and Kizabum reports the mercenaries are approaching, undeterred by the death of the familiar. The imp estimates they are eight hours away.