"It would have been faster to kill them," says Lae'zel, once they're gone.

"They probably have friends inside the temple that would've come to their aid, and I did not want to deal with that. Now we only have to deal with the friends."

"...they would abandon their allies? Disloyal cravens."

"Opportunistic bandits are not known for being particularly faithful to each other, no. Let's scope this place out."

The temple overlooks the rivershore they crashed onto, giving them a view of the river in the distance and the smoking remains of the nautiloid. The structure seems to have been dug into the rock, with stairs leading down to a door that probably used to be more underground before the temple lost its ceiling and most of its walls; as it is, it's just stone ruins and a stone floor and the stairs, exposed to the elements. Whichever god this temple was dedicated to, it was abandoned by their followers long before the nautiloid's arrival.

Ah, a door. Now, do they try to fib their way in or get inside otherwise undetected...?

"Lae'zel, I promise you will have much opportunity to kill and maim but for the moment please follow my lead."

"...very well."

So he goes to the door and knocks.

"That you, Gimblebock?" comes a muffled voice after a few seconds. "Everything alright out there?"

These people do not share a single brain cell between them. "Gimblebock triggered some trap! He needs help, now!"

"I told him it wasn't safe out there. Get inside, I'll rustle up some bandages..." The man unlocks and opens the door to let them in—

—and Astarion pulls him out by his shirt, one foot stretched out to push the human out of balance, and a hit to the back of the man's head with the butt of his dagger is enough to knock him clean out.

"...and I suppose you will ask me not to kill him?"

"For the moment, yes. He may prove useful."

Or... he may prove food. Astarion has never tasted a person's blood...

He should not get distracted by the thought. Into the ruins they go, dragging the unconscious man with them.

The room they walk into has a hearth and a table covered with various types of long-shelf life food as well as a nook with some books that even from a distance look dusty enough that it's clear the place's current denizens have not, themselves, touched the place.

Shadowheart looks around with somewhat more interest than she's been showing... most things, really. "Strange," she whispers. "It tends to be more obvious, who exactly is worshipped in a temple."

"No one else here," he whispers back, looking at the other door leading deeper into the crypt. "These people really do not know what they're doing."

"Let's kill them," says Lae'zel, not whispering.

"Tymora help us all," Astarion breathes as he looks around for some rope to tie their new unconscious friend. He gets some but before he ties the man up he takes the man's shirt off to make a gag out of it. Then he ties the man up.

"This skulking around is dishonourable and pathetic."

"Lae'zel, gorgeous, I am not as powerful as either of you and if we get swarmed by ten people I will be the first one to die. I would like to not die. So I want to take care of as many threats as I can before we are inevitably forced into conflict."

"You can just stay back and watch."

"Or I could instead use the skills I do have so that I can become more powerful, too."

"Tsk. Coward."

"It is to the benefit of us all that I become stronger. Especially if we're planning to storm a whole druid's Grove filled with druids and tieflings and who knows what else."