Anna's information appears to be spot on, for with only a few hours' rest, the party wakes feeling more refreshed than they have since they first came to the temple. Quioan finds a quiet corner in the hour before wake up call (a bit tough given the general crowding of the barracks, but he manages), and has finished locking the magical patterns in his mind before Tarkan shouts them out of bed.
Thon looks good as new, as well, and actually seems cheerful for once. He smiles as he gets ready for the day.
"Alrighty, then, so now we get to see how the other half lives, yeah? Full members and all that?" His excitement seems, at least for the moment, to be keeping him from noticing the way "Anna" keeps the others between herself and the young half-elf as they head off to breakfast.
His enthusiasm is quickly crushed, however, as Tarkan once again sets you all to the cleaning and chores you've been doing for the past several days. For once, however, your taskmaster actually seems to show a small measure of sympathy. He smacks Thon on the back over lunch.
"Don't worry, boy. We'll have a whole new lot o' scrubs you can bully 'round to do the chores after tonight," he says with a malicious laugh. It's clear Tarkan himself is looking forward to the prospect of fresh meat. Thon's mood, too, lightens a bit.
Garthia calls for Thon and the party to stand during the afternoon prayer gathering, announcing to the assembled that you five have passed The Living God's tests and are now full acolytes with the same standing as all others. The recognition has Thon nearly skipping his way through your afternoon chores.
Dinner is called early, with Garthia making a rare appearance in the lower dining hall. He hands off a parchment to Tarkan, then exits after a quick survey of the room.
"All right, you lot, I got assignments of tonight's recruitment!" Tarkan calls out, waving the scroll. He stands a moment without opening it, then swats the nearest acolyte over the head with the scroll, bellowing, "Well, read this nonsense already!"
Two sizable clumps of those gathered are assinged to "escort duty" and "backup duty." The smaller remaining contingent each take some form of guard duty: some are set to the front walls, a pair (including Thon) are set to the large front doors of the temple, and one is set to patrol the lower corridors.
In what seems a ridiculously serendipitous turn of events, Elenka and Yoshiki are set to guard the doors to the worship chamber from inside it, while Quioan and Audra are set to the foot of the stairs at the other end, tasked with stopping anyone from moving up should they choose to do so.
"All right, then, you sorry lot, get to it!" Tarkan bellows once all the assignments have been given out.
Thon seems slightly disappointed to have been assigned away from you, but wishes you luck as he moves to introduce himself to his own guard partner.
