IC VI

[Luis]

Saul offers his services.

"I don't mind taking a quick peek and signaling you all to come if it's safe."

Sorry, couldn't post before. Alethan, I don't mind you going ahead or coming along, might even be better if the two of us went together, I don't think such a small scouting party would alert anyone.

[zebediah]

Drudsa the dabbler

"I will cast invisibility on whoever does this scouting. I would suggest you do it Saul, not only because you volunteered but also because you have proved to be quite efficient at these tasks in the past. I just don't think waving back at us will do any good if you are invisible." the mage says with a smile "In fact, it would be useful if you remained invisible after we have entered, that way if you continue scouting in there you only need to worry about being silent and watchful, and not about hiding yourself."

[Innana]

Saul offers his services.

"I don't mind taking a quick peek and signaling you all to come if it's safe."

Sorry, couldn't post before. Alethan, I don't mind you going ahead or coming along, might even be better if the two of us went together, I don't think such a small scouting party would alert anyone.

Innana nods her head in agreement. "Would it be a good idea to have another person with invisibility go in behind Saul who is good with long range arrows?"

[frobozz]

Saul offers his services.

"I don't mind taking a quick peek and signaling you all to come if it's safe."

Sorry, couldn't post before. Alethan, I don't mind you going ahead or coming along, might even be better if the two of us went together, I don't think such a small scouting party would alert anyone.

Innana nods her head in agreement. "Would it be a good idea to have another person with invisibility go in behind Saul who is good with long range arrows?"

So, we have a total of three Invisibility spells at our disposal (Drudsa's, Bregalad's Lanny's). The idea here, I think, is that there will be one person who will be made invisible who will STAY invisible for the duration of this adventure while acting as our lead scout. Exceptions might occur if the scout is forced to defend himself, or if an amazing opportunity for a critical surprise attack comes along. If the scout is forced to become visible again due to the above, we can make him invisible once again with Bregalad's or Lanny's spell. So, whoever is the lead scout should be ok with the idea of sitting out most of the combats.

Also, we should probably have a way for the scout to be able to visibly signal the rest of the party. This can be accomplished by making the scout invisible first and then giving the scout a small reflective item to carry (like a mirror) that he can conceal on his person but can pull out when needed to signal the party. However, to keep things simple from a game mechanics perspective, it might be best to make it standard that the scout will normally return to the party to report his findings by voice whenever possible.

EDIT - Sorry, I meant to post this in the OOC thread.

[Alethan]

Rhys the Traveler

If there is a decision to make a second party member invisible, then Rhys will step forward nod volunteer, after grabbing his bow and quiver off his horse.

If the party decides to make two people invisible, Rhys suggests making both invisible first and then giving them a thin piece of twine to hold between them when they walk so as to not walk all over the other.

If they need to split up for some reason, they can work out some simple signals made by tying or holding the twine in certain ways. One can stay in place, with the twine resting on their foot, so as to keep it unnoticeable by most sentient beings while the other does what they need to do, etc. etc.

[thirdkingdom]

The castle does appear to have a courtyard behind the walls, before the castle proper. It sounds like:
1)You guys will try and leave the mounts in the courtyard and
2)Saul and possibly Rhys will scout invisibly.

I am going to ask that these statements are confirmed, altered or voted down within 24 hours (Saturday afternoon, EST).

[Bouv]

Tratiln agrees with the group. "I think keeping the horses as much out of sight is best. I think Saul would be the best to start scouting, even better invisible."

[Finglas]

Innana takes the trinket in her hand and gazes at its ruby red clarity. "It looks like a cut gem, and even catches the light." Amazing work." Innana holds the trinket up to the sun, and takes a few moments to admire Thordin's beautiful work. "You must have kept yourself very busy, my friend." Innana walks over to Bregalad and hands him the good luck charm she promised him if he survived. "This was handcrafted by our master glass maker, Thordin. She holds a glass die up in the air by a silver chain. "This is a your lucky charm I promised you if you survived the last adventure. A die with no ones, or two's, just three, four, five and three sixes." Innana hands the charm over, and adds."I hope this helps with your luck Bregalad. It feels lucky, we will have to see how it works for you."

Bregalad the elf

Sorry for not responding sooner, Innana and Thordin, but the group was quickly onto another adventure before I could post a response in the city. This is Bregalad's response, before they had left Threshold.

Bregalad is tending to his horse when Innana approaches him. He turns and looks at her, and then Thordin, as he listens to the warrioress' words. Accepting the charm, he holds it up to the morning light, appreciating the die's clarity and bright color.

The elf bows low to the fighters. "Thank you, Thordin, for crafting such a fine work. And thank you, Innana, for remembering this. It means more to me than can be expressed in words."

Bregalad places the charm around his neck, now his most valued possession.

[thirdkingdom]

Drudsa utters the sorcerous syllables and before his companion's eyes Saul begins to fade and grow dim, until he is no longer visible to normal sight. The stalwart scout lopes off, unseen, towards the castle ruins. Approaching the wall, he sees that the two ancient doors now sprawled on the ground -- each some fifteen or twenty feet tall and at least ten feet wide -- in fact only partially cover a pit or depression of some sort. From his vantage point some twenty paces from the doors it is impossible to tell how deep or what might be in the hole.

The walls themselves are ancient, pitted and covered in lichen and moss. Saul cautiously approaches the empty main entrance and peers through. There is indeed a courtyard, perhaps two hundred feet wide and one hundred feet deep; opposite the gateway is the castle proper. The courtyard was once paved with massive flagstones, but has since become weedy and overgrown.

No more than ten feet from Saul, on the other side of the wall, two gnollish guards armed with halberds stand slouched; they watch with interest a group of a dozen or so gnolls listlessly drilling for battle with halberds in the center of the courtyard. Off to one side, in the shade of the castle walls, a large gnoll and a shorter, ugly humanoid dressed in plate mail stand watching the melee. Every so often the large gnoll, or his companion, will bark something in the strange, giggling tongue of the hyena-folk and the group training will grudgingly respond.

Saul drifts away from the main entrance and moves to his left. The hole earlier spotted is perhaps one hundred feet down and, while narrow and difficult to maneuver through, is unguarded. The rubble strewn across the ground will make rapid transit tricky. The scout notes that it would be possible to circumnavigate the castle walls, but doing so would likely take a hour moving at a cautious speed. From what he can tell, the castle butts up against the walls on all sides except the front, where it is set back to create the courtyard.

[frobozz]

Lanny the elf

While Saul is being turned invisible, Lanny holds on to a small object of Saul's choice (perhaps Saul's mirror) so that it will not be made invisible, but can still be concealed on Saul's person, perhaps in a pocket.

"Use this to signal us your position, but only if you feel the need to do so, otherwise report back to the group as soon as you can do so safely. Signalling us will not necessarily mean we should come or stay, but if you are signalling us again and again from the same position, we will interpret that to mean that you cannot move from your present position, and then we will take action. I will have my spyglass out looking for your signal. Good luck, my friend!"

[Luis]

Saul follows Lanny's suggestion and hands him his mirror. He'll try to keep it's shining surface away from any light source for the duration of this little incursion.

He notes his idea for a rescue signal and establishes a few other signals including a safe entrance if he finds a way of disabling everyone or an order to leave this place if he finds something they can't handle and he's pinned beyond salvation.

Saul looks at himself as the spell takes it's effect... it's disconcerting, to say the least but he finds it amusing to talk to Lanny as he hands him his mirror while tapping Innana's shoulder and lightly tousling the young cleric's head. Thordin gets his beard blown but he isn't so foolish as to pull it.

"I'll see you soon. Might be you don't see me."

With a laugh he set's on his way.

...

He takes a note of the layout of the castle. The hole near the old doors may be his best way in but he watches over what the humanoids are doing and he begins plotting a plan.

Can the creatures understand any human languages? I'll go through the hole but I want to try something first.

[thirdkingdom]

You won't know until you try.

[Luis]

You won't know until you try.

Saul decides consider his choices. He could try pitting the guards against each other but he doesn't know if the creatures even speak anything a human would speak. He could also start booby trapping the yard. He has his rope on him and trippin on that onto a bed of invisible arrows might prove fatal, he might do that on at entrance to the castle and, after exploring, make a fuss so they would start checking out what's happening and ambush the survivors.

After careful consideration he decides he'll just sneak through the opening and leave any mischief for when his job is done.

"No point in killing a few guards if I get locked inside with no chance of being rescued by the others," he mutters to himself "especially if I can't find anything else because everything is under tight watch."

[thirdkingdom]

Luis, could you clarify Saul's actions, please, and indicate intent, as well. Also, I am not convinced that items on your person will remain invisible once removed.

[Luis]

He'll just go through the unguarded hole thinking it can lead him inside so he can see how many more enemies are there and what the layout is.

In a way it's actually better that items lose their invisibility, an arow might have been accidentally left there. An invisible arrow will raise some suspicion.

[thirdkingdom]

Saul wends his way through the rubble strewn across the ground while crossing through the gap in the way. The young scout keeps his attention on the gnolls, and thus is not paying attention to the debris in his path. A stray rock, almost hidden by a clump of weeds, catches his toe and sends him sprawling to the ground. Luckily, either the distance is too great or the creatures to absorbed in practice to notice the disturbance. He enters the courtyard, to find it exactly the way he imagined it to be. However, there is a haphazard camp located against the wall between the main gate and the gap in the wall. It is no more than a few dozen dirty blankets, a firepit and other detritus.

It is pretty much as described in my previous IC post. And, not to be too anal, but I saw you describe the hole in the ground as a well. It is much larger than a well would be, perhaps a dozen or more feet in diameter, and mostly covered by the doors which have fallen off their hinges. Saul is also, unless he approached to peer down inside -- which you did not indicate he did -- unsure as to how deep it is or what lays at the bottom of it.

[frobozz]

Lanny the elf

Innana the fighter:

Leaning on a tree Innana is eating a celery stick watching the ruined castle for any sign that Saul sends their way. "Do you see anything Lanny?"

"Nothing yet, Innana... He should be returning soon, I hope... If this goes on too much longer, we may just have to proceed forward... Something might have happened to him..."

[Bouv]

Tratiln is starting to get nervous, "Perhaps it would be best for us to go up after Saul? He's been gone for a long time and I hate for him to get caught by himself."

[thirdkingdom]

Time passes, an hour at least, and there is still no sign of their intrepid scout, nor sign of commotion from inside the castle.

[Alethan]

"If we sit here much longer, something is going to find US," Rhys says quietly. "Let's figure out an approach from a blind side and get out from the open ground."

"And..." he adds, "If necessary, I'm willing to get turned invisible and scout ahead, as well. Maybe I can find out if something happened to Saul."