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Newton

"We shall do our best to return your valiant guards to their people"

Fourthmonth, Twentythirdday
Hex 237.118

Thus advised, the adventurers leave Kimrid and head south, back into the woods. There's a period shortly around noon when the adventurers -- Notai and Newton, especially -- feel the hair on the back of their necks raise, as if being observed by someone they can't see, but the feeling soon passes.

The adventurers reach the ruins of the old guard tower towards the end of the day. They've got perhaps another hour of activity before it is time to establish a camp for the evening.

Zellar
Zellar leans over the pommel of Thunderhoof's saddle and strokes the beast's neck. She eyes the dark tower, frowning. "Have you scouted this place previously?" She looks to the falling sun. "If not, we could do it now, to better prepare our plans for tomorrow."

Newton

"We haven't scouted here before. I'll take a sneak around and see what tracks I find. It's best we know what's living around here before we settle for the night"

Zellar

"Very good, Newton. Take care. Be it known, Mnencir has blessed me with certain benisons that scry evil intent or magical dweomer; should you need my assistance as conduit for his wisdom, I wait ready."

Newton

"Thank you for your consideration." he starts to remove some of his kit and leaves it with his horse. "I'll scream if I need help" he says with a twinkle in his eyes.

Fourthmonth, Twentythirdday
Hex 237.118
The Abandoned Watchtower

Newton does a quick circle of the tower's perimeter, about thirty yards from the base. He spies no immediate tracks, nor game trails. There was once a path that led from the tower's base to the road, but this is now barely discernable; saplings and trees grow up through the leaf mold that now covers it.

The tower itself seems to be in decent condition; if the Kimridians speak the truth, it was abandoned perhaps 30 years ago. The walls have moss on them, and ivy grows up around the perimeter.

The building is square, perhaps twenty feet to a side, and forty feet tall. A squat, rectangular structure, also of stone, projects to the north off the building. It looks from the outside to be a stable. No sign of life can be seen, nor do any lights burn in any of the windows or openings. Newton notes that the doors to both the stables and the tower itself have been wrenched from their hinges; he sees the stable doors leaning against a nearby tree, as if flung there, but cannot see the door to the tower proper. Both structures bear signs of fire damage, as well, stones blackened with soot around the windows and arrow-slits.

Newton reports what he saw to the others, then adds "...so it appears uninhabited. Are we going to camp out here tonight, or risk going in?"

Feargus

"It's been a bit of a day already. Let's inspect the entryway and then camp outside. We can then conquer this place in the morning."

Zellar

"Agreed. We should go in with the full light of day at our backs."

Newton puts his equipment back on

"Let's go and take a closer look then"

Newton

After a pause he adds "We might want to check out the stables too, make sure it's clear. If it is we might want to consider staying there tonight"

shaidar wrote:

I got the impression the tower entrance is separate from the stable, that the stable just butts up to the tower wall

Zellar

Zellar ponders the divinations of Mnencir...

beniliusbob wrote:Zellar

Zellar ponders the divinations of Mnencir...

tk, do you have any precisions regarding how detect magic and detect evil would work in this instance? Can I detect through stone and/or earth, or do I need line of sight to the objects to be detected? Moldvay and LL specify (essentially) "any object within range." I'm used to this being limited by certain thicknesses of wood, stone or lead as per AD&D, but I would be most happy to get an unblockable orb for my detect spells. (It actually makes the spells much more attractive and powerful than the AD&D versions!)

thirdkingdom wrote:

beniliusbob wrote:Zellar

Zellar ponders the divinations of Mnencir...

tk, do you have any precisions regarding how detect magic and detect evil would work in this instance? Can I detect through stone and/or earth, or do I need line of sight to the objects to be detected? Moldvay and LL specify (essentially) "any object within range." I'm used to this being limited by certain thicknesses of wood, stone or lead as per AD&D, but I would be most happy to get an unblockable orb for my detect spells. (It actually makes the spells much more attractive and powerful than the AD&D versions!)

Description of Detect Evil (p. 66, OSE) states "objects enchanted for evil purposes or living beings with evil intentions are caused to magically glow." It's got a range of 120'. The detect magic spell functions much in the same way. I would rule that objects you don't have line of sight to would be affected, but if you can't see the glow you wouldn't know the subject is present. However, since it doesn't rule that said glow is visible only to the caster I would say you might lose the element of surprise if an evil creature were to suddenly start glowing.

beniliusbob wrote:

thirdkingdom wrote:

beniliusbob wrote:Zellar

Zellar ponders the divinations of Mnencir...

tk, do you have any precisions regarding how detect magic and detect evil would work in this instance? Can I detect through stone and/or earth, or do I need line of sight to the objects to be detected? Moldvay and LL specify (essentially) "any object within range." I'm used to this being limited by certain thicknesses of wood, stone or lead as per AD&D, but I would be most happy to get an unblockable orb for my detect spells. (It actually makes the spells much more attractive and powerful than the AD&D versions!)

Description of Detect Evil (p. 66, OSE) states "objects enchanted for evil purposes or living beings with evil intentions are caused to magically glow." It's got a range of 120'. The detect magic spell functions much in the same way. I would rule that objects you don't have line of sight to would be affected, but if you can't see the glow you wouldn't know the subject is present. However, since it doesn't rule that said glow is visible only to the caster I would say you might lose the element of surprise if an evil creature were to suddenly start glowing.

Okay, cool. So what are the specs of the glow? I'm trying to use this to scout, obviously, but obviously the effectiveness depends if it's an outline like faerie fire or a full on light spell kind of glow.