Head whipping around, Lyraesel searches for the source of the sound.
Lyraesel is unable to pinpoint an origin for the sound other than the air in the temple itself, but it seems to be... not entirely real? Like the voice itself is an illusion, an echo or copy of a voice from somewhere else. Not a voice from someone invisible - a voice from someone who is somewhere else.
Kenji looks to the Gnomish Paladin and nods. "This is Vivnick, our paladin of Desna! She's told us many colorful stories of her faith. I'm no priest... But I've been to a few services." he says aloud.
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Aye, I have no issues with you taking the time to help clean this up.
Looking around Morgrym, is a little startled over the voice that appears.
"It's an illusion or some kind of trick. Someone is throwing their voice." Lyraesel says quietly to her companions.
"Truly the blessed are among us," the hollow voice says from out of the air. "Let the faithful find solace here. But beware! For dark forces inhabit the castle that once stood guard over this village, and they brook no interference."
Vivnick honestly looks surprised as the music stops and the voice speaks, "I am the faithful of Desna as Kenji says." She frowns as the voice informs them of the castle's dark forces, "Are they the reason the temple is in disrepair? That the village lies abandoned?" She begins to look about curiously for the disembodied voice.
She then shrugs a little to herself, clearly it was just silly of herself to look for physical proof of the word from on high, "Can you tell us more of the dark forces before we head to the castle? Could they be responsible for what has happened to Ameiko?"
"Terrible demon-birds and their allies and minions," says the disembodied voice. "They have ruled over this village for years now, waylaying travelers or hunting in the wild lands for their prey. They have become quite accustomed to their home in the keep, and they will not brook any challenge to it."
"But they reside within the stone walls and come out only when necessary, to hunt or to capture intruders."
Koan sniffs at the sorry state of the temple and the origins of the mysterious voice, "And who might you be, O'Voice from Beyond? I would say it is rather rude to not properly greet visitors in person. Come out and let us share the enjoyment of one another's company in these dark times."
Vivnick frowns at the mention of attacking travelers, nodding her head, "They will need to be dealt with. I shall make them pay for the ruin they have brought upon this temple."
She inclines her head to Koan, adding to his words, "You should not be fearful of showing yourself, if you can. We will protect you should these demon birds appear."
Despite her brave words, and having not seen her fight, Vivnick's small stature would make anyone question her ability to protect anything standing higher than two feet tall.
"I will be nearby... watching... waiting to see what transpires. Should the need grow dire I will help how I can... but the creatures in the keep already are suspicious of my presence. I dare not show myself yet lest they hunt me and leave this place bereft of any hope. But if you are able to stand against them, perhaps we will be able to work in common cause," says the disembodied voice.
"Then it looks like we hunt birds." Lyraesel says resolutely.
"Roast Chicken, coming up." Kenji says, adjusting his spiked gauntlets.
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You return to the village and note that the northern bridge crossing the bay is shattered and fallen, so you have to wind along the southern road to reach the western headland where the keep squats. It has a 15' high stone curtain wall, mossy and stained but still strong. You can see beyond the walls that there's a second floor to some parts of the building inside the walls.
You move cautiously toward the large gatehouse. A closed iron gate, rusted and pitted, occupies the middle of the wide gateway.
Cautiously staying out of sight, about 60' away from the gate along the muddy ground, you think you spot movement within the gatehouse.
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Koan creeps along the wall, looking for a likely place to climb. Preferably a section with some stairs or a ladder as he isn't the most able one at scaling tall structures.
Keeping to a low crouch, Lyraesel stealthily stalks across the distance to the gatehouse, moving to a point near the wall, out of sight of any that would look through the gate as she searches for a good climbing point.
At Morgrym's progress she groans inwardly, readying herself for the inevitable attack it probably invited.
Crunching through the underbrush, feeling all proud over the fact that he is doing well, Morgrym, looks a little abashed as the others try to get him to move quietly.
Hey, I am going quietly. he blurts out.
Kenji flinches as the dwarf crunches his way over to them.
"You know, it might be quieter if he stops trying to be sneaky." Kenji whispers, a pained look on his face.
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You make a cautious circuit of the grounds. The castle’s curtain wall is 15 feet high—it’s a DC 20 Climb check to scale it (or any other exterior wall). The numerous arrowslits can be squeezed through with a DC 30 Escape Artist check (Small creatures gain a +8 bonus on this check).
At present, nobody is manning the walls. You could, perhaps, get a rope over one of the back walls and make your entrance that way, far from the guarded front gate.
Morgrym shrugs off his pack and pulls out a grapnel and rope.
I will let someone else do the honours of throwing this up there.
He waves his hand at the top of the wall while he reseals his pack and gets back into it.
Taking the grappling hook from Morgrym, Lyraesel winds up before lobbing it towards the top of the parapet.
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Vivnick does her best to keep her noise down as she tried to move in a sneaky fashion, her growls at the terrain kept to just under her breath.
She nods her head as Lyraesel gets a solid toss in with the grappling hook, whispering, "Excellent throw, my friend." She readies herself and then attempts to climb the rope.
Vivnick struggles, and is unaware if she actually makes progress up the rope.
Fortunately, climbing a rope is not too hard, and having a wall to brace against makes it easier.
You make it up on to the curtain wall, and you can look down into the courtyard below.
"This smaller courtyard contains what may have once been a fine garden, but neglect has seen the death of the flowers that once grew here. Several broken benches complete the sense of loss. An area in the middle of the old cloister has been cleared of debris, and is marred by numerous bloodstains."
Within the courtyard you see a pair of hulking (though medium-sized) misshapen humanoids engaged in what looks to be a rather brutal wrestling match. They seem quite busy biting, kicking, and gouging each other, and haven't noticed that you are crouching on the wall above.
As you watch, the misshapen humanoids bludgeon and grab, try locks and holds and even roll around in the dust. The fighting is taking its toll - they don't seem to care too much about personal safety while engaged in "just a little wrestling."
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Morgrym looks at the wrestling creatures
I say we bring them to us, and not the other way around
He then hefts his axe in anticipation
"Make your way down. Once everyone is ready, or if they notice, I'll keep them busy." Lyraesel says drawing her bow and sighting an arrow.
Vivnick will nod to Lyraeseal, then make her way past the half-elf and peek into the tower, seeing if there were stairs down to the ground level. She looks back to see if the group would go this way or move over to the other tower.
Kenji begins his descent, dropping down to hang off the ledge by his hands and then dropping the last ten feet. Landing softly, he starts to creep closer, drawing on his latent control of fire.
Morgrym looks with envy at the grace of the others, and then lowers his rope down the inside, and then he climbs down himself.
Once down, he unlimbers his axe, and moves towards the creatures.
Each tower has no occupants at this time, but does have a trapdoor and a ladder down.
The two wrestling humanoids are so busy that they don't even notice as Kenji creeps up on them!
Vivnick uses the ladder down to descend down to the ground level, freeing her weapon as she moves out of the tower to join her companions in the fight.
Kenji sweeps his leg across the duo, bathing them in a wave of fire.
Koan clears his voice while finding a good spot to sit on the wall before he begins to sing a song of inspiring courage that lifts the spirits of those going into righteous battle.
May the maker guard over me.
Morgrym moves towards the duo not quite making it into contact, but gripping his axe in a 2 handed grip.
Curse these short legs of mine
Kenji's sudden assault catches the humanoids completely by surprise! There are howls of shock and outrage as fire sweeps over them.
The group advances into position and the beasts disengage from their wrestling and instead lash out at Kenji.
They grab and snap at the lad with oversized maws and big, meaty hands. Stale sweat and foul breath wash over Kenji and one of the monsters manages to swipe at him and give him slight pause.
Kenji has just a moment to realize how fortunate he is that they are not holding actual weapons while they were wrestling!
Lyrasel quickly casts a spell, a thorned javelin materializing in her hands which she hurls down at one of the hulking enemies.
Lyraesel's thorn javelin hits one of the brutes...
...who looks confused and plucks the thorny javelin from his side and tosses it away.