The tower stands 80 feet tall and it's exterior walls are amazingly smooth.
You can climb the crumbling east wall to reach the second, third, and even fourth floors which are all exposed.
There are two doorways on the ground floor that can be explored.
This is such a bad idea, Mornar thought, drawing in a long breath as he stepped towards the gaping opening in the tower wall. During his time in the Winter Wood he might have taken a risk like this, but only with his trusted brothers and sisters at his back. All trained and ready for danger. A couple of these northern nobles seemed like they might be capable, but certainly not all of them.
"Might as well start at the bottom, mayhap there's a stairwell on the inside," he said to the others, watching wearily both for his own footing and for whatever might be lingering. Ruins like these tended to attract vermin large and small.
Godric moves in with him, sword drawn.
”Agreed. Start at the bottom, work our way up. Be wary, ruins are not always abandoned.”
It would be very strange if there were not a stairwell inside..." Raikdar thinks to himself.
He begins picking his way over the rubble toward the same door that Mornar, and Godric have chosen.
"Yes, a stairwell would be quite preferable to having to clamber up this broken tower. I doubt that Nippy would be able to climb up to any of the other floors using the rubble, and I personally would prefer to not have to risk falling back down." After saying this, Kol-Relden will follow the others towards the doors, whistling for Nippy to follow. Drawing his scimitar, he will continue "So, which door shall we make use of? Left or right?"
"Lead the way, good noble fellows."
Upon closer inspection the door to the south is filled with rubble and almost to the ceiling of the room. The door to the north seems to have escaped the worst of the effects of the collapse, but rubble still litters the floor. Everything is covered in thick layer of stone dust. Thick cobwebs cloak the ceiling and hand down the walls like gossamer tapestries. A single archway stands open in the southwest wall.
As Mornar looks around the room he spots a sublte movement in the back of the room near the ceiling. A giant spider hangs upside down and launchs a glob of sticky web at him.
The glob lands short of its target.
Mornar glances down at the wad of webbing that landed on the floor, then hefted his spear again. "Please don't be another, bigger spider somewhere above me."
Stooping low, he rushed to the right around the circumference of the room, scrambling over the piles of rubble and keep a wary eye out for another splat of webbing, or even worse another spider.
Raikdar follows Mornar into the room, except he zags left. Raising his bow, he draws the arrow back to his cheek, then lets fly.
The spider lets another glob of webbing fly at Mornar but can't hit the target.
The spider keeps it's distance by moving along the ceiling
Raikdar spots the creature and it moves thru his field of vision and lets loose an arrow but also fails to hit his target.
"I've seen bigger spiders ..." Lai Yu Fai says as he shoots his crossbow at the spider.
"I hate giant vermin." Seeing the spider launch a glob of something at Morgnar, will rush in to the room. Noting that Raikdar is shooting at the beast with his bow, he will attempt to stay out of his line of fire.
Following Kol-Relden, Nippy will able their way towards the door, only getting up to the entrance to the room.
Without a solid ranged option, Godric squared off against the spider, preparing himself for if it attacked.
Mornar can act before the spider gets off another shot. All of the terrain is difficult inside and outside the room.
Regretting his decision earlier in the week to allow his steward carry his quiver of arrows, Mornar grimaced and continued circling the room, edging closer to the spider to at least try and keep it hedged in for the others to shoot down.
The group stumble over the rubble strewn terrain to get a better angle on the spider. Lai moves into the room and is able to get a shot off that pierces the body of the beast.
It shots another web at Lai before retreating toward the arched doorway to the west.
Moving up towards the spider, Kol-Relden will attempt to cut at it with his scimitar. First, however, he will see if he can better identify the beast.
Continuing to follow Kol-Relden, Nippy will amble into the room, edging towards the wall when they see the giant spider.
Raikdar moves through the door into the spider's chamber, trying to get a clean shot at the spider.
Lau Yu Fai tires again and misses.
Mornar continues his scrambling circle around the rubble filled room, cursing under his breath and closing with the large spider. At least it's only one, he thinks to himself, then immediately knocks on the wooden haft of his spear.
The spider swings down and attempts to bite Kol-Relden
Having crouched down to avoid the swinging spider's bite, Kol-Relden will thrust up with his scimitar, aiming for the center of it's body mass.
Raikdar moves to get a clean line of sight at the spider, then looses an arrow at the spider.
Kol-Relden's thrust pierces the beast just as Raikdar's arrow crosses through it from the side.
It falls to the ground dead.
Pulling forth a scrap of cloth from his bag, Kol-Relden will begin wiping the spider's blood off the blade of his scimitar. Turning to the rest of his compatriots, he will say "The world is better off now that there is one less of these vile creatures in it. If we did not have to potentially travel higher into this tower, I would suggest that we burn these webs, to ensure that there are no eggs that could hatch." Finishing wiping down his blade, he will put the rag away carefully, before continuing.
"Now, judging from the fact that the spider has apparently remained here for at least a small time, it must have had at least a somewhat steady food source coming through this room. This implies that the tower above is either filled with more animals and beasts, or that it is not as abandoned as it seems. I recommend that we continue, as the sounds of this scuffle could have been heard by denizens deeper into the tower. I doubt that this creature had any treasure, but if you wish to search the room, let us be quick about it." Finished with his statement, he will concentrate for a moment before saying a few words in a tongue none of the others understand, and his scimitar will begin to glow with a steady blue light.
"You never know what you might find." Raikdar gives the room a quick tour. He especially hunts in the area his missed bowshot would have gone. "I'd like my arrow back if it's not broken."
"Thanks for finishing it off. Unimpressive creature. Earthly."
Searching the rest of the ground floor you find that there is indeed a central staircase but at this level it is filled with rubble that only allows the door to open a couple of inches.
"Naturally." Raikdar grumbles. "So it's either we pick this rubble away from the door, or climb up the outside."
Raikdar eyes the blockage to the door, trying to assess the amount of work it would take to clear the fallen debris.
The door is impassable.
Raikdar notes the size, and placement of the timbers blocking the door.
"It would take hours, and hours to clear this mess. Plus the right tools."
Raikdar turns and heads back outside. "Any of you cat burglars by chance?"
Raikdar has led an active life, he is not a complete incompetent, when it come to climbing. He thinks about removing his armor; the weight of the chain shirt does make climbing a bit harder.
”Not I. Do we have any magic that could help? Because otherwise we are going to have to climb this tower.”