"Well, if it's so f$!~ing great in here, how come the bandits are living out there, huh? Huh?"
Arakan wheels on the man, clearly already upset at his plans not reaching fruition, "Because ignorant people are a superstitious lot. They fear and confront that which they don't understand, and resort to violence and barbarism instead of choosing the route of learning." He calms himself, only slightly, but does not take the bite from his words, "Now are you going to shut your trap, and let us thinkers try to learn from our environment, or continue to batter us with your ignorance?"
"I think he takes pleasure in his ignorance Arakan. Such a small world he inhabits, so limited. Come, let's keep moving."
Grea's head snaps up and her quarterstaff follows sharply. She's holding it in both hands, a standard guard position. She stares at Jareen.
"What do you mean, entranced?"
"What else would you call what happened to us in there? Can you imagine if one of those visions didn't kill us right away? But instead kept you, living someone else's life for days, or weeks, while your body slowly died? I'm in no way saying that is what has happened to others in here, but it could be."
A soulbolt manifests in the half-giant's massive right hand and he looks back and forth between the mage and Grea.
"City folk - you always think you know best. You have no idea what goes on the desert," mutters Danet.
"I'm not from any city, and you're still an idiot," Morthak grumbles.
Grea relaxes. "I misunderstood you, Jareen."
She turns to look at Danet. "This is not the desert. The desert is hard, but it is clean. This is unspeakable."
"Oh, yeah sorry, thought we were sorted. north, out of sight as much as possible."
The big half-giant relaxes, but keeps his weapon manifested, and turns to leave the room.
Danet scowls but says nothing more. The restive group of rescuers head through the empty streets, clambering over the piles of sand as they trudge towards the city's north gate. Eventually it comes in sight, flanked by a pair of square towers like the one in the southern wall, the empty portal heading out into the desert.
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"Wait for night or do we go now?" Morthak asks, hefting his warhammer.
"We wait and watch."
Jaryx nods and looks around for a place to observe from, unseen. "Which way to bandit tower? Don't want tower to see us, yes?"
Morthak turns to Cahel. "Can you turn into something smaller, more... mundane, to scout ahead without being noticed?"
Arakan looks to the towers, "Given their fear over what lies within these ruins, we may find those towers left empty, and as such they would work as a perfect staging area. I say we move up to them, and consider pairing off into two teams, one to each tower."
Moving closer toward them, Arakan tries to look for any signs of activity within, as well as keeping out of sight himself. "Stay low, and out of the middle of the lane." he instructs the others.
Grea nods and follows Arakan.
The reptile nods first in the affirmative, then in the negative to the dwarf's question. He then turns to follow Arakan without changing forms.
Jaryx stays close to Grea, as usual.
The sand piles around the base of the towers, but there are no obvious doorways into the them.
"It looks like we'd have to dig to get into them, Unless they are entered via some of the other nearby buildings. I have read of such. Should we fan out and check the other buildings?"
Arakan looks the structures up and down, "The doors staying buried could be to our advantage. If we fight from within or atop them, we could hold up better. Let's see if we can go up."
Grea looks around.
Grea squats on her heels and looks through the gateway at the bandit camp.
"We could watch and hunt from here, but it will take many days to weaken the slavers so."
Arakan nods with Grea's assessment, as that's along the lines of what he himself was thinking. "I thought Jareen suggested he could make some of us non-visible. If that's the case, a few of us could go in and cause ghostly havoc as well. It seems we still need to get closer." This last he scowls and sighs while saying.
"One of us, and there are limitations, but indeed I should be able to perform that feat."
"Let's find a side street that reaches the wall. We can climb up and try to get into the gate towers."
"yes, that's a good plan. "
The group file down a street at Grea's behest, and soon the city wall rears up above them.
Jareen will stay at the base keeping an eye out.
Jaryx will do the same as he did when Grea climbed the wall in the tower.
Grea swarms up the wall and carefully pulls herself over the top edge. She's pleased to witness the battlements and crenellations. After glancing around, she lowers a rope for the others.
The half-giant will aid each of the climbers unless they ask him not to, if only by providing a stirrup with his huge hands to give them a step up.
Morthak scrambles up the rough wall quickly. Once up top, he carefully peers over the edge, making an effort to remain out of sight.
Peering over, the bandit camp is largely as Grea described it. A walled compound, presumably an old caravanserai just outside the city gates, with the tops of tents in the large courtyard visible from this high vantage point. There is one gate and, at the opposite end, a tower four storeys high. There is a large corral with riding beasts near the entrance and human figures wandering about.
"The tower."
Grea begins moving in a surprisingly supple crouch below the lower edge of the battlements toward the tower.
Grea continues along the wall in her low crouch until she reaches the door.