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"That depends *oof* entirely on your *haa* context, Mr. Stone! Color or name?" Kane called back, glad to have something to occupy his mind rather than focus on climbing. It helped him, amusingly enough. Reaching the top, he caught his breath before nodding.
"Now then... let's have us a good look around." Kane said, catching his second wind and getting a good look at the place. As he looked around, he made hand gestures, casting Detect Magic to see if he caught anything. If Lady Origena's hunch was correct, their associate, Mr. Hunclay, should be carrying a few magical items on his person... if not radiating magic himself. If he was nearby, perhaps he could get a good lock on the man.
The cleric watches the wizards steady ascent.
”Don’t forget mood or pallor, also good uses for the word at hand your grace. Your conditioning seems quite good you underplay yourself sir.”
The cleric chuckles to himself.
Hummm he, checks for magic liberally before proceeding. That’s a good sign.
When he's sure everyone will make it up okay, Sheridan takes a look around on the ruined second floor, if only because it seems to be what everyone else is doing.
Ngai's eyes fly open as she sees the wounds on Sheridan's torso and arms. "Wow! That got you good, huh?" Looking around at the 3 people as she moves to his side, she asks, "Anybody skilled in the healing arts? I'm afraid I would do more harm than good.
"If only we had a cleric of some sort who could heal you!"
At Stone's comments, Lady Origena pinches the upper bridge of her nose and closes her eyes for a moment. Apparently she doesn't hide her emotions as well as she used to, even through that copious amount of makeup.
"My fool husband lost his life poking around in that damn tower. I suppose I'd come to think of it as his memorial. So, yes, I am a bit emotional at seeing its fall. But if I don't look too surprised this old ruin finally fell, it's because I'm not. Hunclay has long pestered me to knock down the tower. He's always claimed how fascinated with stars and the heavens he is. The tower apparently blocked his view.
I don't have time to give you a history lesson. If you want history, speak to old Bassy. Ask around and you'll find her. I believe your party is going to leave without you. So, please, find out why this tower fell if you can; and if Balthus Hunclay had anything to do with it."
With that, she turns and leaves the scene, ignoring any other comments addressed her way.
Open to the sky above, this exposed upper floor contains only some smashed furniture and a sprinkling of rubble. A wooden trap door is set in the floor against the northwest wall, but a stout timber has fallen across it.
”Sorry for your loss Lady Origena.”
The cleric says to the woman as she walks off.
Going in without all the intel I guess.
"I'm not too concerned about my bruises, Ngai. Sometimes when you're exploring a new area you take a tumble, but you get up and keep going. It's nothing some rest won't take care of on it's own. Sheridan seemed to fall harder, but Stone said he'd take a look at taking care of that once we were all together again, so I reckon that'll be dealt with." She looks over at Kane, "It didn't look like you landed quite as hard as Sheridan, but I should have asked how you're doing down below. You've climbed that rope, so it looks like you're not too worse for wear?"
Now that she's had a chance to look around she focuses on the trap door and the beam. "I imagine someone would have spoken up by now if they saw anything more interesting than this. When we're all up here and Stone's had a chance to look over Sheridan and Kane we'll probably want to see about lifting shifting that beam and lifting the door.
"Kane, you've been wiggling your fingers while you're looking. I assume that means you're checking for magic? Any coming from that trap door?
"Sheridan, I'm going to see if I can't spot any dangers from shifting that beam or opening the door. I'm a bit worried about traps that the Kobolds, or anyone else might have left. I get the inkling that you might know better what to look for along those lines, so I'd love to have you give it a once over as well.
"Ngai, you think you'll be able to shift that beam when it's time?"
Yantri begins to examine the beam to see if she thinks shifting it would cause any more structural damage, and the trap door to see if it seems either unsound or trapped.
With a last worried look at Sheridan, Ngai steps over near the beam. "Of course, just let me know when."
Kane, you don't detect any magic coming from around the top of the tower remains.
Yantri looks up from her search and flashes a smile. "Great! Let's just make sure Stone gets a look at Sheridan and that this looks clear and then we'll give you some space to do your stuff."
As she finishes her inspection, Yantri speaks while looking down at the trap door. "I think that beam shouldn't an problem if we move it. Doesn't look like it'll bring anything else down. And from what I can see this door looks safe. I think I can even see a ladder going down through some cracks." Pointing at the wall behind the trap door she continues, "It looks like that there is the remains of another one which would lead up from here if there were any up left to lead."
She stands back to give Sheridan space for his investigation and, even if briefly, does draw her musket, checking it over again as she has a bit of time, but with half an eye to what the others are doing as well.
The cleric gets to the top and begins preparing his gear. He loads his crossbow and slings it, dons his cestus, and inspects his rucksack making sure nothing on it is unsecured or in his way. He then casts Light on his holy symbol and tucks it into his tunic.
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"Correct, on both counts, Ms. Yantri. My hope was that if our elusive Mr. Hunclay were here, he would be either radiating magic himself, or carrying items that do so. Nothing... so far. However, that proves little... merely that he is certainly not here." Kane did note that his axe was, however, giving off a substantial amount of Abjuration magic... not at the moment, more like it was being stored awaiting release. Like magical potential energy... a fascinating development!
Once the others have gotten up, Kane will help lift up the beam and open the trap door. "*huff* A little help would be most welcome." he said, before chuckling. "Haha... this reminds me of one of my favorite series of books in the academy. 'Evondemor James and His Adventurous Exploits'. A scholar who *oof!* couldn't afford his studies, so he took to the field in ventures much like this. *Ah!* Remind me to share more some time..!"
Ngai will deliberately block access if she can for the moment.
The injured but patient ifrit gathers up his grappling hook while he watches Stone iron out his codpiece. Most of his travel junk was with Ngai or left on the confiscated wagon. To remain effective, Sheridan travels light.
As Kane starts to move towards the beam and Ngai starts to intercede, Yantri looks up fully from her Musket. "Kane, I think that we're not quite ready yet. We just finished falling down a pile of rocks, in large part because we as a group didn't take the time to make sure we were prepared. I know that you're excited to get into the field and, it sounds like you're particularly looking forward to running across our mysterious wizard. I appreciate that. Just for now though, could you tell me about that axe of yours while we let everyone finish their preparations? Even from across the room I was impressed by the workmanship when you had it out in the common room last night." Yantri smiles, though her scarred face makes it look less welcoming than it might otherwise, and pats a flat surface on the rubble beside her, inviting the scholar to join her.
Ngai turns to the Cleric, "Master Stone? You mentioned that you had some facility with healing? Perhaps you could take a look at the wounds of some of our companions before we move on?"
Should Stone do some healing, she will then turn and move the timber aside.
”Of course Ngai. I’d rather we all go in intact.”
”In speaking to the Baroness, the bowels of this ruin claimed her husband’s life. She didn’t elaborate how or by what, but it explains why this structure wasn’t repaired or occupied, well, to me at least.”
”She also shared that Balthus Hunclay is an astronomer. The Witch Tower blocked his view so he wanted it knocked down, the Baroness left the tower standing as a kind of memorial to her husband.”
”She charged us with finding out what caused the tower to collapse and if Balthus was involved.”
”Needless to say there are dangers within. The tower has an extensive history, but the Baroness didn’t have time to share it as we were already committed.”
”Did you work out a marching order amongst yourselves while I was down below?”
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Kane paused in his efforts to lift the beam aside, before looking between Ngai and Yantri and acquiescing to their shared interest in waiting. "Yes... I do see the wisdom in that. My apologies, when a mystery presents itself, I do get... overly eager."
Letting his beam down, he stepped over and held his axe up. "I fear my interests in this weapon are much more mundane. These carvings here in particular are what caught my eye..." He pointed along the blade of the axe, indicating what looked to be a number of Ulfen runes carved into the head. Then, he reached back and pulled out a slip of paper, which bore very exotic and curious symbols written down the length of the strip. "This paper is what Tien shaman call 'ofuda'. Paper talismans that are meant to act as blessings and charms that can be easily produced for the common people. Wards, if you will."
Kane knelt down, holding the paper next to the axe's carvings. "I've... long had a theory that writing itself is magic. In every corner of the world, you have examples of runes and symbols being used as part of arcane rituals. Written symbols from Tien to Vudra. Even writing from the other planes, elemental and aligned alike. I believe they are all descendants of a a single 'parent language'. I believe that this axe, in particular, will hold the key to my theory. I fear I could spend an entire day discussing the logistics, but to put it shortly, if I can prove that the runes on this axe are linked to the runes from these ofuda talismans, I will be one step closer to discovering that parent language... and perhaps the very heart of magic itself."
He leaned back against a particularly large rock, smiling. "But even if it simply proves that the characters between two languages have a common, mundane origin, that thesis alone would put my work on the map."
Smiling, but distinctly brighter than he was on the ground, Sheridan intercedes on the discussion between Ngai and Stone. His consonants produce sparks, and although he hasn't broken his patient smile, there is a warning there that his patience has a limit. "Ngai and I in front, you and Bookend on the defensive line, and Deadeye in the rear. In that order, if we're in a narrow corridor. Now, the rules of your connection with the Servant are none of my business. I'll let you alone as far as when to dispense your assets, but you were the one to suggest healing, and I will have some trouble focusing on these preparations while you dangle this morsel of yours over my head like a luthier feeding cats."
Yantri watches Kane talk and smiles and nods. She peers closely at the symbols on the axe and those on the paper. This is a man who is pursuing something he loves, I can't even begin to see the connections he does, but it's good to see someone getting to chase what they care so much about with so few cares.
"I can't say that I'd be of much help with your letters and where the came from, but I wonder if you've given much thought to where the axe physically originated, or at least where it picked up those carvings. If the letters, runes and wards don't have enough of the pieces to find all your connections on their own, I'd think that going to the source of that one might shine some light?
"Of course, you're the expert here. You know how to pursue your work in the way that will be the most benefit." She pats Kane's shoulder and stands to turn to Stone.
"As you say we're heading into an area with unknown, but clearly present dangers. We've also got an array of skills that might help with those as you've pointed out. Now I hadn't talked with the others about it formally," she pauses and glances at Ngai and Sheridan in particular, "But I was assuming that we'd take a look at what we're about to enter before deciding who'd be heading in first, last and what not. We're done with our rushing in, but as long as we've got the chance to assess the situation, we should be able to figure out as a group who we want taking our point. Sheridan's already laid out a fine plan for a corridor if that's what we'll have below, but I'd like to take a look down that trap door before deciding who's going down the ladder fist."
Stone nods to the rogues plan completely nonplussed.
”I was thinking something along those lines, but with Yantri swapped with Kane as I don’t know how well she could direct fire to the front from the rear, but we’ll try it your way Sheridan. Thank you for letting me use my god given talents, I guess the minute it took to load my crossbow and arm myself took too long for you. Don’t worry, I saw your partner blocking the entrance like I wasn’t going to heal you like I said I was. Nothing is being dangled.
He nods to Yantri with a genuinely approving smile.
”That sounds like a prudent course of action Yantri, I am betting some of us are a lot better at seeing in the dark than others.” he winks. ”I can give you some divine assistance if you will permit me.”
”My healing bursts can simultaneously heal the living and harm the undead. If something were to come streaming out of the breach I was holding for that. I learned that trick in the training grounds under Cassomir.”
”If everyone is done directing their ire and thinly veiled threats at me I am ready to begin.”
The Cleric assumes the low ready with his crossbow.
Ngai momentarily ponders bodily picking Stone up and throwing him off the top of the tower, then reconsiders. "Nobody was threatening you, Stone. Calm down."
Turning to her friends with a sigh, she says, "I guess that I'll move the rafter now. Up to you, but those of you that are injured, maybe step away a bit, or stand behind me. I'll do my best to protect you should anything come streaming out." She gives people a few seconds to either move or not, then moves the obstacle.
Sheridan takes position behind Ngai and pulls the slim leather sap from his belt, letting it spin between his fingers before coiling into position to pounce.
Yantri, moves to Kane and pats his shoulder again. "Looks like we're ready to go again. You want to watch from the East side over there while I cover the west? Just don't get too far away from Stone and keep your eyes open for excitement. Thanks for being patient while we got set." She smiles at the Wizard, nods to the others and takes position off of Stone's side, 10 feet back, and with a clear line to some edge of the trap door which won't be the back of it when it's opened. Her Musket is in her hands, but she's not aiming it yet. She is listening now for any sounds coming from below that might give advanced warning of an emerging threat.
The tension builds, the music swells, a bead of sweat drips off of everyone's face, and Ngai moves the beam and...
nothing! Nothing bursts from below, there are no sounds below the door.
Sensing no immediate danger, Stone calls upon his god and soon those who were injured feel some strength return to them, feel their skin repairing itself.
Someone opens the damaged wooden trap door and sees a ladder that leads to the ground floor. Directly beneath the trap door and ladder is an iron trap door.
What do you do?
Yantri nods her thanks to Stone for the healing surge. "Guess I don't need to rest those wounds away this time. Thanks."
When nothing bursts out of the opening and she doesn't hear anything on it's way she edges over and peers down to the darkness below.
"I don't see any immediate threats. Seems like we should send someone in to check it out." Turning to Sheridan, and Ngai "Do one of the two of you want to do the first round of scouting with the rest of us covering as we can from up here? I see a sturdier trap door down there, but I'm not sure what's in the rest of the room."
Ngai steps up. "I'm on it."
Reaching into her back pack she pulls out a torch and lights it up. Light source in hand, she lowers herself down the ladder and looks around.
The tower's large ground floor has mostly collapsed under the rubble, but along the western portion of the room a section remains clear of debris. The only natural light is whatever sunlight comes through the above trap door. But Ngai's torch lights up this space easily enough. An iron trap door set in the floor is directly below the companion door you just came through in the ceiling above. Shattered wooden furniture lies scattered around the corpses of two small, green-scaled creatures.
"Looks safe to come down - no obvious threats." she yells up the trap door above. She then moves out of the way, going to the bodies and nudging with her toe to ensure that they're actually dead.
Assuming the rest of the group comes down, Ngai will wait until the more trap-savvy people declare an all clear, then will offer to open up the next trap door.
Sheridan slides down the ladder, then crouches beside the iron trap door, using 'flat poker four' to check around the edge of the door for strings or springs, inspecting the hinges and any locking mechanism while the others filtered into the room. He wasn't great at this, but it was already made glaringly apparent that the others expected him to do it.
Yantri puts her musket away and follows Sheridan down the ladder more slowly. Seeing him check the trap door for anything suspicious, and Ngai poking at the Kobolds she focuses her attention on the rest of the room, starting to slowly walk the perimeter, eyes on the walls and ceiling. When she gets to the bodies, she also peers intently at the ground around them. "Do you want to check the bodies to see if they've got any clues on them as to why they'd be here, Ngai?"
Looking back to the rest of the group, and trying to address everyone she asks, "Does anyone have much experience with Kobolds? I know that the Gnomes I've traded with don't care for them at all, but these are the fourth and fifth that I've ever seen this close, with the first three all coming earlier today. What should we be looking for on them that might help us figure out if they caused this collapse or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
"Good point, Yantri!" Assuming the goblins don't jump back up and attack her, she'll search the bodies for what she can find - perhaps sapping tools or somesuch. Whatever she finds, she;ll share with the rest of the group.
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"Ah, if the coast is clear, I'll be following you all down in a moment." Kane said, politely allowing to follow through and head down before clambering in after the group.
Having a look around, he opts to cast his detection magic, this time focusing on the door below. He also takes a moment to assess that the kobolds are, in fact, kobolds, and if their bodies yield anything unusual or noteworthy. "Most unfortunate... if possible, I'd like to capture one. Most kobolds tend to speak Draconic... I should like to have a discussion with them. Chiefly of their plans, but as they say, any knowledge is a handy tool."
The fiery-tempered gunslinger and mild-mannered bloodrager inspect the Kobold corpses and come to the conclusion that they're nothing more than that: corpses.
While they have no weapons, or even armor beyond the now tattered cloth that served as clothing, each kobold has a cloth-like satchel hung their necks and shoulders; large enough to hold several small items such as a lantern, book, or packaged foods.
Upon further inspection, you find that each bag is padded on the inside with leather, yet empty in all other respects.
Yantri takes the time to inspect the walls still remaining, to ensure they won't experience death by debris. For a collapsed tower, the support seems sound enough, so long as no one starts purposefully damaging walls any further.
"Hmmmm. To carry explosives, you think? Sure making this look like a deliberate job, though if so, I guess something went wrong and it blew too soon." Ngai shrugs at Yantri, then moves over to open the trap door leading down.
The cleric follows Kane down and takes up a low ready with his bow on the trap door.
”Explosives? If so these Kobolds would have an unusually robust supply chain. Explosives or not I am still curious as to motive.”
He looks around at the bodies before mentioning.
”Maybe the kobolds above got killed trying to negotiate the slope down to get to the wizards house? These two certainly don’t look like members of a raiding party. Maybe sappers? Did you see dirt under their nails?”
”. . . Maybe the Kobolds were going to the Wizards house to get payment for dropping the tower from his view point.”
Ngai opens the iron trap door, with Stone providing cover, should anything pop up with an unfriendly agenda.
But there is only silence.
And darkness.
It's immediately obvious that no sunlight will be piercing into these lower levels. From her torch light, Ngai sees that instead of another trapdoor, the ladder leans against a stone wall, and stands on a stone floor. It's difficult to make out more.
Ngai peers around, looking for obvious threats in the orange glow of her torch.
Yantri looks thoughtfully towards the bodies, tapping her knuckle against her chin. "What's surprising to me here is that these don't seem to have any weapons. Did anyone check the ones outside and notice that for them as well?
"I'm assuming that Kobolds wouldn't be welcome in town, so if they were venturing this close, I'd expect them, if they had a choice in the matter, to be armed in case something went wrong. These two don't look like they were prepared for any sort of hostility or contingencies.
"The one I saw out by the big building to the Northwest had something like those bags on it as well. It was burned pretty badly, much like everything else on that one, but I'd wager it was the same make. Pitty I was in a hurry and didn't take a closer look before reporting back.
"So we have at least three, probably five kobolds that were either more comfortable this close to the city than I'd expect, and who ran to that big old house first when something went wrong, rather than out to the woods. I'd say it's looking like they were either here under duress, or they were working in a comfortable enough relationship with the missing Wizard that they didn't need to treat this trip as a dangerous one, probably routine instead.
"How that fits into the tower coming down, ..., I'm not seeing it yet. It's possibly they were trying to bring it down, but I wouldn't expect them to move this way if they did. I'm leaning towards wrong place at the wrong time. Why they were is still open, but I doubt these ones wanted to bring this," she gestures around her, "down on top of them like it seems to have fallen."
Upon climbing down and glancing around, Yantri turns to the others before anyone heads out. "It seems to me like we've got a couple decent options here. It's dark, it seems quiet and it's cluttered in here. We could move as a group in the configuration that Sheridan laid out earlier. As long as we stay alert and don't make foolish moves we'd probably be fine.
"The other option would be to have someone scout ahead. I'm light on my feet when I want to be, and I can see well enough in this darkness that I could peek about without any light, so I could possible suss out any dangers that might be ahead of us without tipping them off to our approach like the whole group would. We might have a better chance of surprising rather than being surprised.
"On the other hand, I don't know how quickly things will change down here; how fast any clues that might be there now will disappear if we don't get to them. We'd move faster as a group than we would with me (or anyone else who feels they'd rather do it,) scouting ahead and coming back to move us.
"Anyone have a preference for how we do this?"
"I guess scouting is a decent idea, but if something bad were to happen to you i worry that we won't be in a position to help, because we probably won't see it happen. Maybe we should stick together."
"Besides, anything in this room, or in sight or it, already knows we're here, what with the torch and all. "
Ngai peers around, looking for obvious threats in the orange glow of her torch.
Sheridan nods to Yantri. "If anyone is scouting, they shouldn't go alone. Seen too many scouts go missing."
Sheridan looks around a bit, frowning down at the stained cots. He remains within a few feet of the party, but may be straining strict interpretations of marching order. "What did they call this place? The witch's tower? I haven't seen any herbs or cauldrons. Those upper levels were just furnished rooms and this..." The ifrit leans forward, peering into the darkness. "Seven, maybe as many as ten cots? One tiny shelf? No armor or weapon racks? Looks like servants' quarters... or a sick ward... What's that?" Sheridan spots something in an alcove at the edge of the color shed by the Stone's symbol.