Gozrek (26/52 hp)
John (13/76 hp, armor broken)
Augrym (13/95 hp, shield broken)
Unrak (87/136 hp)
Taranis (20/82 hp, Toth 19/76 hp)
Bytor (22/75 hp)
Bytor uses what he's got :
Before bed Taranis uses up the last of his wand to prepare the party:
Bytor takes over with his own Wand:
Gozrek (52/52 hp)
John (76/76 hp, armor broken)
Augrym (72/95 hp, shield broken)
Unrak (99/136 hp)
Taranis (80/82 hp, Toth 40/76 hp)
Bytor (72/75 hp)
***********
In the morning Taranis spends some time preparing his spell list:
Wood Shape for Fog Cloud
Touch of Slime for Ice Storm
Taranis spends the morning in bird form, flying out of the cave and over the fort.
When he reports back, he begins forming a plan...
and we get natural healing overnight, +1/lvl, right?
Unrak also downs his two light healing potions
The Keep appears much the same as before---that is, bristling with soldiers on the walls---and the doors to the main tower have been crudely repaired. A large mound of dirt has also appeared outside the Keep's walls. Taranis can see no other significant change.
"Was that the plan? Because, if so, it was well executed but poorly planned. If not, switch those. What do we do next?"
"As stealth as possible let's try to clear out that tower. We need to assume that the path in is now impregnable, but let's try."
Gozrek scouts the cave entrance and tunnel without incident; no more black puddings arise to bar his way. The secret door at the far end has been relocked, however.
Gozrek works on the lock, but after checking it for traps
Gozrek makes quick work of the lock. The room beyond is much the same as before, but now it is completely empty---not even the chests you raided yesterday remain.
To the stairs then, same plan.
Bytor draws his bow and follows quietly seeing if they can take advantage of their stealth.
"We have this, brothers!"
Gozrek carefully peeks around the corner and up the stairs. Drelev has quite literally doubled the guard---four guards stand in the front hall by the ruined gate, instead of two.
They do not seem to have noticed him.
”If the mighty Huntsmen don’t feel like we can take this group, then we should pass them invisibly. I am ready to die for any of you, but would not be ok watching any of you die. Let us attempt stealth as plan A, and fall back on brute force as plan B.”
"Agreed Augrym. We don't have a spell of silencing, unless Bytor is holding out on us. Let's try to sneak past. Even a single shout could bring a repeat of last time. If your armor makes you loud, consider losing it for a few minutes and stowing it away, just until we get up one more floor."
"Could we create a diversion to have some of the guards redirected elsewhere before trying to get past all of them? Like a fireball on a tower or some other sort of explosion?"
Fireball would be.... not subtle.
”I wish I was holding out on you, but all I have to offer is four invisibility spells.”
The company elects for stealth. The spells are cast, and...
<--it's +20 for invis, right?
Bytor follows near the back, following the stealthy example of those before him.
He nods to the others and creeps along carefully.
Taking 10 for a total of 29.
The party ascends the curved stairwell under the cover of Bytor's spell. Rounding the corner, they head for the door around the corner when Unrak slams his toe into an uneven flagstone, uttering an involuntary grunt of pain.
All four guards in the room immediately turn towards the sound, reaching for sword hilts.
"Did you hear...?"
"Sounded like..."
"Almost like..."
"Yeah..."
"Alas! You've seen me!" Gozrek, from the safety of his invisibility, immediately levels a pair of scorching rays at the nearest guard.
for
for
He then flips the others the bird before rushing back down the stairs and shouting "Everyone down here, they're coming!"
In truth after clearing the stairs, he loses a spell of Magic Missile to Vanish
Taranis can take the hint and FREEZES in place until the guards pass so that he can go upstairs.
Gozrek instantly burns the nearest guard to a crisp. But instead of following Gozrek down the stairs, the two guards by the door scream bloody murder and nearly knock the hastily-repaired doors off their hinges trying to get outside. "They're here! They're here! HELP!!!"
Third, shrewder and braver than the others but still unwilling to jump down the stairs all by himself, backs slowly towards the courtyard with sword raised and sharp notes blowing on his safety whistle.
Gozrek joins everyone else running up to the next story
Bytor creeps along, looking around, but also tries to follow the examples of his sneakier friends ahead of him.
Unrak whispers an oath, quietly draws his sword, and also moves with his friends.
John stays perfectly still, his bow held close to his body to ensure no one bumps it...
Taranis continues to lean on the spell more than intention
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Luck returns at the crucial moment, allowing you to sneak through the door and up the stairs without being noticed on the way by.
At the top of the stairs, you find yourself in a small antechamber with doors to the north and south, and double doors to the east, all shut. There are no guards in the room. The whistle keeps blowing downstairs and various shouts echo from other parts of the castle.
Unrak rumbles quietly What exactly are we trying to accomplish here? Because we should expect an Invisibility Purge pretty soon...
"Cut off the head and the snake will die."
Gozrek listens at the double doors, then the north, then the south. He also looks for traps.
Gozrek works to juryrig the door downstairs to only open this side: He then gestures to the other two sets of doors. Realize that no one can see each other, he whispers in everyone's ears, "At least two and a dog. Dog in the house means likely HVT and a guard. This is going to get violent."
He then moves to the door, ready to open it.
Bytor draws his longbow and prepares to fire. He nods to Gozrek indicating that he is ready.
Unrak draws his blade, and casts a defensive spell, his skin hardening.
Gozrek opens the doors. Decorative yellow and brown tile inlays cover the floor of an immense chamber, presenting a rich scheme of royal appointments leading to a raised dais and throne against the far wall. A pair of windows flanks the throne, looking down into the inner bailey below.
A handful of guards stand at attention about the room, and at least four look suspiciously at the opening door. Meanwhile, a familiar face is busy berating several servants gathered around a banquet table laden with poached eggs, rashers of bacon, thick sausages, roasted quail, a pigeon pie, and several intricate cakes. "---not ready for my birthday, I will personally see you whipped from sun-up to sun-down. I don't care what you have to do, I will have them and that's final!"
The sharp yapping of the Baroness's small dog is punctuated only by growls directed at the opening door.
Augrym takes out a piece of dried meat from his rations and tosses it to the far end of the room away from us and the baroness.
The tiny dogs nose clearly follows the path of the projectile... but this is among the most pampered of all canines to ever afflict the eardrums of Golarion, so the snout soon returns to snarling towards the door.
The four more attentive guards increase their suspicion, but none of are quite sure that they really just saw a piece of salt beef materialize out of thin air, and all are unwilling to interrupt the baroness during one of her tirades.
Taranis pulls the door shut and gives an invisible tug to the others, indicating that it's time to go up one floor.
Bytor, follows Taranis' queue and proceeds up one floor.