Rhasa whispers to Lothar, "I would rather be within the stockade with you, but to truly maintain surprise, this door needs to remain a secret. Perhaps I should remain outside with Gorguk and hide the door after the three of you are safely within?"
Grabs Cals shoulder in the dark passageway,
"Me thinks she intends tah send us within alone wit Lothar!"
Barnabus smiles in the darkness...
Though he was a little apprehensive about the idea, the magician couldn't deny the logic of his partner's suggestion.
Very well. Do what you must. Lothar took her hands into his and, after a quick prayer to Irori, renewed his message connection with Rhasadilara. Be careful, Golden Arm.
And with those words, he released his grip and dropped down the entrance to join the others.
Before Rhasa can close the cover to the tunnel, Calinder says, "Rhasadilara, before you close the portal to this tunnel, I wish to give you Erastil's guidance. Reach your hand down so that I may grant unto you this gift of Erastil."
Rhasa will drop the rope in with them, accept Calinder's gift, and close the trap. She will do her best to hide traces of it.
Survival
Then, she will move downslope to where they waited for the guards to get bored again - any zombies will be avoided with alacrity rather than attacked. If Gorguk is already gone, she will make her way to the camp and explain the change of plans to him.
Perception
Stealth
With the cover in place Barnabus listens closely to Lothars description of the layout.
Calinder also listens carefully to any instructions or information that Lothar gives to them.
Whispering to Barnabus and Lothar, "I could cause an area of complete silence to surround the area at the bottom of the stairs. We could then disable these two with out anyone hearing."
"Or, should we just await Goguk's and Rhasadilara's arrival?"
The magician nodded appreciatively at his companion's suggestion.
To Calinder: How big of an area would this silence encompass? Can it be made mobile? And perhaps most importantly, how long would it last?
"I ken turn tha fates gainst them in tha silence, let us consider silencing as many as we may within their beds."
"A circle about forty feet across would be the affected area. If the spell is placed on something mobile, then it too will be mobile. A living creature though would have the ability to resist the spell if it is placed on them. The silence would last for less than half a minute, but that may be enough time to subdue these two coming down the stairway."
To Calinder: Then we will use something innocuous to be the focus of your silencing spell. And I have just the thing.
Lothar produced a marble and handed it to the Hunter's servant.
To Barnabus: I hope you have something in your repertoire that can assist us without drawing undue attention to our work because we're going to need it. And soon.
Calinder takes the marble from Lothar and holding it in his outstreached palm begins to chant softly, focusing on the marble in his hand. As he asks Erastil to grant him the ability to create this area of silence centered on this marble, he waves his other hand over each of his ears, and then touches the marble. A dead silence settles over the area around them as he completes the spell.
Nodding to Lothar he offers the marble back to him.
Barnabus nods to each man in the silence, he allows Lothar to take lead and falls in behind him assuming Calinder will be the third one into the fortress.......
Lothar placed the enspelled marble into one of his robe's hidden pockets before turning his attention to the open trapdoor above him. The magician looked to his left and placed a foot on the wall, then sprang to his right, where upon making contact with that wall he pushed off, altering the angle of the jump to allow him to reach the lip of the trapdoor and pull himself up. Once up top, Lothar undid one of the sashes that made up his robes and, (after bracing himself over the open portal), lowered it down so that he could assist Calinder's climb up.
Initiative
Barnabus will levitate up and be looking for a mook to target with the misfortune hex so Lathar can give him a silent beating.....
Calinder grabs the sash that Lothar lowers down to him and attempts to climb out.
Once out of the tunnel Calinder will arm himself with his morningstar and aid where he can in defeating these two ruffians.
Once Calinder and Barnabus were up out of the tunnel, Lothar turned his attention to the two bandits that were walking away. The magician quickly slipped out from beneath the cover of the stairs and made his way toward them. He was counting on the sudden silence from the cleric's spell enveloping them to disorient the enemy long enough for him to take them down. Once he was close enough, Lothar called upon his inner reserves and launched a brutal flurry of punches on the two, taking care to only render the bandits insensate as opposed to killing them outright.
Barnabus seeing Lothar's quick blows silently impacting and the mooks quick jerks he knows that both of them were struck violently he turns his attention to any other foes in the area.
Calinder moves up to where Lothar is attacking the two bandits, switching his morningstar to his left hand as he moves towards the bandit on the left. Upon reaching the left hand bandit he punches him with his right fist.
Lothar, hoping to take advantage of the short bandit's dismay, pressed the attack, knowing that the moment would be short-lived. The last thing the group needed was for this one to recover his sense of self and try to escape beyond the area of Calinder's spell. The magician launched a mid angle kick with his right leg, targeting the area just above the bandit's hip on his right side. With just the right amount of damage to the ribs or kidney, Lothar hoped to render his opponent unconscious.
Calinder takes another unarmed swing at the remaining bandit that Lothar now has backed up against the wall.
Calinder winces as the bandit just gets past his armor and give Calinder a pretty good scratch with the dagger he was wielding. Once the second bandit goes down, Calinder looks towards Lothar and gestures dragging the bandits towards the tunnel opening, asking if that is what Lothar would like to do at this point.
Barnabus uses the misfortune hex on one bandit....
Will save DC 17 or roll twice for all rolls......
The magician nodded his approval at the half-elf's suggestion. Lowering them down without further injury would be tricky, but it could be done with the three of them. After that would come the interrogation.
But first things first.
Lothar gestured over the entrance as though he were lowering something down with a rope, then pointed to each of his fellow Wardens.
Calinder shakes his head to indicate that he has no rope, and look towards Barnabus with a hopeful look.
Barnabus shrugs and indicates why not just push them down the hole....
He does produce a pair of manacles with a simple lock, with a questioning look on his face.
Upon figuring out the gestures being made the witch, Lothar waved off the idea of merely dumping the men. If they were dead, that would be one thing. But these men were still alive. And if the Wardens were going to get any information from them, they needed to be kept that way.
After rubbing his bald head for a moment, Lothar remembered the silk sashes of his robe and began removing them. Once that was done, the magician turned them into a series of impromptu ropes that could be used to lower the unconscious bandits down into the tunnel. The three had to work quickly. He held up the 'ropes' and pointed to the men. Then the magician pointed at the tunnel entrance before pointing back at himself. When he was done, Lothar handed the sashes to Calinder before heading over to the entrance and dropped down.
Calinder getting what Lothar is suggesting begins trussing up the first unconscious bandit as Lothar jumps down into the tunnel. He then gestures to Barnabus to help in lowering the man into the tunnel ... hopefully somewhat gently.
Barnabus nods and makes certain the bandits are gagged as well as bound, before turning once again to into the fortress.
Once they have the two bandit in the tunnel, Calinder whispers, "What now?"
To Rhasadilara: Golden Arm, we've got captured bandits that we can interrogate in the tunnel. What do you information do you think we should try to get out of them?
The elf relays this information to Gorguk out of earshot of the other bandits before replying. "Confirm what we think we know from interrogating the others - numbers, strengths, tactics.
The magician nodded as he looked down at the bandits. They had the opportunity to learn more from the two unconscious men. But what to do with them when they had gotten that information? Letting them go was not something they could afford to do. They also couldn't take them as prisoners. That really left only one option for them.
He sighed as he continued to gaze at them. So be it. If it has to be done, I will be the one to do it.
To the other Wardens, Lothar said, Time for some theatricality. And with that, he knelt so that his face was right over the short one.
Wake them, Barnabus. Don't be too gentle about it, but not too loudly.
Calinder tries to ready himself for whatever Lothar has in mind and waits for Barnabus to wake the two bandits.
Lothar raised a hand toward the witch, hoping to halt whatever it was that he was planning on doing.
Calinder, can you give them some minor healing that wouldn't impact your spell repertoire much? If not, that's fine. I just wanted to be sure before this got underway.