"Yes, we should," Illa agrees, her voice grim and her face slightly haggard; the spellwork may have been splendid, but it clearly took a fair bit out of the Elfmaid. "All critical areas need to be guarded by at least ten at a time.
As for next battle; that all sounds grand. If we've got someone who can speak Terran, I can summon earth elementals to muck up the ground. It's just I can't speak their language to give precision instructions."
***
Later, Illa takes a brief detour to the dead Warmage's quarters, and scrutinizes the door, checking whether she can at least identify the protections he left behind.
Corvus helps Dyalg solve the mysery of the broken catapults the best she can.
The damage is indeed mechanical, not magical, though none of the guards remember seeing anything odd. There doesn't seem to be any further signs of sabotage that you can find.
Illa, you detect what looks like a river of wind spell on the door.
”Terran? I don’t know anybody who speaks that.” Dyalg looks down to see that his left boot is unlaced. Sighing he reties the laces. ”Perhaps Saria knows Teran or can use divine magic to help us. Marmoth only knows Common.
I don’t know much about the arcane. If a person is invisible he cancels the spell if he attacks, right? What if he causes sabotage? The catapults were disabled in a mundane manner. If an invisible orc climbed the wall, he could have done that to the catapults without revealing himself, right? So the saboteur is either one of the soldiers or an invisible orc. Are there any other options?”
"That's the first spell of invisibility," Illa says, nodding. "There's a more powerful version, though, which doesn't end when the one enchanted attacks. Let's hope that isn't being used... Or teleportation spells. There are some relatively low-level ones which still allow for a goodly distance travelled."
Illa ponders for a moment, then nods. "Invisibility spells do not make you intangible. Setting traps would still work. Heck, casting flour or fine sand on the floors would still reveal footprints."
"Yes, we need to consider arcane possibilities when dealing with them. Don't they have shamans or witches capable of such spells?"
”Teleportation. I hadn’t thought of that. We should add two or three guards around the catapults. Or do random checks ourselves.”
Dyalg folds his arms over his chest. ”The officers. The heavy weapons. What’s next? The horses? The food? The gate itself? How are we going to find the traitor in our midst?”
"I could interrogate. It would take a lot of time, however, which may prove prohibitive."
All this talk of magic goes above Corvus' head. She therefore listens and waits for direction.
Illa nods at Galvrin.
"We can do it in stages. A lot of people will be gathered in the mess hall for dinner, so we can question some of them there and then."
***
, Illa considers her options -- and takes out her wand. She gives the wand a squeeze and summons a small air elemental.
"Wait," she orders, "wait." She takes a few steps to the side, then gestures sharply at the air elemental, pointing at the door. "Advance!" she orders.
The elemental moves toward the door, but a tug fails to open the passageway.
Graah! sits by, idle for the moment, picking his teeth with an arrow.
The half-blind longshanks seemingly unable to find anything, Graah! decides that he ought to take a look around the engines himself, to see what someone competent might be able to make of the situation on the walls.
He first stalks about the siege area looking for any hint or sign of tracks, checking for any sign that someone who might not have supposed to have been there might have been sneaking about.
He then looks over the walls nearby, and the device itself, trying to determine if there is any sign of scaling on the wall, such as tool marks, gouges from grappling hooks, or again, any sign that the foul Orcs have been there...
"Illa nods at Galvrin.
"We can do it in stages. A lot of people will be gathered in the mess hall for dinner, so we can question some of them there and then."
”Marmoth can cast Zone of Truth twice today, for a total of ten minutes total. If we,” he indicates the entire group, ”can question soldiers to find the most suspicious ones first then that may make the limited spell time we have more effective. Is that an acceptable course of action?”
"Yes, that sounds quite useful."
Graah, you don't find any sign of tracks, but with the heavy stone and iron walls, not to mention the many people around the towers, it would have been nigh impossible to spot anything.
After questioning for some time, gently enough that you don't seem to provoke any anger among the troops, none strikes you as particularly suspicious. All seem to mix anger and surprise about the attacks, along with fear for their lives and a grim resolution to try to hold the fort for as long as they can.
Dyalg thanks the last soldier he interviews for his time and then turns to his companions. With a grim smile he says, ”Everyone seemed sincere. We can still use the truth spells, but with a wider range of suspects may not be as effective. What questions should we ask? Should we focus only on the catapult sabotage or ask about the officers’ death as well?”
Illa stands silent in thought, her brow wrinkled.
"This is tricky," she says. "Perhaps..." Abruptly, the Elf lowers her voice. "Perhaps we should practice a deception? Make mention of some secret weapon we are concocting, then set a trap?"
"true, but that might just have some orcs show up rather than expose the ones who leaked it to them.... but perhaps the orcs are just using magic to see these things."
Corvus looks between the group. "It's a plan, and therefore one plan more than anyone else has come up with. I could help spread the rumour without causing suspicion."
"We'll need to prep some, first," Illa says, stroking her chin. "Secure a room, Put some guards on it. Squirrel away some alchemical rubbish, some quality parchment for scroll-scribing, maybe some metalworking equipment if any can be spared. It needs to look, smell and quack like a duck before we can expect to lure out a weasel."
Dyalg nods his head in excitement as his hair blows in a personal breeze. ”This is a great idea. Perhaps Graaah! can fly off for an hour and return with some secret item in a bag? Make this a bit more mysterious. Good thinking Illa.”
"All the better if Grah could trap something in there as well."
"Aku bisa nindakake apa wae sing dipengini. Cukup mangsuli apa sing pengin kalenggak."
You start spreading the rumors about the trap you're making, as you hear soldiers taking about the plan in hushed whispers, excitedly hoping this could turn the tide of battle, though the theories as to what it is vary widely.
At your request, Sgt. Hal tells you about the fort's layout:
In the basement, below the stables to the west are storerooms , containing additional mechanical supplies for the fort: heavy cloth, chains, iron pitons, extra lanterns, barrels of lantern oil and pitch, etc.; and unused raw materials — metal for the smithy, wood and leather for the workshop, as well as chain and plate that can be made into armor or barding.
The other rooms, both of which some of you have been in, include the prison , with cells and an interrogation room; and near the kitchen, the bath and more stores , this one containing additional kitchen supplies such as cured meats, ale and wine, and barrels of water.
"A dungeon room would be good," Ill says in an offhanded manner.
"I agree."
"I hungry."