Qalendar, without looking up from the journal, Thoughts? Sounds like a good plan.
The young man chuckles and looks around the room, Right now there are many paths before us. I suggest we keep them all open and wait for them to close on their own. Knowledge first, then commit.
"Ya let's go signing sedition in the town squares. Are you barmy? You trying to get your neck popped? This don't sound like the kind of place that would suffer traitors lightly. The people don't sound unhappy. Most folk don't care who's calling the shots, as long as they be left alone, and other than these folks here, they are. The last thing we want is to draw the King's eye anymore than it already is."
"This Octavian fellow does seem like a solid lead, though. If we can find a way to get him to challenge the King and not end up spitted like a roast, we might be in business."
Qalendar, she does let you look through the journal. It appears to be a journal that documents the early discovery of this set of ruins. The notes are very detailed and seem like they were taken by a skilled archaeologist. Most of it isn't of practical importance to you at this time, but it contains the original locations of all of the tomes found in the very near entry area of the ruins. It is likely that there are additional journals that cover the rest of the searches, but given the level of detail, each investigation takes a large number of pages.
Responding to Tithonius, Gyda seems unsure, "I do not know where Octavian generally lives, only that he lives in Sarendon. He has only ever made contact with us outside of the village. We can attempt to send word to him if you would like, but I suspect that it would be safer if you, a group of unknowns, attempted to find him yourselves. The portal was opened by Lucius, but that was nearly a month ago and he has since passed...he was unfortunately one of our most powerful mages and it is only our good fortune the portal was able to be opened again."
"As for your plan, far be it for me to make the decision, though I suspect that unifying the seven villages is easier said than done. There is a reason that they have thusfar remained unconquered. But perhaps the looming threat of the armies of Sarendon would make them more likely to hear your suggestions. They might be reluctant to accept the relative of King Hadan as their leader however."
Qalendar stops walking for a moment and looks up from the journal, Why haven't these other villages been conquered?
Gyda looks at Qalendar, "I've never been so I cannot speak from experience. But the stories are that they raised some sort of defense when the former King Hadan began unification of Sarendon. It seems thusfar to have prevented their overtaking, but the villages were never unified in actuality, simply working to their mutual defense. And I suspect all they did was make other villages easier targets...but now there are no other targets left. Unless the king wishes to make war on the elves to the north, unification will continue. I don't think it is possible for Sarendon to exist at peace."
Qalendar nods before turning back to the journal, Interesting. It might be worth getting the details concerning these other villages if we can. He continues pacing while reading, then stops again after a moment, I don't suppose you know anyone that fought in that...conflict? He looks up, That we could speak with, of course.
Gyda shakes her head. "Most of the men and women here have never fought in any war in the proper sense though some are trained with weapons of war. I personally have never visited the southern villages and I don't know anyone that has. Other than for war, most people in Sarendon don't travel often. Though if you feel you can unify those villages, we'd be happy to lead them as a nation."
Kayla examines the map that Gyda gave them. "Do you happen to have any other maps to this area that we might use? Perhaps with the southern villages marked on them? It certainly couldn't hurt for us to know their locations regardless of what we decide for out next move."
"Also, are there any elves that still live in this land? Or are they all gone from it?" Any legends of lost elven cities could be interesting to learn of...
"Right now I'm thinking that our first move is still to travel to Sarendon first. We really can't make too many plans before we get a chance to asses the mood of the general populace."
Gyda nods, moving to one of the shelves and taking down another scroll. It is a less detailed but larger map that contains the southern villages and she hands it to Kayla.
"I don't know if there are elves left in Sarendon. I certainly have never met one. If you are looking for elves however, I'd suggest the northern areas; being closer to the elvish lands, they probably have more contact with the elves."
Tithonius shrugs. "I agree with Kayla. We've heard the theory. Let's get a taste of the practical. We should start traveling through the villages and see what the mood is. With more information we can better refine my plan, or come up with a new one."
Nora looks up from her book, trying to suppress a startled expression as Tithonius mentions a plan. Well that was stupid Nora. Next time, maybe the mission should take priority over the books.
"Information is good." She states, her obliviousness to the actual plan apparent on her face.
As long as no one disagrees with the plan, Kayla suggests that they all head back to their camp for the remainder of the night.
She also suggests setting up watch in case whatever made the mysterious noises the mages reported decides to show up at their camp since it is apart from the others.
The young man spends most of the conversation looking through the book. When they appear to be done speaking, he returns the journal and follows the others.
As they return to their "camp", he remarks idly, Should we make sure this cave is safe for our fellows? Traveling through this land will take some time and we might want to make sure these nightly sounds are of no danger.
He shrugs, But they've managed this long, I suppose they're probably nothing. Before we leave we should get the names of some citizens worth speaking to in the towns. Contacts or notable people that we might be able to get information from, or help. Unless we plan on just pretending to be tourists...then ignorance might be our best protection.
Qalendar remarks, I'm not sure about our Outsider friends, but you, with a look towards Fingernipper, should be fine in this land. People will expect that you are a servant, and we might be challenged for your services if you appear too competent. I suggest, if you can help it, try not to.
For the others, the more human you can make yourself look, the better. Regular folk probably won't know what you are. With a glance towards Tithonius, and a smile that's meant to be sympathetic, For you, I'm not sure what we'll do. But as long as Kayla and Nora do most of the talking, we should be fine. People will probably think twice about attacking us, at least individually. But we should make sure not to antagonize the villagers. It would be easy for a situation to escalate and we could find ourselves being run out of town...or worse.
"I can keep my cloak hood up and keep my eyes downcast. Hopefully that will help somewhat."
"I suppose you have a point about making sure this cave is safe. It would mean nothing if we overthrew the king, but let the mages here get eaten by something in the cavern. Since we haven't met anyone yet who knows anything about why the elves left, we have no way of knowing if they were fleeing something nasty that lives here. Maybe they summoned something up that they couldn't deal with. Or maybe whatever here is something that they summoned or created to guard this city against intruders when they were forced to leave it. Or it could just be some weird version of an elvish cat."
"I suppose the point of all my rambling is that maybe it couldn't hurt to spend at least one day exploring a bit just to make sure the devils don't get all upset if something eats the mages."
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Katrin Helgunnr nods to Qalendar's suggestion, "A disguise for the Planar-Blooded among us is a prudent choice. I do not expect a warm welcome for the Tieflings among us. As for Fingernipper, I could act as his keeper, perhaps some goblin I have dominated into being my slave. A nation as chaotic as this is probably rife with slavery so such an excuse should work."
Qalendar looks distracted, then blinks and returns to the conversation, In my experience, lawful societies tend to endorse slavery more than chaotic. I suggest that we let these people make whatever assumptions about us they wish. That will keep us from insulting them with a complicated lie.
He chuckles a little and looks away, I'm not sure the locals will be able to tell the difference between a Tiefling and an Aasimar. But they will be able to tell you aren't human. As long as we don't antagonize them, it shouldn't be a danger. He turns back to the group, But, if we do anger someone, they'll almost certainly use that to rile up others against us.
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She looks to Qulendar and says, "The Aasimar can at least pass as a human with some disguising she may be mistaken as an unusually attractive human. The Fiend-Blooded on the other hand would likely end up lynched as demonic abominations by the more superstitious among these locals and that is attention we had best avoid if we seek to keep a low profile. Just to be of help, I will position myself in the front of the more conspicuous members. I as a human and a warrior will draw the least attention from these sorts."
The young Baklunish man seems confused, I...very well. He shrugs.
"Shall we do a sweep of the ruins? Spend about a half day walking into and around and then the other half making our way back here?"
"Sure," says Tithonius. "Let's see what we can find."
As you move deeper into the ruins, the area becomes dirtier and more difficult to traverse. It is clear that you are touching places that the mages have not yet explored and approximately 100 feet from your camp site, you see a wall in the distance. The wall appears to divide these low buildings formed into an "expansion" from the larger more elven looking buildings beyond.
Qalendar follows the others making his way carefully. Even with the light of the torch, he finds it hard to see.
"Hmmm, perhaps the section we are in now was a more recent addition, built to house the overflow population of the original city? If so, I'll bet we are more likely to find some stuff of interest in the inner city if we can find the gate to get in there. I suppose if we just follow the wall long enough we are bound to find some way inside of it."
The young Baklunish man will be happy to carry the torch behind Katrin, being the only other member of the party that requires the light.
As you continue forward, you reach the wall and walk along it for some time. Eventually there is a still-intact gate and passing through it provokes a sudden change. Once on the other side the torch is no longer necessary as the sun starts to shine. Looking back beyond the gate it is still shrouded in darkness and it is pretty clear that there is some magical effect in place along the wall. It looks like the roof of the cavern stops about a hundred feet over the wall and it seems like the entire city is buried in a hill with the top open to the sky. Still, it is all in ruins and other than the light, it appears to look the same as it was outside.
Once you adjust to the light you do start to hear noises, probably that of movement, deeper into the city.
This is...unexpected.
Qalendar stifles the torch and blinks as his eyes adjust.
"Well, there is definitely still some magic. Pretty powerful magic at that."
At the sounds, Kayla looks around, trying to figure out the general direction they came from.
"Well, that does sound like something is around here. We had best find it before it can find us."
Kayla, you are pretty sure that there are multiple sources of sounds and they seem to be coming from various buildings in the city. It is difficult, since they aren't very loud, to pinpoint exactly where or how many from this distance. You are aware that they seem to simply be shifting where they are at the moment rather than moving in any specific direction.
"Wait here, I'll go take a look"
Pulling out a dagger, Nipper slips forward, moving from cover to cover, heading towards the closest sound source.
"Don't get too far ahead, we don't want you to get lost."
While he does a quick search afar, Kayla looks at the door of the closest building to her and checks to see if is is locked or not.
We should hide here as well. Wouldn't want us getting caught out in the open while he's gone.
Qalendar steps off the path and uses the ruins to make him harder to see from further in. He seems oddly focused for a moment, though once in place he resumes his distracted far-off gaze.
Kayla will try to by stealthy in her door checking.
Fingernipper, you head slowly through the ruins, sticking to corners where possible. The ruins do not appear to have been destroyed by any great catastrophe, simply falling into ruin due to disrepair and the growth of normal vegetation. As you near the sounds, about 100 feet from where the group is, you are able to peek through the walls of what looks like a two story residence and inside there are a pair of skeletons shuffling around. They do not appear to have noticed you.
Meanwhile Kayla checks the door of what appears to be a guard station or other small structure right inside of the gates. It isn't locked, or at least it isn't anymore. Inside is a small hut of sorts but the shelves and other interior features have long fallen to rot or the vines creeping up from underneath. You don't hear or see any indication of anything noticing you.
Taking in the sight of the undead. Nipper returns to the group.
Once back with the rest, he reports, "Looks like we've got ourselves an undead problem. Skeletons. Might be quite a few of them."
"Skeletons? Well, that is interesting. I wonder if that is what remains of the original population or if that is what happened to the original population."
"At any rate, we should deal with the skeletons somehow. We don't want to risk them roaming into the mages camp. I have no idea how well they are versed in combative magics yet."
"Can you show us the way there Nipper?"
You make your way toward the residence, picking through the overgrowth. The larger, less stealthy group, compared to the single goblin, quite clearly brings the notice of the undead occupants. When you reach the empty and crumbling doorway, there are two skeletons 20 feet away with longswords out and a third skeleton up the stairs 10 feet further back holding a longbow.
Skeletons? How...interesting.
Qalendar will follow the others, keeping as quiet as possible. Though if the others speed up to move at a normal pace he will join them.
Even with combat imminent, the young man seems more interested in their surroundings than where they are going.
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Katrin gets ready for combat with her polearm holding her weapon ready to smash these skeletons when they come into reach. She yells out "Hey boneheads, come get me!" in order to provoke the skeletons to attack her.
As for her action she will make sure she is positioned between the party and the skeletons. She then readies an action to smack the first skeleton that comes in reach with the hammer end of her polearm activating Power Attack with the intent of using her Pushing Assault if she hits.