"Don't sound like they want a fight." Doc says. "Slow up an' try not t' seem hostile. Maybe they'll let us through t' th' ruin."
"Holmburg, give me a flame burst over their heads. Red lever, right side."
The massive head of the pack wagon swung toward the group of strange creatures. It's jaws swung open and a sixty foot cone of flame shot out just above them.
As the gout of flame bursts forth from the wagon's bestial mouth the ankheg rear and chitter with a mixture of fear and menace. The centaur like creatures screech and scream incoherently while Doc gets fragments of panic and concern filtering through his ears.
"Not a durn thing worth takin in tha whole place, sounds like tha welcome wagon has rolled out downstairs."
Grusk walks downstairs and surveys the scene about the time a gout of flame shoots out of the wagon.
From his gunner seat, Blaze watches Doc's attempt to scatter their would be foes. "Quite an impressive display, any chance it worked?"
"Hell if I know. Have Sentis keep things movin' slow. If'n they git a wild hair, they can't exactly claim they dinnae know wha' they were gettin' intae."
Though the resolve of the creatures had held by a thread as the fire belched forth, it snaps like a brittle twig when Sentis goads the ankheg to continue the approach. Scattering the centaur like creatures flee the clearing and melt into the forest surrounding the clearing that holds the ruins.
"Hah! Lookit 'em run!" Doc laughs. Taking a swig off his flask he sighs away the tense moment. "Right. Let's go git our wayward pup."
"Sentis, drive right up to their barracks, and let's get a door open for that ugly mutt. I don't trust these things not to try and ambush us with our backs turned"
Casually walks out of the tower area......
"I found tha barracks."
For the moment at least the fear instilled in the centaur like creatures appears to be holding. They have withdrawn beyond the tree line and you are able to come near to Grusk without any concern.
Sentis brings the wagon closer and turns it around in case they need to make a hasty retreat.
I hope they're not going to get friends. What now?
"Turn her around an' back the hatch up near those doors. We'll put Holmburg on guard duty wit' the bugs burrowed in. If things git ugly back 'ere, he c'n sound th' horn an' keep 'em busy while we run on back."
"We go inside on foot."
Doc looks at Blaze for confirmation.
"Sounds good, lets clear this guardhouse out before moving on. Though, I wonder if we should do something it make it less inviting for those creatures that ran off. I don't think we want them coming back, and being in our way as we try to eventually leave"
"Less inviting than th' presence of a giant firebreathing armor-plated wolf an' a pair of acid-spitting bugs? A'right. Gimme a few minutes."
"I couldn't find a bauble worth takin upstairs. Maybe we should leave thar stuff tha way they headed, don't want tha cattle tah be rattled."
The gatehouse is secured and Grusk's disappointment at the beast's wealth is proven true - there is nothing beyond mundane items within. The ground is prepared with early warning in case of the centaur creature's return as you regard the rest of the compound.
Within the rest of the ruins there are three primary structures that draw the eye:
Ruined Fort:
Mostly destroyed, but without a close inspection you'll not ken if there is anything within the ruins.
Palace:
An open courtyard directly in front of the Palace, overgrown with dying jungle creepers and surrounded by ruined buildings. A square stone well, ornately carved, stands in the middle of the Plaza.
The Palace is a huge two-story structure built of massive stone blocks, with a vast, arched doorway. The building is badly damaged from siege engines, and the walls are actually breached in more than one place.
Ruined Temple Complex:
As with the fort, the temple complex across from the gatehouse is razed almost completely to the ground level.
Sentis had climbed down from the wagon and whistled sharply to call Baran. Surveying the derlict buildings the druid had a thought.
Should we start at the temple? Its where we've found the most prevalent evidence of the Ghol-gam before. We might need Mr. Holmburg to guide us.
"Let's save that fer th' end. Don't wanna take Holmburg outta th' wagon until we know th' areas around the temple are clear."
"My thoughts exactly Doc. At the least, we should clear the fort, but doing the same with the temple, before moving on to the palace is probably not a bad idea."
"Thought I spotted a well in tha plaza."
"Tha tower was jus sleepin quarters fer tha cowmen."
Wisdom prevails. Lets see what this fort has in store for us.
Sentis will start heading towards the fort.
The wagon is maneuvered through and between and closer to the fort before you leave it's comforting bosom to explore the ruined structure on foot. After a few minutes spent picking through the remains of the structure you find nothing more than some freestanding stone walls and the remains of roofless, gutted-out houses of mud and brick within the external walls. Though the smoke still swirls around you, the fort looks untouched by anything but the passage of time and the predations of itinerant plant growth that has now withered and died.
You do find one item of note, half-buried in the rubble you find a shield made of heavy wood of swirling reddish grain. Inspecting it closer you find it holds a minor enchantment.
Sentis pcks up the wooden shield and wonders aloud, "How do you propose this was just left lying around? There's not much else to see."
"Then let's move on to the palace. Stay sharp, weapons ready. Grusk, move forward a bit, but do not move out of line of sight from us." Blaze says, drawing forth Sunstrike and moving towards the one building still mostly intact.
Grusk moves forward ahead of the others and into the area of the palace.....
Stealth
Perception
+2 monsterous humanoids
Initiative
An open courtyard lies directly in front of the Palace, overgrown with dying jungle creepers and surrounded by ruined buildings. A square stone well, ornately carved, stands in the middle of the Plaza.
The Palace is a huge two-story structure built of massive stone blocks, with a vast, arched doorway. The building is badly damaged from siege engines, and the walls are actually breached in more than one place.
The sides of the stone well are ornately carved. Each side has a deep impression of a handprint; the rest of the carvings are different on each side, pictures of kings and elephants, mainly. At each corner of the well sits a small, carved stone head, probably about twenty pounds in weight.
Further ahead, the palace has breaches in the left side wall as well as through what appears to be the more conventional entrance at the front.
Doc trudges along at the back of the line, lighting a cigar and checking the ammo loaded into his slugthrower.
"Front door err wall breach, might be some defenses left at tha door."
"Doc, care to knock, Steel Wolf style?" The Magus asks, grinnging.
"Aye. Front door, full steam ahead." Doc says with a grin.
"Grusk, give me a trap scan."
"Looks clear......"
Sentis stowed the shield in the war wagon before taking up position a little bit away from the door breaching crew.
Looking for traps......
Perception
That does much to explain docs relations with Grusks mother......
Leaving the confines of the wagon in Holmburg's hands behind you, you pass the chittering mandibles of the ankheg and move towards the main entry hall. Grusk spies no sign of traps, so you make the main entrance and peer within noting the highlights.
Ceiling: The ceiling of this room is open to the upper level of the Palace.
Platforms: Three foot-tall steps run along the entire north and south sides of this large room to form 3 ft. high raised platforms. The north platform is lined with ten 15 ft. tall columns, carved into the alternating likenesses of giant men and women. The south platform is half as wide and has no columns, but there are five archways at the back of the platform leading to other rooms. A sixth archway seems to have collapsed.
Pit and Statue: Towards the rear of this chamber is an open, square pit in the floor and, a short distance behind the pit stands a 10 ft. tall clay statue of a bestial, naked man who appears to be half-monkey.
Spotting the statue at the far end, Blaze chuckles "Oh look Grusk, they honored your mom with a statue here. She musta spent a lot of time among the locals"
"Nah they got tha hair on tha wrong half, that can't be a relation at all."
Grusk looks at the layout and platforms trying to guess the purposes of this area in the past.
"Wha yah think bout tha layout o this place?"
"Last time I saw 'er she asked me for somethin' that might help her with that. Maybe I c'n make somethin' outta ankheg spit. Might not be strong enough, but I gotta start somewhere."
Doc tromps up the middle of the hallway, looking around.
"Looks like it was supposed t' make a body feel small. Lots o' grandeur. Whoever built this wanted whoever came through that door t' be impressed."
Shaking his head at the Wolves antics and the continued degradation of Grusk's mother; Sentis looked around in wonder.
The Ghol-Gan were themselves quite large so this probably felt...cozy I guess.
"I think that, despite this being a palace, it is also a sort of temple as well."
Grusk moves in along the wall to get a better look at the platforms......
"Gotta be some reason fer this."