Omari nods to Aramil,
"That makes sense. Shall we?" Omari gestures towards the door.
"I'll not have Lenna upfront on her own...I will stay with her...we halflings are a perceptive and quiet people."
Say this he moves up to protect the halfling woman.
Lenna’s look speaks volumes, but she only sighs. She nods and waves him forward as she starts quietly moving through the doors. She points to herself, then to the right, and to Varook and to the left. She slips into the opening and to the immediate right, looking for a shadowy corner to occupy while she pauses and studies the area within the door.
Raff takes up his position ready to help if needed.
You head for the front door with Lenna carefully listening, keeping a step ahead of the group. The doors are ajar, and that lets Lenna peek into the interior foyer.
Battered, reinforced doors hang ajar at this main entrance to Citadel Altaerein, once the headquarters of the Hellknight Order of the Nail. Above the doorframe, a tarnished seal depicting a sunburst made of nails stands out in relief on the keep’s stonework. Under the seal runs a worn but clear line of carved text.
Within the foyer you see three large, doglike rodents that you can identify quickly enough as goblin dogs. They just seem to be living their lives as two rest on the floor while another gnaws at a bone. Double doors lead beyond.
The doors are only open a crack and appear quite rusty. Opening them would make a lot of noise. The dogs have not noticed Lenna or the group yet.
Lenna pulls back from the door and waves the party back so they can discuss what she's seen.
"There is a foyer behind the doors and double doors beyond. In between is a trio of goblin dogs. I don't know if they are friendly animals or not, but they are likely to make noise when we enter. Worse, the doors themselves are so rusty, they will hear them in town when we try to open them enough to slip through. Has anyone a way to quiet the door or assure the dogs stay quiet? I didn't pack any raw steak for this journey. For the dogs, not the door."
She looks up the wall. "Maybe silent entry is not a concern. Or maybe there's a different way in when there's not an army defending the fort."
Omari speaks quietly in response to Lenna. "I can only imagine they are set there as guard animals to alert those within. This doorway might be a good location to hold them, to prevent ourselves from getting flanked."
"We could try to circle around the castle to see if there's another way in."
"The Bumblebrashers probably won't take kindly to us killing their guard dogs. We should look for another way in."
Lenna nods, "Very well. Varook, shall we?"
She looks either way along the wall, trying to estimate which would be the better route.
The diminutive warrior also examins the citadel's walls for a clue of where another entrance might be located, or if the wall could be climbed.
Perception:
Raff starts going around the counter-clockwise until he sees an opening.
It's a royal pain to get through the brambles surrounding the citadel, but you slowly make your way around, checking the doors and looking for any opening you can find.
You manage to find one entrance a short distance to the south, large double doors. However a quick investigation shows that these doors are very, very securely closed and are likely barred or tied. Very, very soft sounds of movement come from the room within, but there's no easy way to get in.
Looking upwards, the walls... could be scaled, however only by a skilled climber. They're around 20' high and the architecture is both sheer and crumbling, likely to give way unless scaled with care.
Continue around.
Omari seems to be getting more and more frustrated as their robes constantly catch and tear on brambles. Eventually they pull it off, revealing a shining suit of splint mail underneath. "These robes are much less convenient for adventuring that I had hoped." Omari stuffs them in their bag before continuing on in just their armor. "Perhaps we should have just gone in the front door. This place is built like... well, a fortress."
You continue around the outside of the wall, moving slowly through the miserable brambles which tear at you and your clothes. However, as you make your way through Varook's keen eyes pick something out - an irregularity in the wall.
You start brushing off the wall and move a loose stone to reveal a keyhole. There is definitely a secret door on the west end of the building - it is however, locked.
Lenna claps her hands once and hops up and down in excitement. She whispers, "Good eyes! Shall I try to open it or would you rather do the honors?"
Before anyone does anything with the lock, however, she will study it closely to check for traps.
"You go ahead Lenna...I am quite rusty with the old tools...besides I don't even have a set anymore...not since the arena..."
A dark cloud passes over the halflings face, but he quickly shakes it away and keeps watch while Lenna examines the lock.
Raff allows room for someone to pick the lock.
Lenna starts retrieving some tiny tools from her belt pouch. "Does anyone see any unpleasant surprises waiting for me?"
Omari smile and lets out a small cheer as Varook finds the door. "I stand corrected! Excellent job friend. This is a good omen for things to come."
Lenna detects no traps and sets to work at the lock.
It's been a while for her, but it turns out that this lock has obviously seen better days and most of the security was in the fact the door is hidden. After a few seconds of work, the lock pops open, revealing an empty room within. You've found a way into the Citadel.
This well-hidden closet holds dust-furred tables covered in jumbled but ominous accessories: pentagram-covered tomes, heavily melted candles, scattered pieces of loose chalk, vats of moldy incense, moth-eaten robes, and several empty and dusty weapon racks.
The supplies here are elements needed for rituals to summon devils, and the empty weapon racks likely held silver weapons.
Lenna nods back to the half-elf, ”He has very keen eyes, doesn’t he? I always appreciate knowing he’s watching my back.”
Omari gestures into the room. "Shall we proceed?"
With a small self-satisfied nod, Lenna tucks her tools back in her pouch. ”Yes, Omari, I think we shall.”
She moves carefully through the room, staying near the walls and looking for traps. Her focus is on finding an exit. She will leave examining the room to the scholars among them.
Varook turns a slightly pinker colour than his regular tan when hearing Lenna's comments.
"Err...thanks. Here let me lead the way...you never know what might be lurking in the dark."
Varook turns a slightly pinker colour than his regular tan when hearing Lenna's comments.
"Err...thanks. Here let me lead the way...you never know what might be lurking in the dark."
Lenna grins at his discomfort after he looks away and she winks at Omari.
”Very well. I’ll watch your back.”
She readies her bow and follows in the middle of the group.
Omari smiles and nods at Lenna before moving forwards and muttering a few arcane words. "Stay behind me. It's safer there." They say with a smirk. As Omari moves forward a glowing shield of force appears in the air next to them.
Aramil looks about the room with some distaste, then says, ”I can be at the rear with Raff. My music should be easily heard from there.”
You move into the room, which is... a small storage room full of old junk. It's hard to tell if there's anything of value at first glance. Nothing jumps out to eat you. The only exit leads northwards.
Giving little thought to the potential danger Omari opens the door and heads in.
Before he moves on, Varook takes a look around the room to see what might be of any value or help to them.
Lenna wrinkles her nose at Omari’s smirk, but follows, looking around the room for items of interest as she passes through, but she only stops to really examine things if those ahead of her do.
Varook and Lenna walk around the room, checking it out. Varook's foot suddenly stops short as he notices a tripwire stretched across the ground. He carefully looks to the left and sees an absolutely gigantic speartip sticking out of the wall.
Avoiding the trap carefully, you complete your search of the room and find the following:
- A second door leading eastwards
- A single silver longsword that fell behind the weapon rack
- A sealed lockbox
”Let me have a look at that tripwire. Please stand back, my friends.”
Examining the trap and what she can see of it’s workings, the little halfling tries to disable the trap and, if possible, retrieve the spear.
Lenna starts to fiddle with the trap but immediately stops - realizing that she was a second away from setting it off. It will require a little more caution to disable it properly.
She takes a deep breath, centers herself, gives Varook a grin, and tries again.
Third time is a charm, and without getting stabbed, Lenna manages to disable the spear launcher.
You can go north or east from here.
Varook takes the locked box and walks over to Lenna and smiles.
"Think you can open this one up!"
He hands the locked box to the halfling woman.
"Of course! I'd love to!"
The lock opens easily to Lenna's tiny, deft hands and the lockbox pops open. Inside is a rather disgusting prize - a mummified elf hand. It hangs on a golden chain and its fingers are locked in a strange pattern.
Varook looks into the box, then at Lenna and then back at the box.
"Huh..."
Omari glances in the box and raises a scarred eyebrow. "Don't see that every day. I wonder if it is a sentimental hand, or a practical hand." they say with a smile and a shrug. "Do we want to go north, or east?"
"Why would you put a hand in a box?"
”Perhaps it’s magical? Can anyone check for that?”
Aramil tried to figure out which way they should go to find the stairs so they could get up on the walls and check the signal fires.
Lenna is as puzzled as anyone as to why one would put a hand in a box. Either it has value of it should be interred. I’ll find someone that knows which. She looks at the box and her pack.