Hawk looks at the others before shrugging ad following the half-orc down the rabbit hole.
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"If we can do it quickly and quietly, then this is going to be our best option."
Hawk begins following the wall west. She sticks to the treeline and tries to pick her way carefully to avoid arousing suspicion.
"What about going around the wall the other way? We haven't even checked it." Hawk's voice gets quieter as she speaks, and by the end it's just above a whisper.
Hawk crawls back out and relays what she saw. (First spoiler) "I don't think going that way is going let us do this with any modicum of stealth."
"I'll go." Hawk moves her pack to a more comfortable position and strikes the rod against the wall and quickly scurries in.
"Can anyone see in there or get a light?" Hawk pulls her pack around and fishes out a sunrod. "I have these, but I'd rather not use them if I don't have to."
"We could scout around the other way. See if there's any more breaches, or another gate." Hawk offers up the suggestion after a long uncomfortable silence.
Spawn's slap sends Hawk reeling. Before she realizes what she is doing, she reaches for the punching dagger at her side and almost gets it out. Her eyes come back into focus right as the looming half-orc daubs her cheek with his blood. she visibly swallows as she puts the dagger back in its sheath. If his intention was to frighten her, he succeeded. She doesn't say anything on the way back. Hawk takes the rearguard and does everything she can to avoid looking at Spawn.
Hawk, whose only movement was to curl up tighter against the tree and bury her head in her knees, doesn't seem to register Squid's words, or is even aware of where she is. Perception DC 25: Though from the sounds of her mumbling, you're pretty sure that whatever has seized the poor ranger's mind is not pleasant. Hawk keeps mumbling, "I don't wanna die!" quickly over and over again,
Hope everything is okay.
Hawk, who has gone quiet now except for the silent whimpering, doesn't seem to hear Squid. Her eyes stare out at nothing, and her hands are holding her head.
Too distracted by the grisly sight to really take a closer look at it, Hawk seems to be on the verge of panic. Her breathes are coming in sharp, quick gasps and her eyes dart all around as they seem to glaze over. She stumbles back into a tree and slides down its trunk until she's sitting against it. all the time muttering. "No, no, nononono! This isn't happening! This can't be happening. I didn't see anyone! I promise! I didn't see anyone!"
Hawk stops scanning the wall and looks to the tiefling beside her. "I don't want to push our luck too soon. Let's see what's at the gate." With that she begins moving again. She still keeps her eyes out for any more breaches and holes in the wall, as well as any guards.
"Never said I was going through." Hawk continues her scan of the wall. "Just trying to see if we can get a closer look before moving on." If we were doing it my way, we'd try and find a way to lure the target away form any nasty surprises. Not go in to where they are. An involuntary shudder races up Hawk's spine as the memory of the botched attempt replays in her head.
"'Sort of'?" Hawk gives Squid a puzzled look before shaking her head and pushing the question to the back of her mind. "Forget I said anything. Do you see anything, Squid?" She gestures to the wall as she asks the question.
"Just Hawk." Before she moves anywhere, Hawk makes sure there are no guards or anything on the walls.
"Do you see any magic around the breach, um..." Hawk looks a little confused for a moment, like she's trying to remember Squid's name. "Is it 'Fish' or is it 'Squid'? I've heard the others call you both, and... I... wasn't... sure." The young woman looks at the tiefling like she's afraid of the backlash of getting her name wrong as her voice trails off.
Heyo, one of the games I'm in is in need of a replacement player. You'll be adventuring with a bunch of dwarves, a gnome, and a human. While a front line fighter, or a paladin, would be awesome, I think we can find a spot for you no matter what. If dwarves aren't your thing, then maybe you'd like to join the elves? They also need some help, badly. I think their much more desperate for a front liner and wouldn't say no to some extra healing from what I've heard. the only bad news is you're going to have to put with a wily dwarf ranger with a penchant for turning people into pin-cushions no matter which side you pick. Picking elves just delays the inevitable ;). Chainmail's the GM and the encounters have been fun, if terrifying at times. (20 to 7 odds, the 20 had access to mounts, we didn't) Expect to have to play smart and use everything you have at your disposal. If you're interested, you can go to one of the two threads below. Tell them Brask sent you.
What was in the ditch? Would it be hard to cross at night? Hawk gives the tiefling a shrug. "Couldn't tell. It's probably twenty feet deep, so my guess would be we don't want to find out unless we have to." Candy looks to Spawn and Hawk "Get as close to the gate as cover will allow and report back. Better yet, have any of you," she leaves the question open, "any talent for preparing an encampment?" Hawk seems rather embarrassed as she answers. "I've never been out of the city before, but I've had to scout out a target for several days before. It wouldn't be the first time I've slept outdoors." Hawk moves through the woods close to the treeline. She keeps an eye out for any gaps, holes, or guards along the wall. All the time worrying over the lack of activity. Why were there no groundskeepers? This place is too big not to have any, and the grounds were too neat for there not to be any. Was it an illusion? Did I miss something? Please, don't let it be that I missed something. Please! I don't want to be on the wrong end of an ambush again! I don't want to die.
Sense Motive DC 9: Hawk is nervous about something, she's trying to hide it, but something about her bearing gave it away.
Hawk gives a shrug. "We could try. We either need cover or a good bluff, and I work better with cover."
Hawk shakes her head at Squid's question. "No that I could see. There may be one on the other side. I didn't see any ground-keepers, either. From the looks of things our target is as paranoid as I am."
After several minutes, Shadow climbs back and meets with the others. and relates what she saw.
What Shadow Saw: Taking your time to climb the tree you stare over the wall and see a mansion beyond a rather sizable garden. Attached to it is a green house to the west. On the opposite side of the green house appears to be some wooden structure perhaps a stables or a barn. All this is level to the top of the wall but separated by a deep haha that is ten foot across. So even if you get to the top of the wall there is a pit separating you from the garden proper. You do not make out any movement on the grounds.
Hello? Anyone home?
Hawk stays up in the tree scanning the grounds. It doesn't look like she heard Smoke at all, or at least isn't acknowledging that she did. Odd, nobody's out here. Maybe paranoia is getting to me, but this screams trap.
"Let me see what I can from up there." Hawk points at one of the taller trees and starts climbing up it. Once she gets up above the walls enough to see into the grounds, she makes a mental note of every major landmark, every possible hiding spot, and any and all people and animals she sees.
Rolls:
"I'm afraid not. I spent most of my time in the city." Hawk's half-hidden face takes on a look of concern, much like the look of someone remembering something that's been nagging them in the back of their mind for several minutes. "You do know where this gnome lives, right?"
Well, that explains why she's called Squid, or Fish.
I think Salvatore's description is based off of the DnD version. How Pathfinder works is more akin to how infrared works out in the field. The multi-color version is processed in post or during filming by the camera I think. But yeah, no night vision for Shadow.
Eh, I think I may just need to rewrite that whole thing. You ninja'd me, so I was expecting the backlash to come from Psyana, not Lilith. EDIT: I rewrote it. It just seemed too out of character fro what I had established and what I am trying to establish.
Candy and Spawn are the blind woman and the half-orc. Candy is probably the woman. I can't see the half-orc picking out a name so ironic. Wait did Fish, or Squid, or what ever they call her, just suggest letting the blind one lead?! Hawk looks up for the first time, and her expression is one of sheer incredulity. Her narrow, icy blue eyes are locked onto the back Squid's head, almost as if she's trying to divine the reasoning behind the implicit suggestion. Great, looks like I am in for a repeat of last week. Candy's planning of scouting out the target area suddenly put things into focus. Okay that makes much more sense. "Maybe we should make a camp outside of town that we can meet at. I can stay there and scout from the shadows."
Squid? The man, Smoke, called her Fish earlier. One of those must be a nickname. Odd. I would have guessed that most people in this line of work would not get that close. Not that Squid or Fish are monikers I'd wish to have myself. Hawk walks along the path and follows the others. Her head and the hood of her cloak stay down, but every now-and-then, her icy blue eyes can be seen peeking out at the others. The half-orc scares me the most. He looks like he could snap me like a twig. He also looks like the most likely to give us away with that chain. I hope he has something else. The blind woman is a sneak, that is certainly unusual. She's either faking it, or she has some other means of seeing. Either way, people are going to underestimate her. I'd be wise not to do the same. "Would another set of eyes help? I'd like to see if I can lay for the land myself and find any sniping roosts that I can use."
Don't worry. Your our nuclear option :D.
Oh don't worry, Hawk is anything but scatter-gun.
"Mornin'." Hawk answers. She listens quietly to the blind, or seemingly blind, woman, and makes mental notes on who is who. The dark-skinned one is 'Fish'. The...man, I guess, is 'Smoke'. There's something strange about that one. That only leaves the half-orc and the blind woman. Great, not often I'm the least memorable one. "Shouldn't we find out what the area's like first?"
"Yes, I was."
Hawk pulls off the finger-less glove covering the hand with the mark. She keeps her head low, but shows the spider emblazoned on her hand, keeping her hand cupped to avoid showing it to anyone that might cause complications. When she talks again, her voice is steadier. "He is well, but he had some choice words for me after my first errand didn't go so well."
GM:
Works for me. A short, young woman makes her way up to the group. Her head is covered by a hood pulled low. Her clothing is dark and any metal bit that might show are blackened to keep them from reflecting light. The closer she gets, the more obvious it becomes that she's nervous. I guess this is them, otherwise I'm in for a repeat of last week. "Uh, h-hello, I-I'm Hawk. I-I was told to meet you here by Father."
GM: Shadow finds a nice hiding spot close to the road about a mile from the mansion as instructed. She strings her bow and tests the pull before hunkering down and waiting.
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