Tesseryn nods solemnly at Leisha and gives the acolytes another stern glare.  He retrieves his sack from the front pews and reports his intentions to the priest and Aurion  "Their sheriff has failed to appear.  I shall investigate the tower on the hill south of here."  He strides from the shrine and turns left.

With a final word to Leisha, Tesseryn decides to go looking for trouble.  Aurion, on the other hand is most solicitous of the poor old man who is Mitra's chief servant in this small village, and settles him down on the nearest bench, kindly offering him some wine from a picnic basket, which the old man accepts with a guilty smile.

"Thank you, thank you," he nods happily.  "My name is Cornelious, by the way.  Most glad to make your acquaintance."

"There was tower of black stone in these parts, or so it was reputed, but Mitra himself is said to have struck it down many, many years ago.  No, we have no need to fear any such things nowdays.  As I said, our village is blessed with peace and tranquility ... though," he seems somewhat reluctant, embarrassed even, to say it, "visitors, whole caravans even just seem to vanish in the night."

"I am getting forgetful in my old age," he sighs sadly.

---

The three drinkers, on the other hand are all in full agreement - that the tower that looms over the south east of the village warrants immediate investigation, if nothing else for the commanding view of the valley that it must offer.  Heading back outside, Brindle and Cogwitz take the lead, allowing Wrukaog to amble after them, drinking as he goes.

However the trio do not get far when they notice a crowd of people coming towards them - four guards, from their officious bearing and the chainmail they wear, and while they are all armed, none have weapons drawn.  Behind them caper the other two acolytes who point at you in no little agitation as they spot you in the street before them, though the guards do not seem to share their excitement.

Some distance to the east, the Paladin is just beginning his climb up the hill towards the tower, when he catches sight of the guards.

OOC: Maps of the proceedings updated ... Main map shows your approximate positions in the village, while the Group 0 map shows your current location in a bit more detail.

The orc waits for the little men who seem to like to talk to do the talking. In the meantime, there's the other two thirds of his bucket to drain.

Brindle looks at Cogwitz and Wrukaog for a moment to check what their reactions are, then he takes a couple of steps forward toward the approaching guards.

"Hello, gentlemen. Thank you for coming to greet us. We are new here, as you can tell, so we would welcome any suggestion about where to find lodgings and employment. We were just going to climb up the tower over there to look at the view and see the layout of this place. Perhaps you would like to join us and point out anything of interest once we get there?"

Cogwitz looked at Brindle at the exact moment he looked at him.  From anothers point of view it might have seemed a funny sight.  When they both looked back to the guards, Brindle was the first to speak.  So Cogwitz shut his open mouth until after Brindle was finished.  Yes, this is correct, employment and rest.  We have been travelling long and could use a nice place to rest our weary heads.  Cogwitz elbows Brindle with the last part.

"Thanks," Leisha says to Tesseryn as he heads out. 

Shaking her head bemusedly, she returns to the two acolytes remaining.  "So, have you two worked things out yet?" she asks, curiously.

Tesseryn ignores the guards and continues uphill towards the tower.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:33, Thu 10 Dec 2015.

"Well met, Cornelious, my name is Aurion," the elf replied. "It was my understanding that you had asked wise and powerful Mitra for some assistance, can you recall making such a request, wise one?"

The pair of acolytes transfer their glares from Aurion to Leisha.  "Mitra !" one insists in a decisive manner that causes his fellow to wince.  "Mitra," he concurs, no less confidently, but with a note of resignation.

"And don't you forget it !" the first warns, shaking his finger at her, as the other closes his eyes and shakes his head.

Aurion's words seem to confuse Cornelious.  "I prayed for my vegetables," the old priest avows uncertainly, "the mayor ... just ordinary things, really," he looks hopeful that this will satisfy the Elf.  "I could pray for you ?" he suggests kindly.  "You do seem very worried about a dark tower ?"

---

As they draw closer, you see that one of the approaching guards is more grandly dressed than the others, wearing an ornate suit of platemail, obviously a valuable family heirloom, and indeed it is he who waves curtly at the two trailing acolytes to quieten their complaints, then, after a quick smirk at the otherwise occupied Wrukaog, a lazy gesture to his men, obviously a signal of some sort to order them to stand down.

"Greetings, travellers," he smiles thinly, his voice oily.  "These priests were worried that you had lost your way.  More than glad to help you out, it is my duty after all."  Some of his men titter at this.

"I'm the Sheriff here. Merth," he inclines his head as he replies to Cogwitz, his sinuous movement reminding you very much of a snake, "I think you have already made the acquaintance of our innkeep Melkor - I'm sure he'd be only too happy to arrange rooms for you."

"As for our tower ... by all means," he encourages Brindle, "though I'm not a young man - I'll leave such exertions to yourselves."

One of the acolytes whispers urgently in his ear, and he turns with an angry look that sees that unfortunate scuttle away, almost falling over in his haste.  Looking back, he asks, "It seems you've misplaced the rest of your little band ?"

As you converse, Tesseryn glances your way, but continues uphill to the base of the tower, slowly circling around it.

Tesseryn makes another circuit of the tower then stands with mailed fists on armoured hips glaring down upon the village.

"I would appreciate it greatly sir," Aurion replied, giving up hope that he would ever make the correct decision about these things.

With the conversation seemingly going well enough, Wrukaog excuses himself from the situation and walks from behind the halflings, around the sheriff and remaining acolyte, and makes his way toward the tower with the intention to begin heading to its top immediately.

He slows a for a few steps every once in a while to gulp down a few more mouthfuls of his bucket.

"Thank you, Sheriff. Oh, we're not a band. Fellow travellers, I suppose would be as good a description as any. We just met up on the way here, although we'll probably get together at meal times to swap stories, I expect. The others are probably just off exploring different bits of the village." Brindle explains to the Sheriff.

"Thanks again. We'll go climb that tower now and look at the view."

He takes his leave and heads off up the hill after Wrukaog.

Cogwitz watched as Wrukaog moved off towards the tower.  Cogwitz wanted to get up there as well and was itching to go, but didn't want to be rude to the sheriff.  Yes, we were at the inn already and will most likely return when we get done looking around.  Anything in particular we should be looking at in your fine city?

Wrukaog and Brindle make their excuses and head up to join Tesseryn at the grey stone tower, while Cogwitz continues to converse with the Sheriff, who smiles indulgently at the Halfling while signalling to three of his men to follow the others.

"If you judge this a city, then I'm afraid you and your friends are either very much lost, else have not travelled very widely," Merth smiles thinly.  "There's nothing of interest here.  Most caravanners prefer to take the western passes these days.  What visitors we get are barely enough to keep business limping along."

The Orc and Halfling join the Paladin at the base of the tower before the three trail around it, Tesseryn's hand scraping across the rough stone, while Wrukaog pauses frequently to down the rough ale. 

---

"You really don't need to worry yourself over this dark tower," Cornelious pats Aurion on his arm kindly.  "Long gone, long gone."

"There was a White tower here first, of course," the old man suddenly remembers. "Not this," he waves his hand around to indicate the shrine in which you sit, "many, many years before this was built, though it stands on the same spot."

Once more the priest manages to drag his underlings attention away from Leisha.

"A most terrible battle, so the stories say,fought between the priests of Light and Darkness when the Black tower was raised.  Many, many died," the old priest shudders at the memory, though the events of which he speaks are but legends now, the dead in their graves for centuries.

"But Mitra saved the village," he repeats himself, though knows not that he does so. "Raised the earth itself to bury both towers far beneath the ground, may His name be praised !"

"So you really mustn't worry ..."

Tesseryn completes his second circuit of the tower without finding any way in.  "I can find no way in." he tells Brindle and Wrukaog redundantly.  "You should know, Dauros grants me the power to detect evil.  This whole village reeks of it, as do the four acolytes we met in the chapel.  This tower does not.  Nor did the elderly priest.  Therefore I shall return to the starting point to ponder anew this conundrum."

He strides once more down the hill towards the chapel.

Cogwitz pondered what the sheriff had to say about the village.  It was a curious thing... why did all the caravans bypass this place?  Well, if there is nothing of note, I will take my leave of you, Cogwitz remarked.  Cogwitz then run up to the tower to the others.

OOC: How's the tower's surface? Are there some gaps and finger holds? Some nice little ledges where a stone brick or two are protruding every once in a while?

Brindle stood beside Wrukaog and looked up at the tower, too. He shuddered slightly at the enormous height of it rearing above him.

"I have some rope," he said quietly to the orc so the three sheriff's men wouldn't overhear. "Only about 30 feet of it, though, and nothing to tie it to. Perhaps someone else has more? If you do decide to try the climb my magic can catch you if you fall."

Accepting the old mans prayers, Aurion offers his thanks, then heads out to find the others.

Thanking Cornelius for his prayers, Aurion elects to join his friends, though Leisha remains behind, unwilling as yet to leave the old man alone with his acolytes.

Looking around, the Elf spots his friends and companions over by the tall grey tower on a rise to the south and begins to walk towards them, just as Tesseryn descends the hill, heading back to the Shrine.

The pair meet about halfway.

Meantime Wrukaog takes a short pause from drinking to survey said tower.  As Cogwitz hurries up, the rest of the guards trailing behind him as they follow more slowly, the big orc eyes the poor stonework speculatively. Certainly there are plenty of hand and foot holds, though the real question is whether or not the entire edifice would survive any attempt to climb it.  Indeed the whole structure looms large in Brindle's vision, prompting the halfing to offer rope, if not magical assistance should Wrukaog be foolhardy enough to make the attempt.

"You boys thinking of making the climb ?" one of the guards standing behind you asks, lip curled.  "Time was no lad around here would consider himself a man until he'd stood himself atop the old lookout.

Stepping outside, Aurion sniffs at the air and examines the sky. Was there anything that placed him in a new and unique world? He couldn't tell. He wondered how many moons he would see once the sun went down.

Spotting the others, he considers joining them, but diverts his course to meet up with the approaching Sir Brightsoul. Perhaps he had learned something of value that he wanted to share...

"Not me," Brindle responds to the guard. "That's twice the climb for someone as little as me compared to someone as tall as you are. Maybe Wrukaog will give it a go? What's up there anyway? How many didn't make it up there safely?"

"Nothing much," the guard shrugs, "it's just a lookout.  There was a ladder once upon a time, but that's long since rusted away."

"Nobody we miss," he laughs.

Tesseryn stops next to Aurion and shares a quiet word or two.