In reply to Dorian (msg # 47):

Taking it in as he enters the portal to the tower, listening, looking at the stairs and a way to get away from so many entrances. Krackor does his job, looks at the floor, the walls, windows, that Mist, then moves to a position where he sees the most, back to the wall.

Once everyone was inside. He tries to work out the likely entrance of any beasts, including if there is light at allhe top of the stairs indicating a potential egress point. Looking at broken furniture for a table. If a table top, even a broken one, see if can block an entry point.

Can anyone see anything we can use to block some of these entry ways or a way to get to the next floor?

Then the protector, protects, sets his shield, its firey eyes looking at the various portals, his loaded crossbow at the ready.

If upstairs isn't passible for others to use, then Corym, I'll set my stone spikes outside the walls of this tower. Your call.

Sound Analysis = Made it by 14. For purposes of noises above, the creaking of the building and people inside it.

Krackor

((ooc: You don't hear anyone in the tower. The entire city is quieter than any forest you've ever encountered. You also don't hear anyone following from outside. Yet.))

((OOC: Thanks, preparing for any noises entering the tower from above as well))
Krackor enters an almost meditative state and he focuses.

"They'll look in here, won't they?" Sirenya asks quietly as she looks around the inside of the ruin. With that in mind, she looks for a small place she can tuck herself into that offers protection from anyone looking in from overhead.

Away from the mist, though. That was suspicious, maybe some kind of really find spiderweb? She cocked her little crossbow, ready to fire if she saw a spider. Or a gargoyle. That thought made her frown at the weapon; maybe she needed magicked bolts to hit those?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:56, Sun 06 Jan 2019.

"I can silence th' area should enemies come here, then our fightin' won' carry to other foes. Anyone with a problem to that idea?" Katarn said, his eyes on the windows opposite him, looking for trouble.

In reply to Katarn (msg # 53):

Silencing the area! A good and a bad idea.

Quietly speaking. Silencing the area in the fight may work but not where we stand. If magic be needed, words intoned, would they need to be vocalised or just mouthed?

Until an enemy arrives, I need to hear if anything is coming and where from
This message was last edited by the player at 12:21, Sun 06 Jan 2019.

Kora looked around the room, checking exits. "So what's the plan?" She gestured with her great sword. "This isn't going to be much help against fiends. It's not enchanted."

In reply to Kora Roustinghorn (msg # 55):

Krackor reaches down, pulls out his dagger and hold it out to Kora.

Mistress Lightbearer, you could try this, I'll be using other things if it comes to it.

"Thank you," Kora says, taking the dagger and sliding it into an empty sheath on her belt. "If it comes to it, I'm glad to know I'll be able to hurt them. I'll get this back to you once we're out of here."

In reply to Kora Roustinghorn (msg # 57):

You are most welcome Mistress Lightbearer. it was at this point as he smoothed his clothing down that he realised, he had entered the gate with a Surcoat and now he was wearing a full set of Vestments, in half Black, half Red split down the middle, mirroring his shield, complete with firey eyes and Bronze Mask emblazened on the chest area.

Slowly dropping to his knees one moment, the sound of his plate mail quietly creaking, he lifted his open face helmed head to the sky.

It appears Mistress Lightbearer, that this was meant to be, vestments direct from the Eternally Vigilant, are rare gifts. We will do well with these others. He then readjusts and awaits an enemy to use the Golden Guardian's gifts. To all.. Once we see them, I will be calling forth Stone Spikes outside the door or on the next level up to help protect us all, try to avoid them.

((ooc: Once the leathery flapping wings of a creature sound imminent, and he sees them about to enter, cast Stone Spikes followed by Prayer, then loose a bolt))
This message was last edited by the player at 18:34, Mon 07 Jan 2019.

Corym takes in the insides of the tower, noting its design, its entrances and its exits.  It is a practiced movement.  He also notes the preparations being made by his companions.

"If at all possible, we should attempt to pass unnoticed.  Combat attracts attention.  We're fortunate to have only seen middling threats thus far.  If they focus in on us, we ought to try to draw them into the building where their wings will avail them little.  We've one true archer among us, and if I start loosing lightning bolts into the air, that's sure to draw attention."

Corym looks around for the new dwarf priest, then remembers that he's invisible.  "Katarn was it?  You're already invisible.  I assume that the duration lasts until you attack?  We need a look out--we can't see them from in here, but they won't be able to see you from out there.  Would you mind taking up a post outside?"

The elf regards everyone at once, "We should try to avoid the use of magic here.  A magical field called a mythal shrouds the entirety of this city, and it affects magical properties differently.  The only thing I can remember at the moment is that the mythal here makes it exceptionally easy to summon extraplanar creatures, but makes it impossible to bind or control them.  So if you're planning on summoning monsters or godly allies, you might want to prepare differently."

"We should position ourselves near the walls--those are the least likely to collapse as they're the best supported.  You'll also be the most unlikely to be seen from the outside.  We'll wait for them to fly past or engage."

"Good idea," Katarn said in response to Corym. "I'll set up outside where I can look for the 'goyles. I've heard tale that fiends can see the invisible, so I'll trust to the Finder to shield me from fiendish eyes."

With that, the tromp of boots can be heard as Katarn exited the building to set up a watch outside, but near the tower. He looked for the gargoyles in flight as well as any other things that may be tracking the party.

He heard the words and took them in...This Mythal, does that include divine gifts too?
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:34, Tue 08 Jan 2019.

We seem to be on hold for a bit, so...

Corym starts to take a look around the room they're in to see if he can make out what it was originally.  This was a tower--are there any stairs up?  He'll shift some of the debris around on the floor to see if anything is revealed.

Katarn

You step out into the city again and move far enough from the door to get a good view to the east as well as the south and west. After a moment or two of looking you catch sight of the gargoyles. They're hunting, or patrolling, winging back and forth through the streets and around the ruined towers with an air of watchful menace. They stay in the tighter spaces of the streets, and begin to work their way toward the east rather than enter the large open space where you appeared.

With a flap of wings that is surprisingly loud in the still city, the fiend that Corym spotted launches itself from its concealed perch. Where the gargoyles' movements are jerky, as though their stone wings shouldn't be able to keep them in flight, the red fiend is sinuous motion and menace. Its spiked tail waves between its legs as it flies.

The two gargoyles catch sight of it instantly and bank hard away, their wings flapping madly as they fly further into the eastern buildings. They don't completely break contact, however. You can see their shadows come to perch on a large tree branch, their heads keeping the fiend in view.

For its part, the fiend ignores them. It flies to a new building about sixty feet further north and lands again. It's staring at the building the group took cover in.

Corym

This tower's purpose is really hard to determine. It seems like the entire first floor was a single large room, but whatever use Myth Drannans made of it, there isn't much sign. Enough dirt and tree detritus have been blown inside over the centuries for the floor to be almost completely buried, and the walls are bare of any decorations.

There are stairs, a stone spiral around the opposite wall which arc over the back door and disappear into the ceiling. Both the ceiling and the stairs have holes in them, but you think enough of it is stable that you could make it up if you wanted.

Katarn stared at the fiend and watched it watching the group's tower for a minute. Then he walked slowly back towards the tower's entrance, stepping as quietly and slowly as possible while still making forward progress. He tried to keep an eye on the fiend as well while still focusing on his path.

When he reached the entrance, he whispered as loudly as he dared, "the fiend moved. It's watching the entrance to this tower now. Avoid the doors and windows." He swiveled his head around to peek back at the fiend to see what it was up to.

"It seems to me if the Fiend is watching the building on this side we should probably seek an escape from the opposite side and find a better place to hide and reconnoiter the area." offered Dorian while continuing his vigil at the main door.

"Are any of you Arcanists?  Perhaps a study of that mist may be helpful?  It certainly makes me nervous, if nothing else."

"I suppose that is something in your line, Corym?"

Now that he had settled into one place Dorian became a bit hazy and indistinct.  He blended perfectly with the native surroundings and only the keenest eyed could see him at his station now.

Elorfindar

After a hectic and rushed moon and a half, you had been looking forward to some peace and quiet, some unhurried research. Led by Taeghen, you, Bran, Yurkal, and Ameena made the ride from Hill's Edge to Waterdeep in thirty one grueling days. It was exhausting riding, and the long days in the uninhabited land west of the High Moor were nerve-wracking, but you made it without encountering anything more than a few wandering monsters well within your ability to fight.

Once in the City of Splendors, you quickly found the temple of Oghma. After a year of traveling it was good to be back in a library and among priests of a god of knowledge. You could have done without the time pressure, though. The vision Bran had received from Clangeddin for the next step in the construction of the great suit of armor he intended was vague, and not particularly helpful.

You wondered more than once why a god as forthright as Clangeddin was playing such semantic games. When you finally deciphered the riddles and realized that Bran needed to retrieve a particular ruined breastplate from within Undermountain, things made more sense.

Having come this far, all of you agree to help Bran on this latest expedition. It was the most horrible four days of your life. Successful, certainly; you all emerged alive and with the breastplate from the skeleton you found in a sublevel that branched off of the second main level. But you never want to set foot in Undermountain again. Certainly not without a thief!

The group disbanded shortly thereafter. Bran received another vision, this one directing him to a clan of Hidden who would not accept non-dwarves. Taeghen joined up with a caravan heading north, and Yurkal and Ameena disappeared. You settled down to enjoy the fruits of your expedition and a long stint of happy reading in the Font of Knowledge.

Alas, Labelas appears to have other plans for you. Barely a tenday after Bran's departure, you're walking through a back alley in the early morning toward the Font when the wall to your left shudders and flashes with half a dozen colors of light one after the other. Your vision goes black, and there is a stomach-churning sensation of flipping and falling.

When your vision returns, you find yourself staring up at the underside of a bush. The dirt is cool on your back, and all of your joints ache. Pulling yourself out, you discover that you aren't in Waterdeep anymore. You're in a ruined city, its elegant stonework broken and heavily overgrown with trees.

You're still trying to pull your thoughts together when you hear someone call your name.

While the group talks, Kora moves to stand by one of the windows. She keeps herself to one side, out of sight, but frequently peeks out toward the open space you arrived in. Suddenly she swears. "Mystra's tits!"

Running to the door, she sticks her head out and waves an arm. "Elorfindar! Over here! Quick!"

Katarn

You can't really see much of the fiend. It obviously knows where to find good hiding spots, and has the patience of a hunter. It's up there, you're sure, but it's keeping out of sight.

Movement on the ground draws your eye, and you watch as a moon elf who apparently materialized entirely under a hedge pulls himself out and dusts himself off. He has the same kind of unfocused, still-trying-to-figure-out-what-wagon-hit-him look the rest of you had.

Behind you, you hear Kora rushing to the door, and then her shouting. She's not bellowing as loudly as Krackor, but her voice certainly carried to this new elf.

With ever-growing confusion, Elorfindar tries to place the vaguely familiar-sounding voice which called him by his name. When he finally spots the speaker, a sense of recognition sets in though the confusion does not decrease. "Kora?" the moon elf mumbles, starting to get up from the ground.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Thu 10 Jan 2019.

In reply to Kora Roustinghorn (msg # 67):

Kora, keep still the Guardian whispers to the Lightbearer, then he hears her speak, and the name brings confusion and a beaming smile to his head.

Corym, did you hear?  I hear someone outside but the steps sound different somehow.

"Hush!" Katarn said as loudly as he dared, "that fiend is still out there and it is watching this tower..." his invisible form did step out of the way of the elf headed towards the tower entrance at a hurried pace so as not to collide with him.

He stepped back out to see if he could get a visual on the fiend again, to see if the group's noise had roused it's attention or anything else's for that matter.

Kora glares in Katarn's general direction. "The fiend already knows we're here. Our friend doesn't." She waves at Elorfindar, waving him in.

"I'm on it." Corym responded.  If the Fiend was North--they needed to head South.  Corym looked for a Southern exit, or minimally one where their exit would be obscured from their observer.  He peered out of whatever the DM rules he finds to first determine whether or not there was some other danger in their exit path.  Then to see whether there was another building to run to for cover.  From cover, to cover, that was the only way they'd make it out alive.



Corym reeled.  Elorfindar?  Here?  Corym was no priest but he was beginning to suspect that a larger design was at play here.  But whose?  Quietly, but furtively he spoke, "All the same, no need to compound problems. Katarn, if that fiend moves, I need to know.  Get Elorfindar in, as soon as he's safe, we'll push through to our next redoubt."