Concerned about the lack of people and the possibility of ambush, Shiaran secures the rope as silently and rapidly as possible.  Once she is certain the rope is more than secure enough to hold the mens' weight, she moves out of the well on silent feet, and keeps her eyes peeled for trouble.

Beloc watches on as Shiaran disappears out of view. Once she has safely cleared the top, he gestures to Oro. "After you."

Oro nods subtly and ascends the rope with the grace of a cat crossing a tightrope. As the teifling makes his ascent, Beloc pulls the combat harness from his pack and begin strapping it on. He kneels down and calls Apache over. "Here boy, up we go."

Recognizing the harness, the proud military dog and turns sideways toward Beloc. The elf latches Apache in and hoists him up on his back. Pull after pull, he slowly makes his way up the rope with the large dog in tow. Finally, at the top, Beloc lowers Apache back to the ground.

"We should probably look for that hideout while we still have some light."

Shiaran slips out of her climbing gear and detaches the rope before coiling it back up.  "I don't like this.  Something is not right.  There isn't anyone around.  I'm going to head to the end of the alley, and see what I can see.  Permission to proceed?"  Her words are matter-of-fact, an agent in the field addressing a commander.  Whatever resentment she may still harbor is not present in her tone or manner.

Beloc hears her words but continues to concentrate on the surrounding area a bit longer. Eventually, he nods. "Proceed, but maybe you should do that invisibility thing you do. People should be out and bustling home. This feels like some sort of military curfew."

Shiaran nods.  She plucks an eyelash and puts it in a small ball of some kind of clay.  "Kanina mati den mopey na me Fri na kinetic eh na energeso an den keno kinese enantia den autous."  The girl vanishes.

As Shiaran scouts under the veil of invisibility, Beloc turns to Oro. "Just in case walking in the open is out of the question, do you have a back way to this hideout?"

Oro looks up at the roofs above. "Well, there is my preferred method of travel" he says with a wink.

Beloc follows his eyes upward towards the rooftops. He chuckles a bit. "Jumping, I'm fine with. Climbing, that could be a challenge."

He glances over to the tiny messenger that had been following him since leaving the dwarven compound. "Em'Owon, message back to Rebort and the others that we've made it to the city and we're starting our scouting mission."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:16, Wed 04 Apr 2018.

Oro's eyes continue to smile.  "Come now Master Elf. I don't expect the burdens of my past profession to fall on everyone. Rooftop access is easy via most homes here, even in the Sweepings. Believe it or not this was once a rather posh place to live".
This message was last edited by the player at 02:28, Wed 04 Apr 2018.

"Fair enough, but we'll need to make sure Shiaran knows how to get there as well. We may need to wait a moment for her to finish her scan of the town."

"From de look of things, I can't imagine she vill find much".

Shiaran continues to scout.

Several minutes pass without a sign of Shiaran. The atmosphere feels tense while waiting. The minutes seem to drag on forever.

Shiaran returns to the two others, but does not let the spell drop.  It hasn't been all that long and there is no reason to lose the advantage before it expires naturally.  She speaks before she gets to them, though, so as not to startle them and get herself stabbed.  "Everyone seems to have evacuated to the inner tier of the city.  I don't know how long ago, but judging by the emptiness, it was a while.  Days at least.  We should watch out for infiltrators into this section from the PCA."

Beloc raises an eyebrow. "Evacuation? I didn't expect that. Oro, where is the nearest civic build, city hall, perhaps? There might be some clues lying around."

"We're in the slums. The nearest municipal building would be the poor house, which is operated by the District three ward we're in. It's a few block down the way".

"I guess that's a start. Let's hope they keep decent records."

"I wouldn't hold your breath"

As the group cuts through and exits the alleyway they round the corner to a cobblestone street. Still no signs of life, and the distant peels of thunder sound much louder now. Entirely too loud for the skies not to be absolutely ablaze with arcs of lightning. A few minutes of cautious walking southward, another volley of loud rumbles.

A voice from behind startles everyone, despite the words it speaks.

"Don't freak out, it's only me".

A few feet above the road hover Kallium, about 10 paces behind you all.

By this time, Shiaran's invisibility has faded.  She chose a very dark corner somewhere and faded into view, then stepped out of the shadow so as not to startle anyway.  It was an instinct, a subtlety with her magic that was contrasted with the sometimes flagrant displays she effaced in order to throw people off, keep them from gauging her true abilities.  "Hey, Kal.  Glad to have you along on this creepy jaunt."  Her tone is sarcastic, teasing - only partially meant to alleviate her own insecurity in this place.

Kallium nods to Shiaran. "It's about to get creepier I'm afraid. After you all left, I decided to slip out and have a look around the caves. It was there I picked up the trail of a ley line, the one your brother traced into the mountain. And... well. Things in Fildegarne Walled City don't look good I'm afraid. I raced to find you as quick as I could".

Beloc eyes the floating apparition. "Things don't look good? Could you elaborate a bit? It seems clear something strange is going on, but if what you say is true, then perhaps the ley lines are at play here."

Kallium hesitates a moment before answering. "Well, two things. When I emerged from the mountain -which, I must say that traversing solid rock and not getting lost is no easy feat - I brought myself high enough to see over the walls of the districts here. The first bit of bad news is that those rumbles aren't thunder. It's artillery. The second bit of bad news, is that the ley line from what I can see... well.. it runs directly to Fildegarne keep. As in the castle. Where the monarchy resides. Which means all the vile horrors of the PCA are trying to get exactly there, because all signs point to a spectral fault being somewhere within the walls".

"That's great news!"  Shiaran's voice is cheerful without a hint of sarcasm.