"Staying in this cave is very risky. We are best to leave, avoid the hunters, and find somewhere we can recuperate.

I say we head to Elturel to advise Leosin. But we can have that argument in the morning."

Korym notes in a deadpan voice, "If I recall, Oraphina, Einar is willing to face sure death for a kiss from you!

Shall we go before the half-dragon decides to check up on us?

Hope with that armour on you can probably walk ahead openly and call out if there are guards to deal with."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:05, Tue 09 Aug 2022.

Hope nodded at the elf's wisdom, and set off ahead of the others, the dragon armor on, she had a sour expression that the halfling knew was irritation at the wearing of the armor. "Lets go -  the sooner we leave, the sooner i can get out of this armor"

The decision made our heroes retreated from the cave un-assailed. The journey through the canyon and up the interior cliff face was both quiet and uneventful, though the group could still make out the small troop of men who were camped out in the canyon.

Upon the descent from the mesa on the cliffs on the opposite side our heroes managed to find a small ledge with a cave that went into the cliff-face roughly thirty feet and had a large piece of jutting shale in front of it, that would obscure it from anyone viewing from below, but if viewed from above it would look like something of a balcony upon the cliff face, but this would be the best hidden spot for miles, unless the group wished to trek all night to just put distance between them and the cult.

"This will be perfect, Hope" Korym say to the rogue when she leads them to the cave.

"I expect when our handiwork is discovered the cult will be upset, but Hope's story to Cyanwrath may point their retribution to the hunters. I, for one, will not be rushing to their rescue.

While not the quiet reconnaissance mission we planned, I am content with the information we have gathered, and the damage we have caused.

I can take watch while it is still dark. I will need a few hours to rest and a short time to study my spell book."

---

It must be the middle of the night?

Hope found the spot and nodded in agreement of Korym. He looked at the others. "Rest - i will watch over things while you do."

The night passes with little issue, halfway through the night the sound of falling rocks can be heard tumbling down from the top of the mesa, evidence that the cultists were searching for their assailants, but nothing ever comes from it.

Now hours later the sun begins to crest the horizon, causing light to filter into the cave.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:37, Mon 15 Aug 2022.

Korym sits cross-legged with his spell book on his lap, reading intently for several minutes. He puts his book back into his pack, and calls quietly, "Shadow."

The little bat flits from a corner of the cave, settling on the elf's open hand. "I need you to fly up and look on the other side of this ridge so I can look through your eyes and hear through your ears, little one."

The little bat chitters a moment then flies out of the cave. Korym sits unmoving, not responding to anyone around him.

---

Changed out a couple of spells; character sheet updated.
Looking through familiar's senses:
As an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

Shadow flits out of the cave and up into the sky panning around for Korym to see what she sees.

[Language unknown: Ilta pros, ismana aiic.]

Korym's expression returns to normal, and he stands up before speaking to the group.

"Shadow did a little scouting, there is a pair of cultists patrolling the top of this side of the ridge, and another pair on the opposite side of the canyon. And there are four guards posted in front of the cave.

I would say our handiwork from last night has been discovered!

From what I can tell, if we climb down from here, we may be spotted. Once we reach the ground we will definitely be spotted.

I suppose we need to decide what our next step will be. I still propose we head Elturel and advise Leosin.

And now we have to also decide if we wait for nightfall to move, regardless of where we go."

Einar yawns a bit as he wakes up feeling a bit more refreshed after the good night of sleep. "Well as this was just meant to be a scouting mission, I'd have to a gree that we just head back for now. Give them a chance to become lax in their guard again at the very least."

I agree, we did sting them hard, but a good bath in a inn would do us good after all that blood!

Hope listened to the others and nodded. "As much as i want to drive my dagger through that bitch of a dragon's eye, our goal was information - and we have that. Our option is we wait until the upper level is clear and run, or we risk it, take the scouts out and move. We do that, they may follow or track us."

"If we remove the pair patrolling above us, I expect the others on the other side of the canyon will notice them missing.

But it will likely be be near impossible to leave with the pair above us. Perhaps we wait until later in the day, when the sun is furthest south, which will somewhat blind the patrol on the north side, and we can eliminate the pair on this side?"

---

If I recall correctly, the horseshoe opens to the west and the cave is to the east.

Here is the old map of the canyon. the entrance is North West you are all currently on the outside wall just about where the text says Prisoner Crucifixes.






                                                               ┌──Watch tower
                           ┌──Watch tower                      │  On raised ledge (25ft down from top of mesa)
                           │                                   │
                           │                                   │         ┌───Royal Pavilion Tent
                           │            Party                  │         │
                   xx      │               │                   │         │
                xx  xxxxxx │               │                   │         │
                xxxxxx   xxxxxxx           │                   │         │
                     xxx   │    xxxx       │    xxxxxx         │         │
             xx         xxx│x       xxxxxxx│xxxx      xxxxxxxxx│         │
          x   xxx          │xxx            │                   │xxxxxx   │
          x     xx         │   xxxxxxx  P◄─┘                   │     xxxx│
            N    xxx       │   TT    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx          │         │xx
            ▲      x       └──►TT   ┌─────┐         xxxxxxxxx  │         │ xxx
            │      xx             ┌►│     │                 xxx│xxx      │    xx
        W◄──┼──►E   xxx  ┌────┐   │ └─────┘       ┌─┐ ┌────┐  x│   xxxx  │     xx
            │         xxx│    │◄──┤               │ │ │    │  x│      xx │      xx
            ▼   x       x└────┘   ├─Shoddy Tents  │ │ └────┘  x│  TT   xx│       xx
            S    x       xx       │               │ │   ▲     x└─►TT    x│        xx
                 x        xx ┌──┐ │               │ │◄──┐      xx        │x        xx
                  xx       x │  │◄┘               │ │   │       xxxx     │xx        xx
                   xxx      x└──┘                 │ │   │          xxxxxx│ x         x
                     xx      xx   wwwwww          └─┘   │          ┌──┐  │ xx        xx
                      x       xx w      w Good Quality  │          │  │◄─┘ ┌─┐Cave    x
                      x        xx       ww  Tents ──────┼────┐     └──┘    │ │       xx
                      x         xx        w             │    │             └─┘       x
  Slave Cages &   ────────────────────►    w            ▼    │           xx          x
  Prisoner Crucifixes  xx          xxx      www   ┌─────┐    ▼         xxx          xx
       area              xx          xxxx      w  │     │ ┌────┐     xxx            x
                          xx            xxxx   w  └─────┘ │    │   xxx              x
                           xx               xxxxxx        └────┘xxxx               xx
                             xx                   xxxxxxxxxxxxx                   xx
                              xxxx                                              xxx
                                 xxxx                                         xxx
                                    xxxxxx                              xxxxxxx
                                         xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hope tapped her cheek. "I can move quietly, but for you all, the cover of darkness will be better. I say we wait, i'll go up, try to scout ahead.  If their up there still, we can take them out, quietly, hide the bodies then make a run for it. Hopefully the darkness will give us time and a head start."

"I'd rather you not fight alone, but it does seem to be the best plan we have. We are kinda in a bad spot at the moment. 

Hope nods and sits down.  She was quiet for the time she waited until dusk, and as it got dark, looked at the others. "You hear two hoots, a pause then three hoots, it's clear."

She then made her way  up the cliff, slowly and not as quietly as her normal self. Once at the top, she looked around, but the darkness along with dust in her eyes made it hard to see.

---

<OOC: 'Hope' rolled 9 using 1d20+2.  athletics check.
'Hope' rolled 15 using 1d20+7.  stealth check.
'Hope' rolled 4 using 1d20+2.  perception check.>

Korym sighs in obvious exasperation as Hope leaves the cave, "She has a death wish, I swear!"

The elf sits cross-legged, "Shadow fly up above, so I can watch through your eyes."

---

Korym will repeat this action until Hope eliminates the guards, or until something bad happens!
As an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

Oraphina watched her friend go, wishing she could go with her, but her armor would be an hindrance in this situation, so she whispered after her Be careful, honey. .

Hope and Shadow both crested the edge of the cliff, As Hope stood and assessed the surroundings, Shadow flit up into the night sky.

Despite the dust in her eyes, it became clear rather quickly that the patrols from earlier in the day were nowhere to be seen; it seems as though the cult had given up its search.

Korym lets out a sigh of relief, as he sits blind and deaf to his current surroundings.

Einar stays ready to fight waiting till hope returns just incase they get ambushed while Korym is out of it.

Korym's head jerks up a bit as he returns to normal consciousness and quickly gets to his feet.

"Good news, the patrols are gone, although there are still guards at the cave entrance and in one of the towers.

But we should be able to take our leave of this place, without raising the alarm!"

The wizard points his finger upward, and whispers "Hope, the patrols are gone. Time for us to leave."

---

Cast Message. Hope can reply if she likes.

Waiting for Hope to come back, the halfling picked up the impromptu camp site, trying to leave no traces that they were ever there.

Hope, despite her dismal efforts of searching, was comfortable and issued the signal of the hooting owl to come up.