And so Lucien starts up the stairs very much wary of the floor and stairs breaking under his armored weight. He takes it slowly but not so slowly that it takes forever. Caution not fear setting the speed at which he moves.

OOC: Moving at half speed so I get some warning.

Lucien heads up the stairs, which are stone steps set into the wall of the gatehouse. Since it appears to be Dwarven construction, none of the step stones have come loose nor have they cracked. Only the inside edge shows a bit of weathering. There is some debris on the steps that could make footing a bit tricky, but as Lucien is taking his time, he has no problem avoiding the debris.

As he nears the top, he can finally see where the debris came from. There was, apparently, an extra floor just below the top, probably a barracks. Water had dripped in and caused that floor to rot away.

The stairs continue up to the roof, which is partly gone where the planking was, but the underlying beams still seem to be intact. Walking across the roof to the other side of the gatehouse can be done just by stepping on the beams close to the parapet.

Once on the other side, it looks like it once was a repeat of the first side. Now, however, it's in worse shape. While at first it looks like the centuries have just claimed it, closer inspection shows that it was attacked by ballista or catapults. You can still negotiate the roof and the stairs, but the roof is half gone, the floor below it is gone, and many of the stairs have been damaged, though at least half of each step is still there.

Cassandra follows after the others.

"My idea was sound," she comments to the others as they climb the stairs, "but the route is a bit more... unstable than I expected."

"You doing okay up there, Lucius? Kurat?"

"Yeah it's slow going, but manageable. Looks like they were laid seige to. Means we might need to find a battle field and search the graves of the fallen. Not my first choice, but I didn't hide the artifacts." is his yelled response.

Kurat stayed close by but waited to see what Lucien might find.

OOC: What do we need to roll to see what and if we find something?

Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Knowledge (Engineering) and Perception would all be appropriate skill checks.

Knowledge (Arcana) could be helpful, too.


Once past the crenelation breach, the stairs going down into the other side of the gatekeep are easier to navigate, though it's uncertain why they haven't sustained as much damage or erosion.

As you near the bottom, however, you discover that a large part of the stairs have been broken off. It now lays against the door. It would have been nearly impossible to have pushed open the door.

A quick search reveals a skeleton in the back corner. There are only a few remnants of clothes still on it. A broken sword lies by its bony hand.

09:17, Today: Kurat rolled 20 using 1d20+18.  know(arcana).

It seems unlikely that the broken sword is the Wonder you're looking for, although it's not impossible. There does seem to be a disparity between the damage to the gatehouse and the damage it would take to break the Wonder.

It's hard for Kurat to put his finger on it, but this doesn't feel like the right place for the Wonder to be hidden.

It should be closer to where the tunnel opened--it just fits with the whole set-up. It just doesn't make sense to activate the tunnel and then have to travel any distance once you got to the other end. On the other hand, the tunnel seems like it will remain open until the Wonder is brought back through it.

"We should look closer to where the tunnel exited I think. This is pretty far from there and if the tunnel was meant to bring you to the item it stands to reason it would be relatively close to the terminus of the tunnel," Kurat told the others.

"That kind of makes sense," Cassandra agreed.

"We keep thinking it's going to be stashed in some closet or hung for display on a wall, but how would that work on the Field of Dreams... or wherever it was?"

"Have to think of something different. Buried in the ground? That would work for the Field of Dreams or the Old North Road."

"How else could you hide a Wonder?"

  "I will catch up in a moment. Just want to check something first." he climbs over some more tumbled boulders and looks around for a moment.

11:06, Today: Lucien Soulban rolled 18 using 1d20+2.  Perception.
11:05, Today: Lucien Soulban rolled 16 using 1d20+13.  Arcana roll.

It probably wasn't due to any arcane knowledge he had, but it may have been because he was letting that knowledge augment his senses. So, as Lucien was overlooking the site, he started to get a faint tingling sensation... in the green star. It gets stronger when he focuses on it... and seems to be stronger when he faces the tunnel opening... or at least in that direction.

Also, from his elevated vantage point, he can now see where the original keep was. The rubble of the ruins was so bad and deep that it had even hidden the outline of the buildings.

There's little rubble near the tunnel, which is why it had been relatively easy to reach the gatehouse.

A sort of divot in the rubble over near what would have been the wall makes Lucien think that it might be the stairwell down into the dungeon level, but it had been filled in by the collapsing wall.

Kurat waited while the others watched to see what they figured out. He was ready to continue the journey but was sure they should be closer to the entrance.

To Cassandra's question, "Any number of ways really. It could be covered in an illusion. It could also be transformed into something else only to reveal it's trueform when touched by the appropriate person. Least two things I can think of right now."

"So, you think one of these rocks could be the Wonder we're looking for?" Cassandra answers Kurat.

"If it was inside a lead box and the box was then polymorphed into a rock, wouldn't it still detect as magic?"

"OH! What if the rock was shaped into its current form, then lead-lined, and the sword put inside it?!"

"At least, that way, we'd only have to look at rocks that could hold a sword."

"It's probably in the dungeon. I'd put it up in a tower if I had a dragon to guard it, but, barring that, stick it in a dungeon, in a cell, guarded by a... ummm, gargoyle!"

 "There is a stairwell back that way. Looks like a dungeon." he says as he climbs down.

"We should start our search there then I believe," Kurat said as Lucien revealed his findings. "It could just be buried under rubble, but it does seem like it should be closer to where we exited than we are now."

Kurat would move with the others towards the stairway Lucien discovered.

The three of you move over to where the depression is that Lucien spotted. You practically have to be on top of it to see the top of the stairs buried under the rubble. However, it does look like there might be a narrow passage down the side of the stairs. There's still rubble, but it doesn't block the way, only makes the footing tricky and may requiring climbing over some of the rocks.

It wasn't visible to Lucien from his perch because some of the larger rocks hid it from view. Even as you examine the stairwell, you can see the remnants of the walls that surrounded it once upon a time, though, again, the rubble tends to disguise it.

  "Alright then well down we go I think." he as this is the only way forward at least in the path of finding this relic. He chuckles "Last time I went into a hole was when I got the scar that led me here."

"I could change shapes and scout a bit if you believe it necessary," Kurat offered as they approached the stairs.

"Maybe a snake?" he asked.

"Oh! That sounds like a good idea, Kurat!" Cassandra says. "It's not going to put you in danger, though, is it? Like if something attacks you or something falls on you?"

"Well I couldn't cast spells as a snake," Kurat said, "But overall it might be well suited to scouting down a ruined stairwell. Most animals have a natural fear of snakes. I would be no more or less vulnerable as a snake than I am now."

So Kurat changes into a snake and slithers down the narrow opening. It is certainly easier going for him in snake-form than it would be to go down in human form.

There is a lot of debris in the stairs as well as at the bottom. but he can slither over the piles easily enough. There was a landing at the bottom and it opened to the right, leading to a hallway that goes both left and right. To the left, it only goes about 10 feet. On the left wall of that end are two doors, one right around the corner and another at the end, with only one door at the end on the opposite wall.

To the right, the hall goes 30 feet and shows 3 doors--one on the right-hand wall and two on the left hand wall. All of the doors appear open or at least ajar.

Kurat slithered about as a tiny viper snake trying to figure out where the sword might be. He had not really studied the sword painting enough to know if there were any clues which way to go.

His tongue flicked in and out as he tried to determine if anything had been this way recently and which way it might have gone.


PS We'll assume I cast Beast Shape III so that I get the poison to help defend myself in snake form.  I gain thus scent, low light vision and poison (Bite—injury; save Fort DC 20 (since it uses the DC of my spell); frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Con damage; cure 1 save). My DEX is now 28, My STR is now 13 and I gain +1 more Natural Armor (So overall my AC improved by +4) Lasts 10 minutes

01:48, Today: Kurat rolled 21 using 1d20+13.  Perception.

Kurat does not detect the presence of anything that's been down here for a very long time.

The first room that he looks into, the closest room, is the one immediately around the corner to the left. The door is open, but he notices that it's half hanging off its hinges.

A bit of light filters in through tiny cracks and gaps in the ceiling, which is just enough to see that there's a sword sticking up at the back of the room. Slithering a bit closer, he realizes that it has been shoved all the way through an anvil.

And then he spots the statue on the ledge above the sword. It looks like a gargoyle, but whether it's a 'living' gargoyle or just a decorative statue is uncertain.