Sheathing her lute, Delta nods in agreement with Tanyl's suggestion. She gives Vala a brief, but tight hug (if allowed) and gives Matthias a glance to see if he has anything to add before they move on.

Matthias is still somewhat overwhelmed by their encounter with the wounded unicorn colt and has been mostly quiet and quite concerned with the wondrous magical beast's welfare. He thanks Kellen for his assistance, wishes him well, and agrees with his companions it is time to move on.

Before doing so, he turns to ask the ranger, "Should we need your services, where can we find you?"

Somewhat embarrassed Vala still consents to Delta's hug and even pets her shorter musical friend on the top of her head. "Makes a change from sword-fighting I have to admit..."

"If you find me out here in the wilds, I'm not much of a Ranger."

Kellen lays his back against the unicorn and prepares to rest until the colt awakens.

The party continues its slow climb, following the streams when they can, other times having to detour away from the water and mountain cliffs into the trees and plains to find a way up.  Throughout the day, they do see several beautiful waterfalls.   It is near the end of the day as they are forced once again away from the stream due to some steep cliffs, that they discover what looks like a real walking trail heading back towards the cliffs.  It is feint but has the distinct makings of a lightly used path.  Following it leads back to the base of the rocky cliffs, but this time, their are wide steps leading up.

ooc: map will be updated later today

Fighting the urge to check behind the water in every waterfall, Delta quietly travels along with the others, but her mind is back with the baby unicorn, and wondering if her song had indeed helped it heal, as Matthias seemed to imply. Was it possible? It was a nice though...

Following the wide stairs they cut through the cliff a short ways.  As you move forwards, you can hear rushing water, at one point you cross over a very narrow channel and you can hear the fast rushing of water below.   The stairs continue and then turn right and continue upward. It is here that the left side falls away into an open channel of rushing water some 30 feet below the stairs.  It is quite loud and you cannot even hear each other to speak.

At the top, the stone opens into a wide platform some 30 feet across, with carved stonework and a large wooden doorway, it appears the door is cracked open, in fact, the wood is splintered in places as if it was torn open by some great force.

Stopping short, Delta tugs on Vala's arm, and gestures to the door, though it is plain for all to see. What could have done such damage to the door? She feared they would soon discover the answer to that question...

Opening the damaged door just enough to peek inside reveals a wide entry hall.  There are steps at the far end that lead up to another set of large wood doors, there is also a narrow corridor that leads off to the right.  The hallway has several female statues that have their hands cupped in front of them, from these hands, light casts forth lighting the whole hallway.

The noise from the rushing water behind is still deafening but inside, you see and hear nothing alarming.

ooc: maps updated

Matthias peers into the  wide entry hall and comments, mostly to settle his nerves, "Odd that we have not seen anyone about on the way here."

Of course, it wasn't so odd considering what initially prompted their visit and their recent encounter with the unicorn colt and ranger.

"Go careful," the young man says, unnecessarily, while ensuring his mace was still within easy reach. It is.

OOC: Do we see signs of recent traffic through here? Is there dust on the floor, etc. or does the place seem well kept?

The entry hall is pretty clean and clear, from what you can see from the doorway.

Tanyl bends his ear in an attempt to detect any noises.  Regardless of the results, he silently ventures in .. .

Drawing her blade, Delta follows Tanyl in, going wide to the left...

Deeper into the entryway, away from the noise of the water, Tanyl hears nothing moving.  Looking down the narrow passage to the right, he can see at its end, a room, that is also well lit and based in the small sliver he can witness, it is possibly a library or study.  The two large doors at the far end of the hall are closed but do not appear locked.

Pondering idly if there were a spell that would drowned out just one sound, like that of the waterfall, Delta chitters out quietly in the language of the rats, to see if any of that kind might be around in the room. Her little friend joins in from her pouch.

Tanyl knows (or at least suspects) Delta's purpose, but creeps quietly toward the lit room to the right.

Despite the tension, creeping down the narrow hall, Tanyl and Delta find the large room to be a library of sorts.  Quiet and empty.  Certainly many of the walls are covered with bookshelves. It is not sacked, but there are dozens of books pulled from shelves and tossed to the floor.  There are tables and chairs and a few of them are knocked over.  The room is well lit, and mostly intact.  There are religious overtones, clearly this is the right place, a few tapestries on the wall have unicorns on them, but all is quiet here.

Naturally tidy, Delta stands up a chair, then glances at a book before returning it to the shelf. (Is the title in a language she can read?)

"This looks odd," she said in low tones. "I don't see any blood, but certainly something unpleasant happened here."

She glances under the desk, then looks at a few more books before placing them on the shelves.

"Do you think one of these books triggers a secret door or something? Seems off to only toss about a few of them."

She guessed her efforts to talk to the local rodents failed, but she knew it was a long shot at best.

Matthias stands near the entrance with Vala, eagerly awaiting Tanyl and Delta's report. Something about this seemed horribly wrong. There was likely something to the young woman in the tavern's sisterly suspicion.

Commenting to Vala, "Doesn't feel right."

"We have more to explore; the double doors off the entry area.  We should do that, lest we get caught here by intruders."

"Should we check for other exits from this room first? Maybe behind the tapestries?"

Tanyl sighs, presumes (or hopes) that Delta has a specific suspicion, and puts his skills to work looking for secret or concealed doors.

As Tanyl and Delta investigate the library, Matthias and Vala are by the main the door. Now closed to block out the noise.  It isn't long before they notice a slit of light on the large doorsn at the far end of the entry hall, followed by a head looking around and then a large body, and then two more. From the distance, they are over seven feet tall, slightly bow legged, and carrying large clubs with spikes on the end.  Hairy, with large ears, they seem to to have heard something....and are headed for the library.

"Those don't look like Sisters of Ehlonna..." Matthias whispers to Vala while gripping his mace and slowly reaching for the shield slung over his back.

OOC: Does it look like they are headed the direction Delta and Tanyl went to investigate and can Matthias tell whether the three large humanoids have noticed us yet?

With the door shut, Matthias and Vala are in the shadows of the lighted hall, the three creatures do not see them, and they seem to be headed down the hallway towards where Tanyl and Delta went exploring.