(I/C)
Brendon dried off quickly, strapped his armor and weapons back on with a thanks to the Cleric and then looked to Lannis. The Magic User commented that we should be wary of the roses and making sure Wyn was far enough away, commented that elves are queer botanists. Kovid nodded his head, spinning one of his hammers with agitation while Abraxis guffawed and slapped his knee. “Queer.”
Getting a cuff on the back of his head from Lyra, the Cleric replied that there is safety in numbers and we should stay together, “but keep the noises to a minimum.” The party agreed. Brendon offered to meet up with Wyn and then go explore ahead, bow and arrow drawn. Kovid nodded, “Good idea, Manling. I will go to the gazebo and further explore that thin path the elf did not.”
“I will go with you Senor Manspaliner!” Abraxis offered, drawing his sword and settling his shield in place.
“Manslayer, Abraxis. Slayer.”
“I love their music,” he replied and Abraxas and the fighter went off to the Gazebo, the dwarf walking behind the taller human and weighing his hammer again in contemplation.
Brendon, Lyra, and Lannis followed; Lannis with his staff out and Lyra her club and shield. The continued on past the Gazebo to the garden where Wyn had a wooden box open and was filling it with 12 LARGE GREEN TOMATOES (12). Seeing the rest of the group he was caught up with the plan and agreed to go with Brendon. “Tread wit care,” Wyn said to the 3 gathered here, “Goblin tracks all over this here Gah din. They harvesting a the toe may toze.” Closing the box he followed the thief, eyes open and the two of them went towards the Castle – travelling along the beaten part of the garden that Wyn had pointed out someone had traveled through to harvest tomatoes.
Kovid and Abraxas started at the Gazebo, where the dwarf paid careful attention to the very wet muddy ground. “Poor drainage,” he said. “Shouldn’t be but the drainage is poor here for some reason and the ground has become supersaturated.” He stomped his boots and Abraxas did as well, the dwarf thinking. “The Castle should have a drainage system in place already, but its failed,” he was looking carefully as they walked along the THIN PATH North (> Detect Stone Variation. Yellow 28%). As they went, Kovid was able to see where the earth had been dug up and smoothed over. Taking out his Iron Shovel, he dug down half a foot and was able to see where the drainage stones had been taken.
“What?” Abraxas asked.
Kovid shook off the shovel. “The large drain stones have been taken from the trough – meaning the water doesn’t run along the channel and is instead flooding this area. Big stones, easily over a foot square and then some.”
“Why?”
Kovid shrugged, still walking North towards the Castle wall. “Who knows, but someone had to have taken a LOT of these stones. In the past they would have been used for building, now? Who know what someone is using them for.”
“Senor, you do explain things well! Man Splainer was right!”
Brendon and Wyn walked north, scouting the area. No roses in the area, the ground seemed to wet for them, and the underbrush was more of the viney type. They were very aware of their surroundings and took note of anything that might be an issue, but as they made it to the wall, Brendon (<Dex +2 Bonus, Red 10) and Wyn (<Dex +2 Bonus, Orange 8) do not slip in the uneven ground and make it to the wall without issue. The ground within 10’ of the Castle was not as wet and waterlogged as the 3 to 5” of mud they had to walk through. The Thief gave one more look around and satisfied nothing was here, noted that the Dwarf and Fighter were also approaching the wall from a bit to the East and the Cleric and Magic User were looking over the GARDEN some distance behind them, and asked Wyn, “If someone/something did come along to the garden – we should check the area here for hidden doors.”
“If there are, mon Cherie, we will find them, I gah rahn tee it!”
A serious search of the area Brendon (Red 1) and Wyn (Orange 4) were convinced that there were no secret or hidden passages into the castle from here but a few smears in the mud did lead Brendon to believe that possible someone had come from East of this spot along the wall – maybe near where Kovid and Abraxis were looking .
Paying attention to the idea of goblins being about, Lannis (< Wis +2 Bonus, Pink 4) and Lyra (<Wis +2 Bonus, White 8) looked over the garden with exaggerated care, trying to find anything of interest as they went up and down the no longer obvious rows. It was on a repeated pass that the Magic User’s staff clacked on something hard in the vines and weeds. The two of them pried apart the greenery and then donning the Gloves (Gloves, no roll needed), Lyra pulled and yanked on the vines at length until they managed to find a partially buried skeletal figure here. Thinking at first it was goblins as per Wyn’s advice, they noted the bone structure was too small, the head too canine like, and the presence of a tail under the greenery. Looking at one another Lannis (Int>15, no roll needed) nodded at the Cleric and said, “Kobold.”
From there Lyra looked all out through the garden in her crouched over position and was able to see other bits of bone here and there under the tomato plants. Other skeletalized kobolds. Maybe 10 of them or more. “Lots of them, Lannis. And someone has been fertilizing the garden with dead kobolds.”
Kovid and Abraxis followed the thin path of stones north as it lead them closer to the Castle. It seemed to be heading to the GUARD TOWER there and even though the ground was saturated, the path although muddy, was only so across the top half inch or so.
Finally at the tower, they looked to the WEST to see Brendon and Wyn searching the wall intently. “Senor Manslayer, should we do the same?” Nodding, still with weapons out, they looked over the wall intently, seeing if there was a way in or not, and Abraxis (Blue 6) and Kovid (Yellow 2) gave the wall a deep and thorough search when Kovid grunted, “Gotcha you little…” and pushed on a small section of stone that was sticking out, and with a rumble, a section of the guard tower slid open revealing a DARK ROOM, dimly lit but to the dwarf’s infravision, the DARK ROOM was maybe 40’ wide and 30’ deep, two small passages went off to the NORTH along the NORTH WALL at the EAST and WEST section of the wall, while two doors, one on the EAST WALL and one on the WEST WALL, made of wood and closed finished up the chamber. The room was COOL to all appearances, no different than the rest of the environs.
The entire group sees the door opening and Abraxis waving them forward. The feeling is that we’ve been lucky so far that no one has noticed us yet (WMC, Red/Black 5) but that might not last. Time now is 9:45
(OOC)
Good job! Area Completed.
Lannis, Lyra, Wyn, Abraxis – all add 25 XP
Kovid – add 40 XP
Brendon – add 50 XP
What would you like the party to do? Some things have become known, others are still unanswered. Please make sure your sheet is adjusted as I will not be sending a new sheet out yet for a while.
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