The hunter and gith move back up the walkway which they explored the prior evening, leaving the others.
Void and Domoris
You enter what appears to be the ground floor of the building. Roughly 120' in each direction, you feel overwhelmed by the massive scale of the structure.
Along the far left wall are what would appear to be a fleet of magic lifts, similar to ones you have seen on the mainland, although sized for giants. In the south east corner, you spot what looks like to be a large stairwell.
In the middle and strewn about is debris, litter, and various clutter. Several dried pools of blood can easily be seen from your vantage point.
Along the right wall you notice a gathering of debris, which looks rather organized in assembly.
Dreadnought watches the search with his usual silent impassivity, then turns and clomps heavily to the tower entrance to keep watch. He knows his role well, and it isn't to root through debris looking for things. There are others present skilled in such things.
For now he waits and watches, for the time of swords to come again.
A make-shift barricade can be seen against the wall to the left. What appears to be a stairwell in the SE corner, and a bank of magical lifts along the right side.
The group notices broken weapons and spatters of blood, as though a running battle was fought here recently. The layout of the pools seem to grow more dense as the barricade area is approached.
No bodies can be seen however. Which seems odd to you.
Ganyon kneels down and touches one of the dried pools of blood, testing it with his fingertips.
"Me mates wudda 'ad sentries posted at da entrance. Damn devils musta got 'em after da main group wenta sleep."
The barricade area, after a close inspection, is littered with various camp-gear - bedrolls, torn empty backpacks, etc. No items of value remain, but you cannot be sure whether who removed them -- whether the attackers or the scavengers.
Spot DC20
You've noticed that most of the blood pools and spatters had little movement to them -- making you think that the non-giants were struck dead where they stand. However, you notice one particular spray has a faint trail of dried blood, intermixed with the pools here and there, leading towards the barricade area. Once inside the barricade, it is harder to follow, but leads into the barricade itself.
A small opening is in front of you, which might lead to a small pocket inside the barricade. Could someone have crawled inside, wounded from the attack?
Int Check D20 or separate Spot DC20
You notice the invisible sensor again, following behind Dreadnaught
Coming out of the shadows, Void approach the party
Could be that another party was ambushed over here. All dead but one.
He nods to the faint trail of blood I think that one managed to escape, into the barricade, I will check it.
With that the Gitz goes to spy the area of the barricade, trying to conceal himself from prying eyes.
Move Sil. And Hide +20.
__________________
Spoiler:
Zirat Igruf, Gladiator (Rhun's ToEE): OOC ; IC ; RG
The shifter sniffs the air and tastes the blood. He nods at the gith's words. One may have escaped. Behind in closed space. I can go through. But before he does so, he does a double-take at the warforged. His hackles rise. Watched again are we. Fool construct lets them see us!
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
Domoris turns into a wolf and drags a half-orc carcass out of the barricade. Shifter once again, his answers to any questions are terse. Crawled and died. Scrawled something about 'saving bodies for chief' and about an 'ambush.' Nothing else in there.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
Dreadnought pauses and watches Domoris, then says, "I meant to ask before you so hastily wriggled in there...but what did you mean by 'fool construct lets them see us?' Is there some question about my loyalty?"
Dreadnought pauses and watches Domoris, then says, "I meant to ask before you so hastily wriggled in there...but what did you mean by 'fool construct lets them see us?' Is there some question about my loyalty?"
The shifter looks at the warforged plainly. Scrying works on strength of will. Or those it have connection to. Scryer knows you or think you best target.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
Stung at the implication, nevertheless Dreadnought realized the course of action was obvious.
"I will wait apart from the rest of you," he stated. "It's unlikely this tower has dangers you'll need me to face in it. That way the enemy will not be able to see or hear your discussions and discoveries."
"Perhaps later, when the magic has expired, you will share them with me."
"De thought ov me mates bein' roasted ona spit turns mah stomak."
From behind Morph, Darv's voice pipes up,"I have to admit, I'm not an expert upon the dietary habits of the giant species, but it seems strange for them to prey upon humanoids, as we are not exactly much of a morsel for them."
He crosses his arms and taps the side of his forehead as he thinks a moment.
"In either case, whether it be for bizarre undeath experiments, which also seems odd, or if it is for food.....wait. What if the mind flayers are in league with the giants -- perhaps to reanimate them for.... food? Like what I think happened with Asenfel?" The gnome shivers as well.
"Perhaps you are right, they did want to keep them for food.." his voice trails off.
Hudder will shake his head out of whatever stuppor managed to silence the normally gregarious dwarf. "Darv's right, it ain't like them giants ta be eating people, but with them octupus heads floating around, everything else is all screwed up. Where da ya s'pose that stairwell be leadin'?" Hudder asks, growing more uncomfortable every minute.
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