Through Darkness, Light ("the plethora of prospective permutations")

[Erekose13]

Chenroeth, male litorian mage blade 1

Chen moves back a little ways into the forest and squats down concealed in the underbrush. There he points to the scouts that had been agreed upon and waves his right hand around the left of the building. He moves his hand in a circle indicating for the scouts to circle around and then lays his closed hand back at the origin of the circle. Chenroeth thinks to himself, Hopefully the scouts will spot a way in for us. I don't think that our ranged attacks might work so either a suprise assault or we can go with drawing some out and ambushing them as we had originally planned earlier the past evening.

 

[dead_radish]

Aelin blinks in confusion. "This is ... unanticipated. Who would endeavor to build such a thing in a wilderness, and how would it escape notice? An oddity. But we shall conquer the walls of this bastion!"

"Should our stealthy companions investigate, and return with reconnaissance?"

 

[Murphy's Law]

"I'll volunteer to move ahead and scout. Are these bandits a bigger operation then we expected? This building seems out of their league. We might as well take advantage of suprising them. THe more we can draw out the better..."

 

[Aernoeth]

Aernoeth Swiftblade level 1 Quickling Unfettered

"We don't know if they built it, maybe they are squatters?" Aernoeth whispers to Kel. "Come on! Let's scout the place out!"

Without waiting for more words (and if the Giantess started talking, who knew when she was going to stop!), Aernoeth sneaks off towards the fort, intending to make a complete circle.

[OOC: Intended action is to sneak around the fort, noting entrances/exits and details about the guards. Aernoeth will go slow, also checking for tripwires and pitfalls as he goes. Unless he has to get closer due to the thickness of the foliage, Aernoeth will try to stay at least 50' away to make Spot and Listen checks against him more difficult]

 

[Murphy's Law]

Kel

"Fine."
Kel follows Aernoeth out into the underbrush, following the same plan. Maybe, between the two of them, they can make out the fortifications.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Kelsis the Bright-Eyed, Female Sibeccai Akashic 1

*Kelsis' ears go back as the keep is revealed, this is an unexpected development. When the faen and Kel go to scout, Kelsis goes too.*

 

[Macbeth]

Kel, Kelsis, and Aernoeth move out into the brush, and manage to stay well hidden while circling the small fortress. (High rolls all around, Kel 17, Kelsis 18, Aernoeth 20. Why can't I roll like this for NPCs? ) The castle is largely overgrown with ivy, not apparently from lack of use, but just from lack of upkeep. The three scouts notice two doors: the one that the trail leads up too (which is obvious to everybody, even those not sneaking into the bush) and a barred door in the rear, likely an emergency exit. The building has two turrets at opposite corners. the turrets rise above the trees, but at this early hour there are no lookouts. While the scouting party is moving around noise starts to arise from inside: the occupants must be waking up. The scouting party returns just as a gaurd arrives at the top of one of the turrets. He is not looking in your direction, but presumably there will be more gaurds about soon.

 

[Aernoeth]

Aernoeth Swiftblade Quickling Unfettered

"If we move now, a few will still be asleep, but the longer we wait, the harder this will be," Aernoeth whispers. ""There's a rear door, but it's barred from the inside."

"Here's my plan: those of us who are blessed by Firadain, God of Climbers, can try to scale those turrets after those of us blessed by Uolontia, Goddess of Archery, keep those in the turrets ducking for their lives."

"Meanwhile, the rest of us can wait in hiding by the entry to see if these bandits emerge from their nest to attack the archers. Then, with the door open, we can storm the keep."

Aernoeth scratches his baby-faced chin. "Or .. we could try something more fun, like setting the place ablaze, or smashing the front door with a battering ram. Or maybe some magic to shake the place to the ground, hmm?"

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Kelsis the Bright-Eyed, Female Sibeccai Akashic 1

"Or how about we don't do something suicidal and wait and observe how many there are in this heavily fortified keep before committing to a frontal assault?" Kelsis snaps. "I want to know how many there are first, at the least. Then we can talk about climbing walls and shooting arrows."

Honestly, Aernoeth's ideas have some merit, but give him an inch and he'll take a league. I want to get something done, but it's hard to fight when one's peppered with arrows. Dying today was not on my list of things to do.

"Let's hide and observe for a bit."

 

[Erekose13]

Chenroeth, male litorian mage blade 1

Chenroeth replies quietly to the scouts report, "Hmm. Normally I would agree with Kelsis on this one. But I am really tired and I want to hurt something for making us trek through the night. I think that Aernoeth's plan sounds good. I will lead the charge on those who emerge from the fort. Was their any indication of who they were from those you saw on the turret?"