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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1269602" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #2: The Tower. Episode 6A few hours before dawn on the first Charday of Charder, we get up, pack our small camp, and make our way towards the tower. As we approach the tower, Goldpetal hears a thud from inside. We look in through the damaged wall, but see nothing. Stone leaves his pack by the ruined wall. We split up into two parties, each one going around the tower in a different direction. Both parties reach the front door without encountering trouble. We look in the front door, and see that the bale of hay has been removed from the trap door. There doesn't seem to be anything else in the tower. Goldpetal looks for tracks around the door.  There are some, but he can't tell if they're fresh. We light the lantern and go inside. Stone, Paks, Chuck, and Saraya go over to the trap door, while Goldpetal guards the front door. Miriel and Fergus go upstairs, to look around at the surrounding area. Miriel sees the woods, the ocean, and the cliff, but Fergus can’t see in the dim light of the stars. Miriel notices something very interesting about the cliff: About 50 feet south of the tower, the cliff doesn’t go straight down to the ocean. She thinks she can see, at the base of the cliff, some sort of beach or landing. Peering into the darkness with her good vision, she sees a ladder, which appears to be tall enough to use to climb up the cliff. It is currently lying down at the bottom, on the beach. She describes what she sees to Fergus.“How high is the cliff?” he asks.“It’s only about thirty feet high,” she answers. “I’ll go tell the others,” he says.“I’ll watch here, to make sure we aren’t surprised in the tower again.”Miriel stays upstairs and watches around us, while Fergus goes back downstairs. He relays what they have found. “I think we should block the trap door with hay again,” he suggests. “Then we leave someone who can see in the dark watching from the top of the tower, while the rest go down the cliff.”Chuck looks concerned. “Wouldn’t that block our escape?” he asks.“Okay,” Fergus says. “I’ll stay here and watch the trap door. An enemy would have to come up the ladder one at a time.”Before any further discussion can take place, Stone staggers inside, carrying a heavy white rock, part of the rubble of the collapsed tower. He sets it down over the trap door, with a booming thud which we can hear echo in the underground chamber below. “Well, now they know we’re here,” Paks says, looking at it.“That should hold,” Stone says.Chuck shrugs. “Okay.”Fergus and Goldpetal go up to the top of the tower, and they send Miriel down to join the rest of the group. The rest of the party goes to the cliff. At the top of the cliff, Stone takes his rope from his pack. Chuck and Paks lower the half-orc down the face of the cliff. Beneath him, Stone can see that there is a big cove underneath the cliff face, in a crescent shape. When his feet reach the sand, he finds himself on a beach in a dark corner of the cove. The cliff, beach, and ocean all meet just beyond him. He looks around. The center of the cove, closest to the tower, is illuminated by two torches, one on either side of a passage heading back into the rock.  The passage appears to head in the general direction of the tower. By the light of the torches, he can see a red-haired woman and four smugglers. They are all facing away from him, looking expectantly down the corridor.  Stone steps back and signals up at the group on the cliff, making a “five” with his right hand. Under cover of the pounding of the surf, he picks up the ladder and carefully puts it up against the cliff. The bandits are still looking down the corridor and whispering to each other. Stone pulls out his crossbow and points it towards the outlaws while the others climb down. Paks comes down first. She draws her bow, and crouches with her shield between her and the smugglers. Chuck and Saraya follow. Miriel climbs down last. Paks, Chuck, Stone, and Saraya, the four of us with bows, inch closer to the bandits, while Miriel stays near the foot of the ladder and watches out to sea. With the darkness, and the noise of the surf, we are able to get within about thirty feet of the enemy without alerting them. They appear to be waiting for us to approach from the other side. The four men have swords drawn, but the woman seems to have no weapons. On Stone’s signal, we all fire. Stone wings one of the swordsmen with his crossbow. Chuck shoots at a second, and puts an arrow through his back. It looks like a nasty wound. Paks and Saraya both miss, bouncing their shots off the cliff face. “Surrender!” calls out Paks. “You’re under arrest!” One of the men yells “Never!” “Get them!” the woman commands her troops. Paks shoots again and hits, killing the bandit already seriously injured by Chuck. The woman gesticulates mysteriously, and speaks a word of power. She throws two glowing orbs at Chuck, and he lurches backwards, wounded by two Magic Missiles. Miriel comes up behind everyone and crouches down.Stone hits his target with a second crossbow bolt, but the wounded outlaw is still standing. With one of his comrades dead and an arrow stuck in his shoulder, the injured one turns, and flees back down the corridor. The other two men follow, leaving the woman alone.We begin to advance on the woman, all firing our bows. Chuck hits her, but though she grimaces in pain from his shot, she is still ready to fight. Saraya and Paks both hit her, but their shots are merely scratches. Outnumbered, the sorceress turns and runs down the corridor as well, so they are all out of sight. Stone runs over to the entrance to the corridor. Peering around the corner, he sees her about fifteen feet down the corridor, which is at least three times that long. She's looking back at Stone, and seems to have persuaded the others to stand and fight. The rest of us run up towards Stone, gathering at the entrance to the corridor. The woman begins to gesture and intonate another spell, stepping back to the front of the corridor. Stone swings to punch her, but he can’t stop the spell. She casts Burning Hands, and fire jets from her fingertips, fanning out and injuring most of us. Chuck slumps to the floor, unconscious. Stone attacks the mage with a flurry of blows and hits very hard, almost knocking her out. Miriel kneels down. “Madriel,” she prays. “Please! Heal Chuck back to consciousness.” The goddess answers her prayer, and Chuck comes awake. He rolls to one knee, with his bow out, and fires at the spell caster. His arrow hits her, and she slumps to the ground. With their leader lying, bleeding on the floor, the remaining bandits drop their weapons and raise their hands in the air. “I surrender!” calls the wounded one.“Come out where we can see you,” Paks commands. Stone keeps his crossbow trained on them as the three smugglers come out with their hands up.</blockquote>

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