(01) The Approach

[Tonneau]

"Ah," sighs Wraislin as with a job well done (as expected from one of his caliber), and dusts the remaining particles of spent parchment from his fingers.

He stoops to pick up his dropped sheaves and returns all to his pack, then strides across the causeway to eye the porticullus.

"Well, let's have this up then shall we?" he says expectantly to no one in particular.

[rredmond]

Mayhap Magic can be useful at times. Up the portcullis! Garamon strides forward putting his muscles to the task.

[waysoftheearth]

Garamon strains his mighty thews and, with Stern's help, the pair of them do the work of 8 men to lift the heavy gate high enough for Flin to roll under it. From there, it's a simple matter for the dwarf to take the slack out of the gate chains with the winch, and take the load off his fellows.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party stride across the bridge, past the ugly kill zone near the middle, and to the portcullis gate so that everyone is together again...

[mgtremaine]

Tass joins the others. "We better do something about these sleeping guards quickly.

[zygarti]

"I'd say we should play it safe and make sure they never wake up... unless anyone has any better ideas?" Flin says while shrugging and glancing around to his party for approval/disapproval.

[rredmond]

"Do we need any of them to answer any questions?" Garamon asks, but he doesn't let a lot of time pass for answers. He draws his dagger and either joins the Myrmidon in the coup de grâce for these enemies, or completes it himself.

[ehiker133]

Goldwen stands behind the fighters, her fists on her hips. "Hold right there, Flin. Sit down. You, too, Stern. Let's tend those wounds and get you two some drink and a bit of food. Well, assuming neither of you has taken a bolt in the gut?"

Once the guards have been dealt with and a perimeter set, Goldwen helps the two warriors extricate the bolts from their bodies. Then she binds their wounds and helps each rest a bit and take in some food and water. After they have rested, she examines them each once more to see if they still require healing aid.

Goldwen waits to use her gnarled branch of healing until she properly examines their wounds after a rest.

[sully]

Thanis assists with the grisly duty of dispatching the sleeping guards. He examines all of the dead bodies to see if any of them are wearing that yellow-green cloak he espied earlier.

[waysoftheearth]

The ensorcelled guards are grimly dispatched before they can cause any trouble.

Like Tass before, Thanis, Stern and Flin observe their yellow-tanned skin, and broad features. Their hair is dark and their weapons were not made locally. Most of them bear serpent tattoos on their arms or hands. Thanis doesn't notice a yellow cloak among any of them...

By the time this grisly task is done, the sun has touched the horizon. It promises to be another cool evening, perhaps with rain to come during the night.

[mgtremaine]

Tass would wander off down the corridor while the "loose-ends" are handled. Well aware that this no place for whistling and walking he moves as quietly and possible staying in the shadows as much as possible. Just far enough to see what comes next.........