Skull Mountain: The Lake

[badams30]

Grimes - FIghter

Grimes helps Einar back in, saying "This is no time for a swim, can't you see there are predators in this lake?" He'll smile at the notion of towing the fish along, saying "This guy is gonna be dinner if we can find a big, big fire...."
Grimes will aid Furuk in rowing. Once we get close to the lights, and can start to make out what they are and where we are going, Grimes will begin to quietly don his armor and gear, getting ready to disembark.

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

Well... back to to the lights then. He'll say with a shrug cutting a chunk of meat to roast over the lantern. He'll hand off smaller chunks to everyone as it gets done. He'll keep the lamp hooded while doing this, gotta snack sometime.

OCC: Towing the fish was just a thought. Dieter was ponding the value and size of any potential eggs. A mobile fish fort would be nice except attracting additional predators.

[Craigers07]

Furuk puts his crossbow down and grabs a chunk of the fish from Dieter. He takes a moment to eat it and then begins to row again.

[greyarea]

<Insert Sea Shanty Here>

You strap the giant fish onto the side of your craft after cutting a few hunks of meat off of it. The increased drag is abated somewhat by Grimes' assistance in rowing.

Dieter cooks some giant sturgeon meat and bits are handed off to others to eat. Furuk takes a bite and decides that giant sturgeon isn't tasty meat and all concur, but it's healthy and keeps hunger away.

You row for another twenty minutes or so, keeping to the cave wall until you are about (in your estimation) parallel to the lights. Then you head into the center of the lake towards the lights more directly. As you approach the shore a Giant Crab pays you a visit. You brace yourselves for a battle but there is just a heave of the boat and the critter goes away. Dandy notices that the back half of your sturgeon is gone: a meal for the crab.

As you close in, it becomes clear that the lights are on the side of an island in the lake. The island rises 20' out of the water with steep, rocky edges. Einar declares them "easily" climbable, but then again, he is a rogue.

A four-foot high stone wall surrounds the island. The wall is smooth and comes right to the edge, which might make the climb over difficult but not impossible. There are stone bowls set along the wall every 40'. A few of them glow with low-burning fires, providing a modicum of light.

At the southwest end of the island, a flat stone pier projects from the rocky shore, with a single empty boat similar to the one you are in tied to it. Steps lead up from the pier to an opening in the wall, with torches burning on either side; from within the wall, a squat tower overlooks the scene, arrow slits punctuating the walls. You can see dark shapes moving at the top of the tower, guards perhaps. They don't seem to react to your presence in the water.



From what you can make out, you are only a few minutes row from the pier, which would be one point of egress. Of course, your resident thief eyes the wall as another.

Actions?

Hit points and marching order
Grimes 18/34
--Furuk 29/36
Dieter 18/18
--Dandy 13/23
Einar 11/11

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

Grimes looks over the approaching island and says "well, at least they don't seem to be shooting at us. Not yet, anyway. I suppose we just tie up to that pier like we belong here and mosey up to the door."

Grimes shifts about uneasily, thinking of how wounded he still is, and how a protracted combat outside this place could be very bad... in the end, he'll do whatever the party decides to do. Perhaps Einar can scout a quick look-see to get an idea of who we are facing?

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

Hmmm... docking at the pier might turn us into pin cushions. I would agree that maybe checking the wall first might be prudent.

[greyarea]

How are you going to approach?

Grimes says the tower. Dieter says the wall.

[Craigers07]

"Maybe we can find a break in the wall if we look around. I don't mind spending the time to row a little more."

[badams30]

Grimes - fighter

Grimes nods in agreement with checking the wall... But says "we better make sure the folks don't see us coming up and then snooping around... They might not like that...."

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

To the wall it is...