Skull Mountain: The Lake

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

Grimes looks thoughtfully about the top of the tower, then at the trapdoor, then at the party. "Well, I'd love to turn this catapult on those domes, just because it would make our foes angry, but we need to address those within the tower first. We can do this by just going down through the trapdoor. and then fighting our way down. With luck there aren't too many of them within. We kill them, then secure this tower, and try to get some rest. I am assuming that the patrols come by here infrequently, so we'll probably have to address them as well, but at least we'd have a stronghold to do it from, and a reasonably safe place to rest.."

He smiles at the others and says "Dieter and Einar, do you have any tricks up your sleeves? It would be nice to toss burning oil down on these clowns, but that would likely attract too much attention. I side with jumping down into this tower and killing all who are inside, then resting. And eating."

That's Grimes' idea. Any takers?

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

I think it would be prudent for someone to make sure none of them make it to the domes.... otherwise an assault is the only option really. Maybe throw the gong on through the trapdoor up here to get them riled up while another force comes up behind them from below?

[greyarea]

Dandy, cleric (autopilot)

Dandy wipes his brow after climbing that rope. Dwarfs aren't made for rope climbing in his book. Perhaps we should rest. We're pretty beat up. I could use up my healing spells and my staff for the day, and Dieter could refresh his spells. This is as defensible a position as any.

Einar, thief (autopilot)

Einar examines but does not touch the lever by the door. I say we open that trap door and I sneak down there and see what I can see. If we can take the tower, I'd rest more easily. I think the catapult idea could work if we were an army, but it might just alert them to our presence instead and I prefer we sneak about and get the job done that way.

OOC: I've PMed both players but have not heard back. Hopefully they will rejoin us soon.

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

Grimes likes Dieter's plan of a top and bottom attack. "The only things I'm worried about are any patrols on the ground catching us at the door, or that the door may be locked, preventing us from entry and slowing us. And I can't pick a lock."

Grimes is happy to volunteer to go down to the bottom and fight upwards as needed. He doesn't like to split the strength of the group, but he doesn't want anyone to escape from below to alert others. Spiking the door is another option. It'd be noisy though.

He also agrees that it's time to secure this place and rest, heal and allow our spellcasters to recharge the ol' batteries.

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

I agree we need the rest, I am leery of them coming up though. It comes down to assault now or later. If Einar wants to sneak a peek at least we might have a better idea of what were up against.

[Craigers07]

"If Einar wants to look around, then so be it. I'm a little curious what is right below us. I'm ready for some rest myself though after that climb up here."

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

Grimes smiles and says "I am pretty beat myself, but there are bad guys below us who will likely come up here to relieve these dead lizards, or to check on them. I'd prefer to go visit them first. Not to mention, those roaming patrols might come to visit as well. We probably need to kill the ones below us before we can even consider a nice rest."

Grimes says "If good Einar can scout out the lay of the land, we can ambush these guys. Worst case, we can split up and I could go to the door to ensure none escape to raise an alarm, while the rest come from above. But I'm fine with whatever plan you come up with....

OOC: Grimes wants to rest and get some much needed healing (like everyone else) but he wants to clear the floors below them first.

[greyarea]

Einar, rogue

Einar agrees to do some snooping. He first checks the trap door for traps (secret roll) and, finding none, he slowly slides the bolt open and opens the door. Light streams up from the opening: the area below is lit well.

Einar looks at the rungs leading down and then at the iron handle next to the door. He moves the handle and the rungs disappear into the wall. Interesting, he softly mutters, and then resets the rungs. Very nice. We could make this roof quite secure...

He slips on his hood and slips from view, closing the trap door softly behind him so only a sliver of light describes its outline.

Minutes pass. Many minutes.

(secret roll)
(secret roll)
(secret roll)

Then the door opens again, stays that way for a second, and then is softly replaced. Einar appears as the hood of his Elvish Cloak slips off his head.

The floor below us has two rooms: a storage room of some sort and the Darkling captain's quarters, I think. I didn't see anyone down there but I didn't search either area thoroughly. I'm just trying to get a lay of the land, he says in hushed tones barely above a whisper. There are two more floors below that one. The middle floor has a barracks. There were a few lizardmen there. Four, I think. Could be five. The floor below that, the ground floor, has a big common room where we heard the lizardmen from outside. They're all eating and playing some kind of dice game, I think. There were maybe six or so there. One of them might have heard me, I don't know. He seemed to look intently in my direction. Thank the gods for my cloak.

[badams30]

Grimes - FIghter

Grimes pats Einar on the back and says "Nice work. We can always count on your fleet feet and silent approach..." He grimaces at the mention of such high numbers of lizards.

"Well, perhaps with that ingenious lever, we could isolate ourselves up here and prepare for those below. Unless we have some spells that could deal with this rabble. I have my handy cloak here, I could web a good bunch of them. What do you all think?"

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

My sleep majicks are gone for today, individuals are all I can affect for now. With time I can rectify this but I am not sure she is on our side.