Welcome To Morgan Vale!

[badams30]

Other than the lonely sounds of the howling wind, you hear and see nothing the rest of the afternoon. The cold wind cuts through your gear, but there is no snow... for now. One thing you notice is the mountain that Buck pointed at (the one with the mine in it, adjacent to the town) Is growing larger and larger, you are almost on top of it. Also, the steep rocky walls are gradually getting less steep. Finally, you round a steep bend in the trail and you see the cliffs and trail open up into a small valley, much more enclosed than you expected.

You come to a stop as you leave the walled trail just inside the valley. To your left, you see a simple wooden watchtower. It is about 40 feet tall, with four wooden legs, and a small hut at the top. An old, worn rope ladder lays on the ground, and looks like at one time it was leading up to an open trapdoor in the floor of the tower. At this time there is no obvious way into the tower except to scale the legs of it. But it appears to be unoccupied. To the right of your location you can see what is obvously a campsite that sees occasionaly use. A large fire pit is in the middle, with a sizeable stack of wood. It doesn't appear that this site is used often, perhaps a few times a year at best, but you can tell that it has seen use within the past couple of months.

As you take in the sights of the valley, you can see many ruined stone foundations, and glancing toward the mountain steppe to the right, you can see the mine entrance beckoning. A bit farther in, and to the right you can see the low stone walls and arch gate of what must be the graveyard, and next to it, the chapel you'd heard about, but surprisingly, it doesn't look ruined as you'd heard.
You also see a large pond to the right, and at the back of the canyon, you can see the manor - sitting looking stately in the fading sunlight. Throughout the old town there are many ruined foundations and smashed buildings, with trees and shrubs growing all over. In examining the valley, you can't help but feel that it is a lonely, sad place. Also, as you take in the sights, you see absolutely NO signs of movement or recognition.

Any special actions? It's about 5PM, and it's dusk. You are all wary from your travels and the moving of the rocks on the trail. What's the plan?

NOTE: New map posted. Some of the noted items you may not see yet, but I added them to save time later.

[greyarea]

Marcus, paladin

I truly appreciated the properties of this dagger now, says the holy warrior to Buck.

Shall we stop here to make camp? he asks, louder to everyone. Grinkle, why don't you scale up that watchtower. Perhaps we can reattach the rope ladder make it useful again.

[Spanningtree]

Nahin - Elf

Dismounting he will get to the large stacks of wood and start one of the fire pits. Sleeping next to a graveyard.... rolling his eyes. I would say we could stay in the tower but... I'm not sure if we all want to be there at the same time. He will say with a shrug and a smile.

[badams30]

Grinkle smiles and nods at Marcus' suggestion to scale the tower... which he promptly does (secret roll) and to your surprise, quite deftly, with the rope tied to his belt. He scampers through the trapdoor opening, and a second later his toothy grinning face can be seen peering down at you from the opening. "Nothing up here at all. But the view is nice." He secures the rope ladder, and when he drops it back down, it hangs about 4 feet from the ground. It appears old but fairly sturdy, but you can tell that anyone wearing metal armor might not want to try scaling the rope with it on.

Grinkle looks about and says "I don't see anything... except a couple deer on the other side of the shrine."

At Marcus' mention of the dagger to Buck, Buck smirks and grunts, patting the hilt of his dagger in the process. Staring in the direction of the shrine, he quickly dismounts and grabs his longbow and quiver, and says "Let me see about dinner, if you don't mind." And he starts walking quickly but quietly in a roundabout direction to the shrine.

You still have about 1 hour of useable daylight left, and Nahin (with Dak's assistance) is starting a fire.

[Spanningtree]

Nahin - Elf

I'd like to take a crack at dinner too. With a wide grin. Leaving Dak to the fire he will grab his bow and go with Buck toward the shrine. Let's be careful about the shrine... no telling what still bump about in there.

[tumblingdice]

Rory looks around at his companions going about their tasks. "Very well," I'll scout out the valley some on foot."

He'll stroll over to the manor, then up to the pond, then stop by the well on the way back. Sneaking the whole time, of course.

[badams30]

Buck and Nahin, bows out, walk toward the shrine. Buck says quietly, nodding at the graveyard and shrine "Let's skirt those a bit, since we haven't had a chance to scout em' out. I wouldn't normally do this before checking things, but I'd sure like to get some fresh meat." (NOTE: The vegetation on the map isn't the only groundcover around. The vegetation noted are concentrations of trees. Shrubs and undergrowth have basically claimed the whole town (except close to the manor) so if you specify, you can advance stealthily between bushes and tree stands when possible.) Buck and Nahin skirt the treeline staying closer to the edge of the valley walls, advancing slowly toward the two deer, who are about 30' out from the Northeast corner of the shrine. Nahin, as you advance, you note that the graveyard isn't as overgrown as the rest of the area is, and there seems to be a pretty large excavation in the Northeast corner. You can't see into it, but its a big hole as much as you can tell. The shrine appears to be in general disrepair, but is still standing, and the roof is basically intact. There is a bit of rubble jutting out from the Southeast corner of the shrine, and it appears that the corner wall has collapsed. But due to some timbers and viney overgrowth, you can't see inside the shrine itself.

Buck and Nahin advance, (secret roll) and the deer don't seem to notice. They take up a good position and wait till a shot presents itself. After a minute or two, both deer start to walk in the direction of the stalking Buck and Nahin. Buck whispers to Nahin and says "I'll take the one on the right, you try the one on the left. On the count of three... ONE... TWO... THREE!" With that, Buck and Nahin let arrows fly, (Buck 12 +bonuses, HIT.) (Nahin, 16, HIT.) Buck's deer takes a bound, then collapses in a heap. Nahin's shot immediately drops his deer. Buck turns to Nahin with a broad smile and says "Nice shot. Looks like we eat hearty tonight!" Then Buck and Nahin retrieve their deer and start to field dress them, before dragging them back to the campsite. The deer aren't huge, but two of them means you will be having quite a feast this evening.

Rory, with the remaining daylight, you can stealthily scout perhaps a quarter of the area here. Is there a particular area you'd like to cover? You could go to the Manor and Pond, but moving cautiously, you wouldn't have much daylight left when you arrived at the manor or pond for a return trip.

As you are all busily engaged, Grinkle returns from the tower and says "The area looks deserted, but I thought I saw some movement from the graveyard... toward that big hole. Maybe it was nothing, but could have swore I saw some movement."

Actions?

[greyarea]

Marcus, paladin

Grinkle, while the others prepare dinner, let us investigate this movement. We can possibly see what is there. Hopefully merely more deer but it could be this ManBearPig we've heard of. Or worse. Best to be in the know, because knowing is half the battle, yes little one?

Marcus will head to the area that Grinkle points out. He is cautious.

[badams30]

Marcus, Grinkle asks you to wait for him as he gathers his weapons, and Dak, seeing some activity ambles over "Uhhh... where are you'ze going? I kin come wit you, ins case you find sumthin bad." Dak stands next to you waiting for you to depart. Within a moment, Grinkle is back, ready to go, and you are off, walking cautiously to the graveyard.

I assume you are staying off the path (it's overgrown, but generally clear) and sticking to the bushes and trees when available. As you approach the graveyard, you can see that unlike most of the stone foundations throughout the village which are barely footprints of their former structures, the wall of the graveyard stands roughly 8 feet tall, made of local stone. And there are no breaches in the wall, just areas where there is partial collapse. The only entry appears to be on the southwest corner, what was formerly secured with a barred gate, the gate now laying rusting in the weeds about 20 feet from the wall.

You approach the southwest corner ready to round the corner to the entrance and you pause.

Any special marching order or precautions? Most of the vegetation in the town area is anywhere from 1-5 feet high, and cover is plentiful. From what Grinkle described, it appeared that the graveyard had thin weeds of barely one foot in height throughout the area.

[greyarea]

Marcus, paladin

Marcus motions for the other two to stay behind him (so that it's Marcus - Dak - Grinkle in that order). He inches up to the remains of the gate and peers around the corner. He intends to Detect Evil if he can.