Hm, what caused that cracks? I'll have a closer look...

Ralo ignores Morgana for the moment and while she is trying to re-focus her matrices he flies closer to examine some of the cracks.

Could it be that the inhabitants of the citadel tried to lower the magic level? That would make it impossible for Horrors to manifest, as far as I know.

Not being particularily skilled in stone working, or knowledgeable in the earth it's self, Ralo has little idea of what might have caused the crack. However, lack of magic in the area could certainly affect a horror's ability to manifest. Especially the more powerful classes and named horrors.

Morgana studies the runes and the crack again for a long moment.
Well, there's really no way of finding out what we need to know until we go inside.
Sword still drawn, Morgana begins the ascent to the gate. Coming to the gate, she stands for a minute considering the best way to enter.
The doors are locked... and thick from the looks of it. Spells are out, so no chance of levitating. There must be a way in and out, otherwise how do the hounds come and go? The crack, maybe?
Morgana makes her way around the wall, coming to stop in front of the crack. It stood around 3 feet tall by 1 foot wide. It will be tight, but I should be able to fit through. Ralo definitely can. Alexander... well, let's hope he's not claustrophobic.
You guys coming?
Morgana pulls her small light quartz out and drops it around her neck, where it hangs by a leather thong. Sheathing her sword, she ducks down and crawls inside.

Dexterity test

Dexterity Test

Morgana/Ralo/Alexander

Morgana quickly wiggles in and dissapears from sight.

MOrgna moves inside the crack in the wall. The space is jsut as wide inside as at the end of the crack. Using the light quartz for light, this close it dones't look like the wal lcracked on its own.

The crack goes in to the wall for 10 feet. It's apparently a very thick wall. It winds back and forth and goes off at angles a few times to different sides, even a few spots going up or down.

Morgana emerges inside the citadel. She's in a hallway. It's length goes to the right and left, towards the gatte, and towards stairs twisting up which should be the tower. The few light quartzs on the wall still givea feeble blue light, having nearly been exhausted by time. There are dropping everywhere in side, as well as insects. Some of the droppings are fresh. The larger ones are almost certainly dog. The smaller ones look like possibly rats.

Dexterity Test

Alexander tries to wriggle through the crack.

It takes quite a lot more work, and a number of scrapes, but Alexander manages to wriggle through, coming out behind Morgana, looking just a bit the worst for wear.

Morgana turns to regard Alexander, eyeing the fresh cuts and scrapes.
You get lost in there? I've been waiting here forever.
Morgana turns back to the room, and smiles.
Bet you didn't see anything in there, did ya, Mr. I-See-Everything-But-Won't-Tell-Anyone. Hah!
Morgana draws her sword and waits for Ralo to join them.

Ralo hurries to follow the others into the citadel.

Unsuprisingly, Ralo fits just fine. He does have a moment of panic however, when he realizes that he can't se, and there seem to be a number of small off shoots big enough for him. Fairly quickly however, he's able to discern the proper direction by the scant bit of light up ahead.

The hallway the trio enter in to is lit in a pale blue light from the failing light quartz set in to the stone. The stones are of a large size, and should be able to put off quite a bit of light. However, the fact that they put of any in this place seems to contrast everything they've seen so far.

The hallway has tall ceilings, a full 12 feet in height. It is only six feet wide however, so the citadal is not built to accomodate trolls. The stairs one the left, leading up to the tower, are also scaled mroe to a comfortable human size.

To the right is a heavy iron door, also rune inscribed, that must lead to the gate house. It is barred from this side.

Ralo lands on Morganas shoulder.

A lightquarz has to bee "re-ignited" every year, right?

I don't know Ralo. I'm unfamiliar with kaer design.Morgana's eyes scan the hallway, taking in everything she sees.
Use Evidence Analysis to tell if anything humanoid has passed this way anytime in the recent past.

Morgana

Morgana mutters under your breath; I hate devil rats.
Turning to face the other two, Morgana doesn't bother to relate her findings. It's pretty obvious where the droppings come from.
Should we take the stairs and explore the tower? I may be getting ahead of myself, but to me, a tower says "Wizard" or "Nethermancer" and where there's magic, there's knowledge. Who's with me?
Morgana smiles winningly.

Alexander! This place is haunted - what are you doing here?!? Master, it may be so; however, this place holds knowledge that may help our village. Like I told you when learning the heavy hammer, be careful! I will, master. Screwing up his courage, Alexander, says Please lead on ma'am.

Tower is fine for me too.

Still smiling, Morgana turns and head towards the tower. At the foot of the stairs she draws her sword. Remembering something Nyx told her about trapped stairs, Morgana climbs the stairs using the outside edge, putting her weight on the part of the stair closest to the wall.
Realizing that it may look strange, Morgana explains herself.
A friend of mine warned me of trapped stairs within kaers. The stairs were usually created to break in the center of the stair, so oftentimes you could save yourself by walking on the outside egde where it's harder to place a trap. Considering the fact that it seems impossible to work magic here, I'd say that any traps we come across are more likely to be of the mundane variety. Still, be careful. If this is a magic user's tower, who know's what we could find?
Morgana continues up the staircase, stopping every fourth step or so to re-evaluate the climb, checking for rotting wood, curious seams in the stair, etc.

The stairs, much like everything else in the tower, are made of stone. After the first flight, there is another heavy iron door, which is closed. There stair well it's self is only wide enough for one person to walk up at a time. The stairs continue up as well. It appears taht this door hasn't opened in quite some time. There are very few prints along te stairs as well.

Morgana examines the iron door and the floor beneath it, looking for any clue (such as indentions in the stone, scrape marks, etc.) as to which way the door opens.

The door opens away from you. It looks to be a key lock, not a dead bolt. A very old key lock in fact, most likely rusted on the inside by now. There are no runes or magical marking s evident on it.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Morgana does the obvious and pushes on the door.

Nothing happens. It doens't budge.

A moment later however, the trio hears something. A sniffing sound from the other side of the door. Then a scrathch against the other surface.

Is one of you capable to open the door? But before we do it, we should make a plan what do after the door is open.

Alexander sizes up the door. I believe that I could open it with my tools and some time; however, I agree that we need a plan before opening the door.

It is possible that I might be able to use a Shatter Lock spell given enough time to weave the threads properly. It would also give us the advantage of being able to see through the hole left by the lock once the spell took effect.

Shatter Lock Description




My only concern is that whatever is on the other side of the door would be able to see us as well. What do you think?

Look before you leap is an old saying here in the village. I think it appropriate here as well.

Morgana simply stares at Alexander again.
Listen, I'm a troubadour. I know all about wise little village sayings and witticisms and they're wonderful and colorful and make for excellent plot hooks, but right now, they're really not helpful and really not answering the question: Do we move ahead with my idea or try something else?
Morgana's attempts at not being frustrated are failing her miserably.

Careful now boy. You see how the metal has gotten hot and how unpredictable it is? You have to take care of it for it to temper right and make good steel. Yes, master. A lesson to take from this is that women are far more unpredictable and their tempers can be far worse. Alexander, looks at Morgana and says, Ma'am, I think that your idea is a lovely one. Please continue.

Dear Morgana, how do we know that whatever is on the other side of the door isn't capable of opening the door once the lock is destroyed? Or look through the hole and cast a spell on us? Your idea is appealing, but we should have an idea what do when things don't turn out the way we expected.
Alexander, how good can you fight?

That is my fear as well. I can do more then hold my own in a fight... which is what we're going to have, I'm afraid. The time required to spellcast here means that I won't be able to get a spell off in time if we are attacked. However, there are spells I can cast prior to opening the door that can increase your already considerable prowess with that bow and Alex's skill with the blade.

If it becomes clear that my bow can't do much damage to our opponent - and hopefully we'll only face one - I'll do my best to distract him, to increase your chances of a solid hit.

Morgana thinks for a moment. The sound coming from the other side of the door. It sounds like dog right? Well that tells us a few things. One, there's got to be another way in and out of the tower, otherwise how do they move around? Two, we need to be careful that what we're hearing isn't a diversion and something's going to take us down from behind while we debate how to open the door. Three, if it is a dog, there's a very simple way to disorient and possibly incapacitate the animal. If we can find some kind of herb and mix it with the vial of oil I have, we can use it as a scent bomb.Morgana thinks for a moment on her words.
I realize that nothing I just said really resolves anything. Just something to think about, really. That and I'm getting tired of standing in this hallway.
Morgana turns and heads back down the stairwell,once again keeping to the edges.
Oh sure, they might look like cement but then what happens? You step on it and BAM! flat on your ass in the middle of some sadistic dungeon. It happens. I've heard the stories.

Ralo listens for a moment to the sounds coming from the other side of the door.

Well, it sounds like a dog-like creature, but that doesn't mean that is have to be one. Illusion magic or Horror powers could created such noises. But we have to go in there and fight it, no doubt about it. Cast your spells on us and then let's try to reach Haropas, as a T'skrang would say!

Ralo/Morgana/Alexander

There's a bark at the otherside of the door. A deep one. It is followed by the sounds of more sniffing. Another dog.

Great. Did you hear it? At least one other dog. I never liked them, but I've never been scared of them and this won't become the day it happens for the first time.

Morgana turns from her position on the stairs.
Simply wonderful. Now there's two of them... and of course, probably more. Cause that's the way these things happen. We're going to open that door and those two are going to spring on us, and then just as we're thinking that we might win, a whole passel of em will catch us off guard as they charge us from behind... or, even better, the secret hole in the wall that we don't even know about. This place sucks. *sigh*
All right, Ralo, I'm going to cast the spell on you first. It will last longer then the others.
Morgana begins weaving the threads for 'Seeking Sight'.

After standing somewhat dumbfounded for a while, Alexander speaks. I am sorry, I was thinking about something. If these are dogs, why don't we try to treat them as such? If they become violent then we fight; however, if there is no reason to attack them then we don't. Alexander turns to look at both Ralo and Morgana. He then approaches the door and says Hello there. Aren't you a big one? in his most soothing voice.

"GGGGRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr..."

Morgana finishes casting 'Seeking Sight', stopping to stare at Alexander bent down and talking into the keyhole.
Psssst, Alexander. I don't think it's working..

Morgana's insightful remarks are interrupted by the sound of dogs barking on the other side of the door. They sound large. And Upset.

Ma'am, I think that you are right. Perhaps you should cast that other spell? Alexander steps back and unsheaths his sword.

The dogs bark, and then there's the sound of scrabbling feet. It sounds like there is only one left at the door, perhaps two others have run off.

Uhh, guys... remember that thing I said about the other entrance? I would seriously consider taking a look for it.

That wasn't good...

As the group hesitates for a moment, they hear barking beneath them, coming up from the hall from where they came from. It's quieter then they'd expect though. They're not that close.

..... the barking doesn't get closer. It still sounds a little muted.

Ralo hears the barking coming from the hall. Sighing, he makes his sword ready.

Time to move, my fellows. Let's get into melee. I'll distract them, when I can and you take the chance and get them from their blind side.

Agreed.

Remember, Ralo, the spell I've cast on you will last a few minutes, that's all. So, make those first shots count.
Morgana turns to face Alex. Your turn, Weaponsmith.
Morgana begins the weaving for Combat Fury.

Seconds pass... then a minute.... the barking down stairs continues, not getting any closer. Another minute passes. Still barking, no dogs.