laid back apocalypse

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker nods, "Yeah,  rest would be good. There's also at least one more guy peeping in on the toilet that we passed outside. Presumably also someone he was peeping on, a lady perhaps. Anyway, there is more than just the two these folk suggest I'll wager." 

Ebele rests her head down on Hawke’s, “Wanna go snoop around?” She’d ask while the others conversed with the prisoners.

“Well yeah sirs. Them be leaders wit some bandit buddies fer crew. Figured ya’d get the gist.” Berd would shrug.

”We know nothin’ aboot the missin’ delegation. We not privy to any of their plans.” Anya would say, pursing her lips.

Despite a tiny voice at the back of his head telling him no and that this was a ploy to split the party, Hawke had never been one to listen to those tiny voices. Maybe he would have had less scars if he did so?

Readin' my mind are ya? **** yeah, let's poke around a bit. They got it here, I think.

(He'll lumber over to K18 (going based off the battlemap) and try to get inside since I'm not 100% sure if the prisoners came thru both doors?)

Stealth if necessary (will roll twice just in case Ebele can give adv?): 4 | 12

Perhaps. But I thought you could read mind. The monk would chuckle as the Bawke would decide to stealth into the kitchen(K18). Hadn't enough? She'd tease. Sniffing around, the druid would circle the kitchen. Eventually he'd be able to continue through the servants room(K17) and back out into Great Hall(K16) with the entire group. I was more thinking fooling around in the upstairs quarters. The monk would gesture up the stairs where the last wave of cultist's came from (K19, 20 and 21 have yet to be explored).

One of the prisoners, Oric, had wondered over to the the southern wall where there was a window slit. "Speakin' o' peepin'. Ya can see out here into the castle yard(K4), the stable(K5), the armoury(K6) an' some of tha bathhouse(K7)." Then they'd gesture with their chin to another servant.

Nayreen would nod her head to him, then look to the knight. "If you'll take us with you..." She'd then side step away from a secret door. "It's not an underground lair... but it leads to a hidden boat landing...(K22)" The woman would shift a little timidly.

Kerric would remember seeing when you docked, a dark stream(K13) on the north side of the boat basin that lapped against a steep, rocky bluff. From the base of the bluff, a subterranean river empties into the boat basin. The river is close to thirty feet wide, and the cave ceiling is about six feet above the water level in the middle. An iron grate blocks the stream mouth. There was an iron grate with a swinging gate section secured by a simple lock. That must be what she's referring too.

Map Update

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker shrugs and follows after the bear and Ebele. ”Fomo.” He states to the others as he heads up the stairs, only pausing to point to the secret door, “Ahha!  I knew it! I bet they took the prisoners down there.”

Kerric:

Looking out the window slit, Kerric says, "I think we should clear out the rest of the cultists before anyone tries to leave, as it appears the southeast guard tower would have lines of fire against any vessel attempting to leave without permission."

Nodding with satisfaction as the stealthy and perceptive ones among them move through the rest of the northwest keep's upper floor rooms, he adds, "Once we have caught our breath and finished searching here, we will work our way through the rest of the keep.  Then we can come back by here and ensure you are safely away."  Turning to T'chal'fronack'zcinicker, Kerric says, "Captain, do you want to move down to the hidden landing first and make sure it is clear before we deal with the rest of the cultists?"

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker looks to Kerric, a confused look on his face.  "You know....I'm not actually a captain, or..the...captain right? That was just a ruse, which has clearly run its course. I don't actually have any authority over the situation. Unless of course you'd like to record some added responsibilities for me in our group contract? I'd be willing to take on additional decision makes powers as long as I'm compensated relative to the responsibility level and also that there are clear waivers regarding any blame I may be given. I mean, obviously if I make a bad decisions, that's on me, but, sometimes there's terrible unforeseen situations in our line of business that can't be pinned on anyone.  You know, thinking more on the level of term writing required to properly encode such a thing, I think I'm fine with our....uuuhh...egalitarian style of governing structure we have. So...if that's the case, I think you're suggesting we head down to the landing first. Sounds good to me!" 

He glances up at Ebele and the bear, "Hey, Hawke and Ebele, can we go search the boat landing first, then come back up here and search the top floor? Kerric thinks we should search down there first." 

Can only read whatcha want me to hear, Belle~ Bhawke kindly reminds as he sniffs over the kitchen area. Dunno if I'd be able to handle reading through peoples minds. You know how much ****ed up shite I'd come across? The bear shudders from under her. 

As he makes way back to the group, and Ebele gives him that last mental ping, he pawses (i hate myself) a moment after she points out the stairs... and slowly starts heading towards them. I ain't gonna say no to th-- He's cut off by the sound of T'chal's voice, and a quiet whine escapes him. He turns to the tiefling and mentally links up with him. You guys got that, riiight? I mean, there's a lot of ground to clear and not a lotta time, you know? So we can search up here, and the rest of you can check the secret deck. Promise if we hear any screamin' or yellin' we'll rush right on down!

Kerric:

"Well, as long as we have a ship, someone has to be captain, right?" says Kerric with a smile.  "Fine, egalitarian it is, then.  I just wanted to make sure the secret path was clear of cultists so they didn't come up and harass our freed prisoners."  Drawing his blade, Kerric moves towards the secret door and says, "Shall we proceed?"

Xalkas nods his agreement with Kerrics assessment and stands ready to be the last to enter the secret passage. 

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker gives Hawke the thumbs up and then nods to Kerric. "Let's do this.  These.  Let's do these.  Things.  Lets do these things!"  He glances around shrugging, and follows Kerric down the stairs. 

"Whatever you say Captain!" Ebele salutes in the direction she thinks T'chal'fronack'zcinicker is when he completes his speech. She'd pop her lips a little while they discuss their next steps. Eventually it appeared as though the three of them were going down below and the EH team were taking care of the top half. It has been spoken.

Kerric fearlessly leads T'chal'fronack'zcinicker and Xalkas through the secret door. The staircase was dark, dingy and moist and descends 20 feet down. Venturing all the way through to the bottom of the stairs, you find a torchlit chamber where two boats bob in an underground stream. The stream flows toward daylight to the east and leads upstream into darkness toward the west.

Meanwhile, with Ebele on his back, Hawke meanders upstairs. There were three rooms for them to poke around in. Starting left, they'd discover the Keep Guardroom (K20). Four bunk beds line the walls of this guardroom. To the south, an arrow slit looks out over the castle yard, and a door exits to the castle parapet. With a passive scan and sniff, Hawke could tell there was nothing but sweaty cultist smells in here. Another door exits to the north though (K21)

Upstairs
(Pick a door. Any door!)

Roll Call: Hawke
Pick: Door #1 or Door #2?

If he had regular arms, Bhawke would be fist bumping the air right now, but instead he bids T'chal a good luck through their mental link before severing it and linking back up to Ebele. Let's see if we get a lil lucky with no one bein' around...

After a few extra sniffs in the air, he decides to pick door 2!

Kerric:

Heading down the stairs quietly, Kerric listens carefully for anything untoward or threatening at the boat landing, especially trying to determine if there is anything interesting upstream.

Stealth:  10

Perception (with Darkvision):  8

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker looks up the dark stream cave, a curious look on his face, then he glance at the boats, then back up the dark cave, then back at the boats. Then he looks at Kerric. "Whelp, nothin doin here, back upstairs to finish our stomping of the cultists then?" 

Upstairs

Following his nose, Hawke moves across the hall. Pawing the door open, he’s immediately greeted by a waft of musty scents. Inside door number two, old bookshelves line the walls, but unlike Bub’s Books and Baubles, most shelves are empty. Though, his druidy senses noticed that one old shelf has been cleared and restocked with a selection of tomes. A single bunk sits under the narrow window at the far end of the room, near a small desk, a wooden chair, and a chest. The floor looks wet too.

Downstairs

It’s definitely very dank down there. The water was dark and murky. Besides darkness to the west, and light to the east, there was nothing for Kerric to report. 

Kerric:

"As you say, T'chal'fronack'zcinicker.  Let us head back up and keep an eye on the ones we have rescued--we wouldn't want a stray cultist to walk in on them and accost them without us there to protect them," says Kerric, still saddened that the Womford boys payed the ultimate price for their poor judgement.  The warrior elf takes one last look around and heads back up the stairs to the main room.

Checking the area for hidden doors on the wall or floor, as this would seem a good place to hide smuggled goods before he heads back up.  Perception:  16

There are no hidden doors on the walls or floors.

Those downstairs would be able to return to the main floor where the prisoners were busying themselves with tidying up.

Kerric:

Using the vantage point granted by the tower windows, Kerric moves around from window to window and keeps an eye out for any approaching cultists while his companions explore the upper levels.

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker heads upstairs to look for Ebele and Hawke, keeping his ledger handy so he can inventory any more loot they find.