Snow steps out onto the bridge and moves as naturally as he can across to the portcullis.

As he travels, he whispers to Varielky, "Strewn and I are approaching. I am disguised as a guard. If you have chance, reply to let me know what is happening".

As he approaches the other guards, he calls out to them in a friendly way as he tries to figure out the current situation.

"Greetings".

Perception: 6+7=13 Passive: 17

(OOC: Auger and Snow discover that certain magics do not work in the castle. Darkness  has no effect, as if Counterspell has been cast against it. Snow’s disguise is dispelled the moment he steps into the doorway. However, Whisper, Enhanced Ability, and Auger’s communications with Py are unaffected.)

(OOC: Nice, does Snow realise the disguise self is gone? It isn’t concentration so your choice, or I could roll?)

(OOC: Actually, not like a Counterspell. Auger does not lose a spell slot. Both of you feel a resistance which thwarts your drawing upon the Sea of Stars. Snow feels the arcane force draining from his spell as he enters the castle but not before.)

"Feh." Auger says out loud with some surprise to it. My magic is blocked. Still, perhaps I can do something to help Varielky.

Auger returns the coin to its pouch and moves forward through the hallway and to the top of the stairs where he takes in the scene below, hoping Varielky can see him and move in his direction.

The guard's response is convinient enough for Varielky. All she hoped to achieve by threatening them was to prevent them from attacking her from behind or call for backup. If they would just let her go, she's content with that.

However, Varielky does not answer Snow, nor does she seem to respond to Auger in any way. She just walks in the direction he, Benita and Tamazaert went earlier, gloomy and silent. She's not planning to initiate any other fights here.

(ALL)

No one notices that Snow’s appearance changes as he enters the castle except perhaps Varielky. The shield-maiden turns up the stairs, and the guard who spoke keeps his eyes on her, also taking in Auger and peering past him in search of the two liveried women who had entered with the warlock, Benita and Tamazaert, who are both presently out of view. The guard frowns deeply. The various strongmen and valets in the columned area opposite the portcullis entryway continue standing with feet firmly planted and hands on hilts, likewise eyeing Varielky’s back as she turns and walks away, while the two shocked women on the stairs tiptoe past the shield-maiden, keeping to the side banisters and peering aghast at Abadolla as they go and giving him a wide berth as they cross to the restroom hallway.

Meanwhile the other entry guard returns to the portcullis, motioning for Snow and Granophyre to stop where they are, his eyes narrowing.

“Looks like the whole party is coming through the school now,” grumbles the guard to Snow and Granophyre. “Names,” he demands, barring further movement by placing his body squarely in the way, "...and why the flock are you comin' across that bridge from the girls' school."

“Greybeard,” answers the sage, who has pulled up his hood and looks rather frazzled. Snow might infer that his companion had also planned to employ magical concealment in the castle and was likewise thwarted.

Snow feels the magic drain away as the illusion disappears on entering the castle. He has felt this before in the guild offices, and silently curses himself for not expecting it here as well.

”Snow Das”, he says brandishing his violin as if that explained everything about who he was.

”Ask the guards at the bottom, I just do what I am told”, he adds with a shrug.

”What is going on here?”, he asks looking curiously at the scene beyond the guards, trying to change the focus from himself and Strewn.

Deception: 16+8=24

Perception: 2+7=9 Passive: 17

Auger stands at the top of the stairs, waiting for Varielky to join him, relaying through Py to Benita and Tamazaert that it appears Varielky will be able to step out without being stopped.

...I suspect we will be along quite soon, he finishes for Py.

While standing there, Auger obstinately chooses not to look into the ballroom, lest he catch another sighting of the Lord and Lady he so wants to avoid.

The guard at the castle portcullis takes in Snow and his instrument, and Granophyre, and waves the pair through warily, while carefully logging names in his ledger. He ignores Snow’s question regarding what transpired, mumbling something incoherent.

In a few moments, the bard and the sage have caught up with Varielky and Auger, and soon you are all four on the terrace, where one of the two trams docked there now carries Tamazaert and Benita, and the Eye. 

Snow, like the others, has seen Eyes at work before, most recently at the Arena Games in Kalahata, mirroring the action taking place in the stadium by creating huge illusions in the open square outside the stadium by harnessing the arcana energies of ancient Dominion artifacts. Now up close, you see a person wrapped in long linen swaths like bandages, like a mummy, under a robe far too heavy for the climate. Only his head is exposed, and it is covered in tattoos depicting eyes. As you enter the terrace, one of the tattoo eyes on the back of his head follows you, then he turns and his real eyes do likewise, regarding you now with alert indifference. He seems to silently await instructions. 

Benita, her expression dark and fierce, tries to find Varielky’s eyes. Tamazaert holds onto a pole at the front of the tram with both hands in a white-knuckled grip, staring at the Eye, terrified. 

The music continues to soar from the castle balconies, upon one of which you see a duel now taking place. Whether for fun or to the death, it is hard to tell from a distance. 

Snow makes his way across the terrace, taking a brief glance down at the balconies hosting the party.

As he approaches the tram he regards the Eye with curiosity, wondering as to it's purpose here. Was it transmitting the images that it sees to somewhere else, like a form of sentry, or was it simply here to harness the energies needed to move the tram?

He puts those thoughts aside for the moment and addresses his companions, trying not to look or sound too familiar in case the Eye was a sentry of some kind.

"Heading up?", he says simply as he boards the tram alongside Benita and Tamazaert.

He takes a look around the inside of the tram trying to spot the controls and the Eye's purpose in joining them, before he covers his mouth with the hand not holding the violin, as if coughing, and whispers to Strewn telling him what he deduced and potentially asking, "What do you know of the tattooed figure? How cautious need we be?", if he is still unsure.

Investigation (with Advantage due to Enhance Ability): (20,13)+7=27

Varielky locks eyes with Benita for but a moment, conveying no message, though Benita could most likely tell Varielky is not well at the moment... in any but the physical aspect.

She then averts her eyes, looking to the side, to a spot where nobody stands. Following Snow silently, trusting he and Auger could surely deal with any questions the eyed man has.

Auger is both surprised and happy to see that Snow and Strewn made it up to the tram in time. He does accept Snow's lead and decides to  focus his attention on the Eye, thinking him the one to power the tram.

"Yes. Up. Time for us to move sir," Auger says to the tattooed man. Auger looks at the Eye expectantly while idly wondering if a similar person had powered his disc train to the north those few months ago. Though the eyes. Perhaps he was only someone who watches what transpires. For security. Or... both?

“Relics from a bygone age,” whispers Granophyre to Snow. “Both the arcane instruments, the ‘Boxes,’ which seem to function in many ways like the cantrip batteries of your Kingdoms of Men, and the Eyes themselves. I have never heard of an Eye doing anything other than executing his commands without question. But as to where they come from, the answer to that mystery is hidden from even the most curious, and no Eye has ever disclosed an answer.”

The Eye makes way for Auger, Varielky, Granophyre, and Snow to board the tram, which is like a long room with benches along its sides, suspended from a miles-long heavy rope which extends along the mountainside, up toward its heights, disappearing in the night and the grey clouds pressing down above you. 

You take positions, the Eye stands glued now to a spot beside the Box — an ornately carved chest bound with chains — his eyes closed. But then his lids shoot up and power resonates through the empty darkness of his irises. The tram moves forward, silently, the wheels holding it upon the long rope rotating without a whisper.

Py, stay here at the balcony for a few minutes after I get out of range, then fly up to catch us. I want to know if our progress creates any attention from anyone.

While waiting for word from Py, Auger peeks out the window, trying to watch for any points where the tram is relatively close to the ground. They still had much to do, but trying to figure out an escape, after stopping the flight would be important.

At least that is what Auger tries to do. He is still drawn by the aerie somehow. What was it that pulled at him?

Snow nods almost imperceptibly to Strewn after he explains about the box and Eye.

"Do we know how long it takes to reach the top?", he asks.

"And what is the plan once there? We winging it?", he continues as he looks around the carriage, staring out the window. It is an Eye not an Ear, so he is more comfortable speaking to the others than looking like they are conspiring.

He tries to determine if the field blocking his magic is still present without wasting any of his power.

Arcana (Advantage for Enhance Ability):  (3,2)+2=5

Chapter 13 - The Nursery

Several minutes after you have pulled away, and are some 200 yards distant from the castle, a man appears on the terrace balcony from which you departed, armored in steel plate mail, tall, a sky blue cloak bearing the imperial dagger moon thrown over his shoulder. Snow immediately recognizes him as Captain Dairiku Sorakayoshi. Beside him is the portcullis guard, holding his ledger and pointing to it, and then to the tram impatiently.

As you are enveloped in the clouds and mist, the last thing you see is Sorakayoshi turning away, and with one lightning-quick motion, his long blade is bared and slicing through the guard, whose head and then body fall off of the terrace in turn, leaving only the ledger to splay open on the terrace floor.

Py flits up to the tram. ‘I tried to get close to hear what they were saying. But the Captain seemed to know I was there, even though I was invisible, so I kept my distance. Except I heard him say the names Greybeard, Varielky, and Snow.’

Snow and Auger both feel that their magical powers work freely now that the castle is behind them.

“He says it takes as long as it takes,” Benita answers Snow, warily eyeing the Eye, who, hardly breathing, continues to drive the tram slowly forward, motionless except for his tattoo-eyes, which shift from one then to the other of you, one of them tracking Py.

The car itself, as I mentioned, is like a long room, however, the walls only go up half-way, and there are no windows, only strong beams holding a roof over the tram, and the pulleys which roll along the thick rope up toward the aerie. Tamazaert, at the front of the car and now staring ahead into the gray obscurity, continues to grip a pole with both hands to stop her from shaking like a leaf.

Auger’s sense of expectation grows, an inexplicable and insatiable thirst for a draught he has never before tasted. Or the feeling of longing for his family, thousands of miles away, in whose company, until recently, the southerner spent his entire life, leaving him almost incapable of putting into words the sense of loss. If he knew he would see them at the end of this tram ride, the anticipation of that meeting would be greater than what he feels now, but akin to it somehow.

The tram continues slowly onwards, the music echoing in the invisible distance until, a minute or two later, you are surrounded by misty clouds when you hear a piercing whistle sound from behind you, perhaps from the castle. You are gliding above treetops over the steep slope, the ground obscured by foliage and mist. 

Snow takes an involuntary step back as he sees Captain Sorakayoshi appear on the terrace below them.

"Curses", he says to no-one in particular, but loud enough for all to hear.

"Sorakayoshi knows we are here..", he starts to say as he continues watching the scene unfold on the terrace, and the murder of the portcullis guard. "And he is not happy judging by the way he just decapitated the portcullis guard", he adds with eyes wide.

"I don't think we will be escaping the way we came".

He nods to Benita, "Let us hope that as long as it takes is not long at all".

When they hear the piercing whistle he instantly starts scanning the clouds around them.

"I hope that wasn't a call to one of those Roc riders! Or a warning to the eerie to prepare for us".

Strange how strong the sense of... what is it? Familiarity? Family? Auger thinks for a moment about what it could be, still speculating. Then he remembers how his communions with the Lady can lead to a sense of being with... family? Like his mother? So another pixie lives here? Another long-lived creature of inexplicable power? Something connected to the fey. Is that what it could be? But Py had flown up here before, and sensed nothing in particular. Curious. So curious.

Auger is so distracted he misses the episode on the balcony entirely and only learns of it when Py comes back to meet them. This Captain, he is not pleased it appears. The way back would not be easy. 

Auger takes note of the Eye, watching Py, even though Py had been instructed to maintain his invisibility. A strange set of powers and senses from this one. Auger addresses him again, this strange Eye, "Tell us sir, what shall we find on top of the mountain. What have you seen up above the clouds?" Auger emphasizes the word 'seen', wondering if the Eye's strange senses and strange responses might provide any clues. It is only then that Auger also hears the whistle and lets his attention move to the skies behind them.

Varielky stares outside the car to the side, even when the mists render looking outside pointless. She's unresponsive even as Snow speaks of the Warlock Captain, but is jumped by the piercing whistle. 

An arrow? A ballista's bolt? Unresponsive as she was, she still heard the mention of the unhappy captain. Are they trying to shoot them down? That's a strange thing to do, she thinks, since they could probably just wait for them at the end, or maybe even force them - through the eye - to return. Some kind of animal? But this far from the castle? Still, she tries to identify the source of the whistle, if possible. 

(I suppose some kind of Intelligence check, and not a Religion one, so all are the same bonus): 12.