If nothing else, Devarus at least had the decency to whisper an apology as he hopped off the unfortunate skeleton. "I have my doubts of that, Ms. Elsara. But, these woods are a strange and dark place to be certain. So, best to not rule out anything, I suppose." He gives her a small smile, and then looked about the immediate area. "Hm... Not sure if there's a ladder near enough, but if not, I still should have a bit of rope we can tie off, uhm... to the tree branch, I suppose. And then go from there searching the town." He said while awaiting Runt's arrival with the group.

Once all are safetly on the rampart and assuming none dissuade him, Devarus sets about getting a lasso going to try and catch some of the sturdier branches if they weren't close enough at hand to simply tie down and make ready to descend.

There is no ladder that Deva can see but knowing how defensive town walls and ramparts are designed, he would know that there should be stairs down to ground level if he follows the ramparts to the guard towers on the corner.

While there is no ladder propped up, if he searches the ramparts, he may find a ladder they keep to put down in case of an emergency so the guards can easily get down from there but invading forces can't because they won't know where the ladder is kept.

Valwaryn covers Devarus with  his longbow at the ready and follows him once he finds a way to descend 

Elsara decides to take note of what it looks like on the outskirts. Getting in wasn't too easy, but she has this fantastical thought of all the bodies suddenly rising, it becoming an epic tale as they escape with the rescued nobleman's son being chased by hoards of undead. The things that only truly happen in the stories of an excitable mind. However, in the rare case that something like that might happen, she wants to ensure there's a couple of ways out they can take. She can probably slip out of places without too much problem, but she can't manage everyone else with her in her magic, she hasn't gotten that adept at the arcane yet.

(If required)

Perception: 10 (1 less if it's investigation, 3 less if it's survival)

Once you get down into the town proper, the ways out seems to be through the guard towers if you want to get back on top of the ramparts and jump out, using some magic or other means to get over the city walls or through the front gate.

As his focus had been elsewhere any useful commentary from Elsara is met with a curt but appreciative nod. A thought occurs to figure out how best to leave a line for both sides of the wall. But with a limited amount of rope(s) and limited time, Devarus decides to quietly push aside the concern in favor of noting the guard towers that are visible to them before the group make their descent to the ground within the town. Preferably by rope, although he'd grudgingly accept seeking a hopefully empty guard tower to do the same before quietly addressing the party. 

"This might sound a bit cliche, but if I were Vlad, I doubt I could resist taking up roost in the largest and most opulent building I could have in town, or the next best thing. Which is unfortunately likely to be close to the town's center, if not near whichever side is closest to the mountains, as there may be a secret tunnel put in place by past owners for an easy escape. So keep an eye out, keep quiet, and let's see if we can make our way there through any alleys."

“As long as we set it on fire after we are out of it this time… “ says Valwaryn with a smile “And hopefully he hasn’t those constructs to help him this time” 

Roaming around the place, the party finds more of the same, skeletons lay lifelessly in the streets. These ones wearing civilian clothing. At the edge of town is a small keep made of stone. This is probably the mayor's house.

"Sorry!" Elsara apologises to the others on the mention of burning things down. She honestly thought the spell was going to be a potent aid for them, so picked it up to assist against a difficult swarm of enemies. She hadn't really anticipated how quickly it would destroy a manor house, or even that it would catch alight so easily. She keeps with the others, but is a little more hesitant to unleash such potent magic.

Upon arriving at the centre of town, she looks to the small keep. "Well I guess that looks like a defensible place." She points out. "Maybe they went in there, it would definitely be somewhere more secure than the other houses around the place." 

If the others are happy to go check that location, Elsara happily follows along, keeping a hand on the pommel of one of her three sheathed blades at her belt.

Devarus snorts and can't help grinning at both the reminder and Elsara's flustered response. But as strong as his desire was to join in some light hearted ribbing, the former guardsman chose to return his focus on keeping an eye on the surroundings as the group made their way through town. When at last they arrive at the keep, the half-drow grimaced and started to rub his chin until a little after Elsara broke the silence.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't agree more. Would explain why he came here instead of faced us at his manor, assuming he anticipated us returning at all." He said. If there appeared no alternate entry point save the front door (and hopefully accessible), then it is with a heavy heart that Devarus motions for them to get a move on before taking point in making for the doors.

Looking around the keep, Deva finds the main gate, which is a set of double doors, locked from the inside. Near the back of the keep is a stable and from it is another smaller door leading inside. That door is also locked. The horse keeper is missing but there are quite a few horses in the stables and unlike everything else, they seem alive and well. There's food for them laid out and this food seems fresh. There's also an old but well kept carriage parked in the back. It looks like it belongs to some nobleman. The carriage does not have anyone inside but there is luggage tied to the top of it.

"Yep, that looks like their getaway carriage." Elsara nods. "Maybe we should disable one of the wheels so in case they try and run away again they can't take the carriage again."

Bump. So what are you going to do?

Valwaryn will try to take a look into the luggage to see if he can identify something that belongs to Vlad or their missing nobleman.

(perception: 13 )

Val can't really figure anything out about the Luggage from looking at it. Maybe he can try taking it down and opening it to see if that helps. But chances are that he'd still have no idea.

"We are losing time. It seems that our quarry is here. Let's try and find him... " he says to the others, turning his back to the carriage.

(Nat 1s you have to love them ;) )

"That... is actually a good idea, Ms. Elsara! If we can make subtle enough at that he wastes time in trying and fails, all the better." Devarus had said in response to the initial idea. He then tried while Val was looking about luggage to get up under the carriage to try and figure out some work around to sabotage it while keeping up the appearance of stability. And then subsequently start work on such with what limited tools and weapons he had on hand.

Investigation: 22.(19)

Although if unable to do so due to a lack of tools or the very reasonable impatience of others, he'd look to Runt's axe, meet her eyes, and then offhandedly gestures to the wheels. "There's still the matter of getting inside, as both main points of egress are rather locked. There's of course the simple and true breaking and entering option. And if none have anything more clever than, I suppose me and Ms. Ruu here can see to the side door at least."  He waits for suggestion, and if none are forthcoming, looked to position himself to best help Runt in breaking open the side door.

"I could transport two of us to the upper level of the keep and potentially drop down a rope." I suggest.

(How tall are the walls of this small keep? Also are there any windows that we can see up to/through?)

@Deva, he does come with some modifications he can make on the underside of the carriage. With some tinkerer's tools, he could loosen the wheels enough that when the carriage starts moving, it'll only get like 200ft before the wheels come up and causes the carriage to crash.

@Elsara. The Keep is 2 stories tall with a triangular slanted roof. So it's 26ft tall. There are a three windows on either side of the first floor and 1 window on the second floor. In the front, above the main gate is one big window on the second floor.

(OOC: Alas, Devarus is shy of the appropriate tools. So if Runt/Animesquirrel would be up for it, a smashing the wheel it shall be.)

(Also, I was like 26' ft tall? Devarus can jump it maybe! But then I remember the boots only boosts distance not height. lol)

"Unless the plan from there is to smash through the windows, which would make for quite the entrance, I don't see us getting in quietly that way. But, I think we've made it far enough that I have no strong objections to doing just so. I'll wait below while you and whoever else wish to get up there and get that rope set up." Devarus said, and would go on to even offer Elsara his silk rope as well.