Rat stays the last, unties the rope on his side and takes a running jump holding it. He will dangle off the bridge on the rope and raises his voice a bit, "Pull me up please"

 Druug will stow his shield and hammer and then attempt his way across the gap.

Athletics: 22

Seeing Frix plummeting toward the cold water below, Iz quickly drops her pack and throws her own rope down. She'll try to pull Frix up first and then help the others pull Rat up.

Thalia watches nervously as the group makes their way across the rope—or not quite making it, as the case may be, the nervousness giving way to a noticeable flinch when Frix slips. "Ah... hm. That's... that's a bit more involved than walking across a bridge, isn't it." She grimaces and tests the tautness of the rope before doing what she can to secure her own belongings and resigning herself to creeping across as quickly as she can, taking care not to look down toward the moat.

Athletics: 16

Frix is dragged out of the moat, shivering and drenched in frigid water. The others cross the moat without mishap.

"Torem Breck." The guard says, nodding to Frix as he begins to ascend the motte. "I'll find you a change of clothes."

"Isabella Sagefoot pleased to make your acquaintance," she extends her hand and waits for a beat before she realizes that Torem has already started walking away. She gathers her rope and jogs to catch up to him. "So can you tell us a bit more about the predicament you found yourself in here? Do you know anything about the giant attacks for instance? I assume that the goblins were just being opportunistic?"

Breck's eyes grow distant as he recalls the events of the previous day. "A giant castle appeared in the sky, floating on a white cloud. Then the stones came. The screams from the village could be heard in the keep. One of them shattered the bridge," He indicates the bridge you just crossed, "Preventing the villagers from taking refuge in the keep. Last I saw they were fleeing northward, to the bat caves. Then four pale-skinned giants descended from the castle and stole the Nightstone, which has stood in the center of our town for as long as anyone can remember. And then as if that wasn't enough, the goblins came." Breck spits and falls silent.

Rat says, "And then the giants and goblins both left? How strong a force do you have in the keep here, can you organize the retrieval of those who fleed or do you need our help?"

"There are only four of us in the keep." Breck replies. "The others are arguing over what our next move should be." 

You enter through an open gate and into an inner courtyard, strewn with debris and several giant stones. The keep stands in the center of the courtyard, and it is to this building that Breck leads you. He knocks sharply on the door three times and after a moment you hear a lock click. The door swings outward, revealing massive great hall buried under rubble. On a shattered wooden table lies the broken and battered body of a regal woman. Three guards look up as you enter, their expressions ranging from curious to hostile. 

"The goblins have evacuated the town." Breck reports. "I found these six wandering in the ruins of the village."

       "Excuse me, but have the goblins fled? We just encountered three last night. Did you observe them leaving overnight?" Frixori says through chattering teeth to Breck. "Also, what is significant about this Nightstone that they took...other than it being your town's namesake, it appears?"

"Bah a flying castle? What can we do with information like that? Not that I don't believe you, but how can we help you with something like that, I haven't wings. But if we know where the villagers are, we should help them first if you ask me, not that you did. Did any of your soldiers go with them? How many were lost? Who's this fine looking woman sleeping just there?"

Iz wanders over to the regal looking corpse and gives it a once over, squinting to see if she recognizes the lady or her house or any other identifying factors. 

history : 16

Thalia gives a low whistle. "This is a lot more involved than I'd suspected it would be... I'm definitely going to have to revise my letter before it's ready to send to Mr. Zaratan, I know that much! Terribly sorry to hear about your town, though. I hope this 'Nightstone' can be replaced or recreated, whatever it is. And, well..." She glances at Iz thoughtfully. Going after the townsfolk hadn't immediately occurred to her, but it would be the right thing to do, she supposes. "We might be able to go look for the townsfolk who fled, if you think they need looking for in the first place—I mean, a cave full of bats doesn't sound terribly dangerous in and of itself, bats aren't very large or aggressive, Mr. Zaratan turned his familiar Pebbles into one sometimes—but more importantly, is there anything that you people here could use right now? I'm not much of a healer or anything of that sort, but I could fix things. Small things, at least. I'm still working toward fixing bridges!" She holds up the mended stick with pride.

"That's Lady Nandar." One of the guards, a young woman with pale blonde, almost white hair whispers to Iz sadly. " She was buried in rubble during the initial attack. She died before anyone could get to her." 

Torem Breck and a second guard glare at each other while the third watches impassively. "I've been trying to convince Sydiri here for hours that the villagers are the priority." Torem says through gritted teeth. "And I say that we should acquire allies and resources before we head into the monster-infested caves" The woman, Sydiri, returns. She bows mockingly to the group. "But I am yours to command."

"Well good news tall new friends of Nightstone; your allies have arrived! I'll stow the introductions for now because we have villagers to save!"

Iz will start walking off, and then turn around and come back after realizing she has no idea how to get out of the keep, much less where the caves are.

"Ah... could one of you lead the way, I have yet to learn the lay of the land."

She makes a grand sweeping motion with her little arms.

Looking at Torem, Druug says, “We are happy to assist you - if finding the villagers is the priority, let’s go.”  He moves to stand near Iz, waiting on the others expectantly. 

"Well, if there's nothing that can be done for you or the poor Lady here right this second, then I'd say checking in on the other citizens is the right idea, hm? Additional allies and priority searching all in one!" Thalia nods resolutely and moves to join the others. "Although perhaps it's worth leading with the 'monster-infested' bit rather than the 'bat' bit when describing the caves next time..." she mutters. "Bats don't sound like as much of an emergency, do they?"

Congratulations! You may all level up.

     Frixori removes her cold, wet clothes and begins to don the dry clothes Torem managed to find for her. "Th-this won't do," she says through chattering teeth indicating her new clothes. She whispers a few words and her appearance is soon that as before. A few more whispered words and she summons the shadows to coalesce around her, providing some extra prtiection."So, are we ready to head into some caves...?"

"I'll gather some equipment from the barracks." Torem grunts, heading for the wooden door of the keep. "Alara, Kaelen, are you coming with us?" The pale woman kneeling beside Lady Nandar and the silent man nod in affirmation. Sydiri, the woman who argued against the venture, silently heads after Torem. 

For the first time since your arrival at the keep you are free to take in your surroundings. The room you are in was evidently a great dining hall before it was buried under rubble, judging by the shattered wooden benches and tables scattered across the room. Two doors in the west wall lead to adjoining rooms, and a wooden staircase between the two exits spirals to the upper floor.

Rat climbs up to the highest point of the building and takes in the lay of the land. Among other things he will try to figure out from which direction the goblin tribe appeared from and/or fled to. If at all possible he would love to thin that tribe by a few more before moving on from this area.

Coming back down he will mention to Torem, "You should probably lock this place down before leaving."