OOC: The entrance in the wall is a simple wooden gate. There does not appear to be any mechanism opening or sealing it.

Harmony was very surprised when Tsavi bit into her clothing, luckily not tearing it at least and she can always clean/fix it later. Then she had heard Aisha, thinking about that as she remembered and realized that is likely the case, sighing. "Oh, yeah. Since none of us could find them in the other areas, that must be the case. I feel so terrible that we couldn't save them from whatever creatures were down there." she then said back to her while following along with everyone else.

 Jove motions to Caiphon to fly over to the door handle and become visible. The rest of you see a dark colored [monster[quasit[/monster] ready to open the door. "Caiphon is ready to rush in when you all are."

Abraxas readies Ray of Frost. He will cast it at any obviously hostile being he sees after the quasit opens the gate.

Aisha will have T'savi stay on Harmony.. just in case.... While she herself finds a good spot to hide... For once Aisha wont be aggressing.. but watching... and waiting. Stealth: 25

If something is obviously hostile  she will take her bow and shoot at it.. but for now.. she watches and waits. Wile listening as best she can passively for any sounds coming from the 'wrong' directions.

Harmony had heard Jove, nodding back as she will ready an arrow to fire if they see any hostile creatures after the quasit opens the gate.

Olive will get ready to fire an arrow too.

The tiny demon grunts and struggles against the weight of the gate, but slowly pushes it open, scraping against the rocky ground that holds it. Though the party is prepared, the gate swings wide and reveals no threat, but rather a pathway cut into the side of a large plateau.

After a few hundred yards, the path splits: Straight ahead of you, it continues forward, the edges of the rock it was carved into forming small cliff faces at its sides. The fork is to the right, another path working its way up the cliff toward the top of the plateau.

Aisha lowers her guard, and seeing the bridge is clearly not going to collapse... Calls Tsavi to her side. CHucklign at how the party had been vastly over-prepared for nothing... at-least so far.

Upon seeing that there was no clear threat, Aisha would continue forward as fast as possible in such that she could to maintain her stealth. Tsavi splitting off to the side after they crossed the bridge.. T'savi's pace moving to match er mistress' (stealth: 13) as they both entered the town, with or without the rest of the party. her wanderlust overtaking her once more. 

If possible... If the buildings were close enough.. Aisha would seek to climb to the roofs and use them as a 'skyway' leaping from roof to roof if they weren't too far apart, otherwise, she would stick to the shadows as much as possible. Slinking ahead of the party.. primarily to scout. Aisha .. unless something happened between the gate and the fork... Heading to the fork, and taking the branching path. Her intent to begin heading to the 'highest place' by going to the top of the plateau - though if any noises are heard or creatures present, she would stop, and hide, and attempt to figure out who they are and if they're enemies. Tsavi reacting appropriately based on the situation.

Jove lets out a sigh. "We got all worked up for nothing." He recalls Caiphon and turns him invisible again, patting his head as he did a great job.

He watches the two cats climb nimbly. '"Aisha has the right idea. We should get to higher ground to scope out the place." He turns to the nearest person and whispers "do you think Aisha will let Caiphon play with Tsavi? I think they are two peas from the same pod and are basically twins separated at birth. Do you think they could be best friends?"

Barty, does either fork lead to the direction we are being pulled towards?

OOC: Sorry for any confusion, there are no buildings in sight. The path forward cuts through cliffs on either side (like a river through a canyon), while the fork leads upward into the cliff.

This pull that you feel has less of a cardinal direction now that you have crossed the bridge. Were it a GPS, you'd hear "you have arrived at your destination".

Will advance once actions are confirmed post-clarification.

(Aisha's and Tsavi's intent is still to get to the plateau as stealthily as possible while simultaneously not 'walking into' people she see's and instead attempting to learn their motives)

OOC: I also think getting to a vantage point is a good idea. Move follows Aisha's lead.

Harmony watched before she sighed in relief as there was nothing on the other side other than a pathway. She would follow the others before hearing Jove, giggling. "I don't see any reason why she wouldn't let Caiphon play with Tsavi. Yeah, there's always the possibility that they could be best friends." she whispered back to him with a smile. She would follow Aisha and Jove, quietly getting to higher ground as well.

The party follows Aisha to the fork in the path, rising to the top of the plateau, where a familiar sight that you've seen only in dreams and visions comes into view.

Below, at the edge of the plateau, a large settlement lies in the base of what once could have been a large body of water; a fact that is confirmed by the sight of a massive wooden dam that has been constructed at the far end of the plateau.

The quaint wooden structures are at odds with their surroundings. In one corner of the valley, lizardfolk oversee a group of humanoid prisoners - humans, dwarves, gnomes, and a few of the cat-like folk that you've seen throughout Ruskivek - as they labor over pickaxes, carving their way into the surrounding cliffs. Salamanders walk among the settlement, commanding lizardfolk and prisoners alike. The grisliest sight is at the edge of the settlement just below you: A stone altar has been constructed, with snakelike entities carved into its face, stained red with splatters of what must surely be blood.

For Jove:

Abraxas watches the salamanders and tries to count them. He looks for both places where they are grouped together and isolated, where there are only one or two. He does the same for the lizard folk, trying to perceive patterns: 24.

He mentions that he is doing this to the others, while trying to remember everything he knows about each creature: 21.

Aisha was glad there was nothing along the way, though she almost felt silly for having been so 'quiet' for nothing. But better safe than sorry. Those words echoing through her head over and over... As the group finally made their way successfully to the top of the plateau, and Abraxas had already began to do what Aisha had intended, but trusted his apparently exceedingly keen eye... She set about stealthily moving along the entire edge, looking down and around... in case their were other paths... and to see if the 'river runs through it' path was here or not. Before scouting the edges of the 'villages' walls.. seeing where any entrances were, how many, and would combine that information with Abraxas' knowledge to hopefulyl help formulate a plan of action. (Invest for walls, gates, paths etc: 3)

When all pertinent information had been shared, Aisha would say to those gathered. This is what this one meant by 'does this look familiar.... a sigh of mild exasperation escaping her throat .... Tsavi avoiding being 'too close' to the edge at any given moment. Though it seemed to Lick at Ciaphon if he/she came close, though wasn't quite in a playful mood as she could once again sense her mistress' growing tension. 

Anyway... So Aisha does nyot remember.. is the flooding a bad thing or a good thing? Are we supposed to keep the water dammed up... or.. is letting the water flow our true objective.... Please.. remind Aisha of the dreams you've all had.. as she has only had it once... And would nyot want to misstep over a false memory. Also.. we should attempt to save those unfortunate folk... if at all possible... Aisha still has a spell ready should we need to 'stand our ground...' but it would work best in a gnoll.... err.. pocket? Eh an area where Aisha can place it so it cannot be walked around...  but it is as dangerous to us as it is them, and would force us ALL into ranged combat.

Aisha may also be able to assist from here....... maybe... she says, trying to gauge the distance from the edge of the plateau closest to the 'village' from its closest end to its farthest.. to see how far her bow could actually make it, as she's formulating plans. Aisha doe not believe they will be willing to bargain.. if they're sacrificing people... nor would Aisha want to for sacrificing people similar to her...

Aisha would wait until everyone else put in their two cents.

((OOC DM, does it look like if the dam were broken, the water would likely flow into the 'village' or around it? Just asking for clarification. ))

"They seem to be worshipping Zuzeca, lord of snakes. Does that ring any bells for you, Abraxas? Maybe that would help us determine their intentions." (OOC: Using Help for Abraxas's knowledge check.

"And I think the dam breaking is a bad thing. It destroyed a city in my dream. And portals sprouted up everywhere. This is definitely the place of my nightmare. I'm not sure how, but I think this is somehow tied to portals from another plane opening up and pouring in baddies. Perhaps we can get some answers before it all goes down. Does anyone speak... fire snake?"

Harmony looked down, shocked at what she sees as she remembers all the visions and dreams having to do with this. She was listening to Aisha and Jove, thinking. "But isn't this what the vision was showing us? Aren't we supposed to divert a nearby river so that water flows into this red valley to have kept them from being here? It seems they got here before we could get here though and I wouldn't want all those innocent people to get hurt either. If we could just get the lizard folk and salamanders all together away from the others, I could try to incapacitate them or surround them in darkness and then we could quickly evacuate/help the prisoners to get out of here before having to fight." Harmony would have questioned Jove, Abraxas, and Olive about the vision and told her idea to everyone.

Abraxas concentrates on Zuzeca, lord of snakes, thinking about the history he's read (20) and/or the religions he has studied (15).