We will depart in a few minutes. Our destination is to the north, far to the north. They offload their goods in the mountains, for transportation to wherever it is they gather. It is a journey of a tenday, more or less. Remzir and her Thayan allies are down below, in the rooms around the gate courtyard; no doubt you passed them by to reach me. There is no place you could remain unobserved, I think, though perhaps smallfolk can find a nook that I have overlooked. It matters not.
He stands, the ogres backing up as he comes to tower over even them. I must be about my business. If you destroy this little group of cultists, come and speak to me.
The servant ogres drape a rich cloak around the cloud giant's shoulders. The giant points to the door. Go now. I must begin our journey. Do not enter the Steering Tower, please. You would likely crash my castle if you attempted to interfere with its controls.
(He points through a window, and you see he is indicating the tower that you first saw after you climbed the staircase to the upper courtyard.)
He seems lost in thought for a moment, but then comes back to himself. This castle; yes, I did build it myself. That was many hundreds of years ago; I have lived longer than most of even my kind, and lost... lost a great deal. He shakes his head. But not a matter to discuss today. Good day, little ones.
He gestures again for you to leave, and he calls down the stairs: These are my guests; allow them to leave in peace.
Soar bows low, sincerely thankful, before standing to back out of the room. "We of course will not interfere. Thank you for the welcome. I have known loss, perhaps on a smaller timescale than you have, but maybe we will have time to share stories one day. Thank you."She pauses and waits for anyone else in the party to say anything else, and then leaves the room.
She turns to the party at the top of the stairs and says quietly, "well, that was almost a disaster, but we have if not an ally, at least, not an enemy, and we have his blessing to take the fight to the cult in this castle. I'll try to ask the ogres below where we might find even brief refuge away from the cult as the giant's guests. When and how should we strike Rezmir and her friends? Sooner might be better, but they might not expect it later today."
She descends the stairs and introduces herself to the ogres, tries to get to know their names, and says that their lord suggested there might be a good out of the way place for "smallfolk" to keep away from the cultists, asking them where they might recommend. The goal is to be friendly/entertaining and not an annoyance. If they're not totally grumpy, she'll share that Blagothkus said he would not interfere if she and the party fought the cultists, and tries to feel out if the ogres have any thoughts about that, if they're supporters, if they have any advice.
Nate simply says "Thank you", bows his head to the giant, and leaves right behind Soar.
Nate responds to Soar "Woah. He was.... huge. I am not sure who I'd want less as an enemy, the dragons or the giants. Actually, that's not true." Nate smiles at her.
"Yes, exactly what I was thinking. Let's go and ask the ogres where we can have some moments to ourselves, then lay out a plan. It is going to be difficult to get to Rezmir and the other scum without someone seeing us, at least that's what big blue was saying. Maybe we can use my spell that will help us sneak around."
(hoping the ogres can tell us somewhere to go so we can plan, and we can take a look at the map and figure out where Rezmir is now that we know they are in and around the rooms closer to the lower courtyard, likely the ones we passed, but let's see the map.)
(Also, will the map perhaps be updated with more open sections now that the giant has given us that info, or no?)
The information that the cloud giant has given you is a bit limited, but I can post some updated maps, based on what he said and what you have seen, yes.
Soar, the ogres are not very friendly and not very interested in answering your questions. The uniformed ones seem to see it as beneath them, and the others have already returned to their training. Make a Persuasion check, and ask three specific questions; depending on your roll, you'll get answers to some or all or none of them. :)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
1. Where would be a good place to hide from the cult & anyone working with the cult? 2. Have they noticed any blind spots or weaknesses in the cult? 3. Is Blagothkus' hair magical?
There are two pathways up the mound to two towers. One is a high blue tower; you see two ogres on top, manning (ogring?) a ballista. The other tower is crumbling stone, about a hundred feet tall; it looks abandoned.
The ogres only pay attention to one question as they are herding you out of the door: Guest rooms. Not used. They point towards the south side of the castle, and you recall passing by a few ice doors as the first ogres were escorting you to this tower.
Soar nods in thanks, and then moves along toward the guest rooms, eyes alert for anyone who's not an ogre. She wonders how she managed to find herself feeling relatively safe amongst ogres and giants, in a castle about to fly even farther north. "Glad we got warm weather gear. Everyone let's hope we get to these rooms without being seen and we can sort ourselves out."
You are undisturbed as you move through the upper courtyard, round the large mound, and you reach the nearest of the three guest chambers, open the unlocked door, and enter. Inside is a giant-sized bed, but otherwise the room is fairly sparse of furnishings - a giant-sized chair, table and wardrobe, and that's it. The walls are the now-familiar enchanted ice, and though there is no source of heat that you can see, the interior is pleasantly cool rather than cold.
You close the door behind you, and you are alone and unobserved, as best as you can tell.
"WOAH. So... we did it? That went better than I was expecting. Although I am nervous about where the hell this castle is headed. Far north? What the hell does that mean? I was hoping we could take care of business and get the hell out of here before it takes off, but that's just not going to happen. It will be interesting to see what it feels like when this thing is flying." Nate gulps.
Nate kind of looses himself in that moment and then snaps back with it.
"How are we going to hit them? I mean I don't think we can just go storming room to room. I can cast the sneaky spell, but it didn't seem like there are going to be many places to hide down there anyhow. So might be useless."
He looks at Soar, and then the others "You might have to put on your acting face again. All of you. We can figure out some story as to why we are disturbing each room. I can ride on one of your shoulders as a spider so there'd be one less person at least. Then when we come across THE room, we rush them and do our best to kill them as quick as we can."
The outer wall has a single large window set to one side; it's not glass, of course, but just ice that has been enchanted to be fully transparent. Outside you do see an icy ledge - there's no railing to make it a balcony as such. It's not clear how you would reach it.
(Was also wondering about Nate wildshape scouting so we can find the room where, say, Jos is resting or not suspecting at the very least, and bypass guards to go there somehow. Do we see any animals or insects in the castle?)
We will depart in a few minutes. Our destination is to the north, far to the north. They offload their goods in the mountains, for transportation to wherever it is they gather. It is a journey of a tenday, more or less. Remzir and her Thayan allies are down below, in the rooms around the gate courtyard; no doubt you passed them by to reach me. There is no place you could remain unobserved, I think, though perhaps smallfolk can find a nook that I have overlooked. It matters not.
He stands, the ogres backing up as he comes to tower over even them. I must be about my business. If you destroy this little group of cultists, come and speak to me.
Soar, make a Persuasion check.
(The two ogres combing his hair remained in the room; it was the uniformed guard ogres who left when Blagothkus signalled them to do so.)
Soar persuasion: 11
The servant ogres drape a rich cloak around the cloud giant's shoulders. The giant points to the door. Go now. I must begin our journey. Do not enter the Steering Tower, please. You would likely crash my castle if you attempted to interfere with its controls.
(He points through a window, and you see he is indicating the tower that you first saw after you climbed the staircase to the upper courtyard.)
He seems lost in thought for a moment, but then comes back to himself. This castle; yes, I did build it myself. That was many hundreds of years ago; I have lived longer than most of even my kind, and lost... lost a great deal. He shakes his head. But not a matter to discuss today. Good day, little ones.
He gestures again for you to leave, and he calls down the stairs: These are my guests; allow them to leave in peace.
Soar bows low, sincerely thankful, before standing to back out of the room. "We of course will not interfere. Thank you for the welcome. I have known loss, perhaps on a smaller timescale than you have, but maybe we will have time to share stories one day. Thank you." She pauses and waits for anyone else in the party to say anything else, and then leaves the room.
She turns to the party at the top of the stairs and says quietly, "well, that was almost a disaster, but we have if not an ally, at least, not an enemy, and we have his blessing to take the fight to the cult in this castle. I'll try to ask the ogres below where we might find even brief refuge away from the cult as the giant's guests. When and how should we strike Rezmir and her friends? Sooner might be better, but they might not expect it later today."
She descends the stairs and introduces herself to the ogres, tries to get to know their names, and says that their lord suggested there might be a good out of the way place for "smallfolk" to keep away from the cultists, asking them where they might recommend. The goal is to be friendly/entertaining and not an annoyance. If they're not totally grumpy, she'll share that Blagothkus said he would not interfere if she and the party fought the cultists, and tries to feel out if the ogres have any thoughts about that, if they're supporters, if they have any advice.
Nate simply says "Thank you", bows his head to the giant, and leaves right behind Soar.
Nate responds to Soar "Woah. He was.... huge. I am not sure who I'd want less as an enemy, the dragons or the giants. Actually, that's not true." Nate smiles at her.
"Yes, exactly what I was thinking. Let's go and ask the ogres where we can have some moments to ourselves, then lay out a plan. It is going to be difficult to get to Rezmir and the other scum without someone seeing us, at least that's what big blue was saying. Maybe we can use my spell that will help us sneak around."
(hoping the ogres can tell us somewhere to go so we can plan, and we can take a look at the map and figure out where Rezmir is now that we know they are in and around the rooms closer to the lower courtyard, likely the ones we passed, but let's see the map.)
(Also, will the map perhaps be updated with more open sections now that the giant has given us that info, or no?)
The information that the cloud giant has given you is a bit limited, but I can post some updated maps, based on what he said and what you have seen, yes.
Upper Courtyard
Lower courtyard:
Soar, the ogres are not very friendly and not very interested in answering your questions. The uniformed ones seem to see it as beneath them, and the others have already returned to their training. Make a Persuasion check, and ask three specific questions; depending on your roll, you'll get answers to some or all or none of them. :)
1. Where would be a good place to hide from the cult & anyone working with the cult?
2. Have they noticed any blind spots or weaknesses in the cult?
3. Is Blagothkus' hair magical?
Persuasion: 14
Is that a pathway up a mound in the middle of the upper courtyard to a tower? Do we see anyone using it? Do we see anyone not an ogre out there?
There are two pathways up the mound to two towers. One is a high blue tower; you see two ogres on top, manning (ogring?) a ballista. The other tower is crumbling stone, about a hundred feet tall; it looks abandoned.
The ogres only pay attention to one question as they are herding you out of the door: Guest rooms. Not used. They point towards the south side of the castle, and you recall passing by a few ice doors as the first ogres were escorting you to this tower.
Soar nods in thanks, and then moves along toward the guest rooms, eyes alert for anyone who's not an ogre. She wonders how she managed to find herself feeling relatively safe amongst ogres and giants, in a castle about to fly even farther north. "Glad we got warm weather gear. Everyone let's hope we get to these rooms without being seen and we can sort ourselves out."
You are undisturbed as you move through the upper courtyard, round the large mound, and you reach the nearest of the three guest chambers, open the unlocked door, and enter. Inside is a giant-sized bed, but otherwise the room is fairly sparse of furnishings - a giant-sized chair, table and wardrobe, and that's it. The walls are the now-familiar enchanted ice, and though there is no source of heat that you can see, the interior is pleasantly cool rather than cold.
You close the door behind you, and you are alone and unobserved, as best as you can tell.
[Can I check whether the bedrooms/other rooms have windows/balconies? If so, what size are they?]
"WOAH. So... we did it? That went better than I was expecting. Although I am nervous about where the hell this castle is headed. Far north? What the hell does that mean? I was hoping we could take care of business and get the hell out of here before it takes off, but that's just not going to happen. It will be interesting to see what it feels like when this thing is flying." Nate gulps.
Nate kind of looses himself in that moment and then snaps back with it.
"How are we going to hit them? I mean I don't think we can just go storming room to room. I can cast the sneaky spell, but it didn't seem like there are going to be many places to hide down there anyhow. So might be useless."
He looks at Soar, and then the others "You might have to put on your acting face again. All of you. We can figure out some story as to why we are disturbing each room. I can ride on one of your shoulders as a spider so there'd be one less person at least. Then when we come across THE room, we rush them and do our best to kill them as quick as we can."
Nate doesn't have any other ideas.....
[Question about window was in part because spider-Nate might be able to do some recon via the outside of the castle.]
The outer wall has a single large window set to one side; it's not glass, of course, but just ice that has been enchanted to be fully transparent. Outside you do see an icy ledge - there's no railing to make it a balcony as such. It's not clear how you would reach it.
(Was also wondering about Nate wildshape scouting so we can find the room where, say, Jos is resting or not suspecting at the very least, and bypass guards to go there somehow. Do we see any animals or insects in the castle?)
Make a Perception check to scan for bugs.
Can Nate make a retro check for any animals or creatures that he might've seen while they were walking around the castle at any point up until now?
Sure, go ahead.