Shadowthorn's Princes of the Apocalypse

Xanranzan's attention is a bit all over the place just trying to follow along with the conversation. So, without her saying anything, he just glanced at her once or twice in confusion throughout the conversation before being sidetracked anyways by everyone else. Although, for just a second he did consider the look was for him to maybe use his magic on the cloth to make sure it was clean.... but he quickly shakes his head, dismissing the idea.  And soon enough, the group is on the move again anyhow.

"Well its like I said, I ain't got much to offer here. Especially if that's the only way in." He whispered. "So, uh... good luck, I guess?" He adds, giving a two-fingered salute.

With a comedic sweatdrop on her head, Kethra smiles and responds to the wizard, "No, we're not going to charge through the gateway and into the corridor of arrow slits! I'll lead the way to the gatehouse first. Then we can hopefully get in to the city through there."

Quote from LordShadowthorn >>

Tyde, your owl sees that the only entrance to the city ahead seems to be a squat, stone gatehouse.  Beyond the open gates, a corridor with arrow slits at every bend zigzags forwards, and blocks the view of what might be ahead.

Kethra salutes back to Xanranzan. "Everyone knows the plan, right? Wish me luck!"

Before stepping forward, Kethra takes a cautious peek and tries to see if there's anyone on watch in the gatehouse, or at least if there's any light coming from any of the windows. Perception: 5

(aaaand that's a nat 1 lol) The cautious peek is totally botched and Kethra stumbles out in the open. The white haired girl clumsily pulls the hood of the cloak she was wearing underneath back up and pushes on, half-embarrassed and half-cautiously moving towards the gatehouse, taking the dodge action the whole way.

Reactively Marros steps forward to grab Kethra as she stumbles, but all his clanky armour does is clank. He sees that she catches herself before actually falling over. He steps back quietly, waiting for the go signal.

((Ooc: Just a bit of drama to add to the scene. No intended actions etc))

(To be clear, are you still trying to sneak in?  I mentioned in PM that there's no good cover in the gatehouse itself, and it's dimly lit.)

Kethra, there are no visible windows on the outside of the gatehouse.

(Oh sorry I misread that. I thought you said there was no cover approaching the gatehouse. Kethra will approach it anyways, taking the dodge action the whole time as stated before.)

If Kethra makes it safely to the gatehouse, she will press by a wall, signaling to the dimly lit window of a gatehouse, then gesture for the rest of the party to approach. After doing that, a little hooded head takes a little peek to what's inside the gatehouse if there's a window low enough. Perception: 16

(All you can see of the gatehouse is the corridor leading through it.  There are no windows, although you think you might be able to see arrow slits in the walls of the corridor.)

(You can't see the end of the corridor, it zig-zags back and forth and the end is out of sight.)

Tyde runs blindly off into the dark. Marros gives a sigh and runs after him. Trying to be as silent as possible in his clanky armour. Stealth 13. 

Upon his arrival next to Tyde, he whispers "How am I to keep you safe if you run off like that?"

A thoroughly confused, Xanranzan is the last to follow if not second to last, and... really makes no effort trying to be sneaky upon seeing that there was no real way to do so on approach to the Gatehouse door. Although, if Kethra shoots him a look on the way, he would flinches before at least pretending to step lightly the rest of the way. "So, uh... no changes yea? Or, did I forget somethin' again? If so.... uhm.... my bad. I-I can go back, if ya need?" He whispers to the others.

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

Then seeing Kethra's signal he will move 30 feet closer. And then Dash another 30 feet closer. If this puts Tyde within 30 feet of Kethra he will cast Misty Step and appear right by her side, against the gatehouse wall.

Whispering to Kethra, "If this gatehouse turns out to be empty we're going to feel quite foolish with all this jaunting about."

As the wizard approaches, the short hooded girl is on her tippy toes, reaching up to grab one of the torches lighting up the place, one out of sight from the corridor. She puts it out, creating a bridge of darkness for Rubin to proceed while staying invisible.

Kethra bites her lip and shrugs at Mr. Tyde's comment. "I'm okay with being a fool than risk joining whatever's making that noise out there..."

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

"If we go down there who knows what could be around every corner. Plus with all them arrow slits we'll be running a gauntlet the whole way."

Tyde looks down at Kethra and places a hand on her shoulder.

"When the others get here we all proceed together... or retreat together?" Tyde leaves this last statement hanging in the air like a question.

Kethra crosses her arms and is visibly uncomfortable, and now with his hand on her shoulder the wizard senses the barbarian flinch whenever there's a particularly loud scream coming from deeper underground.

Fortunately, the noise is briefly interrupted by Marros running in with his natural 1 stealth and Xanranzan shortly after. At this point, Mr. Tyde feels the hooded girl's shoulder rise with confidence and she looks up to him. "So you're asking if we should proceed together...or retreat together, huh. But I don't like either of those! We're going with Option C!" She takes out a javelin and uses it to point up the 50 ft gatehouse walls above confidently for a moment.

"I need someone with good dexterity to tie a rope to this thing and I'll throw this up on there. Mr. Tyde, I'm counting on our adorable feathered friend to Help me so that it gets stuck in one of the parapets." After a moment, she timidly twiddles her fingers together and continues a bit sheepishly. "I mean unless one of you guys has some kind of spell that lets you poof, climb or float up there and throw a rope down..."

"Nnnnnewp! Nu-uh. That too is a bit outside my expertise, and a bit too, uh... opposing of spirit, ya could say. Perhaps if I was one of them wishy-washy air genasi, it'd be a different story." Xanranzan readily admits while looking the wall over. "Not that I ain't glad to be an earthborn, mind'ya. Tho'... sometimes I find myself wishing I could swim through the earth like those greedy arse Xorns." He said then clicked his tongue. "But, that's neither here nor there. I'll go up last once that's all set up. That way I can catch ya'll if ya'll fall a bit easier."

Rubin makes his way over to join the others. He looks up at the high wall, then to the gatehouse. "You are going to need two roapes, mine, as well as yours likely, is barely going to reach the top." He shrugs. "No way to tell if there is enough room up there to stand, so you'll need another to get people down the far side, while the rest of us are still climbing up this one."

Kethra's pale blue eyes light up at Rubin's words. "That's a good point, Miner! So can you tie your rope to mine, then tie mine to this javelin? I can help but I'm not the best at sleight of hand."

Rubin nods nad starts to work. Sleight of hand: 22 As he ties the ropes together,t hen to the Javelin.

Rubin ties a deft knot, you're quite certain it could hold even someone in heavy armor.

The Blacksmith reaches up to The Cobbler and attempts to pat his head as the Miner busies himself with tying a knot. (How tall is Xanranzan?) He sounded troubled and she had nooo idea what any of his words were talking about, but she was glad to have a change of topic about tales of vast mysterious places beyond this cultic mess.

After a moment, she smiles and takes the moment to calm herself down as well. Using the javelin, she traces a pattern of a castle wall on the ground, then a crude arrow resembling a javelin.

“Okay, so have Allistair sit on it so it slants on a diagonal like this and the pointy end anchors to the ground. Keep an eye on the rope, make sure it stays in the middle...ok, here goes!"

Javelin to-hit at 50 ft, disadvantage canceled by owl's help: 25

(To Kethra: Xan is 6'6, so Kethra might have to do some hopping or gesturing. ^_^)

If Kethra motions for him to lower himself down, then Xanranzan did so, if albeit a bit warily so. He hadn't quite forgotten the last time the punch from last time. Even though it hadn't been aimed at him, having seen her action at least twice so far, did not make him for another surprise from the petite powerhouse. That said, to his visible surprise, any head patting has him chuckling for while there. But then he snaps to alertness as soon as its back to resolving the wall obstacle.

Xanranzan watches in both amusement and amazement as things gradually come together. But while ready to act however is necessary if need be, Xan stayed out of the way to leave things to the experts!

Kethra throws the javelin with surprising accuracy given the long distance, and it catches behind a crenellation on the wall.  She gives it a tentative tug, and it seems to hold her weight fine.  She's not sure the javelin can support Xan in all his armor, though.

"Thanks!" Kethra whispers back to Mr. Tyde, then with a mischievous smile, hops up the rope once and pats Xanranzan on the head.

Sleight of Hand, if need be: 15

She retreats up before he knows it and sticks her tongue at him from a safe distance and continues the climb up.

Quote from Mehmen >>

(To Kethra: Xan is 6'6, so Kethra might have to do some hopping or gesturing. ^_^)

(Technicaaaaally rules say that humans have to be 5-6 feet and that any character can reach 1 1/2 their height so yeah.)

Sorry, forgot some rolls:

Athletics to climb a rope (or would I need to roll acrobatics?): 19

Stealth to approach the top of the wall quietly (assuming Xanranzan hasn't dropped Pass lol) 26

(To Konpk: Well Technicaaaaally, those very same rules say that the vary widely and range from 5 to well over 6 ft tall, thank you very much. ( u.u) And I vaguely recall Kethra being on the short side, so..definitely standing on some tiptoes, I reckon. ;) But jokes aside moving on...)

Although not the most sensitive of touch even Xanranzan can't miss the attempted headpat. He doesn't try to avoid it though, and just look up at the offender after the fact smirking and shakes his head to the side. "Aight. Ya'll turn next. Not sure if that rope will hold me, but if ya'll can get the door open, then it'll probably not matter."