Pizazz's Myth Drannor

Thrius receives the bouncy ball from Simmal and gladly passes on the mechanical legs.

During the rest, Thyrius approaches his brother: "Should one of us jump into another portal, something that has already happened at least twice is just as many days, the other will follow." He lifts the invisible rope and asks for permission to perform the binding.

Xemnez starts to answer Toc, only to find himself snarling in Simmal's direction. "I am /not/ weakened." He affirms, before nostrils flaring in agitation. Yet after a moment or two of glaring at the man, the golden Leonin seems to almost start at an epiphany, and then sighs and rubs at his face. "I thought I had spoke of this before, but clearly....I had not." He drags the hand down and shakes his head once. "I am fine, as they kept their word, forced in part though they were by my 'sudden' departure. But the price of their abstaining from interfering with it... was the memory itself plucked right... *sigh*... From the soul."

With that, he got up and dusted himself off. "What's done is done. I'll bother not without concern further of such, and ask of you to do the same. Now let's press on. Brother Thyrius, see to the tethering. And Toc, I'll.. keep what said in mind."

With the invisible rope tethered, it becomes intangible. The two brothers are linked. 

You then depart the market hall and head back out onto the walk around the outside of the city ring. Ahead you see one of the tooth like towers that ring the outside of the city, as well as a conical tower held relatively upright by a ring of arched buttresses. This is the building that Toc believes was an 'observatory' and held the fragment of the other roof within it.  As you near it close enough to see details, you see that seven expressionless humanoid figures stand in silence around it.  The creatures have bluish skin and ....stand motionless. Who knows how long they've stood like that, but...their clothing moves, and they waver slightly, so they don't appear to be frozen solid. You can see the roof has a large, ragged hole in it where something large smashed through.

Nuzej forges ahead of the group, trying to work with Russel to act as ethereal scouts to notice any beings, any obvious traps, any items of note that lie in store for the group. 

Investigation: 12
Perception: 19

How tall/slender/muscly are the humanoid figures? Do their fingertips sport sharp claws or the slight glow of magic? Do they have hair and, if so, is it also wavering a bit? Are they all the same height/build? Do they have mouths and teeth that would indicate their need to eat?

-> Raw d20 if needed (nature: +1, medicine: +2, perception: +8, investigation: +1, survival: +8): 5

"Hit the center of their space with a chicken arrow and see what happens," Thyrius suggests.

None of the creatures seem to have any hair. Otherwise they appear mostly human in nature, aside from their blue skin and white eyes.  Three of them are wearing armor and have swords and bows. Three of them are barefoot and wearing stylish belted robes that end at the knees,  one is barefoot and wearing more of a monk robe that goes all the at to its feet. The three warriors appear female in form. They appear of average human height, with slim but muscles bodies. They each have unique facial features and slightly different body types. 

Nuzej, followed by Russel zips ahead. The seven creatures pay you no mind, and seem unable to see you. Upon closer inspection they continue to look quite alive and humanish. 

"Who could think the city that was buried under the ice for thousands of years is a such high populated place." If there is a way around the figures to get to the ceiling or the roof fragment if this is the one holding potential clue, Mirica will try that. If not... The roof is broken, so, there is an opening, but even if not, the "etherial" team has better chances to get through and read what can be read there.

"Were things but so simple. But then, what better proof of their significance then the amount of carrion attracted to the corpse of their home." Xemnez comments as he rested a hand over his axe and study the figures. If allotted a minute to do so, he'd study the more armored figures with far more attention, and trying to take their measure in comparison to his own abilities.

--> Using Know Your Enemy, focusing on the bold points:

Starting at 7th level, if you spend at least 1 minute observing or interacting with another creature outside combat, you can learn certain information about its capabilities compared to your own. The DM tells you if the creature is your equal, superior, or inferior in regard to two of the following characteristics of your choice:

• Strength score
• Dexterity score
• Constitution score
• Armor Class
• Current hit points
• Total class levels (if any)
• Fighter class levels (if any)

Thyrius has seen his brother study his enemies before. As such, he does not interrupt Xem for the required minute. Instead, he turns to speak mentally to the others.

Should his chicken arrow idea not be favored by others, Thyrius reconsiders the approach as a whole: "Is our main interest in this area the fallen/broken piece of roofing? If so, I suggest we simply move on. Toc already paid a dear price for reading the message from afar. What else are we expecting to find besides the words Toc already read?"

Xemnez studies his opponents. Their armor appears mundane and simple, while four wear nothing protective whatsoever. And though they are standing still and he's not yet seen their prowess in battle, the way they hold themselves, the lack of scars or visible signs of battle, he'd figure that they're likely inferior to him regarding both with stamina in battle and experience protecting themselves from attacks. Though, that is really little surprise to the formidable warrior. 

The figures surround the tower, able to see at least one of their allies to each side of them. The one in the longer robe stands directly in front of the set of iron double doors that lead into the building. Though, as Mirica looks closer, it appears as if the doors themselves have been welded shut. 

Nuzej (followed by Russel) steps easily past the guardians and into through the door. There, three hulking frog creatures stand silently and unmoving staring at the door. Slaad. They have massive hooks that jut out of the back of their hands like claws. Nuzej tries to see if they're frozen solid or alive...and sees just the slowest motion of a heart beat.  Thump.  ...........    Thump.  Perhaps one every thirty seconds. The creatures do not blink. So, though they are alive, they seem to be in some sort of partial stasis. 

The two of them examine the lower floor, and then head upstairs to the large open room there. 

Just as Toc had seen, a large telescope dominates a thirty-foot-diameter circular chamber at the top of the tower. To be very clear, there is NO opening in the ceiling, the telescope appears to point at a solid metal ceiling of the building. Unmentioned by Toc though, there is a creature here. Gazing into the telescope’s eyepiece is a hulking, frog-like biped in wizard’s robes. It mumbles to itself but Nuzej can't hear what it's saying. Adamantine shields cover the observatory’s windows. The large chunk of stone from the other building that crashed through the roof, is embedded in the floor like a jagged stone knife.

While Thyrius waits for Nuzej and Russl to return, he gauges that his brother has had enough time to examine the blue-skinned folk and approaches Xem: "What say you, brother? How strong are they?"

Xemnez grins without taking his eyes off the guards. "Not nearly as tough as I, brother. I'd wager only their numbers being a problem, if it were not for the other surprises we've seen so far in this place." He replied. "Be that so, we won't get our answers by standing out here ruminating. Toc? What say you of the others still on the other side? I assume they've slipped inside by now to check things out. But have they returned and tried to signal you yet? Or-" He looks to the rest. "Might we better suited to seeing to those guards and inquiring?"

Nuzej returns and tries his best to convey what he found, pretending to be large, then a frog, then holds the number of fingers up matching the number of frog people, then touching his heart where his hand “beats” very slowly, then pantomimes going upstairs, and tries a similar frog person puttering about and looking into a telescope. Then he pantomimes walking back into reality and then a sign conveying a yes/no question.

Toc looks at Nuzej as he attempts to pantomime this situation. Toc says out loud, "If I understand it, Nuzej went inside. He found....three big frogs that are alive. Then, upstairs, he saw another frog, and I'd guess he was using the telescope. Then...he came back here, and he ...hmm. Yes. Wants to know if he should just return to the material plane. I think yes at this point."   

Toc gives Nuzej a big thumbs up and nods in an exaggerated way. 

"So, I don't think we have any reason to go into this building, but I think we should still approach these creatures, just to...understand them a bit. But, if we'd prefer to avoid, we can do that. Where next though? There are these two outer towers, and this big dome, but nothing else really for quite a ways, as the next part of the city seems locked in solid ice. Do we circle all the way around, or..?"

"Do they seem alive to you, or frozen in time in some way?" Thyrius asks about the non-frog creatures in front of them, after Toc explain what Nuzej found inside. "They seem ready for a fight, but I am not against approaching them with the intention of asking questions."

Thyrius looks around to see what others think.

"They do not seem talkative and we still have to get to the central chamber as fast as possible. Nothing like the next clue is written on the forehead of any of them, and we already wasted time investigating the building we did not need to come inside. Can we just move to the next potential target without losing more time on pointless curiosity?"

Simaal "The telescope frog who is bigger than a human, appears to be some kind of mage and has a giant telescope. It appears to be rather talkative but it's going over some formulae and other magical matters that I could not figure out. It's possible there's some connection to what's happening here, for instance, it may very well view into other planes where other Mythalar are for instance. Granted in this case the frogmage appears to be looking at a strange blue blurry star that may be some kind of giant comet that is going to slam in our world. In that sense I do not consider it pointless to go in, but it may lead to a fight so avoidance of all except for the mage in the observatory I'd recommend. I maintain that we know very little of this place and rushing in without knowledge is often to one's detriment, but granted those that do are not around to tell that tale and so the cycle repeats in an unending pattern.

Letting them know we wish to speak to the mage in the telescope room may dissuade them from initially attacking."

"Or they might not care without first input from the frog mage, as contrary as that is to common sense." Xemnez chimed in. "As things stand, unless you have a means of speaking directly to their possible master, best to leave this place for last. Even if there's some world ender on its way, we need to focus on one thing at a time. So, lets be on to the next closest tower. Even if its a bit of a trip." 

Nuzej tries to talk to Russel for a bit, explaining where he is going, and setting up some basic yes/no pantomime signals for Toc. He’s hoping the kenku can just scout for the group and stay extra hidden.

He steps back into the prime material plane and relays all the detail he saw in the building so there’s no confusion. 

Xemnez spoke and agreed with Mirica, and so Thyrius agreed with the decision to move onward to a different tower.

Noticing Nuzej has now abandoned the ethereal plane, the black cat asks: "Is the plan for the bird man to continue scouting ahead as a ghost? That seems the most efficient way but, should he also return to the physical world, I gather we can both scout the old fashioned way." It should be clear that Thyrius does not mind taking over scouting duties but he has to admit that being a ghost is better than hiding, so he votes for that tactic in case Russel is still on the other plane and willing.