Quill flies up to the hole into the Chimera cavern, when within thirty feet and if nothing is in sight (PERCEPTION 22), Ink will cause her to disappear into her pocket dimension for a rest.

Ink then backs away from the hole, giving Marav space to cover it. He debriefs the party. 

Marav waits for what feels like a VERY long time, holding the blanket over the hole. 

After several minutes, the elevator passes on its way up.

After discussion, Ink leaves the cavern with Quill. At the mouth of the cave he asks, "I don't suppose any of you has the power to make me invisible, eh?"

Regardless of the response, he makes his way back up the stairs, as quiet as possible, with Quill flying ahead, keeping a lookout. 

As Ink walks away Marav brushes a hand on his shoulder and Quill's feathers whispers something and Ink and Quill disappear."There ya go."

After another hike, Marav and Ink reach the top of the cliff in the cold afternoon sun. (If this is still your plan:) Marav is able to cast invisibility easily on Ink and Quill, and both disappear into thin air. 

As you approach, you notice that both the gates are open to both sides of the village. 

There is the small rickety bridge that you have used a few times, but just a bit higher up and to the north is a heavy bridge of iron and steel. It's makeshift, but it looks like it would work for any giant to walk across. The two walled sides of the village are now connected via the two bridges, allowing for easy access between the two. 

And sure enough, standing guard now on each side is an adult fire giant in full battle armor. The giants look bored, but they aren't shirking from their duties. They're mostly looking to the skies, and out at the vast mountain range before them.

When Marav turns Ink and Quill invisible, Ink whispers to him, "I'll be back soon."

Ink moves slowly and quietly along the path up the village. He checks for traps and alarms along the way, focusing on the points in front of the bridges and the gate. Quill travels silently above. When reaching just past the opening of the gate, Ink stops, steadies himself, and slips into Quill's vision so he can, through her eyes, check the water wheel and, if they're very lucky, discover the immovable rod still in place. 

Ink reaches the open gate with little trouble, passing first the small rickety bridge and then the big, metal one. This second bridge is like the gantry structure in the foundry below this mountain, where you fought the fire giants before fleeing through the mines. But this bridge is much more expertly made. It's almost beautiful, the way that the lines interact with each other. The bolts and welding points likewise compliment the whole, as if it were a gigantic work of art. It just looks solid, sturdy, and safe. Ink can't find anything amiss out here, seems like there's no traps laid. 

However, inside the village is a different story. Ink sees a tripwire made with a length of rope, running about a foot from the ground and stretched across the gated opening. To a giant, it might have looked nearly invisible; but this is a 1/4-inch length of silk rope, 20 feet across. Hard to miss. Ink can tell that the tripwire extends off past the gate somewhere, but it would take further investigation to follow the rope and see where it leads. 

The armored fire giant inside the walled village is lazily patrolling, eyes mostly looking above or to the horizon. He carries a rock in his hand, and his sword is sheathed across his broad back. The patrolling fire giants are both wearing heavy layers of furs under, and over, their armor. Nearby, a large bonfire burns.

Quill reaches the new water wheel to find that this replacement has been reinforced with powerful steel brackets and girders. It is definitely bigger than the first one, and has been expertly made. Through Quill's eyes, Ink can tell that this is a piece of excellent and clever craftsmanship; it is an upgrade of extreme quality. It powers the massive crankshaft that operates the elevator inside, from where Quill can hear the rest of the mechanism turning. 

But Quill cannot see the immovable rod. As far as she remembers, she left it right about here. But now there's a brand new wheel in that place.  

From offline discussions... 

jr_el_leon
Ink will send Quill along the wall over the gate use her keen eyes to follow the silk rope trip wire to its terminus. If Quill needs to fly lower, giant knee level for instance, she will.

awaypturwpn
Quill is able to fly around the giant and bonfire no problem. Tucked against the wall is what looks like a firing mechanism attached to the rope. The rope is taut; it looks like pulling on the rope will trigger this mechanism. It's an iron box with four holes in it, and all four holes are pointed in the same direction. towards the gate. The gated trap is on the far side, across the bridge. The gates are open.

jr_el_leon
Sending Quill to the gap where the wooden log from the wheel house enters the internal elevator mechanism. I don't remember if there's a perch, but it's within range of our bond. If there's a perch at the window, she'll take it to take a steady look.

awaypturwpn
Perception check please!

jr_el_leon --- 2d20k1+3 Quill perception = ( 7 +8)+3 = 11

awaypturwpn
Inside the dark and cold room, Quill sees the elevator mechanism is in constant motion, turning on the massive crankshaft. It looks like everything in here has been upgraded, with wooden pieces either clad in metal or completely replaced by metal workings.
There are lots of sounds, clinking, thudding, clicking, clanking. 

jr_el_leon
I know she can go further into the room, but I'm not sure how much further in the bond will keep, but she'll sweep the room, Ink is interested in doors in/out and although interested in perhaps weak points in the machinery, I'm assuming that previous perception roll isn't enough to pick up on that though, so just doors, entrances, enemies, etc.

awaypturwpn
Please make an initiative roll for Quill!

jr_el_leon ---- 1d20+1 = (9)+1 = 10

awaypturwpn ---- game_die Result: 1d20 (11) Total: 11

awaypturwpn
Quill flies straight though what turns out to be some kind of living, wispy creature. However, it is as surprised as she is.

jr_el_leon
Quill has seen similar creatures before... In the form of an invisible stalker at least.

awaypturwpn ---- game_die Result: 1d20 (8) Total: 8 (Perception)

awaypturwpn
With a hiss, the living wisp goes off in the other direction in search of the invisible Quill. Quill has an opportunity to escApe if she likes

jr_el_leon
Yeah. She's going to dash out as fast as she can. Fly straight up out the window then pull hard around to the other side of the village. Try to lose this flying Wisp. 

awaypturwpn
She easily succeeds; she can see that whatever the creature was, it is searching in the wrong area, chattering in some kind of primordial language.

jr_el_leon
Damn air elementals...
Ink feels he's pressed his luck enough for the afternoon. Quill on her way out will look for similar traps on the side of the village where Ink was standing. Ink himself makes his way back to Marav.

awaypturwpn
Quill doesn’t sense any tripwires on the other side of the village. 

You’ve decided to regroup, and you’re able to meet together in about an hour of decent down the cliffside switchbacks. 

What have Matrix, Crownsguard, and Aya been up to while the others were gone?

Matrix has been instructing Aya and Crownsguard on how to use the harpoon while they do their thing. he is also looking with a critical eye for ways to improve it later.

// Screen wipe //

It's getting towards eventide; the sun is dipping towards the peaks in the west, and the winter sky is just beginning to darken in the east. Mists are beginning to gather below, where the sunlight no longer shines.

By conjuring Matrix' Goat of Traveling and hitching it to the harpoon gun cart, and using Crownsguard's brawn on the back end, you are able to bring the weapon up, but it has taken you about three hours to do so. The cart is now a few minutes from the bridges; you can just see them through the gathering mists. 

(Per Discord conversation...)

When Marav waves his magic staff and casts Conjure Woodland Beings, eight tiny fairies appear! Six are pixies, and two are sprites. The pixies immediately start to talk to each other, giggling and laughing, while the sprites focus in on Marav and assume a flanking position, intent on guarding him until given any other orders. One of the pixies points to the nearby waterfall and starts to fly off to explore it.

Ink is then able to levitate the heavy cart. You will be now able to maneuver it relatively silently; the only noise would be your footfalls as you climb the remainder of the steps. 

"Stay close to me and it of site. And be quiet. The fun will begin soon." He orders them. 

Ink quickly goes over the plan, asking Marav to pass it on to the pixies as he doubts they'd listen to him...

"Last time we were here, there were two fire giants. One on either side of the village. Assuming it's the same set up, all the pixies should go invisible and fly over the wall of the eastern (right side) of the village and attempt to POLYMORPH the giant into a turtle... not a giant snapping turtle, but a normal, small, lake turtle. It shouldn't be bigger than this -" Ink uses his hands to show the size of a standard medium humanoid bowl "- that should keep it from going anywhere. The pixie who successfully turned the giant into a turtle, should stay in that village and keep safe to maintain concentration on the spell. Any other pixie who has yet to try and cast polymorph, is to go invisible and then scoot to the other side of the village and try the same thing on the giant there. Whether successfully polymorphing the giants or not, any pixie who already attempted to cast polymorph and can no longer do so should go invisible and return to us to cast FLY on us, in order of the Goat, Matrix, Crownsguard, Ayaci, me, and then Marav, if he wants it (Ink points out the individuals as he names them). Any pixie that cast fly, stay safe and out of the way to maintain concentration. Marav, the sprites look ready to protect you, so I'll leave you to order them as you see fit - perhaps they can HELP you with any combat."

Marav passes on the plan to all his new "friends".

"Listen to the wizard and the rest of the party."

// Alright! Just need a group Dexterity (Stealth) check, which will determine how close you’re able to get before initiative starts. //

// And while you’re at it, go ahead and roll Initiative as well! //

// Stealth Ink... 21

// Stealth Quill... 17

// Initiative Ink... 14

----

When the group is close enough, Ink will send Quill to scout the basic situation to see if it has changed and relay that information to the group so that they can adjust the plan if need be.

// Perception Quill, if needed... 10... at advantage 19 

Initiative: 11

Stealth: 13

stealth 8

initiative 7

Don’t worry! I’ll cancel out the nat 1 with a Nat 20!

Stealth: 4

Initiative: 23

(Forgot I was rolling for Aya!)

Ayaci Stealth: 15

And Initiative: 6