Trebova To The Nemotz Lab

4 DECEMBER 3460

The rest of the night was without incident. They are awoken just after 6.00 by Winnacer, who taps upon each of their tents in order to rouse them:

"We need to make an early start today after the slow progress of yesterday," the LawBringer says a little apologetically. "We should be on our way just after 7.00 so as to make a large part of the journey today. If what the Nemotz priest said was true, then we should be around two days' travel away from the laboratory now."

Each of them rise and dress themselves while the squires re-light the fire and start to warm up a large bowl of porridge for breakfast. Will and Faewen'il both stay in their tents while the others go about their business, with Faewen'il reading from her spellbook, while Will gets in a little more practice in with Oldrich. The three priests all head off away from the camp in order to make their devotions. For both Aneira and Yaz, it is a pleasure for them both to make their devotion out here in the middle of nowhere, in amongst the snow. For the Padre, however, it is not such a pleasant experience, as he would rather prefer to make his devotions within a Temple.

Once they have finished their devotions and the spellcasters finished their reading and practicing, they join the warriors around the fire where they have been putting on their armor and honing their blades.

While they eat, the squires take down the tents and stow them upon the wagon before cleaning the cooking utensils. A little after 7.00, while it is still twilight, they mount your steeds once more while the squires climb into the back of the wagon to catch up with their sleep and then they all start to head off due east in order to join the Trebova to Brunn road that is six miles away.

The journey across the flat plain to the south of the hills is a lot easier to travel across than the hills of yesterday, but progress is still far from swift, as the wheels of the wagon struggle to gain traction, meaning that the four horses tethered to the cart are more dragging it than pulling it. As a result, they make slow but steady progress throughout the morning. After slightly under an hour of traveling, it is light and the sun is shining, which is rather annoying, as they are riding straight into it and it burns their eyes. As it continues to rise, however, it starts to warm their cold bodies. The temperature is slightly warmer than yesterday, as it is a few degrees above freezing, still not sufficient to do much about melting the layer of snow beneath thei feet.

Visibility is good in the open landscape and they would be able to see anyone approaching them from a fair distance away. However, they seen no one on their journey across the plain and see no tracks other than for those of the occasional deer or rabbit. It is just before noon when they see the road ahead of them and decide to make a brief stop in order to take a light cold lunch before joining the road. Just before remounting, Yaz once more puts a sprig of pine into the fire and sprinkles it around them all so as to disguise their tracks as they lead onto the road.

A little after midday, they reach the road. They see that here the snow has melted quite a bit, leaving churned up gray slush in its place. Jihan can tell that there have been several travelers down this road since it stopped snowing some 48 hours earlier. The heavy wheels of the wagon have little trouble in cutting through the slush and progress down the road is a lot faster than it was while traveling across the plain.

They continue heading southeast down the road before it starts to turn due south. After an hour, Jihan sees that there are some fresh tracks ahead of them in the slush and realizes that they must be catching up with a medium sized group that are on foot.

After half an hour, they can see the group ahead of them, 17 of them in total. The members of the group are moving quite a bit slower than the party is, and so they catch up with the group after another fifteen minutes.

As they get closer, they see that the group ahead of them consists of holy men and women. The partymembers see that they are carrying a red banner which contains both the symbol of a fox's and horse's heads and you realize that these are priests of Zlodey, the god of trickery and deception that hail from Pardubitze, a church that they know is associated with the Black Diamonds. From the direction that they are heading, it is likely that they are making a pilgrimage to Olmutz. Faewen'il and Xavier recognize them as the group that they passed on their way to Vysoke Myto some 48 hours earlier.

As the members of the clergy hear the party coming up behind them, the priests of Zlodey look round to see who it is that are following them. They appear to be fairly nervous upon seeing such a large group containing a number of armed and armored men and so immediately walk to the side of the road in order to let the party pass on their way.

As the party passes them, they stare at Faewen'il and Xavier and start to whisper to each other while not taking their gaze off the two of them. The priests of Zlodey do not resume their journey until the party is a fair distance ahead of them. The party continues their journey southwards and can now see the edge of the Shumavan forest ahead of them. From time to time, they look over their shoulders to check upon the priests of Zlodey, who are falling further and further behind them. They pass a wide trail that leads in an easterly direction after another 15 minutes and see, after a while, that the priests of Zlodey turn off here, confirming their thoughts that they are on a pilgrimage to Olmutz.

Bennett mutters something about them being up to no good, and them knowing where they are, and probably being able to figure out who, can't bode well. However, his recent apathy continues, and he shrugs his shoulders, not saying anything to anybody else.

Another hour later and the sun is starting to set as they enter the Shumavan forest at the same point where they made their initial assault upon Kurtek's elite force. They are all quiet as they pass through the area, reliving the memories of the battle that took place on this spot some ten days' ago, their thoughts with Lenyn and Sylva. They take a little look around the area, but there are no signs of the battle that are not covered by the snow.

Bennett, not realizing where they were until he actually sees the site of the battle, allows his horse to fall behind the others, detouring toward the site of Sylva's ambush of Lenyn. He dismounts briefly at the site of Lenyn's death, kneels, and speaks, though none of the others are close enough to hear what he says. He seems both troubled and relieved as he remounts, and his expression becomes even more thoughtful, trailing the rest of the group with little desire to catch up.

Not wanting to linger any longer, they continue their journey through the fringes of the great forest as the sun goes down and night falls. Upon entering the forest, the delight upon Yaz' face is evident to all. He immediately leaves the rest of the party and walks his horse through the forest at a distance of a couple of hundred yards parallel to the rest of the group. It is obvious that he is glad to be home.

They continue the journey throughout the late afternoon and early evening, seeing no other travelers during that time. Just after 8.00, when they are roughly six miles into the forest, Winnacer reins in his mount:

"I think that's far enough for the day as we've made some pretty good going. We should be able to make the sight of the Nemotz Lab by the end of tomorrow if we don't run into any unexpected delays."

With the majority of them feeling saddlesore after the day's travel, they are only too glad that it is time to rest now and ride their horses a short distance into the forest so as to spend the night out of sight of the road. It is a fairly tricky exercise to get the wagon through the trees, but after several attempts, they manage it.

Soon the squires have the tents erected with the assistance of the others in the party. They then start a fire and start to cook up their evening meal.

All are tired after a second day in the saddle and so head for their tents shortly after the meal has been finished. Once again, a watch rota is established in order to keep an eye out for any nocturnal denizens of the forest that may decide that they fancy making an evening snack of them. The night, however, is without incident and only small animals are observed by those on watch.

 

5 DECEMBER 3460

The day starts in precisely the same way as the previous one started, with Winnacer waking everyone at 6.00a.m. in order that everyone is ready to depart at 7.00a.m., following their morning devotions and a quick warm breakfast.

Jihan carefully drives the wagon out of the forest fringes and they continue to follow the road south in the direction of Brunn. As the sun rises, so does the temperature, as it once more rises to just above freezing, thus still having little effect upon the blanket of snow covering the ground.

The first hour of the journey is without incident. Shortly after the sun has risen, however, Jihan's attention is raised at seeing a lone horse a short distance into the forest.

"That's strange," the elf says to those riding close to him. "It's unusual to see a lone horse in the forest."

Jihan's words arouse the attention of Bennett. He looks towards the horse, and a look of surprise comes to his face. He blinks, looks towards the horse once more and then his expression changes to that of a smile:

"I don't believe it," he says to himself. "It's Maire!"

Bennett is truly astonished, believing he would never see the fine steed again. For the first time in the journey, he seems very interested in something besides his own thoughts.

With that, he immediately dismounts from his replacement horse and rushes over towards the horse. The horse looks up as she sees the warrior running towards him. However, instead of fleeing, she recognizes her master and slowly starts to trot towards him. Bennett gets up to her and checks her over.

In a manner most unlike the brooding warrior, Bennett embraces his faithful mare's head, his affection for her clearly showing. Those of the others who are closest can see some moisture in his eyes and he briefly mutters, looking skyward:

"Thank you."

He then calls over to Yaz:

"Hey, druid, can you come and take a look at Maire' for me. I need to know whether her legs are better now."

Equally happy to see that the horse has managed to survive being left to her own devices for the past 11 days, the druid rushes over and spends a couple of minutes checking her over and neighing to her.

He then turns to Bennett and smiles:

"She's absolutely fine now. She got over her lameness a few days ago and decided to head down the road in order to try and find some company. That's how she ended up a few miles away from where we had to leave her."

Bennett smiles:

"Well, thanks to your goddess for keeping her safe, then. Please tell her for me, would you?"

Yaz's smile fades, replaced by a look of wonder mixed with distrust. He looks Bennett up and down.

He then replies guardedly:

"She hears kindness to all her creatures. She heard you fine."

Yaz watches him thoughtfully as the warrior turns back to stroking the horse.

Bennett shrugs his shoulders:

"If you say so. Haven't had much luck with gods listening to me in the past."

Maire follows the pair of them to join up with the rest of the party. Bennett then tethers his previous mount to the rear of the wagon along with the other spare horses and takes off the tack, which he puts on Maire. Still beaming with happiness, the warrior then climbs up into the saddle and they carry on with their journey.

After Bennett's reunion with his faithful mount, the rest of the day passes without incident as they continue to make good progress through the morning, encountering no other travelers on the way. While the party travels, Jihan tells Gronk to keep watch every once in a while, and then drifts off into reverie. His eerie waking sleep is accomplished with eyes open and face held up, though a nudge from the dwarf is all it takes to break him from it. Such an event is accompanied by blinking of eyes and reorientation similar to when a human wakes up from regular sleep. At noon, they break their journey in order to rest the horses for a while and to take a bite to eat, and then they remount in order to continue.

Bennett seems to pay little attention to the others, smiling and chatting with Maire, until he realizes that Yaz can speak with them. He canters over toward Yaz during the ride and asks Yaz to translate, trying to tell her how much he missed her and how happy he is that she is back. He feels funny about it, but participate nonetheless.

Yaz gladly obliges, of course.

As the afternoon continues, several of them are starting to tire from the journey now, as the pace of the wagon is slower than their usual riding pace and this is one of the longest journeys that they have taken for a long while. They start to get tired of the journey and hope that it is not too much further until they get to the Nemotz Lab.

As the sun starts to set once more, Winnacer rides forwards in order to ride alongside Jihan and asks Will if he can also come with him:

"We can't be too far away from the Lab now, if what the priest that we interrogated said is true. As we have already found out only too well, traveling with a wagon is not an easy task and so there must be a route from the Lab to this road, as I can't believe that they would try and take one through the forest. We should all be keeping a good eye out to the west to see if we can see any sign of a trail towards the Lab."

Will and Jihan both nod their heads in agreement and then continue on with the journey. The sun finally sets completely and all within the forest is dark. Although Will and Jihan are looking closely at the forest for signs of a trail, they can see nothing as the party journies through the late afternoon and early evening.

It gets to after 7.30 and they are all starting to think that it is time to camp for the night, when Will, who is now leading the party, raises his hand in the air signaling that everyone should stop. He then rides his mount a little further down the road and then comes to a stop as he sees a 20' wide gap in the trees to the west.

As the rest of them come up behind him, Will dismounts and ties his horse to a tree. He then peers through the gap in the trees and then crouches on the ground, looking at it carefully. He then returns to the others in order to report his findings:

"I think that we have found our trail. I can't see how far it leads because of the darkness, but it looks as if it leads off the road for a fair distance."

"There are also some wagon tracks in the snow, accompanied by some large footprints, perhaps ogres. It's hard to say how old they are, but I would say around 48-72 hours old, as they were quite faint."

Bennett shudders grimly:

"Three days in the hands of these monsters? I hope there is still something left to recover. I knew we should have left earlier!"

Winnacer nods his head in agreement:

"The River Svratka must be around five miles down the trail, if it goes that way. It certainly all seems to fit with what the Nemotz priest told us and what we know for ourselves."

The LawBringer looks around at the others, and sees that they are all weary from another full day in the saddle:

"So what should we do now?" Winnacer asks. "We are all tired, so perhaps it would be best to rest for the night and then go down the trail in the morning, once we are refreshed. Or do you all think that it might be better to press on this evening and try to scout out the place under cover of darkness?"

Gronk speaks up immediately, tired of bouncing along on the cart all day:

"I say we gets outta sight an' camp for da night. Maybe nature-boy can send his pet bird ta try an' find da lab. 'at ought ta give us a better idea for whats we needs ta do in da mornin'."

Will addresses the group:

"Everyone who is not stealthily attired or who does not wish to accompany me, stay here and set up camp. I will go scout out the situation with Jihan, Yaz, and whoever else would accompany me stealthily. It is a good ways, so give us several hours to return before you begin to become concerned."

"Sounds good to me," Jihan says, standing and stretching after having retrieved Weitbeissen from its place by his feet. "Yaz?"

"Will, I'm no scout," replies Yaz. "I may be able to get through bushes and briars like they weren't there, but I can't do it quietly. If you're gonna do it, you two should go alone."

"But Gertrude's been bugging me to go shopping for rodents. And she can do the night thing better than any of us. Why don't we just send her? I'm getting pretty good at speaking owl now, so I should be able to get a good description of the site from her. She can also move faster, so it'll win you guys more sleep tonight, too. And it won't risk your butts."

Will nods:

"A fine idea. After Gertrude has seen what is to be seen from above, then we can decide about further investigations."

Yaz starts filling his clay pipe with weed:

"Let's move part-way down this side path, and off to the side, and make camp... so we're not so near the intersection. Then I'll send Trudy on her way."

He strikes his flint and gets his pipe going, sending smoke billowing out his cheeks until the bowl is lit.Then he dismounts and tromps down the trail about 50 yards, then ducks off to the side until he's out of sight of the main way. His smoke trail wafts behind him, lit by the moonlight shining through the barren trees.

Shrugging his shoulders, Jihan follows the druid, moving as only elves can in the forest, leaving barely any trail to follow on the hardening snow:

"Let's find a spot that'll give some good cover for our animals. They may make a very tempting target to any preds the woods have to offer in this area. We don't want them or the boys getting into any more trouble than they have to."

The rest of them follow the elf and half elves, with Gronk driving the wagon. They continue down the trail for five minutes until they are well out of sight of the road. Then they turn off the trail heading into the forest. It is a major struggle to get the wagon off the trail into the thick forest that surrounds it, and it takes several attempts to find a route that takes them well out of sight of the trail. After ten minutes, however, they have managed to guide the wagon through to a small clearing between the trees, which cannot be seen from the trail.

Once they are all gathered around the wagon, Yaz starts to caw and hoot with Gertrude and then gently launches her into the air. He then watches as she flies off into the distance, heading due west towards the site of the Lab.

Knowing that it will take the owl a couple of hours at least to fly there and back, the squires start to erect the tents around the wagon, with everyone else pitching in to help get the camp established as quickly as possible. Once the tents have been erected, the squires cook up another large pan of steaming hot broth for everyone over the fire and pass out loaves of bread and cheese in order to supplement the soup.

They spend an hour around the campfire, giving each other their thoughts as to what they are likely to be facing in the laboratory. Once the meal is finished, the squires clean up the plates using melted snow and then retire to the back of the wagon in order to sleep for the night. With everyone tired after the third day of travel, they hope that Gertrude will be returning shortly so that they can catch up on some well-needed rest for the night.

Shortly after the meal has been finished, they hear a fluttering of wings coming towards them and look up to see Gertrude returning, as she swoops down to land gracefully upon Yaz' shoulder.

As they gather around the druid, Yaz starts to screech and crow with the bird, while ruffling her feathers in a comforting manner. The two of them continue to screech away for the best part of ten minutes, during which time the smile that was on the druid's face starts to wane as he finds about what they have to face. Eventually he finishes his conversation with Gertrude and sighs as he turns to them all:

"It's not going to be an easy exercise," he says with a shake of his head. "They've got themselves a position that makes it difficult to get at them."

With another sigh, he picks up a stick and begins to draw a diagram in the snow, as he tells the others what he has learned from the owl:

"The lab is on a small island in a small lake fed by the River Svratka. The island is sort of oval shaped, about 150 yards long by 75 yards wide. There's 60 yards of water between us and the island, and I'm not sure how we're going to cross it. On either side of the lake is swamp, which goes for 75 to 100 yards before the forest starts."

"The island looked kinda strange to me. It didn't look like it was Prirodna's work, as it seems unnatural. No grass or anything grows upon the island and it seems to be the work of man or of magic."

"The lab, or at least all that is visible of it, is very small. It's a little over 100' square, with walls that are 40' high. There are no windows to the place and the roof is gently sloping. Joining onto the lab is an entry chamber, the roof of which is open. Gertrude could see that there are about 10 guards hiding behind the battlements there, with one of them just peeping over the wall to keep watch."

"The way that they get on and off the island is by ferry. There is a flat-bottomed ferry tied up to a jetty on the island. It doesn't have any oars or a pole to punt it with, but there is a chain next to it, so I guess they simply use it to pull themselves across."

"On the opposite side of the lake, there's another jetty which joins with the trail. Next to the jetty is a large bronze gong. I guess that visitors bang the gong when they get there and the priests send the ferry over to get them."

"That's bad enough, but they also have someone on watch on the edge of the forest overlooking the trail. Gertrude says that she almost missed them, as they are on a platform that was really well hidden in amongst the trees. She spotted five guards, all armed with swords and longbows keeping a watch on the trail."

He pauses for a moment:

"That's all she saw."

He shakes his head:

"It's going to be tough to get in there without raising an alarm."

Gronk is the first to comment:

"Seems ta me da first order o' business oughts ta be gettin' rid o' 'em lookouts in da trees."

Gronk pauses for a moment as a thought comes to him:

"Iffin we be able ta get on da island sneaky-like, 'en maybe nature-boy could use one o' 'is stone bendin' spells ta open us a door. What direction be da river flowin'? Mayhap we's could build our own flat from da cart 'ere an' float ta da side o' da island aways from da guards. 'course it won't be workin' iffin da river be flowin' da wrong way."

"The River Svratka rises in the north near Trebova and runs southwards, brother, which should serve our purposes fine," Jihan interjects.

Gronk nods, then takes a deep breath and shakes his head when he continues:

"Da last 'ing we needs is for 'em ta see us an' have 'em sicky priests startin' ta breathe alls over us. We done saw what 'em could do ta Bent. It ain't gonna do us no good ta all 'ave our brains runnin' out our noses an' 'ackin' up our lungs."

Gronk looks around at everyone:

"So, when do we's 'ead out?"

Winnacer shakes his head in the negative:

"I'm pretty sure that the guards will have to rotate at some point. If we strike at the guards now, they'll know something's up."

"If we are to cannibalize the wagon, it's going to take quite a bit of time, considering we are probably poorly equipped for carpentry. I have 30 nails in my pack and a hammer, but that may fall short if we are not careful in removing the nails. Building a flat barge is going to take time, enough that hitting the guards now is a poor idea."

"We may want to use this time to better scout out the island, seeing how they change guard and so forth. The best way to cross would be by hand built boat under the cover of invisibility and penetrating the laboratory using the manipulation of stone, instead of going in the front door. The problem is we would not know where we are entering."

"We also may wish to wait until the guards bring the barge over to this side of the island to change the guard. We could hit all ten of the guards, then return under the guise of guards ourselves. This is a bit riskier, but could work using invisibility or bringing part of the party over through the water. Saves a lot on time, but is more likely to go sour on us."

Gronk shakes his head at this:

"Ain't no good. 'em guards on da battlements be sure ta hear any fighting 'at be goin' on near da barge. Iffin we's can't take 'em out sneaky-like 'en we needs ta leave 'em alone or else da whole place be know we' 'ere."

"In any case we need to set up camp off a bit from here," Winnacer continues. "The squires and the bulk of our supplies need to stay behind. No fires from here on out as well. Unless anybody else has a better idea, let's get to work on making a raft. We can hit the guards right before we seek to gain entry onto the island, to give us the largest window of time for surprise."

"We also may be best served in taking some captives. We should try to get a rough idea of the layout and what obstacles lie ahead of us, and the guards are likely be able to help us here."

"If we're takin' captives an' wearin' their clothes, than I sure 'ope ye all took ye vitamins t'day, 'cause we're 'eadin' fer some misery," Kokal says. "Radegast 'as lately granted me th'ability t'end pestilence ... but I c'n only do it once 'tween sunrises, an' I'd rather not do it at all. An' it's bound n'likely that whate'er filth an' rot th'others 'ad, it'll be worse 'round their reekin' 'ole. I thought our purpose 'ere was t'rescue yer young friends, not take the walkin' filth on daytrips?"

"Not all of us is safe fr' disease, milord."

"An' won' our buildin' a boat be a little on the noisy side, too? I'm all fer scoutin' more an' waitin' fer a change o' th' guard. We c'n take out the new shift -- 'without gettin' too close, 'opefully -- an' then figure 'ow t'get 'cross an' in, mebbe one o' th' spellcasters 'as some ideas on that? But I know I don' fancy tryin' the water in th'cold and in armor t'boot. An' wouldn't buildin' a boat be TOO noisy? We ain't that far away..."

Kokal stops mid-sentence.

"Plus it won't help any sick or injured we rescue that may need more specialized medical attention than we can provide out here in the cold to be forced to jounce around on horseback," Jihan inserts.

"Tho' maybe we WANT th' 'tention of th'guards?' Padre Kokal thinks out loud, cocking an eyebrow upwards. "I thin' p'raps our advantage would be best if we got as many o'th' vermin as we c'n t'come out t'US. Yaz and the priestess an' Jihan an' th'bard all seem well-suited t' pick off th' Nemotz without much risk o' exposure. If we 'ave t'take most of 'em on in tha' blasted place, they got a 'uge edge ... in their element, y'know?"

"What d'ya all thin'?"

"This is not an easy situation any way we look at it," Jihan comments. "But it appears as if not creating a commotion on the shore will be all but impossible unless we get more information. I think our top priority should be charming one of those guards and finding out about watch rotations and the lot, and then work from there. Perhaps we can find a way to use that barge yet."

Thinking for a moment, the elf turns his eyes to the Padre's own.

"You used a silencing enchantment at some point during our Pardubitze fiasco, didn't you, Padre? We could cover up any construction with that if necessary. Actually, between Will and I and our little talents with knots and the like, I'm sure we could lash something together without much noise at all. The silence would probably be better for covering up us dragging deadfall to get one together. The planking of this wagon isn't the sturdiest for such constructions in the first place, and I don't imagine it floating all that well on its own, especially if you large warrior types are going to be using it. We'll definitely need some supplemental material if we're going to make that tenable."

He stares around at the rest for opinions.

Fae listens dispassionately to the various suggestions of what to do, a scowl upon her face that deepens whenever Winnacer comes into her line of sight. Apparently, she had reached some inner limit to the amount of straw grasping and finally spoke up, her tongue freshly acidic as if it were simply a morning ritual she enacted to make her tone bitter each day.

"Should na our priority be ta rescue thar victims an then parhaps get aid ta level thar temple?"

"Aye," Gronk agrees.

"Since ye all are HPEFULLY waitin until tha mornin ta do thins, then we should be able ta do them without so much as gettin within breathin distance o tha priests," the magess continues.

"... in tha LIMITED amount o me spare time I was able ta use me new status ta have some o tha magic items identified tha we be carryin with us. Tha boots o Sylva's will allow ye ta walk on water as iffen it war solid ground. So by havin a strong parson wear them an me makin them invisible an Aneira makin them silent, SOMEONE should be able ta get over ta tha island without any problems at all WITHOUT killin this and charmin that. Then they simply have ta carry tha victims back over one at a time."

Fae says the entire thing with no little amount of cynicism.

"O course, it would make better sense iffen I war ta go over an scout it out better givin me spell selection far taday, tha amulet an tha nice staff tha Horvath be leavin us should I find meself in any trouble."

Fae folds her arms across her chest and waits.

Yaz looks at the girl askance:

"F*ck..." he says under his breath.

"Sounds better 'an lettin' all 'em snot-rags know we's 'ere by killin' 'em guards out in da open," replies Gronk. "Iffin we' can get 'em inside rescued first, 'en we's can decide 'bouts da rest o' da scum."

"Sounds better t'me too," the Padre says, though careful not to look at or directly address Faewen'il.

Aneira remained silent, her gaze distant. She stayed aloof from all. To any who noted her eyes, they looked grim and troubled.

Will looks resignedly to the group:

"I have suggested before a bloodless attempt against foes, but it is always decried as too slow and boring. Between us, we can charm in excess of a dozen men per day with a little luck."

"Yeah, and then what?" asks Yaz. "Let 'em all keeping hanging out here, spreading their unnatural diseases all across Bohavia? Hey, I'm for that. Pus is cool."

"Actually bloodless on our side is what I had intended," Will replies.

"I can see that most of you are already looking tired and not really in any condition to start work on a raft," says Jihan, looking around. "I got most of my rest on the wagon today, so I can do some late night reconnaissance if we want a little more information before heading in."

Winnacer nods in agreement:

"It could be useful to know what the guard's habits are. Are they circling the compound or do they just sit in the front? Do the platform guards do anything but sit? By the by, if Yaz were to use his ability at warping wood, it may make the attack on the guards a quick exercise if they are high up, or maybe even rope mastery could be useful if they used rope to tie it up there."

Bennett starts to smile, an idea occuring to him.

"Um," Yaz interjects, "how's this for a plan for those five guards. Get Kokal or Aneira..." he glances at the priestess, who is apart from the group, left to her own thoughts, and lowers his voice a notch, "...to cast a silencing spell on the platform. At the same time I do one of my entangling numbers, which hopefully will wrap them up pretty good so they can't run or use their bows. Then we peg them with arrows 'til they're dead, or ready to surrender. That way we don't get too close to 'em. We can leave one alive for questions."

If Aneira heard Yaz, she gave no indication of it at all.

Bennett looks at Yaz, still smiling:

"It seems to me there's an easy way to take care of these guys, though it'll all be on you, tree-hugger. Why not lay one of your thorn fields underneath the treehouse, then warp the boards so that they fall into it? Chances are that one or more of them will find something to grab onto, leaving us a survivor. One of the priests knocking out the sound around the treehouse at the same time, then we got dead guards and no blood on us. What do you say?"

Yaz shrugs:

"The guards on the building are a bigger problem. But it seems to me that if we take care of the one on watch, we don't have to worry about the rest. Either Jihan could sneak up and kill him sneaky-like, or Maire' could put him to sleep. Or Will could sing them all a little song... Although that has its own problems."

"Once we deal with the ones in the treehouse, we worry about the ones in the building," suggests Bennett. "They are in a good position, but if we can get the one who is watching, then the others aren't such a problem. Seems an ideal spot for one of those charm spells. If we can nullify him, then we can head inside with ease. Alternately, we can use one of your stone bending spells to access the building from another part of it and avoid the battlement guys entirely."

"Getting across the water is easy," Yaz continues. "One of us can wear Sylva's boots, but I can make it so three of us can walk across the same way. Maire', Jihan, me, and one other maybe, with one of those area-invisibility spells of Maire's. Once we get to the wall we should be OK, since the watch-guy won't be able to see us if we press against it. I can shape the stone to make steps up the wall, so Maire' can get close enough to cast her sleep spell if she needs to."

Bennett looks somewhat doubtfully:

"Why not use those waterwalking magics on the larger of us, and we can carry the smaller? Say Winnacer, Kokal, Xavier, and I carry you, Will, Jihan, Aneira, and Fae? I dare say that the Padre could probably carry both Fae and Jihan, and I could carry Aneira."

He smiles devilishly at that:

"You and Will are both smaller fellows with no armor, so it shouldn't be too much trouble. It won't get us back across with the captives, but hopefully we can commandeer the ferry or use the magic to get back across a group at a time? In any case, I don't think it's a great idea to have half the group cross by themselves. We should try to stick together."

Gronk scowls as he hears Bennett speak:

"Sure, an' leave da dwarf on da other side ta miss out on all o' da fun, not a chance!"

"Sounds good enough to me. Certainly a lot easier than trying to get a raft across unnoticed," Jihan comments.

"I don't really think it matters if we enter through the door," Yaz continues, "Prirodnasson's pretty good with locks; he can get us in. Right brother?"

"Well, if I can't, I'm sure Old Bessy can," the elf says, hefting the small crowbar from a hanger on his battle harness.

"Once the watching guard is taken out, one of us can take the ferry across and pick up you blade-swinging types," Yaz continues. "As for the raft, I ain't waitin' around for you to make it when we got other ways of getting across the water. And I'd prob'ly screw the whole thing up if I did it myself, so consider that a threat."

The druid's grimy face, surrounded by now-matted, scraggly, and twig-entwined hair, grins slightly.

Yaz pauses for a second:

"The big thing I don't like about this plan is that it doesn't use the f***ing cart we f***ing hauled up to the sky and back for no f***ing reason. That thing was a major hassle! If we end up not using it to get in to the place then I'm gonna be pissed!"

Bennett smiles:

"Even though we didn't use it for what I thought we were going to use it for, it'll still serve well to transport the captives back. They certainly won't be in any shape to walk!"

After all fell silent, Aneira turns back toward them:

"If you wish I will cast the Silence spell. My priority though is to get Blanka's family back to her."

Although her words are strong, those who look at her notice that her hands are shaking slightly. Then she turns way from them once more.

The conversation goes quiet and then Winnacer tries to stifle a yawn:

"I doubt that the majority of us are going to be able to achieve much while we are so exhausted. As Jihan does not need to sleep as the rest of us do, perhaps he can spend the night watching the guards while the rest of us get our rest. In the morning, once we are fresh and the spellcasters have a chance to ask their gods for useful blessings, and Faewen'il to read up on some useful spells, then we shall be in a much better condition to make an assault upon the laboratory, one way or another."

Jihan nods in agreement and then takes his equipment. He says his farewells and then starts to head off stealthily through the forest in order to scout out the guards.

The others, meanwhile, organize a watch rota and then take to their tents in order to get some well-needed rest.