Leapin' Lizards, It's Baran's Keep

What about mudd?" Jessa says outloud, but talking to herself. She looks up to LW. "Do you think we could cover ourselves in mudd to mask our scent's? Would that be feasable?" She wonders to herself

Tav listens, grinning to himself as a clear mental image of Daggda happily dropping her mount down the hole pops into his mind. Even better if it lands on some lizardfolk. "Well then lets make ready for a soggy trek. What do you know of these lizardmen? Are they nocturnal, how is their hearing, eyesight and sense of smell?"   Looking at Moongloom but addressing the large cat "Do they fear fire, or"  The Bard supresses a grin "boiling oil?". "Would you think it is better to go in when we arrive or wait til daybreak?" Tav finishes making his preparations and stands moving over to whisper some words into Stalwarts ear before turning to the group "Well I'm ready to depart, lets get this over with as quickly as possible, time is running short."

Avons sighs, "here we go again." Mindlessly he gathers his belongings. He checks his harp and then shoulders his backpack

[LongWhisker]
"The lizards are more active when it is warm. At night they huddle near their fires for warmth, even on mild nights. They are lizards, after all, so their activity starts slowly in the morning. They do not move quickly on land but their back feet are like those of a goose, so they swim well. They hear poorly, see well and smell very well. I have not fought them, so I do not know how well they fight, but there are a full six of them or more. [OOC: save the math: 216 or more] and they use weapons. They use fire, so are not afraid of it, I think. I do not know about boiling oil." She shrugs. "We have almost a full day's travel to reach the place I know -- or a full night's. If we leave soon, we will have difficulty in approaching the camp, because we will travel in their most active time -- the day. If we travel at night -- well, that beast prowls at night."

"If I were alone, I would travel at night for I can avoid the beast easily -- I do not think you could do that so well. And I would attack at night. It might take several days and nights to reach the right place and time. I would hide until a cold or rainy night. But I do not think that plan would work for so large a group. And..." Tav swears she is smiling as she continues "... your group is not exactly quiet, nor could you hide so well as I could....What else can I tell you?"

"HEY! you better not be talking about MOI!" Jessa says jokingly as she remembers nervously the trouble she almost got them in.

Ven gathers his few belongings and prepares to go with the 'puma. He's not too thrilled about the idea of wading through the swamp all day and then attacking a mere 216 lizard men as a nightcap. "Surely," he thinks, "this back way in will at least cut it down to a hundred or so that we have to cleave through." He then looks over at the haggard form of his friend, Sandros, and chides himself for his bad attitude. Sandy was probably the best friend he had in the whole world and here he was complaining about getting a little wet. And, if he had to fight through an army of lizards, then so be it.

Tavarak ponders the puma's words. "That being the case we will have to march all day and avoid detection, then sneak in at night and make our escape during the day. Not the best of situations, but if that is what it takes then that is what we will have to do." The Bard turns and heads towards the entrance.
And everyone follows the Bard.  In order: Jessamyn walking alongside the hexapuma, Andrew, the two mages: Veneron & Moongloom, Daggda, Sandros and Avon.  The horses are picketed carefully in the cave under the "protection" of Stalwart, Gala and Rei.  But all of them know that if a party of Lizard soldiers come upon the animals, they will be essentially helpless.

In the early morning hours outside, the 'puma trots to the front and leads them for several hours on some path -- seemingly random -- that twists and turns thru the swamp.  She heads off in great bounds leaving the slower humans, elves and dwarf to try and keep up.  The water, thankfullly, is never too deep, only coming to Daggda's waist most of the time.

Several times she crouches suddenly and beams "DOWN" to everyone in the party, and for several anxious moments, the sounds of a party of Lizardman warriors can be heard.  Long Whisker moves slower and slower as the group comes within sight of a higher area off to the north.  Approaching it from the southwest, she leads them to one of the many, many small hummocks of rocky soil, this one covered with bushes and sparse trees.

Toward the last she moves so slowly that she seems nearly motionless but she is still creeping forward ... a trick none of the party can emulate.  Only the ranger and the druid come close to her innate ability to move without making a sound.  Looking forward thru the concealing brush, the party can see Baran's Keep -- or its ruins at least.

The hexapuma sends a thought to all without moving a muscle.  "There is the hole where I have seen the lizard men go down."  [OOC: #109 on the map, SE corner of 6C] "My kits are alive!  I can hear them.  They are somewhere between that hole and the ruined building to the shield side."  [OOC: shield side=left, building ruins are in 6A].

It is early evening and there are several hours of daylight left.  Moving about all over the acre+ of the Ruins of Baran's Keep are lizard men.  Some are starting up campfires, others are moving around performing various tasks.  They are small, perhaps 5 ft tall, but stocky.  Each seems to have a weapon of some sort... most are spears or short swords, but there are some crossbows.  Sprinkled among them are larger lizard men -- 6ft or more in height, and just as stocky as their smaller kin.  Each of these is wearing some sort of leather armor -- or pieces of leather armor, and each seems to have a sword and shield.  Near the center of the area [OOC: C/D 3/4] is a crude lean-to made of rock and timber.  There are some tallish (near 6 ft), slender lizard women going in and out there, and even some young lizardfolk can be seen.  It is hard to see a likeness between these lithe females and the witch they had spoken to just 2 days ago.

The lizard folk have webbed rear feet and stand erect.  Their front "hands" have 4 fingers and a thumb, but the small webbed area between their fingers makes them somewhat more clumsy than a human.  Their skin is a bluish/green bumpy hide.  Judging from what they saw of Sess's hide, it would be tougher to cut than human/elven/dwarvish flesh.

The ground under the ruins is just a few feet higher than the surrounding water, but it seems to be enough to keep the ground dry.  Watching the lizards approach from this side, the party estimates that the swamp between their little hummock and the ruins area is not too deep -- it would be chest high on the humans, chin high on the elves, and about a foot over Daggda's --or Long Whisker's-- head.  It looks like a stream or perhaps the remains of a moat.  It is about 20ft wide, and the water is moving very, very  slowly to the east.  There seem to be some steps cut into the stone, just at the edge of 7C/B, behind the heavy rubble.

The day has been warm, sky clear, and it looks like that weather will hold for the night.  The moon is just a touch past it's darkest, perhaps half-way to the "1st quarter."  It should rise about 1 am, about an 4 hours after sunset.   The wind is very light and variable.

Andrew moves smoothly along and doesn't have too much difficulty with the swamp although he is less than pleased at being saoked to the skin for the better part of a day.

Following along as quietly as possible Andrew is amazed at the noise most of the group makes. "We couldn't sneak up on a grour of deaf old gnomes," he mumbles to himself as they traverse the marshy ground.

When they come within sight of the keep he does his best to stay low and keep a look out for any danger. Taking adeep breath he prepares himself to move on a moments notice and waits for Long Whisker's signal. With any luck they could accomplish 2 things while they were here. Get the heart back and save the kits from god only knew what.

Judging from Avon's mumbling he has gone into another one of his trances. Even though the surroundings are not really city like Avon feels that this is something that definitely requires his skill. He also remembers the words from the big cat, they might be deaf but they could smell. Hurriedly, and almost irritated he asks, with a whisper, where the wind is coming from. Clearly the question is aimed at the ranger and druid.

Thoughts race around Avon's mind. Kittens and a heart, a heart and kittens. Which one first, but how. How? He looks up, "We need a distraction before I can go down." He turns to the cat "And you, can't you talk to those little critters. Where are they what does it look like, any guards." And as he looks at the puma for a reaction he realizes that he should have thought his question. And although he feels awkward he tries intensely to think his thoughts towards the puma.

"I suggest you people distract this bunch while I go down and do the difficult part."

Sandros frowns, and whispers, "I'll go with you, Avon. I may not be quite as good at sneaking around, but considering I'm the reason we're here, I might as well pull my weight, eh?" He gives them a grin.

"Anyone else got any suggestions? Or maybe we should wait until morning? Isn't that when they get sleepy?" He shrugs.

Avon shudders at the idea of being alone with a vampire but maybe in this case it would be a good idea.

[Long Whisker] "Well, as I said, they are somewhere between here and there [OOC: 109 and 31 on the map]. My kits are hungry and scared. It is dark where they are, all the time. They hear occasional voices, and the box they are in is sometimes moved, but not much. ... As for you going in there, thank you for that. No one is going in without me."

Tavarak nods in agreement, "Yes this isn't a one person operation,  you will need help. I shall also go with you two.

Daggda scowls at Avon, more because of the lack of comfort than  frustration with the silly elf. She was more than happy to leave the  infernal mule behind, but her rump was still sore from riding the  creature, especially running away from... whatever that was in the  swamp.

"They are lizards, and so being cold blooded I think it would be easier to penetrate the camp during the night because it's colder.. anyone got any spells that effect the weather? To make it colder?" She looks around at the group.. "or maybe to create an illusion that we are lizard men?"

The Bard nods at Jessa's suggestion, the seed of an idea starting to form in his mind.

"Didn't you hear what the big cat said? They need heat- they're sluggish without it. Most of us can see a bit in the dark, and the lizards can, as well. But they're not likely to move away from their fires." The dwarf looks to Jessamyn. "I'm not one for illusions and such nonsense, but we need to decide which of the campfires is the one with the watchguards on the entrance. If we figure that out, then we can think of a way to dispatch them all at once- and quietly."

She looks at Long Whisker, addressing her for the first time. "You- cat. Who guards the entrance?"

[Long Whisker] The cat turns an ear back toward the dwarven acolyte. "When I watched for the 6 nights, there were one or two guards at night. I could not tell if they were the same ones all night or if they changed, for I was concentrating on finding the leader. He was usually found in that shelter in the middle, where the females and lizard kits are found. Sometimes he came to this part of the camp and went down into the hole. He used a key to open the door to the place where they are kept; that is how I know there is a door and a lock." Whenever her thoughts include a reference to the lizardman king, there is a savage image of him, usually with his throat torn out.

Ven looks to Moongloom. "I'm hoping that your skills lay in that area. Mine do not. I'm much better equiped to drop flaming buckets of oil on my companions or to incapacitate a certain charmed fellow. But, the weather far beyond my abilities and my master didn't know much in the way of illusion."

Moongloom smiles at the comment, "Magick is an unpredictable mistress, but she can be tamed. I have a few spells in mind. Most of my illusions, however, focus on sight and sound--not smell--so I doubt they would be easily fooled. I have a perfect distraction in mind. And I can always turn one or two of you invisible." He says, pulling at his beard with his index finger and thumb.

[Daggda]
"There's an idea- perhaps if we made Avon, Sandros, or Tav invisible, they could sneak off to where the leader is, and get the heart. If they get back safely, then we can overpower the one or two guards, go in the hole, and get the kits. If they don't get back safely, well, then we'll have a distraction to make getting the kits easier." She falls silent, thinking.

Daggda unconsciously mimicks Moongloom, stroking her beard and tugging at its short braid with her finger and thumb. "Can you turn
the cat invisible along with one of us? I'm sure she would like to get at the leader while one of us looks for the heart. Unless of course, we need her to track down her kits...Can track your kits by scent, cat?" she asks Long Whisker.
Long Whisker, snaps a mental reply to the dwarf's question, "Can you tell the difference between water and stone?  Of course I can find my kits by scent, if they are close enough."


[Ven]
"Um, yeah, I guess I could turn one person invisible as well. That particular spell has gotten me into a lot of trouble in the past, but as there don't appear to be any unclothed women about, it's probably pretty safe."

Andrew ponders the situation for a time and then with a deep breathoffers his 2-cents.

"I am not strong enough to control the weather either but I can obscure the group I travel with for a short time making our party much less visible.  Also I think maybe we should go after the kits, then go after the heart.  Seems to me like the kits aren't very well guarded because they are locked up so we might even be able to do that without alerting anyone, then go after the lizard king and his item of blackmail. I am ready when ever you all decide."

His anxiousness is easily read in the tone of his voice.

"If we do split up I am pretty good at moving quietly maybe I should be in the group of invisibles trying for the king and the heart."

Sandros listens to the ideas being put forth, and he speaks up.  "Maybe we can use that spell on me, and send just me in the camp to find the chief.  It will be next to impossible for us all to keep track of each other if we all turn invisible anyway...and if any one person should be doing this, it should be me.  It's my fault that we're here to begin with...and I may be able to handle myself better if attacked then Avon
would be able to."  He shrugs.

"Then the rest of you could go for the kits.  If you get them free, that may help draw attention away from the chief long enough for me to give a serious look for the gemstone...and the heart as well."

Ven shakes his head. "I don't like it. Sandros, you don't have to feel responsible for us. We won't feel any better about this if you alone get killed tring to get the heart. We would have just sent you on your own merry way if that is how we felt about it. We came as a group because we have the best chance of success when we combine our skills. I'll say that we make some attempt to get the kits and then, once they are safe, we can turn our efforts toward finding the heart."

As the party thinks and discusses it's options, the sun sets and the large camp just a few yards away begins to settle in for the night .  Several dozen male & female lizard warrior go down the ladder into the undergound, carrying torches.  They do not come back up.  Campfires are lit -- there are quite a few of them -- and it becomes impossible to see the details of the camp except for the area lit by firelight.

Long Whisker has been listening, but her attention has been focused on the camp.  "See there.  That one is the guard."  Soon enough the adventurers who are watching with her see a lone spear-carrier walk from one end of the encampment to the other along the side.  It takes him about 2 minutes to cover the length of the 200+ft.  He turns around and comes back, stopping at the campfire.  He warms himself there for a good 5 minutes before going to the corner again.  All in all, it takes a full 10 minutes to make the complete round trip.

"I am more than grateful for your promised help, and will do whatever I can to help you find this "heart" that you seek.  My kits will be difficult for anyone to control, so I must go with you when that is to be done."

While they are watching, a party of lizard men approach the ladder [#109] and descend.  There are about 6 in the group and all are among the taller-than-average lizard men and are carrying torches.  All but one.  He is 50 yards away, but the light reflects off his bronze breastplate.  Avon squints at the center of the lizard king's chest.  "See it?" he hisses to Sandros who is standing nearest to him.  "The red gem!"

Sandros looks, but all he sees at this distance is the glint of torchlight.  It might be something.. or it might be the reflection of light on polished brass.

The 'puma crouches even further, her belly nearly against the dirt, her ears flatten against her skull, and the tip of her tail twitches rapidly.  Those near her can feel more than hear the deep quiet rumble of her almost-silent growl.  The group is flooded with horrible images of what Long Whisker fears: that Xanths will hurt her kittens. 

"He goes down there every second or third day, I think," the cat beams to them.  "He does not come back up for many hours, usually."

"Well, then," Ven whispers.  "We've lucked into having both the kits and the lizard leader all in the same place at the same time.  Now we only need to determine how we go.  That guard's rounds are slow enough for us all to get to the opening, but do we want our entire party moving at once?  According to our more quiet members, we aren't exactly subtle when we move about.  We could go two or three at a time, but then we have the problem of what the first groups do while waiting for the rest to come.  Do they go down?  Two or three could be quickly overcome if there are guards posted.  Do they try and hide and wait?  That might work for a few of us, but not all of us are very good at hiding and being still.  Anybody have any thoughts?"

[Daggda]
"We kill the guard, quietly. Quickly." Daggda heft her nasty-looking pick into both hands. "I can do it, but I don't know about the quiet part," she pauses, "or the quickly part, either." She looks at Ven again. "When he is furthest away from the hole, two of us take him. The rest head into the hole at that point. Otherwise, we all have to sneak in."

[Jessa] "I don't know if my darts will work on him, but i can throw a few at him. What do you think" She looks at the group and then beams the thought to LW.

Andrew wispers, "Can one of you put him to sleep or something?" he motions at the guard. "It's not in my power. But he needs to be gone before we can go down there." Andrew waits for a silent method of disposal has been thought up for the lone guard. IF nothing is forthcoming, "we could always hope he falls asleep on his own. They probably don't get much by way of visitors way out here and he seems pretty lax already."

Tavarak turns to Andrew and Jessa, "Those are exactly the types of things we don't want. If he is absent from making his rounds then that will more then likely be noticed. That in turn will alert the rest of that horde down there."

[Ven]"Well it seems that we have 2 of the 3 things we are looking for in that hole." Looking at Daggda, "I'm not sure that killing the guard is such a good idea. There are to many things we don't know about, like when he will be replaced, or if they will notice that he is missing from conducting his rounds. I suggest that we all make our way into the hole at the same time. That way should push come to shove, we won't have our party split up." Addressing Long Whisker, "I know you want nothing more then to rip out the lizard Kings throat, as would I or anyone else here were we in your shoes, but we need him alive to find out where the heart is. If Avon and LW are willing to scout out the hole and give us a mental signal when its clear then
the rest of us can make our way there." Tav looks at his companions as he makes ready to go.

[Avon] "We shouldn't go down with a whole group. That doesn't make any sense. We should be very quiet. I can go down with Sandros and the cat," he points carelessly to the puma. "If we need fighting you'll notice soon enough. Just stay here and be ready to fight. I managed to steal things before on my own."

[Jessa] "I think that LW should go alone or with someone who is made invisible.. maybe Avon. If there are any lizard-men there, and they see us, thre will be a fight, but if they see LW, they might just assume she has wandered in there looking for her kits.. and then she can be "chased away" because i really don't think they will go into an all out attack on her." She beams this to LW also. "Then once LW comes back, she can tell us what it's like.. if thre are any guards, etc.. Before she goes i can throw a few darts at the lizard guard out front so that he might, hopefully, sleep." She beams this to LW. "what does everyone think.." Jessa looks around then adds to LW

"how long do you think it would take you and maybe one person.. say Avon to run over to where your kits are while the lizard guard is on his rounds.. Maybe you can sneak in while he is on his rounds and when he gets back i can shoot him with my darts." Then she adds " We will get your kits out of there.. don't worry Oath Sister." She rubs the puma's head.

Sandros nodded his head gratefully to Ven at his words about his responsibility, and sighed.

Then, when the others speak of the lizardman guard, and Avon says they should go alone, he speaks. "Well...Avon, at first I thought you might be right.   But then...I really think we can wait until the lizardman pauses near the fire, then sneak our way in as a group. If I understand the way nightvision works, a fire that size and that close to him will pretty much negate his advantage there. So why not just do that? If we move as quietly as possible..."  he shrugs.

"Okay...maybe as a safeguard either Avon or myself should be turned invisible, and wait behind the guard as he warms himself at the fire. If he hears
anything, we can hit him before he knows what's going on." He frowns. "As for using some sort of sleep spell...we may need that in case we run into a larger group below."

[Long Whisker]
"So many ideas," thinks the large cat. "Are we going to swim across the river before or after they get turned invisible? " she says, referring to the slow-moving, moat-sized (approx 20ft wide) stream that's about chest-deep on a man, chin-deep on an elf and about a ft. over Daggda's head. "I can swim across it silently enough."

Avon looks around the group, "Imagine me giving the dwarf lessons on how to split a orcs head," in the dark he winks at her. "You people are not suited for sneaking around. You wouldn't even know where to begin. We all have our specialties." Again he looks around the group, "You would have me killed in no time. Do what you like but I don't feel like marching in there." The he looks at the stream, "I guess its time to get undressed," and as he says that he start to undress himself while folding his clothes neatly in his backpack. While doing so, he decides to take out the harp case and burry the chest at a point that will be easily recognizable later. After pushing everything in his backpack he crawls towards the river in order to pass it, holding his backpack above his head, knowing that sneaking around in wet clothes can be rather deadly.

[Daggda]
"As much as I hate to say it, Avon is right. He has no idea how to  cleave a filthy beldarak skull." Daggda returns Avon's wink with one  of her own. "And if we don't kill the guard, there's no way the  bunch of us can cross the water and go down below unnoticed. Our  best chance is to have Veneron turn Avon and the cat invisible." She  looks at the water distastefully; the dwarf decides that she quite  definitely dislikes this forsaken swamp. There is just too much  water everywhere, she reflected, her face curled up in a  scowl. "They can scout out the area, return to us within, say,  twenty minutes, and we can better decide what to do then. In the  meantime, the rest of us can look for a shallow place in this  stream," she finishes with a dwarven curse under her breath. "Cat,  before you go, did you notice a shallow place in the stream, or  crossing place the lizards used? We can meet the two of you there when you return, and if something goes wrong, we'll be able to cross more quickly to help you."

Turning to Ven, she quips, "You'd best cast that invisibility spell on Avon soon, before the sight of that scrawny elf-kin naked along with the stink of this swamp will overwhelms me," she says in a melodic grumble.

[Ven]
"Well, I can turn one of them invisible, but not both. Moongloom," Ven looks to his fellow mage, "how about you? Can you get them both with your superior skills in illusion or shall we do one each? Or, does the cat even need the spell.. She is probably virtually invisible naturally."

[Long Whisker]
It will be hard for them to see me in the darkness above the ground, but there may be light in that hole in the ground.  And I do not know whether the passages are wide or narrow... lit or dark... empty or filled with places for concealment.  Dwarf: I do not know of any places where it is shallow.  When I cross such water, I swim.  When the lizards cross, they swim in their own fashion.  Perhaps you can walk along the bottom, and when we see the top of your head, we will know it is shallow."  The cat's teeth glisten in the dark, Daggda hopes it is some sort of smile.

Avon takes the extra time required to strap his elven chain to the backpack, just in case he might slip he does not want to lose the armor.  It does not occur to him that in so doing, he risks having the armor act as an anchor, taking his entire pack to the bottom.  He is stripped to the skin and listens carefully to the discussion about turning people invisible.  It seems the cat is going with him, whether he likes it or not.  Both Sandros and Tav said they were going also.  Tav was standing nearby, but Sandros seemed to be out of sight.

A sudden rustle of bushes, and a quiet curse reveals his location.  But he did not come out, and the obvious struggle he was having behind the bushes became more pronounced.  Jessa quietly draws her sword and motions to the others.  She whispers, "I dont like the looks of this."

She covers the few yards and stands near the bushes.  Then she turns back, she drops to the ground and begins to pound her fist into the dirt.  At first concerned, the others hurry over, but find her trying to control her laughter quietly.  Tears are streaming down her face.  Taking a look behind the bushes they find Sandros in combat -- with his clothes.

Sandros pants are pulled down around his ankles and his shirt and cloak are on the ground nearby.  The gossamer-thin raven suit he has been wearing under his clothing is tangled around his knees and he is trying, in the darkness to disengage it from the bushes.  One of the ever-present vines is tangled around his arm and there are leaves in his hair and beard.  His battle with his clothing has brought him to his knees and he is cursing silently.  Daggda peers thru the bush just in time to see a large portion of a hairy human backside flip thru the air in front of her face and land solidly on the ground.  The Acolyte of Moradin jumps back a step,  "I don't particularly like the look of it either," she mutters.

Sandros looks up and sees the others.  "Damn this raven suit anyway.  It's only got ONE opening... and that is at the neck.  Every time nature calls I'm faced with this ... this... And then putting it back on is like dressing yourself in rice paper.  AND it makes me sweat.  Did I mention chafe?  Don't go there!   Wouldn't be so bad if I could use the damn thing, but with chasing around and being worried and tired with this vampire thing, I never took time to practice."

"And if one of you laughs, I'll ... I'll... I'll make you sorry!  I swear...."

Tav is biting his lip, trying to maintain a serious look.
Moongloom hides his face behind the bard, so Sandros wont see his smile.
Andrew stifles a laugh, trying to turn it into a clearing of his throat.
And even Veneron has to clamp a hand across his mouth.  "Nope.  No laughing, Sandy.  Not us...NopeNopeNope."

Moongloom finally gets himself under some sort of control and steps out from behind Tavarak.  He pulls a bit of yarn from one of the hundreds of concealed pockets in his cloak and twirls it between his fingers.  "Tidy" he whispers at the thread, and his mastery of cantrips pays off again.  The raven suit untangles itself and is neatly folded on the ground between Sandros' naked legs -- at least that portion of the raven suit that is not still on Sandros' feet.

"Why not just take it off, Sandros," suggests Tavarak, "and leave it behind.  You can put on your regular clothes after you wade across."

"Maybe someone else could take it, wear it, and learn to," Ven's voice cracks as he's unable to keep the laughter at bay.   "...learn to ... to subdue it.."   He gasps for air, trying to remain quiet.  "I'm sorry, Sandy.  REALLY!! But when you slipped and went ass-over-teakettle right in front of Daggda...The look on her face!!... Oh my oh my oh my...."

Near the overgrown moat, Avon is tapping his naked foot in the mud, impatiently.  "Cat," he says to the hexapuma, "don't ask ... Just DO NOT ASK."  He throws a soft mudball that lands in front of the group, getting their attention.  The theif points across the moat... "Couple of hundred lizard men over there want to use our guts for garters. Remember?  Can we move along with things?  It's nice and dark now, and there's still several hours before the slight moon comes up."