Tales from Tabletop

Session 9.3: Before the Deluge

Chapter III: The Governor's Estate

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Following Selene, the group was able to procure their gear before leaving. All of their items were found in the same condition they left them. Selene was quite happy to return her shortsword and daggers to her side.

From there, they parted ways with Renik. It had been several days since his incarceration began and he wanted to return to his ship and see how his crew was holding up.

Jezran guided the group through the city streets to the governor's estate. The Hollow was not large, but they chose less-travelled roads in hopes of avoiding any guards that might have seen them at the wall.

Eventually, they reached the center of the Hollow, where the Governor resided. The governor's estate was a mixture between a military base and aristocratic manor in the middle of a city. It had tall walls and a single gate for entrance, similar to the walls around the Hollow itself, but it also appeared far more well preserved than most of the other older structures.

Since the gate had several guards protecting it, the party moved away to find a less guarded portion of the wall.

It did not take long. Despite the Governor's increasing paranoia, he apparently trusted the walls alone to protect him.

Or he just has enough traps in his house that it doesn't matter if you sneak in, Selene thought gravely.

Once they were certain there were no guards in sight, Jezran cast his Passage spell to enter the domicile. The interior appeared no less defensible. The ancient structure acting as the foundation for this fortress was clearly chosen for this very purpose. The walls appeared strong and were marked by several strange runes, and spikes lined the bottom half of the exterior to make climbing the defenses difficult. When Jezran tried to cast Passage on the interior wall, it failed.

"It appears the wall is warded against magic," Jezran said, frowning.

"Great, now what?" Selene whispered.

"We'll need to find a way that's less guarded," Argent stated.

"How about a path through the servant's entrance? I'm sure the governor has one," Selene suggested.

"Hmmm," Jezran thought aloud, "If there is one, I don't think I've ever seen it. There are a couple servants here, but I'm pretty sure they use the main entrance like everyone else."

"I could transform into my bird form and get up there," Ari suggested.

"You're pretty big in that form, Ari," Argent said. He then corrected himself when Ari huffed loudly, "I just mean you stand out in that form. I don't think that will be very stealthy."

Ari considered his words for a moment, then sighed, "Fine, then what should we do?"

"I can jump this," Hamish said simply.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"What?" Selene asked, not sure she heard him correctly.

Hamish explained simply, "I can jump quite far, did so to save friends from devil back underground. Would be less obvious than Ari as giant bird. If I take rope, I can pull everyone up."

Everyone then looked to Argent, who turned the proposal over in his head for a moment. Finally, he said, "If you think you can do this, it's worth a try. Selene, give him the rope."

She nodded and quickly pulled the rope from her pack.

Hamish grinned, "Thank you, my friend. I will lower once I'm atop this wall."