07.11e: A Marriage of Inconvenience

[Joshua]

"He's not in the shadow." Rogers will answer. "Alys, has offered, so I suggest we release the hound." He pauses, and looks at Tinder... "Ya know, cause you resemble... a tracking ... you know what I mean."

In response*, Tinder will sniff around, and head into the woods, following a track.
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*: Post based on PC saying it's okay, but, I seriously don't see him objecting.

[Wyvern]

Alys takes off just after Tinder, keeping up with the hellhound so that she doesn't, personally, have to rely on someone else using Pattern to follow or the like.

[khadjair]

Cameron spent enough time in the military to try and fall into somethign resembling a line until he realizes.. he should be in the vanguard. So he'll hurry after Tinder and Alys, using what woodscraft he does know to try and read the terrain.

[Draylen]

"Ten-hut! Forward... March!" the bear yells, starting to walk after the others. He walks slowly but assuredly, keeping an eye on those ahead of him, but moving at a sufficient pace to let the entire company (of somewhere around at most 100 people, Jiga included) to also keep up.

[ShadowOfPreservation]

Since it sounds like traditional methods of tracking are in order, Jiga takes to the air keeping pace with Tinder and Alys so that she can aid in the search through aerial reconnaissance. She's careful to keep an eye on her surroundings as well as the group below while keeping low enough that her better vantage doesn't become a beacon to alert their quarry of their approach.

[Joshua]

It's about two to four hours later, depending on how you count, when the forest gives way to a swampy road...

The path finally leads to a black-stone castle in the middle of a swamp. The stench of decay and (un)death hangs heavy in the air as the surrounding marshland gives way to something much darker. Skeletal winged sentinels circle the spires. And there’s something that resembles a mucky road leading to a currently closed draw-bridge made of black iron-wood. Patchwork lizard-men sewn together with necrotech guard the door with dark obsidian axes.

[Wyvern]

Alys pauses at the last bit of good cover before there's any reasonable chance of being spotted by the castle's defenders. "Dismal place," she comments to Tinder. "Still, looks like it's got enough sharp edges* that we'll have no trouble getting in."

And then she turns around, heading right back the way she came, to report on the terrain ahead to Cameron and Aibne. Once that's been done, she addresses Aibne directly: "So. What is the plan?"

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* Tinder is, of course, get of Tindalos. Maybe a bit less eldritch abomination than the hounds Lovecraft described - and definitely a bit more fire - but he's got the same sort of ability to teleport through corners and edges of things.

[Draylen]

Aibne nods a little and thinks for a moment, looking hard at the castle and its visible defenders. "Tinder, An'hasansi," he says, nodding at a tall, black drider wielding a spear, shield, and whip of curious, pale-green thorns. "Get information. Avoid a direct conflict as much as possible. Look for Rogbar, obvious traps, and uncanny defenders. You never know what's going to be there in a place like that," he says, and grins at Alys.

"We find out where he is... and then we break the castle."

[khadjair]

Cameron hefts the Star for a moment. "For those of us who don't have other paths, all I need is to get to a door or gate or other opening and I can get us in. Well, unless it's protected by a greater Power, I imagine..."

[Wyvern]

"They are not," Alys replies.

((OOC: Alys would normally go with Tinder for this - but I'm probably going to have her wait with the rest of the group instead, just so we can time skip ahead to "Okay, scouting's done" and not leave any PC out of the action. Well, unless someone decides that scouting should be accompanied by a diversionary attack - that'd leave plenty for everyone to do.))