Café de Nuit

Heading west toward the Musarde and the heart of the city, the party makes a stop at Flammarion’s shop in the (east side) River Quarter, the party collects alchemically-treated masks from the greybeard potion-mixer. Flammarion made enough of the masks—burlap sacks that fasten over the mouth and nose like a feedbag with a string loop—for all the members of the party, but no more.
Sara’s absence means there’s a mask to spare for Klokulf.

....



Hastening south from the alchemist’s shop, the party passes through a region of abandoned streets, shuttered houses, empty plazas. Ash drifts from the Black Cloud, lighting down and sticking to the pavement like sooty snowflakes, and the air grows chilly as if summer had given way to winter rather than early autumn.
Dampness creeps into the masks, making it more difficult to breathe. As the party moves under the river-straddling Black Cloud, early twilight falls over the quiet neighbourhood.
Fog pools in the ruts and dips of the pavement and flows like water in the canals and sewer drains.
You all walk on, into gathering darkness...

Just out of sight behind a row of derelict houses, the Musarde splashes softly—but apart from the water sounds and the footfalls of the party, no noises disturb the cemetery calm of the street.
Then you all see it--first a watchtower, then the upper section of the wall below it as a thick bank of smog blows east on a sudden, silent gust.

The Grim Bastion.
The immense ivy-clad masonry fort stands clear of the shabby houses and shops of the area, with vacant lot twenty yards at least visible between it and the nearest lesser structure. Rubble and weeds choke the lot about the keep walls. Closer in runs a dry moat—in places bridged by debris and trash.

The great keep itself must be forty feet high to the crenelated battlements, higher at the watchtowers on the corners, and maybe eighty feet across the front. Looking about the front area and around the near sides, you see two obvious points of entry: double doors in the front and a gap in the east wall.

The doors look much weathered, but not wrecked by time.
And they hang slightly ajar.

The eastern wall gap has been partly boarded up, but one could pry the wood loose and get inside without making much noise. Maybe.

Raen inspecting his magical armor to see if it still holding, looks at the place. "I would say go through the boarded up crack, but perhaps the veterans of the place know better." He turns to the cleric.
"Klokulf, any long-lasting protection spells you can cast would be welcome at the time."

Bennedict nods in Raen's direction. "I'm with you, and then circle towards the front to see who left that door open."

Raen looks at the thief. "Perhaps you should check the opening first, stealthily and with eyes and ears open for any kind of surprise? Trap or ambush?"

"I fear I am ill prepared to protect anyone but myself," says Klokulf, as he rolls up his left sleeve to reveal his holy symbol.

"If you would prefer another entrance, I could fly up to the top of the wall and drop a rope down. Otherwise, I have some minor scrying at my disposal."

He withdraws a scrap of parchment from his clothing, then intones a short prayer in Vaasi. The parchment crisps and flakes away, and his skin and clothes momentarily take on a metallic sheen before fading nearly to normality.

Kat smiles slightly and nods at Raen, moving silently forward. Her eyes flick from the ground to the battlements as she uses every possible cover to approach the bastion, staying well out of line of sight of the gap or the gate. Once pressed against the wall she edges sideways to the gap, examines it and the surroundings, listening for a long moment before snatching a quick glance through.

Fully aware he may blow Kat's cover, Raen far less deftly tries to follow behind the thief, leaving 30-40 feet between them.

KAT

Sneaking to the wall of the Grim Bastion, Kat listens and takes a quick, cautious look about.
The boards don't fully block the gap, just covering enough to prevent passage to anything bigger than a really big rat or a scrawny dog.
The wood shows only slight staining from black ash. The heads of nails used to fix ends together still gleam dully, and the edges where planks have been crammed into the broken masonry show scuff marks and chipping, as from stray hammer blows or the work of a prybar.

Peering into the keep through a shoulder-height, hand-width opening in the partial wooden barrier, Kat sees a dim hallway running left to right. Off to the left, just at the edge of sight, the outline of an arched corridor or doorway set into the far wall...and the rest of the scene swallowed by darkness.

No noise within.
No movement.
Smells dry, but with a faint hint of something spoiled, like a neglected pantry.

Kat waits for a long moment, straining her ears, then gives the thief sign for all clear. She has shown this one to Raen.

She waits at the gap, carefully examining the boards for ways to remove them reasonably swiftly and with a minimum of noise

Raen nods and moves out of hiding. Not that it changes much on how visible he is. He approaches the woman and waits for the others.
"No traps I assume?" he asks Kat.

kintire wrote:Kat waits for a long moment, straining her ears, then gives the thief sign for all clear. She has shown this one to Raen.

She waits at the gap, carefully examining the boards for ways to remove them reasonably swiftly and with a minimum of noise

...
She's fairly certain she can unblock the gap without making a racket, though doing it in a hurry does increase the risk of making noise, dropping boards, even knocking loose a chunk of masonry.

ewancummins wrote:

kintire wrote:Kat waits for a long moment, straining her ears, then gives the thief sign for all clear. She has shown this one to Raen.

She waits at the gap, carefully examining the boards for ways to remove them reasonably swiftly and with a minimum of noise

...
She's fairly certain she can unblock the gap without making a racket, though doing it in a hurry does increase the risk of making noise, dropping boards, even knocking loose a chunk of masonry.

And sure, enough, Kat is able to quickly dismantle part of the barrier without making more than soft scraping sounds and without knocking loose any rubble.

She's opened enough of the gap to admit the party, though they must enter one at a time.


And she's done so in a way that would allow her to prop boards back up, disguising the break-in but allowing for a quick kick-out and run.

Seeing Raen cease his attempt at stealth, Klokulf just walks over to the breach in the wall.

"I take it we will not be climbing to the roof, then," he says. "I admit, the ground floor offers a far better avenue of retreat, should that be necessary"

Seeing no signs of movement outside, Bennedict tries to hustle across to the newly opened entryway.

BENN steps through the opening and into a long, dim hallway.
He needs a torch or other light to see many more details, but he can make out a doorway set in the inside wall a short walk to his left. Beyond that, darkness,
And to the right, darkness.