Café de Nuit

Klokulf's eyes widen slightly and his gaze hardens. "We must waste little time then. Let us get to a better vantage point straight away."

With that, he begins creeping back down the staircase like an invalid.

"Wait" Raen says. "I can turn all of us invisible and I can use a protection spell to ward off fiends and offer protection from the claws of evil from my scrolls." Without further delay, Raen fishes out two scrolls. "The lady will get one of the blessings and the unarmored Archivist the other, unless Benedict can use the same spell on himself, in which case I'll use the scroll on myself. Then, I'll turn us all invisible and I suggest we just break down that door and start kicking around braziers, destroying components and burning books or whatever to stop the ritual. If we die, so be it. "

He picks out the first scroll and looks at Kat "This will only keep you safe for a minute... so we are better have the plan ready the moment I start casting. Who agrees that we should just barge in and try to prevent the ritual from taking place? Killing their head priest or whatever is also a good way to stop it. "

Klokulf does an about face on the fourth step down, then replies, "If it is important to be prepared and settled on our course of action before you instate your protections, perhaps we could approach invisibly and assess the situation more closely. Barging and disrupting is all well and good, but it would behoove us to get more information and formulate a more perfect plan, if at all possible."

"I don't think we can afford to witness and make a plan. An unfortunately, I can turn us invisible once. If we approach invisible and don't take action within the few minutes of protection my spells can afford us, we will lose the element of surprise. "

"I'll enhance my ability to battle when we're ready to go," he says, before barking a word of power to harden his walking stick for bludgeoning and using another to enhance his armor.

"Fair enough," Klokulf says, "But we should be prepared to make quick alterations to our plan if the situation we find is profoundly more complicated than what we are expecting."

Kat nods

"That is always the way. No plan survives contact with the enemy. But I can go ahead and take a look if you like... I'm not invisible but I'm not that easy to see either!"

Assuming there are no objections, she slips into the shadows and moves towards the chanting, inspecting her surroundings as she goes for any unpleasant surprises

FOLLOWING THE SOUND OF CHANTING...

with the sneaky Kat taking point, the party moves down the cellar hall to a shut door.

Kat examines and opens the door--it wasn't locked.

Deeper into the cellars they go, past side passages and dusty vaults, and the chant grows louder, clearer...

Then the disturbing litany cuts off, just as the party approaches a tall wooden door at the end of a short hall. This door stands slightly ajar, and firelight glints from the shadowy space beyond. Murmurs and scraping footfalls. Then silence.

Alain, Benn, and Dorgio Footfalls approach and the door creaks open, slowly, giving Kat and her friends just enough time to hide down the hall or under Raen's invisibility magic.

ewancummins wrote:FOLLOWING THE SOUND OF CHANTING...

with the sneaky Kat taking point, the party moves down the cellar hall to a shut door.

Kat examines and opens the door--it wasn't locked.

Deeper into the cellars they go, past side passages and dusty vaults, and the chant grows louder, clearer...

Then the disturbing litany cuts off, just as the party approaches a tall wooden door at the end of a short hall. This door stands slightly ajar, and firelight glints from the shadowy space beyond. Murmurs and scraping footfalls. Then silence.

Alain, Benn, and Dorgio

VIEW CONTENT:

recognize this part of the dungeon. It ought to be near the portal chamber, or at least on the same level...

Footfalls approach and the door creaks open, slowly, giving Kat and her friends just enough time to hide down the hall or under Raen's invisibility magic.

...the door opens.

A man in brigandine, with a naked sword in one hand and a burning torch in the other stares out into the hall. He looks about, then twists back and says in a high whisper,
''I don't see anybody. Are you sure you saw them headed down the stairs?"

RAEN
Cloaked by magic, Raen squeezes past the man in the doorway.
But as he strains to avoid brushing the armed watcher, Raen thumps his backside into the door jamb, making a noise.



The man turns at the thud and scrape.
"Eh?"
He casts about in obvious confusion...and then turns his attention back to the 'empty' hall (where Raen's friends remain veiled by sorcery).


Raen sees a staircase beyond the man in the doorway, going down in a shadowy spiral of masonry with close, heavy walls curving on either side. Firelight, as of a big candle or a second torch, glows just around the twist of the stairs.
A man's harsh whisper sounds from that way, just down the steps and round the corner.
''No. I said they were checking out the east entrance to the cellars. " The voice huffs a little, as if the speaker's out of breath as well as exasperated,
"Anyway, the Boss said watch. He didn't tell us to chatter like women. Shut up and watch, Pierre."

Klokulf fishes a silver coin from the left pocket of his pack, then attempts to creep after Raen.

Alain creeps on after Raen as well preparing* to cast shocking grasp after he passes by the guard .









*If he casts it he will be holding the charge on it to deliver to the guard if needed or anyone else he thinks needs to get hurt more .

Klokulf makes it through.
But Pierre bumps into Alain as he suddenly turns back into the doorway.

Alain grabs for the startled, confused watcher, but Pierre lurches back into the hall, out of reach of the investigator's crackling hands.
Benn steps close and fires a bolt at point bank range. The missile cuts through Pierre's armor, grazing his arm and embedding itself in the door jamb.

''AHHHHHH!" Pierre screams in Benn's face. He seems too shocked to use his sword just yet.

And then Alain seizes him from behind, and poor Pierre is literally shocked.
The guard's hair lifts in air, his eyes bulge, and sparks fly from his gaping mouth.
His teeth clamp together with a loud snap and the man falls face forward, trailing smoke from his collar and armored cuffs of his brigandine's sleeves.
He doesn't get up.

The man down the stairs, closer to Raen but just out of sight, calls up ''What the hell was that! Pierre?"

"Damn this torch!" yells Klokulf in his best pained Pierre voice. "Part of the blasted thing fell down my collar!"

He puts the silver coin back in his pack and draws a morningstar from its right pocket.

Wolfglide wrote:"Damn this torch!" yells Klokulf in his best pained Pierre voice. "Part of the blasted thing fell down my collar!"

He puts the silver coin back in his pack and draws a morningstar from its right pocket.

The torchlight down the curve of the stairs grows brighter and footsteps approach.
Then...
"Pierre?"
Scraping of boot heels on pavement again...

''Hey! Something's wrong!"