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On the maps they took from the slave lord, this island was not even named. He sees a Hill Fort on the north side of the island, and orders the Sea Ghost to the southern side. A boat sends them ashore, and will wait for them in case of a speedy retreat.
For today, Alzar has swapped ESP for Empathic Control, because he suspects he may need it at least once, and perhaps twice.
Alzar searches the north side where the hill fort is. It is a combination of recent construction on top of the remains of a stone fortress weathered and worn. Alzar has Megala and Dryshik looking from a ridge above, looking down on the stockade.
The outer wall of the hill fort is an earth rampart topped by a wooden palisade. This then meats the curtain wall of the old fortress. There is a gatehouse behind that wall. The structure is one story except for a guardhouse one level up., and the gatehouse and curtain wall, which go up a lot, giving the soldiers there a good vantage point. The keep abuts the rampart in three places. There are outward and downward fitted spikes all around to discourage people climbing up, and patrols everywhere. Observation shows a lot of movement, and any attack or excursion would likely be quickly found
How to get in? There does not appear to be any secret entrances this time. The drawbridge is raised and the portcullis down. Maybe they could pretend to be slaves? Or slave purchasers? That last one would make no sense for a group without a boat ,here on an island. Fly over the wall? That’s pretty obvious.
Invisibly fly over the wall? Potion of Invis + Broom of flying should get the group over the wall unseen and then to a corner of the place from which they could start exploring. That’s not to bad, but they don’t have enough flying methods (just three) and all are too big for a teleport jar to have the fourth join.
The Rope of Climbing could get between the spikes of a palisade, but the people scaling the wall would have to cut them off, making their entry way really obvious. Alzar makes a mental inventory of his items, and then…ah yes….
Carum is handed the Diminution Stone, and he shrinks to somewhere around 18 inches tall. Carum is held in Alzar’s hand, and Brooms of Flying are given to Estaish and Aleigha. Dryshik and Megala are ordered one on each of Alzar’s shoulder, so they will be invisible as well.
They each drink a dose of the potion of 7 drinks. Alzar activates his Belt and they fly in. Alzar and them move in quietly, since the invisibility potion lasts for a while, and they can whisper to each other about where to go inside the keep.
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