Not saying anything Zork only thinks, "With these skills we should try a Trojan horse attack rather than march up to the fort like a conquering army."
Zork adjust his seat and pets the mane of his horse while keeping an eye on Grizzly making sure he doesn't get too excited by the weird looking creatures in front of us.
Out of Character: Has everyone else fallen asleep and left me here to deal with the fey and these exotic monsters?
Mykael watches the interaction quitely; he leaves the negotiations to Archival and Theaton.
Out of Character: : Sorry, I can’t think of much Mykael would be doing at this point other than following along, waiting until we get close to the fort.
Theaton keeps heading down towards the lake as he talks to the fey. "Glad to meet you Arnisa, Yarrow and Neenah. I think we can figure something out together that can be very beneficial to us all and not get very injured. I have some ideas but I need to see the fort and how close it is to the lake and the river to know if it has the possibility of working. I am sure we can use the attraction of a nice looking lady to possibly draw a few out."
The day drags on to late afternoon as you tread over hills and through valleys, keeping close to the river in which your new allies swim alongside you, just to keep pace with your horses. Even with their great abilities to swim, every now and again one of the nixies asks you to slow down.
Because of the interruptions, it takes a long time to reach some hills near the fort as your horses begin to tire and the nixies complain that they can't swim or walk any further, unless they get an hour's break. However, there are still a few of hours of daylight left as the date quickly approaches the summer solstice; the 22nd being two days away.
The smell of fish and algal blooms hits your nostrils as you crest a hill and the Stag Lord's fort comes clearly into view. From 600 feet away you can see its wooden palisade, roughly square and 100 feet across, with sharpened logs pointing outwards and adorning the top of the wall. A 10 foot wide gate sits closed on the north side where a dirt path ends, the straight path starting 300 feet away at the base of the hill.
Above the wooden palisade poke three watchtowers topped with conical wooden roofs and adorned with red scraps of cloth acting as flags. Two of the towers are on the north side, the small viewing gap obstructing vision inside (Unless you try a Perception check). The highest tower is on the south side, providing a line of sight to the path at the front, as well as an overview of the rear.
Between the towers is a ruined stone structure, 70 foot across as far as you can tell, originally built in a square shape from what you can see. Tyg tells you there is a stone addition on the lower level that you can't see. Above the stone on three very tall posts stand three sun-bleached stag skulls.
As for the barren hill on which this fort was founded, it has no plant life apart from dry thorny bushes. Boulders and rocks of various sizes dot its 300 foot long slope. On the lake side, the hill slopes down 200 feet, before abruptly ending at a cliff that's 20 foot high. Either side of this cliff, to the south-west and south-east are two beaches, where the bottom of the hill meets the waterline.
Out of Character: Sorry for the unexplained absence. I didn't plan for how much time my activities in the last few days actually took. Though it wasn't all work, I should probably prioritized replying here before playing games, sorry guys!
Edited: iCon on 15th May, 2016 - 9:22am
Zork feels small by the immense structure that needs to be overcome in order to get to the inside. He turns to the party and those in the sea to see what they say about it.
He does say, "We will be easily seen if we do not take cover now, if we haven't been seen already."
Theaton agrees and heads back down the hill they just came up. "We will set up camp here and plan our attack. But lets get some rest first while we eat and drink we can do some planning."
Theaton will set up camp below the top of the hill where we can be out of the forts sight.
Theaton's glance was able to discern one additional detail as you turn around and head down the hill, out of sight. The guards at the two front towers had been watching the path, rather than the surrounding hillside.
As you plan, half an hour later, all fatigue from the day's travel is forgotten with at least an hour of light still remaining.
Out of Character: I'm not always going to remember to check your bonuses, please add them to the roll!
Also for the highly likely battle soon, don't forget to use the exploding dice option.