Zork continues to listen to what is being said but does not have anything much to add save, "That invisibility trick is pretty useful, so someone, even fey, could probably make that trap door a little more passable each time. We could also draw out the zombies to the forest and then slay them there, that will give us more working room around the fort."
Theaton has a bit of an idea. "Neenah can you use the water tonight in the dark to wash out more of the cliff face to cause a mud or land slide so part of the back side of the fort washes out and down into the lake. That should give us access to the fort itself we may have to climb some if it works but it may give us an opening. Bal maybe you can help?"
Tyg admits to Zork, "I am too small to move much earth on my own, and I don't think I could ever lift a stone trapdoor. It will have to be Archival's friend. But he seems to have vanished completely. Will he come back this morning?"
Arnisa relays the message and sits silent for a minute. Then she replies, "Neenah has a little progress with that method. About four inches into the packed dirt so far. If she goes much deeper, she's sure some of the hill will come crashing down. But it's not a quiet method apparently."
"She can do it all night, but would have to rest all of today to prepare herself mentally and physically. She also doesn't know how far she can go before she hits sandstone, which will cut her speed in half."
"I personally would suggest that your peoples' digging tools would be more effective after she wets the dirt. Maybe even form a tunnel up to the trapdoor or the fort itself. Do you know any tunnel diggers?"
Upon hearing Theaton's suggestion about destroying part of the fort, Archival nods. "That is quite effective! That being said, do we really want to do such a thing? I can only assume that the Swordlords would like to use this place for their own purposes. Wouldn't we want to keep it as much intact as possible?"
Kesten, being in the employ of Restov, answers, "I can imagine an existing fort being of value to them, but have also noticed a shift in their western troops being redeployed closer to the city. Besides, this one is small and ruined. I guess you should go by whatever is stipulated in your charter."
It's still morning when you hear the faint sound of heavy movement in the fort. The bandits are raising the middle portcullis and push open the front gate, which swings out in a wide arc to the west as a single door. Two men stand ready to leave the fort.
In Character: Zork, seeing a good opportunity says, "Let's get these two in the forests or somewhere far from here, make them talk, take their uniforms and disguise ourselves for entry.
Even while saying that Zork watches to see if their presence has any impact on the zombies.