Ch 2: Remnants

Investigating the standing ruins from the Dawn Age
Chapter 1
Ch1 end

After a full day of rest and relaxation, of which you are normally allowed 2 per tenday, you gather all you will need and set out again. Luckily this trip allows you to stay on the "beaten path" and much cleaner and dryer than your last side excursions into the swampy byways. After about half an hour you are able to step off the path and into the rolling low hills covered in grass and trees.

Moving more cautiously you head down a rough trail worn though the knee to hip high grass towards the ruins. There are signs of the large beasts, dinosaurs, native to this region. A few herds, small in number though not size, can be seen grazing to the south. Other are also seen to the north by the riverfront where some fliers can occasionally be seen fishing.

Entering a wooded area you find a vantage point to examine the ruins about 100 yards out. (tableplop area map party is dagger on red round shield, remnant is white square) The standing ruis, or remnant as they are some times called by the researchers, is about the size of the base. A walled enclosure of about 300' square. The walls are 20' high and from your raised vantage point you can see the tops are not meant to be walked but there do appear to be watch posts at the corners and gates.

Jax grunts in surprise and confusion commenting the last couple of times they were here each of the entrances had at least 4 guards, with other patrols circling the area. None are inevidence now.

Though you should be able to see over the walls a distortion covers the remnant, much like a heat wave in the dessert, distorting what you can see and eliminating any details other than the fact there are building inside. You can see 2 gates, each in the middle of it wall, that are about 30' wide and 20' tall. Looking closer the north gate is noticed to be ajar with one of the gates partially opened

Hak offers to overfly the ruins and see if that distortion is visible all the way around or if it is just affecting our view from here.

*Chiirp* "I wonder what would happen if we ran a herd of dinosaurs into the ruins? *Triiil* "If that would affect the distortion ... thingy... it has to be a spell... doesn't it?" *Chirp*

He looks at Marwin seeking confirmation that someone, or something, is actively preventing our ability to see inside.

This place isn't as populate like you said. New residents might not be so kind.

As you observe the remnant Jax and Klim fill you in on detail from their previous scouting and reports. Acording to the Grippli their tribesmen were being held inside the walls. There were 4 guards per gate, a couple on each corner and over each gate and patrols of 8 circling it. They had followed a path to a small dock were the hobgoblins kept a few boats for crossing the river. The other remnants spotted across the river were similarly guarded at that time.
Resting for a moment in the shade of the trees you notice several "rocks" are actually shaped stone and begin noticing other indications that this "hill" is a pile of collapsed buildings that has been overgrown. Looking out over the grass you notice other regular patterns in where hills are placed, trees grow and stretches where the grass is thin and short. A rough image of how the city may have stood in the past is laid out before your eyes as you look for other clues
The remnant itself is obviously in a much better state than the rest of the city that has crumbled around it. Far to the north west along the banks of the rive you see what you guess to be another remnant.

Sirocco isn't one with studies at all in this area of expertise. He really doesn't have more than the average joe about it. This is all very interesting. Can any here make head or tails of it all?

Unless Jax or Klim say differently, Hak is going to fly around the white square maintaining about the same distance away as they are now, but he will be looking around from a height of about 100 feet to see if anything can bee seen differently from any side of the remnant.

While flying around, he would also like to find a group of dinosaurs within herding distance, as he still thinks sending a bunch of dinosaurs into the place would be a great idea.

Hak retreats to the far side of the trees from the remnant and lifts into the sky. As he flaps to gain elevation he notes the flying dinosaurs tend to stay above the river area but some can be seen all around. Leveling out over a hundred feet he curves back towards the remnant. Peering down he notes the haze continues to block any detailed examination of the remnant but he believes he spots some movement through the blur. He is able to determine that there are no guards anywhere outside the 4 gates but beyond that he is uncertain.
A quick look around the area spots 4 herds of the dinosaurs. One to the north is a small, 10 to 15, heard of very large beasts standing over 30' tall with long necks and tails. Another to the north west is a group of at least 30 odd beasts that appear to alter between waling on four legs and standing on 2 legs to graze on some trees and appear to be 12-15' tall when errect. Far to the west is a heard of massive beasts with large horns atop their heads like some odd cow that is 3 to 5 times the size. The last is to the south and is the most numerous, counting seems pointless, but appears to be drifting further south west. Had returns without incident and informs the others of what he saw.

"So," Marwin says to the group. "Head inside then?"

Does seem to be the plan. and he mossies' onward.

The group heads towards the northern gate which is waving in the wind. As you cautiously get closer you see no one on the walls or anywhere in sight though track indicate patrols were common previously.
At the gate you find traces of blood and a couple broken arrows but nothing else. The haze over the wall is even thicker and more disturbing to the eyes up close. Peeing inside the gate you see buildings made of stone and a soft white brick with slate or tile roofs, though not all the roofs are intact. You notice the haze is not visible when you look to the sky through the gate but Hak assures you it covers the entire remnant.

Though you do not see anyone you do hear sounds coming from being the gate, inside the remnant.

Hak stays near the rear of the group, watching our backtrail while we sneak forward.

Lee edges up to the gate and stretches out his awareness but does not detect anything beyond the gate. However as he does this his head begins to ache and he quickly retracts his awareness to this side of the gateway. There was something in the way making it like trying to read fine print through a rippling pond there

Sirocco who has 60' Darkvision (no color) will go into stealth mode and move up. Kitty on the move.

Day 8, Time 9:15
Sirocco slips quietly through the open gate. The light of mid morning flares for a second and he feels a moment of dizziness before moving out of the middle of the street and looks down the old city streets. The street is wide and paved with large flat stones set against each other without mortar and edges with gutters for water run off that lead to small drains. Along the sides of the road are round patches of dirt and one holds a dried withered stump of a tree leading to the conclusion they may have been for bushes, flowers, and trees while the city yet thrived. The buildings are mostly single story structures with shallow roofs. A few look to have had second stories in the past but the upper levels are crumbling much more severely. Sirocco presses against has a doorway but the door has long since fallen into ruin.
Now that he is inside the remnant Sirocco can hear occasional movement in the distance to the south.

Jax unsheathes his sword and stands ready at the gate for Sirocco’s return, or lack there of. Alright, if he takes too long we’ll have to go in after him. Either way be careful, I don’t like this.

"I'll back him up," Marwin says after Sirocco goes in. He touches a series of runes on his armor and speaks a command word, then he vanishes. "We'll be back," he says, apparently now invisible. Then he proceeds to follow Sirocco into the remnant.