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<Milo aka Phil wrote>:
> Milo looks worriedly as Yv picks him up to go over the hedge.

Yvandel rises gracefully into the air, gesturing for Milo to grip onto his belt. He knew he wouldn't have had the strength to physically hold onto the tall "well built" Painbearer. Wondering what to do with his staff for a moment, he straps it to his back as he uses both hands to take a strong grip on Yvandel's belt.

Yvandel lifts higher off the ground, his pace slowing considerably as Milo's not inconsiderable weight suddenly takes strain on his belt. The leather strap groans and he feels it cut into his flesh, but it holds and Yvandel, with Milo dangling a little below him, begin his ascent by the side of the hedge. Rising slowly, the magic of the potion working hard to lift their combined weight, the two finally rise above the top of the hedge, and get a clear view down into the area beyond.

The large sprawling single story building in the middle of the grassy compound is covered in so much vegetation, there is little beyond it's blocky shape and the presence of the two white stone towers pushing up from the near the back to identify it as a building. There are no visible doors or windows, and not an inch of stone work is visible.

Looking down the 30 odd feet to the ground - a height which seems so much more to Milo, his hands gripped in a death like grip around Yvandel's belt - Milo and Yvandel can see not one, but three large lions, a male and two lionesses, pacing around the base of the hedge.
Spotting them, the male lifts it's head and roars a challenge at them, causing the other two to lift their heads and watch Yvandel and Milo's slow progress through the air.

Looking around, the pair can see that the ground inside the hedge is pretty flat, covered with short grass. There are a few small saplings, and one large tree, though both Milo and Yvandel are pleased to see that it doesn't look like the same type of tree as the one that had attacked the party.

Beyond the lions, there is no signs of life, and the towers beckon as the only thing that might offer easy access to the building. The larger of them has a diameter of about 20 feet and reaches a height of about 70 feet above the mound of vegetation that is the building below. The smaller is only 10 feet in diameter and rises to a height of about 40 feet above the mound of vegetation covering the castle. No doors are visible, but paneless, open windows can be seen above, at levels about 20 feet above the climbing vegetation. Vines and other climbing plants spiral around the tower walls to a height of about 14 feet above the mound of vegetation that seems to be covering structures.

At Milo's agreement to land on the tower, Yvandel drifts slowly over towards the building, Milo clinging on desperately below him. As he gets closer, he can see that the two towers actually appear to be slightly separate from the main mound of vegetation that represents the main building, the vegetation around their bases is lower, sagging between the base of the tower and the edge of the building, almost as if the two towers are standing in an open ended court yard at the back of the building.

As he gets closer, Yvandel can also see that dropping Milo off on the top of either tower would not be that practical - the roofs of the towers slope quite steeply, and although he can't see the far side of them - they don't look the sort to have an easy access trap door amongst their tiles. He does however spot something more interesting looking however. Slightly lower down on the shorter tower, the stump of a stone bridge juts out about five feet from the side of the tower towards the main building - it looks as though it were once a bridge linking the roof of the main building to the tower. Although covered in ivy, the stone can still be seen beneath the vegetation, unlike the stone of the main building!

As the pair of them drift across the sky, the lions continue to track them, moving away from the hedge to follow them around the vegetation covered building, trying to keep them in sight.

Moving over the top of the building, the airborne pair can see that the various climbing plants covering the building look old and very well established.

Moving at their slow pace towards the two towers, Milo and Yvandel get plenty of opportunity to peer in the paneless windows, straining their eyes to make out anything in the darkness beyond. As they get closer, their view gets progressively better, but reveals no details beyond what looks like the curved inner walls of the towers - it seems that the towers are gutted.

Finally descending towards the stone stump of the bridge, it is with great relief that Milo feels something solid beneath his feet, and Yvandel feels the pressure on his belt slacken.

***

Back with the others, having lost sight of Yvandel and Milo some five minutes earlier, only Dorn, peeking through the leaves at the end of the "tunnel" through the hedge, reports on their progress, catching glimpses of them as they cross the sky. He also reports back quietly that the lions appear to have been attracted away...

Leaving Milo on the ledge, Yvandel zooms back towards the others, catching a glimpse of 2 lionesses around the far side of the building, heading towards the towers. Of the male lion, he spots no sign. Taking what seems like barely any time at all, he flies over the hedge again, and down towards the waiting group.

<Yvandel aka Steve wrote>:
> "Larz Luc. Which of you wants to go next."

Whilst Luc muses about shooting lions from the air, Larz shakes his head. "If Moradin had meant for us to fly, he'd have made us Aarakocra!" he says.

(OOC: I'd written this before I remembered - Larz is played by Eric now!
I've been so used to Larz being an NPC, I'd forgotten! But then I also thought that Eric has had problems reading posts recently, and hasn't posted himself in ages - so I thought I'd leave it in after all...

<Ceely aka Deb wrote>:
> "If the lions are moving away and watching Yv, We can surprise attack
> them from behind. Then we can all head to the tower as one"

"I'll go through the tunnel and take my chances with the lions" says Larz. He disappears into the hole in the hedge, making his way up next to his cousin. "Are the lions gone?" he asks quietly. "Maybe we should try to quietly cut our way through the last bit and get out into the open before they come back..." he whispers quietly to Dorn.

Meanwhile, Yvandel is still looking for a volunteer to transport over.
Vaslin steps forward. "I'll go with you" she says quietly, removing her pack and putting her bow over her shoulder.

Allowing her to grab his belt as Milo had done, the young mage rises up into the air again, moving faster than before when he was lifting Milo's weight, but not as fast as he had just now when alone. He knew the potion would last for about an hour, and had been worried that if it took 5 minutes for every journey that he might run out of time! He is also pleased that the pain from his belt cutting into his hips is a lot less with Vaslin's weight than Milo's!

In moments, he crests the hedge top again, and starts to fly across the compound toward the towers. Milo, the large Painbearer still on the ledge, is busy trying to clear some of the ivy away from a metal door on the tower.

Dropping Vaslin off onto the broken bridge, Yvandel flies off again, heading back towards the main group. Vaslin unlimbers her bow, and waits patiently for one of the lions to come into view. From her spot on the broken bridge, there isn't a great angle, but she could get a shot in if a lion prowls to the right place...

<Ceely aka Debs wrote>:
> Ceely steps towards YV.."I'll go, we need another fighter on the
> tower in case there's trouble. Plus I can get a good shoot at
> dinner...er I mean the lions.

Yvandel alights and allows Ceely to get a good grip on his belt, before rising off the ground again, trailing Ceely behind him.

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "Hell take me Yav...this idea of yours seems to be working." "Come on
> Dorn, no need to confront the lions least not right now>"

Blondung grimaces as he listens to Lucretia and watches Yvandel and Ceely slowly rising back towards the top of the hedge. He glances towards Merrell, and steps close to the other mage. "It strikes me that your wand of fire would probably make quick work of those lions..." he suggests quietly.

<Dorn aka Doug wrote>:
> "I am sticking with Larz, ifin he decides to fly then I will too, but
> if he's usin his feet, well I gotta be there too"

Larz seems to have a change of heart about flying. (OOC: my fault for second guessing what Eric might want Larz to do! :-)

<Larz aka Eric wrote>:
> "I'm not one fer flyin' e'er where, but if'n we can be avoidin' this
> battle tuh be keepin' ourselves fresh fer when it counts, then I'm
> sayin' that the flyin' is good fer me."

Blondung glowers at the two dwarves, not really happy about the whole flying business - or at least the dangling from beneath Yvandel's belt business - but he says nothing.

Meanwhile, Yvandel ferries Ceely across towards the towers, noting in transit that he can see a couple of lions prowling back to the front of the building, and back towards the hedge. They pause and look up at the two flying humans, the male roaring another challenge. An answering roar comes from the far side of the building, and as the fliers reach the ledge, Yvandel can see another male lion pacing around the vegetation around the bottom of the towers.

On the broken bridge, Vaslin gets a couple of opportunities to fire at that same lion, but refrains instead, thinking that perhaps it might be possible to do as Yvandel had wished, and get into these buildings without needing to kill any lions. Up at the door, Milo finally clears enough of the doorway to examine it properly. The metal door has obviously been engraved with swirls, curves and patterns to make it look beautiful, though has been disfigured here and there where ivy has stuck to it. What does disappoint him however is that the door has no obvious means of opening it - neither keyhole nor door handle. It looks as though it would open inwards however.

Vaslin, glancing over, lowers her bow and joins Milo to examine the door. "No lock!" she grumbles, not bothering to get any lock picks out.
She gives the door an experimental shove, but it remains firmly closed.
"Either magically locked or barred by my guess" she mutters aloud, more to herself than the others with her.

Having dropped Ceely off on the end of the bridge, Yvandel zooms back, intending to pick up Lucretia next.

<Merrell aka Mike wrote>:
> "Right then, that was three orders of roasted lion for
> table five. And how would you like those lions prepared
> sir??" Merrell smirked at the other mage, then winked.
> "Well done it is.."

Blondung grins - a rare show of genuine amusement from him - "Definitely well done!" he agrees, nodding.

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "Hold on there bud...<looking at Merrell and then to
> Blondung> didn't we decide to by pass the lions?"
> <Luc looks some what suspicious at Blondung who had
> just whispered to Merrell, had he just planted a
> suggestion to his friend with some sort of spell.>

Blondung simply shrugs. "We'll probably have to deal with them at some point" he says simply. "And Merrell has the easiest way" he adds.

Peeking through the last five feet of vegetation that Dorn had yet to cut, Merrell can't actually see Yvandel, the other mage flying rapidly back having dropped Ceely off at the tower. His yell, muffled somewhat by the hedge reaches Yvandel, but the puppeteer continue his flight without responding. Down below, the couple of lions that Yvandel had spotted earlier also seem to hear Merrell's yell, and accelerate back towards the hedge opposite where Merrell stood in the tunnel.

Reaching the hedge, the lions roar again, and Merrell, somewhat startled by how close they are, can see them through the hedge. Knowing how the wand works, he realises he doesn't need a distraction from Yvandel, and invokes it as he had done with the animated vines that had tried to crush everyone. Gesturing the end of the wand in a pattern, a large wall of flame engulfs the area beyond the hedge where he just make out the shapes of the lions moving.

There are a couple of loud yowls, and a roar of the fire blazing up. Even through the vegetation, Merrell can feel the heat. Yvandel, having just descended, intending to pick up Lucretia, glances around. This side of the hedge, the could only hear the howls of the tortured lions, burning in the blaze of fire.

Back on the tower, Ceely, having already determined that she was unlikely to get through the door, was looking instead for somewhere to bang a piton into. Unfortunately, the tower appears to have been build extremely well, and has no cracks large enough to drive a piton into. She is just peering up at the nearest window, wondering if Yvandel will give her a lift, when she hears the howls of the lions, and looks around to see a large cloud of smoke rising up from the front of the building. From where the group on the broken bridge are - they can't see the base of the hedge or the lions in the fire - merely the smoke and the flames licking up around a small tree in the area.

Milo and Vaslin also look around in alarm at the sound.

Yvandel flies up again, looking over the hedge at the fire from Merrell's wand. From above, he can see the intense curved curtain of flame cris-crossing the area in front of the hedge. He can feel the heat washing up towards him, and the smoke stings his eyes. Trapped by the curving walls of fire, the pair of lions are running frantically in circles, trapped in the gaps between the curtains, their fur and the grasses around them ignited from the intense heat.

With horror, Yvandel watches as the two lions finally manage to break out through the maze of flaming curtains, one collapsing almost immediately, the other running blindly until colliding with the vegetation surrounding the front of the building, where it continued to burn, flailing around for what seemed like ages before finally lying still. Yvandel's stomach clenched as he imagined how horrible a death that must have been for what had been such a noble beast. It also seemed to have managed to ignite a small fire in the vegetation at the front of the building as well.

Looking past the smoke towards the towers, he spotted those on the broken bridge, all looking in the direction of the smoke. Flying rapidly towards them, he lets them know what has happened.

<Ceely aka Debs wrote (a long time ago now!)>:
> "Yv, can you lower me to one of the windows?
> I want a good look inside"

Yvandel allows Ceely to get hold of his belt again, and transports her towards one of the pane-less windows, where the two of them peer inside. From this position, they can see that there are no internal walls OR floors in this tower - it is almost as if the entire tower has been gutted at some point. Around the walls, various supports can be seen which must have once supported the floors. The inside of the iron door Milo had cleared is also visible, though it appears to have no handle on this side either. Around some of the lower windows, ivy and vegetation pokes, though it appears not to have grown inside the building to any great extent. The floor of the tower, though in fairly deep shade, appears to be solid stone. There does not appear to be any other doors in the tower either.

Movement through a far window catches their eye, and they get a glimpse of one of the surviving lions prowling around the rear of the building.