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Mid afternoon, Ceely and Lucretia, currently travelling at the front of the group, spot something large and white through the trees ahead. Approaching carefully, they finally get a better view. Just off the trail to the left stands a large white tower in the wood. It consists of white marble and ends in a pyramid shape at the top, about 30 yards above the ground but still beneath the upper canopy of the forest, although it probably reached well above the trees in its own day. The base of the tower is 10 yards in diameter. There is a slight clearing of trees around the tower, allowing additional light from the still overcast sky above to light the tower. One face of the tower is covered in green moss, as are some of the other trees on the far side of the clearing - a reasonably clear indication that the trail was heading roughly west - exactly in the wrong direction of where they wanted to go.

Thick ivy vines wind tightly around the bottom five yards of the tower. There is no visible entrance in the tower anywhere.

As the rest of the group cautiously approach the point where Lucretia and Ceely are, Blondung frowns. "Here?" he says. "Where exactly is here?" He peers at the tower through the undergrowth. "I'm not so sure this is the Lonely Tower of Ssessibil Istahvar" he says. He glances towards Yvandel. "Grab the map out and let's see where we are..." he asks.

After looking at the map for a moment, Blondung shakes his head. "No, this place is no-where near Beorunna's Well"

<Merrell aka Mike continued>:
> "How much daylight do we have left? Can we just skirt on by and let
> the tower be?" Merrell asked aloud addressing no one in particular.

Larz shrugs. "I be guessin' we got ourselves another couple of hours left 'fore we should rest up."

Blondung glances towards Yvandel's summoned mounts. "I'm guessing those summoned horses won't last much longer either - and I don't fancy having to pick up and carry all of the stuff..." he adds.

<Merrell aka Mike continued>:
> "I'm just saying our luck isn't going to hold out forever.
> With our track record I'm not sure I want to find out what
> pleasantries await us in there" he said pointing towards the tower.

Larz shrugged and grunted noncommittally. "I dinne care to stay" he adds. "Looks like a mage's tower of some sorts, and them is always more trouble than good!"

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "Good point, we should pass it up...however, we aren't are we?"

Blondung merely glances at the tower and rubs his chin thoughtfully, perhaps thinking of what items of power might be found. His fingers flicker in a complex pattern and he mutters a word, then studies the place carefully for a moment. "Definitely magic in the place..." he muses aloud, glancing sideways at Merrell and Lucretia, his mouth quirking up in his twisted smile.

<Merrell aka Mike wrote>:
> Merrell threw Luc a sideways glance, "Apparently not."
> He said answering the burly warrior's last question.
> Then his gaze fell back on Blondung. "Aye, there's probably magic in
> there, but what will it cost us this time? Aren't you even the least
> bit worried that we'll screw up and loose someone because we got
> greedy?"

Blondung shrugs. "Ever since these damn tattoos appeared, every day is a risk."

<Herod aka Malcolm wrote>:
> "Need we stay ?" Herod says. "We rested well at the ruined temple and
> if we can double time it to the Well, I would be game," the cleric
> shares. "Sorry, but all these trees are making me itch," he chuckles.

"You're not alone" says Blondung flatly, looking around at the dense trees surrounding the trail. "But the gods know how long it will be before we manage to find a route through these damn woods, and an hour or so of extra walking tonight may not really help us much in the long run..." he trails off, returning his gaze to the tower close by. "We know there is magic in the tower, but whether it is helpful or not..."
he shrugs, again trailing off to leave the question unanswered.

<Yvandel aka Steve continued>:
> "Maybe one or two of the sneaky types can check it out first. Like we
> did back there. The rest can set up and be ready to fight if anything
> comes out."

Larz looks around the narrow trail and then back at the nearby tower.
"Not a lot of room to fight here" he says, looking grim.

<Yvandel aka Steve continued>:
> "But only a short look. A room or two. Just to see if there is
> anyone here. If it looks interesting.... Who knows. We have picked
> up a lot of valuable and useful items so far. Maybe we can find
> more."

"You assume we have a chance of getting inside..." Blondung drawls.
"One spell I didn't bother to learn today was Knock..." He frowns for a moment, then glances at Merrell. "What was on that Scroll you got from the island?" he asks. "Didn't that have Knock on it?"

<Dorn aka Doug wrote>:
> "If the majority want to pass it up, then Dorn will go with the
> popular vote, but aren't we taking the risk of our map being
> wrong...."

Larz glances at his cousin sideways. "Well, you've lived in Silverymoon longer than most of us - what is the likelihood of Alustriel's map being wrong?"

<Ceely aka Debs wrote>:
> Ceely looks at the tower as the other talk.. "I think we need to at
> least take a closer look at the outside before deciding to skip
> it...there may be clues or something important we need to find
> here...haste makes waste and we shouldn't waste an opportunity here"

Larz simply shrugs. Blondung nods. "Always worth a look" he says.

<Cleo aka Dan wrote>:
> "Well, here's the way I look at it... I agree that we want to avoid
> trouble when we can but I also wonder why we were teleported onto this
> particular path.
> So... that makes me wonder if we were 'intended' to find this
> tower.... who knows...."

"Or it could just be this wood simply trying to piss us off!" muttered Larz out of the corner of his mouth.

<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> Thinking back, her forehead crinkles in thought. "Then again....
> There wasn't any rationale for picking the direction that we did back
> at the fork in the path, was there? Since we are definitely heading
> west, instead of east... I hate to say it but perhaps we simply made a
> wrong turn back there. Perhaps we should go back and try going the
> other way. Still - I know that curiosity can be dangerous, but I
> still wanna check this place out."

OOC: When Vaslin tossed a coin and chose the left path at the junction, that was a few hours before coming to the Temple where the group spent a couple of nights. So, if you wished to retrace your steps, then you can do that, but you won't reach the temple before night fall, so it'll be a night on the trail...

<Ceely aka Debs wrote>:
> Ceely ponders Cleo's words a moment "OF course from the top of the
> tower we could likely see where we are and which way is out...."

Blondung peers upwards through the foliage, craning his neck to see, then shakes his head. "Naaa, it's not as tall as the tallest trees.
You won't get a good view from up there." He frowns. "No visible windows either."

<Vaslin aka Ron wrote>:
> "I'm a city girl myself, but I think the woods are probably safer than
> messing around in a wizard's tower we have no business messing with."
> She looks over he pristine white erection. "I bet there are beds in
> there..." She comments wistfully.

Blondung shrugs. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained..." he quips. "You have clerical spells to detect traps don't you?" he adds, looking to Vaslin.

<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> As the group finds and discusses the stone tower, Cleo draws her sword
> and makes her way all the way around the structure, searching for any
> doors or windows that could be used for entry.

Stepping ahead of the group, Cleo moves forward, pushing her way off the trail and into the small clearing around the tower itself.

"On the other hand," drawls Blondung, looking back at Cleo's departing back, "perhaps Cleo can detect the traps by simply walking into them?"

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "I am game for checking out this tower..."
> <Luc then begins to approach the tower... giving it a wide
> berth at first and cautiously circling it and closing in.>

Lucretia moves forward as well, pushing through the ferns and between the trees to enter the small and rough clearing around the tower. He and Cleo keep their distance to start with, merely observing the tower.
It is made of closely knit white marble, and despite the thick ivy covering its lower reaches, it becomes pretty clear as they make their way around it that there is no visible entrance. Nor windows. It is some 30 yards tall - probably five or six stories high inside...

Certainly, there is no clear way in.

Once they return to the main group - still clustered on the trail where it bends closest to the tower, Blondung listens as they describe what they saw. He looks sour. "Well that's a pain" he says after a moment. "I don't have spells capable of creating an entrance... And a knock spell is only useful if we actually knew where the entrance should be..."

<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> "Blondung, you said you detected magic, but you were pretty
> far away. Would it maybe help you to locate a magical
> entrance if you walked up close to the structure and circled > around the base?"

Blondung shrugs, but also pushes his way forward towards the tower, moving slowly around it.

After a short while, he calls back. "There is strong magic from all around the tower, as well as a several sources deeper inside..."

<Vaslin aka Ron wrote>:
> "I can climb that, I think." She twirls the ring on her finger.

OOC: The ivy only covers the bottom five yards of the tower's 30 yard height - above that is relatively smooth marble, though on the north side of the tower, moss and lichen have managed to gain a foot-hold.
Climbing it would be a seriously heroic climb... (i.e. a huge negative DM on the dice roll...)

<Ceely aka Debs wrote>:
> "Blondung could fly to the top, now that's not a bad idea...Go for it"

Blondung scowls. "Although I do still have a scroll with Fly on it - it seems a waste of a irreplaceable resource..." He looks around at the surrounding trees. "Perhaps someone could climb a nearby tree - just to get a view of the top of the tower..." he suggests.

<Merrell aka Mike wrote>:
> Merrell smiled at the barbarian lass's suggestion, "Perhaps that would
> work, but I think Blondung was on to the right way to enter this tower
> before."

"I did?" he asks in surprise, turning to look at the half-elven book-worm mage.

<Merrell aka Mike wrote>:
> "Yes, this is the spell...the knock spell."
> Then turning to Yv and Blondung he added, "Should I do the honours, or
> would either of you prefer to cast it?"

Blondung shakes his head. "No, No, no. First, you need to find where
the secret door is!" He steps forward and points at part of the spell instructions on the scroll. "Look here. See! The area of effect is only 120 square feet... That would equate to a square about 11 feet by 11 feet..." He shakes his head again. "No, we need to know roughly where the door is first. He gestures towards the tower, his eyes estimating the circumference of the tower. "We'd need nearly 10 such spells to completely cover just the bottom of the tower... Assuming there was an entrance at ground level."

He shook his head again, looking both sour and disappointed at the same time. "I didn't spot any particular point of the wall that was more magical than others, but permeated with magic in some way - invocation style magic I sensed."

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "Could be just a hidden door, though." "I'll go have a look."

Lucretia steps closer to the tower, pulling the leaves of the ivy aside as he slowly starts to search his way around the base of the tower.

As Ceely starts to scramble up the first branches of the tree, Larz glances towards Vaslin, then back at Ceely. "Hey lass, wouldn't it be a good idea if yer borrowed the ring o' fallin', I mean feather fallin'..." calls out the dwarf. "Not that I'm expecting yer to fall, it's just a long way t' fall if a branch breaks on yer!"

Ceely takes the ring from Vaslin, puts it on and starts to climb the tree. Vaslin watches her progress, silently musing to herself how she would have climbed much more quickly and efficiently. Although not a hard climb compared to a cliff face or sheer brick wall, the tree has its awkward places, and it takes Ceely several minutes to navigate her way to a point high enough to get a glimpse of the top surface of the tower. It is somewhat disappointed that she realises that the top looks as impermeable as the walls - a slightly curved surface, and probably enchanted in someway judging by the lack of moss/lichen dirt etc on the top of it.

Down the bottom of the tower, despite several people searching for any sign of a secret door, the stone of the tower refuses to give up its secrets. Yvandel tries tossing a pebble at the tower, but it simply bounces off the stone as one would expect - no magical reaction.

Blondung blows air out through his teeth, craning his neck up to watch Ceely in the tree. "Maybe we should just forget this place and move on after all..." he says after a moment an a somewhat disgruntled voice. "I'm sure that with the appropriate magic at our disposal we could probably force entrance - but on reflection - perhaps discretion IS the better part of valour here... and we should just leave well alone..." Taking his gaze down from Ceely far above, he rubs his neck, and stares at the tower instead. "The more I think about it" he muses out loud, "it's pretty likely that whoever owned, or even OWNS, this tower is either a mage of power, who we probably shouldn't disturb, or someone who hates sunlight..." He scowls, suddenly bored with the investigation of the tower after all.

Larz, having joined in searching around the base of the tower for secret doors, gives the ivy covered wall a kick. "Stupid tower" he mutters.

<Merrell aka Mike wrote>:
> "Blondung, you or Yv know for certain what the limits of this wizard
> sight spell are? Perhaps we shouldn't give up just yet." he added, so
> Dorn and the others could hear him.

Blondung shakes his head. "It's just a more powerful version of the Detect Magic spell" he says. "Instead of having to spend several moments studying the magical auras, it enhances your vision to enable you to identify the magical auras more accurately and more quickly."

<Merrell aka Mike wrote>:
> "At the least we should try our best. As you said, who knows we could
> find some useful magics inside."

Blondung shrugs. "I don't know what to suggest" he says. "Unless someone can find the right place to cast the Knock spell, we simply don't have the right spells to penetrate that place..."

<Ceely aka Debs wrote>:
> Then Ceely pulls a coin from her bag making sure it's the lowest
> denomination she has and tosses it onto the roof of the tower to see
> what happens.

Clinging to the branch, and surrounded by leaves, Ceely tosses a copper thumb towards the roof of the tower. It clatters against the stone surface, bouncing off and falling, narrowly missing one of the searchers below. It seems clear that the roof is as solid as the walls.

<Vaslin aka Ron wrote>:
> When talk comes around to leaving, or even doubling back.
> She stands away from the tower and calls upon the Luckbringer to guide
> her actions. "Tymora, would entering this tower aid us or our
> mission?" She asks, tucking the question inside more mystic syllables
> and gestures designed to alter the weave.

For a moment, there is no answer, then suddenly, there is a flash as a silver coloured bird flies across the clearing, hovering in front of the LuckPriestess, it’s tiny wings a blur. It whistles beautifully for a moment, the sound more beautiful than any normal songbird.

To Vaslin however, she hears the whistling as words - and knows that her Goddess has manifested to give her the answer to her question. As she frowns, not perhaps fully understanding what she has heard and silently resenting her goddess for being cryptic, the bird suddenly flies directly at her, causing her to duck or be hit in the face by it. As she looks around to see where it had gone, it vanishes.

"Wow!" exclaims Larz. "What did it say?!" he asks.

<Vaslin aka Ron wrote>:
> "It's dark in there." Is all she tells her friends...

Blondung frowns. "That sounds ominous" he says.

<Dorn aka Doug wrote>:
> "Errrr ...lets just keep movin before these sigylls decide that we
> arent movin fast enough and start their pull again.
> Which way should we go, should we head back down the path that brought
> us here and take the other path at the split??"

Glancing once at Vaslin to see if she also agreed with this course of action, Blondung nods in agreement. "Perhaps we should forget this place" he says.

<Yvandel aka Steve wrote>:
> Yvandel pulls out the map and decides that the way that they are going
> is in the complete wrong direction.
> Looking to Dorn he nods. "Lets try that yes."

<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> “Well I am done…we can spend the night here and move on, in case we
> think of something.” “The pull doesn’t seem to strong so I don’t mind
> relaxing a little early tonight.”

Larz pouts. "If we rest here now, I guess we can rest tomorrow night back at the Temple" he says.

Blondung glances up at the tower. "I don't know. Maybe we should move away from the tower a bit and rest on the trail..." He shudders a moment. "Tymora's augury is unlikely to be literal, and despite the lack of windows, I wonder what sort of 'dark' is being referred to... I'd as soon as rest somewhere else."

<Cleo aka Dan wrote>:
> "Dorn's right. Let's go back the way we came and try the other branch
> in the path. The bad thing is that it's so FAR away back there.
> Still, I see no advantage to camping here rather than on the trail
> itself, so we might as well put in as many leagues as we can before
> sundown tonight"

Larz glances up at Ceely high above still. "Come on down lass, we've decided to go!"

<Ceely aka Debs wrote>:
> As they all discuss leaving or going, First Ceely will look to see of
> she can see anything in the distance, climbing slightly higher if need
> be.

Ceely looks all around, and even clambers a few feet higher, but finds that she is still no higher than most of the other trees immediately around her, and all she can see it other trees.