Underfed Returns! pt2

The tower looks solid enough at a glance, at least what's left of it. K'nap is pushing towards it's ruined archway and peeking his head inside. A whistle from him. "Sandy inside but it should shelter us!"

"Perhaps you should let one of us go first," Victor suggests. He's already moving for the entrance, fists clenched as he moves to step inside.

Asmli studies what is left of the stonework as he, too, makes for the entrance. With the sun rising, he and his flushed face are already more than eager to get out of the sun. "It's not going to collapse on us, but I'd watch my step," he tells the others.

"Probably for the best," is K'nap's reply. The bird-man steps back to allow the tower to be explored more thoroughly.

Echo looks thoughtful, then pulls out a sword from his pack to begin poking at the floor carefully every few steps as he moves around, checkin the area for faults or possible things that might be bad for them. Definitely not about to just stick around there. He'll look for windows or anything else juuust in case. Or better, stairs going up.

Victor also studies the interior of the tower. He looks for tracks, signs of some animal or sentient living here, signs of any activity whatsoever. Only if nothing jumps out at them does he wave K'nap inside.

Asmli's primary interest seems to be the stonework itself, its construction and state of repair. He is no expert in traps, but the possibility that such might exist is on his mind.

GAME: Asmli rolls perception: (8)+3: 11

GAME: Echo rolls Perception: (9)+9: 18

GAME: Victor rolls perception: (11)+7: 18

...a quick search of the tower reveals it to be very empty. The stairs, at least, are feunctional and you're able to move up to the second and then third floor without much difficulty.. Soon, you're able to access the ruiined top of the tower to peer out into the vast, desert stands. Hello, desert!

There's no immediate sign of any carvan in the distance, but you can see for miles and miles, and it's not exactly like it would be easy to see them to /begin/ with, especially at this night hour.

Blinking, Asmli peers out across the desert, then shakes his head. "I got nothing," he tells the others. "They too far ahead?"

"Perhaps at this hour. WE may be more easily able to see the tracks when the day-star shows its ugly head more brightly." K'nap makes a disgusted sound.

Echo frowns as he looks around, then his eyes dim before brightening. "... there was a battle here." He states.

Victor turns slowly in place to examines the horizon in various directions, but then when his gaze runs across something on a wall he pers at it. He nods at Echo's words. But all he says is, "Now that it seems we might catch up to our quarry -- " he puts an ever so slight emphasis on the word 'might', "-- it may be our last chance to devise a plan for destroying the agony engine."

Echo nods, settling down in an indian style position, meditative. "In the mean time, I would advise we rest while we can. Set a watch and such. I need to do my prayers to Eluna so that I may have her blessings ready, among other things."

"I can get behind a rest," Asmli grumbles, already starting to work himself out of his armor. "But I say we do it at the bottom level, out of the sun, or else I'll fry." He's already starting for the stairs.

Victor nods in agreement. "Very well." He glances over the other party members. "After resting I can cast a spell that will allow us to better endure these conditions..."

Rest is good.

You've had a long night after all. Several times during the day, you're able to look out across the top of the tower when you're on watch and eventually it becomes apparently that there's *something* far to the west of the tower, deeper in the desert, along the roads.

That's got to be something to do wqith the caravan you're hunting. K'nap seems to agree, as that lays in the direction of the Diamond Emperor's territory, such as it is. It's a land plagued with bandits, and he does stress its unlikely you'll go unnoticed forever. Mantis people, roaming elementals, and brigands are the rule of the day out this way.

The good news is that nothing troubles you at the tower.

Echo finishes his prayers pretty early, being... y'know, one of those war golem things. Once he reactivates, the golem rises up before he looks out at the west. Sighing at the thought of more troubles, he mentions, "Why did we sign up for this again?" He looks ready to go as he checks his gear.

Victor keeps his own gaze fixed on the *something* to the west. He tries his best to determine if it's growing closer, moving farther away, or simple passing by. "Whatever that is," he finally says, "We should go investigate."

"Yeah," Asmli agrees as he works on donning his armor. "Hopefully it ain't seen us yet."

And wit hthat, you do set out.

K'nap is picking a more careful route towards the roads. The caravan has been, more or less, apparently moving slwoly towards its destination, taking a rather circutious route as necessity through these dangerous lands requires. The desert start to twinkle above you, but at least you have a direction.

Hours start to pass.

Echo continues trudging along, being careful in his strides as they continue towards the apparent caravan. His eyes keep looking around as he tries to make sure nothing is going to surprise them. Hopefully!

Victor walks next to Echo with the same tireless gait - that of a construct. He nods at Echo's example and also tries to keep a watch on their surroundings.

GAME: Victor rolls perception: (3)+7: 10

GAME: Echo rolls Perception: (12)+9: 21

...ah, now you know you're getting near. Echo hears it first, in the distance. It sounds like. You're /finally/ reaching your destination. AS you move through the sands, you still see the signs of ruins from time to time. At one point, there was definitely more civilization here swallowed by time and the desert both. One can't help but look upon their works and, you know, despair.

In any event, you move over a dune and then have to drop into the sands on account of their, sitting on a road osme ways away, is a sprawling wagopn train being driven by great beasts. It seems to have stopped for the moment, but the black wagons stand out in sharp relief from the sands, along with the numerous armed guards on patrol around it. You get the feeling that they've seen... difficulties, given how tense the atmosphere is. The wagons are presently circled, sentries on guard. FOr whatever reasonb, they're defiitely stopped here.

Echo hits the deck pretty quickly. He looks to Victor, then to K'nap. Then he pulls the hood of his cloak tighter being stuck with crystals all over and peeks back over the dune carefully, trying to get a good sight of what the caravan is and if the sentries look living or not.

Victor crouches next to Echo. Then after a moment's consideration he lowers himself even further, until he's likewise lying on the ground. He watches Echo and then peers ahead at the caravan. Without much else to do he starts counting wagons and visible guards.

K'nap squints.

"Well, there it is. And that engine is likely in the middle of that, under heavy guard. We might need to simply shadow it until we have an opportune moment, but we can't let them have it, even at the cost of our lives."

He looks down there, flaps a wing once. "The agony engine..."

Echo nods. "In the mean time, we need to figure out where the larger threats are. That heavily armored a caravan.... well, it's got to have more than a few undead. We could attack at night."

Victor says, "If we can watch them for a few days we can understand their habits. Their patterns. Perhaps how and when to approach."

Echo nods. "That means we take turns on watch, then. I can't tell if they are actually undead or not from here. Eluna's blessings do not allow me to detect that far. I would have to be pretty close."

"We know that their leader is undead, and a powerful one. If he's powerful enough, he may well have raised any who fell into his servants. It would not be unsuual," he adds.

Echo frowns, then nods. "I think the wait will be the worse part. We need to figure out where their weakest point is."