Mah bad. I looked in his inv. and didn't see a sword. Wasn't even thinking.

Is this another grind role?

Even more strength training. This time, endurance (health) training.

Naw. This time you should focus on approaching the fortress as quickly as possible.

... I say SHOULD because you really don't HAVE to, but your job is kinda to, you know - raid the place.

This roll was brought to you by Epic Music, and Players like you. Thank you.
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Torrent (Gillian) (12)

You make an attempt to suck the surrounding light out of the area. The result is an immediate pitch-black area all around you. You can't even see your hand in front of your face, it's so dark, and you're not sure how to get rid of it, either. You stumble around for a while before tripping on something and falling over. You find that you can see again, so you stand up and turn around to the sight of a blob of darkness several meters in size. It slowly decreases in size as light from the moon flows in as if it were thick liquid.

You hear a voice in your head, which you recognize as Raphael's:
"Fortress seems abandoned. No guards, no nothing... but that's just strange. I'm going in for a closer look."




Ociamarru (Nikolai) (2 + 1 = 3 Stealth, 4 Transformation)

You sneak towards the building with all the grace of a drunken bear, but fortunately, nobody seems to be on the ramparts. That's strange in and of itself, but you suppose it means you don't have to be sneaky. Once you reach the outer wall, you sniff the air, but don't pick up anything odd in particular. If anything, the only oddity is how perfectly normal it seems... didn't Gabriel say this place had bad rumors circling it?

Raphael confirms your suspicions:
"Fortress seems abandoned. No guards, no nothing... but that's just strange. I'm going in for a closer look."

Your arms begin shifting into their new form, but you can't seem to control them past a certain length. Right now, they're just limp ropey things hanging loosely at your sides.




caekdaemon (Anderson) (5)

You decide to properly prepare yourself before this attempt to get in the city, and you want to wait until morning anyway, so you do some more training - long-distance jogs to be exact. You run until your breath gives out, but you only feel tired, not stronger.

Raphael's voice rings in your head:
"Fortress seems abandoned. No guards, no nothing... but that's just strange. I'm going in for a closer look."




CaveCricket (Raphael) (12)

You answer Gabriel:
"Alright, but be ready to retreat if anything go wrong."

With that, you push off the ground and transform into an illustrious example of a Peregrine Falcon. You flap high into the sky until you've gained enough altitude to avoid being seen by any watchful eyes. Flying is much faster than walking or running, and you easily reach the area above the colossal fortress. At this altitude the wind is so reliably constant that you hardly even have to put effort forward. You do a few fancy aerial flips and maneuvers, relishing the feel of the wind, before realizing that you should be trying to avoid attention. You give yourself a mental reminder to be alert and scan the area below. Your eyes see all... but all isn't really much. There are no people in the streets, which is sort of to be expected, since it's nighttime, but what's really strange is that the ENTIRE fortress doesn't have ONE patrolman in sight. There are no signs of movement anywhere - it's almost eerie.

You send a mental message to everyone:
"Fortress seems abandoned. No guards, no nothing... but that's just strange. I'm going in for a closer look."

You slowly descend, looking as natural as possible, until you're flying just meters above the ramparts, but there's still no signs of life. What in heaven's name is going on? A fortress like this should have some inhabitants, shouldn't it?




Tokochiro (Johni) (7)

You make a clone and inform him to scout the fortress.
"Me'll try not to be seen, right Me?"
He gestures rudely at you, but follows the order. Geez. Some people just don't know humor.

Anyway, you feel a slight pull from the direction of the castle, and instinctively Swap with your clone for a second. From this place, you see in front of you a really, really big wall. It's freakin' huge, and almost perfectly smooth. You don't know how you'd even begin to climb that thing. You also notice, backing up a bit, that there isn't even anybody patrolling. Well, that makes stealth pretty pointless. You swap back to your old self for safety, though, just in case.

Raphael says, through Telepathy,
"Fortress seems abandoned. No guards, no nothing... but that's just strange. I'm going in for a closer look."




Phd (John Adams) (10 + 1 - 1 = 10) (Love how the headache actually gave you a 10 here. Nice.)

You sneak so stealthily to the entrance of the fort that you couldn't even see yourself. Wait, what.

In the Shadows now confers +2 to stealth actions!

Well, you're crouching on the left side of the huge front door now, facing away from the wall. To your right, on the other side of the door, is Nikolai, who is not being at all sneaky with these weird giant tentacle arm things, and to your left is Johni... or maybe one of his clones. Probably one of his clones.

You hear Raphael in your head, saying,
"Fortress seems abandoned. No guards, no nothing... but that's just strange. I'm going in for a closer look."




NPCs

Gabriel (1)

Gabriel sneaks the least stealthily of the group, but as there are no guards above, it doesn't seem to matter.
He makes it to the outer wall along with the others who have come forward.




Terry (12)

Terry pulls off a succession of rolls and dives between bushes (which are way too small to hide him in any way), finally making it to the wall, breathing heavily. As if controlling a giant suit makes him tired - he's just being a drama queen.
"You do realize that there's nobody patrolling, right?"
"Wait, what?"



Locations
-Ociamarru, Tokochiro's clone, Phd, Gabriel, and Terry are near the front door, sidling the fortress wall.
-CaveCricket is flying just above the ramparts.
-Torrent, caekdaemon and Tokochiro are still a ways away from the fortress.

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Events:

The night is utterly silent. The city isn't being patrolled, but the gates are still shut.