Into the castle!

[Jenara]

"Im scared... whats it like? Hurting someone?" She asks clutching the dagger tightly.

[pixie chic]

"It's not nice," Thelma admits, "You are taking away their entire future while forever changing the world." She pauses, "It's never an easy choice to make when you have to take a life."

[Jenara]

"That sounds scary and horrible." Eloise replies with a gasp, "I hate the idea of talking a future."

[Stik]

[OOC] Sorry for the delay. I've been working. Actually, I'm still at the office now. [OOC]
Christopher looks at the door behind the gate leaf and rolls his eyes. Apparently missing breakfast has made him grouchy and dulled his wits.

Walking back past Apollo, he stops to wrap the reins around the saddle's pommel and speak to the horse. "Stand," he says firmly. "I will be back soon. Behave." Ground tying the horse is not perfect, but it's better than tying the horse to the gate or putting him in a stall where he can't fight.

That done, he unslings his shield and follows the others into the tower.

[Breila]

For everybody's conveinience, I re-post the description of what the men see from the rampart.

Dale and Mathias carefully open the door which indeed leads to the rampart overlooking the outer courtyard, where the girls climbed up. Further on is another door that opens towards them. Opening it carefully and peeking through, they can see parts of the inner courtyard. It is dominated by a large circular building, presumably the old keep, that lies a little to the right of the centre of the courtyard. The courtyard itself is part natural rock, part cobblestone, and there even seems to have been a small vegetable garden along the angle of the walls where they are now. A curious small building sits to the left of and a little furhter away than the keep, it is octogonal and the upper frames of the timber work below the roof are not filled. To the right is a building they have seen from the lower courtyard, its upper story replaces the bannisters with loopholes. A stone rampart walkway leads to it, and the door there looks ajar. Straight ahead, there is another building. Just as the men watch, smoke begins to come out of its chimney.

And I add what I have forgotten there (but had it written when the women were there):
Along the wall from where they stand to above the buliding where the fire is being stoked runs a walkway made of wood with a wooden railing. Like its counterpart in the outer courtyard, it does not look completely reliable.

[Kafen]

Waiting a few seconds to unify the group, Dale says. "Let's hope the girls are not in trouble." He looks around and states. "We've established that kidnappings are taking place, right? The two women ran off on their own, perfect bait." He says with a sigh.

[Breila]

When the guys look down, they see that nothing moves in the courtyard, only the smoke keeps curling out of the chimney. It is clearing up, so probably the fire in there is now going well. The building in question is too far away to see if any tracks (like moody footprints) lead to it.

In building #7, the girls wait in silence. It is not windy, so there is no sound save their own breathing. Their eyes adjust better and better to the darkness, and they can now make out a trap door in the floor of the lower story. They also notice that while there is dust on the stairs, there seems to be none on the stone and brick floor below them.

[Stik]

"Is it truly kidnapping if they come to you?" Christopher muses. "Any road, there probably would have been a commotion had they been discovered."

Christopher looks into the courtyard. "They may have been too busy building their fire to notice us. I say we go visit them.
"Let us keep this as polite as possible. Keep your weapons down unless you see weapons in their hands. No accusations, no attacks, no threats. We do not know who these people are yet. Or what they are capable of."


[OOC] Apart from the rickety stair, is there another obvious way down? And how far down is it from the parapet to the courtyard? I'd be willing to chance a rickety stair if it's a short fall. [/OOC]

[Breila]

The parapets, both the wooden one ahead and the stone one to their right, are about 12 feet from the ground of the courtyard. Directly below them, the ground is earth, overgrown with weeds, but the stairs are further away, close to the building where the fire is, and there the ground is stone and rock. The safest way down is probably inside the building where the stone parapet leads to (#7 on your map).

[NoTrammeling]

"They are trespassers at the very least, these are Abbey-owned grounds after all. Unless of course they represent the interests of the Abbey, which would bring us no closer to tracking down the blackguards who have treated our young friend so poorly." Matthias keeps well back from the lead, letting the better armed and armored members of the group take point while he considers the last curling wisps of smoke.

[Jenara]

"Do you see that?" Eloise asks seeing the trapdoor, "Why put a door in the floor, I mean I know there was one in the cellar in the inn, but here?"

[Stik]

"They could be here under the authority of the Church, or the Reich. Doubtful, but possible. But best we find out, and learn whatever else we can, before swords start swinging, agreed?
"Let us go sort them out, shall we?"
Christopher heads back into the building, looking for the stairway down to the courtyard.

[Breila]

[OOC:] Christopher can't go back into a building to get to the inner courtyard, but I get he wants to use the building where the stairs are likely to be, which is #7 on the plan. I have modified the plan to show what the party has now seen in the inner courtyard. #6 is the keep, #9 the building where the fire is now burning well and only light smoke rises out of the chimney, and #10 the curious building with the partially open walls.[/OOC]

Christopher opens the door of #7, which is slightly ajar, and the light from behind him indeed falls on stairs that go down half a story and back up again, with a landing in between where Eloise and Thelma crouch, looking down a broad set of stairs towards his left. To the left of the stairs is a corridor running all the way to the other end of the building (where it meets the stairs going up again) to another door, similar to the one he just came through. About two thirds of the way, a corridor branches to the left.

Thelma and Eloise mostly notice that suddenly, there is light coming in from above, and they hear footsteps and clinking of chain mail.

[Jenara]

"Someone is coming!" the young girl whispers with some urgency, "Quick get down, should hide or something." hands shaking she looks for somewhere to hide...

Hide in Shadows: 1d100=77, fail

[pixie chic]

Thelma shrugs, "I've got no idea why there is a trap door here, but there could be tunnels or root cellars around the place which might lead to the door." She moves with Eloise in her attempt to hide, "Let's hope they're friendly."