Balder's Gate 3 PSLs/Overflow

[smartass_captain]

Onward to adventure, whether you like it or not!

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[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"Are we ever that lucky?" Gale says with a sigh, taking the spyglass to have a look for himself. "It does look abandoned… It would be an impressive feat indeed were all of that illusion magic, managed continuously. I could have managed it, before the orb, but I daresay most could not. I would guess that everything we're seeing is as it appears, and we should approach it as such."

He passes the spyglass back to Jim, a look of determination on his face. Danger or not, Gale is getting inside that tower. He's practically been salivating over it. There's the whole arcane hunger for magical artifacts of it, sure, but that's not the only reason he wants to speak to the person inside, or at least take a peek at what they've left behind. "Perhaps they're a recluse? I can certainly relate to that…"

[smartass_captain]

"First time for everything?" Jim retorts with a smile that says he doesn't expect this to be the case though. He turns to watch Gale take a peek, propping his chin up with one hand while he keeps settled by the wizard's side. "Well, no telling how long it's been empty if it is. Odd that no one went to check up on her, really. Though I suppose the Duegar attacks probably made leaving almost impossible."

Jim takes the glass back and tucks it away back into his pack. Gale isn't dissuaded any, and with no further leads down here other than tracking down and eliminating the Duegar slavers they come across it seems as though their next objective is this lone tower.

"Don't suppose you can fire a message across to one of the open windows to let them know they'll have guests coming then? If they Are a recluse they might not be too pleased with us leaving a bloody trail up to their front door."

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

Gale tips his head side to side, considering. "The tower is too far away for Message, and I don't know the occupant, so I can't cast Sending. I could try sending a mirror image, but I doubt it would have any easier time getting in."

He turns to look at Jim. "If we tie a message to an arrow, could you get it in one of the windows?" Sometimes, the nonmagical solutions are the ones that work, loathe as Gale is to admit it. "Not the friendliest method, but the Underdark is hardly full of neighborly opportunities."

[smartass_captain]

"Good thinking. I can land that shot easy." They've no way of knowing if anyone (or anything) will be inside to read it, but it's best to be as polite as they can be. "We send in a message, then wait a while to see if the defenses outside get called off?"

Their resident cartographer pulls a charcoal out of a pouch at his belt with a flourish and sets to writing out a brief but friendly note informing the occupant of their approach and intention to meet. Jim's handwriting remains the impeccable script of a well bred scholar. He signs the note with his given name and ties it to an arrow.

"Anything in that spellbook of yours we can use to turn the tables on the rabble outside if we have to?"

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"I knew you could," Gale replies, giving Jim a besotted smile. Still, he watches over Jim's shoulder as he writes the note, unable not to stick his nose into it.

He scoffs at that question. "Is the Underdark dark?"

[smartass_captain]

"Don't be cheeky. I meant that you had prepared for today and you know it." Jim sways over to nudge Gale with a shoulder, and in his delight to flirt with the wizard misses the way Astarion fake gags over the pair of them being this disgustingly in love in front of the others. It gets him Lightly hip checked by Karlach which is still enough to make him stumble so he stops.

"Here goes nothing--" Jim fires the arrow off into the dark and watches it sail effortlessly through an open balcony door. Through the spyglass, Gale won't be able to detect any movement. As the minutes pass, nothing changes.

Unbeknownst to them, the note Does get seen. Ripped off the arrow stuck into the wall. A handsome script and a name. Someone comes. Someone Cares to come.

Jim.

"Well, so much for the easy option. Let's go clear ourselves a way in." Jim hops down from his perch, gesturing toward the tower off in the distance.

"FUCK YEAH!" Karlach would be all for a cake walk, but the next best thing? A chance to wreck some shit up.

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

Getting into the tower proves to be harder than anticipated once they get closer and discover the arcane turrets. Karlach tries to run in, swinging her ax to destroy them faster than they can destroy her. It doesn't work, and she's forced to duck behind cover and chug potions before she passes out. Gale is the one who comes up with a solution, unpleasant to him as it may be. They use sussur blossoms to disable the turrets, a tricky solution, but it gets them through without any further damage.

"I coulda done it the other way," Karlach insists, kicking a rock along as they approach the front doors. 

"Perhaps, but if you fell, I'm not sure even all three of us together could carry you back to camp," Gale points out, raising an eyebrow at her, and she just laughs and shrugs. 

"Awful strong defenses for it to be abandoned," Gale says, moving quickly away from the turrets and the sussur blossoms beside them. 

[smartass_captain]

Which one? Surely not the brute with the axe, looking to destroy everything she touches. The berobed man cringing in fear of mere flowers? The elf barely listening to his cohorts while he peers inside a barrel for anything that glimmers? Scavenger. Carrion bird of a man. No. No, surely not. But then--

"Given how much trouble there is above ground, it's not terribly surprising if things down in the Underdark are likewise unstable." Jim hops over a broken column before extending a hand out to Gale to grab hold of as he climbs over to join him. He turns to peer up at the tower with curious contemplation. "We'll be quick. All we need is the mushroom samples the couple from the Society mentioned."

"Of course, Darling. Nothing else You need whatsoever." As if they were going to go through all the trouble of getting into this death trap of a place and not looting it silly. If Jim doesn't want a share of the loot, all the more for Astarion, really.

"I don't even see a lock for a traditional door here." Jim plants his hands on his hips and peers up at the imposing visage of the tower's entrance. "How exactly are we going to get in?"

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

Gale shoots Astarion a look, both commiseration and competition in one. Gale certainly intends to thoroughly loot the place if it has in fact been abandoned.

"Want me to take a crack at it?" Karlach offers, getting her ax with a grin. At least she does ask before she starts swinging.

"Let me at least try Knock first," Gale says, holding up a hand. He doesn't have any luck (no surprise, given this is a wizard's tower). Astarion gives it a go as well, but there's no clear place for him to apply his lock picking skills. "Perhaps there's some puzzle in place that we're not seeing?" Gale suggests, sounding almost excited for the prospect. Karlach groans.

[smartass_captain]

Does Jim think alchemy ingredients just pay for themselves even IF he has the skills to make them for the party rather than purchasing them outright?? Or fresh food on the occasions they're not surviving off of the stale bits they find abandoned by those who've fled or been far less lucky than they. He's so lax when it comes to their funds, honestly.

Either way, loot seems to be far from the ranger's mind as he peers up and around, trying to get a better look along the tower walls.

"I'm going to try and find a side entrance real quick. Karlach, if you think you can get in without bringing down anything load-bearing give me a holler if you make a dent. It's a wizard's tower, so I half expect everything to be shielded in some capacity." He glances to Gale and Astarion. "If you two think you can spot and figure out the trick to the main entrance, likewise feel free. It Looks like that set of pipes over there is steady enough to hold me. I want to see if I can get around and to one of the upper balconies. It'd be easy to tie a rope off for you lot to climb up after."

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"If this were my tower, that ax wouldn't so much as chip the paint on the door," Gale says, "And it's just as likely to rebound and hurt you."

Karlach groans, shoulders slumping and head lolling backwards. "What'm I supposed to do, then? Just stand around and kick rocks?" No one is particularly sympathetic to the plight that is her boredom, so she announces, "I'm going with Jim. You two work on puzzle shit or whatever. Maybe if there's a chasm you can't make it across, I can toss ya!" She's probably, maybe kidding about tossing Jim, but Gale's forehead scrunches in concern anyway. He can't do much about it, though, as Karlach follows Jim like a huge puppy and he and Astarion stay at the front door, squabbling about how to get in.

Karlach the big red doggy....

[smartass_captain]

"You know..." Jim offers conversationally while they shimmy down a little jut of rocks along one side of the tower. "There's no way of telling how long we've been down here. Sure. We've camped two 'nights' but given how hostile the Underdark has been, we could just as easily have only been down here a day and a half, or possibly three days."

He squints up at what appears to be movement at an upper balcony but it just looks like a ragged drape. Not really looking all that likely that someone lives here if they've left their things to the mercy of the elements even down here where 'weather' isn't really a problem.

"I really thought it'd take me longer to lose all sense of time." It's an idle thought that seems out of place until Jim points up to that same ragged drape for Karlach to see. "What I mean is, how long do you suppose it's actually been since that odd couple Society members have actually seen this wizard friend of theirs?? All initial impressions I'm getting are that this place is abandoned."