{{Finally! X3 I have been trying daily to post for over a week, but have until now seen nothing of the Portal but a "database error" screen. I was beginning to wonder if something bad had happened to Eka's hardware. Anyway, it seems to be fixed now so let us continue.}}<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Nocke watches curiously as Sen produces a small yew rod from his pack and, incanting, holds it to his chest.<br/><br/>"A...spell...focus." he observes. This answers his earlier query: these travelers from the south are not fey spirits or otherworldly visitors, but mortals skilled in the eldritch art of spellweaving.<span style="font-style: italic">They are clearly no novices, and they are well-prepared, but what is the limit of their power</span>, he wonders to himself.<span style="font-style: italic">Is there magic in the goblin's repertoire, or the mousefolk's, or the human's</span>-- for Nocke suspects Takal might also be some type of spellweaver--<span style="font-style: italic">with enough power to oppose rampaging giants?</span><br/><br/>As the treant ponders this, he settles his roots into the cold, rocky soil and watches as a fading Rihyan, wings spread, launches himself from the ledge and vanishes into the mist.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Rihyan lifts himself through the hazy void with powerful wing strokes to a layer of clearer air about 150 feet above the ledge where the others stand.<br/><br/>To the east he sees a steep-walled canyon, its distant depths shrouded in mist.<br/><br/>To the south is a craggy rock wall, which the highway bypasses with a tunnel.<br/><br/>To the northwest is a boulder-strewn ridge. A light fog blankets the slope. [cloud 20 feet tall; concealment at 50 feet distance, opaque at 100 feet] The geography is in agreement with Cecil's map. At the ridge top far above him, Rihyan can just make out the southern wall of a large masonry structure and, some distance behind that, another natural rock wall.<br/><br/>Rihyan could fly up to the ridge top, but the illusion spell affords him an intuitive awareness of its duration, and he realizes that he would become visible soon after reaching the fort. [assuming the wand was made at minimum caster level]