"Ooh, handy," Aria nodded, interested that Rose could teleport past closed doors as well, albeit at some risk of arriving inside mediums.<br/><br/>The tiefling took throwing hammers in hand, activated her blink ring in synchronicity with Rose, and drifted down with the shifter through the shingles (finding it mildly amusing that with her new sight, she could see Rose's ethereal upper body at the moment the lower half was 'in' the roof.)<br/><br/>They descended into an attic-like, slope-roofed chamber which looked misty and gray for a moment, and then as they phased material, came into sharper relief and color. The chamber was quite wide, running the interior length of the whole keep along its 'front' wall, and must've occupied almost half the keep's third floor. IT had three doors - those leading in from the two third-floor balconies on the front side of Westkeep, and as single door opposite the one they'd descended near, presumably leading to the rest of the third floor.<br/><br/>The place had in part the look of an attic-like chamber for random storage, and also that of a wizardly laboratory, with work-benches, bookshelves, many tomes and papers, and vials and urns and coffers of dozens of substances which were perhaps components for various spells. A noisome blend of herbal and chemical smells attested also to their presence.<br/><br/>Most of the clutter was about the edges of the large room, though, with the central floor kept relatively clever. This was perhaps because of various concentric runic circles and diagrams chalked into the gray floorstones. One of the shorter walls was hung with a planar map like those in the ship cabins, but more detailed, and with the most intricate (and hardest to decipher) hand-notes yet.<br/><br/>By far the most captivating to Aria's attention, at least, were six figures in the room. Had they been crouching still, Aria likely would have mistaken them for statues, but as it happened the six figured, crouched in a circle around chalk-runs, were conversing in some unfamiliar language of raspy, earthy grumbling and rumbling syllables. Amidst the six lay a map of the environs, with Westkeep and the crescent lake visible amidst much green. One of the six idly held in its sharp-toothed mouth, like a farmer's pipe, a slender elven legbone.<br/><br/>The six resembled the elven statues in the gardens, and might've been mistaken for just that were they unmoving and unspeaking, or perhaps even for intelligent golems when they did. Rose, however, would mark the stony-looking creatures as beings of flesh, however earth-hard: gargoyles.  These though, had the fine features of elves, with tunics or corsets seeming 'carved' onto their respective male or female bodies, and feather-etched wings sprouting from slits in the back, with narrow quivers between.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Thanks! You've been very engaging yourself. Hmm, maybe I should catchup what Aria's been up to in WWI....<br/><br/>Aria init 15<br/>gargoyles' init 16 (modifier lower than Rose's, if she ties)<br/><br/>(We in a sense 'surprise' them, but necessarily consume our "surprise round" actions with the movement actions of getting into the room.....although you could probably convince me if you think we merit a conventional 'surprise round' here. I'm still trying to develop a more complete 'philosophy' of surprise/initiative, and the many scenarios are not really completely covered by the core rules)<br/><br/>Edit: on second thought, since falling is a free action, take a surprise round action. You can do Rose's before Aria's if you want, regardless of their relative initiative. And if Rose's initiative beats the gargoyles', and you'd like to do her first regular round in the same post for expedience, I can probably lace Aria's surprise action - likely a charge at a target other than Rose's preferred target - in easily enough. Acrobatic Charge widens her choices for charging, and Rose's reach widens her choices too).<br/><br/>Edit 2: as always, Harmony could try to parlay with the gargoyles, or warp herself and Aria away, or whatever. Don't ever feel railroaded into battle b/c I did initiative checks - I'll do them whenever they<em>might</em>be necessary.<br/><br/>X = stone walls (solid squares, although with Blink you could attempt to pass through them)<br/>* = doors<br/>G = gargoyles<br/>north wall = 'front' side of Westkeep (doors lead to balconies, there are also windows along the wall)<br/>west and east walls are also external walls of Westkeep<br/>south wall is an interior wall<br/><br/>The room is one story high, with a roof sloping downward toward the north wall. Rounds to 10' high in the north half of the room and 15' in the south half. Our 'drop' incurred no chance of falling damage (thanks to blink, and the girls' tumble and jump skills could've reliably negated any from a further fall anyway)<br/><br/><div class="codeheader">Code: <a class="codeoperation" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">X X X * X X X X X X X X X X * X X X <br/>X - - - A R - - - - - - - - - - - X<br/>X - - - - - - G - G - - - - - - - X<br/>X - - - - - - - - - G - - - - - - X<br/>X - - - - - - G - - - - - - - - - X<br/>X - - - - - - - G - G - - - - - - X<br/>X - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X<br/>X X X * X X X X X X X X X X X X X X <br/></code></pre>