<div align="center"><strong>GM NOTICE</strong><br/><hr/><br/><strong>THE BATTLE OF THE EMERALD SPIRE RUINS</strong></div><br/><hr/><br/>Your strike forces have been organized and placed accordingly in three separate areas of operation.<br/><br/><em>As travelers emerge from the Echo Wood underbrush, they find themselves staring up at a ruined keep guarding a broken central tower, all made of smooth green glass.  It's obvious that a grand battle took place here many years ago, and the clearing around the ruin is barren, with sickly weeds struggling to rise from the magic-blasted earth.  Melted chunks of twisted glass pepper the ground, lending a green hue to the clearing's light.  Despite the damage, however, the glass of the keep itself seems to have avoided the ravages of time, with those pieces that survived the initial cataclysm unmarred by pitting or cracks, clean of moss and other clinging debris.</em><br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>Area A:  The Switchback</strong><br/><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/JvIpJQq.png)<br/></div><br/><em>The stone staircase that led up to the tower's door is now nothing more than a rubble-strewn cliff.  On the tower's south side, a dirt path winds up the steep embankment to a pitch-black doorway.</em><br/><br/><strong>Round One, Group One:</strong>Tem and Shani skipped their turns;<br/><br/><strong>Round One, Enemy Phase:</strong>A lone goblin meanders from within the ruins, and discards a large bowl of refuse.<br/><br/>"I told you not to disembowel him!" the goblin can be heard screaming back to someone inside in his native language of goblin.  "They stink when you open them up."<br/><br/>The goblin does not seem to notice the strike force, chomping at the bit to attack.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>Area B:  The Ruined Staircase</strong><br/><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/mnbgM5b.png)<br/></div><br/><em>The ruined staircase that led to the tower's north entrance has collapsed under its own weight, but the top of the stairs still remain.  There is a ten foot wide hole in the keep wall, created in some long forgotten war.  It looks like one can enter the keep through the hole.</em><br/><br/>The CLIMB DC is 15!  The staircase is roughly 15 feet up.<br/><br/><strong>Round One, Group One:</strong><br/><br/>Vendi attempts to climb the stair case and fails.<br/><br/><strong>Round One, Enemy Phase:</strong><br/><br/>Nothing happens.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>Area C:  The Secret Entrance</strong><br/><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/S3ZpqMZ.png)<br/></div><br/><em>A steep cliff, sixty feet in height, confronts you.  The rock is brittle and crumbles in your grasp.</em><br/><br/>THE CLIMB DC is 20!<br/><br/><strong>Round One, Group One:</strong><br/><br/>Though inebreated, Edan climbs up the slope and makes it to the top.<br/><br/><strong>Rounde One, Enemy Phase:  </strong><br/><br/>Nothing happens.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>GENERAL NOTICE:</strong><br/><br/>Please post in the game thread regardless of whether your character skips their turn.  It's easier for me to keep track.<br/><br/>TURN:  Victor, Mouser, Damira, Ishtar, Faranal, and Cass may all proceed.  If you manage reach the inside of the ruins,<strong>STOP.</strong>You will notice that there is a magical darkness inside of the ruins as you get near it.