-----Three more of the magic missiles blast right into the other lizard and before Rinda can slam her club down on it, it likewise collapses dead in front of the adventurers.
-----The vine-covered egress to the outside is now halfway blocked by the bodies of the four dead lizards.
-----Immediately, Garrison grimaces and pulls his wounded leg from the lizard's mouth. The woodsman then crawls back from the opening, warning through his wincing pain, "Watch those damned doors! There might be more of them ready to crawl in here!"
-----Sol clambers around the dead lizard and nods his agreement to Garrison, "Right you are! I'll check!" The warrior promptly disappears behind through the vines that the lizards emerged from.
-----Rinda rushes to Garrison's side grabbing what bandages she can from her backpack.
-----"Sol!" Garrison starts to call before the Gorian disappears through the vines. As the huntress pushes him down to tend to his wounds, Garrison says to the others, "He could be walking into a trap!"
-----On the other side of the vines, Sol finds himself in the old courtyard of the small stronghold. The open sky above him reveals clouds passing to the northeast in a background of blue. Most everything here is covered with vines or shrouded in vegetation growing up through the cracks in the stones. Large stones are scattered here and there throughout the courtyard providing an impression of misshapen obstacles and probably plenty of places for things to hide!
-----A musty, murky smell prevails here.
-----Keeping an eye on the surrounding rocks, Sol quickly abandons the idea of individually searching the whole courtyard for various nasties. Instead he quickly smiles fondly at the clouds drifting overhead framed against the sky, and makes his way purposefully to the centre of the yard, doing his best to make his footsteps as loud as possible.
-----Sol strides confidently across the courtyard and makes it to the center without anything impeding his progress. The sun seems now to be past the noontime part of the day perhaps by about an hour. Sol notices how the air feels comfortable on this spring day especially as he wears his armor and his surcoat.
-----The young Gorian looks around at the vine shrouded walls and sees various points where the stones have worn and decayed. Directly across from him, Sol also sees a single watchtower located next to the small main gate. The door in the gate has long since fallen and a field of high scrub can be seen just beyond the opening.
-----"Hah!" Sol calls to himself softly as he curiously makes his way over to the entrance to the watchtower, fully intending to climb to the top, if possible, to gain a view of the local area and perhaps a vantage of the ruins themselves.
-----Entering the old watchtower, Sol sees the small circular interior of the structure with the aid of the sunlight filtering in from the arrow slits in the walls and the trapdoor from the top level. This appears to be the most intact and least damaged of the entire stronghold so far although nothing of interest is spotted here. The stone steps to the next level are mounted in the wall and spiral upwards.
-----Taking the steps, Sol emerges onto the top level and into the daylight once again. Looking over the merlons, Sol gains a good view of the surrounding features of the forest.
-----First, however, he checks the condition of the stronghold itself. As Sol turns he sees that the upper level of the stronghold is completely ruined with what roofing there was fully collapsed. A catwalk leads from the tower that he stands on to where the upper story of the stronghold once was. Little seems to be there now except for the collapsed stone and the remains of a roof covering.
-----Turning his attention toward the north, Sol sees the treeline of the great forest. Looking on to the northeast, the trees seem to steadily climb onto a large hill upon which Sol can see the ruined towers of the castle that Murna claims. To the east, the great field of scrub seems to extend for a little over a mile until the land gives way to what appears to be a large marshy area.
-----A long tree line forms a great barrier to the south that seems to extend and border the marshy area to the east.
-----Turning toward the southwest, Sol makes out movement. There, the land a mile off opens between two extensions of the forest and reveals another swampy area beyond. Sol can see the line of woodsmen and elves that accompany Lord Howrun on his journey, skirting around the swamp. Beyond it in the distance, there appears to be some kind of structure on top of a hill.
-----Deciding to take the high route, Sol moves out of the tower and begins to carefully make his way over the catwalk. Standing on the catwalk level about fifteen feet off the ground, Sol moves forward. As Sol moves across the catwalk, he hears crumbling occurring in the walk under his feet. It also sounds as though small pieces are starting to come loose from the underside.