Wonderful 103.

The Principality Of Maladimbáh...

Riley Hait the mercenary ranger just looks away for a few moments towards the tor, and the tower upon it that is the seat of power of the local lord, lord Haldéilv.
That when he turns back, Dalinvardél Tanith the elven spy looks like a completely different person. Well to the eye of the ranger Hait it certainly looks like he does.
The spy Tanith has flipped his cloak inside out, it's shabby in appearance now, and a completely different colour from when he wears it the way he was wearing it a short time ago.
And there's a different hood on the cloak now, it's rougher and larger than the normal hood. Which the mercenary ranger had no idea the elven spy could remove.
Dry dirt has been rubbed into the leggings that Dalin wears, as well as onto his boots. Which have the tops, rolled over and down. Looking no where near as smart and tidy as they usually are.
The elf from the principality of Alínlae in the Southlands is holding a long, slim branch that could pass for a walking staff, or a shepherds crook. Doesn't look like he has any weapons on him at all. Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman knows that isn't true. As the spy Tanith will have multiple weapons beneath his cloak, and on his body.
"I don't know how you do that so quickly" quietly says Riley Hait the mercenary ranger in the elven language "I wouldn't be much of a spy if i couldn't change how i look in a fast manner" dryly says Dalinvardél Tanith the elven spy, the human ranger who was raised and trained by elven warders in the principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands, shrugs his shoulders, then quietly says "True enough".
They've made their way further around to the north of the tor, upon which is the palace like tower that's the seat of power, not to mention home of lord Haldéilv. Going unseen as they went through the trees of the forest. Keeping away from the open ground around the tor, as well as the town that's mostly on the southside of the Tor, near it's southeast base.
They crossed the road that leaves the east side of the tor without anyone seeing them, now the group and their mounts are amongst the trees to the northeast of the rocky tor that thrusts up out of the valley floor just over a hundred yards away from where they are.
The ranger Hait and the spy Tanith are out infront of everyone else, who are further back within the trees. The mercenary ranger is crouching down behind a large rock next to a tree, which the elven spy is standing behind.
"Ready?" quietly asks Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson "I am" replies Dalinvardél Tanith, the ranger who in reality is a hordes outrider from the southern tundra, who just happens to inhabit the body of Riley Hait, nods his head to the elven spy, and murmurs to him "Good luck".
Dalin steps out from behind the tree, walks around it, and makes his way towards the tor, upon which sits the palatial like tower that's the seat of power of the local lord, lord Haldéilv.
The ground between here and there, is pretty open, with the trees thinning out the closer you get to the giant rock that stands close to five hundred feet tall, that dominates this part of the valley, and is the highest point in the valley, especially when you combine the height of the tower that's on top of it.
The spy Tanith follows the course of the stream that flows into the rocky tor. From the angle that the ranger Hait is at, he can't see the opening in the rock wall at the base of the tor, because it's so dark, even in the mid, now getting on to the late morning sunshine.
But the elf from the principality of Alínlae has assured him that the opening is there, a half circular shaped opening that resembles a half moon, that's on it's side. Dalinvardél Tanith has also told the mercenary ranger that the opening is the mouth of a tunnel that bores into the base of the tor.
Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman looks further ahead of the elven spy, to where a couple of houses are near the base of the tor, and the tunnel entrance that the stream flows into.
It's a little odd that structures would be here, since the nearest building is on the edge of the town at the southeast corner of the rocky tor that looks out in all directions of the valley.
To the mountains to the north, the cliffs at the far eastern end of the valley, and where the forest thins out to the west, where the mountains curl around that end of the valley, and end in hills.
While away to the south, the forest thins out even more the further south you go, eventually ending is dry grassy hills, which drop down into the egde of the dry, dusty ground that's the start of the Nomad's Plains.
The ranger Hait and the spy Tanith quickly came to the conclusion that the two small houses, are infact guard houses. Whose inhabitants keep an eye on the tunnel opening, and the stream that runs into it.
From what Dalin observed, he thinks most of the house guards who keep a watch on the opening in the northeast base of the tor, have left this morning. To go with those who have rushed away to the east through the forest, to confront the house guards of the neighbouring local lord, lord Walashàele. Who has apparently sent his guards across the river that marks the border between his lands, and the lands of house Haldéilv.
Though the elven spy who was once a part of one of the leading noble houses in the principality of Alínlae, suspects two or three house guards have remained behind to keep a watch on the tunnel opening.
One definitely has, for the ranger Hait has spotted one of the house guards walking around one of the buildings, then following the last thirty to forty yards of the stream to the darkness at the base of the tor, where the tunnel opening is located.
As he crouches down behind the large rock, and looks around it watching his fellow Southlander Dalinvardél Tanith. The mercenary ranger glances up at the tower above, hoping that no one is paying too much attention, and looking down to this part of the base of the tor.
Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson goes back to watching the elven spy from the principality of Alínlae, who is walking alongside the stream, using the branch he's holding, very much like a walking stick as he gets closer and closer to the two houses, that are built adjacent to one another.
The spy Tanith spots one of the house guards, who has just walked back from the tunnel opening in the base of the tor, and has gone around one side of one of the guards houses.
Dalin who is making as little noise as possible as he walks, taking each footstep lightly, and not even touching the ground with the end of the branch he's pretending to use as a walking stick. So that he can listen to what's happening in and around the two houses ahead.
As he angles away from the stream, and goes by the last few trees, as he heads towards the two small houses that are adjacent to one another. The elven spy from south of the equator, raises a hand in greeting to the guard who comes back into view around the side of one of the houses.
"Good morning" says Dalinvardél Tanith in a clear voice as he walks towards the house guard, who has stopped to watch him.
"And good morning to you" says the guard in the service of house Haldéilv, the spy Tanith smiles as out of the corner of his eye, he spots movement at the nearest window in the next house over. The elf from the principality of Alínlae in the Southlands, is now certain that there's two other guards on duty here.
Dalin explains to the house guard he's greeted, that he's been visiting the sacred grove in the mountains on the north side of the valley. And that he's never been down into the valley before, which is infact true. He wanted to see it, before heading back north to where he lives in the very north of lord Haldéilv's lands.
The house guard nods his head as he listens, and makes suggestions to what to see in the valley for a first time visitor. He also tells the spy Tanith that it's probably best not to go east.
Dalin agrees with him, as he saw the squads of house guards, on the road that heads east, as he was making his way to the tor, upon which is lord Haldéilv's palace like tower.
As the two of them talk, they walk around one side of the house the guard was standing infront of. The side away from the house adjacent to it.
Pointing to around the north side of the tor as he comes to a stop, Dalinvardél Tanith says "So it's best to go that way, to get a view of the standing rocks nearby to the west". "Either that way, or you go the long way around, on the southside of the tor" says the house guard, who turns and looks that way as he adds "You can stop in town if you go that way, have a meal and the like".
The guard in the service of lord Haldéilv doesn't see the branch come up and whack him in the side of the head. Dalin catches the unconscious house guard, and gently lowers him to the ground.
The spy Tanith moves quietly behind the house, and makes his way to the building adjacent, the elf from south of the equator as he walks behind the second house, sees the back door to it open. The long slim branch he's holding, is up and swinging before the door is fully open.
The house guard who walks outside, is whacked across the forehead, and she drops forward onto the ground, knocked out before she even hits the soft grass here near the stream that runs into the tor.
The elven spy leaps over the fallen house guard and through the open door, Dalin thrusts the branch, and it takes the third house guard who has quickly drawn his sword, in the gut.
The guard grunts, and bends forward, where he gets a knee in the jaw from the spy Tanith. Who drops the branch, grabs the house guard by the side of the head, and left shoulder, and flips him over to one side.
The house guard whose sword has flung from his hand, is already unconscious before he hits the floor. The knee to his jaw knocked him out before he had any chance to act against the sudden attack from the elf who is from south of the equator.
Dalinvardél Tanith hurries to the window that faces the forest to the east, he looks out it and waves once. Then he turns around and looks for something to tie up the three unconscious house guards.
Riley Hait the mercenary ranger gets up, turns around, and walks quickly back into the trees, where he quietly says "Come on, let's go". The ranger Hait takes the reins of his horse from Tamric Drubine, and he leads it, and the rest of the group forward out of the trees, to the two houses near the base of the tor, on which sits lord Haldéilv's palatial like tower.
When they reach the guard houses, they find an unconscious house guard tied up behind one of them, and Dalinvardél Tanith thirty yards away, at the base of the tower itself. Where at the opening, they see a stone path has been built alongside the stream as it enters the tunnel beyond. The elven spy waves them forward, and quietly calls out "Bring the horses".
Moving single file, they lead the horses in through the opening in the rock wall, inside the tunnel they find a cavern that the stream runs through. The cavern which is airy and well lit, not dark or damp at all even though the stream runs through it, has storage rooms, and even a stable built into it. They put their mounts in the stalls, where a lone horse is already stabled. It neighs in greeting, before it goes back to munching on some hay in it's stall.
"Now what?" asks Riley Hait, who has warned sir Percavelle Lé Dic to be quiet, which caused the heavily armoured knight to sourly smile, for he was just going to ask the spy Tanith the exact same thing.
Dalin who has flipped his cloak back around to how he normally wears it, and taken the larger, rougher looking hood off, and replaced it with the original one. And has just brushed the dirt off his boots, which he's rolling the tops back up.
Points across a stone bridge, that goes over the stream, which continues onwards, deeper and further into the tor, where it finally ends in a pool. That has draw wells, which pushes the water up higher into the tor, to be used by those living and working in the tower.
The others notice a set of steps on the otherside of the cavern, and Dalinvardél Tanith quietly says to them "We go up those i guess" . . . . . .