A loud knock at the door

[NeomerArcana]

(Sorry for the delay guys).

As you approach the cloaked wziardly-looking figure you notice more detail about him. His eyes are the most striking feature, the pupils are magenta, they glow faintly with the same purplish-pink colour, and tiny tendrils of the glow seem to trail off into the air. You notice under his cowl he is bald, and his face is clean shaven. The lines in his face betray his great age though, as do his hands.

He notices the group approaching and fixes his odd eyes on you.

"Ah. You see? A power was here," he points up at the scorch marks. "Not a great one I suspect, or the whole bloody wall would be gone, but nethertheless there was a power here. I've been trying to ascertain what sort of magic was involved, but I detect none. I fear what it could mean, that a great power came through, chiseled the wall slightly and hid it's presence? Or that someone with very little power carries with them an artifact of great power."

"What do you think?" he says, watching you as he motions up at the scorch marks.

[Hilda Hearthstone]

Hilda looks up and ponders. "Well grandfather," she says. "You seem so sure it is magic, but in the homes of my people, we have alchemists who can great damage such as you see here without a spell."

[Kull]

Kull takes a short look then responds: Give me a catapult some cloth oil and a big stone and i could do that no problem, not sure where you are seeing the magic old man. Magic would be if the stone starts to burst in falmes because stone cant burn. Anyway why is the gate not open yet ?

[NeomerArcana]

The old bald man removes his cowl to reveal that his skull is tattooed in various patters. Kull, to you that remind you of the tribal tattoos of the orcish warbands, though this man's tattoos are different. There is a resemblence there, in that they give the illusion of nature, movement and energy.

"I do believe it to be magic," responds the old man to Hilda's question. "Based on witness testimony."

He then directs his attention to Kull. "No doubt you could do this yourself, but I tell you this was magic of some kind. The gate? Well, it would seem to be simple enough to simply lift the portculis, but as you can see the gearing has been destroyed and the broken parts have wedged themselves in amongst what's not damaged. They tried opening it this morning with brute strength, but ended up doing more damage to the working parts. Anyway, they are hesitant to do any more damage to the parts. You see," he now looks to Hilda and Hragg. "The gate is of dwarven construction. No one here has the knowledge to replace or mend them properly."

[Arlette Craven]

"There is no way to know which of your possibilities did this, but perhaps we are wise to assume it is a powerful entity trying to disguise themselves, though a weak one with something they can't control is possibly worse..."

Arlette turns to the wizard, "What would be your advice to us, friend, how would you proceed assuming whoever did this was someone you would come into contact with?"

Sense motive on the wizard
1d20+7

DM if she thinks he is truthful and not out to get them she will ask the following;
"What do you know of Hextors cult? Could they have done this?"

[NeomerArcana]

The old wizard-looking man doesn't seem to be telling any lies or attempting to decieve you. "A cult of Hextor? Hm... if there was one, I suppose anything is possible. But what do you know of any cults? That sort of thing needs to be taken to the church so they can stamp it out."

He seems very alert now, looking very carefully at the group, awaiting your response.

[Kull]

Kull starts to explain the best he can but as he is not skilled in speaking nor the smartest so it might be confusing for poeple who dont know the context: Uhh we were souposed to deliver something for the church but we got ambushed by this man. i forgot his name. he had about 20 well armed men and took your delivery so now we have to chase after him to retrive it.
after blurting out all this info his eyes widen as he notices that he just now told a unkown man which could be a member of the cult. he watches the man reactions and trys to make somethin out of his behavior. sense motive 1d20+1

[Elec]

Elec looks at Kull with a slight annoyance. Before interrupting. "Yeah like what my friend said, we were ambushed by 20 men who had came though here. Perhaps they might be the cause of the damage."

[Arlette Craven]

Arlette addresses the wizard "You think the church isn't in on it? Money seems to persuade many."

[NeomerArcana]

"Yes..." he says cautiously. "There was a group large group that passed through here, just before the gate was wrecked. Could be that they disabled the gate to slow you down."

He looks to Arlette now. "Yes, money persuades many. And I believe it has persuaded the church to a degree, but they still provide many services to those in need. There's nothing else to be done here. If you are in league with the church, though it sounds like an offshoot sect to me, and you are to stop a ritual, I suggest you be on your way."

"But please, look me up again some other time. I live here in Castlemouth for most of the year."

He walks off.

Okay guys, you are in Castlemouth, not much of a town. You can still make Kalindar castle by nightfall. What's the group's next action?