Deciding you can't afford to lose precious time, you head for the courtyard.

You hurry through the Atrium towards the large outdoors courtyard you noticed. The atmosphere in the open-air courtyard feels completely different from outside the fortress' walls - the air is oppressively warm and humid, and a slight haze clouds the air around you. The tower looms on the far side of the courtyard and casts a shadow down onto the moist stones beneath it. You still have a ways to go it seems.

Blocking your path to the tower is a wall that cuts across the courtyard, although a rusted gate is built into it. The wall itself isn't in terribly good repair either - in fact, part of the wall to your right has already collapsed, and stands only 6 feet tall. The wall to your left remains intact, with a withered tree growing next to it.

Your attention is drawn to a pond set in the center of the courtyard in front of you - while its water is slightly discolored, it looks pristine compared to the boggy moat outside. However, the pond does contain a different problem - a large frog-like creature, nearly the size of a bear or large horse, lurks half-submerged in the water. It's easily large enough to eat you if you draw its attention, so you are rather fortunate that its back is turned to you at the moment.

You briefly consider banishing it with Strokmier, but you don't think you could hold onto its slime-covered body long enough for it to take effect. Besides, you can't tell if it's sleeping or not; for all you know it could turn on you the moment you get close. All that matters is that it doesn't seem to have noticed you yet, so it would probably be best to keep it that way. The question is how to do that while crossing getting over that wall... scanning the courtyard briefly, you plan your route.