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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mark Chance" data-source="post: 4393844" data-attributes="member: 2795">Chuckles drift down from the wall in response to Menno's bravado about killing, but it doesn't seem as if the light laughter mocks."Hold your horses," says the guard. "Who're you?"Coming up the path behind Orinar and Menno is another traveler, this one a young freckled man. He introduces himself as "Branden of Alt Wald" and states he too has answered the call for adventurers."Very good, then," the guard atop the replies. He raises his halberd and raps the butt-end against the wall. Curiously, the sound is an unstone-like thunk! thunk! accompanied by the jangle of chimes. "Open the gate!"The gate scrapes open. Two guards -- on on each side -- stand ready. One winks at the adventurers as they enter."Good luck to ya," he says.On the other side of the gate is an entry yard. The animal smells of the stable hang thick in the air. Not too far to the right, the stable doors stand open. A few boys -- dirty and one holding a filthy rake -- gawk at the adventurers.A guard dressed in platemail and carrying a shield approaches the adventurers. A longsword and dagger are at his waist. The guard's tunic device identifies him as a watch corporal. With him is a man in the brown and white robes of the Guild of Scribes. In his ink-stained fingers, he holds a quill, a bottle of ink, and a book into which he busily scribbles, exhibiting remarkable skill as he balances all of his accessories at the same time he writes."I'm Mitch, Corporal of the Day Watch," the soldier growls. "This here scribbler's noting your names and arrival date. Any time you go, you sign out. If you come back, and you ain't signed out, you ain't getting back in. Vice versa applies. Your access is limited to the outer bailey. Cause any trouble, and you'll end up in the stocks...or worse."He pauses for a bit to spit on the dusty ground."You! Boy!" One of the stable boys starts at the barked words. "Take these men to the traveler's inn!"The boy -- a slight youth of no more than fourteen -- nods and races forward. "This way, sirs," he says.He leads the adventurers south along the 20-foot-wide entry yard that hugs the outer wall. At the southeast tower, the yard bends to the west. In addition to the stable, the adventurers pass a warehouse, a fortified building the youth identifies as belonging to the bailiff, several private residences along the south wall, a buildings bearing the signs of a money lender, a provisioner, and a trader, and finally to a fountain square against the southwest wall. Curious people, most of them civilians, stop and stare at the adventurers for a bit before resuming their business.The fountain is large, of carved stone resembling frolicking water nymphs. Water gushes from the top and trickles musically to the basin. The square is somewhat large and irregularly shaped, about 50 feet wide west to east and about 60 feet long at its longest point north to south."That there's the traveler's inn," the boys says. "Next to it is the tavern."[sblock=OOC]We'll pause here for reactions, questions, conversation.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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