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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gilladian" data-source="post: 5453524" data-attributes="member: 2093">What I've ended up creating is a sort of L shaped compound, built on a small rise near a stream/ravine. The palisade is 10' high, made of local timber, so fairly stout but not superior. At the gate (at the L) is the one real defensive feature, a tower 10'x15' square, built of stone for 10' and then of wood for 15' above that; it has arrow slits and a slate roof. The only entry is by ladder to the upper level, which can be pulled up easily to make it fairly defensible. Inside the palisade are four structures. 1) the store and living quarters -  a wooden building, 1 story. Contains 5 rooms - the store, the kitchen/eating room, an office/storage area, the chapel to the nature/fertility goddess, and the bedroom. I thought of having a detached kitchen for safety, but I'm going to presume that the cleric can use her magic to help supress any kitchen fires. 2) the stable and bunkhouse - a stable holds the wagon and pair of oxen that the merchant uses on his quarterly trips for supplies.  There's a room where the hands sleep, and a second room for the guard. There is also space for about six people to sleep in the loft, except in deep winter when the hay for the oxen fills it up (and travelers are rare, then, anyway). 3) the smithy, the smallest building, is also nearest the entrance. It is also stone, single story, about 15' square. Just outside it is the well. Between them all  is a large yard where travelers can unload and reload their wagons or pack animals. This yard is also often used for storage. 4) behind the stables, off to the rear of the structure, overlooking the ravine, is the outhouse/middens. Nearby are the gardens where the cleric grows vegetables, herbs and a small apple tree. There is actually a tunnel from the outhouse (the unused half) that leads out and down into the ravine, providing an escape route for emergencies.This outpost was originally built by the cleric's parents, who were small-time adventurers who settled here to explore nearby ruins. Erna, their daughter, inherited the place ten years ago; her mother had died years ago of a wasting disease, and her father died of infection after a bandit raid. Erna came back to find him dead, and a group of Woodsfolk taking shelter there. They befriended her, and she eventually married one of them, her husband Volker. He settled down with her, and they took up buying trade goods to sell to the Woodsfolk. Lately a cousin of Erna's has come out from Greenvale to stay; he's the blacksmith, Alger. He has a bit of a drinking problem, but fortunately, there's not a lot to drink here...Their hired hands come from Brindenford, a day's travel west. The two are ordinary men with no special skills or talents. Their names are Dunc and Roan. The guardsman is Vella, an unusual woman from Miran. Erna assumes she's an escaped slave, but when the woman showed up a year ago and asked if she could stay for a while (after rousting a couple of rowdy would-be bandits), Erna and Volker were happy to agree without too many questions. She's been a great help ever since.</blockquote>

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