Dongle the Dungeoneeror--CLOSED--Adventure #52

[Gray Shade]

The Courtyard

The tower was empty, and the stairs sturdy, if a little slick from moss. When my master made his way into the courtyard, a light rain began to fall.

Most of the courtyard was knee deep in prairie grass, just like outside the walls, but much of the grass around the doors and buildings was crushed, like there had been some activity in the keep lately by several large people, perhaps a dozen men.

My master could see from where he was that the stone paths from the two buildings to the fire tower apparently used to have wooden walls and doors so that it was all connected to be one complex.

He also noticed deep footprints and holes from equipment as well as sawdust all around in the mud just inside either of the main doorways, where the makeshift walls were put up. They appeared to be a week or two old. Ten-foot long braces (logs) were mounted at an angle into the ground to hold the walls up and braced by large stones and more logs--not impossible to move, but it would take several minutes for him to do by himself.

Still, no one other than him stirred. The sky was remained bright for the most part, as the light drizzle kept falling.

 

[Lazlow]

Taking a moment to examine the ground, Dongle tried to determine who or what had been there stomping around, and about how long ago. After a couple of minutes of this, he set about removing one of the braces in order to let me (and our mounts) inside the keep walls.

 

[Gray Shade]

Brabinger and the horses let in

Realizing he still had the wide-angle lenses of Penfold's Precisionating Perceptivator down, he rotated the glass disks and snapped into place the narrow-focus lenses. The search of the area then proceeded more smoothly.

It seemed to him that he counted at least (and not many more than) a dozen sets of heavy boot prints. The beings who left them were all much larger than my master, and still a bit larger than myself, as well--probably about six and a half feet tall and over 250 pounds. Either very sturdy humans, or Hobgoblins or Orcs, perhaps. Either way, they had done quite a bit of woodworking in front of either gate, and had moved between the gates and in and around the fire tower.

As he worked on removing a brace, he could tell from the shoddy woodworking that it was probably Hobgoblins or Orcs.

I, meanwhile, waited patiently with the horses. As the mist-like rain began to drizzle down, I pulled my traveling cloak close. After several minutes of holding my position, the wooden wall angled to one side and opened inward while my master, puffing for breath, and wiping rain or sweat from his brow stuck his head through and waved me in.

I led in the horses and stayed between them to keep my master's hands empty. "Sir, I say, I just remembered that we were ordered to stay out of the upper levels of the tunnels. Presumably exactly what the Grig was describing to us." My master, of course, understood that I was merely pointing out a fact and not that I offered any kind of admonishment or command. We had disobeyed many a condition and rule before in the process of the Delve, which my master and I both understood, despite what may have brought us to any given situation originally, was the true purpose of our being in any given situation. Reiterated simply, we both understood: All conditions were secondary to the Delve.

* * *

OOC: Which lenses will be your "default" choice during the adventure? I assume the ones that increase your Spot (at least, until you need darkvision).

 

[Lazlow]

"That he did, that he did, Brabinger," my master said with a grin and a wink, "but surely he realizes that in order to get to the lower levels, first one must pass through the upper. Come - help me put this support back in place and we'll let the horses roam freely within the courtyard here. There's plenty of grass for them, and they'll be close should we need to make a hasty exit."

And hopefully they won't get eaten while we're down there...

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OOC: Yep, the spotting glasses (Eyes of the Eagle, to be precise) will be default, unless it's dark, whereupon he'll switch to the darkvision goggles.

 

[Gray Shade]

We moved the "door" back in place and reconstructed the brace. As we did, I wondered aloud, "Sir? How are we to make a "hasty exit" through a wall that it took us nigh five minutes to replace?"

The horses seemed quite keen on my master's plan and were already grazing contentedly in the courtyard.

* * *

OOC: Okey doke.

 

[Lazlow]

"Er..."

"Right. Let's just put the 'door' back in place so the horses don't leave, and forget the brace."

 

[Gray Shade]

"Quite good, sir." I then helped him lean the door back in place and lean the braces against it without mounting them, so that some force beyond a breeze would be required to knock it down, but not more than the muscle of one of our arms.

We then turned and looked in at the courtyard. "Well, sir. Where shall we begin? We seem to have three obvious choices for investigation in the buildings."

 

[Lazlow]

"Let's start with this one, over here," he said, nodding toward the smaller, easternmost building. He made some last-minute adjustments to his equipment, tightening his backpack straps and what-not, then strapped his shield on tightly, drew his sword, and strode on through the courtyard.

 

[Gray Shade]

The Armory

I, myself, carried no weapon per se, as my role was strictly that of a butler and servent, not man-at-arms. However, I did ensure that my buckles and waistcoat were tight and my cane in hand.

Closer to the edifice, we could clearly see stumps of rotting wood where walls had once stood, connecting the three still-standing buildings to each other as well as the ghostly remains of other, wooden, structures, now gone.

The doorway to the buiding was empty save for bent, desolate hinges hanging from one side of the archway.

Through the doorway, plenty of light came in through open window sills, the shutters long gone. Obviously, this wide, squat building used to be the armory. Stones were set in the walls to brace heavy racks of weapons, but most of the racks were rotted and the only weapons left were rusted and any wooden handles decayed. There were some suits of armor in here as well, scale and chain mail, but upon even cursory examination, we could tell they would take several days of work to clean, and even then would not be worth using. Strewn about were bits of steel and plates of metal that used to be more armor and shields, as well.

Two doors to one side of the room were open and literally rotting off their hinges.

At the back of the room, there were traces of sawdust on the floor, and newly-cut boards covered what could clearly be seen to be a wide double doorway.

 

[Lazlow]

Taking a moment first to search through the armory for clues, overlooked goodies, or anything of interest, Dongle snapped his searching goggles into place and looked around, overturning some of the rotted weapons and armor with his sword. After a minute or so of this, he turned his search to the boards covering the doorway.

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Is the doorway in the ground, or just the sawdust?