Fort Knocks - knight otu judging

[Kahuna Burger]

"Please'ta meet ye'... 'Ello, Eusebius, Nodis, ever'one."

Rurik shakes the hands of Karn and Davin, and sits down.

"So, what 'ave ye told of this mine?"

Davin says, "I'd be happy to draw you a sketch of what I know... I'm afraid I'm not much of an artist.... The fort is built up against the rockface.... the gate is here at the corner.... the living quarters and stables are built against the outer walls like so.... the kitchen is in a seperate building in case of fire, and then theres another larger building for the forge and storage.... There actually three different mine entrances, we were working in this far right one."

 

[Boddynock]

Davin says, "I'd be happy to draw you a sketch of what I know... I'm afraid I'm not much of an artist.... The fort is built up against the rockface.... the gate is here at the corner.... the living quarters and stables are built against the outer walls like so.... the kitchen is in a seperate building in case of fire, and then theres another larger building for the forge and storage.... There actually three different mine entrances, we were working in this far right one."

Eusebius says, "Ah, good, I see. How high are the walls of the fort? Will we have to force our way in or is there a secret entrance? What sort of aspect does the fort overlook? Have you cleared the land nearby or is there cover?"

"What about the mine entrances themselves? Do they connect with one another? And is there anything you can tell us about the layout of the tunnels?"

"Finally, how far is the mine from the nearest settlement? Just in case we need some backup, or need to fall back and regroup?"

 

[dpdx]

Rurik listens with interest to Brother Eusebius' good questions... for a while. As Davin searches his memory for the answers, Rurik absent-mindedly scans the shelves behind Karn's counter.

Not finding what he was looking for (as if he expected to), Rurik shrugs his shoulders to no one in particular. His axe arm goes diving into his pack for the jug, coming up again successful. He looks at it, and lifts it off the table to test its weight. Looking pensive for a moment, he places it back in the pack, staring off into space with an expression both forlorn and irritated...

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Eusebius says, "Ah, good, I see. How high are the walls of the fort? Will we have to force our way in or is there a secret entrance? What sort of aspect does the fort overlook? Have you cleared the land nearby or is there cover?"

"What about the mine entrances themselves? Do they connect with one another? And is there anything you can tell us about the layout of the tunnels?"

"Finally, how far is the mine from the nearest settlement? Just in case we need some backup, or need to fall back and regroup?"

"erm, let's see.... this is the nearest settlement of any size, the mine is about 20 miles from here as the crow flies, but not being crows, you'll probably feel like you're walking twice as far. Growth is pretty sparse anyway, and we try to keep the brush cleared for 50 yards or so around the walls. The walls are about 15 feet tall, and not an easy climb. We didn't close the gate after us, and I don't know if these things would.... There's no secret entrance that I know of, but then, we didn't build the fort."

"I don't think the tunnels from the different mine shafts connect, but to be honest you never know. There's no exact map or anything. the shaft we were working..." He attempts to draw on the same sheet of parchment, but with much overlap and description as he is trying to represent three dimensions much of the time. You are able to grasp the basic directions you will need to follow including a distressing realization that part of the trip is a "drop shaft" you will be climbing straight down if you want to look for the source of the undead. As the young man describes the caved in area they were trying to work around and where the group cut back in, Rurik agrees with his assessment that it was really too soon to have gotten around a fault large enough to cause such a severe natural cave in.

Karn responds to the earlier question "There's been some sightings at the main road, which is about a mile from the mine entrance, and the local small cots have been abandoned without waiting to see if the scourge ranged that far or not.... Here young dwarf...." he goes behind his shop counter and retrieves a clay jug with some promising dwarven runes on it. "One of the miner's whose since moved on from my hospitality left this as thanks. I didn't want to refuse the offer, since he seemed quite adverse to thinking of my help as charity, but I have to say I've reached the age where such spirits are a bit more than I can recover from in time to open the shop in the morning. It might suit you better than the wine though." he gives a toothy grin.

 

[azmodean]

We should be moving on as soon as possible, especially since they may be spreading. I think it's about time to turn in, so we can leave early in the morning.

OOC:KB, I noticed you aren't updated in the Character tracking and interface thread. Just a reminder.

 

[Someone]

"Agreed!" says Nodis. "I don´t think we can do anymore here save allow them to do more harm."

 

[Sparky]

After her bout of laughter, Rainca subsided into a grim thoughtfulness, crouching a bit apart from the table and watching the words and comments and information flow back and forth. Davin's last words and Rurik's confirmation of the situation, nag the barbarian woman and she squints darkly, gears of her nimble mind working furiously.

The others seem ready seem satisfied with the information available, but the nagging doubts linger in the young woman's mind.

"Rainca has a question for Davin and Rurik." She sits up on her heels and cocks her head, "Amongst the Barav Kree, when warchiefs go to battle and hunters lead hunts they do not lightly choose their directions..."

"Rainca wonders why Tim's chief chose the way he did. Do we know who this chief was?"

 

[dpdx]

Rurik returns Karn's grin. Taking the clay jug from his hand, Rurik peruses the runeage along the bottle. "Arman Stonecrusher's Liquid Mirth... I 'eard a that guy! Thank ye!"

(Definitely a misunderstanding between him and Brannam. That's what confinement to a room with ore samples will get you, I guess.)

"Rainca has a question for Davin and Rurik." She sits up on her heels and cocks her head, "Amongst the Barav Kree, when warchiefs go to battle and hunters lead hunts they do not lightly choose their directions..."

"Rainca wonders why Tim's chief chose the way he did. Do we know who this chief was?"

"Ye want ter field that one, Dav'n?" Rurik chuckles, by now having sampled Liquid Mirth and found it excellent. "I dunno, Rainca. I'm guessin' 'e foun' somethin' 'e was not about ter let sit inna groun'. 'Asides, 'oo says it's a chief what made that 'cision?"

Rurik defers to Davin for the rest, leaning back in his chair.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

mentally stalled due to baptism related stress. Hope to move on to the mine itself on monday.

 

[Someone]

That sure gets the first place in my list of original pbem excuses! . Second and third places go for "A tree fell on my house" and "hurricane-related evacuation"

Last places go for "I´m out of town" and "my wife´s having a baby". This last one is surprisingly common.