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97 The Locked Door |
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Rav'n sits on his block of stone in the courtyard, seemingly sulking, while every one else gathers around to watch Kerim struggle with the locked door. |
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Whoops ... |
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Seeing Kerim fail with the lock, Peter shrugs his shoulders. "It was probably only the spice store anyway." he comments, "And you said there were more doors upstairs you hadn't looked at. Then there is the whole of the other wing - but how we get up there - the heavens only know .." |
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Who needs a key? |
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Rolf nods in response to Peter's rather logical summation of the probable use and interest of the room. Looking to Callum, he says quietly, "Callum, do you think you might have better luck?" |
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Ooyah! |
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Callum moves up, shoulder charges the door and... bounces off! Looking at the door in surprise, he looks for any gaps around the frame where he could use his spear as a crowbar (no offence to the local corvidae). |
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Damned Door .... |
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This door does seem exceptionally solid. It fits the door frame well, and there don't seem to be any cracks surrounding it. |
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Let's come back to it.... |
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Having seen both Kerim and Callum each fail in their varied methods to open the door, Rolf becomes even more intrigued. The door was meant to stay shut by someone. If it were locked from this side, he would fear some evil below that had been shut away and forgotten. But with the door locked from the other, then perhaps the evil was without. Perhaps invaders who the people here had fled, or perhaps the evil bird woman they had slain. Rolf studies the walls to either side of the door, considering trying to go that way through. Or perhaps, since the door is wood, a flame might win where skill and strength has failed. He didn't like the idea, it had lasted such an obviously long time and still it remains true. Rolf feels a wave of respect for whatever long ago workman had crafted the door. Perhaps other opportunities will arise. "Let's check out the rest of the building, especially the room above that one, and see what there is to see." He motions towards the stairs. |
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Nods |
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Peter nods and starts making his way towards the stairs, following the others. |
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Hesitating... again |
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Elsbeth ponders the expression on Ravn's face as she follows the others. Indeed, he might be very infuriating, but he was still a man who served gods, much as she did. Realizing she had little to offer the others, she turns and walks back to Ravn, especially as he wasn't following. Maybe she could help him, she thinks. |
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Bye Elsbeth - |
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Elsbeth walks back to where Rav'n is sitting in the courtyard. |
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Have wings, will fly |
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Edgar gives a caaark of surprise that the door withstood the efforts of the mighty Callum. "Spices are very valuable then ?" he asks Peter, inclining his head to include Kerim the trader as well. Following Rolf's decision to try upstairs, instead, he notes, "given the state of the timbers, perhaps there will be access from above ..." "... which would logically imply that you should watch your footing up there." The last belated comment said with a certain unavoidable smugness that comes from having wings to rise above such a mischance. |
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yep .. |
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"Yes. Spices are expensive, many of them are shipped a long way and the transport costs add up. They would have kept other expensive articles in here too. For example they would have kept the best tableware and cutlery as well as casks of whiskey or brandy and the finer wines. |
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oblivious oblivion |
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Zhiri looks around happily, seemingly unaware of the tensions within the group. Her dark eyes scour their faces with no understanding of the seriousness of the issues which divide and bind them. A faint smile plays across her lips as she listens to Peter explaining about the spices, nodding sagely, remembering lessons about how important the spice trade is to her home town. The memory of it brings water to the back of her mouth as she suddenly craves the taste of spiced honey and almonds. With a dismayed look she brings herself back to the present, trying to overcome the pang of homesickness. |
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Stll here! |
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OOC: sorry for the silence folks, and I'm away for a week, but then I'll get back into the swing of things. IC: Mandrake waits for the others to give up on the door and then attempts it hmself, but after several minutes of wiggling various picks in the keyhole, his tounge poking out in concentration, he gives up and replaces his tools. |
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At the top of the stairs ... |
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At the top of the stairs are 4 doors, set above the entrance hall and lower store rooms. The doors look fairly flimsy and there are no obvious signs of locks. OOC: See maps on the website www.galinia.org.uk |
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What's behind door number 1? |
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Climbing back to the top of the stairs, Rolf motions down the hallway. "We might as well take them in order." He give Callum a nod to continue, not really expecting any further trouble from this building. |
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Don't bother to knock |
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Whilst waiting for the mighty Callum to strut his stuff, Edgar voices a nagging doubt to Peter. "But if these spices are so valuable, why would those who dwelled here have simply left them behind ?" |
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Je ne sais ... |
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Peter shrugs his shoulders. "Who can tell? I wouldn't have left them behind if I had room to take them, but then spices are important to me. But you can never tell with folks. Often they will take the things that mean most to them. You wouldn't believe some of the tales I heard during the war. I know of a woman who saved a rug her mother made and left a more expensive tapestry behind. Or in one case, I knew of a man taking his tools with him and leaving silver plate behind that was worth three times as much. He said he preferred the feel of his old tools ..." |
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The spice of life. |
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Kerim intercepts the Crows persistant demands about spices, though unsure of how to address a talking bird who may be a gods avatar he pauses briefly. Weighing the that should the crow be directly divinely connected it woul assuredly know of spices, ergo it isn't that divine. Kerim opts for instead any respect due to a personage of rank or nobility. "Effendi, that which carries the voice of one the gods, indeed it would be unusual for any with knowledge of their value to leave spices behind. By contrast to their value is the weight by which they rarely attain, to leave such ready currency would indeed be foolish. Where gold can drown a sailor or slow the ship, spice would barely count a burden. I can think of little reason to leave such - Kerim's eyes brighten- unless of course one might return...or perhaps one had never left." Kerim, likewise recognising the anomoly which the door creates in an otherwise devestated ghost town cannot stand to leave it be. He nods to himself at Rolf's estimation of leaving the door intact, offering an additional "Or one needs to use it to hide from within" As the others check out the doors above he examines this door further. He looks at the crow, sounding his thoughts to the bird rhetorically "Oil perhaps may encourage such a stubborn lock to liberate it's secret to us? - and catching his chin in his hand - Or indeed, any still whom live within may signal our sudden departure, with a possibility allowed that would perhaps give their curiosity greater importance over their hesitancy." Kerim nods to himself as he formulates a plan. |
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