To Far Away Times

[Dracos]

Dracos strides after him, eyeing the premises around them for anything particularly new of importance, though not really expecting such.

Dracos

[Brian]

From outside, you can smell whatever's being cooked up in the kitchen (and there's a lot of something being cooked up).  The keep is to the north, but from here you can see an additional gate opening up to the south.

When you peek through, you can see a massive field, almost entirely covered with pitched tents, thousands of men in various forms of army talking quietly, smoking around their fires, dicing, playing card games, and to one side, practicing in a strip of intentionally clear ground that runs the length of the pass, from what you can see.  In the rough center of this camp, a road runs from the gate off to the south, and out into the distance.

[Dracos]

"Food, Training, and a good night's rest?"

[Rezantis]

"I propose a revision of that plan. Food, training, bath, more food, good night's rest."

[Dracos]

"I LIKE THAT PLAN!"  Dracos booms, clapping Rez on the back and leading off towards the food halls.

Dracos

[Brian]

You wander into the hall, and are brought something to eat.  Both of you are hungrier than you had thought, but the food here is exceptionally hearty.

After that, you can train in the field out back, or you can try to find some other place to do so.

[Dracos]

Dracos glances around as he steps out of the fooding halls.  "Hey Nathan, let's take a walk around and get a better feel for the place before practicing."

Dracos

[Rezantis]

"Fine, fine. I don't like working out on a full stomach anyway.  So what did you want to see?"

[Dracos]

"let's check the battlements and just let our feet wander for an hour or so."

Dracos puts actions to words, leading the way and examining the castle, assuming no one stops him.

Dracos

[Rezantis]

Rez tags along, having little in the way of better to do.

[Brian]

The battlements are manned sparsely by about thirty archers.  Mostly, they appear to be just leaning against the rocks and yawning.  But then, they're expecting the battle to be later, not today.

You reach them by way of a wide ramp that goes up the wall, towards the cliff face, and then doubles back to reach the wall.  It's as wide as a city street, if not a bit wider at the top, and a raised ridge gives archers cover to fire from.  You can also see across the northern stretches ... there's a lot of movement out there, too.

Just before you think about mentioning it to the wall's guardians, you realize that the movement is nothing more than wild animals.  Some reindeer, a lot of wolves ... rabbits, barely showing up against the snow.  They seem to be beelining for the foot-hill like mounds of snow-covered earth that sit at the entrance to the pass, well away from the walls.

[Rezantis]

Rez blinks, and tries to see exactly what/where the animals are moving away from.

[Dracos]

Dracos nods at the relatively pleasant landscape that belies the horror soon to come.  It was relaxing to see.  He examined the fields, more just marking in his head the general area on which the fight is supposed to be held.  After that he shrugged, leading them on a walk around the interior of the keep and then heading out to the practice area assuming nothing odd is spotted.

Dracos

[Brian]

Nathan: From what you can see, they're pouring in from the north.  Probaby from north of the wastes, even.

Phil: After surveying the site for a while (it's pretty level, inside the mouth of the pass), you go to the training grounds.

The other swordsmen and the spearmen all watch curiously, apparently not used to your style of swordsmanship.

[Dracos]

Dracos thrives and enjoys, letting the sword guide him as he works through some forms, trying to give Rez some silent examples to help him out even if the last demonstration indicated Rez really didn't need it much.

Dracos