Monday, November 08, 2004
Day 47
Actually, we behaved more like wide-eyed visitors from the country today than adventurers looking for work - but it makes sense to explore the city and try and understand how it works. As you might expect, the main market is large and excellent; we will probably need to buy some cold-weather clothing before too long, and the range and prices were very tempting, but that's something we can put off until we're ready to leave the city and head back to Redwall, and that is unlikely to be very soon. I bought some trousers and a frilly-fronted white shirt, somehow in a place this size I don't feel as comfortable as usual in leotards and things like that, so I am dressing more "respectably", and my wardrobe is a bit limited at that end of the spectrum.
The castle is really impressive, at least viewed from outside. There must have been a natural cliff overlooking the harbour, and the castle was built on top of it... and then the rest of the cliff, except for a gently curving ramp-road up to its main gates, was dug away, and the town itself built, or rebuilt, at a level not much higher than the docks, presumably making a fair amount of use of the rubble. No invading army has ever managed to take the castle by force, and I doubt if the castle will ever fall that way.
We found a tavern used by adventurers, The Treasure Hunter - we had lunch there, just some fish soup with dumplings floating in it. The landlord could tell at once that Cleve and I were "in the adventuring trade", and has added the three of us to a wall he has there. I don't know if anything will come of that, whether ambitious dukes and deposed kings make a habit of reading tavern walls, but the landlord only gets a few coins if we do get a job we like because of it.
Cleve seems to be a bit of a gambler when it comes to card games, and is tending to spend her evenings at a table in The Speckled Leaf, holding a fan of cards close in front of her. The players even stack up little piles of coins in front of them, honestly! She seems to be doing okay, and enjoying herself, I suppose it is a social thing she feels she can be a part of, even without a voice. I have warned her that, if she runs up a debt in my name, my easiest way to get the money will be to sell her to a slavemaster, so I don't think she is likely to do anything too rash.
So, Ser Mage-Librarian, that is all I have to report to you today. Spending one's time doing almost nothing is easier to actually do than to write about!
The castle is really impressive, at least viewed from outside. There must have been a natural cliff overlooking the harbour, and the castle was built on top of it... and then the rest of the cliff, except for a gently curving ramp-road up to its main gates, was dug away, and the town itself built, or rebuilt, at a level not much higher than the docks, presumably making a fair amount of use of the rubble. No invading army has ever managed to take the castle by force, and I doubt if the castle will ever fall that way.
We found a tavern used by adventurers, The Treasure Hunter - we had lunch there, just some fish soup with dumplings floating in it. The landlord could tell at once that Cleve and I were "in the adventuring trade", and has added the three of us to a wall he has there. I don't know if anything will come of that, whether ambitious dukes and deposed kings make a habit of reading tavern walls, but the landlord only gets a few coins if we do get a job we like because of it.
Cleve seems to be a bit of a gambler when it comes to card games, and is tending to spend her evenings at a table in The Speckled Leaf, holding a fan of cards close in front of her. The players even stack up little piles of coins in front of them, honestly! She seems to be doing okay, and enjoying herself, I suppose it is a social thing she feels she can be a part of, even without a voice. I have warned her that, if she runs up a debt in my name, my easiest way to get the money will be to sell her to a slavemaster, so I don't think she is likely to do anything too rash.
So, Ser Mage-Librarian, that is all I have to report to you today. Spending one's time doing almost nothing is easier to actually do than to write about!
