Welcome to Castle Allar
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 56077
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Stacy's browsing of one of the comic books that featured Mistake had been
interrupted [6948] before she had come across any pages featuring outdoor
New Amsterdam settings. But some of what she had seen and heard down in
the sewers (particularly how Fred was dressed and armed, and the reference
to Castle Allar) had led her to expect a very different city from New
York, probably something more primitive in nature and almost certainly
with no skyscrapers. If this was a world where magic really worked, then
perhaps there had been less of an incentive to develop science and
technology?
Of course, she wasn't expecting to see much of the city just yet, as she was assuming that Fred would be able to bring them up right outside - or maybe even inside - Castle Allar. And luckily that indeed was the way of it. They eventually came to a shaft running upwards, with a rusting iron ladder attached to its side. Fred went first, and pushed up and away the manhole cover at the top. They emerged, blinking in the daylight, in what had to be the castle courtyard (or "bailey", to use the technical term). The bailey was the best part of 100 yards across. It was paved with large flagstones. Its outer perimeter wall appeared to be circular and constructed of granite blocks, and reached a height of perhaps thirty feet. She could not see the entrance from outside from where she was - it must be obscured by the keep. The keep was rectangular, as far as she could tell from her viewpoint, the side facing her about 120 feet long and rising to a height of about 90 feet. Turrets at each corner added another thirty feet or so. "Impressive," Stacy conceded. "Isn't having an entrance from the sewers a bit of a weak point in the defences, though?" "Not really. It would be easy enough to block if the need arose. More importantly, the primary defence is the keep. In these relatively peaceful times, I don't bother to try to keep people out of the bailey." As they were speaking, Fred led Stacy round the corner of the keep, so that another of its sides came into view, this the one with the entrance. Being a traditionalist at heart, Stacy was pleased to see that it had a portcullis, but less pleased to see that it was in the down position. "How do we get in?" she asked.
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JH (who didn't take the tempting second option because he was unsure of how medieval or modern a city to go for)
1/15/2006 12:21:34 PM
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