The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[Jack Simth]

Meanwhile, down at the lower table, Jack tastes his food once, then sets it down because it's burned too badly for his liking, while the rest is almost raw.
ooc:[Historical note: long ago, the ovens used to cook things didn't do so evenly, especially for things that couldn't be turned or stirred, such as bread. Thus, bread coming out of a mideval kitchen would be burned on the bottom, hard and overcooked in the middle, and just perfect on top. The guests (and sometimes the head of the household: the Baron) would get the perfect portion from the top (D), family would get the middle portion, and the servants would be left with the burnt portion (Jack and Narp). The servants were left with anything the guests and family wouldn't want to eat.]
Deciding he would prefer some of his bland conjoured rations to the burned meal, Jack decides to engage the servants in conversation. Unfortunately, he can't get a word in edgewise - the table is just overflowing with gossip, which Jack listens in on.

"How long do you think it will be until the Baron has solved the bandit problem?"
"Not long; he can't afford to let it go on much longer."
"Yeah, I heard that even the well-gaurded tax carts get ambushed; the Barony is running off of the treasury."
"That can't Last long."
"No it can't - and what happens when the treasury runs out?"
"Then we will have to seek employment elsewhere."
"But we already work for the kindest baron in thirty leagues!"
"I know, I know. These bandits are just far too orginized and well equiped."
"You'd almost think they had support from somewhere."
"They even ambush peasants! Just Last week, my uncle was robbed on his way to visit me. They took all six of his coppers, and stole his coat!"
The rest of the gossip is just variations on the same plus the standard castle variety: who is thinking of marrying whom, which members of the court are the most demanding, how people's crops are doing, that kind of thing.

By the end of the meal, Jack still hasn't gotten a word in edgewise, but he has learned a few things.

ooc:[That should cover just about anything Narp would have wanted to ask the servants that they would actually answer anyway.]

ooc:[We will get a chance to compare notes overnight; apprentices and bodygaurds are always assigned to the same room as their masters; the apprentice to do the master's bidding, the bodygaurd to gaurd against nighttime assasins.]

ooc:[The court mage would be very worried about D; the report from the sergant would indicate that it was Jack (the apprentice) who humbled the gaurds (stole the bolt and released Kendric). If that is what the apprentice can do, what about the master? We may have a nighttime visitor.]

[ June 24, 2003, 21:28: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]