"I'd guess that if we're to find Gustave here, he'll be in there." Olaf gestures toward the nearest fortress.waysoftheearth wrote:The red dunes are, in the main part, packed hard so [p Man,mail+helm,magic sword,shield,9,16/16]Dieter[/p] and [p Young Man,leather+helm,sword,shield,12,14/14]Olaf[/p] have little trouble finding a route to a defensible looking rock at the summit of the nearest ridge, and although they sweat with the effort of hiking in the heat they find their step curiously quick and light.
As they approach the summit they crouch low so as not to be seen, and peer into the wider world beyond the rock. Less than a quarter mile off they see a daunting black structure; an impossible iron wall that must be 40ft high if it is ten--and it is. It runs left and right into the desert that goes on forever, it seems; heat shimmering off the distant red hard pan.
But most impressive--most terrifying--is a truly colossal black fortress hulking over the wall. If the wall is 40ft high, then the vast iron structure--an assembly of huge black slabs of iron--that overlooks it must be 200ft tall and at least twice as wide. And, [p Young Man,leather+helm,sword,shield,12,14/14]Olaf[/p] points along the direction of the wall... there are more of them. A few miles, perhaps, farther along the wall in either direction, another similar-sized structure can dimly be seen.
The young warrior looks around, "We need to find shelter where the magic users can rest and memorize their spells, and we need to find water before too much longer."
Sighing he adds to Dieter, "And by the gods, we need to find a way to get back home from this evil place. We're going to need the elvin kind to do that, I think. So, we have to protect them from anything and everything...including themselves."