"You're not stealing the pipe, just borrowing." Jominda replies trying to avoid this topic with Herm. It's not as if her opinion on that isn't clear as a sunny winter day. She is cooking a whole meal from goods that are not theirs.
"Hmm ok," Herm lights up the pipe, coughing a bit before setting it down.
"I am not overly taken with it" Herm says as Jominda cooks
"You would almost think that we belong here." Harrold shouts into the conversation form the library as he busies himself with a very rough sketch of the internals on a lock.
Around 15 minutes later he makes his way to the rest of the group with a rather splendid technical drawing of a lock to show Kendra. There are cross sections and cutouts showing all the moving parts
"It's an interesting blend." Jominda comments of the pipe tobacco. "But it fit's better to a sitting room with a comfortable armchair than into a kitchen." she adds as she notices that the smells of pipe and cooking don't mix too well.
She stacks the cuts of meat on the vegetables in the pan. "Has someone seen dishes?"
Herm puts the pipe out then goes and finds some dishes for Jominda before.
"Do you want some wine?"
"Yes please. You want to choose one?" Jominda replies. She carries the pan into the dining room and continues her search for dishes there. As she finds them in the china closet there she lays the table.
Standing in front of the glasses she asks "Will it be a red or a white wine?"
"That is masterfully drawn, Harrold" Kendra compliments."Let's see if this'll do the trick."
She takes the drawing to the front door and starts preparing her mending spell.
In passing, she replies to Jominda. "It should be red, if you're cooking red meat."
Herm goes to the wine cellar, looking through all the bottles but not really have any idea what to choose. Herm picks one of each red and white then brings them back.
"I am not really sure that much about wine, never was my drink when I was younger." Herm sets the bottles down then pulls out a chair for Jominda
"Kendra, Harrold, are you coming? The meal is prepared." Jominda calls. She sit's down on the offered seat. "What was your drink?" she asks Herm.
Kendra fixes the door with her magic and returns to the group. "That looks delicious, Jominda." She smiles and nods thankfully at Herm and takes the proffered seat.
"The door has been fixed." she states, "So we can sit here in relative safety."
"Now the food is almost cold." Jominda tells. What she wants to tell with that beyond the fact is hard to tell.
"Well, I hope you didn't wait to start eating until I came back." Kendra says.
"No." Jominda tells and turns her attention back to Herm. "I haven't a special drink I like most. I'm experimenting with what one could mix into an interesting drink."
"I figured we could all eat together." Herm pulls out Kendra's chair and Harrolds. Before sitting down to eat, "This is delicious, where did you learn to cook?"
"Thank you. I learned to cook as part of my alchemical experiments I did to better understand the Maillard reaction. It is an interesting thing, where the amino acids in the food react with the sugars and create that brown crust that tastes so delicious." Jominda explains with a wide smile.
Kendra takes a bite. "I have to agree with Herm, this is wonderful."
Jominda's smile grows even wider with Kendra complimenting her food.
"Don't get any ideas to put me in charge of cooking now. This one is good, but I also prepared meals that had Sheriff Caeller alarmed and storming into my kitchen with a bucket full of water."
Kendra, having just taken a sip of whine, bursts out in laughter, spraying a bit of whine right onto her plate.
"Laugh all you want. But that's part of the reason I like the consistent quality of your sandwiches." Jominda chuckles as Kendra's laugh is contagious.
"Both are very good meals, we should rest tonight then continue in the morning." Herm stands and gathers the plates, taking them to the kitchen to wash.
"What are we going to do to pass the time? It's like noon." Jominda asks, checking on the bright day through the window.
"We should at the very least see what's behind the secret door." Kendra notes.
"Yes, we should." Jominda agrees and jumps up. Moving to the corner of the room she opens the secret door.
Behind the door is only a corridor, leading to a door leading outside. Outside a narrow stone bridge without a handrail lies above the roaring river waters as they are drawn over the edge of the falls. On the other side of the bridge is the next building of Schloss Caramarc. But this one is damaged.
The left side of it is covered by a scaffold and the bridge from that side to the building beyond the next is a rope bridge.
Kendra utters a word of power, her eyes briefly flashing purple as she scans the surroundings, and especially the bridge and door on the other side.
Herm takes point, hammer at the ready.
"What do you think damaged the building?"
"Are there large stone eating monsters living in the water?" Jominda asks Kendra.
"There are in the seas, I believe." Kendra replies. "But I know of none that could live in a river like this."
"There's something magical in the middle of the rope bridge, so don't go on there until I have had some more time to study it."
She looks out from the doorway. "Do we want to explore the next building, or do you want to wait 'till the morrow?"
"I'm all for checking that building." Jominda gives her vote.
As the others seem undecided Jominda simply moves out and over the bridge. As the huge stone eating monster is not going to appear here, what could happen? Worst case she flies away. Arriving on the other side she opens the door a bit and looks in.
This large workshop is crammed with alchemical equipment, but an explosion of some kind has ripped away the western wall, leaving a large gap in the floor and wall open, now wreathed with scaffolding. It looks as if a stone bridge once connected this building with another on the far side of the gorge, but only a slender rope bridge now hangs between the two.
There is the noise of many feet moving through the debris scavenging.
Jominda closes the door again and turns to her companions. "Herm, you might want to hide inside the house. This building is too dangerous for you."
"Why?" Herm asks Jominda
"Do yo know what a rust monster is?" Jominda teases the knight in shining armor.
"I have heard of them yes, I am assuming there are some in there if you are telling me about this." Herm backs up drawing his bow out.
+8 to hit
1d8+4 dmg
"I have never heard of such a thing except in bedtime stories." Kendra yells back in Herm's place.
As Jominda stands on the bridge the bugs that are as large as come skittering out from under the building and onto the bridge. Because she might not have been aware for the moment, but her chain mail smells delicious to them.
"Be Careful!" Harrold says as he lobs a vial across at the monsters
Harrold hits the first bug that comes out from under the house, but it is still set on getting the metal. I approaches Jominda with it's antennae.
Jominda pulls away from the rust monster and withdraws into the air.
Kendra yells and interlaces her fingers, and a web instantly forms between the walls of the building opposite her and about halfway onto the bridge. The strands of webbing seem to form right underneath Jominda's feet from where she just took off.
[ooc]dc15 reflex saves, yay![/dice]
The rust monster avoids getting caught in the web. The other rust monster simply moves around the web, not being impressed by the fact that it has to walk under the bridge to do so. But that detour slows it down but it ends up in front of Kendra anyway. The third rust monster follows after it.
"Move back into the building!" Kendra suggests. "We can hold the next room, hit them as they're coming in."
"I'm fine here. You can just close the door and I use what bombs and stuff I have to throw at them." Jominda replies.
Herm Aims at the closest Rust Monster, letting an arrow fly.
Herm then backs into the house away from the door way to allow the others through.
From the cramped positon in the house Herm has no good position and misses.
Harrold backs up and throws another bomb. Trying to hit as many monsters as possible.
This time Harrold finds a group of rust monsters to throw his bomb in. He easily hits them, even though he is not in the best position.
The rust monster in the web manages to entangle itself in it.