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In whichever order (or lack of it) the group progresses, what they can see is that the gaps in the tunnel's ceiling could propably be used to drop liquids on attackers, but the traces are old. The large transversal gap is graced with iron spikes, this is where the portcullis is moving. You can only hope it is fastened securely.

The large cobblestones of the tunnel floor look well placed, with old dirt between them, nothing suggests one of them could be a trigger.

"So?" She asks, hands on her hips, taking Dales suggestion she follows Christopher as he trots slowly though the tunnel. "There are no traps, well nothing that looks like one anyway."

The group emerges out of the tunnel without incident. At the far end, another set of gates is wide open, the wings leaning to the walls of the tower.
They arrive in a very long courtyard which is still sloping upwards, though the ramp is not as steep anymore as the road leading up to it. To their left is a long stone and wood building with a wood-shingled roof. It has three high and wide doors. A creek seems to run across the courtyard roughly in the middle of its length, 60-70 feet away, flowing out of a gap in the low wall that continues the line of the building, becoming steadily lower. At the far end of the courtyard, a massive building made entirely of stone - even the roof is covered with stone shingles - takes up the whole width of the courtyard. It has two sets of doors that are almost gates.

The buildings look old but maintained (some wood shingles are newer than the others, for example). What is not maintained, however, is the walkway that would be needed to man the battlements. Especially the rail is broken in places, and the floorboards resting on the stone buttresses do not look safe everywhere any more.

Matthias sidles along in single-file at Christopher's order making sure that he follows last among the group so as not to be trapped on both sides by other people. He studies the holes above them with a wary curiosity until they emerge on the other side.

"I could not locate any signs of a broken lock," he says to no one in particular, "which could have two possible meanings. Chiefly, that those responsible for the maintenance of gate and barn, the Abbey, simply saw fit not to lock such an unlikely destination. Or secondly that the supposed unlawful occupants removed it by key or lockpick, yet I think this unlikely since a good burglar would leave a scene as untouched as possible and how set the bar while not remembering the lock? Unless it was broken in the attempt... Oh! But as I said, I found no evidence of this."

Dale looks around and suggests. "Spread out, we do not want to be all in front of the door." He moves to the side and tells the group. "We need to move fast. Do we go towards the main building?"

(( Nagging Ali... ))

Thelma moves close to Eloise and asks, "I wonder if there is an entry point on the roof?"

To the group, she suggests, "We might be able to enter from the roof if the doors are secure."

Which building are you talking about? The long one on your left or the large one at the far end of the courtyard?

Saul meanders forward and starts to examine the gates of the central building, checking for signs of use. He notices the repaired shingles (Wood in place of stone) and calls over his shoulder, "Does anyone from town maintain the buildings here or could there be occupants here maintaining it?"

Uh oh... I don't seem to have been clear enough - or you're not reading carefully. For clarity, I have reproduced the crude map Christopher obtained. The party has just passed the tunnel through the gate tower, #1. Remember it is 20 feet long! They are now scattered around the x on the map. The building with the wood shingles and the three doors is #3. Far ahead, #5, is the large building with the stone shingles. Of #4, you can only see the wall to the courtyard, which begins at roughly hip height after the gap that lets the creek flow and stays horizontal while the ground slopes upward, being just ankle high at its upper end. And you can make out a tower similar to the one your went through, #2.

Matthias knows about the maintenance of the buildings:

NoTrammeling wrote:"... Chiefly, that those responsible for the maintenance of gate and barn, the Abbey..."

Dale indicates building three. He says. "This is the one I had in mind, but I am not picky."

All three doors of building #3 are large enough to let a horse pass. In fact, they are split in two like stable doors often are. They have latches to keep them closed, but no locks.

"Odd, to see a stream inside a keep on top of a hill. Where does the water come from?"

[OOC]

Breila wrote: A creek seems to run across the courtyard roughly in the middle of its length, 60-70 feet away, flowing out of a gap in the low wall that continues the line of the building, becoming steadily lower.

Not sure if I am reading this right. Sounds like the stream runs into the yard through a break in the wall of bldg 4, then heads to the outer wall. Where does it go from there? And is there a way to cross it? If not, we have a mystery here. [/OOC]

"Well, perhaps we should look?" Eloise asks, eyeing the surroundings she whispers to Thelma "I am not sure if I want to go up there, not really."

The castle sits on a hill flanking a higher hill, a small mountain in fact. It is conceivable that an aqueduct of some sort feeds water from the higher hill into the lower part. I have a picture here of a similarly situated castle (it is ONE of the inspirations for the Valckenburg) in a link:
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=de&biw= ... 106&ty=108.
To the right of the picture, the mountain rises another five hundred feet.

The creek is small, in essence an enlarged rainwater ditch, at most ankle deep. (Remember, he map is not to scale.) There are others like that crossing the courtyard, but dry now since it has not rained the past two days.

(Sorry for the clumsy link, I don't seem to be able to replace all the text with just a word like the other DMs here do.)

Saul wanders past the building to his left and peeks around the corner where the small stream is coming from, curious what else is close by.