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"Well, I think there is a Cat up here, and kittens! Can I have one?" She giggles, "Oh and I think I upset an Owl too..."

"Sorry Mr. Owl, I didn't mean to disturb you, go about your day." Avoiding it as best she can, she heads over and looks at the swing. "You know what? This is just a boring old barn..."

Thelma gives Eloise a grin, "No." She says smoothly, "Not now, at least." Looking at others, she states, "We can grab one on the way back, perhaps."

"I've got no idea on the scales, but the loft is empty.", Thelma says in a more serious voice. "We should move on as quickly as possible with somebody's life at stake."

Saul chuckles to himself and says, "I wouldn't know. I thought they may be a courtesy to the horses!"

Sliding down the ladder Eloise gives the others two minutes (she is silently counting "one elephant.." but you can see her lips move) before stepping out of the barn and heading to Building 2 (the gatehouse), grasping Thelma's arm as she does so.

Walking quickly her hair flies behind her, a reddish brown mass of curls.

A small puff of dust raises from the Stony Barn's floor where Matthias releases the small handful of kernels he had been inspecting. With much sighing and shaking of his head at the failure to determine the swings' purpose. Defeated, the apothecary marches mutely to the second guard tower which he suspects will lead to the keep's interior. "No signs of any recent activity, but perhaps our cunning cutpurses have leveraged an alternate entryway."

The second gate tower is similar to the first, it is even held closed by the same system of hooks and a beam. This time, there isn't even a padlock to keep the beam in place.

(OOC: You have not explored building #3 at all, and not looked at the second, padlocked door of #5)

Dale moves over to where the women are exploring as security. "What are the chances that kidnappers would use grain storage?" He feigns a sword strike for dramatic flare.

"The two might not be related, unless the bandits stole grain and women," Christopher says. "If the bandits are here, they have no horses, or Apollo would want to fight them now."

So... what are you doing next?

Dale looks to the third building. "Shall we take a look at that one? We can check out the one with the padlock afterwards."

(Ohhh, I thought that the locked door on #5 was just another opening into the same storage area with swings for some reason, can we have a little retcon wherein Matthias moves to the locked door instead?)

Matthias approaches the padlock, taking it appraisingly into his hand. "I thought the lack of security curious even for such a secluded hold, it seems the rest of the tithe must be stored within. Yet we have no key, and destroying Abbey property will not be looked upon kindly."

Standing by the gate Eloise gives Thelma a grin, "Shall we go in?" She winks.

The padlock is indeed of good quality, as the Abbey can afford it. Since it is harvest time only now, only the long-lived parts of the tithe are still there, the grain will have been mostly milled and used by now.

The two young women could easily remove the beam holdig the tower's gate closed.

"What do you think?" She asks, holding her sisters hand.

"If this lock belongs to the Church, then the vicar should have a key. He did not offer us the key. Perhaps he knows nothing of this lock.
"But let us see what else is here before breaking locks." Christopher crosses to the building Saul had indicated, and tries to enter.