C
caligari
Guest
Original poster
The sun had been steadily climbing the sky for a few hours by the time they reached the edge of the capital city of Gand, if even it could be called such, in truth it was an overgrown village claiming to be a city while it would be generous to call it a town if not for the fort it housed. No walls lined the perimeter, no men stood guard and no gates needed opening for the arrival of its new lord. The horses trudged through the streets each of their steps making the same sound of squishing mud one would hear on dirt roads after rain as the streets too lacked the paved stone of society. Worse still was the smell, one needn't look far to find out where people dumped their offal and human refuse and staring at the dirt streets made one wonder how much was mud and how much was... something else.
Every house was made of base wood construction and lined with lime and clay, though most were in disrepair, the rain had done its work on the buildings and many of them had their outer layers of lime washed away to reveal the woven thatch underneath which served as a basis to plaster clay upon. Unlike a normal city, these streets were silent and sullen; no playing children, no hustle and bustle of markets only coughs and the sound of retching from those unlucky or unused to the smell. Loïc too had to bury his mouth and nose in his elbow, he knew what to expect, but even for him it was too much at times. He was glad he spent the extra few silver coins to loan the horses they were riding on as otherwise it meant that they had to trudge through the dross on foot.
As they reached the foot of the small hill at the centre of the capital, the noble fort became clear, as did its poverty; the steps leading up were made of rotting wood, more often than once when the horses tried to climb only to carve out soggy splinters with their hooves. Once up the hill, the walls clearly didn't fare much better as there visible gaps in the wooden palisade, some were blocked off with spike barricades, but most were left open to fall further into decay. Inside the walls, the fort held no real organisation; men stood around with idle hands in ill-fitting armour due to them being either too young or too fat to fit in properly, the castle forge stood silent and has clearly done nothing but forge cobwebs for quite a while, servants were still working, though obviously with no real effort put in. The only thing that didn't seem out of place was the collection of chickens wandering around pecking at everything they could.
Loïc dismounted and handed the reins of his horse to a nearby servant who stood gawking at it like fool a bit too long before he figured out he was meant to take it away. "Welcome home, such as it is, all of this is yours now." Loïc gestured wide and tried to muster a smile, but in truth he couldn't even pretend to deceive Cristo even if the truth wasn't staring him in the face, and so his smile falters. "Forgive the poor reception, Milord, you will soon find that we can't muster much more." His arms dropped to his side as he revealed the truth, but they didn't remain there for long as he quickly tried to gesture Cristo to the main entrance. "Please, lord, you must be hungry. I had sent word ahead, they should've prepared you a proper meal by my orders."
Every house was made of base wood construction and lined with lime and clay, though most were in disrepair, the rain had done its work on the buildings and many of them had their outer layers of lime washed away to reveal the woven thatch underneath which served as a basis to plaster clay upon. Unlike a normal city, these streets were silent and sullen; no playing children, no hustle and bustle of markets only coughs and the sound of retching from those unlucky or unused to the smell. Loïc too had to bury his mouth and nose in his elbow, he knew what to expect, but even for him it was too much at times. He was glad he spent the extra few silver coins to loan the horses they were riding on as otherwise it meant that they had to trudge through the dross on foot.
As they reached the foot of the small hill at the centre of the capital, the noble fort became clear, as did its poverty; the steps leading up were made of rotting wood, more often than once when the horses tried to climb only to carve out soggy splinters with their hooves. Once up the hill, the walls clearly didn't fare much better as there visible gaps in the wooden palisade, some were blocked off with spike barricades, but most were left open to fall further into decay. Inside the walls, the fort held no real organisation; men stood around with idle hands in ill-fitting armour due to them being either too young or too fat to fit in properly, the castle forge stood silent and has clearly done nothing but forge cobwebs for quite a while, servants were still working, though obviously with no real effort put in. The only thing that didn't seem out of place was the collection of chickens wandering around pecking at everything they could.
Loïc dismounted and handed the reins of his horse to a nearby servant who stood gawking at it like fool a bit too long before he figured out he was meant to take it away. "Welcome home, such as it is, all of this is yours now." Loïc gestured wide and tried to muster a smile, but in truth he couldn't even pretend to deceive Cristo even if the truth wasn't staring him in the face, and so his smile falters. "Forgive the poor reception, Milord, you will soon find that we can't muster much more." His arms dropped to his side as he revealed the truth, but they didn't remain there for long as he quickly tried to gesture Cristo to the main entrance. "Please, lord, you must be hungry. I had sent word ahead, they should've prepared you a proper meal by my orders."
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