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[Supermikhail]

OK. This part hasn't been proofread, but I'm

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

a bit afraid that I may get my ass handled to me on a plate tomorrow at the University

a bit short on time. And also, I wanted to somehow separate it from the next part, and what better way to do it, than by devoting a whole post to it.

- They speak one of Northern human languages, - whispered Will to Amlemth. - But I'm not familiar with it, - he listened carefully. - I think they are talking about money...
The leader of the other group spoke calmly and with authority; Vig's voice was a bit harsher and his face didn't give away any emotion. The first gestured slowly. The second didn't move. But there, with their differences, standing opposite each other, their similarities suddenly became apparent. A peculiar rock, dropped onto a pile of rubble, dissolved amid chipped shapes. Weathered faces, wrinkled before time; impenetrable stares, still unable to hide the watchful intelligence behind; austerity and liveliest grace. Suddenly Vig and the group of strangers turned into feral beasts, with grey shaggy hides, and dangerous canines showing from under the upper lips. No one stuck his tail between his hind legs, and no one bent his neck, wheedling; no one grinned aggressively, or let out a careless growl. Yet both the halfling and the human sensed the smell in the air, and it was thick.
The leader of the other group shrugged his shoulders, and  pointed at the place where Nliru had been. Will and Amlemth looked there and saw nothing, and even though they knew that the kobold was hiding somewhere amid the boughs and the leaves of the oak, they could distinguish no trace of the little figure.
Suddenly they heard a violent movement, and, turning back, saw Vig and the other man dash towards each other. The air was rent by a clang of two axes in the air. For a moment Vig and his opponent looked at each other, then separated their weapons, to swing them again.
Amlemth cursed:
- Blood of my mother!
And then he and Will drew their swords and dashed into the battle, where the warriors of the other group started surrounding Vig, who was circling with his adversary, waiting for an opportune moment.
But before another strike fell, a dark shadow slid down a tall birch just opposite of the fighting, hopped noiselessly towards it and landed on the back of one of the enemy warriors. Too late his companion tried to alert him with a shout - little hands deftly slid a thin blade under the aventail of his helmet, and he fell to his knees, gurgling and clutching his neck. Enraged, another enemy warrior moved to fight the mysterious figure, but it swiftly retreated into the shadow of the forest.
Meanwhile, the rest of the fighters were engaged in confrontation evenly. Vig smashed his axe into the shield of his opponent in controlled efficient movements, and protected himself with his own shield in a similar manner. Amlemth made gracious and precise thrusts with his sword. And Will artistically fenced with his larger opponent, making neat evading sidesteps. For all his style, however, the halfling had to retreat from the strong slashes, and was saved from the disgrace of running away just in the nick of time by Amlemth, who had masterfully defied his adversary's parrying attempts, and ended the duel by a small but fatal chest puncture, then came to his companion's aid. Vig's battle grew furious, and the movements frantic, but the powers seemed equal, and neither man could land a hit, however, on Vig's side was the mysterious ally, and his opponent remembered about it. A shadow flashed in the corner of his vision, and he turned his head. The back side of Vig's axe crashed into his face. The enemy leader fell backwards with a thud.
Vig turned, breathing heavily, and observed the battlefield. All the enemies lay dead or dying, except one, who had decided to follow Nliru into the forest. Amlemth's opponent was stretched on the ground, pale, covering his wound with his hand, his mail soaked with blood. The first man to fall had already stopped moving. The warrior, who had fought Will, evidently had his lungs pierced, and was coughing blood onto the grass. The leader of the group was still.
Will let out a nervous laugh.
- Bloody hell, - he said.
Amlemth cleaned the blade of his sword with grass, and went around the dead, closing their eyes with his fingers solemnly.
From behind the trees Nliru appeared, taking off her hood.
- He dead? - Vig asked her.
The kobold nodded in answer. She lifted her dagger to sheath it, and saw that her hands were shaking. She quickly hid them in the folds of her garment.
- Who were they? - she asked, looking at the bodies, strewn around.
- Vinjar, - Vig said in his native tongue, then shook his head. - We fought together, in past.
- And what did they want? - asked Will, coming up.
Vig glanced at Nliru. Will followed the glance confusedly.
- Money, - said Vig. - From past.
- Dirty mercenaries, - Will spit on the face of the dead leader.
Vig grabbed him by the hand and said, just a little threateningly:
- Don't do it.
- Alright, - said Will, trying to pull his hand out of Vig's grasp. But some mad or enthusiastic expression appeared on the face of the human warrior, and he went to the hollow where the bonfire was still burning, dragging the halfling behind him. He stopped on the brink and addressed the party, that looked at him quizzically.
- You do wrong! - he let go of Will's hand. - You go here and there, you fight like this, - he parodied Will's fencing style. - You run everywhere, - he paused. - Don't do it. It's wrong. You get us killed! - then he turned to Nliru. - You did alright... But don't run far! Look...
He took out his axe and came to Amlemth.
- We stand here, with shields, we are protection, - he lifted his shield, and Amlemth played along. Vig said to Amlemth, - Protect my back.
- Aha, - Amlemth confirmed.
- See, - the shields didn't cover much, but the sense of protection was there. Vig said, - Nliru, come here.
The kobold obeyed. Vig motioned her to stand in the space behind him.
- You do stealth attack, and then run behind, - he explained. - Stay behind us, move around us.
Then he turned to Will.
- And you, Will, you too. Hit, then go back to cover.
Will took his position.
- Right, - Vig approved. - Do not part.
For half an hour the party manoeuvred under his command and engaged into simulated combat, as the sun crept towards the horizon. After Vig was satisfied, they went to pack their belongings, as no one wanted to spend the night near a battlefield. Nliru called Vig to the side.
- Maybe we could move at night? - she suggested in a low and a bit sorry voice.
- Hm? - said the man.
The kobold struggled for a moment.
- I think, I am too used to night operations. I get very sleepy during the day, - she looked at Vig's face and saw him frown. - But I'm very good at these night operations!
Vig climbed the slope of the hollow and cleared his throat.
- Now we push bodies into bushes and rest. Move out at night.

For four days they quickly travelled after dark, and rested in sheltered places after dawn. Will sometimes entertained them with his songs, Amlemth told them stories of ancient heroes, Nliru acted as an excellent scout and Vig occupied their time with combat drills. Sitting around a bonfire, they would speak about the treasure that awaited them ahead, and how they would divide it. They imagined what trials they would have to face on the way, and how they would deal with them. But nothing had prepared them for the empty walls.

Feel free to criticise and point out mistakes. I'm going to try to finally describe our situation at Romistra now, to leave the way free for decisions.

Edit: Obviously, I changed my mind about the nature of the strangers.

Edit edit: Nevermind, I'm tired. I'll try to get to it tomorrow. Meanwhile, you can suggest/give me a hint (help me) what your characters did once they were under those walls (finally and saw the city for the first time.

[Dwarf]

I like it. I like Vigs nature. As if these men were in fact honourable warriors which had to die due to an unfortunate twist of fate. Not deserving dishonouring.

Also, Vig shall

Spoiler: OMG DON'T READ (really) (click to show/hide)

Go to a bordello. No, really. It seems that he seeks memories of some person whilst his and her juices are combined *dumdumdum*

[Supermikhail]

Ehm... I guess I had no choice but to read it. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 You seem to be bent on arranging an *obvious* romance. Well, wait 'till I say "You've asked for this!"

[Dwarf]

Ehm... I guess I had no choice but to read it. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 You seem to be bent on arranging an *obvious* romance. Well, wait 'till I say "You've asked for this!"

Spoiler: Seriously, don't read this, non-Supermikhail guys. (click to show/hide)

Rather... maybe he had a wife up there which died/got lost/whatever during his exilation and somehow he must compensate?

[Supermikhail]

Spoiler: Ridiculous wall, constructed completely out of spoilers (click to show/hide)

Wow, I'm suddenly getting really cool vibes out of this idea... But, up there - meaning there from whence he came, because this trip to Romistra is his first one (as I understood)?

[Armok]

I love it!
Nliru is awesome!

[Supermikhail]

Thanks. And it's all coming out of your description.
So, I understand, Nliru is going on a reconnaissance mission, before Vig... tries to pull some crazy stunt?

[Dwarf]

Spoiler: Ridiculous wall, constructed completely out of spoilers (click to show/hide)

Wow, I'm suddenly getting really cool vibes out of this idea... But, up there - meaning there from whence he came, because this trip to Romistra is his first one (as I understood)?

Spoiler: Still, don't read (click to show/hide)

I wrote in the char sheet he used to be a small village's jarl before usurpators forced him to go into exile.

[Supermikhail]

Uh, a couple of concept images

Spoiler: Difficult design decisions (click to show/hide)

Don't you dare to laugh at this thing of love! (I tried drawing, tried dusting off my humble Blender skills, and I have no knowledge of any suitable map-drawing program, so I borrowed modeling clay from my sister )

In no way a realistic model. But just to hear your impressions.
Legend:
The buildings are supposed to be mainly constructed of stone.
! The brown stuff represents either wood or earth (where the latter was required for stickiness)
Note.
The hills are not depicted, due to material restrictions, but imagine they're there. Also, there may be trees, but with the scale of this thing, I have no idea how to make trees even remotely resemble themselves.

[Dwarf]

I love plastilin.

[Supermikhail]

Phew...


Me, too, because so the town's layout is subject to inexplicable and sudden changes...

But really I'm here to complain, that good writing requires a lot of knowledge. And that my concept images are shit. Today I've dicked around all day in hope for a sudden inspiration. It came, and then I got stuck again. And then I found this image of a model of a fort (not medieval, but I liked it). And discovered some more facts around those parts... And just a couple of minutes ago I've stumbled on this site with MedievalOccupations, and decided that my Romistra's model lacks. I put there only a couple of buildings for business and administration, and I suspect that even a small town requires more. For reference I include the current map which is just a view from above... I'm not telling you what is what in this model, partially in hope for your imagination, partially because I'm myself not sure. I'll only say that the light brown things in the upper left corner are supposed to be cow-sheds.

So, while I'm going to work on the layout myself, I'm open for suggestions. What jobs, and what buildings the town of Romista should have? From the real middle ages, and from the release version of DF (as you imagine), which, probably, will take from reality.

By the way, is it serf-based economy in human cities in DF? If not, how does it work... Oh, no, shall I have to make another thread to research this matter?!

[Dwarf]

The first link is hardly medieval - that's a star fort.

[Supermikhail]

Oh, shame on me, I keep extending various historical eras into where they don't belong. But look at the size and regularity of this thing... Wait... So, this is a fort, and it means it's probably been designed this way... unlike your average city that usually just happens. Or maybe I am getting this wrong... Oh. I don't know where people find out about this stuff. I probably should just go by fantasy rules (that is, I am the king and god of this place, and I deem irregular sloppy structures favourable).

[Dwarf]

Basically, like a modern city - a glorious nice shiny centre but slums around it.

Also, star fortifications were built in quite some cities (especially Italy IIRC), star forts (that is, purely military bases) also exist.

[Supermikhail]

Basically, like a modern city - a glorious nice shiny centre but slums around it.

Well, my problem is, I want the whole town to be inside the walls, and I fear that with a modern city structure, it should overflow (esp. slums). And from what I've seen of modern cities founded as medieval fortresses, they fit inside the walls once. But they were fortresses. And I want a town. And I just can't get my facts straight.
Not all cities or towns were founded as fortresses. But those which were - they got themselves nice fortifications around them. And those which weren't?

Edit: medieval town founding 101 I feel like starting from the basics.
Medieval town 101. I just couldn't google it right!