* The Place Northern Entry to Buhr Mahrling A well used wooden dock extends out into the flow of the river with many punts and river craft moored to its pylons. The whole dock creaks and groans as it shifts slightly in the current. Closer inspection will reveal that the dock is not terribly safe. Barrels and crates lie haphazzardly around the dock, and the large warehouse backs onto it. Looming above the warehouse in the distance is the large form of the water wheel that Buhr Mahrling is famed for. Dock workers scurry back and forth, and the jetty is a hive of activity as people haul goods to-and-fro. * The Time Middle-earth time is: Daytime on Sunday, Day 11 of October. * The Characters Brican The fellow before you stands no more than 4 and a half feet tall. He looks to be quite well bulked, though he does not look to be at all fat. Just mainly made of muscle. His long white beard, streaked with black throughout, extends all the way down to his belly. His eyes are deep blue, set well into his face. His long jet black hair hangs down his back and his ears tend to stick out just a bit. He wears a crimson tunic of fine spun wool, a white axe and hammer patch sewn onto the left shoulder. A heavier black woolen cloak hangs over his shoulders, draping down his back. Black leggings and heavy leather boots adorn his legs and feet, completing his attire with a functional and yet stylish look. Gumbart (the same description as allways) Bolindar (forgot to log his description) * The Log Gumbart stretches and looks about. The sun is up, but Gumbart must have had a rough night, he looks even more wrinkled than usual. He glances around the empty stands and scans the people on the docks. From the Dwarven camp, a lone dwarf makes his way to the dock, he seems to be unhappy about something as he looks about the deserted dock, he sees Gumbart arrive from the south and walks in his direction, as he closes he nods towards the other dwarf and with a slight lisp to his voice he asks, "You look to be terrible today lad, perhaps too much to drink?" Gumbart nods, "Aye, some strong Dunland wine I got offered by an Easterling merchant, yesterday. And since this is a Sunday and nobody seems to work, I slept longer than usual. And what have you been doing that early on our day off?" Brican says gruffly towards the other merchant, "I was thinking of perhaps leaving the camp for a while, I have not personally been to this city of thiefs and liers and I am wanting to see what it is like." Gumbart grins, "Ha! What better than explore Buhr Marhling on a sunday. Let's go!" Brican nods towards Gumbart for a moment, "Keep that small blade of yours close to your body and on hand." Gumbart chuckles and nods. The blade continues hidden in his boot. You say, "Shall we go? What's this street called..." Brican looks over towards the street sign up above the nearest building and quietly looks it over, "Oak Battle Avenue." Gumbart nods, "Let's go. No need to notify anybody in the camp, is there?" Brican shakes his head back towards Gumbart for a moment, "I don't think anyone would dare to venture outside the camp anyway, with such beggars and thieves as there are in the city of Buhr Marhling, I myself a more adventuresome Khazad would braze it but some of our kin are probably more wise then I.." Brican starts to walk south with Gumbart in the lead. Oak Barrel Avenue This part of the town appears to be in a slightly better state than the rest of the town. Many of the houses look more opulent and some have coloured banners that hang from their walls. The avenue is clearly dominated by two large structures, the warehouse which backs onto the docks of Buhr Mahring, and the Merchants Guild that commands a good position that overlooks both the warehouse/docks and the market place to the south. The Merchants Guild also houses the office of the Trade Commissioner, the official representative of the merchants of the Dale-Lands. Close to the warehouse, but on the opposite side of the avenue from the Merchants Guild is a smallish Guard House. Few commoners are found on Oak Barrel Avenue. Merchants bustle to and fro around the Merchant's Guild and strapping men haul huge barrels and crates into the Warehouse. Even during the day, a guard keeps a wary eye on all of te happenings of Oak Barrel Avenue. The streets are bustling with activity, as beggars cry for money, thieves sneak about, families take a sunday walk, nobles on horses ride bye, and missinaries prophesy the coming of the Dark Lord. As the young merchant apprentice makes his way down the bustling street, he looks delighted at all the activity around him, a merchant such as himself bump into him without so much as a apology for doing so before running off and doing his business. Several barrels come Brican's way which he has to quickly dodge or otherwise get a nasty bruise on his body. Gumbart laughs joyfully, "Haha! Watch out, dear cousin, them Easterlings are trying to get you! This is fun, let's see what this town has to offer -- on to Millers Market, agreed?" Brican nods back towards Gumbart with a look of glee in his eye, "Yes Cousin, lets have a look that way perhaps." Millers Market The center of Buhr Mahrling opens out into a large, open-air market. No matter what time of day it is, the smell of grains and fruit dominate the senses. A rim of wooden shops arc around the western edge of the market, the eastern side dominated by the flow of the river, and a massive water wheel, that dominates the town. Farmers and growers abound with their goods strapped to the back of carts, or strewn out on the ground where merchants can make an easy selection. There is always the constant murmur of merchants haggling with each other, or bargains being yelled out. Above all this, the water wheel keeps turning, grinding grain into flour, that is then sold in the market place. As he moves along the bussling open air market, Brican takes a apple from the nearby stand and takes a bite from it before tossing a few coins to the confused and angry apple dealer. He looks over towards the massive water wheel, that dominates the view and with a confused look on his face he asks, "I have not seen a structure such as that, perhaps cousin, you can tell me what it is." Gumbart is fascinated, "Amazing construction, isn't it? I've heard that they use the power of flowing water just like the orcs seem to do it in their cursed lairs, some sort of strange machinery is driven by this wheel, I heard." After a moment, Gumbart adds, "Hm, perhaps this could be used for other purposes? I wonder what they would say if we built such a water wheel right in the main entrance to Mt. Erebor?" Brican smiles for a moment towards Gumbart, "They would say it was the work of the nameless one I would suspect, and call anyone who built such a thing a dark wizard or Sorceror, it is quite ugly in design." Gumbart nods, "Aye, they would. I've heard of wind-mills being used for the grain production, but never this sort of thing. A river-mill or whatever you would want to call it." As the two dwarves stand there, admiring the construction, sneaky figures seem to gather in their vicinity. All of them seem to have a perfect excuse for being here, and none seem to actually look at the dwarves. Other people, however, are moving aside and no merchant tried to overrun the dwarves for quite some time. Bolindar strolls casually down the millers market. Looking to and fro at the different shops, he hums a small melody. Soon he notes the two dwarves and a smile on his face he walks towards them. Brican smiles towards Gumbart as he looks at the strange stucture in the center of the market, he says back towards Gumbart, "Well, I don't know if even this windmill would be very practical, it looks awcard and is too large for any Khazad to ever use it." He looks about to see several other people approaching him, looking to be about there business, he nods towards them. Gazing now himself at the huge windmill, Bolindar bows shortly to the two, "Good afternoon cousins. I see you standing here in awe of that mill. Indeed an huge building, astonishing..." Shading his eyes he gazes at the windmill again. Brican turns his attention towards his closing cousin, "Aye, it is quite a large building, I do not see us Khazad using such a thing, it looks to be more like a product of the nameless one then of any decent hard working Khazad." Gumbart bows, "Well met, cousin, on this beautifull sunday! Gumbart, at your service." As the dwarves continue talking about the windmill, a human starts to approach them from behind, playing with an apple in his right hand and carrying a a short stick in his left hand. Brican continues to gaze in awe at the mill and looks across towards Bolindar, "Perhaps cousin you can tell me, have you seen such a structure before, it looks awfully large to capture the power of the wind, it would seem easier just to grind the grain by hand then waste such a lot of stone." Bolindar looks to Brican, "Yes I've seen this before, but only because I visited this town before. I didn't investigate more about its mechanism though, but I suppose those weak-built humans can't handle the work of grinding the grain by sheer strength, so they have to rely on that strange mills." As the human comes close to Gumbart, he throws the apple at Bolindars face, and rips Gumbarts purse from his belt. Gumbart, shocked, turns and shouts, "STOP! THIEF!". The thief then uses the innocent-looking stick in his left hand to hit Gumbart across the face. Gumbart stumbles back, hands covering his his right eye, as the thief turns around and starts to run off towards Mauler Street. Bolindar gets caught totally at unaware as the apple hits his face, yet soon he rcovers and in a swift motion wields his huge battle axe. Scanning the vast millers market quickly he looks at Gumbart, as if awaiting his reaction, getting ready to follow the thief. Bolindar puts forth his weapon and twists it in his hands. Brican in a daze at such quick actions from the human, he stands there paralized for a moment more of shock then anything else before turning his attention back towards the wounded Gumbart, "ARe you alright dear cousin" he spits out with all his effort. Gumbart shouts, "AAAARRRRGGHHH! GET HIM! Get him! My purse, my money, my eye!!" and jumps up. "There he goes!!", he cries, and starts after the thief, still pressing his eye. Taking a glance at the other gathered humans, suspecting any accomplices, Bolindar soon starts off and hurries behind Gumbart, his axe ready in hand. Gumbart's cry rises quite a commotion. As Gumbart tries to follow the thief, he stumbles across a kid that gets pushed in his way by one of the other humans that had watched the dwarves before. "Damn you, wretched worm! Get out of my way!!" he cries, shoving the kid aside. More humans turn their attention to the dwarf and his companions. Brican looks towards the other humans gathered as they start to get vexed over the mistreatment of the young, with instructments otherwise used for peace they start to move towards the only remaining member of the party standing, not wanting to guess the use of how these instructments can be used for ill he starts running off with the others. Mauler Street The Southern entrance to the village fort of Buhr Mahrling would look the copy of the Northern entrance were it not for the influence of the darker skinned people who predominate this section.. The visible side effects of the people living in this area are clear, the buildings are more in disrepair than to the north, the streets less clean, the people harsher looking, and more crowded on the street. Southwards the large wooden gates to the village stand open. To the east on the street sits the large stone building that is the "offical" haven for the Easterlings in the village. To the west sit a few smaller buildings, a bar noted for its roughness, a shop or two catering mostly to Easterling needs..The street opens up much wider to the north where the Main Courtyard for the village is located. Bolindar hastens behind Gumbart always close at his heels. Entering the long street, he stops a moment trying to make out the thief in the small crowd. Soon he gives up and continues to run along the road. Motioning to the two others to follow the road, he soon turns aside searching another street. Gumbart shouts, "Stop, it's no use!" Gumbart says, "Let's return to camp before this gets out of hand!"