Dungeon Crawl: Sandwich, anyone?

[CCC]

"Cloverleaf, Father." says Cloverleaf, lifting his hat. "Elf and beginner mage."

[Dom/SlimKop]

"Theodore Andrew Billingsworth-Cragfall."

Teddy makes a bow.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Father."

[FreakyBoy]

Kinzie realises her introduction cannot be put off, and sighs. "Kinzie. Inventor."

[Weremensh]

Father Smith nods slightly. "Ah. Yes, I've heard of you three. I'm glad you dropped by." He glances back towards the other monks, then continues: "We have a problem. This morning we discovered that twenty-three barrels of wine have gone missing out of our cellar." He indicates the artificial hill behind him. "They all seem to have been rolled down a newly opened tunnel leading down into the ground beneath the cellar. As far as we can tell there were half a dozen thieves involved; all of whom wore hobnailed boots of some kind." He pauses, then adds: "Happily for my faith in my flock there are only two pairs of such boots in this community, and both are too large for the tracks we found. We checked."

"This leaves us with only one obvious option to both find out who is responsible and possibly recover our wine; to explore the tunnel and see where it might lead. If anywhere. Would you three be willing to do this?"

[CCC]

"Six guys in small hobnailed boots stealing wine?" Cloverleaf nods. "Sounds simple enough. Over what sort of time period were they stealing the wine? I mean, were all the barrels there the day before yesterday, or is this something that could have theoretically been going on over several months?"

[FreakyBoy]

"This will be a perfect opportunity to test my new flame-less torch design," Kinzie muses, not really paying attention to what Cloverleaf is saying.

[Dom/SlimKop]

Teddy turns to Kinzie, letting the elf talk.

"Oh? Did you work out the kinks yet? I thought the backpack idea was sound, but a torch is so much easier to carry."

He tilts his head.

"Or am I thinking of another invention?"

[FreakyBoy]

Kinzie nods. "Oh yeah, I abandoned the ethanol generator; it was far too much trouble. I'm trying a new crystal-based power source. Needs magic to charge, but it shouldn't be as volatile. I think."

[Dom/SlimKop]

"Don't discount the volatile. If it doesn't work as a light source, it may be useful as a weapon. Shards of explosive crystal would be really painful and distracting."

Teddy shifts his club from one shoulder to the other.

"It is a fascinating idea though."

[Weremensh]

The abbot tells Cloverleaf "They were there the day before yesterday, shortly after midday. They were gone by an hour after sunrise this morning."

The other conversation causes the other monastics to exchange glances. All Father Smith has to say is "You know your business, I'm sure; but wouldn't an explosion in a dirt tunnel cause problems?"

[Dom/SlimKop]

Teddy glances over at them and grins.

"Sure! If you toss it hard enough it'll cause problems for them rather than you. Though at this point it's all theoretical."

He looks over at Kinzie and frowns.

"I think."

[FreakyBoy]

Kinzie grimaces. "Oh, come on! I've never had two inventions blow up in the same week!"

[CCC]

"Good, then they won't have had time to drink it all." nods Cloverleaf. "If you'll show us the way to the tunnel, Father, we can get started." To Kinzie, he adds "Would you like me to carry the torch for you? Then it won't explode."

[Weremensh]

The abbot nods. "Brother Lake will show you; he's our vintner, and will be able to answer any questions about the cellar. Is there anything else before you go?"

[CCC]

"There is on thing, Father." says Cloverleaf. "Our original purpose in visiting this fair monastary, was to ask whether you knew where I could find a book or books of magic. I am interested in starting a collection of them."