Wood vs Stone

Shepherding Village
This is the home of a small, proud, and independent people who live primarily by herding sheep in the open lands south of the Great East Road. Once driven from this region by troll depredations, they have returned and appear to be prospering, perhaps because they can also profit by trade on the Great East Road.

Or rather.... we should say it /was/ the home of these people. The many sturdy houses and smaller huts clustered on a hill here have mostly been burned. Some are yet standing, more are nothing more than charred timbers. Once, they were safely ensconced behind a deep ditch and wall. The ditch is filled with the ashy ghosts of thorn bushes ... and the gate hangs crookedly, black as charcoal.

A long, low, smoke-stained building, sprawling along the hillside below the caravanserai, appears to the south. Its thatched roof has miraculously escaped burning - though there are black patches across it. Thick lead-paned windows are dark. There is no one here.
Contents:
Nurenhir
Brev
Ered-Luin Encampment
Ollie
Large Ballista
Finest Herd
Obvious exits:
Gathering House, Caravanserai, and Great East Road

[Brev(#30997)] The rebuilding of the Shepherding Village is continuing. Several of the houses are now habitable, freshly roofed and thatched other areas have been cleared of rubble and structures of wood or stone are going up. The regular thud of an axe sounds from one area whilst the mutter of gruff voices comes from another as Dwarves dispute with one of the locals the merits of building in stone.

Brev emerges from behind one of the buildings, soot decorating his face and clothing and wisps of thatch in his hair, and peers toward the source of the arguments. "Kiern!" he mutters sourly to whoever's in the vicinity. "Think they're ever going to get round to /doing/ anything? A perimeter wall might be nice." His expression is sour.

[Ollie(#15066)] There is another of the dwarves nearby, and he looks up at Brev with bright brown eyes beneath exceedingly bushy eyebrows. "A wall about the village would be well, indeed," he says in measured tones. "For I am quite certain that there are more than only the two orcs to be found in yon wood."

[Brev(#30997)] Brev tilts his gaze downward to meet the one directed at him, the scowl writ on it smoothed to careful blankness. "Aye." He matches the other's measured speech with his own as best he can, though there's still a hint of sing-song in the Common. "Imagine they don't call this place the Troll-Shaws for nothing." A pause then he demands, perhaps a little irritably, "So? Can you? We could put up a palisade, but ... doubt it'd withstand anything heavy pounding on it. Not to mention that wood burns. There's a reason some folk build keeps in stone."

[Ollie(#15066)] Both bushy eyebrows ascend up the dwarf's forehead. "But of course it must be stone," he says sturdily. "Here? T'would be foolish beyond thought to build with ought else." And with a hint of complacency, he adds, "We can do it. None better."

[Brev(#30997)] Brev shrugs to that. "When I passed through, before .. whatever happened happened," he breaks off to look round at the half-built village, "perimeter fence was wood. Plenty of it, at least." The corners of his mouth twitch, then he remembers to look back at the sturdy Dwarf. "Work with wood, myself. Easier." Is that a hint of complacency of his own?

"So - what d'you need? Men? Kiern knows it's taking long enough without losing half the workers. And where's all this stone to come from?" The question is almost disinterested.

[Ollie(#15066)] "Wood," the dwarf says dismissively, "Is well enough, for some things." He looks about, thoughtfully. "It will take longer," he says warningly. "You can't be hurrying rock, no, not good stone. If memory serves me, there's rocky outcrop to the north a bit that had a good look about it. We'd need sledges to drag it on.." There is a hint of scorn in his eyes at Brev's question about men, though politely, he tries to hide it. "Leave the men to their buildings, it's dwarves as are needed for rockwork!"

[Brev(#30997)] Brev listens, politely. Then the corners of his mouth curl up slightly. "Stone sledges? Or is it that wood's good for something after all? I'll see what I can do. Always supposing some idiot doesn't start using cracked beams or green timber if I'm not standing over them."

[Ollie(#15066)] "No, no, wood is fine for that." The dwarf waves a dismissive hand. He is not really paying attention now, although he grunts acknowledgement at Brev's comments. "All round..." he mutters to himself, turning to look at where the old wall was. "How high, I wonder, there's that ditch..."

[Brev(#30997)] Brev's lips twitch. "You could always go and measure it," he suggests, not at all helpfully. "Need a yardstick? It's wood too." Scarce wonder the man has made few friends here, hard worker or no.

[Ollie(#15066)] "Eh? Measure it? Oh, ah. Good notion." The dwarf nods his head firmly and heads straight for what remains of the palisade.

[Brev(#30997)] Brev watches the Dwarf go, holding back a snort until the stocky figure is almost out of earshot. "Wonder where they found the wits to build stone cities?" he murmurs quietly, then shrugs. "Not my worry." Shrugging he heads back to the centre of the village, where the axe has fallen silent.