[PQ] Grocery run

KORBIN

And round about his home the glory
That blushed and bloomed,

Korbin nodded a greeting to Chulane, his own returning smile as small, but lacking the vitriol of before. The presence of the man was not as irksome as it had been, no doubt because the raven had too much on his mind to consider personal matters. "Chulane, thank you for coming. Will you take a group and dig your way into the storage rooms? We're going to need all the food you can bring back." The rooms had been in the basement of the Palace, and now lay buried under a good deal of rubble. An attempt had been made to clear a path there already, but it was interrupted by a large pile of rock and glass. That would need to be cleared before any further progress could be made.

Noah's appearance, along with that of the red-bearded lumberjack, were welcome sights, and Korbin breathed a bit easier at the sight of them. It struck him as odd that his old friend would ask for a task rather than just take it upon himself to do it, but the young man nodded all the same, easily accepting the suggestion. "Of course, Noah. Take as many people as you need, it's heavy labor." They would have to shovel their way across the rubble-strewn courtyard to the store-houses that stood next to the soldier barracks. There, it remained to be seen if the roofs of the storage facilities till were intact.

Then, a stranger appeared in the midst of them, and Korbin was taken aback. The woman was not one he had seen only sensed around in the Citadel before, and certainly not since the season changed. She seemed familiar with the others in the group however, which only surprised him more. He stared openly at her for a moment; then clasped the offered hand in a firm grip, gaze steady despite his young age. "Korbin Hale, the Warden's overseer," he replied. The new title felt strange, but not unpleasant on the tongue. He regarded her, with head tilted in a birdlike manner. "Pleasure to meet you, Wessex. You're not from here, are you? I suspect the Warden will want to speak to you, when you have a moment... She's set up at the Kraai. For now, I would appreciate if you could take a group and head for the infirmary. If there's any equipment or medicines to be salvaged, bring them back." It would be difficult, as the room had been in the broken part of the Palace, but he still wanted to give it a try. She would have to find a staircase that had not been broken, and hope that the upper floors held steady enough to walk on still.

He looked over the groups, and called up a few people for himself, until each team had five members, excluding the leaders. "I'll take my group and seal up all the rooms that have been damaged in the Palace," he said. "There's no chance of rebuilding until the season turns, but there might be some uses to find for the parts that still stand."

Making sure everyone had the tools they might need - shovels, rope, sturdy gloves and bags for carrying supplies back - he nodded to each of the groups.

"Let's get started."

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First round!

Chulane - needs to clear rubble from the path down into the basement, to get to the food storage!

Noah - need to shovel snow to get to the wood storage up on the courtyard.

Wessex - needs to find a stairway that leads up on the higher levels, to see if there's enough left of the infirmary to gather supplies from.

Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.