Iodireth: An AI plays DnD

The Tower of Waiting

The hand that carved the runes on the doorway was an old one, and Iodireth had to study the lines of jagged letters for a bit before being able to decipher it. "The Tower of Waiting" was what the stone carving proclaimed, and while it was not what she would call helpful, Iodireth was comforted by the fact that it wasn't some dire warning to keep out.

Before entering the small fortress itself, Iodireth set about exploring the docks nearby. They were old and wooden but nowhere near as old as the tower. Looking past the docks to the East, she could see the upper quays of Fallcrest as well as a large portion of the city itself. There were weeds growing between the planks of the dock- some might have been useful- and there were nails and the occasional rusted arrowhead that could be scavenged from the wood. However there was no boat to be seen. Iodireth suspected that this dock was only used occasionally by the city watch on their infrequent patrols of the island.

The current of the river looked strong and Iodireth decided that she might as well take a closer look at the island before attempting to make her way to Fallcrest itself. The island held only weeds and a few scraggly trees- some of which may prove useful. The docks and the Tower took of most of the island's space.

There was nothing left to see now except the Tower itself. Iodireth couldn't make up her mind about it. Was it interesting and historical? Or was it ominous and possibly haunted? Either way, it would likely have more for her to gather than anything else on the island. With a deep breath she passed beneath the stone archway and examined her surroundings:

She stood in a low stone room of only one level. It was a wide building to the south of the tower with arched windows and a number of hearths along the walls. Ruins of wooden structures were piled in two corners of the room. Iodireth knew little of defense or military life but she suspected this room to be a barracks of some sort: an area where those working in the tower could live. 

The quiet room reminded her of a cross between a cave and a temple. The earthy smells of stone and moisture suggested that the Tower had been abandoned for many years, but the way the light streamed in through the windows made her fall into a respectful silence without thinking. Bending to to examine one of the hearths she saw that -while filthy with ancient ash- it had been decorated with a triangular pile of dry wood and tender, probably by a member of the city watch weeks or months ago. Shivering she remembered her wet dress and realized that if she had some flint and steel, a fire here would warm and dry her easily. Moving north, she came upon a small antechamber connecting the barracks to the tower itself. The windows here were archery slits and the trash and rubble at her feet seemed to have once been more practical and less domestic than that of the previous room. Searching the piles of rubble and long rotten wood planks, she found 3 old copper coins and a medium sized piece of flint.

Knowing she would need steel to light a fire on one of the hearths, Iodireth began a more formalized search of the rubbish in the atrium and found nothing. Her search of the barracks was little better, landing her with another copper coin but no way of creating a spark. A search of the island itself resulted in a 4 red berries the size of the end of her thumb and some rosemary that grew in a scraggly pile near the water. Feeling a little dejected, Iodireth wandered back to the docks where she hit pay dirt. Cursing herself for not remembering they were here, she slipped back into the barracks clutching half a dozen thick forged nails in her hands.

Once the fire was roaring Iodireth sat naked in front of it, with her dress drying across from her. She had enough money to sleep at an inn or a tavern, she reckoned, especially if she could work for part of her keep. The problem now was her empty belly and her need to sleep. 
She would need food for tonight and anything that could make her night comfortable. There was also the matter of the unexplored Tower to the north, past the atrium...