Vespers

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine table

Rows of tables split the refectory into a maze of narrow paths. Their unfinished surfaces bear the scratches of many meals.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

south

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> south

Kitchen
The dead don't eat, or so you've been told. Still, the kitchen is practically empty. Bare tables stand with no crumbs on them. All the perishables were finished up this morning. No more will be coming if Rovato is as barren as you think. Hopefully, some remain in the cellar through the hatch in the floor. The refectory lies to the north.

A cutlery rack sits on one of the tables.

Against one wall is a large cupboard, its door closed.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

open cupboard

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> open cupboard

As the door swings open, a small black shape springs from inside. A flash of pain sears across your arm and then quickly subsides. You whirl around to see a cat tearing out into the refectory, a drop of blood falling from its claws.

>[ Owls, and swallows, and
other birds fly upon their
bodies, and upon their heads,
and cats in like manner.

-- Baruch 6:22]

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine cupboard

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine cupboard

A few crusts of bread and a piece of cheese are all that remains for food.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

take bread and cheese

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> take bread and cheese

food: Taken.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine cutlery

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine cutlery

The rack is empty.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine rack

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine rack

The rack is empty.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

open hatch

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> open hatch

It's locked.

>[ Damn Constantin and his locks.

-- Deuteronomy 463:4]

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine arm

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine arm

A small scratch lines your arm from elbow to wrist.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

north

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> north

Refectory
The only room at Saint Cuthbert's large enough to hold all the brothers, except for the church, the refectory seems immense. Normally, when you are in here the place is alive. Now, the only movement is that of drafts spinning between the tables and out to the cloister in the east. Row upon row of deserted seats stand testament to the damage inflicted by the plague. The kitchen lies to the south.

Brother Drogo mumbles to himself, his eyes darting back and forth from nothing to nothing.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine Drogo

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine Drogo

Brother Drogo sits in a filthy frock, black tendrils of greasy hair dangling in his eyes. Every now and then, he puffs loudly to blow the hair out of his face, but it always falls back.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

east

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> east

Cloister
In the warmer months, Brother Matteo maintains a beautiful garden in the cloister. Now there is nothing but a few dead vines sticking out from beneath a blanket of snow. Still, it has a calm dignity: the wind finds no entrance here. The colonnade is broken to the south by the exit to the hall and to the west by the entrance to the refectory. The brothers' dormitory lies to the east, between the calefactory in the southeast and the belltower in the northeast.

The church commands from the north, its spires reaching up to Heaven.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

southeast

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> southeast

Outside the Calefactory
Perhaps this is the only place at Saint Cuthbert's that is a comfortable temperature. Heat blasts at you from the calefactory to the southeast, but it is countered by the chill from the cloister to the northwest. No, that isn't right. They do not cancel: their furies are incited by one another.

>