You know, Dwarves are a peculiar lot, but they're not typically stupid or foolish in their architecture.
I've been wondering about this dungeon that we've been exploring. The secret passage, as such is what I presume the tunnel behind the rock to be, would have been expected to be an emergency exit of sorts. But I look at the map (figuratively) and I see from the boulder a tunnel to a very elaborate trap, after which is a room with a murder wall.
Now, the murder wall, I expect, is there in the event that the enemy finds their way into the back door, but under normal circumstances, the population of that outpost would be expected to be able to get to and fro via that door. Now I ask myself, if I'm an ugly, hairy, smelly dwarf living in that area, how am I supposed to be able to flee through the exit?
I would have to get around the murder wall, yes?
I'm starting to think that area of the complex where the grick was living was an unfinished part of the dungeon; the dwarves would have finished that tunnel, for whatever purpose it was intended, and then hidden the via or even filled it in. Although I would think that they hide it, because they would supposedly need to get around the murder wall in "normal" times.
This in turn leads me to think that there must be a via around the murder wall that has the silver battering ram through it, not that it matters. The "armory" at the bottom of the stairs behind crossfire alley would have been there to support the effort to build the tunnel at the far side of the grick lair. The dwarves building this complex obviously lived in the appartments that we found.
"Plus, they're a little dense."
"Hmm...that's interesting. All of the Dwarves that I ever really knew I grew up with at the Temple-Monastary. Most of us were orphans so we didn't really know our homelands or our race. I was taught the ways of my kin only because my master was my kin. Life outside the Temple-Monastary is still relatively new and mysterious. This island is that much more so."
What the hell happened to my last post? All of the words are missing!?!?!
"Well, they'd never actually admit to being afraid of magic. They prefer to profess to magic being untrustworthy; they like things that they can touch and feel, being creatures of the earth. While the arcane doesn't completely ellude them, they are less comfortable with magic than they are with, say, a hammer and a rock."
"It's a stereotype, I suppose."
T'Riad looks at Mel quizically and asks, "Why would you not associate dwarves with magic? Are they afraid of it?"
DM: Noting yet another fantastic conversation.
"I'm a bit more concerned about what's on the other side of the chasm. i think that conclusional logic leads us connecting the continuing hallway opposite to the one on this side.
Yep - this was clear, although there seems to have been at least a little bit of haste in their departure.
T'Riad pulls his map from his scroll case and unrolls it. he squats down so that Mel can see. he looks at the map and says, "the manner of this construction is quite odd. the only way to get by the murder walls in the northeast and northwest and at the end of the first great hall is over the top or with a battering ram. it seems that it's built as much to keep people in as much as keep them out...especially with those block traps. although i'm curious as to why it's like this, it doesn't matter too much...it is what it is. Maybe one of the Dwarven mastercrafters can explain a bit more to us if we show him our map. what are your thoughts on this matter Elberrin?" T'Riad then thinks to himself and says, "i'm a bit more concerned about what's on the other side of the chasm. i think that conclusional logic leads us connecting the continuing hallway opposite to the one on this side. another thing, has anyone seen any dwarf bodies? even the domociles were empty. this place was abandoned...not attacked."