Oh woe. Will no one around here ever say what I want to hear?
After being stuck for weeks, I came up with the perfect incident, which covered all the elements I needed, only to find out it's too implausible to work. So - I guess I need to figure out a perfectly reasonable explanation for how a major operation has been performed on a stone wall without anyone noticing the loud banging or the guys dangling from the wall wielding picks.
I'm thinking if this were a movie, no explanation would be needed. "Oh my. Someone deliberately loosened the stones," would suffice. In fact, if I encountered this scene in a book, I'd never have questioned it. But - I'm learning everyone is not as gullible as I.
I would recommend not destroying a good knife for this sort of thing and say a pick or a spade of some sort might work to loosen the mortar. Quite loud I'd imagine.
That's what my husband said, "Loud." I didn't like his answer so I brought my question to AW - only to get the same thing.
Castles are dangerous places, I would think there are easier ways to kill someone than this.
Yes, there are but it was intended to look accidental, at least until someone says, "Hey there, I do believe this was intentional!" Then the evildoer behind it all would get terribly upset about his beloved lord almost being murdered. This was an opportunity to emphasize how important this particular friend is to the MC and to show the lengths to which he'll go to save him. It takes place a month before the big guy gets murdered.
Thanks for the info on stresses.
Easier to sabotage a hoarding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding_(castles)
Essentially covered wooden 'catwalks' that hang over the edge of the wall.
A hoarding was a temporary wooden (shed-like) construction that was placed on the exterior of the ramparts of a castle during a siege.
I'll look into hoardings. This place is not under seige but they have reason to be on the defensive and they're doing a lot of building in the village and inside the castle walls. It's conceivable the MC might stand out there - if I can figure out how he would get onto it. Did they have an opening in the wall to get to it? Did they climb over? Maybe I can find a picture?
If the wall was made that unstable, I think the character would notice as soon as they leant their weight on it. There would be 'give' or movement in the stone.
Yes, one of them notices but he's a little imaginative and is then distracted by something he sees, but no, the other guy doesn't notice. I thought his kicking it and laughing would cover that. No?