It's a fantasy role-playing game.

DM: You are Jester Lavorre, a tiefling cleric . You are the member of the famous group of adventurers. Previously,  However, upon noticing that some of the buildings on the eastern side of town began to light up with what appeared to be flame, you began to approach rather rapidly, seeing members of the city's citizens fleeing, screaming, and apparently there seemed to be some sort of attack. Upon going into the town, you realized that a number of these buildings were being set fire by an incursion of Gnolls.
DM: 11? Okay. You glance around. You find there's an untapped ale barrel, there's an untapped water barrel, there's a hooded lantern that still has a functional bit of oil in it, though it's only about half-full and very rusted over, but you clear off the glass on the outside and it'll work fine. You find a sledgehammer that the handle is not so rotted to the point where it wouldn't be functional, but a fair sledgehammer if you wanted to break any rock or stone. The crowbar that you had seen earlier, that can be acquired.
Player: We should write this stuff down.
DM: You find a small lightweight rod about that long that has a short piece of waxed twine hanging from one end.
Player: Is it metal, did you say?
DM: No, it's not metal. It feels almost like a hard clay.
Player: With wax?
DM: With a waxed piece of twine on one end.
