The man couple frowns sadly.
Man #2: "Possibly, but maybe not per sé.
I..used to be a scout in Korvosa's forces, before settling here.
The enemy might do something to the hostages, but not always kill them, as no leverage means their skin is exposed. It sounds harsh i know, but there is that chance that they, whomever 'they' are, will converse between themselves first before taking action."
Thorn almost hesitates to inform them but he goes along with it. " I-I come from a Mercenary G-Group, so such things are known. B-But they may be c-cultists.... In w-which case t-that is less l-likely. I A-apologize. "
Grint listens intently as Elsa speaks up against the villagers and farmers and listens to their reply with care.
He shrugs and says: "I think they're telling the truth. They look actually scared of those thugs or perhaps cultists."
He moves over to Thorn and extends a hand to pull him up from the ground.
"If they are cultists, they fight rather strangely for them. We've seen cultists before and they usually fight with blades, not their fists. That guy whom you fought was pretty experienced no doubt. Come to think of it..."
Grint tirns towards the villagers.
"You said 'Sorry' just before those guys attacked us. If we aim to help you, you owe us some more cooperation agreed? You can begin to tell us everything about that big guy who was here. Any vices, weaknesses or flaws would be handy to know. If you can't provide us with information, perhaps you can help our friend up with magic or items?"
Barkeep: "Well, his greatest vice seems to be arrogance and likely feeling the need to be above others. After i heard your friend got knocked to the floor, he spoke about 'keeping down'.
That could suggest not wanting to bother any more energy unless provoked."
Woman: "He was the leader of the group who came to suppress us and steal our harvest."
" N-Not all Cultists are cloak and dagger... T-They can hire out m-muscle. "
The barkeep leans on the bar, arms crossed.
"Cults are horrible, crazy fanatics willing to do anything.
But it wouldn't surprise me if they did hire muscle to sabotage things. But it makes me wonder 'why' a small farmer's hamlet like ours."
He scratches behind his ear.
"Let me at least offer you one on the house, it's not mixed this time.", he says with a slightly shameful sound in his voice.
Elsa eyes the bartender suspiciously...
Let's get moving....perhaps we can save the hostages if we move quickly.
Thorn sighs and then goes about trying to find this man, his confidence dim.
Thorn easily picks up the initial trail Knuckles left behind.
The fields and acres are big and after half an hour, the tracks end up at a large general well.
It has the typical 'roof' and handle to reel in buckets, but the rope looks barely strong enough to hold a medium sized person.
Beyond 10 ft it grows dark.
The well is easily 24 ft deep.
At around 15 ft, there's a grate within the wall, with 2 shallow holes just 5 ft below.
Grint puts on a torch and looks inside the well.
"Anything interesting down there? The rope looks well-worn though."
"The well's 24-feet deep.", Burdock commenting on the well. "Think he went down there?"
Thorn is barely functional at this point, he was surprised he could even follow the trail.. assuming this wasnt just a false trail.
" I-I see nothing. I m-might have just followed a-a red herring. "
"Think he went down there?"
From within the well, you hear the faint echo of coughing.
Thorn looks around a if to confirm if anyone else heard the same sound.
Grint do you hear that? Someone is coughing down that well. Elsa says, but makes no move to go down the rope.
Burdock pulls out his rope and starts knotting it before securing the rope to the well . "My dwarf in heavy armor senses tell me that this may work better."
Lowering himself by the rope, Father Burdock now easily sees the grate, as he comes to the appropriate depth. It could probably be forced, since there are signs of wear.
It's a mere 3-4 ft high by even width, forcing the average medium sized person to either crawl or move squatted.
It now that Father Burdock hears the coughing more clearly.
Voice 1: *Cough*...damnit, *cough*....sticking too long down here makes you, me anyway, catch anemia i tell you."
Voice 2: "Stop the complaining, guarding this supply haul won't take too much longer."
Voice 1: "Damn right it shouldn't..*cough, cough*
Boss lost three within the last hour, our numbers aren't exactly Korvosa's city guard."
Voice 2: "He said it was a group of 5, all of us together can take that, now stop your complaining."
Burdock tries to quietly move up the rope again and explains the situation to the others. "Seems to be a couple of them down there, although the spoke of many more of them in whatever group that is holed up here. There's a grate secured, although we'll have to crawl and it'll need a push to open; think you can take the lead on that Thorn? You seem to be stronger than the rest of us."
You are sleeping, drifting in a dream.
The backdrop is dark and damp, suggesting underground.
As you emerge from the tunnel leading out, you find yourself in a clearing.
The parent who gave your the ancestral fauchard, is reaching you the fauchard again.
Words seem to be coming from the parent's lips, but there's no sound.
The sky darkens and a loud spine chilling humming vibrates through your body. Tendrils spurt from the earth and drag your parent into a purple vortex, you feel the strong urge to fight, yet there is but one of you and many shadowy figures in robes forming and some unspeakable indescribable horror among them.
The feeling of being overwhelmed befalls you, yet a quartet of unfaced people arrive, 3 men and a woman. 2 stand alongside at each side of you, drawing their weapons as they create a phalanx of the 5 of you. The dream ends and you slowly wake up, finding yourself blindfolded and bound.
Voice 1 "....do with...."
Voice 2 "..on't know, those three will make some rans..."
Voice 1 "True, at least the woman and kid are decent bargaining tools. But what about the half-elf?"
Voice 2 "Dunno, i don't know why he was stupid enough to camp in the fields. Then again, he was quite a find, his equipment is pretty good."
Thorn seems unsure about the idea, or the insistence that he was strong.. in any form. " I-I'm not so sure. L-Likely I w-would fail.. a-and make alot of sound. A-And then they would be alerted. M-My lord has s-shown me thus at l-least "
That didnt even take into account the Knuckles man was largely unharmed and would have back up. And he didnt feel reliable as of yet. What if they retaliated and killed a hostage. They KNOW likely the group cared.
Grint looks down the well and at Father Burdock.
"If you think we should explore that, then let's not dally here. We should move quickly. Though must we keep a rope up? It doesn't seem like there's another way out and if by chance another henchman comes along along we might be in trouble."
You hear some kind of wooden door open near you.
Voice 1: "He's still KO, maybe he was hit a little too hard over the head?"
Voice 2: "Nah, oh..a note with orders was just dropped by. I'm gonna read it, you go check the other two."
The door closes again. From nearby you hear another wooden door and the muffled subbing of a child and...."Ow!...Damn...b&#&#..."
A loud smack of likely a hand to a cheek follows before that door closes.
Voice 2: "What's wrong, did she kick your ankle? Haha"
Voice 1: "No, the wench hit my privates, despite her ankles bonds.
Oh....that hurt."
"Well, either you or Thorn should take initiative on the grate as you two are stronger than I.", the dwarf admits, climbing up the rope to let one of the other men shimmy down.
Grint climbs down the rope and moves over to the grates and tries to get inside. When he can he'll draw his greatsword to be [re[ared for anything.
Grint descends the rope and, now hanging above the water, is in front of the grate.
Father Burdock wasn't kidding, the grate has seen better times, as wear and moist have taken a toll on it and the earth it is placed in.
It takes some effort, but you wrest your wrists free from the bonds, followed by your feet.
Grint will remove the grate as best as possible and crawl into the space it leaves.
If he doesn't encounter an hostile enevironment, he'll listen and look for the voices and perhaps guards.
Father Burdock mentioned talking men already.
The narrow tunnel is pretty dark, it's only lighting coming from lights at the end, but you can determine for sure there are only 2 men in the room this tunnel leads to.
In the distance, you hear more footsteps, coming closer and leaving.
The room seems more akin to a 10x10x10ft wooden box.
There is hay on the floor and that smell is present around you.
There is a crack in one side large to use as a peeping hole.
"Ach, it won't budge. Quite difficult to move it while holding on to the rope."
Grint whispers up the well.
Thorn bites back a sigh as he looks down, noting Grint's problems with the Grate. " T-Then I will come down to t-try. "
Thorn waits for Grint to come back up or descends himself above the man. Gripping the rope with his thighs he reaches out with a double grip attempting to pull the rusty metal free. More that likely he was sure it would end in failure.
You thoroughly search the box and find a rusty horse's mouthpiece.
It could be used as an improvised blunt weapon.
Of course you also have the smaller pieces of rope which formed your bonds.
Despite his uncertainty, Thorn dislodges the grate and carefully places it flat on the tunnel's floor, it being too heavy to throw up and loud if dropped into the water below.
The way inside is now clear.
Voice 1: "Hey you two, come see this!"
Voice 2: "What is it?"
Voice 1: "Just come on and look."
Thorn hears the two talking men leaving the room...for now...
Grint nods to Thorn and crawls inside. Drawing his greatsword when he enters a room where he could stand up.
Crawling through some cobwebs, Grint finds himself in a 15x20 feet room, with a low ceiling of about 6-7 feet. There is little in decoration, a few candlesticks on a stool and a wooden chest on his left hand.
In the distance through a corridor, the voices of three, maybe 4 can be heard.
You see no lock on the door, but looking at the junction of the box and the door, you notice a wooden beam on the other side, blocking the way.
From the wall where you heard the man getting 'hit in the privates', you hear a soft tapping.
Sivar listens intently trying to make out the signal
The tapping spells simple words.
..Are..you..a...prisoner?
.....more tapping..
I..was..taken....small..child...here...too.
..bad..men.