You have been down here for weeks? months? You have no idea anymore. Dozens of slaves have come and died, either punished until dead, or caught doing something wrong when the shipmaster or tunnel master were in a foul mood and fed to the beast in the killing pit.
You are broken. At least you were until you found the dwarf. He has died in a minor cave in, but on him you found map. It seemed to show the whole complex, and a way out! So far you had only been in the tunnels and out to the bridges just past the killing pit.
Now you are broken, with a spark of hope. That is even worse than being broken you are coming to realize. Today you are working with a small crew there are 4 goblin task masters with you, when the glow begins.
It comes from across the bridges, it flashes pulses.
Bak to work! the goblins shout as you are supposed to be stacking ore in the corner.
Nox en Isk is an androgynous being unlike any known race. He, for convenience, has sea green skin. His hair is also green, but the exact color changes from time to time.His lithe body mainly seems to draw from elves, fae, and felines. His golden eyes are solid orbs. He has been allowed to keep his deep blue robe as a final cruel gift and reminder of all he's lost. He replies to both Nox and Isk.
Nathan is clinging by his toes to the high wall of the tunnel, shifting the rocks at the top of the pile so they don't all come tumbling down at once as the others sort through the rocks at floor level. His spirit may be broken, but he still manages an enthusiastic facade. "How else am I going to get into the whip-master's chamber? He won't call me in since the last time. Said I liked it too much- ruined the atmosphere for the rest of you. I say he's jealous of all the play the Tunnel-Keep is getting. I mean, who hasn't gone to that one for an extra bite of food or a bit of candle?"
Nathan isn't actually responding to anyone in particular, and though his tone is conversational, he's clearly just maintaining his frayed sanity by fending off the quiet. He'd sing, but he's tone deaf.
Nox stares at the flashes for as long as he think he can get away with.
"That rh'vvrr'b'h Tunnelmaster better not be playing with it! He should not have even opend the box!"
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Kara earnestly takes up Nate's ponderings. "Have you tried pulling his hair while screaming? Or performing a 'How's yer father?' on his undercarriage? Sometimes that'll do the trick too."
She swings her pick overhead, again dislodging large amounts of rock, and dislodging the rags she wears to cover her generous chest. She's grown beyond pausing to readjust, and occasionally uses such to good effect if she catches the whip-master staring.
She steals a glance at the pulsing light. She has no idea what's causing it, but any change in the status quo would be welcome.
Elena is a tiny woman with spiky hair and a nasty scar on the left side of her face. Her left eye is just an empty socket, a reminder to keep her eyes to herself.
"Gross, Nathan! That Tunnel-Keeper is a pig. I'd rather eat rocks."
Elena shields her eye from the flashes and tosses a rock across the bridge. "Aah, did those goblin idiots overload the boilers? I tried to warn them."
"Tch. Only one thing on your mind." Sora is currently blowing any stray ore into the corner. She can only wish her arms were as strong as her wings.
She does her best to keep an eye on the glow as she works. That thing better not be a problem for her.
Nathan drops down onto the pile of rocks and ore, stepping backwards as he rides a small tumbling slide of stone to the floor of the tunnel where he cartwheels to his feet.
"Not only one thing. This may be the distraction we've been looking for..." Nathan's voice grows low as he gets closer to the other slaves. "If we can get some of these guards to head over and investigate those flashes of light, a few of us could slip away." He holds up a finger to stop Sora. "Not for that. We wouldn't need a distraction for that. I doubt the guards would stop us if we give them a good show- what I mean is, we can slip into the whip-master's chamber. Like I've been saying, there's a back door in there, something secret and maybe even booby-trapped. We get in there unattended, we could be free as birds- no offense."
No talk! Bak to work!. One of the taskmasters says with hand on his cudgel
Nathan makes a show of picking up a rock and putting it down a few feet away, maintaining eye contact with the guard.
At the mention of getting outside, Sora's reminded of the sight of his sun-dappled skin, and her mood immediately degrades further. Thankfully, it's indistinguishable, considering the state this place leaves you in. She makes a point of visibly working harder at the taskmaster's word. "Yeah? And why should I believe your rumour over any other? You have as much proof as the rest. Prove you're not nuts, get me out, and I'll give you a feather for your cap." Her tone suggests she believes the goblins will turn aquatic before that happens.
She sighs. For whatever braindead reason, she was inclined to give him a chance. "You really believe it? Prove it. Distract them yourself." She was hardly going to trust someone too cowardly to even try. She wasn't THAT desperate.
Sora continues with her work, picking up the pervert's slack. They were going to be beaten otherwise.
Suddenly the flash becomes faster and brighter, then there is a rumble, then a full on quake. 1 of the 4 taskmasters rushes down into the tunnels just as they all collapse. Dust fills the room, the rumbling increases everyone is thrown to the ground
The rumbling stops, the dust clears. The three taskmasters are around the room, the first back to their feet.
What do you want do?
From his instinctive crouch, Nathan takes two long-legged strides to the wall, up the wall's surface to the narrow crawlspace above the support beams. The hank of rope at his waist gets wrapped around his wrist to form a primitive garrote.
Crossing toward the first guard to climb to his feet, Nathan catches the underside of the beam with his foot and swings down, looping the rope around the guard's throat and twisting down to the ground.
Planting his left foot in the guard's back as his right contacts the ground, Nathan hurls the choking guard to the floor behind them, cartwheels over his body and scrambles back up the wall.
Nathan ends up on the end of the long tunnel opposite from where the others were working, having taken a corkscrew path around the tunnel's perimeter.
Oh god, he's actually doing something. These things aren't going to care who started it. We have to finish this, quickly! It doesn't take much for her to get off the ground and start moving - merely a flap of her wings. She grabs the stick she'd left to the floor and swings, using another wingflap so she can spin it into next goblin on from Nathan.
Her hit strikes home, and she retreats back from the other taskmasters, gliding just over the ground and sending debris back towards the taskmasters in the process.
I create an opening in space and then stab an overseer who is in the best position to run away.
Nathan races up to the ceiling of the cave, looping his rope around his arm, with the other quickly being fashioned into a noose. The taskmaster underneath him finds himself grappling at his throat as he is lifted off the ground.
Meanwhile Nox sticks his[?] arm through a whole in space and stabs a second goblin, while at the same time Sora swings her club sending another goblin across the room into the wall, where is slides to the ground leaving a bloody smear.
The one attacked by Nathan pulls a knife from his boot and slices the rope and tries to flee, as it does it flings the knife at Nathan. Nathan it flies at your face...what do you do? It flees toward the whipmasters quarters trying to scream for help
The one stabbed by Nox lowers its spear and charges Sora
What do you do?
Nathan takes a spinning leap from the beam and bats the knife out of the air with his forearm.
Cartwheeling after the blade, he tries to pick it off the floor and leap up to swing on another support beam so he can tackle the stuborn, gasping goblin to the ground-
Plunging the knife into his back.
-And clutching their mouth to stifle their cries. "Shhh. No tears, now. Only dreams."
One left. C'mon, I hope this works. At the spear's approach, Sora attempts to whirl about the side of the goblin...
And gets a spear to the leg for her troubles. Working in a slave pit did not leave you in top condition.
Nope! Someone else can deal with this! Sora flies away, holding onto her leg.
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Kara yells joyfully as Sora engages the goblin. "Huzzah! Power to the people! Truth to power! FREEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOMMMMMmmmmm!"
She rushes at the guard that Sora was attacking. "I'll get 'im!"
"Um, I mean, I'll totally distract him!" She says as she quickly backpedals away from his return stroke.
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The paladin stirs on the ground, as Nathan, silently, and incredibly creepily bats the thrown blade in the air, snagging it before it hits the ground as he drops onto the goblin stabbing through its throat into the ground beneath it, as he does he can't help but think he recognizes the feel of the blade, that dirty goblin threw his own knife at him...boy he hoped he hadn't broken the tip when he stabbed through the neck
Mean while Sora tries to dodge, and manages to get pierced in the leg, though she does manage to disarm the goblin when the spear sticks in her leg as she flutters away
Not to be outdone in the competence department Kara pokes at the goblin with her marshmallow stick, then realizes it isnt really a good weapon so she just waves it in the goblins face to keep him from drawing his cudgel quick enough to strike her
Now you in trouble. Tak, get Whipmaster who whip you dead! He moves toward Sora trying to brain her, he moves quickly with the cudgel swing toward her her.
What do you do? Laying down and apologizing is perfectly acceptable. You cowards!
I will open a rift in space so that someone can catch the fleeing goblin.
The tunnel exists until I close it.
"Someone, intercept! We can not let it get away!"
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Ohhh, hell no. Kara, the hell kinda hitwoman are you? Where's Amaranth when you need her? Sora can only find herself appalled at her behaviour. She was the messenger, what's HER excuse? It's only at the goblin's shouting that her attention returns to where it needs to be. The Whipmas-NO! NO WAY! NO WAY IN HELL! She looks rapidly about, and notices that the goblin coming for her is the only one left. Oh, thank god. Then again, if we leave it - KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT! Airborne once again, she rushes over the cudgel and the very head of the goblin swinging it.
As she comes up behind the goblin, she goes for another swing. Kara had already started yelling. It was a bit late to avoid that now. "DELIVERY!"
"I have set it up. Now someone block off their escape."
As Sora catches the guard's attention, Nathan comes up from behind it and grabs the butt of the spear. "Is this my spear too?"
Well at least you get an xp for that distraction
Reno is shaken out of his daze by the sound of Sora's cry of pain from the spear in her leg. Shaking his head to clear his vision, bringing himself back to painful reality, he lurched forward.
He had been trying to conceal the fact that he could do this from the guards, but there was no time for that now...he had to reveal his healing abilities. Running up to where the skyfolk was dueling the goblin, he lays a steadying hand on her shoulder and passes some of the healing energy of the Light on to her.
Unfortunately, he was still shaking himself awake and failed utterly in his attempt.
As the goblin charges a moment of pure chaos erupts.
The goblin charges, Sora attacks and tries to pull back, Nathan grabs the spear, Kara blathers incoherently and Reno wakes up and reaches out to heal, but slips, as he is still woozier than he thinks. He winds up pushing Sora's leg free of the spear which zips up into the air, into Sora's attack which sends it flying through the goblin, pinning it to the body of the goblin that was splattered to the wall earlier.
Then everything is silent, with the exception of the occasional rock falling.
"Wow. I'm gonna hide behind you guys. No goblins are getting through at all. Elena starts poking around the crates and piles of junk in the tunnel. "Wonder what's in here."
Nathan returns to the goblin he felled and searches for the rest of his knives.
Elena gains 1 XP and finds the spear sticking out of the rubble of the tunnel, just a simple goblin spear, dirty with a barbed end, but it would appear that the 4th taskmaster did not get far.
Reach
Nathan finds that his knife remained intact, nice to have that friend back again, and he also finds a battered shield on the back of one of the goblins, never drawn...morons
1 armor, weight 1
Nox looks around in stunned silence.
Sora breathes a sigh of relief as the last goblin falls. It was over for now. Then she notices Reno...seems he was still trying to pull himself together. Poor guy. She extends a hand to the currently prone half-elf. "You alright, Reno? Come on, get yourself together. Can't leave you like this." She's visibly favouring one leg.
Regardless of whether Reno takes her help or not after slipping, she takes to looking about after things are done there. Hopefully, there's something useful.
Isk does a search and finds his(?) knife on another of the goblins as well as a large tunnel hammer (Close two handed Clumsy-but makes a satisfying thunk) and a beautiful handaxe called Wayfarer. Everyone looks surprised as Isk announces the name, but he(?) is able to point out that it is written on the handle. It is worth 10 gold
Sora hobbles about searching and finds some Iron thorns (really just stakes but they can be used as throwing daggers or actual iron spikes. As a weapon they have a range of near. , additionally the cave in caused a small nook to be revealed inside it is a greasy cotton bag, inside of which there are 450 copper coins
"Does anyone else need a real weapon?" After handing out stuff to those that need it. "Remind me to freak out when we have put some distance between us and anyone who might be chasing us."