Glad the guards' will to fight seemed to have break, feelings of tiredness and pain caught up with him. At Allyson's words, Lukasz raises his sword at the new arrival for a moment, ready to attack before realizing that this one didn't seem intent on hurting them. "Now is not the time for negotiations, we must make it to our benefactor quickly. Help us get our fallen back on their feet and you may have what you like from the guards. But do it quickly." He says that as he points to the fallen Isabella. Turning to Leekoo, Lukasz calls out, "Let us grab the fallen blacksmith, we must move before the rest of the guards have discovered that we have made it to the bridge." With that, Lukasz fetches Dexter's unconscious form, dragging the man's dead weight back to the wagon.
Allyson will make her way quickly to the guard and check his equipment, taking anything that seems of use. "A fair trade," she remarks putting the potion away again. "I have no where to go, if you have a benefactor, I could use a place to lay low." Allyson's voice bears a hint of hope as she strips the guard's corpse.
Laying near the dead guard, Isabella rolls over once as Allyson loots the unfortunate man, muttering incoherently as her eyes flutter open and closed again for the briefest moment. "Frrrffnughh."
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Shouting out an encouraging cry at the sight of the fleeing guards, Leekoo turned to bare his teeth at the newcomer. "Leekoo Weekoo say we win! Leekoo Weekoo eat new skin?" he asked the functioning male longlegs. When First Mate Izzy groaned, he turn over to her and propped her head up. "Leekoo Weekoo need first mate! Leekoo Weekoo cannot wait!"
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Payn frowns as one guard hightails it away from her, and the other one picks the sure, quick death of drowning in armor over what she was about to do to him. She sighs. Typical.
She approaches the others who are obviously breaking out and murdering guards. She addresses them as she uses the last her rags above her waist to bandage her bleeding wrist. "While haste is a statiscally better option, marching from one battle to the next with resources un-discovered also has value. There is at least one door in this building still unopened. In exchange for killing any more guards we come across, I give you leave to join me in searching it? I'll even help you carry your corpses, if that's what you're in to."
That she doesn't own the building behind her, or that the others aren't currently dead, doesn't seem to impact her speech pattern.
Leekoo did indeed finish one with an AoO. There is one dead guard. One swimming one. And one running to the prison where he could unbar the gate and unleash the combined might of Brandescar upon you. And payn binds her wounds well.
"No eating these people Leekoo." Lukasz grunted as he grabbed Isabella after moving Dexter to the wagon. He and the goblin couldn't carry the other two on their own and these newcomers seemed to be as unsavory as they were. However, this close to freedom, Lukasz would not be deterred by the newcomers. Lukasz then said, "I strongly advise against lingering as we just left a contingent behind us with only an injured ogre between us and them. Unless you have a way of getting our fallen moving again, we are in no shape to face the rest of the prison when they come out here." Lukasz was not in a negotiating mood with so little time on their hands. Then, turning to Allyson, Lukasz asked, "Do those potions of yours mend the flesh? If so, these people will need them if we are to travel quickly."
Why did you move dexter to a broken wagon? And if you could move the wagon you could further hamper the guards by setting the portcullis in position.
Allyson takes the bow and quiver first offering them to Payn as repayment. She then quickly sets to stripping the guard of his chain shirt and taking it for herself. She glances up seeing the man carrying his companions off.
"Are you certain you do not wish the potions as payment. They may restore the wounds of your companions. I can not say for certain." Allyson asks feeling as though she cheated the man.
Once she has the armor on, she rolls her shoulders with a grin on her face. She loves the comfort of a good suit of armor.
"Bring them here and I will determine if they can help. Also, can you see if that wagon can be moved? Once I am done here, I will help with that."
Once Lukasz has the potions in hand, he will sample one, smelling the concoction and rolling it on his tongue to determine its effects.
to identify potion. Depending on the results, Lukasz will then feed a potion to Dexter and Isabella.
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After Ally gets the armor off the guard, Payn strips the corpse's shirt and covers her otherwise bare chest. She doesn't mind her own nakedness, but understands that sometimes others are squeamish about such things. She drapes the quiver and bow across her chest.
Once everyone is on the far side of the portcullis, she says"Labels can be temporary and constraining, but main is accurate. I am Payn. Potion-person," she says to Allyson, not knowing her name yet, "could you help me move the broken transport so we can increase the duration of our daring getaway and therefore have time to continue the easily accessible breaking and entering?"
With that Payn tries to move the wagon...
...but it looks like she's gonna need a little help.
"They call me Allister, like Alastor the devil, but spelled incorrectly." Allyson says with an incidental shrug, then nods at Payn's request and moves behind the wagon, attempting to help push. The girls small elven frame is almost cute as she starts to push, but desperation makes a girl strong.
They are potions of Clw. As strong as Alastor is she can't move it by herself.
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Putting his mighty guard-slaying muscles to the test, Leekoo rushes at the cart to move it into position!
Unfortunately for our intrepid goblin warrior, his brains are usually better than his brawn, but in this instance, both failed him. He crashed into the cart before landing on his now-sore backside! "Leekoo Weekoo made an owie! Leekoo Weekoo all done nowie!"
Figuring out what the potions are, Lukasz feeds one to Isabella and one to Dexter. Once he gets them on their feet, Lukasz doesn't spent time telling them the situation, but works to help the others move the wagon.
GM ruling. Dexter gets 6 points and any healing potion heals the same amount of non lethal damage as normal damage
GM ruling. Dexter gets 6 points and any healing potion heals the same amount of non lethal damage as normal damage
Dexter groans and rises, "So we are out?"
He looks around, "Well almost. Where is our Ogre?
Wait, who are they?" The Blacksmith asks pointing at Payn and Allyson.
Rising quickly with Lukasz' aid, Isabella glances first back along the bridge, noting the one dead guard present, then watches as the barrister moves to help the two strangers and Leekoo move the wagon.
"Mm." She grunts in response to Dexter's questions, glad to see the man up as well. "Grumblejack didn't come down with you and Leekoo - I'm guessing he bought us the little time we've got here." She moves to the wagon and helps the others push, eyeing Payn and Allyson warily, dagger still in hand. "I don't know who these two are, but we're alive, and Leekoo's not trying to stab them. In our current situation, that's all the voucher I need from the Captain."
"Time to put some miles between us and this place, and see if our mysterious benefactor has an interest in some more... unsavory sorts." She eyes Allyson's Branderscar-issued gear and Payn's general appearance; poorly-clothed and blood-soaked.
The mist obscures your view, but you remember the biggest obstacle to pursuit is a barred door the guard who ran is in position to open. The broken wheel is still a barrier to moving the wagon. Getting the wheel off the ground would solve this.
Lukasz downs the last potion himself before moving to help move the wagon with the broken wheel. "We still need to make out way to our benefactors. Introductions on the moves are indeed in order, but once we buy ourselves a bit more time." With that, he works to lift the broken wheel with Dexter while the others pushed.
You barely lift it off the ground which allows Izzy to push it slowly as you shuffle.
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Payn can't seem to get a good grip to move the wagon, and the man moving to the broken wheel seems to lack even a fundamental understanding of proper Moment of Inertia calculations. She moves around to the wheel.
"Your application of direct force is inadequate to surmount the gravitational obstacles. Proper application of a durable lever is required. Hold the wheel stable while I--" Payn stops speaking as the words bore her, the math required for movement of the object already consuming her attention.
She wedges the sword point-first into two cobblestones, then pushes up, the middle of the weapon pushing up against the wagon's axle, allowing her force to be multiplied by an order of magnitude. It won't get the thing rolling again, but it should be able to lever it forward a full cubit.
Dex appraises how long it will take to fix the wagon based on damage and available tools at hand.
Craft
Dex assists Lukasz wit the wheel.
"I can fix this but it might not be worth wasting the time. If there are no horses in sight, we won't get very far.
We might be better off looking for a hammer and some nails to bar the outside door shut and then run like hell. We know where to go, they will not know the direction we are headed in!"
There are horses on it. A section of the outer rim broke. So no. You definitely don't have time to fix it. Also I'd say closing the portcullis or running away would be much smarter than running towards a door that could unleash a small army any second.
Here is my idea. If it is preventing the closing of the Portculis, we move it outside of the gate, if not let's just leave it.
We should smash the other wheel once the cart is clear. Then un-tether the horses and either ride them or set them loose so we don't have a mounted patrol coming after us.
Strength check assist other
As stated (much) earlier. It's blocking the portcullis. Also people have lifted it and there are horses attached to it. Maybe get them moving.
Figuring that getting the horses in action will at the very least equal her own effort pushing from the back, Isabella skirts around the others lifting by the broken wheel to smack the lead horse on its rump with the flat of her dagger.
"Yah!" She yells, hoping to startle the animals, moving down the line to similarly smack each horse in turn. "Let's get this sorry show on the road - I'm not keen for an encore at this place."
Isabella watches passively as the wagon trundles past the portcullis. She waits for the group to get on the right side of the gate before pulling it down and locking it in place.
2 that you just sent onto the bridge and locked the portculis behind.
Doing his best to keep the wheel off the ground, Lukasz huffs in exertion as the wagon trundled forward before stumbling back to the outside of the portcullis before it slid into place. Looking to the others, with a tired grin, the former barrister said, "Now that that is done. Shall we see about finding our benefactor?" Scanning the horizon to determine the direction of the Old Moor Road, and the maonor house that the mysterious woman had mentioned with the light hanging in the window, Lukasz continued with, "The name is Lukasz Alazario, for those who are new to this escape. Is anyone familiar with this region? We need to cross the moors and find the Old Moor Road."
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Payn says, "I am Payn." Whether that's her name or she's just expressing her mood is not entirely certain. "We are still bereft of resources. There is an unopened door in that guardhouse right there. We should not leave potential resources unsearched for time factors less than three." What the hell that means is also not entirely certain.
Payn goes back to the guardhouse she just broke out of and opens the other door.
"I am Dexter. If you think we need to search woman do it quickly. We will not survive another encounter with the guards".
EDIT: While Payn searches the Guardhouse, Dex inspects the winch to disable it.
Disable Device
Like most mechanical devices the winch can be fixed. But it will take some time. The guardhouse is quickly searched and except for a loaf of bread, some apples and a wedge of cheese there's nothing worth taking. When you look towards the north you can make out the moors. It's an area of twisted trees, salt water marshes, and it's the perfect place to lose an unwanted pursuit. Or you could take the road. It could be faster but it may not connect to the old moor road.
"I do not even know where here is!" the girl says with a hint of exasperation. "I only know how many days they left me locked in that cage."
Allyson sees Payn run off and is not keen to follow her unless the others do. "Once we are in the moore, and a good touch further from this place, I expect a far better explanation of how you escaped and where you intend to go." "Not that I have any better options no matter what you say."
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Payn returns with the groceries. She's happily munching the whole cheese wedge and intends to eat the whole thing, but she'll share the bread and apples to whomever wants them. "Isn't it time we left for the marshes? If we take the road they'll run us down with cavalry and decapitate us before we have a chance to form a spearwall. Not that we have spears."
She takes a bite of cheese.
Agreeing with the odd Payn on this, Lukasz commented, "I am happy to discuss more once we are away form here. Though there are likely to be perils in going through the moors, it might be tougher for those from the prison to track us through it. I suggest we pick a point on the horizon to follow and head that way, away from the prison. Hopefully we will spot the light of the manor house we need to head to once we are on the move." With that, he picks a point on the horizon and remembers it, occasionally scanning the horizon for any light as the group began their trek through the marshes.
As your group journeys you pick up many trails and paths that criss cross through the salt marshes. In the dark it's hard to navigate. Survival or knowledge geography checks.
Trudging into the swamp, Allyson has little trouble seeing in the dark, but her spoiled upbringing gets the better of her. Each step into the squishy marshland floods water and all manner of other fluids into her boots and she has to reign herself in from squealing. "So, who are you people. Obviously criminals," with that thought she suddenly checks her arm to see if she was branded. She heard rumors they did that in the prison, and saw the others carried the brand. "so what are your names, what did you do to end up here? And, where are we going?"
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Leekoo trudged through the swampy marshlands, gleefully jumping into the shallow pools with joyous cackles. While he missed his old cave, with it's high stone walls and pointy rocks, land like this could be fun too! As one of the new longlegs started talking, he turned his head around and said, "Leekoo Weekoo captain cool! Leekoo Weekoo death to fool! Leekoo Weekoo make big boom! Leekoo Weekoo bring on doom!"
Allyson tries to make sense of the song finally just stating flatly. "I have no idea what that means."
Dexter laughs at Allyson's statement, "You are obviously a woman who took a wrong turn while searching for a ball and mistakenly stepped into a prison wagon instead of a carriage yes? Is that why you were about to enter the prison?
I am Dexter Quigley, a businessman not some common thug. In fact none of us are criminals. We are all political prisoners, placed here for crimes which in any other land would be fined or not criminalized at all.
We head to a benefactor who assisted in our rescue, it is up to Lucasz to divulge more as he met with the woman and the rest of us did not. Three of our fellow prisoners died in the attempted escape.
You come with us or head your own way if you are so inclined my dear
As for Leekoo he is pronouncing that we will have our vengeance on these righteous fools who dared imprison us. His vengeance it seems, is in the form of smoke powder".
He grunts in pain placing one foot in front of another through the marsh. His bleeding has stopped but he looks worse for wear to be sure.
Survival
"I have no where else to go." Allyson says with a frown. "Talingarde does not look well on those it considers guilty. Any friends and family I may have once had are gone now."
"As I told your friend, I am called Allister, like Alastor the devil, but spelled incorrectly. I too was falsely imprisoned. A teacher of the swords in the academy I attended was too weak to survive our duel. For this, they would have me imprisoned." She scoffs at the ridiculous idea. "They claimed I cheated, as though one can cheat when fighting for their life."
Dexter nods to Allyson, "Then you are in the right place my dear. It is high time someone brought good sense back to this realm and we can only hope our benefactor will assist us in doing so".
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At Ally's question, Payn grins. As she answers, the vapid voice and distanct stares that she had shown previously are gone. In their place her eyes glow with a malevolent intelligence. Her words are careful. Deep. Purposefully chosen. "Oh no. I -know- what I did. I did it poorly and I was caught, but I did break into his house. He was trussed and bound and gagged. The sigils were written and the words were said. The guard broke down the door as my dagger descended, throwing off my aim. He lived. But they are -right- to have me locked away. They are -right- to fear me."
The fire in the eyes burns out. Her face slackens and the voice is once again that of innocence. The voice is again high and light, like a little girl's. She tilts her head to the side.
"I like to hurt people."
She finishes the last of her cheese and licks the sauce from her fingers.
"Isabella," she nods to Allyson, chuckling at her trouble with the goblin's rhyming. "The merchant's got it right; this nation of sheep has unjustly labeled us criminals. Most of us." She gives Payn a sideways glance and smiles briefly at Leekoo. "They're unable to fathom the power I'm unlocking through my research, and too afraid to make the sacrifices necessary to utilize it. I, thankfully, have no such qualms. Yet, instead of the acclaim and respect I deserve for my dedication, these soft-hearted Mitran zealots brand me a murderer. I wish only for a place where I can conduct my studies without concern for government interference; I'm afraid a government that uses my findings for the betterment of its people is a bit much to hope for at this point."
"I am a physician by trade, but I have learned to ply my understanding of various physiologies to previously unexplored realms of discovery. I feel we may be avoiding roads for some time to come." Slogging through the marshlands, Isabella checks the Belladonna cutting she took from the prison once before turning her eyes to the plants and animals on the Moor, doing her best to determine a path through the coastal swamp to their benefactor's manor.
Frowning as the group began slogging through the Marshy water, Lukasz knew this was their best chance of throwing off any remaining pursuit, so did his best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of muddy water pulling down his boots. "And I am Lukasz. Former barrister to the city of Daveryn, and incarcerated for using a pen name to speak out against Mitra's teachings." Scanning the horizon once more for any dangers as well as to keep an eye on where the group was headed, Lukasz then continued with. "As many here, my ambition was too much for the Shining Lord's following. I broke the law of this sterile land. Should this benefactor truly promise a new lease on life, I will use it to make this land as it was before the accursed House Darius came to power, for the glory of my new lord, the First Prince."
Lukasz is able to pick up subtle signs of what used to be a road along with recent tracks of something large with webbed feet.