The dottari gets big eyes, but tells "I'll get you the commander." He leaves and closes the window.
A few moments later a stern woman appears at the door püeeking through the small window. "You bring ale in whose name?"
"Countess Urora Sarini, Commander. She recognizes all you and your men do for this city."
"I don't believe you that one who calls herself countess cares for the simple folks and especially here at the holding house. What's the real reason behind that?" she inquires.
"I should have known not to hide the truth from you. In truth, she is doing this to embarrass a rival. By appearing to appreciate you, she casts her enemies in a worse light. It's how these royals work, but there's no reason men like us can't enjoy it."
"Sounds more like it. Come in." the commander tells, and opens the door for Cassius.
Inside is a table with a few chairs where to guards sit. And a counter. "Put the cask on that table over there." the commander tells.
"Will do. Frederick, help me out here. Say, how long have you been doing this, Commander ..." Cassius fishes for a name.
Zea slips in invisibly behind her pair of allies and gets as far out of the way as possible.
'How long are we giving them?" FHingle asks Saul
"Obviously not long enough, as I'm still only commander. Now go and tell your Countess, we are forever thankful that she thought of us." Her voice and face tell the opposite, but she knows what's expected.
"Oh, don't worry. If she even thinks to ask I'll give her the sort of flowery bullshit people like her eat up. If you'd like, my associate here can entertain you and your people while you enjoy the ale. We're ...not exactly in any rush to return to those rich stiffs."
"No, no. That ale is enough entertainment. I want those sloths to work here and not watch your comical performances." the commander tells, ushering Cassius and Jarithe out.
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As the other three enter the holding house, Saul gestures Fhingle up to the entrance. "Okay, Little Mac. When this door next unlocks, we are pushing our way in, no matter what. Got it? The door unlocked is our entrance, whether it is Cassius or Zea or one of those stooges.
As the commander moves to escort Cassius out and opens the door to see them gone, Saul pushes himself right in and starts attacking!
Fhingle nods to Saul, standing to the side of the door so he is not easily noticed.
Saul takes the commander by surprise.
Fhingle touches Saul's shoulder, "Hope this helps you strike better"
The commander casts hold person on Saul. "Guards, someone applies for a holding cell here."
"Oh, Asmodeus! What's happening?! Who followed us??"
With Cassius successfully playing surprised and Jarithe and Zea not joining the fight, the guards simply get up, and do as told by the commander. The lift Saul up from the ground and carry him deeper into the holding house .
"And you two leave now. You see, this is no place for performing comedy and having a good time." the commander tells. but she seems to have a good time anyway.
Fhingle stays very still hoping they don't notice him.
Cassius is ushered out together with Jarithe, and the door is closed and locked behind them. Following Saul, Zea finds, that there are two more guards in the guard room before the cell block .
Saul is put in an empty cell which contains a chamber pot, a mound of straw as bedding, a single wooden plate and a cup to hold meals, and a scratchy and moth-eaten blanket. After Saul is locked in the guards leave to go back to their positions. "Someone brought booze for us. Maybe come to our room on the patrol?"
As the door to the guard room is closed again, Zea finds herself alone in the cell block.
"Saul just got frozen." Fhingle says as they retreat to their hide out across the way from the Holding house.
Invisibly, Zea whispers "Stay calm, Saul. I'm here. Do we have any way of telling who else we should break out?"
All the cell doors have slits that can be opened from the outside to look in and hand food in. Checking on the cells Zea finds that four cells hold some vagabounds . In three other cells sit some men that look more the part .
While Zea is there one guard comes into the cell block. A bottle in hand he passes through, into another room where he greets the two guards there and hands them the bottle. "Don't let the commander get you drinking it on your shift. But that spoil sport is in her office for now. If you know what I mean." Then the guard walks back taking a look into a few of the cells, and hammers on Saul's cell door "Like your new sleeping place? Muhahaha.". Then he leaves the way he came and closes the door again.
Zea is really uncertain about this idea. "Are you sure, Saul? That commander made quick work of you... Maybe we should just get you out..."
"And now we wait."
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"This is our chance to get the Hellknights out, Zea! Find where they are keeping my gear, grab my spear and those other weapons, and we leave. ALL of us. The commander... the commander is tough. Let's hope we out number them by enough, or maybe they will start drinking. Do you have any extra weapons? Can you pick up a few while sneaking around?"
"That commander ...what a stiff!"
One of the vagabound starts making a ruckus. "There is someone here come fast. They plan an escape! Guards! Guards!" he shouts.
After a few moments two guards come through the southern door to check what's going on. One of them carries the keys. Looking around and finding nothing he hammers on the vagabound's cell door and shouts "Shut up you crazy nutjob. There's no one here. If you disturb us again, you're the next to go with the torturess."
One of them doesn't look very well. On the way back he spits out and finds he has blood in his mouth. This has the two worried and they retreat into their room, getting some water for the one sick. The keys get thrown on the table and the door is still standing a bit open. Washing his mouth the one stands in the corner over the spit bucket, the other one chekcing on him if he's ok.
Zea sneaks over to grab the keys from the table.
"so now we have to wait for Saul and Zea to break out? Is there anything we can do from out here?" Fhingle asks the taller men
"Brilliant! Maximum chaos!"
Zea sneaks into the room where Saul's gear is stowed, moving quietly and slowly pulling the door open just enough to see inside, if it's closed.
"Just don't get caught." Fhingle says to him. "I can try to talk to them at the door but what do I say?"
The door to the room where Saul's stuff is in is of course closed. As Zea opes it, the heads of the guards turn. As it opens only a bit without another guard coming in, one gets up and opens the door to check what is going on. Saul's stuff isn't here, but the door to the neighboring room is open and Zea can see that the belongings of all prisoners is stored there. At least that's her thought on seeing Hellknight's armor on the shelves.
"Hey, I'm not in the mood for jokes!" the guard tells. You can tell these two are also sick.
If the door is open wide enough when he comes to check, Zea will try to slip past him toward the other door.
Zea tries to slip through the door without giving away her presence.
Zea slips past the angry, but sick guard and sneaks into the neighboring room. There are stacks of items with labels for the names. Preveau, Auruda, Aberveen and Lierre ar ethe names with the Hellknight armors. The other stacks are mostly garbage, probably belonging to the vagabounds.
Knowing that she can't carry any significant amount of armor, Zea looks for as many weapons as she can stow in her backpack. Then she tries to sneak back past the guards.