Loche moves in and staunches the wound on the dwarf's shoulder. Darius smiles at his handwork. It was a precise cuts, and with Dakvor's swift kicks, it was just enough to cause the burly old dwarf to pass out.
The remainder of the group replaces their gear and stands back while Loche pats down the guard, finding a few items on his person: an amulet depicting the crest of Kundarak attached to a platinum chain, a weathered map of the prison, and a set of mundane keys, and of course a small coin purse.
The former "prisoners" now ready for action watch Loche examine his discovery. Darius idly runs poison over his blade, with an almost loving touch.
The guard appears to be solidly passed out, and Vorik takes a menacing step forward, his goodly aura masked by something else...
Loche tosses the coin pouch to the Elf.
'You can count it if you wish.'
Loche holds out the amulet to Desh.
'You think you can get this thing to work'
Loche then passes Vorik the keys to hold.
'You look more the guard type then any of us and I think we can trust you to use the keys when needed.'
Loche then spreads the map on the side of his beetle; so, all can study the map along with him.
"I was hoping to get out here quietly. I think we should be quick about this. There guys may not have special training, but I am sure there are some that do, and they do have the numbers advantage"
Darius plucks the Purse from the air and begins to count it out slowly. "Numbers...? No they don't. We have keys and Prisoners. We orchestrate a breakout and flee in the confusion with our target!" Darius smiled and looked up from the purse. "We wanted a way out... How better than to cause a riot?" He looked around the group. "There is no moral quandary here... A rabble of unarmed prisoners wont best the guards, meaning none but our intended prisoner get away!"
Thinking to himself"That also might cause a lockdown or just raise the security level, but then again I suspect the guard will be missed relatively soon. On the other hand if they know there is a breakout I am sure we will have a not so welcoming party waiting for us outside. <shakes his head in confusion>
I say we that if open any cells we open the ones closer to the exit. That gives then less time to react. I am sure there are countermeasures to handle a prison break. These are the same people who guard banks of most nations. I haven't heard of too many successful bank robberies or prison escapes, and they have one connection, House Kundarak. On the bright side if we pull this off we will have bragging rights, just too bad we won't be able to tell anyone about it. "
Bones says openly "Let's free a few guys. I prefer the ones that were in a section of this place where the prisoners were more receptive to common sense. Freeing anyone here for psychotic reasons may not be in our best interest."
Thinking to himself"That also might cause a lockdown or just raise the security level, but then again I suspect the guard will be missed relatively soon. On the other hand if they know there is a breakout I am sure we will have a not so welcoming party waiting for us outside. <shakes his head in confusion>
I say we that if open any cells we open the ones closer to the exit. That gives then less time to react. I am sure there are countermeasures to handle a prison break. These are the same people who guard banks of most nations. I haven't heard of too many successful bank robberies or prison escapes, and they have one connection, House Kundarak. On the bright side if we pull this off we will have bragging rights, just too bad we won't be able to tell anyone about it. "
Bones says openly "Let's free a few guys. I prefer the ones that were in a section of this place where the prisoners were more receptive to common sense. Freeing anyone here for psychotic reasons may not be in our best interest."
That was supposed to be Bones.
As Desh finishes slipping into his armor and picks up his bow, he gives Darius a confused look, "Yah, won't lettin' prisoners loose just bring their security levels up? I mean, maybe if we caused a riot in one place and tried to escape in another or somethin'..."
He looks down at the unconscious guard, though not really seeing him, "Do we even know if our prisoner knows we're comin'?"
"We get our target and on our return journey we free these here ruffians and herd them before us. We let them swarm the gate then we dash through right behind them. Easy!" Darius contents himself with a quick perusal of the map before he adds a layer of poison to his dagger also.
"Easy is definitely not the correct word to be using for this place. In any event we need to free this prisoner. He might even be useful in helping us out of here."
"Don't worry about it. Lets just keep it loose and relaxed till we hit the wall." Darius nodded softly, pointing down the Corridor. "I'd vote that way!"
Anyone good with working this ammulet?
Desh takes the amulet with a confused look, "I can try..."
He gives a quick prayer to the Flame, an intense look in his eyes.
As he studies it he mutters, "I never had any classes 'bout magic stuff... just picked up a quick way of seein' if stuff was magical. Not sure if that's what ya wanted, bu its the best I got."
Dakvor hastily changed his plan of incapacitating Barik after the dwarf guard is supposed to open cell KR-III when he noticed that Darius was furtively loosening his bindings after Loche kicked him. Having observed the elf's propensity to making quick decision at every possible opportunity and his somewhat nonchalant attitude towards violence, the monk surmised that Barik is about to get possibly killed by Darius, a fate Dakvor thought was unjustified.
And so the monk confident with his training of barehandedly eliminating foes without actually killing them, made his move before the rogue could act.
And so, too as Dakvor always realizes, the only ultimate control one has is on one's own decision (barring magic, of course) and just tower spit when it comes to other's decision.
Loche's indignation on the result (as it is) of their handiwork was therefore justified and Dakvor did not bother anymore to explain what he really intended before he saw Darius made his move. That Barik's still alive was enough for Dakvor whatever the group might have thought of his decision.
As the group re-equips and binds the dwarf guard and makes plan to free up some of the prisoners to create some sort of distraction for their escape, Dakvor can't help but think that decisions are being made without yet considering all the information they got from the unconscious dwarf.
"Loche was right that I made a hasty decision and that there is wisdom in making an informed one."
"So Vorik how about the keys? Is there any identifying number or something for each key that refer to KR-III? If it's in draconic, I know some. If it's in dwarf then Bones should know it."
"And I hope Loche that you've figured out something of the map like perhaps where KR-III is?"
"Desh could only tell whether the amulet is magical and it seems something a guard here might always wear so I guess it has some use with the other items a guard might wear or carry. Could you also check Desh if Barik is wearing other magical stuffs that we could use? Maybe even the map and the keys? In case all this stuff is only useful when used together and since Bones is a dwarf and if Barik's items fit him, he could wear all of them and let's see if some kind of revelation or something would fall upon him that might be of use to us."
Desh looks up from his scrutiny of the amulet when the half-Orc speaks, nodding in reply and using the same prayer to identify any of the dwarven guard's magical equipment.
Darius counts out 236 gold pieces.
Observing the map, you can see that it depicts the "Red" cell block in a fine brown-red ink, similar in coloration to dried blood. The map is obviously too small to show the whole prison. In your gut you feel this is more than chance.
Darius dumped the coins back in to the purse and slid it behind his belt, intent on sharing it out when the right moment presented itself.
"We know where we are going now... Lets drag this here Dwarf with us and wake him up when we find our Cell hmm?" I move to Desh and hold my hand out for the amulet. "May I?"
...
Dakvor does recognize the writings as magical. The font on the map is an obscure arcana font only used by Dwarves. As Dakvor focuses on the flowing script, words become apparent through the flourishes of the writing. The numbers of the cells, cell blocks, and even the prisoners become apparent...
d20+6
Loche fails to discern the auras surrounding the items.
While observing the map in frustration, Desh starts to pick out something he missed before. Your names are currently printed exactly where you stand in the hall. Most unusual.
As Dakvor takes a look closely at the map Loche had spread out on the druid's giant beetle's back, he recognizes that the map uses some sort of magical writing used by dwarves.
"I picked up a trick or two from my stepfather before and I'm using it now. These fonts are arcane ones and I do recognize them."
As Dakvor continues to study the map he sees the numbers of the cells, cell blocks, and even the prisoners become apparent.
"Ok guys. I think I got it. Our quarry is this way."
Vorik grabs their dwarven escort by his arm and forces him to stand, waking up him in the process. . Once he wakes him out he says "Look, we make our way to a specific prisoner and get him out of here. You can either help us out and get a nice payoff for it, or you can not help us and perhaps some of these here prisoners will enjoy spending some quality time with you. If ya know what I mean, and I think that you do"
"Huh... the map knows where we are. I wonder if it knows where everyone else is... Like our target."
As Dakvor and Desh examines the map, the group becomes visible on the map. Small footprints follow their names as they begin to move down the hall, following Dakvor and Desh.
Vorik supports the dwarf guard, who, after being shaken to consciousness, does his best to assist the group. Dakvor states that the group needs to get to cell block RED CMXCI, cell KR-III. The dwarf's eyes bulge at this. He mutters an "okay" and stumbles to the front of the group and begins leading Dakvor in turn.
As they walk, Dakvor takes note of the names that appear in the cell, all names of Karrnathi war criminals, murderers, exiles, and some particularly unruly Blood of Vol cultists.
You continue to walk down the hall, taking several turns. You marvel at the size of the prison. Finally, you hit a section that appears to be split from the other parts of the RED Block. Chiseled into the wall above the archway that sets off this area are the numerals CMXCI. As you enter this area, you are once again struck by a wave of fear!
Fighting to overcome this wave of hopelessness and fear, you and your companions step into the block, looking for cell KR-III. Finding it marked on the map (the cell appearing at the end of the hall) Dakvor looks up with a mixture of fear and awe.
Marked in the blood red text of the enchanted map is the name of the prisoner you are suppose to retrieve...
Dakvor felt the same overwhelming fear again which he fought before but Vorik's close proximity seems to subdue it and the monk did not have to fight it anymore.
But the map's revelation on the name of the prisoner they were supposed to "rescue" brought the same feeling again mixed with incredulity. Dakvor's world kind of shifted with the unexpected revelation.
"Karrnath's king? Here?! Then who in Ogre's eyes is sitting at Korth?!"
Dakvor could not hide his surprise and growing annoyance with the situation as he translated the enchanted letters on the map to the group. "I don't know what kind of mess we're in but that's the prisoner's name this map is telling us."
"Ok, Guard Barik, is this some kind of sick joke? The map here says Karrnath's king is inside. Though inwardly, the half-orc monk thought Dreadhold wouldn't waste time in such an elaborate scheme to just 'pretend' they are holding one of the Five Nations' king. But the whole thing doesn't add up even if the situation is true. "It doesn't answer who's the one holding court in Crownhome now and the 'why' of it all. Why keep the true king alive if indeed this is the king inside this cell?"
The dwarf's eyes are wide with shock. Apparently he hadn't thought of the repercussions of assisting in the breakout of this prisoner.
"Well, you're in the Karrnathi cell block, area CMXCI, and that's 991, in case you're not familiar with you're numerals. That number stands for the year the prisoners were interred... and he's in cell KR-III. Do you think us Kundarak dwarves be playing games with you? Though he apparently isn't the King of Karrnath anymore. I'm not a historian, although I recall that King Kaius III is the ruler of Karrnath at present."
Vorik, having just learned not that long ago about some of the history of his family, and their connections to the royalty of Karrnath, is a bit stunned by this revelation. "My King? here? that makes no sense."
As Dakvor and Desh examines the map, the group becomes visible on the map. Small footprints follow their names as they begin to move down the hall, following Dakvor and Desh.
Vorik supports the dwarf guard, who, after being shaken to consciousness, does his best to assist the group. Dakvor states that the group needs to get to cell block RED CMXCI, cell KR-III. The dwarf's eyes bulge at this. He mutters an "okay" and stumbles to the front of the group and begins leading Dakvor in turn.
As they walk, Dakvor takes note of the names that appear in the cell, all names of Karrnathi war criminals, murderers, exiles, and some particularly unruly Blood of Vol cultists.
You continue to walk down the hall, taking several turns. You marvel at the size of the prison. Finally, you hit a section that appears to be split from the other parts of the RED Block. Chiseled into the wall above the archway that sets off this area are the numerals CMXCI. As you enter this area, you are once again struck by a wave of fear!
Fighting to overcome this wave of hopelessness and fear, you and your companions step into the block, looking for cell KR-III. Finding it marked on the map (the cell appearing at the end of the hall) Dakvor looks up with a mixture of fear and awe.
Marked in the blood red text of the enchanted map is the name of the prisoner you are suppose to retrieve...
** spoiler omitted **
If Vorik does not grant immunity to fear-->
Loche is not sure why but he feels the Grim haunting his steps as he steps into the block. He is certain that death is stepping on his shadow.
'I'm going to die here. I'm going to die here and never return to the woods again.'
--------------------
'Your King, Vroik? You some royal? Totally stupid notion. Even bees know that royal jelly alone doesn't make a queen. You need to be strong enough to fight for the right to royal or you deserve sitting in the dirt or dead. Weakness has no place in government. It weakens the colony and the pride.'
While you and your companions are gawking at the name on the map, Guard Barik begins to slide away from the group ...
Vorik, having just learned not that long ago about some of the history of his family, and their connections to the royalty of Karrnath, is a bit stunned by this revelation. "My King? here? that makes no sense."
1d20 + 8; (5) + 8 = 13 K:Nobility check
Vorik can recall that King Kauis III is the ruler of Karrnath, and took the throne relatively recently, towards the end of the Last War.
Loche directs his beetle to flatten the Dwarf under its bulk.
'Not so fast unless you want your outwards melted with acid and turned into a beetle slurpee. He needs quite a bit to eat and there ain't been much to eat down here. Dwarf might just do in a pinch.'
The giant beetle moves to flatten the dwarf guard.
Barik is flatten by the giant beetle. Now lying prone on the stone floor, he curses at Loche, "What in the name of the Sovereigns was that for! Control your beast!" He then glares at the druid.
'I think the others here weren't finished asking you some questions.'
Upon hearing Loche utter words about his King and country, Vorik is instantly incensed. He quickly unsheathes his sword and whips the point towards the druid. "How dare you spew forth such filth regarding my King and my Country, comparing us to base insects!. You do not know me or my family, and you insult my honor and that of my ancestors. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand?"
Upon hearing Loche utter words about his King and country, Vorik is instantly incensed. He quickly unsheathes his sword and whips the point towards the druid. "How dare you spew forth such filth regarding my King and my Country, comparing us to base insects!. You do not know me or my family, and you insult my honor and that of my ancestors. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand?"
'And that's the very reason why I prefer animals to people. Animals aren't stupid enough to turn on their own when they're deep inside an enemy territory. We've got miles to go and things to do without slowing down for this feather show. Unless of course you're into wasting the good graces of whatever patron spawned this deal and felt we were all needed to help find this person. I'm sure they can try again tomorrow if it suits you.'
'Now can we focus on this Dwarf and how he might lead us to our target or use the map and follow the footsteps. I don't care which. I'm not here for the prisoner, I have promises to keep that are miles from here but I'm here because getting this person out of here serves my cause.'
The Paladin move the tip of his blade dangerously close to Loche's throat.
"Again you insult me. If you love your animals so much, I can arrange for you to spend eternity with the maggots and worms. I have killed a man before, when he tried to take advantage of my twin sister, I will not hesitate to kill you either."
Stepping forward in to the room Darius grit his teeth, keeping as close to the Dwarf and Paladin as he could, wanting to watch this little scene play out.
When words become heated between the two teammates he stepped forward, plucking the Amulet from Loches hand and put himself firmly between the heavily armed men.
"Listen Gents... I do not much care for all this bellyaching!"
Turning to Vorik, "If it is young Kauis, we are here to pull him out, so no blood need be shed between us, to repay this debt Loche has incurred with you. He will have actively had a part in saving your King. Yes?"
Turning to Loche, "You worship no King, are liegeman to no Lord, that is obvious. Obvious and it suits you, you wear it well but do not assume to mock Vorik for his beliefs. There are city boys in Sharn would piss on your beliefs, would you care for that? No. No one would!"
"Now if you don't both quiet the hells down we will never get out of here...!" Sighing he looked at the locket again, frowning and waving it around before the door of the Cell, murmuring a few words in a few different languages.
With apparent disgust on his face at the paladin's threat:
"Your Holiness I would expect for your deity to have given you more wisdom and self control than to kill a man based on something as sinful as pride especially considering our current situation. I expect more self control from one such as yourself. Yeah I am holding you to a higher standard than the druid. If you can't control yourself give that holy symbol back to your god, and tell him to find someone who can behave accordingly."
Keeping his sword pointed at the Druid, Vorik directs his response to Bones "Little man, your words are ill spoken. While I serve Dol Arrah as her Paladin, my heart and mind and yes, my very soul are bound to the Nine, Six and One. Which means I worship not just Dol Arrah, but the entire Sovereign Host, as well as their kin the Dark Six. Perhaps the Lady of Light would frown upon my actions, were I to slay this heathen, but I know that one of my darker gods would smile upon such an act."
"Now Children, for compared to me, that is what you all are, if you will not behave I will enlist the help of our Half-Orc and Shifter friends here and make you gods damned behave!"
Knocking the blade aside Darius stepped before Vorik. "Sheath thy sword till you have an enemy to bring it to bear against. Be the educated man you are and take the higher road!"
'At least some speak sense down here. Now, I don't know these boys from Sharn you're talking on but I'm sure enough as the sun rises that if they were to be pissing on my beliefs it would be their own leg that fell on. Everything that walks, flys, swims, and grows knows the way of things whether they want to admit it or not.'
'It'd be like ignoring a tree trunk in the woods. You can close your eyes all you want but eventually you're going to run into it's reality.'
'Now, lets be moving again as we've this prisoner folk to be rescuing so we can get on to more important things and you're holding the keys to the cell.'
'Mind you, releasing that feller is going to reap buckets of blood deep enough that even those dark gods you serve will be pleased. Like as not all the kingdoms will again be at each other's throat and marching here and there with blood on the brain.'
'Course, that's all good by me. The more the various kingdoms choose to fight the better it is for the trees provided they don't go chop crazy building their silly machines to kill each other off faster. Then again, some things might be worth sacrificing a few trees.'
'Me, I've got greater concerns than that silliness like fighting true corruption in the world that tries to dig in the heart of the wod and rot from within.'
"All this speak of trees and nature sickens me. Perhaps when we get out of here, and I make my way home, I'll use my family ties to burn down several forests, just out of spite. Your a weak man Loche, with apparently no sense of honor, country or duty. I may be a Paladin of Dol Arrah and a worshiper of the Nine, Six and One, but first and foremost I am a Karrnathi. Speak ill of my King or Country again and I will run you through, promise." With that, he puts his sword away, and promptly turns his back on the Druid.
"Oh great a bloodthirsty paladin, who ever would have thought such things existed. Darius might as well get a holy symbol and call himself a paladin too since that is apparently all it takes.
<Mocking Vorik,> "Oh well I guess I will follow which ever deity is convenient for me at the moment."
<more serious voice> "I really don't care if you 2 kill each other, but I am sure Dol Arrah would be more tactical about where to pick his fights if he were here. In other words wait until the mission is over. Just because you want to die for some slight against a king you don't even know does not mean I should have too. With that said I am going to break the door down to get this prisoner out if someone does not start trying to open it before I get to it."
<Bones starts heading toward the door, or at least that direction if he has a general direction of where it is. His muscles visibly tighten as he grips the urgrosh, preparing for the swing when he reaches the door.>
"No no no... " Darius placed a calming hand on the Dwarfs shoulder, preventing him from swinging his Urgrosh at the Cell door. "You'll just damage it then we will never get him out. I understand you are impatient, as am I and everyone else, but really... This is not a time for haste Bones. Relax for a moment and take a deep breath!"
Sighing softly, passing a look over Vorik and Loche once more, Darius shakes his head before stepping up to the Dwarf Guard and dragging him out from under the Beetles attentions, kneeling on his chest and drawing a knife, and a vile of poison.
"See this..." Darius pushed the vial of Poison under the Dwarfs nose so he could hardly miss it. "This Poison can turn your insides into your outsides!"
"So unless you want a taste I'd listen up!" He pressed the blade softly to the Dwarfs cheek, making sure not to cut him.
"I took a job... A secret job and got stuck here with this group of misfits. As you can imagine that don't best please me right now and I'm looking to kill some folk. Now I could kill you, right now, hands down. But I don't wanna."
Moving his knee off the Dwarfs chest, Darius stood, pulling him to his feet as he did, pushing him towards the Cell Door. "Open the damn Cell or I might change my mind!"
Sheathing the dagger Darius drew his Blade and took a step back, leveling the point on the Dwarf. "I'm sure you have a family or a pet you care about. Open the Cell and let us get the hells out of here and you'll see them again!"
Dakvor watched with alarm the volatile exchange between the paladin and the druid. The half-orc monk wisely kept quiet as he had already realized a long time ago that diplomacy is the least of his skills.
Dakvor was reminded of one of the lessons in the monastery about something about an argument between a fish who only saw the bottom of a boat and a bird who only saw the top of the same boat. He couldn't remember what the argument was but the gist was they were talking about the same boat. He can't help but think that the two are arguing about a "same boat". In any case not even that lesson had an answer on how to resolve such an argument.
Though the elf and the dwarf admirably tried to talk sense to the two strong-headed humans, the situation seemed might still get out of hand but finally, Vorik sheathed his sword.
Dakvor was visibly relieved and waited hopefully for Vorik to hand the keys to Bones before the dwarf with his fearsome weapon smash the cell door. Thankfully, Darius took the matters on his own hands but as he heard and saw the elf's brand of diplomacy, Dakvor feared that with the elf around, he'd be hard-pressed to always save Barik from death especially now with the poisoned blade so near to Barik.
Dakvor kept his smile hidden as he then realizes the elf's ruse about the poisoned blade and sheathed it and threatened Barik again in a different way. "Well, he's not as cold-blooded as I think but then again maybe he just didn't have that particular poison right now."