Grumblejack's fingers went white from gripping the bars. He snorted at her words, he hated being misunderstood but he was used to it. His ability to speak common was rough, had this been in his native tongue he'd had an easier time. He sneered as he spoke, his face pressing lightly against the bars "Grumblejack does not fear little uns, Grumblejack knows he will die if he stays and he wants to die in battle with pride. But Grumblejack is weak and injured...Guards feed him tainted food and drink, he have to eat to live, to kill them one day, but it makes his strength disappear. Still...Grumblejack will fight for his freedom but he is not so good at taking orders...especially little uns. Maybe Grumblejack will see you are worth listening to instead of looking at." he said said kicking the door trying to emphasize his desire to get out.
Drack can tell by his knowledge of wounds, that the giant has been beaten often, but the reason the guards can even contain him is because of all the underlying injuries. Some have healed over but most are still oozing slightly. Grumblejack turns his attention towards the dead guard on the ground and snorts "Meat is no good uncooked, sweet meats maybe...but Grumblejack would prefer his meals once he has seen the sky again." he voice deep, so deep the party can feel it in their bones when he speaks despite him speaking somewhat quietly.
Carys speaks up as she walks up quietly behind the group "He barely alive, if we wish to bring him, we must waste resources. He is also poisoned by the guards. I bet our Nagaji friend here could even beat him in a test of strength right now." she says matter of factly.
Her words cause the Giant to swell in anger a bit but he quickly channels it elsewhere by slamming his fist into the stone wall.
The wall cracks under his anger, but clearly it'd be useless for me to try and escape by breaking the stone wall, not to mention the time and strength he'd have to waste to do it.
"A resource for a resource." Ileosa said with a simple roll of her shoulders. Though she took a moment to look over all of the others who had been thrown into a cell with her earlier. Finally she stepped up. "I can give you a small bit a healing, as for the poison well... I cannot rid you of that. Though I have another spell that might help for a very short time." She explained.
"I saw we let him out. Let him fight those that have imprisoned him, see the sky again or as he said die with pride." Ileosa told them honestly. "We've little to lose no?"
Ella is away from the others, guarding the door, but if Ileosa glances her way she'll nod her agreement.
"Maybe Grumblejack will see you are worth listening to instead of looking at."
Senara continues to entreat Grumblejack with pretty words and prettier glances despite the snarls and snorts the ogre gives her in return. But she drops the coy act after his last seemingly dismissive comment and instead levels a glare at the ogre that makes the room feel suddenly several degrees below cordial. After silently weighing the risks and benefits of releasing the admittedly insubordinate giant, Senara favors Grumblejack with a small, thin smile. "If you know what's good for you, you will."
In response to Ileosa's question, Senara answers, "Only life and limb." Nevertheless, she starts trying the different keys on the guard's keyring until she finds the one that opens Grumblejack's cell.
Grumblejack watched the little 'uns curiously as the debated. He tried to hide his surprise at her threatening him before releasing him. When the lock tumbled he waited till her hands were free before pushing the door open and letting himself out.
He had been forced to stoop in his cell but once outside, his impressive stature made him tower over even Drack by about two feet. He stared at the others in the room, noting the other dead guard before he grabbed the leg of the one offered as food and he picked it up with some effort. He clasped both hands over the feet of the body and swung it at one of the cells' bars.
There was a sickening crack and the body gave a bit but seemed to hold on well. He nodded "This will work, better than fists...and replenishable" he said grinning in a twisted manner.
He looked warily at the one that offered to heal him but he nodded reluctantly.
Senara moves aside and watches Grumblejack step outside his cell, her smug smirk belying how uneasy she is in the presence of the newly released ogre, his weakened state notwithstanding. She has never been more aware of her connection to the infernal plane than in that moment of waiting, tensely, for the giant to show any sign of hostility, the highborn young woman ready to summon another hellish creature to her defense if need be. Thankfully, the tension is soon broken when Grumblejack demonstrates a certain savage effectiveness by using one of the dead guardsmen as a club. "How brutally resourceful of you," Senara comments with hint of humor lacing her tone. "Hopefully we can find you something more wieldy in time, but for now, seeing you swing around their dead comrades should put the fear of Asmodeus into the guards." Lowering her guard for now, Senara turns to address Drack, but not before giving Ileosa a subtle nod, indicating she should see to Grumblejack's wounds if she chooses.
"Speaking of The Archstar, I can heal your wounds for you, but I'll have to ask for His blessing." Reaching into her pouch of spell components, Senara retrieves a small vial containing a thick, nearly black liquid: Devil's blood. "I should warn you, the process is not entirely without pain. The Lord gives his aid to those who are deserving of it, but there is always a price." So saying, Senara unstoppers the vial and tips a single drop of the viscous vital fluid onto her fingertip. She raises the slender digit toward Drack's head, signalling that he'll need to crouch down if he chooses to accept Asmodeus's gift.
As Senara moved to heal their serpent kind friend, Ileosa stepped up to Grumblejack. "Healing, as promised." Ileosa told him as placed her hand upon his arm, while showing one of the two symbols of Asmodeous they had been given.
"Yes well, now that we have another ally, does anyone happen to know the way out?" She asked as she looked around. "Or even a wall that happens to be on the most outter wall? After all we do have that window."
As the other indicate they are ready to move on and discuss, Ella steps away from the door. Listening to Ileosa, she puts in her own thoughts once she is done "Do we know how far we are up?" she asks. "The rope might not be enough, if we use the window now. I think we need more information. The stairs there lead down, quiet ones could look, come back, then plan."
She'll size up the ogre, someone even taller than their own giant Drack. If nothing else this imprisonment has given her a new perspective on her own height. "Grumblejack..." she start in his own gutterly langauge "I am Ella. We will be killing together soon, though we are not kin. May you make them regret ever hearing your name." with a wide hungry smile, she'll nod and turn toward the stairs.
The group does a little reconnaissance and healing. Drack pauses before he scouts and lets Senara anointed him with Asmodeus's blessed healing. From there he goes and checks out the rest of the level.
All is quiet, sadly nothing of real interest apart from the stairwell down and an empty yet warm fireplace. A quick inspection reveals you could climb down to the lower level through it, if you're brave enough. Judging from the smells, you'll likely end up in the Kitchen of the Prison.
Grumblejack flinches as Ileosa uses magic to heal him. But once he can see some of his wounds knit, he looks relieved and appreciative. One of his big, gnarled ears twitch as he hears his native tongue. The dialect was a bit odd coming from one so small and with a slender tongue but he was pleased to hear it all the same.
He nodded to her words "They will not hear my name, only the crunching of their bones under the weight of my blows." he said in appreciation back.
Carys is quiet throughout the start of their escape, nervous and uncertain. In the ogre's cell she reaches inside herself and pulls out the silk veil once more, tugging on threads and distributing clothes and supplies.
"While you all get ready I'm going to take a look ahead." Ileosa said before she moved ahead of the group. She took a look around the area before slipping into the guard room first.
Ileosa gives the nod before she slips into the Guard room. She runs into Drack rather quickly, she sees that he is combing over the room and the interrogation room and notices the stairwell. She gathers her courage and heads down.
She is able to quickly judge that the stairwell is noticeably short, covering only a single level. She gives the new room a quick once over and notices that it is even more barren than the room in which the Guards did their guarding.
She makes her way to the door and trips on the uneven flooring, catching herself with the slits of the door's little window. She manages to sneak a quick peek to notice two guards looking confused at the thud against the door.
She books it back up stairs to warn the others of two more guards that could be coming.
At Ileosa's warning, Ella looks at the others, pointing to where she will hide. Then as quietly as a large warrior wearing armor can, she slips behind the low wall, obscured partially by the guard's table.
When Ileosa beats a hasty retreat upstairs to warn them of the approaching guards, Senara is more surprised to learn that only two guards heard the other woman's bumbling attempt at reconnaissance. Watching Ella take position in one of the shadowed corners of the room, a plan rapidly begins to form in the young Lady's mind. "Right. One of you," Senara glances between Drack and Grumblejack, "with me, please." Quickly moving over to the interrogation room, Senara suggests, "The rest of you should hide in the holding area. Once they start looking for their missing friends, we ambush them from all sides—preferably before they can call for reinforcements."
"Yes, I like that idea." Ileosa nodded to Senara before remembering something. "Oh yes, do be careful of the floor. there is an area that is uneven and will trip you up."
"Though if I am going to fight I would like my dagger back. I believe you have it right Drack?" Ileosa asked.
The party talks briefly once informed of the incoming danger and proceed to scatter with a hastily drawn plan. Everyone makes it to their appointed location just in time for the first of the two Guards to make their way up the stairs.
Both guards have their shields raised and look to be on high alert (Despite the fact that they have both got to have cataracts the size of the scorpion Senara summoned.) First one then the other make their way into the room and call out "Hey...You lot on patrol? I was certain I saw something earlier..." he says as he steps into the middle of the room. He has just enough time to notice the blood pooled on the ground and a confused look to come upon his face when....
Ileosa grinned as she stepped out, seeing Drack down one of the guards. "That was really good." She complimented before she took one of the daggers and aimed for the other guard.
Grumblejack hearing the sounds of battle leans in and squeezes through the door with upper body before attempting to use the Guard's former comrade to break his neck.
The body slams into the stairwell wall missing the poor guard but making a sickening crunch. The body hangs limply and loosely from Grumblejack's hands as he brings it back up and drops it at his feet.
Ella rises up as the guards walk in, slowly to not draw attention... which is unnecessary seeing Drack charge in and hack the first unfortunate nearly in half.
Then Grumble appears, despite missing, the shuddering gore explosion against the wall means there is no possible way anyone is paying attention to Ella.
Time to change that... releasing her hunger, the burning need to kill, she charges with no battle shout.
Her claws bite in deep to the gaping guard, splattering new red to the drenching. Disemboweling the poor man. Making Ella grin BIG.
The guard hears the footsteps and stands up just in time to have a charging Nagaji run him clean through with a blade. His look of shock and horror is forever etched in his face as the life dulls quickly from his eyes.
His friend turns in time to see a dagger sail through the air and catch on his chainmail. He looks somewhat shocked and before the dagger even touches the ground, his hair is blown back exposing his neck from the force of the body slamming against the stairwell. He takes a step back and attempts to flatten his back against the wall.
It's then that Ella's first claw rakes up his stomach, opening him up wide. His eyes filled with fear, he raises the horn and prepares to blow it. His pursed lips press against the opening and he attempts to gather air and blow...but nothing comes. His last moments spent as his neck starts to collapse, letting him see his own trachea lying on the floor beside his own broken and disemboweled corpse.
Ella's glassy eyes turn to Drack, her smile still wide and wild. It is seconds before she manages to get control again. The smile sliding off, getting back to business, leaving her panting hard, she flicks the bits of the man for killed off her nails. "So far so good." Looking at their unarmored companions. "Should we strip off their mail for you?"
Ileosa walked up and returned her dagger to what she saw as the proper place. "We could just strip the mail to take it in general. Fair good price that." She explained with a small smirk.
Ella nods at the logic, bending to help. Drack and Ella are already splattered with blood and gore, so makes sense for them to do the work.
Vriskella's tail thrashed about her and picked up a scrap of clothing that fell away from one of the guards. Her nose curled slightly at the smell and sight. "It's a wonder they don't smell us coming...Though, I suppose with how badly they smell, I'm not surprised. Still, best we just clean all this up then." she said before she quietly spoke a few words in Abyssal.
The fur of her tail vibrated and fluffed silently as she lightly brushed it over each person and all the equipment. Once done she looked around. "Delightful. Not as good as a bath with scented oils, but then we don't also have to spend the next three hours air drying either." she aid batting her lashes.
She looked at the others and grinned "You lot seem perfectly capable without me dirtying my hands. Don't worry, I'll be careful to make myself useful." she said, exposing those sharp teeth.
Senara fights to keep her features set in a neutral expression as her former cellmates begin stripping the guards of their things. It isn't as if she holds some moral objection to claiming a fallen enemy's equipment, especially if it could be used by the victor. But, considering the unique situation they find themselves in—what with trying to break out of prison—taking their gear for the sole purpose of trying to sell it later seems imprudent to the noblewoman. Sneaking past the remaining guards would be a challenge enough without being overburdened by their ill-gotten gains. I pray their greed won't be our downfall.
"No, thank you," Senara says, waving off the offer of secondhand armor. "It might not be the most practical decision, but I'm not at all accustomed to wearing armor and I feel as if it would be a hindrance to me now." Nonchalantly stepping over the eviscerated body of one of the guards, she adds, "Not that I'll need it if you all keep this up."
Leaving the group to their looting, Senara heads downstairs, sidestepping the uneven flooring Ileosa had warned them of and reaching the door without incident. Peeking through the slits in the door's window, the diabolist checks to make certain that the coast is clear before easing the door open. Once the others join her downstairs, Senara points to the first of the doors on the left and crooks an eyebrow at them, silently asking for their thoughts on the matter.
Ileosa followed the group into the next area. She followed Senara's pointing and gave a nod of agreement. It seemed like the proper choice at the moment.
Once they determine there are no guards in the room, Ella will stand watch in the hallway while the others look to see if anything in there will help.
Drack follows shortly thereafter and nods, listening at the next door for a moment to check for movement before slowly opening the door
Stepping into the office, Senara immediately notices the two other doors leading from the room. She presses her finger to her lips, then her ear before pointing toward the doors. With the doors presumably covered, Senara rifles through the papers on the desk, searching for anything that may be of use. Guard schedules, pass phrases, even prisoner dossiers; she would overlook no information that might be used to her—their—advantage.
With the others guarding, and with a quick cursory sweep of the parchments, followed by a thorough delving by Senara, the group finds a complete map of the prisoner. (Complete with the marked locations of all the guard posts.)
Senara takes her time and fumbles through a couple of parchments tossing some aside and stacking a few before going through them again. It takes her a few minutes but soon realizes that with the documents in her hands she has proof beyond any doubt that Sergeant Blackerly is in fact a dirty scumbag and has been stealing quite a bit from the prison.
Ileosa left the group and moved to Senara's side. Leaning close to the summoner she whispered "Fine anything useful?"
Senara gives a subdued, triumphant little hum as she finds the map of the prison, helpfully marked with the location of the guard posts as well as the number of guards that typically man them. Oh Blackerly, you make this too easy. She takes a few moments to study the map, in particular making a note of where the warden's tower is located. She had some unfinished business that she'd like to settle with the old man before they escaped the prison entirely. Hearing a voice next to her, Senara turns and shares a smirk with Ileosa. "Just a hand-drawn map to our freedom," she says, offering it up for the others to take and look over. "Of note are the kitchens and the warden's tower, I think. The warden should know the easiest way out of Branderscar. It'll just be a matter of convincing the old fool it's in his best interest to share that information with us. As for the kitchens, who knows how long we'll be away from civilization once we escape. I don't know about any of you, but I'm personally ill-suited to surviving in the wilds. It might be best we stock up on what supplies we can, while we can."
Turning her attention back to the papers scattered on the desk, Senara looks over them a final time to make certain she hasn't missed anything. Just when she's about to write off the rest as useless administrative documents, she notices how some of the numbers fail to tally up properly. Digging a little deeper, the Lady discovers that the Sergeant has been skimming from the prison budget quite a bit. "And apparently Blackerly has been diverting prison funds into his own coin purse," she mentions, taking the documents for herself. One never knew when such information might come in handy. "A corrupt Mitran. I'll try to contain my surprise."
Finally ready to move on from the office, Senara squints at the map for a moment before pointing at the large room to their left. "Shall we see what other things the good Sergeant might be hiding in what looks to be his personal quarters?"
"It looks like it might either be this room"—Senara points to the one directly above the office on the map —"or this one," she says, shifting her finger up to hover over the northernmost room of the building . Leaving it to the others to choose whether they want to find out what's behind the northern door, Senara decides to test her theory about where the western door leads to. Knowing that the Sergeant might very well be on the other side, she carefully twists the handle, ready to gently let off at the first sign of resistance. If the door turns out to be unlocked, Senara will quietly ease it open.
Ella had just wanted to barrel forward until they got out, ambushing or smashing every little thing in their way. But as Senara triumphantly displayed her map, the large woman had to acknowledge she was wrong. And that the seemingly self absorbed Lady was pretty useful, producing first scorpions and now a map of the prison itself!
It is possible not all with titles are useless turds.
All this was relayed in a curt nod of course.
I can find us food if it comes down to it Ella says at the mention of the kitchens, but she did doubt her ability to find it for so many. But having rations would make travel faster. then shuts it when Senara starts entering another room.
Senara opens the door with mild worry, only to be happy to find the room empty. The place is a mess, pigs might even turn their nose up at the state in which the man seems to be comfortable.
To all who enter, the first thing that you can even thing about is the stench of whiskey in the air. The man may have even bathed in it once or twice you are almost sure.
Still, the room contains discarded clothing, a wardrobe, a bed, and another small desk.
Senara wrinkles her nose at the state of the Sergeant's room. Against her better judgement, she takes a perfunctory sniff and is immediately assailed by the scent of whiskey, with undertones of stale laundry and sour man sweat. It's enough that Senara almost reconsiders searching the room. "If we're still considering burning this place down, I think I know which room we should set fire to first."
Hoping that Vriskella will be just as capable of cleaning this stench off of her, Senara begins the nauseating task of searching through Blackerly's filthy quarters. A woman clearly on a mission, she inspects the clothing by lifting up each piece with the tip of her dagger, she ransacks the desk and any drawers it may have, and searches through the contents of his wardrobe before stripping his bed clean.
"We could do that you know." Ileosa said with a small grin. "We need a way to get out after all. Set fire here and run into the kitchen dressed as workers, toss large amounts of food into bags, then run out while everyone is trying to put it out by going through on of the walls." She suggested with a slight shrug of her shoulders.
"Outside of that any where we go is going to have large amounts of people, and we are only few. The more places we go the less likely we are to escape." She reminded them.
Though Ella likes the idea, she gives Grumblejack a side gaze and says "It won't work for all of us." she'll turn her mismatched eyes to the smaller woman. "Backup plan then? No matter though, fire is a great distraction. Little better."
She darts her gaze to noises here and there, obviously wanting to get moving.
Finished with her inspection of the room, Senara rejoins the others in the office, a look of thinly veiled disgust on her face at the smell she's certain is stuck to her skin. Although disappointed with the items her search turned up, the lady refuses to let the miscalculation keep her from formulating other plans. "You needn't convince me that setting fire to the room is a good distraction. Personally, nothing would be more gratifying than to see the whole place burnt to the ground. But perhaps we should hold off until we're ready to leave this place for good. We've managed to get this far without alerting the guards; I say we should press on a little further and dispatch a few more before we give them any cause for alarm."
After trying the guard's set of keys on northern door to no success, Senara admits defeat with a quiet huff. "Evidently there is a bit of a trust issue within the ranks of the prison staff. Funny, considering Blackerly is the one who's been misappropriating prison funds. No matter." Looking over the map again, she traces the short jaunt between the Sergeant's quarters and the warden's tower. "That window pattern on the veil... If we place it here"—Senara points to the southernmost point of Blackerly's chamber—"we can slip outside and be in the warden's tower before the guards manning the parapets can notice anything."
Looking up from the map, Senara turns her inquisitive gaze on her companions. "What do you think?"
Ella sees something in the noblewoman's eyes, a deep hungry anger screaming behind her fluttering lashes and eloquent speech. Vengeance. Something Ella understands, something she knows won't ever shut the hell up.
So Ella goes over the options in her head. Leave the noblewoman to her bloodbath which will split the group into those who want to leave NOW and those that share Senara's thirst. Or concede for own wants, and see...
Arguing against someone who can wrap words around you like chains is not one of the options.
"Open the window, and dash as fast as possible. There is no way to be sure a guard isn't looking at that moment we create it so luck more than stealth." she adds accepting the plan.
To GrumbleJack in his own tongue, she'll explain what Senara means by the window pattern "We don't know how big the opening will be. If it is too small, you'll be on your own."
Ileosa tapped her temple as she sighed. "I was hoping to use the window upon a well to get us out, after all it would seem the only other way out would be through the main gate house." She pointed out to them.
"We're on our own. The power I get from The First is limited, and while the people here are far more numerous than us or the power I can use." She explained with a simple shrug. "Exploring this place or even taking as many of these people out as we can, cannot be how we operate. Getting out must be." Ileosa said.
There was much to debate, the villians begin their work. Between various uses of the map, spare parchment, a number system, and good old arguing back and forth the group comes to consensus. Time has passed, perhaps an hour, maybe more has passed with one of the villians keeping an ear out for ol Sergeant to come back but nothing eventful happens.
With the plan agreed upon, they slip back out of the Sergeant's quarters and the grou pauses to let one of them check for patrolling guards. Thankfully none have come to replace the ones in the hall, so the person slips over and puts an ear to the door. Again, they hear nothing and carefully open the door and do a visual check. The dining room is barren and silent. Quickly the scout ushers the others across the hall and soon the lot of them have made it into the Dining room, ready to ambush the kitchen.
While Ella is quite tired of talking by the end of their discussion, she is impressed on the minds of these people, and single minded ruthlessness of one in general. Finally they come up with a plan, though she doubts the one's ability to stick to it.
Action is now needed and the large woman practically jumps at the chance... she'll lean her ear to the wood, and then ease open the door.
No matter how quiet most of the group was...Grumblejack wasn't built for stealth. Perhaps it was purely luck that the off duty soldiers didn't wake up (Poor overnight shift guys) but the staff in the kitchen assumed that they had the case of a few guards coming to raid the larders.
Ella pressed her ear to the door, unable to hear anything above the blood pumping in her ears and the eagerness of her body to move again. Feeling safe in the idea, she eased open the door just in time for the door to get yanked out of her hand by another woman. The woman saw the clawed hand in front of her, the giant behind the clawed woman and opened her mouth. Ella's taunt muscles snapped out and clamped her hand over the woman's mouth forcing her quiet.
Behind her, Ella can now see a large man hard at work with a butcher knife in hand. He appeared to be working the chopping block with some rather tough bear meat.
SUDDEN DECISION INITIATIVE!
Ella's eyes widen at the sudden appearance of the plump woman combined with the chaotic sounds of a busy kitchen. Am I deaf? she thinks as her cheeks reddening at her own mistake.
Slamming down her own esteem problems for later, she grabs the littler woman, dragging her face a breath away from her own. Her mismatched eyes... her witch eyes... boring into her.
With one clawed finger to her lips, she goes "Shhhh…"
Sensing the woman is too scared to disobey, Ella twists her around, pressing their bodies together back to front, and steps into the kitchen. "My friends and I are leaving." she announces in a plain flat voice to the large man with a butcher knife (and any others) drawing his startled gaze. Her first claw, blackened and long, presses against the cook's neck who is nestled tightly in her strong arms.
"She can live... you can live...
"Unless. You. Scream."
She pauses looking hard at him "The guards aren't fast enough to save you. Your only hope is us."