"He could prove to be a good distraction or someone else for the guards to aim their Longbows at. Besides we can always kill him later. "
"Perhaps." he says lowering the bow. he calls out to the ogre.
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walking over to the guards gear, Seren takes the remaining club and heavy steel shield.
Hearing the commotion from the interrogation room Seren meanders over.
"Let him come. If the choice is to shoot at us or a charging ogre, I'm betting the ogre will be a more likely target for the guards." Seren Acknowledges.
"Eric can I see that veil. I am curious to see what else it might hold."
Eric hands the veil over to Seren before getting to work on try to free the ogre with the keys.
"Ha, little un' think he scares me, and he is so like the tin cans, cowards to the bone, Says he kill me when I can't do nothing myself. Coward like all the uns'" he spat, as if to show disgust. Hearing what Seren has to say, he strains against his chains and says "Go then cowards, free me, even if it's to die in your place. I can at least kill the tin can's that caught me and tossed me in this rat role."
You all notice that he is surprisingly well learned and intelligent for an average ogre.
Adanna will turn to the Grumblejack and give a warm smile, saying "Now now, not all of us little ones are as rude as my companions here. It's nice to meet you Grumblejack, I'm Adanna. I'm impressed, I haven't seen many of your kind that speak common, and I never learned your native tongue, I'm sorry to say. What's say you that we get out of here, crack the Sergeant's skull into splinters, and then leave this place and go find some good food and drink?"
"My last meal was a delicious elf, I will join you but watch your back elfy, else you turn into meat. I'm burned, I'm starved, I'm weak. Let me feast at least on the guards corpse."
seeing the spell component pouch, Seren reaches in and throws it at Adanna "I did like how you managed to persuade that guard to sleep. This may be of use to you."
"Looks like there is clothing in here for everyone if your interested in getting out of the rags. 'Cept you Grumblejack, sorry about that. If you would like to have a go at the guard, I have no objections. Just don't eat the one that is....just leave one of them alive for now." Seren states off-hand while she rummages through the remainder of the sack.
Confident the sack holds nothing else, Seren reaches into the bag, grabbing at a set of clothing. "Finally. guh, if I never have to wear rags like this again, it will still be too soon." She quickly sheds her dirty rags, donning the clothing. She spends a couple of minutes fashioning the clothing in such a way to hide most of her scars and rotted skin. She ponders for a moment and then ties the veil to cover part of her face.
Finally out of the rags, Seren will head back to where the guards were located and grab the remaining dagger, stashing it in the waistband of her new clothing.
The window in the veil is just that, a window. You can put it on a wall and create a window. Once used, it can't be removed.
"Free me then un', an I don't need clothes, I need armor, weapon and food."
If possible, based on the clothing, Eric will hide the chain shirt under the newly discovered clothing from the veil.
"We are short on time, Grumblejack. Make quick with your meal. Feel free to rip a leg off the table or something to fashion into a club. Or if you'd rather, take this sword. I'll just use a dagger for now. As for armor, that may have to wait. And don't worry Adanna. I'm sure there will be plenty of others for Grumblejack to eat first,"" says Eric light-heartedly.
Adanna will smile at Grumblejack a little wider before leaning closer to him and saying softly, "That sounds fair. If I should die in this place then feel free to make a meal of me, no sense in letting it go to waste." Afterwards, she will smile at Eric before almost cooing, "Oh, I am very sure of that."
After that, Adanna walks away from the ogre, moving towards Seren and accepting the pouch with a thankful nod. She looks in it and pulls out a bit of string and a chip of wood before looking at the others and saying, "This is all that I need for what I can do. What about anyone else?
"Yes, some better clothes are a nice change... especially some clean ones..." says Adanna before taking the new clothes and finding an out of the way corner to change in to try and conserve some of her dignity. Afterwards, she really will seem to be a good bit happier, with a more consistent smile and some renewed strength in her step.
"Zerik, let me see that spare dagger. I think it might be a bit too small for our friend."
Lysa will take a set of clothes, change out of her rags , then spend a few minutes and judicious use of prestidigitation to get herself looking presentable.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Grumblejack," she says. "I've never had the opportunity to meet an ogre before. Once we get out of here, I would be honored if you could tell me more of your people."
"I think Zerik had the right idea about this one. A cunning ogre?" Marsella shakes her head, suspicious, then heads into their cell to change into normal clothes
"You'll chip your tooth if you try to take a bite out of me, Grumblejack." Marsella states, coming back into full view outside the fortified cell.
"There is more to this ogre then we realize. When was the last time you saw an ogre with horns?" Seren asks, the ogre peaking her curiosity.
"Eric keep your sword. This club will be of more use to the ogre anyways. Smashing is far more fun then slicing." She recommends, handing Grumblejack her club.
After seeing Sozia Prestidigitation herself clean, Adanna will gawk for a moment, before saying "I wish I knew how to do that. And while it probably isn't the same, I'd kill for a nice bath bath right now..."
"Erik, from the way you attacked that the guard, I'm going to guess that you have not been given much training with blades. Seren is correct, keep the longsword, the dagger will not be much use to you against trained guards with swords." he says.
"Footwork is the most important. Watch me." he demonstrates and shows Erik some basic cuts and thrusts. "Use the sword and shield, it will give you good protection and a chance to attack."
"Here Seren, you can have this club." says Zerik handing her the club he had taken earlier.
After showing Eric the basics Zerik picks up the remaining arrows and asks the Ogre. "This does not appear to be an ordinary ogre" "Ogre, what is your name or how do you prefer to be addressed? Do you have any skill with the sword?"
"It's a simple enough trick," Lysa says, responding to Adanna's comment. "Very useful when basic amenities cannot be had, though I'll agree a long, hot bath would be lovely right now. Unfortunately, I don't know that I could teach it to you - I'm not familiar with your brand of magic. Still, let me see that pouch for a moment."
"I've already told you un, the name is Grumblejack." He says while eating por Bryn.
There's no fire in the fire place, you notice the heat come from two lateral holes, the heat comes from the floor below.
Zerik moves inside the fireplace looking upward to see if there is some way to climb.
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Seren looks at grumblejack "Who were your parents? those horns remind me of those of a Tieflings...Do you maybe have some demon in your blood?" She asks inquisitively.
"Speaking of evil things. Those brutes back there look like they have no clue what they are doing when they torture someone." Seren consoles, indicating at the guards. "Lashes and bruises, and to vital areas no less, this won't do. Torture like this is just inefficient and in poor taste. Really, people should take pride in their work. Plus it's likely left you in a condition where your not going to be of much use. I think I can help with that. Let's give you a chance of actually getting out of here with us."
Hearing what Lyza has to say, he stops eating and stand up towering above all of you. His face covered in blood and gore, he smiles to her and says "The name is Grumblejack, Little un' of the red eye."
"I do prefer smashing than slicing uns', they scream more then you smash them."
He looks to Adanna as if she were food and says "Gooood to know you too green eye Un" And resume eating again.
As you cast your magic to heal the ogre, you see surprise and fear in his eyes. Then adoration. He is at loss for what to say for some moments, and then he says in a grumphy voice "You will not buy me witch, keep your spells for yourself..."
When Lyza goes to hand the pouch back to Adanna, she will shake her head, saying "No, you keep it. I have what I need. And I would hope if I could learn that, that I would have by now." and then muttering to herself "Andros and I need to have a talk about that..."
Turning to everyone, Adanna addresses the ragtag group, saying "Ok, lets get a bit organized. We should probably get moving soon. I guess we're going to go the same way out that we were brought in, back through the doors there? Any better ideas?"
Seren stares at Adanna and shrugs her shoulders. "Seems as good a plan as any. When we need it I can create us a quick hole in a wall, but now is not the time to use it. Might as well get ourselves out of this cell block to start with."
Zerik further inspects the chimney.
He then returns to the others and says, "I think I might have found another way. It seems we can climb through the chimney both up and down. I shall scout ahead. If anyone else is a good climber they may join me."
Adanna looks over at the chimney with worry on her face. "Are you sure that is safe? What if there is a fire in it?"
I just get a really bad feeling about this...
"I wouldn't try and climb into a burning chimney now would I. Have a look for yourself." he says incredulously. "Thought elves were supposed to be intelligent."
The climb DC is medium (DC 15). The ogre will be able to pass if you wish to go in that direction. The fireplace is not lit and it has been some time since it were used, but you can feel the heat from below. Maybe there's another fireplace in the floor bellow and it is lit. Going up too may not be the best opion either for those that can't hide. It's still day, and will be easy to spot.
Zerik climbs upwards to see what's above them. He climbs being careful to be quiet so that he doesn't attract the attention of anyone that might be near the opening.
The guardtowers seens to be unmanned, they are each three stories tall with a stout but aged door at their base. You can see a pair of guards patrols the walls mostly looking for activity in the courtyard. They have a bullseye lantern and a signal horn. The walls are 60ft tall and the tower add more 20ft. From where you are, the roof blocks the line to what is directly ahead of you. At your right, you can see a small vegetable and herb garden(5), you can also see another plant separated from the rest of the garden(5a).
Eric waits at the base of the chimney while Zerik scouts up. Eric will be standing ready to catch Zerik in the event he falls down.
Zerik tries to identify the plant but is unable to. He commits the scene to memory, noting where the sun sets to get his bearings. He climbs back to the others and recites what he saw to the others in detail his years of practice, taking in every detail coming to his aid.
"I'm going to try see what is below us though there seems to be a fire."
Zerik descends downwards as far as he can go safely and taking care to be as silent possible, the way he always is.
There are two servants working on the kitchen, and two doors in the place. From what you saw on the roof, the door on the right, leads to the yard, near the garden.
x DC 15 (-2 from armor.)
You were able to not get burned and get a look in the room, the servants did not seen to have noticed you. They are not armed and you did not saw any sginal horn with then.
Besides, the usual collection of plates, bowls and other cooking paraphernalia, there are six large knives here (equivalent to a dagger) and a long meat cleaver (equivalent to a short sword).
The smells in the kitchen remind him how long it has been since he had a decent meal. He pushes the thought aside and starts climbing. Zerik one again returns to the cells where they were previous held and recounts what he has seen down below.
"Any of you have any ideas?" he asks while straining to think of how all that he has seen can help in their escape. "All I can think of is to climb up the chimney, then down the wall, try and subdue the guards and then go up one of the towers and over the wall, but that will be impossible for everyone without rope."
Adanna looks over at Zerik, the soot on his hands from the fireplace, and shakes her head, "I've never been much of a climber. I'd probably just end up falling into the fire. Though if the fire were put out, then I could probably jump down or something. But I'm sure putting out the fire would put the servants at alert, so we would need to stop them first. So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not going to be very much help on this one."
"I am in much the same position," Lysa adds. "We should check to see where the stairs lead.
"I could probably climb if we needed, but I tend to agree that the stairs are probably our best bet. The Chimney has us trapped in a very tight space...not something I'm particularly keen on. I know the fun I've had with people stuck in tight places." Seren recalls, thinking of past tortures.
Thinking on Zerik's other comments Seren inspect the remaining patches on the veil covering her eyes."And on the topic of rope...I think I've got us covered, it looks like one of these patches will do nicely if we find the need for some."
"Being where they don't expect us is the usually the best path. With the rope we can all make it to the roof."
"Go up to the roof and have a look. That plant they are growing in the courtyard, there is a reason they grow it separately and I cannot identify it. It may be nothing, but it is better to have every piece of information no matter how insignificant it may seem."
Not waiting for a response Zerik takes the rope and climbs up the chimney. He ties the rope and lets it down for the others to climb and then comes back into their cell block. "It's also another way out if we need it."
"I'll check the stairs now."
Zerik goes into the stairway proceeds down the stairs and seeing only one exit, opens the door as silently as possible and peaks out.
Zerik returns to the others and tells them what he has seen.
"I was unable to see much, but I was more concerned with not being discovered. We can assume they carry similar arms and would presumably have a signal horn. I suggest climbing through the chimney. We should avoid skirmishes where possible. Anything that causes sound will likely draw attention to ourselves."
"Chimney's fine by me." Marsella shrugs. "But we have different strengths." She indicates the other ladies who are turning their noses up at the prospect of climbing.
Lysa takes a moment to look ruefully at her fingers, as though she were concerned about chipping a nail, then sighs.
"So be it," she says, then proceeds to follow the rest of the group up the chimney.