The guards burst in through the door, clubs in hands.
Kalethe reaches out, trying to grab the horn from the guard. He wrestles with it a moment before letting go, unable to grab the horn.
As the door bursts open I let fly with my readied spell, sending it to burst just behind the guards, so that it'll catch both of them and splash back into the room they've just left, in case the next shift has already arrived. I'll try to avoid hitting Kalethe, but if I catch him too... well, it's just a minute's nap.
Both guards look around in surprise. As Ash throws a spell their way, their eyes roll up in the back of their heads and each falls to the ground. Asleep.
"Night night boys," I smirk. "If you were luckier and prettier you'd wake up in some Sultana's harem - but I don't think you'll be waking up at all." I paused. "Slit their throats neatly. I abhor mess. Unless someone thinks we'd profit from a little interrogation. They'll be awake in a minute."
I'm more than content to let someone else handle that messy business - and take the risk of stepping into the guardroom first.
Kalethe looks down at their inert bodies. He twitches slightly, I--I'd like to keep one alive, to torture. . . . for uh information. . . . he looks around nervously for a moment, then bends down, shaking one man, and crushing the windpipe of the other.
The guard wakes, but all he can do is scrabble weakly at his throat as he slowly suffocates.
Dog Tooth pops the door open to the cell and heads towards the entrance door. He makes sure to step on the suffocating guard's throat on his way out. He peeks out to make sure the coast is clear.
Itzal picks up the horn and slithers away with it, bringing it to his master.
Ami drops her prisoner act, picks up the horn and shrugs in Kalethe's direction. "Answers could be useful...Just don't let him scream too loud. Wouldn't want to alert his friends..."
As she drops the horn in the sack, she turns to Itzal, "Go with that gob..uh..." she points and Dogtooth, "...go with him. Stay in full mental communication with me, but otherwise do whatever he asks."
I sigh quietly as Kalethe plays with his food. Boys will be boys, I suppose...
Grumblejack comes out of his cage charging at the little'uns. He begins to beat the chocking man until there's little left of him.
Dog Tooth and Itzal step out into the main room. It's plain room with nothing but two chairs and a small table. Along the far wall there is a fireplace without a fire, though heat seems to be coming up from the hole in the back of the fireplace. Hanging on the wall is a set of keys.
Slowly the guard wakes up, he looks down at his manacled hands and up at the freed prisoners. "No, no. Let me go. I'll do anything. Please, please, please!"
Kalethe bends down, his eyes smiling. I'll take one of those daggers now, he says dragging the man to the back of the prison. He grabs one of the daggers, Let's play a game. You try to guess what I want to know. I'll stop hurting you when you're right.
Iana sighs as she sees Kalethe dragging the guard away. "I'm all for torture but at least get the info..." Iana leaves her prisoner persona and follows Kalethe speaking with a sadistic smile: "Oh but I want to ask him somethings... So why don't you enjoy yourself, with while I ask questions?"
When Iana thinks the guard is both afraid and in enough pai she will ask some questions:
"How many guards are there?"
"When is their shift change?"
"Do you always move in pairs? Do you guys have any special signals? Form of identification? How common is a new guard arriving?"
The guard starts talking before the knife touches his skin.
How many guards are there?
Please don't let him hurt me. There are 10 guards on duty at any time. Ow! Plus three off duty.
When is their shift change?
The change of guard happens in six hours.
Do you always move in pairs?
We patrol in pairs, but no, not always. Make it stop. Make it stop. the man is blubbering by this point.
Do you guys have any special signals?
Just the signal horn. Nothing else can be heard-- he cuts off at a fresh bit of pain.
Form of identification?
Uh . . . uh . . . he tries to think, There's a password. Hesterfield.
How common is a new guard arriving?
He shakes his head, screams, Never. Now tell him to stop.
Kalethe shakes his head, We haven't finished our game yet. If you're done with yours Iana, he asks. The Kasetha gets back to work. Screams come from the guards throat, coupled with increasingly strange assertions. The Warden can use magic. He stays in his tower. Sergeant Blackerly runs a card game most nights. There are three dogs. They'll eat anything. Stop. Stop. Stop. I can't--I have two brothers. I'm 18. My mom's dead. My name is Dale. I don't know what you want! The man breaks down into uncontrollable sobs, which eventually cut off all together.
" Hey Itzal, d-d'ya mind checking out that chimney chute? Let me know just how far down it goes...and maybe how far up too. I'm real curious to see what's in THAT room."
Dog Tooth moves towards room 20.
"Yesss...little massster"
Itzal attempts to slither down the chimney and extend his head around the opening to see what is below.
Itzal mentally relays what he saw to Ami, slithers back to the main floor and repeats the information to Dogtooth. He then manuevers back into the chimney and tries to see out the top.
Once again he returns to the main floor and relays information to both Ami and Dogtooth.
Itzal is able to make it most of the way down, but it seems there is a roaring fire in the fireplace below with some sort of kettle hanging over it. Itzal is unable to make out what is in the room without placing himself to near the fire, though it seems he could probably jump into the room. He would not be able to remain hidden while doing so or return the way he came, but it is a possibility.
While he does this, Dog Tooth investigates the other room. The door is not locked, and he enters with ease. In this room there is a larger table with four chairs. It seems plain other than that.
Ami grimaces a little as she hears the guard cry out in pain. Am I actually feeling bad for him? Would he have shed a tear as I was screaming in the pyre? No. This is the game they started...It's not our fault if we win. She looks from the dead guard to the guard around the corner with Kalethe and has a thought that surprises her. Wow...we could win....
She walks over to the wizard and reaches up to pat her on the arm, "Well done elf...well done indeed." With that she walks over the the dead guard and attempts to look for anything that may be of use. "Seems you were the lucky one..." she mutters to him with a chuckle as she rifles through his belongings.
Dog Tooth takes a step in and sees nothing out of the usual. He mutters a "Meh" and returns to the others.
"All clear, but uh, I guess you know that...with uh...Itzal...and..all..."
He notices the guards and realized he missed out on some information gathering. His deep voice seemed very bothered that he was left out.
"W-without me? I-I thought we...it's no big deal...was it at least good information? Ugh. Grumblejack, are you ok to move about? We're going to need to maneuver through this place but we're practically blind. I'm not even certain how far up we are or how many levels are within this prison. We need a plan. Any other tools we might've missed on the veil?"
Kalethe sighs as the screams fade to nothing. With a bounce in his step he drags the body to where the other one lies, removing the manacles. Kalethe follows suit, removing anything that might be of use. He repeats the information gained to the others then starts, Okay, we've got a few hours to prepare for the next set. What do we have? Kalethe looks at the veil, Looks like a rope, a . . . window, some bricks maybe, a potion and a . . . lantern. Maybe we're supposed to build a house? I could use the bricks as weapons, he says reaching forward and pulling them out. And this stuff. He pokes the pile of items from the guards with his foot.
"I fear my skills will be of little use," I offer. "Though I still have a little magic left in me," I sigh, my eyes welling. "I relied on my darling Thrush for this kind of thing, and these brutes slaughtered him," I continue, as they narrow vengefully through the tears.
Feeling little about the screams of dead men, Paul says "Do we really want to wait for the guard change? Sure we can wait as the little one and the sorcerer's snake scouts but every moment we delay increases the likelihood of something happening we don't expect."
Kalethe looks up surprised, Yes we want to wait for guard change. We shouldn't wait longer than that, but at the change, Blackerly and some of the other guards will be engaged in a card game while they drink. It's worth the risk of a few hours.
Ami mulls over the conversation.
"Having the guards occupied with their gambling and drinking will certainly help our escape, but we don't know for sure when the game starts...only that it runs tonight."
She turns to Ashmoniel, "Also, didn't you say one of these two were planning on attending the game? If so, their chances of being missed will be higher when the new shift comes...even if we dispose of their replacements."
Yes, but he also said he'd lost a lot the night before, they're just as likely to assume he doesn't want to lose any more gold. And he said, 'right after guard change.' Kalethe shakes his head, If you all want to escape now, that's fine. But I think we have a better chance after change.
Each guard had:
•chain shirt
•heavy steel shield
•longsword
•leather club
•longbow with 20 arrows
•a key (doesn't seem to fit anywhere in the cells)
Kalethe pulls on the pile of "bricks," and a large sum of gold comes out, right around 100 pieces.
Itzal comes back reporting that it sounds like someone is cooking downstairs. Up the chimney, it appears to be mid-afternoon, there are two guards patrolling the wall around the keep witha large open area between the building you are in and the wall. There is a gatehouse with a narrow bridge after that. All of this is to the north. As well, there are two guards atop the gatehouse, standing watch.
Unless someones stops her Iana strips one of the guards from their armor and clothes. She then begins cleaning any blood of them using the rags while talking: "If we wait for the next shift change. We can take them out too, leaving only 6 guards on duty. And some of them will be joining the gambling reducing their numbers even further." After cleaning the clothes Iana changes into them taking the shield, the sword and club. She then spends some time so that either clothes, armor or hair, cover her scales.
As Granius and Kalethe argue, Dog Tooth begins to pace anxiously. Not knowing what to expect outside of the current room is getting to him. He is conflicted. What he knows as logical is to wait until after sun down, while the guards play their games but what he feels is tugging at him, telling him to run as far away from Branderscar as possible.
"Paul, Kalethe is right. We've got to wait, at least until sundown. I hate the idea of wasting even another second here but uhhh, that's logic for ya. S-sometimes it's best to do what you don't want to do. We'll wait. While we wait, we can have Itzal go back up the thing and scope the grounds out. From there we can piece together a crude map of the place and figure out where we're going."
He then glances over at the veil and turns to Ash
"Wizard, what significance does this window play? Is it some sort of scroll or spell or thing that may uh help us? It must've been included for a reason..."
"Hmm," I say. "It could be a-
Knowledge (arcane/planes/local/nobility) or Spellcraft, though I will not make another use of Detect Magic
Appraise
Ami listens as her cellmates discuss the issue. When Iana mention there only being six guards left on duty she finds herself nodding in agreement.
"That is a good point. We know the warden rarely leaves the tower and Blackerly will be gambling..." Ami starts to count on her fingers, "We have killed two guards. At least two other guards are probably going to be with Blackerly. Two guards are on the wall. Two more at the gate." Ami thinks for a moment. "If we take out two replacements, that leaves at most three guarding the rest of the prison..." Thinking for a moment, she says, "So I think I am going to have to change my vote to wait. Does anyone have a plan for dealing with the four outside? I'm sure they are carrying those pesky horns..."
Ami looks a little nervous when Dog Tooth suggests having Itzal scout the rest of the prison. It will hurt him if we are that far apart...but we do need the information... After a moment of contemplation, she nods "Very well. I'm not sure how much more will will find outside...but perhaps we could try to map the inside...at least the path to the exit...perhaps even find supplies..."
"Good arguments from all of you. I'm fine with waiting, I suppose. However, we should see about finding a good place to either lure the guards to or something along those lines. Unless we set up the bodies to look like they are still alive,a hard thing to do now, they will be expecting to see their fellows at their posts. NOt seeing that may raise the alarm faster than we can kill them." Paul looks at the other guards equipment, "Considering the others of our troupe are of a more magical or dexterous persuasion, I will be taking this mans equipment as my fellow follower did." Paul starts to put on the chain shirt, and grabs a shield and club afterward.
Dog Tooth takes a seat on the floor and begins to count the guards on his fingers and toes.
"Unless we're missing anyone else, that sounds about right, Ami."
He shoots a glance over at Grumblejack and drops his voice to a whisper.
"Now how do we factor in Grumblejack? I know he wants his revenge, but if we allow that, he may grab the uh warden's attention. He may also be a useful asset...
L-Like the Devilspawn said... We're mostly magical and dexterous and all that. Brute strength may be of use to us."
"Hmm...now he is free, I suspect we would have to fight him to make him stay. Personally, I would rather have him on our side..." Ami whispers back, looking nervously at the large ogre. "Perhaps we are underestimating him? He did exactly what he was told last time", she says as she gives a dead guard a little kick. "This guy said that the only thing that can be heard through these walls is the signal horn...as long as we are careful about any horn bearer, I don't think we will attract the Warden's attention."
Ami turns to Ishtak, "I think you should start scouting the floor below us...Figure out where the exit is and see if you can find supplies." She empties the sack and hands it to him. "Use this to bring back any items we ask for."
"Sorry friend, I will heal you when you return..."
Itzal slithers away with the sack held in his fangs.
Itzal goes down the stairs. At the bottom, there is a small room, with a door. Listening, he can hear voices on the other side. Peeking through a crack, Itzal can see two guards at the end of a long hallway. One carries a signal horn. The hallway is bare of decoration and furnishings. There doesn't seem to be anywhere to hide in the hallway. Though it is likely--judging from his journey up the chimney--that the door these men are guarding is the exit.
Kalethe looks to Paul, With this open stairwell, I think we could have some wait up here, and I could wait above the landing, in hiding. When the change of guard comes, I could jump down, cutting off escape while everyone else charges from the top. Of course if they've got a horn we'll go for that first. If not, we just slaughter them.
Iana nods to Kalethe's suggestion "Yes I agree, but I suggest me and our cleric should take the guards place, while our more arcane inclined friends stay each one inside a room with the doors open, while Dogtooth and Itzal hide themselves. This should allow us to get the initiative and truly surround them." After saying that Iana nods to Grumblejack and says: "I also think its better someone accompany our big friend. And he seems to like Ami." After speaking that she goes to Paul and speaks: "Even if we do not do this there are certainly benefits to looking like one of our enemies." Unless Paul refuses Iana will disguise him. "Better make it good, I don't think he has the guards' poise. Though that's for the better of course."
"Fine," I agreed. After all, I've never escaped from anywhere... unlike this group of hardened criminals. Much to learn. But I'm good at that.
Ami looks impressed, although she does let out a little sigh when Iana mentions Grumblejack. How did I end up being responsible him? I suppose it doesn't hurt have a big guy like that in between you and the guards...
"Yes...I think thats a very good plan. The only suggestion that I would make is that, if at all possible, Ishtak should hide near the door or the stairs. That way he can try to steal to horn before the guards are aware of our presence."
Once the plan is finalized, Ami goes to hide in the small room nearby. She addresses Grumblejack with a gentle and motherly tone. "Come with me please Grumblejack...Take a club or a sword if it will help you fight. This time we are going to stay very quiet and hide in this room. Then, when the others attack you can run out and give those guards a beating they won't soon forget. Understand?
Kalethe drags the dead guards over to Grumblejack's now empty cell. He then sets himself up, hiding just over the landing and he watches.
Dog Tooth picks himself off the floor, dusts himself off and complies with Iana's plan. He drags his feet as hides behind the cell room door. He's grown restless and bored. Having seen nothing but the dreary, dingy walls of Branderscar has left him needing stimulation. A book, a pamphlet, an invoice-- anything to read would suffice.
This plan better work. What a miserable place to be stuck in, and for no reason.
"Y'know, this place has been getting to my head. Originally, after leaving Branderscar, I wanted to run and find my old master. D-don't know what it is that gave me a change of heart but uh I wanna stay. For the long haul. I've learned a meaningful thing being here with you all.. Whatever these people have planned...Tiadora and her friend... I want to see it through... or at least until we're even."
I silently pull the door closed behind me, ready to burst out of the cellblock and attack at the first sound of battle.
You hear a set of guards begin to chatter as they walk up the stairs, Ami hears in her mind There is no horn between them. As Kalethe looks down on them, he is unable to see a horn either. The guards continue up the steps, seeing the guards. But they don't seem to be paying much attention.