as Keres scratches at the patch it peels off in her hand and the clothe becomes a silver unholy symbol of Asmodeus, Our Father Below, First Prince of Hell etc...
Keres eyes gleam as she clasps the holy symbol, feeling her magic return to her, briefly transforming into a young priestess before her form shifted back into her previous one.
Eldros' eyes widen slightly at the sight of the holy symbol. His gaze quickly darts back to the veil, his look one of yearning as he gazes at the small pouch in the bottom left corner of the veil. Could it be? He would allow hope to reign, if his magic was returned. He outwardly remains patient, hoping these fellows will deign to release him from his restraints (assuming they released themselves), while inwardly he implores them to hurry, hurry, before the guards come back!
"Interesting." Paimon whispers, watching Keres shape shift. He then turns his gaze to Zaul, "Do hurry. I owe those men for my meal."
Zaul looks to the ogre with a bit of worry and whispers as well. "Frankly speaking I don't think we have a choice... if he sees us leaving, he's likely to cause a ruckus out of jealously or outrage, right? We'll need to get his attention and give him a plan..." he points out.
"Or. Or... we can just let him go in the middle of the night and use him as a distraction." he muses. "Decisions, decisions..."
the ogre in question is finally pulled from his mysterious reverie by the hushed discussion of his neighbors Grumblejack can hear you littl'un. Why you leave Grumblejack behind when he can be your friend? he smiles in way he must think is winsome, baring a jagged but surprisingly clean set of teeth.
Hearing the hushed bellow, Zaul looks to the side and sees himself being looked at, and immediately worries about the guards who might hear him."Sincerest apologies." he says as he looks the Ogre over. "We automatically assumed you... hostile. Speaking common alone is impressive." he claims as he looks up to the giant. "You want in, then?" he asks with a slight smile.
With that, he scratches at the veil and grabs onto the thieves tools, with a wide grin. He immediately sets himself to the task of removing the shackles.
With a deft flick of his wrist, whether he gets the shackles on time or not, he easily removes himself from the manacles, which he's fairly certain were practically ancient. With that, however, he immediately sets to unshackling paimon as well.
A task he realizes he's slowly getting better at. With that done, however, he moves farther on... As he does, he points to the veil to Paimon. "The veil also has swords or daggers. I feel those are of use to you, and your hands are free. Take watch." he says. Looking back at the Ogre he smiles. "Keep quiet. I'll be with you in just a moment alright?"
Carnadine returns the ogre's smile while patiently waiting for his shackles to be unlocked. "Well met, Grumblejack. As you may have heard, I am Carnadine, and we will be making our departure momentarily. You are most welcome to accompany us. Any prisoner of the current authorities is a friend to me. Would you by chance happen to know if we are near an exterior wall and how high above the ground-floor we are?"
Ogren is shocked at the Oger's ability to speak, however he is also pleased to not have a savage bruit to deal with but rather someone that can be reasoned with.
Hello Grumblejack I apologize for my earlier statement I assumed that you weren't going to be able to be reasoned with. I shan't make that mistake again. If you wish to help us it would be most welcomed with all of us fighting together there is nothing we couldn't defeat. Perhaps after we escape this cell I can buy you a drink of ale? I have no money at the moment but I'm sure I can scrape up some cash on our way out. For now though we must all remain as silent as possible good sir as stealth will be of great importance at the moment.
Grumblejack nods his enormous head at Ogren and excitedly stands, though it's apparent that he's a touch dizzy and off balance. He's obviously injured, sporting several crusted over and somewhat greenish looking wounds. Again showing cunning unbefitting any ogre you've ever heard of he keeps his bass, gravely voice low oh yes, take Grumblejack with; he can help little Car-nah-deen. These littl'uns hurt Grumblejack. He broke two of them but wants to break more.
Zaul, you find it difficult to work on your own manacles with your hands bound but this is offset but the remarkably high quality of the tools . Your first attempt fails, resulting a metallic squeak that seems abnormally loud in the quiet of the prison block, but your second attempt is successful. Your hands are now free. What is more, the locks on the manacles on the remainder of your companions are so similar to yours that it should be child's play to remove them.
Zaul cringes as he hears the squeak. That aside, he makes it a point to quickly, and much more carefully, fix the rest of the manacles, starting with Paimon; which he practically undoes with a staggering ease. Continuing on, he gets what he believes is the bulkiest of the group; the Half-orc, Ogren; and realizes that these manacles are pathetic. "These manacles are childs play..." he whispers under his breath.
Shortly after, he gets Carnadine and the rest of the group as well.
Keres
Eldros
"Alright then. Best grab those weapons." he says as he slips back into his shackles. "So we wait, then? Or should we cut the facade and work towards getting our way out of here." he asks. "Actually. I've an idea." he wonders aloud. "That guard had a horn... and, frankly speaking, I don't want it blown. If Grumblejack makes a distraction with his boisterous form, we could deck the whistleblower." he points out.
If we wait for the Guards to come to us only one will come and the pother will wait to blow his horn as we've seen in the past. Also if Grumblejack were to be released that would be cause for a horn alarm as well.
I think our best course of action is to attack the two guards stationed in the room over there (room 20 on the map) That way we have the element of surprise and we can hopefully stop them from blowing the horn on us. After we defeat them we should lay in wait for a shift change and take out those two guards. After that however our escape will be obvious as the previous two guards haven't shown up. After that we should see if there is some way to bottle neck them and force them to come in one at a time into the room so we can destroy them as easily as possible. If there isn't a way to bottle neck them we will have to find an armory, an alchemist's kit or two, and be prepared for a brawl the likes of which not even I have seen. And I've done quite a bit of pit fighting in the past.
Oh and Mr.Grumblejack my name is Ogren it is a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can work well together in our escape.
in Zaul's deft hands the manacles practically unlock themselves, though he hits a small snag with Carnadine's
Catching a snag on Carnadine's Manacles he skipped him, thinking he'd done it properly yet forcefully. Rubbish or not, he definitely was under pressure. "Dammit." he whispers. he turns to help the man again, placing the tools in properly. After that, knowing he'd done it properly, he jingles the tools just a little, placing them forcefully within the door to unlock it as well, finally. he snags on the door since the locks are different, however, and grumbles.
His second attempt, however, he finds is far more sound. he tickles it, however, just to be sure.
Paimon steps out of his shackles and, for the first time in days, stretches fully. With a roll of his shoulders he steps away from the wall. Listening intently as Zaul details the next phase of their plan. He then asks for the cloth and gingerly scratches off one of the blades, his eyes widening as it manifests as a short sword in his hand. "Once more." he whispers with a peculiar deadpan. "Once more into the fray, into the last good fight I'll ever know. Shall I live and die on this day?"
Carnadine was not the only one with a flair for the dramatic. "And I respect his muscle." The fool whispers, looking at Grumblejack. "Sincerely I do. But releasing him to bash the guards' heads in might not be the most... Discreet way of handling them. As Ogren so delicately put it, let us use surprise while it is still an option for us."
Carnadine patiently acts that he believes the doctor is doing his best. And smiles when his wrists are released and the manacles slam to the wall. He rubs his wrists and politely asks, "May I please have the veil returned to me? Now that our bonds are removed, would the lockpickers, please work on our cell´s door and then the door of our new friend, Grumblejack."
He whispers to the ogre again, "Grumblejack. Would you by chance happen to know if we are near an exterior wall, and how high above the ground-floor we are?"
We need weapons, so we need to activate the two veil swords. Maybe the pouch is for spell components. If we could just find an exterior wall, we maybe could create a window with the veil and use the veil rope to climb out. I wonder want that pile of bricks is. Could we use it to barricade one of the doors? Carnadine wonders to himself imagining how to best use the veil.
Now free of his bonds, Eldros does not waste time with stretching or other activities. Instead, he waves his hands about and stares intently at the veil, attempting to determine the secrets it holds.
After seeing the experimentation of Carnadine and Keres, he rubs his hand across the pouch on the veil (assuming the dhampir and kitsune let him), wanting to see what comes out.
Keres tilted her head to one side, thinking.
"I would prefer guile, rather than a large frontal assault. I have enchantment magic available to perhaps eliminate the hornblower, but what I most need is a change of clothes. With my abilities I can appear as anyone or anything, but I believe I need to change my wardrobe in order to actually succeed in fooling anyone. In a guards uniform I could roam the entire building and effectively be invisible, the same thing goes with peasants clothes - I could be a servant girl".
Keres remembers how she got the holy symbol from the veil, and absently scratches at the other patches, wondering if there is anything else of use.
Carnadine watches Eldros cast his spell for a dozen and a half seconds and hopes that he has discovered something.
"Shape-changing will be useful," he replies to the only lady. As Keres scratches at other patches, the dhampir directs her to the two swords first, not wanting to trigger the window or pile of bricks, yet.
"It sounds as if most of us are in agreement. We shall take them by surprise." Paimon says, still going through motions with his new sword to get a feel of it. He walks up to the cell lock with the doctor and offers a few words of assistance.
"Is anyone else a practitioner of the arcane? If not, I will take the spell components." He holds the pouch as a miser might hold a nugget of gold. "Surprise seems the wisest course. Admittedly, I am rather impatient to be rid of this foul place, as well. Let us proceed." The man attempts to smile at his companions, but only manages a sneer.
On closer inspection, the sack contains more than enough simple spell components for both Eldros and Keres for a day's worth of casting. It also bears enough alchemical reagents for one day's worth of formulae, bombs and mutagens for both Zaul and Ogren. You also find a set of simple peasant garb for each of you.
Carnadine will take the second dagger.
Grumblejack explains in his own inimical fashion that he believes you were shackled to the northern most facing wall and that his cell is the NW extreme
edit: Zaul has indeed managed to open the cell door
Keres immediately form shifts into an attractive peasant girl she saw on her travels, before stripping out of her prison garb and into her peasant clothes.
"I can do some reconnaissance if you like, no-one is going to know who I am, and I can see what's ahead or what we might be up against if you wish?"
Paimon peeks his head out of the cell and looks around. He startles slightly at seeing a new person in their cell, only to realize its Keres. Given a few hours of make up and proper wardrobe, anyone could do that, he thought. "A bold proposal." he says, taking a cue and beginning to change into peasant garb himself. "But I assure you I would be suspicious of some peasant girl strutting up to me while I'm on duty in a prison."
Paimon takes another glance out of the cell. "Now what if our wonderful jailer, the fat one, had come back? Might you be able to take his form? I'm sure it is not that farfetched a notion that he could still be around somewhere."
As he finishes putting on his disguise he mentions that the guards at the door may think something's fishy, but perhaps others they run into won't be surprised that a visitor got lost.
"Servant girl", Keres corrects lightly, before frowning slightly at his proposal "That would only work if I had met her in person...a mere description is not enough...nor can I shift gender, I'm limited to female only forms"
Eldros peeks at the woman as she changes, undisguised lust in his eyes, before he himself changes into the peasant garb. It certainly wasn't the velvet robes he was used to, but it beat the rags he had been confined to for the past few days.
Once they are all changed, he listens to the conversation, then shakes his head in disagreement. "This is folly. What are the chances of a cute young serving girl whom none of the guards have seen before getting lost in this level? We must overwhelm our foe. Speed and surprise are our allies now. I have a spell available that will likely stall the hornblower long enough for him to be eliminated."
"I still don't like it. I'm sure their suspicions will get the better of them. Not to say its not worth the effort. If anything I could see them coming in here to figure out how a servant girl ended up with their most damnable of prisoners."
He stops as Eldros starts speaking, and he nods along. "What he said, I suppose."
Zaul shakes his head. "As much as I adore subtlety, I have the feeling we're not given the luxury. Guile and wit aren't necessary to flee a prison... and frankly I feel we're more than capable of escaping with muscle alone." he says as he points to the Ogre.
Keres looks confused for a second "What good would it do if I took our jailors form. I don't have his clothes, his equipment, or access to any information he might carry...no, if its one thing I've learnt, is that it never pays to disguise yourself as a high ranking individual...far better to take the form of an insignificant individual that blends in with the crowd, a servant, a soldier, anyone that no-one looks twice at"
Upon hearing the general opinion of the group however, Keres lets out a pretty little sigh "I will, of course, abide by your request, assuming you wish to persist in the inelegant attempt to brute force your way out of a prison...its only all our funerals if you miscalculate their defences".
"Then at worst we are exactly in the position we were previously. Perhaps if we had more resources at our disposal, or were someplace less secure, your idea would be more appealing. What about our large friend?" He peers at the ogre out of the corner of his eye.
"Actually the less secure something is, the easier it is to use brutal force due to its lack of defences, its the secure places where trickery and guile would reign supreme...like Talingarde perhaps?"
"I overestimated the convenience of your abilities." Paimon concedes to Keres, "l assumed it worked with clothes and all."
"Anywho," he continues, exasperated by lack of movement on a plan. "I will scout ahead. I may be able to simply snatch the horn. Doctor, you release Grumblejack in the meantime."
Paimon then takes a quick look around for anything out of the ordinary and heads silently for the guard station.
Carnadine puts a hand on Paimon stopping him from approaching the guard station. He whispers to his team, "Lady and gentlemen, before we attempt the guards, let's review a potential plan:
"First, the locks of Grumblejack's cell and the cell across from us need to be unlocked. We can't be waiting for the skilled lock-pickers in the middle of melee.
"Second, Grumblejack needs to be healed as much as we can afford. If you have access to magic or maybe that potion on the veil is for healing.
"Third, we should wait until the guards come to us. We can listen for them preparing to come. They will have a reason to come and not expecting us to strike. Obviously, the one with the horn must be taken first. They will provide us weapons, armor, and disguises, as well as provide us the most important element that we need to escape TIME before their bodies are found by the next shift.
"Fourth, there is a patch of a window on the veil. Grumblejack thinks that that is an exterior wall. If the veil can create a window in the wall, we can use the rope of the veil to climb out. It would be best to escape at night.
"Fifth, there is a patch of a pile of bricks on the veil that we could potentially use to block a door if necessary.
"Sixth, once outside we need to make our escape across the moors. We need the best outdoorsmen to lead.
"What do you think? Sound like a plan?"
The diviner smirks at the woman, conceding to certain portions of her wisdom, although they are not applicable to their current situation. He then turns his attention to the tall man.
"I definitely agree with your first and second point. Your third has a huge potential pitfall, that of the guard with the horn. If we surprise them in their room, we will catch them unawares. They have their hackles raised when they come to check on us." The tiefling speaks quickly, eyes darting to the door the guards usually come from.
"But why must we even deal with the guards? If we can place a window, let us place it and be done with this hellhole."
He looks at his comrades, trying to keep the condescension out of his voice. "We keep going back to subterfuge...do you know if there are any passwords to get to the next level? Secret knocks? Let's not forget that only one of us can assume the shape of another...surely these guards know one another. Let us either press forward immediately or try our luck with the window."
"There's no harm in getting a lay of our surroundings." Paimon says, shrugging Carnadine's hand off of him. "But the guard with the horn threatens to sound it. If we wait here, surely he'll have enough time considering their previous patterns*."
Paimon listens to Eldros's arguments. "Yes, Carnadine. What is wrong with placing a window and climbing out of it? Other than the fact that Grumblejack may not be able to fit out of it?" he nods to the Ogre, "No offense."
Excellent. They are making the plan their own. Carnadine thinks to himself.
"Good points. What`s the likelihood that the door to the guards is locked? Our attempts to unlock it might cause them to sound the alarm. We can try the window first and assess the situation. Maybe the pile of bricks on the veil could replace the window when we are all out? The last person trying that trick would need to be quite agile to do it while hanging from a rope, but it would be worth it.
The problem with using the window now is that we will be putting a hole in the side of the building that is quite obvious. I fear a guard will see it, blow the horn before we can get down, and we will be taken on the spot. I believe we should jump the guards now with the combined strength of us and Grumblejack. If we can surprise them I think we can get them both before they can blow their horn we'll have on of our casters open the door and the rest of us martial fighters will charge in and drop them before they can eve react. Don't use magic unless you have to we should try to preserve it for as long as possible.
Next we should wait for a shift change and drop the next set of guards. I've been keeping track of faces or at least trying to and I don't believe there are that many guards (Can I/we do some sort of check to see if I can recall how many guards I've seen since coming in?).
After we drop those two I think we can take the rest out a couple at a time. I would like to get revenge on the fat guardsman (said with anger this is the first time you've heard anger in Ogren's otherwise monotone voice.) Remember after we escape here we have to travel through the marshes. That is no easy task we need tobe well stocked. This place is also somewhat big and they won't be able to get someone here in the next day or so if we have to spend one day here resting I think we can swing it.
Finally before we do any of that we need to do 2 things first I would like to take 1 hour and I'm sure Zaul would as well to make a mutagen to bolster my strength. Second we must vote on what we will do. we will all cast one vote for each plan and whichever one wins it out is how we will proceed.
Ogren having said his piece gets a smile on his face as he starts to make his mutagen of strength. He looks like a kid who has just discovered the wonders of chemistry still learning and enjoying the concoctions and reactions he can make.
"I've done worst dangling from a rope." Paimon says pensively. "Dear Carnadine, rub the window against the wall... Or however that should work."
"Let's do what we agree on first.". Carnadine summarizes looking to the doctor to open the cell doors and someone to heal Grumblejack.
"So we should take the time to brick over the window? Who's to say they even match the exterior of the building, or that they come with a substance to hold them together? If we choose the window, speed is our ally."
He then turns to the brawler, exasperated. "Risk capture to satisfy your bloodlust and need for revenge? Wait an hour? To what end? So you and our other friend can get a little stronger? Is the risk of detection worth that?"
He shakes his head again, the ugly man clearly frustrated.
"So, it appears the options laid before us are:
1) Try subterfuge and cleverness to win our way out.
2) Use the ogre to crash the guards' door down, if needed, and take them out and quickly advance.
3) Try to use a window and escape that way. Potentially use bricks to cover up.
4) Take out the guards a couple at a time.
In addition, we have these options:
1) We do what we are doing right now.
2) We wait the requisite hour for alchemical brewing.
I vote for 3 without bricks, and 1."
The tiefling folds his arms, impatient as he awaits the others' responses.
"I'm for the for the third option, with respect to the first, as well."
the door to the guards' room is closed
Ogren, none of you have been here all that long, but the let's say day and a half since you've arrived you've seen at least three sets of two guards. You can infer that they switch every twelve hours or so. Furthermore you've noticed that they check in on you at random intervals throughout the day.
edit: Ogren and Zaul, beware, I believe it takes an hour to make a mutagen and about one minute per extract.
any questions I've missed?