As the Dwarf swats away Gywn's distracting cut, Kalina grins and circles to cut off his retreat. As Gwyn cuts high, Kalina drives in low with her knife...
She can't smother a gasp of joy. "Ha!"
Kalina's knife seeks deep into the dwarf, but he survives the strike. Glim, realizing the situation he's in, panics and pulls out a signal whistle to alert the others in the compound, unwittingly opening himself up in the process....
...ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap...
Gwyn tries to slip the knife into the dwarf's neck, but it seems like he manages to swat it away.
Between the work of Gwyndolin and Kalina, Glim goes down as well before having a chance to blow his whistle. You have managed to escape the cell, but how shall you proceed from here?
- 2x Chain Shirt
- 2x Heavy Steel Shield
- 2x Longsword
- 2x Cudgel
- 2x Longbow
- 40x Arrows (in 2 quivers)
- 2x Empty Coin Purses
- Signal Whistle
- 2 keyrings, each with two keys (each ring has a key that matches one on the other ring, each ring also has a unique key)
- 2x Empty Belt Pouches
- Mostly empty flask of bad smelling liquor
- Set of 5 dice
- Folded hand-drawn picture of a dwarven woman with the name Bazlin written on it
Price sees the guard's shallow breathing and knows he is dying. It is the height of irony that she is actually compelled to save his miserable life... for the moment. She nods to the other women as she works on the guard. Her comments are rushed, befitting the dangerous situation they are still in. "Good work, friends. But we've got to keep moving here. Gwyn, if you would, please liberate our friend in the far cell. Cain, would you grab a blade or whatever and secure that door. Prep an ambush in case anyone comes through it." She looks at Kalina, "I don't think I caught your name... but feel free to start stripping anything useful off the dwarf and this fellow here. I imagine you can put a suit of armor to good use." She takes a breath, "Again, I apologize if I sound bossy but we've got to work fast if we want to get out of this sh!thole."
Mark, is it OK if we figure out how best to divvy stuff up in the OOC thread? I figure our characters would quickly know what they could use but we players may want to have a bit of discussion about it.
She looks at Kalina, "I don't think I caught your name... but feel free to start stripping anything useful off the dwarf and this fellow here. I imagine you can put a suit of armor to good use."
"Call me Jakes. Aye, I'm about it."
She pulls the dwarf-sized Chain Shirt off of her victim and slips it over the cloth shift. She also slides his longsword out of the scabbard and gives it a twirl. "Here we are, now."
Gwyn, if you would, please liberate our friend in the far cell.
Kalina takes a moment from her scavenging to eye the strange figure in the opposite cell, and casts a skeptical glance at Gwyn.
"Err, I'll go with you." She kicks the cooling dwarven corpse. "Nice work, girlie. Know what to do with a blade, I see. Come in handy tonight."
The chained man watched the violence without a hint of surprise or even much interest. The majority of his face was hidden, but his eyes crinkled at the corners with subdued amusement.
As the one called Jakes glanced his way he tilted his head to the side slightly as he watched her follow Gwyn towards his cell.
Gwyn's breathing comes in fast and shallow. The adrenaline is still pumping, and it takes her a moment to respond to Price's request.
"Y-yes. I can do that."
She takes the picks and heads over to Xanos's cell door and begins to pick the lock.
She hurries into the cell tries to pick the locks that keep the man bound.
It's only after the bindings come off that Gwyn realizes this potentially dangerous man towers over her. Her nerves return full force and she swallows hard.
It had taken her a moment to realize that the strange runic manacles he wore were fused around his wrists, but instead of being designed with a length of chain between them, they simply had a pair of rings attached to each one, allowing a lock to secure his wrists to the girdle around his waist, and affix the chains that hold him to the wall.
He did not move as this slip of a girl's dextrous hands caused the locks to fall away one by one. It was only when the last fell that he stepped forward and raised his hands to his face, the chains that had bound him slithering and falling.
He unlatched something and pulled the mask free revealing the copper bar held in his mouth by a leather strap. A moment later that fell away as well.
He looked down at the small woman before him with a blank expression. This close she could make out the intricate tattoos that lined his skin. His mouth closed slowly for the first time in who knew how many days. Wetting his lips, he swallowed, his only concession to the discomfort he must have been in.
"Tell me your name?" he he said to his rescuer in the lowest rumbling voice she had ever heard.
Nodding to Price, Cain slips his manacles into the waist of his ragged pants before quickly kneeling next to the unconscious Wendell, drawing the man's longsword. As the works, he admires Kalina and Gwyn's handiwork, giving them a quick, respectful nod when they see him watching. "Good to see you two can handle yourselves." He looks over at the man being released by Gwyn, and whispers to Price, "Might want to find out what his connection is to Balin. Might be we have a common enemy."
He stands, grabs the man's large shield, and stalks over to the door that leads out of the cells, straining with eyes and ears for any signs of unwanted visitors. As he passes Kalina, pulling on the dwarf's chainmail, he sniffs and recoils back as if struck. "Smell like a damn dwarf, Jakes!" His wolfish grin gives away the joke.
He looked down at the small woman before him with a blank expression. This close she could make out the intricate tattoos that lined his skin. His mouth closed slowly for the first time in who knew how many days. Wetting his lips, he swallowed, his only concession to the discomfort he must have been in.
"Tell me your name?" he he said to his rescuer in the lowest rumbling voice she had ever heard.
Kalina stood well back from Gwyn and the large, mysterious prisoner, but ready to push forward should there be a problem.
Right, this one's an odd one. But, friend or foe, that could wait until they were free. And if this one gets the guards as creeped out as it seemed, all the better.
Seeing little apparent reaction by the man to being freed, Jakes wandered over to where Cain stood, listening at the door. "Anything?" she whispered.
The guards lay on the ground, their bleeding stabilized by Price. Gwyndolin goes over and manages to free the strange man from his cell, while Cain goes to watch the doorway for signs of trouble. As everyone goes about preparing, a deep voice, though whispering, comes from the large cell to the west. "What's going on out there?" The doorway to the west is stout wood, banded in iron with only a small window to see through.
The guards lay on the ground, their bleeding stabilized by Price.
Cain gives a dark warning look at Kalina's lead feet before hissing, "Quiet! I can barely hear anything over those ground-thumpers you call feet."
He hisses over at Price, "Were there any additional guards at posts when they took you out of here before? I'd love to check out the next room, but not if we know there's likely to be folk watching."
Price describes what little she saw of the room beyond, speculating that there were no additional guards downstairs when she was there but that could have changed.
Her eyebrows shoot up at the voice from the other door and she moves to investigate.
Gwyn tries not to stare, she really does, but there is something about the tall man and his tattoos that keeps her eyes fixed on his face.
"G-Gwyndolin. It's Guh-Gwyndolin."
She winces as Jakes stomps over to where Cain is. She doesn't move, but she strains and ear to see if anyone is coming.
When the man in the other cell speaks she almost jumps out of her skin as she spins around to face the cell. A involuntary squeak escapes her lips and her eyes go wide.
"What is in there?"
Price takes a step back, still staring through the barred window. "Uh, folks, we have an ogre here." She gets a wicked smile, and steps forward again. "You hungry, big fella? How would you like to get out of here?"
Price borrows a blade from whoever is close at hand and deftly removes the dead dwarf's arm. She lugs the limb onto her shoulder and heads toward the ogre's pen. Her head cocks and she turns to Gwyn, all smiles. Her voice takes on the tone of a prim but kindly teacher. "Now, Gwyn, when moving through polite society it is often expected that you bring a small gift - food or perhaps wine - when visiting a gentleperson's house for a party or other event." She taps the dwarf arm. "This is the same principle. Let us note how our gracious host accepts this token of appreciation."
Price hurls the arm through the barred window to the ogre. "There's more where that came from... if you are interested."
Kalina is distracted by Price's on-going impromptu dinner party.
"An....ogre? Uh, Price....be careful with that blasted thing. I've seen what they can do. Let's just say Cap'n was writing a bunch of letters home that night..."
She frowns for a moment. "Did it say something?"
Gwyn can't help but laugh at getting an impromptu lecture on etiquette from someone she just met a few hours before.
"True, but most of the time it's some rare vintage or delicacy, not a dwarf's arm."
The best Cain can summon at the lecture is an eye-roll, "Oh, for sh!t's sake..."
The ogre beyond in the cells goes forth and picks up the dwarf's arm. He picks it up and takes a sniff, before deciding to take a bite out of it. In between bites, he speaks. "The treat is good. Grumblejack is indeed hungry. But Grumblejack don't trust you yet. What you want Grumblejack to do to escape?"
The ogre is manacled with a very large set, newer than most seen thus far.
None of the keys work on the ogres door.
Outside in the main room, Cain get's a better look of the furnishings. He sees a small table with two chairs, a partial bottle of what looks to be wine on it, with two cups. On a post above the table lays several additional keys.
The tall man nods to her, seemingly unaffected by the frantic pace everything around him was moving at.
"Gwyndolin." he said, "You have my gratitude. You will be remembered." He spoke in a way that seemed to convey a relevance to the words that was important to him.
Stepping past her and into the hall, he knelt at the pile and picked up a cudgel and an empty bag. Surveying the surroundings and the people who had freed him, he layed eyes on Price as she spoke with the ogre. A few long slow strides took him near her so he too could look in on the beast. For now he said nothing, content to watch her work.
Price is so focused on the ogre, she doesn't immediately notice tall Xanos standing next to her at the window. She gives him a curious glance and a polite nod before returning her attention to Grumblejack. She holds her bruised wrists up for the ogre to see. "I'm Miss Price. It's nice to meet you, Grumblejack. The important question is... what do you want? We were prisoners here and now we're out. Our plan is to bust out of this hellhole and kill a few people in the process. There are a lot of guards for us to handle... How would you like to come along and play?"
Not sure how susceptible a semi-diabolic ogre is to a pretty face, she motions Gwyn to come over and try her hand. "There are five of us... but six would be better against a whole prison, don't you think? We help you and you help us. And you get the rest of the dwarf as an appetizer."
The ogre seems to spend a moment in thought. "Grumblejack wants to hurt a couple of the armored little 'uns. And Grumblejack wants to leave. The little 'uns make Grumblejack eat bad food, it makes Grumblejack weak, can't break chains. And dwarf tastes bad cold."
Cain only just now realizes what they must be dealing with given the rumbling of the voice. As he continues watching the exit door and stairs, he can't help but mutter, "Dwarf ain't been dead but a minute, big guy... not gonna get much warmer without a fire."
"Sorry about the cold dwarf. We don't have..." she looks at Wendell for a long moment, "...anything fresher yet. But you can eat your fill of guards on our way out. As long as you don't mistake any of us for snacks."
"A sociable ogre? How nice..." she mutters to herself.
Looking out at the next room, she calls back to the group by the ogre's cell. "Next room's clear. Whatever we're doing, lets do it before these two are missed..."
Grumblejack whiffs the air. "Grumblejack think you might taste good, better than human. Dwarf needs boiled, tough meat. Human better just after kill, but good cooked too. Elf really good, Grumblejack like elf. Know lots of ways to make elf. But Grumblejack rather leave than eat good meal for now."
The tall man leans slowly to the window and rumbles something in a gutteral, harsh language.
"This one cannot assure you freedom, but this one can assure you that you will not die in a cell or on the headsman's block if you follow us. Either way, you will not be eating any of us. Serve me and I offer you a chance to get out."
Cain nods at Jakes' suggestion, "Good call. You mind stripping Wendell down and bringing me his threads? I wanna be ready to roll when they're done dealin' with too-tall."
Grumblejack gives a leer at Xanos for a moment. "You speak ogre tongue. Strange for human. Grumblejack not speak ogre tongue since other ogres made Grumblejack leave. They scared of Grumblejack, say Grumblejack's food is bad magic, that Grumblejack's horns proof of bad magic. Grumblejack like you, will help and not eat you both."
Cain nods at Jakes' suggestion, "Good call. You mind stripping Wendell down and bringing me his threads?"
Kalina smirks. "What, and skip the foreplay?" She sighs. "Ah, very well. I will try to control myself with that strapping example of Talingarde masculinity. Back in a flash, mate."
Jakes wanders over and separates Wendell from (most) of his clothing and dearest possessions.
Cain flashes his teeth to Kalina, " 'preciate it." Trying to make the most of his time, he goes ahead and strips out of his prisoner rags, only keeping on the ratty underclothes.
All color drains from Gwyn's face as Grumblejack mentions how humans are tasty. She follows Xanos out of the cell but heads to where Cain is guarding the door.
"Please don't let him eat me."
She of course, has a hard time hiding her embarrassment as he strips down in front of her, or next to her as she turns away.
Kalina returns to Cain, eying him up and down before tossing him the guard's clothes. She shrugs: "Ehhh. Would've preferred striping you. Here you go..."
Showing a similar lack of modesty, she removes the loose bottom coverings and slides into the dwarf's loose-fitting trousers.
Grinning at Gwyn, she says, "Don't worry, girlie. We'll find yo something nice."
"Please don't let him eat me."
Cain, finishing stripping down, gives the girl a wide grin. "We get out of here.... remind me to tell you about my family."
He was beginning to warm to this Jakes, grunting his thanks when she hands him the clothes. Sliding the the longsword home, he takes up the rest of Wendell's old gear, he looks back over at Gwyn, "So what's the big guy in there? Troll?"
Gwyn shakes her head at Cain's question.
"Ogre."
The tall man shakes his head at the ogre's words. "You will eat no one here. Not just the two of us. None. Or you stay here." without waiting for the ogres response he turns away to allow others to free him.
His gaze swept his surroundings, his creative mind a whirl of observations and conclusions. With calm purpose he collected the various manacles, chains and locks from the now-empty cells. Lowering himself to the ground to sit cross legged in front of the pile, he threaded chains through the rings at the base of the cudgels that allowed them to be hung from a guard's belt. Snapping locks and manacles into place he quickly turned the non-lethal clubs into savage-looking flails, one with significantly more weight than the other.
"Ogre... troll... guess I couldn't really tell you the difference. I guess if he's big and strong enough to tear apart a few guards, I aint picky."
Xanos's activities draw Cain's eyes. After a while, the tall young man can't help but blow out a "huh" of surprise. "Well, damn... ain't that clever."
Price's anger grows. Now, instead of planning how best to use the ogre to aid in their escape, she considers how best to kill him quickly if he tries to raise a ruckus. She looks to Gwyn, "Unlock this door... just the door. And don't worry, he's not eating anyone."
Once Gwyn has popped the lock, Price glares through the bars at Grumblejack again, her anger manifesting as a dim halo of black flames around her head. "I'm done wasting time on you. You want to fester here until you die? Fine. You can slowly starve until the guards get around to killing you. We gave you a chance for vengeance, freedom, and guard-flesh for food but you can't think beyond your empty belly and empty threats. If we can't trust you to control your appetite, we have no reason to help you escape. Think about that and be silent while we work or I guarantee the next thing you'll be eating is your own c@$<. IF you behave, we'll speak again."
Price waits on his response while holding her bow low and preparing to fire on him if he starts making any noise that will attract the guards' attention.
Xanos looked sideways toward Price with a strange expression on his face. Something between mild amusement and surprised approval. One of his eyebrows raised and he nodded to himself as he stood.
Interesting.
Gwyn rushes over and quickly picks the lock. She then moves out of the way and down the hall. The sight of the black flaming halo forming around Price's head and her cold methodical manner as she delivers her threat leave the rogue trembling in terror.
I don't know who I'm more scared of, the tall man, Price, or that ogre.
"A-a-a-anything else, Muh-muh-miss Price." She asks after Price's ultimatum.
Grumblejack's eyes narrow at Price, but it's obvious the ogre has grown wary of her, almost respectful. "Grumblejack be quiet."