As the energy flowed from his fingertips with a word, the mageling remembered why he took up the arcane arts in the first place. No quibbling, no pandering. Just obedient power. In reality, he wanted an objective metric to prove himself with, but the sands of time often bury things.
The shock was a call to arms, and apparently the old man still had his aim about him, for the arcing path ran directly to the chest of the first guard. He felt no pity for these men. They gave themselves to danger when they took the job, and that risk would now be met with the eternal reward.
In a few moments anyway. As the others rushed in, Kyras would have a more difficult time getting a magical jab to land. It was a win-win though; if the guards were surrounded, they were doomed anyway. He smiled.
His pent-up anger released in the bit of lightning, a crackle was heard through the room as the guard's armor drew the electricity to it. Kyras laughed as he felt the energy nearly drawn from his fingertips. If only the rest of the escape were this easy. He enjoyed the moment though, turning the tables on his jailers.
Rose dashed in, still pleading for help, running past the first guard and right into the second. Her truncheon came out from behind her back as she ran and swung down into the guard's face with both hands.
One guard down, the other, severely injured guard, seems to be reaching for some sort of horn on his belt. But he's still too shocked to blow it.
Sholano slipped through the door behind the larger combatants and stuck to the left wall, knife out, hoping to hang back and wait for a distracted moment to strike.
The excitement of a caper flowing through him, Kyras used his cantrip again. It was almost like when he was a boy again...
His emotions get the better of him though, the discipline to aim faltering as the bolt of shock goes off towards the ceiling.
Quomaugh spins and rushes towards the guard Rose charged past, bringing his weapon down in an overhead smash.
The other guard is dead, and as neither of them managed to alert the others, it doesn't seem as if there will be any more coming.
There are four doors in this long, stone chamber- one to the north, two to the west (one northwest, one southwest), and one to the east. They all look more or less the same, except for the northern double-doors.
Rose had her guard by the collar before he hit the ground, and quickly dragged him back into the jail. Glancing over at her new pet ogre, she smiled and said "Hungry, 'Jack?"
Ulrich's footsteps echo from the staircase as his comrades eradicated more guards, humming something to himself. His expression is sullen and bored, the dying cries of their victims a distant melody to an outdated song. He muses, "It doesn't have the same satisfaction that revenge delivers...how drab, how pathetic, how wasteful. Waste...it's all waste, these people are waste, waste, waste, WASTE!"
He clenches a black gloved fist and kicks a body repeatedly in the ribs, eye twitching and teeth gnashing. Picking the guard up by the collar of his tunic, he pulls him close and says, "You could have done so much more, and you squander your potential! All of you! Pathetic, insignificant waste! And you make your business to turn people into waste! You perpetuate the stagnancy and create a cesspool of indifference and incompetence!"
He slide a bomb and needle into each hand, growling, "Your lives...they mean nothing, they serve no purpose, they have no SOUL! Surrender your corpses to me; let me stack them tall and collect what life has given you and you have wasted."
Grumblejack shakes his head. "No, tried guard before- much too tough." He scrapes his tongue with his teeth jokingly, indicating disgust. "Plus, it seems like your friend wants the bodies."
"Suit yourself."
Rose looks over at the mad doctor. "How about we leave them up here for now and round them up later? I don't think dragging corpses around is going to make our escape easier."
Quomaugh raises an eyebrow at Ulrich during his rant, but doesn't say anything to the alchemist. When Rose suggests leaving the bodies, he nods his head emphatically. "Ain't nothin' bu' dead weight," the Dwarf says with a smirk.
Travis nods at Quomaugh's comment. "Agreed. We don't need dead bodies slowing us down. Speed is of the essence if we're to get out of here alive."
Perhaps Ulrich was a few vials short of an alchemy set, but he knew words worth a few coins. There was real knowledge in his mind, actual expertise - in something. Kyras walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps there is waste now, but there will be a chance to gather some ... more viable candidates, I am sure - for whatever it is you have in mind."
Gesturing towards the Northern set of doors, Kyras notes "As these are different in appearance, perhaps they lead out instead of in."
Travis listens at the Northern doors, as Kyras' thought is as good as any.
When he is done, he passes on anything he hears to the others, and then backs away, letting someone else open the doors.
Seeing Travis put his ear to the door, Kyras gave the man time to listen. If there seemed to be no issue - from him or from the party - he made for the door, attemping to open it.
The northern door is quiet, except for the occasional chirping of birds. Opening it slightly, it leads to the outside. It seems nobody has noticed your escape such as yet.
Looking around outside, Travis examines the open area for guards, and potentially for paths to ultimate freedom...
Outside the door, there's a large wall with a guardhouse allowing entrance and exit. As you're on an island, it'll take getting through that and the bridge to escape, unless you can think of a more creative method of escape. Directly outside the double-doors but before the guardhouse is a refreshing fountain, depicting a stern, knightly man pointing a sword towards the main building. This knight is well-known as St. Dothan the Just, the Mitran patron saint of justice.
Also on the wall is a tower large enough to see from behind the building.
"Well, shall we make our way to directly to the guardhouse? It seems the most expedient way out."
"Expedient isn't necessarily the best way. It's the most likely to be noticed and chased down. I think we should do a sweep of the area to take down as many guards as we can before we head for the guardhouse."
"Those guards said something about a card game in the sergeant's quarters. I'd love to run into him again and have a talk with him about this mark he burned into my arm."
"Alright then, we search this place first. At least now we know where we're going and which door leads there when we're actually done here." He shuts the north door. "Which way then?"
Ulrich's vapid expression returns as the words of his companions seem distant and listless. Of course, his mind is processing every detail without even a thought, giving the doctor enough time to nod and react to Kyras' words. His head cranes and gray eyes stare at the open door, inspecting the details while the others discussed their astute observations.
He stands upright and walks past Travis and Rose, responding to Travis' question with a deep, cold, and sinister reply, "Towards the sounds of drunken men and the scent of revenge."
Kyras arbitrarily picks left. "Seems as good as any," he suggests, pointing at his choice.
Quomaugh shrugs, a contented grin on his face. "Sounds good t' me," he replies to Kyras, longsword still gripped tightly in his right hand. "Figure gittin' rid o' a few more o' 'ese bastards 'fore we go i' a good 'nough partin' gift!"
Without further delay, Kyras (attempts) to open the left set of doors, gazing into the room beyond.
The upper left door does not open, being locked. The second left set of doors reveals a quite untidy office, with a table, a few chairs, and papers scattered all over. This must be the sergeant or some other high-ranking official's office. From here, there are two more doors- one to the north, one to the west. The north door is clearly locked, but the west one is unlocked.
Travis listens at the west door, a bit more cautious than Kyras.
If he hears nothing, he cautiously opens the door, keeping it like a shield between himself and whatever might be on the other side. If he hears a noise, he will softly tell the others and back away from the door, letting someone else open it.
Quomaugh tries to muscle himself next to Travis, longsword ready and eyes watching for danger. His smirk remains, though he does seem slightly disappointed that there aren't more foes to fight. [smaller]"Wha'd'ya see, lad?" he asks the Tiefling who is carefully listening by the door.
It seems quite safe to open the door, and it's certain that nobody is inside.
As the west door slowly opens, you see a simple but quite large bedroom. There's a bed, chest of drawers, and several small tables, in slight disarray. The drawers are quite full, and there seems to be a box of some sort under the bed. The room is lightly lit by several torches.
Travis takes a quick search of the drawers and the box... While anything of use will come in handy, Travis is particularly hoping to maybe find a healing potion that will bring him back to fighting strength. Still, weapons, armor, anything of use for the others will be good too.
The large box is locked, with a lock far finer than the ones used to keep you secure. From the sound of it, it sounds like coins are inside.
In the drawers, the only thing that's interesting you find is a large, foul-smelling flask. It smells both of cheap whisky and something else, something herbal...
Travis leaves the box for Sho to try to open with his obvious skill with the lockpicks and he gives a second look at the flask... he tastes a drop of the stuff to see if he can determine the herbal quality of the contents.
"Sho, this box is locked, can you open it? It sounds like it's just coins, but there might be something there of use to us."
Sholano raises an eyebrow at the mention of coin. "Rarely hurts to try," he notes drily, lacing his fingers together and stretching them out while he eyes the lock.
The box is not obviously trapped, but does not open at Sholano's work. The lock is much finer than those that bound you in your cell- what priorities does the sergeant have?
Meanwhile, the taste of the concoction makes Travis feel drowsy. Not to the point where he risks becoming unconscious, but quite a bit tired. A large sip would probably put someone to sleep. There seems enough room for three such doses in this bottle.
Travis lofts a brow, and tucks the flask in his shirt. It might come in handy, you never know. He shrugs and tells the others, "Some kind of sleeping potion. Could come in handy at some point. Maybe Rose could charm some guards into drinking 'with' her?"
"Why would the guards have need of that kind of elixir?" They weren't concerned about prisoners getting rest, and it was doubtful one would need to drink it oneself. Perhaps there is another, more feral sort of prisoners jailed here. Much like their ogre, a sedative could be useful with creatures which iron had trouble holding.
Kyras steps up to thr drawers and searches for any documents detailing the types of prisoners held - or the layout of the prison.
Rose searches the desk for any indication of who's office this is, and anything interesting she can find int he drawers.
"Take your time with it, Sholano. We really aren't in any rush."
Looking through the drawers of the desk, several interesting things are uncovered. First is a large map, one that clearly maps the prison, as well as the location of the guard posts! This is quite a find.
Map
The second find is less immedietly useful, although it is quite interesting. Looking through the papers, you see ample evidince that Sergeant Blackerly is using the prison for his own schemes- stealing from supplies and the money sent to buy them, running illegal gambling and selling alcohol. He's probably made quite a sum from this, kept in the box you've retrieved.
This is quite obviously the sergeant's office.
"Well, well, well. Mr. Blackerly, I think I'll have to thank you before I cram your branding iron down your throat."
"Gentlemen, we have a map."
"Having a map is good. It'll help us find our way out of here. In meantime, if we can't open the box, let's just take it with us while we go pick off a few more guards. You know, for a prison with such a vile reputation, so far, this has been a cakewalk.... something about it is.. I dunno... TOO easy at least so far. Do you think Sho's lady friend is having something to do with this, or is the place that shoddily defended?"
Kyras considered Travis's question a moment. "I'd wager they've become complacent from it being so well-defended, actually. The seasoned veterans may remember their training - it's they who'll give our throats a shave if we're not careful."
The map would be a great help as Rose suggested. "Shall we?"
Sholano nods thoughtfully at Rose, looking like he's not entirely sure that a leisurely escape is the best idea, and he rolls his neck in a worried fashion as Kyras mentions the more experienced guards...but eventually greed wins out, and he sets to taking his time working on the box's lock.
Despite Sholano's best efforts, the lock does not open. How odd that the best locks in this prison are not used to lock up its dangerous prisoners, but to prevent stolen coin from being stolen yet again.
"Don't worry about it. I'll bet I know who has the key. Grumblejack, would you mind carrying this big chest for me?"
Kyras motions for the group to follow him over to the other set of doors in the main corridor. Perhaps there would be something behind them to reveal their wardens' plot behind the elixir.
Quomaugh follows after Kyras, weapon still in hand. "Ya know, as ill-defended as 'is place is, maybe we should jus' take care o' th' res' o' th' guards," the "Orc" suggests, a glint in his green eyes.
Travis follows the others, staying a bit behind the leaders, but nods in agreement to Quomaugh. "Aye, you may have a good point there... with no one to follow us, or raise an alarm, we might make a clean break of it."
"Now you boys are catching on..." Rose says with a grin. "Let's keep moving."