You awake in a fairly large chamber with a narrow walkway flanked by two rows of holding cells, twelve in total. At one end of the chamber is a sturdy looking reinforced wooden door. The cells are made of a series of iron bars, each an inch thick. Three lanterns hang from the ceiling gently swaying back and forth, causing the shadows of the bars to drift side to side. A hint of must fills your nostrils as you look around finding each cell except one is filled with a different occupant, some you recognize, others you don't.
Zaranna looks around, wondering how she got here. He brain seems a little bit foggy.
She tries to snap out of it and calm her emotions so she can think straight. She examines her surroundings, especially her cell, trying the door and looking for weaknesses in the metal as her father had taught her, then trying to identify who else was here.
She didn't see Zakary, which was good, but she thought she recognized the elven girl Elyana far down in another cell... and wait, in the cell next to her... was that an Aasimar? She forgot escape briefly, staring at the girl in wonder.
Hello? Are you an Aasimar too?
Alric slowly stirs from where he laid, a low moan of confusion leaving his lips. A fog lingers in his mind, like when all the air escapes your chest and your eyes dim to dark but unconsciousness doesn't quite take you. Pushing up from the ground, the scent of must fills his nostrils and the sounds of other beings moving around him make his eyes widen in alert.
He launches himself into a crouch and reaches to his hip, finding the sheath for his dagger gone. His bow was nowhere to be found either and panic begins to set in for just a moment as he recognizes the bars of his cell.
"I was caught? How? When? I can't remember anything." He silently thinks to himself, taking a moment to breathe and keep his nerves in line. His mind calms down but he can't fully stop the shake in his hands as he looks around at the others around him. To his right was the elven girl by the name of Elyana. He had seen her the few time that his family had talked with the local elves and he knew she was relatively new to Swampwood. His father had pressured him to talk to her, in order to practice his Elven. Her admonishments, though gentle, were still embarassing. To his left was a boy he had not recognized, someone maybe from deeper within town or a newcomer within it. Directly in front of him and to the right was a gnomish girl and a few others he didn't immediately recognize as well. "Does he always kidnap these many?" Alric mused to himself as he looked around his cell first for anything of use to protect himself. Even a rock would be better than nothing.
For a moment, Cardren thinks this must be a nightmare. How else to explain what he sees? The smell convinces him it’s not. He’s never had a dream or nightmare with scent before. He can feel his heart start to beat faster yet his legs feel stuck, unsure of what to do. He looks around in a panic, searching for details that might help him understand, but not knowing what he should focus on. He doesn’t know the two people to either side of him. In the cage across from him, he is unsure of what’s there.
Sweat drips down his face. and his breath feels strange; rapid and shallow. His eyes feel heavy, as if a moment away from crying. In the dim light and swaying shadows, the boy clumsily steps across the cell and reaches for the bars. What is this? What is this? he repeats in his head. Mommy! Where’s Mommy?! Where’s Eagwen?
He wants to talk, but his jaw is shaking, trembling.
Fel turned towards the sound. An Elf was staring at her. No, not just an Elf. Fel felt an immediate sense of kinship. She and this girl shared something. Barely daring to believe, Fel spoke. Her words would sound like harmonious gibberish to most; But to the other girl, they'd be clear as church bells.
Y-Yes! Yes I am! Do you understand this tongue? Please say that you do!
Zaranna listened with a sense of wonder, went over to the bars and sat down as close as she could get to the other girl. Reaching through, she said with a grin
Yes, of course! I understand you! I almost can't believe... it is wonderful to meet you! I am Zaranna.
Then, remembering their situation, her eyes got worried, and she lapsed back into common.
... Do you know... what this place is or why we are here? I don't remember anything at all of how I came to be here.
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Sleep, it seems, would be preferable to this waking nightmare. When she first awakens and sees her surroundings, Samantha's left hand briefly flashes a warding sign. But this is not one of her nightmares. Her nightmares had featured the silhouette of a man crowned in lightning, mantled in thunder; or, they were of great storms washing everything away.
Cells were more mundane but no less terrifying in context.
"Hello?"
From further down cells opposite from the Halfling calling out, another voice asks, "Sam, is that you?"
Cardren swallows and squeezes his eyes shut. A few quick breaths and he opens his eyes again. Nothing has changed.
”Chet, Chet,” he whispers, moving closer to the cell where Chet is. Reaching his arm through the bars, he tries to touch him. ”Where are we?” He wants to say more, but he feels his teeth chatter so he clenches his jaw tight.
Growns come from the cell, "Car...Cardren?" He looked about.
"I have no idea."
Elyana awoke slowly, for whatever reason it took her longer than most of the others to come to. Maybe she was the last one taken, maybe whatever was done to render them unconscious hit her harder, it was hard to truly say. Still awoke she did and found herself in a...cell?
Elyana rose and went to the bars. She peered around at what she could see and noticed the other cells, most with children in them. She wasn't a child though, not anymore, she was a teenager and she was going to get whoever stuck her in this cell.
Elyana called out to the others in the cells, "Does anyone know where we are or how we got here?"
"Brother? Brother, are you alright?"
A voice rings out kitty-cornered from Elyana's cell, "Elyana, is that you?"
"Yeah, I'm alright. Where are we?" Oak replied.
A voice on the other side of Zaranna speaks up, "Fel? Has Vei appeared?"
Waking up in what was not her lean-to, the Elf was confused. The last thing she heard was a strange music coming from the swamp. Now she was here. What in the Hells? She thought.
Feeling an urge to get out, she looked around for anything she could use.
Managing to find something slender and stiff, she started working on the lock. It was then she noticed that others were around.
Looking at the boy shaking across the way. "Psst. Hey, what's going on here?"
Zaranna calls across in response to Elyana
I don't remember anything of how I got here either, Elyana. Any ideas about what we should do?
Samantha lets out a hysterical giggle. "It looks like we are in a cage, Oak. I don't know how we got here."
Elyana heard the first voice she knew, Tomlin, someone she'd become friends with since moving to town. She called back to him, Are you alright Tomlin?"
Then Elyana heard a voice she didn't hear very often, Zaranna! "Zaranna? Is that you?" She considered what they could do to get free. She didn't know of anyway that she could get them out yet but it depended on who they had with them. Maybe someone had a way to get free. "Does anyone have a way they could get out of their cell? A spell or a tool that might have been overlooked?"
"Working on it now. I don't want to be in this creepy place."
The with a little bit of work, the Elf managed to hear the distinct 'click' that unlocked her door.
Gently swinging it open she asked, "Who's next?"
Yeah, I'm Zaranna. Good to see you Elyana. ... Well, I mean, not here, but...
she trails off, not knowing how to dig herself out of that awkward moment.
When someone is able to unlock the door, Zaranna says
Oh, well done!
She doesn't ask to be let out yet though, willing to wait until the others are free.
She looks around to see if there is something in the cell that she could use as a weapon once they got out, guessing that there were going to be guards of some sort on the other side of the door.
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The broken piece of floor was not shattered enough for there to be a way out but the broken pieces of stone were sharp and dangerous. Picking a piece up by hand, he carefully held it as best as he could as he studied the vicious point.
It isn't much but it'll do." Alric thought to himself, moving towards the front bars as others began to talk. Focusing on the number of voices, he would have to say that there were nearly a dozen of them locked in their cells.
"Is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?" Alric asks quietly, afraid to raise his voice higher than it already was. When one of the doors swings open and a voice asks who wants out next, Alric whispers just a bit louder. "Let me out. I got something to protect us with."
The Elf moved to Alric's cell. Her eyes went wide for a moment when she saw his face, "I know you. You're from that family of hunters I'm always seeing stalking around the swamp. You shot a squirrel I was hunting last week."
She tried to pick the lock while she was talking.
With little effort, she got the door unlocked. "I'm Shadei by the way."
Kaiya asked, "What happened Fel? I was in my bed and I heard this strange music and then I woke up here."
All of the others answered Alric's question collectively as they were not hurt and babbling about how they had heard strange music.
Zaranna listens to the other Aasimar girl, and wonders out loud
The Piper? What does the piper usually do with people?
"I heard the music out in the forest, got my bow, and went to follow it. I remember heading out into the darkness and then...then I was here." Alric added to the others, stepping out of his cage once the Shadei opened it for them. The mention of the squirrel made a small smirk spread across the young hunter's face as he gave a shrug. "Sorry about that. My little brothers were with me and hungry. Next time, I'll catch you something as well."
Alric nodded at Feldrimala's story, having heard the same stories told amidst the older boys who murmured about the Piper that came to collect the wicked boys and girls of Swampwood. Alric kept his eye on the heavyset door though, taking a deep breath before nodding. "Yeah, that is what they say it does. Who knows though."
"I'm Alric, thanks for getting me out. Lets get the others out and get out of here."
Elyana waited for her turn to be freed and when she was stepped out of her cage. She gave Tomlin a quick hug, grateful he was alright, and then turned to the others. She nodded at Shadei and said "Thanks, I'm Elyana."
"Alright everyone," Elyana said, "We need a way out of here. I don't think the Piper or whoever took us expected us to be able to free ourselves." She hoped her words would catch everyone's attention and then continued, "We need to put the younger kids in the middle of the group, those of us who are older need to be on the edges to protect them if necessary. The next thing we need to do is get out of this room and find our way outside. Once we get there I think Alric and I can guide us back home. At the very least I'm sure our parents will be coming to find us once they know we are missing. They may be on the way right now."
As Shadei moved to unlock Elyana, she replied, "Hello."
It took an extra moment to unlock, because the Elf's eyes kept looking back at Elyana's face. But soon enough she got it unlocked.
She then moved to Zaranna's cell.
Again slightly distracted Shadei's cheeks turned slightly red as she worked the lock free.
As soon as Zaranna was freed, there came a noise from the door as it was being unlocked.
Zaranna, frightened but also determined, takes her large stone and moves behind where the door will open, so she won't be seen immediately, but might have a chance of knocking out whoever is entering.
Alric followed alongside Zaranna, placing himself on the other side of the door. He lifted the sharp rock in his hand, his heart hammering in his chest. This was no hunt, no normal situation. Could he really do this? Could he protect the young ones?
Looking at those who were still scared and still locked away, Alric tried to imagine them being his brothers and what he would do to protect them or what his father would do to keep him safe. "Never take a life unless needed." Gripping the knife tightly, he waited to see what would come from before deciding that he needed to strike.
”Psst. Hey, what’s going on here?” the elf asks.
”I have no idea. Do you Chet?” Cardren says, holding his cousin’s hand through the bars. Looking at the elf, Cardren feels as if a beam of light is streaming through a temple’s window. She appears so capable, unlocking the cage, and confident as greetings sprout from the others. Some have a history. He looks at Chet, wondering if he knows anyone else here.
The Piper? he thinks. What is that? He follows the conversations and begins to hope that they will be able to escape from here.
”This is Chet. I’m Cardren,” the boy says to the growing group, waiting as Shadei unlocks the cages.
When the unlocking sound comes from the room’s door, Cardren flinches and squeezes his cousin’s hand more. ”We’ll get out of here,” he whispers to Chet.
Samantha is afraid, but she remembers that her father once told her that one can only be brave when one is afraid?
Shadei quickly moved into Alric's open cell and waited for the opportune moment.
Hearing what was about to come through the door Elyana considered her options. She saw the others getting to the sides, in a position to grab whoever came through, and she knew they needed a distraction. Squaring her shoulders Elyana moved so she was in the middle of the room and in plain view of the door. She was going to try an lure whoever it was in and distract them from the others so they could get the person and made her best terrified look, which was rather simple because she was scared shitless right now.
The door opens and a humanoid rat-like being walks in dragging the unconscious form of another youth. It stops dead in its tracks as its eyes fall on Elyana.
Round 1:
Zaranna (Hidden), Alric (Hidden), Elyana, Shadei, ???
Elyana saw the ratman and her eyes widened in terror. She'd never seen something like this before and it was frightening. She began to step back as she tried to stifle a scream of terror.
Samantha moves to the corner of her cage where she could best see the rat thing. She remembers when Old Mother Dimas told her that the gods punish those who offend them or would harm their blessed.
"Indara, your children cry out to you. Behold, Forest Mother one who would harm your children."
Samantha's magic strikes true but seems to have no effect unfortunately.
Once the rat moves past the threshold of the door, Zaranna moves from behind the door, hoping to surprise the ratman by bringing the large rock down on its head. She raises it up in both her hands and brings it down as hard as she can.
Unfortunately, because she is scared, she doesn't get her full weight behind the blow.
At first, he can’t take his eyes off the humanoid rat-like being. There are tales of them, but he’s never seen one before. Seeing the others ready to act, he looks around the cell and along the walls.
”Chet, look in your cell or outside it for anything that could be a weapon,” Cardren says quietly.
Too bad we can’t lock the rat-man in a cell. Though, maybe we can, he thinks.
Alric hides alongside the door, hearing it click open a moment later. Holding tightly to the makeshift blade in his hand, he peers around the side and notices the young, unconscious boy being brought into the room. His heart trembles in his chest and his grip tightens enough around the rock to suddenly draw blood.
"Kristoff..."
Without hesitating another moment, he tries to manuever just right to get that blade stuck into the beast's chest. Zaranna tries to crack it over the head but the blow was just off enough to avoid being a real hit. Hoping to make use of the distraction, the young hunter darts in with the blade.
Zaranna continues to try to hit the rat-man: