"And where is the Warden's tower?"
"Just outside that wall. Not 20ft. away." He points to the wall next to the stairs. West.
Morthos studies the guard for a long moment before turning to the others. "It appears we've a gauntlet to run through. We must locate this warden and reacquire Grumblejack's weapon and whatever else you all are in need of." Stroking his chin in thought, he looks back to the guard. "You've done well, fool, and have bought yourself your life. And while your life will be spared this time, we cannot allow to scream relentlessly." And with that, Morthos knocks him over the head with the hilt of his sword.
He then returns to the others. "Grumblejack, the dead one you can eat but that one remains," he points to the one that is chained. "Do not worry... there are many more for you to kill and eat," he tells him, grinning wryly. "So, to which is more important to you all? The armory or the warden first? Time is of the essence so let us be quick."
Seltyiel doesn't speak much, but absorbs everything being said. He's just some animated ink, but through his unholy birth he got a natural will for deception and destruction and - maybe in a twisted way - misses his best abilities to do so, and finding this warden seemed to be a solution for it.
Internally, he didn't really much care for the guard and whatever shed of honor to agreement people seemed to be shown. For him, the ogre could do whatever he'd like to and he wouldn't really bat an eye. For a moment he considered if there were no other useful information to take from the guard.
Sarela regards the group. "I would like to take out the warden, first. A number of us have abilities that are suppressed by that concoction. However, using that window on the veil might give us away to the guards on the walls, sounding the alarm, and the armory is within the building. Unless night has fallen, we should hit the armory."
"The sun has already set; we have the cover of darkness as our ally. So I would gather it is the armory first? And from there we find the warden, if it is feasible, and then we make our escape. Time to move." He then looks over at the ogre and contemplates their options regarding the large beast. Finding none, "Grumblejack, you will need to go last. We NEED you to be as quiet as possible. If you are able to be as quiet as possible, you will be rewarded. If you are NOT able to be as quiet as possible, it is probable that we ALL die. Do you understand?"
"Grumblejack not die. I crush all. And find Crusher." he seems confident, though does already lower his voice, which sounds more like a rumble than a whisper.
"You can hang in the back with me buddy!"
Eowithe nodded, "The armory is the best I think, as well. If we can all , she says pausing, glancing sidelong at the looming Grumbejack, equip ourselves, dealing with the other guards and this Warden will be that much easier."
"It is settled then. Eowithe and I will attempt to reach the armory in disguise. Be ready, all, for if we somehow do not succeed, then prepare for battle because it will be readily available."
As you proceed down the stairs looking just like the guards who would be finishing their shift at this time, the door out of the stairwell has been left ajar by the newest guard you just dealt with. You can see a guard on the other side of it standing at attention but nothing further down the hall yet.
"Keep him away from me. You said you would let me live." The guard begs for his life as Grumblejack looks at him menacingly.
He then immediately heads back to the others and the lone living guard.
You all see Morthos return with a look of determination and frustration about him. "There is a guard - possibly two - stationed right outside the door. If we attempt to walk past them they will see right through our disguises which will in turn alert all of these fools. I'm thinking we should lure them in here and finish them off. Ponder that while I speak to the guard," he says while continuing straight to where the guard has been locked up.
He then makes his way over to the guard but stops a moment and turns to the ogre. "Grumblejack, do not eat him. The dead one is fine."
Now turning his attention to the guard, "Is there only the one guard directly outside the door or is there another opposite him? How many guards are we to encounter from here to the armory? And also, which rooms specifically will we pass on our way there? And will those rooms be occupied by guards and how many typically? And how many guards will be patrolling on the way to the armory that we may encounter? And I need those answers now, fool!" he demands, quite infuriated by their current predicament. "And remember, if you yell for help then the inside of the beast will be your next destination."
Worried that he would be punished for leaving something out he tells you more. "There are 2 outside the door and 2 more at the end of the hall near the Grand Entry doors. The armoury door is next to those 2, past the doors to Blackerly's Office on the left and the Mess Hall on the right. When we finish our shift here, we usually get something to eat from the servants in the Kitchen next to the Mess Hall. All the off-duty guards are in the Mess Hall or the Barracks next to it. There are 6 of them. Blackerly's not here though. He'll be in the Gate House."
Eowithe returns with Morthos, a thoughtful expression on her face. She accompanies him to question the guard, staring intently at his face as he answers Morthos' questions...
”Is the door to the armory locked?”
"Yes. Blackerly has the key. We have to see him get our things when we arrive. Off shift we keep our weapons in the barracks with us in case of emergencies."
Eowithe leans in close, "What's the name of the guard or guards at t he bottom of the stairs ?"
Upon hearing the armory is locked, Morthos curses under his breath. He takes a moment to gather his composure as Eowithe questions him. Once she is done, "Also, if we could walk through floors, would it be possible to make it into the armory from this level? If so, where would we need to stand to accomplish such a feat?"
Demian massages his chin in thought for many moments. With his eyes still closed he finally speaks, "The hallway, downstairs, does it go straight and end at the Grand Entry doors? Or does it shift to one side or the other? Also, does the door to the armory lead to the armory, or is there a hallway before the armory? Also, are there any other doors out of the armory?"
"-And..," he interrupts, "What is the procedure for when you all hear the horn?"
"uhh, that's Merv and Gerrin. Tam and Rand are at the other end of the hall." Confused at the idea of walking through floors he points to your cell, "Well... I guess it's about there, below your cell. How..."
"Yes it's one long hallway, about 80ft. to the Grand Entry doors. The door from the hall to the armoury goes right into the armoury. It's the only exit from it." There is one way in or out of the armoury.
"Only that off-duty guards are supposed to return to duty. Whoever is close will immediately investigate the cause and report it to Blackerly."
"Yes...Well," Demian opens his eyes and turns to Seltiel. "An evil artists wet dream, could you sneak down the chimney and check it out down there?"
Sarela frowns. "It sounds like striking the armory will require a fight - hopefully one that we can prevent from alerting the entire guard force to our presence. Do we still want to try this?"
"By my estimation, there are only about 10 guards left in this building. With a little wit we could take the whole place." Demian continues while pointing to the chimney, "As there is a mess hall, there has to be a kitchen somewhere. Kitchens cook things. So, it stands to reason that this chimney is connected to the first level kitchen."
Hearing the other guards' names, Eowithe ponders and suggests, "Perhaps another ruse is in order....to thin the herd , so to speak. If Morthos, in his guise as one of the guards, in a sufficiently alarmed state summons Merv and Gerrin and Tam and Rand. To 'help' with a suddenly unruly ogre. I and the brute wait in the cells, you all in the meeting room. When Morthos leads them in we spring yet another ambush! "
Sarela shakes her head. "I don't think such a ruse would work for luring all four guards up. For starters, they will probably wonder why, if the ogre is loose, the guards up here didn't just blow the signal horn. It seems to me that calling down the entire garrison upon Grumblejack would be the most reasonable course of action to ensure he can be either killed or recaptured. That, or they may wish to get reinforcements, and gather the guards from the mess hall before coming up, as well as sending word to the Warden and Blackerly. We could quickly find ourselves facing the entire garrison."
Sarela frowns, considers the chimney, then Eowithe and Morthos, and says, "Taking the chimney down to the kitchen could work, if Eowithe and Morths can get down there via the main stairs and Seltyiel can spring from the fireplace. I imagine the cooks aren't particularly skilled combatants, and are more likely to try and run than fight. If they can be sufficiently cowed and contained, that might keep them from alerting the guards in the mess hall. The rest of us can follow down the chimney. From there we might be able to take the guards in the mess hall without alerting the guards outside. Then we could strike the ones in the hall and finish the sleeping ones in the barracks off. We could then search the armory and any other rooms in this building before heading for the Warden's Tower."
"But, if we do that, they may just send someone to alert Blackerly and the rest of the guards. I purpose a two prong effort. One, slowly drawing the hall guards in here with Grumblejack. The other going in from the kitchen."
"I don't think splitting into a two groups to try and lure the guards out is a good idea - I like your plan of going through the chimney, Demian, and I think it's our best option right now."
Demian sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, "It is obvious that Grumblejack cannot go through the chimney. Also, he needs to do some killing. Clearly the chimney plan is the best one. We might as well utilize both options." He lowers his hand, "I'll stay here with Grumblejack. The rest of you will be necessary to get through the kitchen and mess hall, judging by how hard the first fight was for you." He pauses for a moment while looking to the others. "Break?"
Listening to the conversation at hand with his arms crossed and a hand upon his chin, he taps it lightly with his forefinger in thought as he ponders their ideas. "Let us find out where this chimney leads, shall we?" He then goes back to the guard and asks, "Would the chimney lead us to the kitchen? And approximately how many servants would we encounter if that is the case?"
"Yes that's the Kitchen down there. Gregor and Irena will be there tonight."
Going down the chimney it gets a lot hotter, closer to the fire. A real person would surely sweat.
You see the two Servants preparing some vegetables. Besides, the usual collection of plates, bowls and other cooking paraphernalia, there are six large knives here(equivalent to a dagger) and a long meat cleaver (equivalent to a short sword). There is also many days’ worth of food stored here.
The fireplace is a relic of the old castle great hall. It has been repurposed to cook the food for the prison guards. The servants are constantly stewing tough cuts of meat, baking bread or boiling bones for broth.
Seltyiel climbs down and inspects the overall kitchen. Two servants..., he thinks, Easy prey. But they will certainly yell to alert the guards. I can't deal with them and at the same time the guards!
There are no keys you can see, or locks on the doors, but the east door does have a wooden latch that can secure it closed . The north door has nothing to secure it.
The man 20ft. from you seems to see something out of the corner of his eye and turns to face you. He seems terrified at seeing whatever it is he thinks he sees in the smoke. The woman is none the wiser and continues at her work.
Seltyiel pretends to cough, and uses the smoke to hide himself the best he can.
- as he lies to his teeth.
H... Help. Please... The prisoners... - he says, interrupting to cough, carefully trying to control his tone in such way that the servants and his companions on top of the chimney hear him, but not anyone outside the room - Please, you two servants, pull me out! Quick! We don't have much time!
He emphasizes the "two servants", trying to give as much information to his team as he can; maybe he can still salvage this situation somehow.
Irena whips around to look at where the sound is coming from, looking almost as startled as Gregor. "Wh-, who are you?" she says.
"I think it's one o' them prisoners got out Irena." They seem ready to run.
Sarela hears Seltyiel speak and looks at the others. "He was seen. We need to prepare to get down there. There may not be time for Morthos and Eowithe to head down through the stairs anymore - we might just have to go down the chimney to try and stop the servants from running, once he's out of the way."
Demian turns to Grumblejack, "Hey bud, if we hear a horn, we are going to need you to go into murder mania. Our goal will be to get to the entry doors as fast as possible. Got it?"
Oh well., thinks the construct, It seems Norgorber wants to give me some challenges today...
The cleric moves between the two doors and latches the East one. He speaks as he does it.
Thanks for pulling me out, guys. No, no, wait! No need to cut their necks! No bloodshed, they're just servants! No need to kill anyone, they will behave! - he lies to his teeth, pretending to be speaking to invisible companions; his eyes then turn to the servants - You will behave, right? Please, please, don't make a sound. It's not worth dying for it! I might even slide you some coins for your trouble, and we will all be out of your hair in a second.
He finishes gesturing with his arms open, as if they were surrounded by invisible people. Seltyiel is as evil as they come and couldn't care less for the servants - but will keep lying to try to gain time. He doesn't plan to honor any part of what he just said.
Demian then turns to the others with an expectant look, "Well!? Are you just going to stand there? Get down there!"
"Grumblejack wait for signal. Then CRUSH." He heads down the stairs.
The servants look around at the air surrounding them nervously and whisper between themselves. "Now there's no need to kill anyone. I bet those guards aren't treating you so well. How about some fresh soup? I'll get you some?" Gregor says carefully.
Irena has a different idea on how to handle the situation and doesn't like you latching the east door so makes a break for the north door.
You notice this and are much quicker to react.
"Grumblejack, wait for me to dress up like one of them. I might need your help actually." Demian says commandingly. He then goes to one of the dead guards and strips their gear.
Morthos can only shake his head. "Well this could've gone better," he says with zero tone and nary and expression. "I'm going to the kitchen now. I will say nothing to the guards as I pass them as if I am simply following protocol. Hopefully they do not bother to speak to me. If so, then, we can just add that to our fantastic string of luck we have already been so fortunately blessed with up to this point," he says, leaving one to wonder if he's serious or if he's simply being sarcastic. He looks to Sarela, "Crawling down a chimney into a raging fire is not something I would dare attempt in any circumstance, Sarela. It is one thing to be defeated by your enemies; it is entirely another to be defeated by foolishness." He then double checks his shield to make sure it's fastened tightly before immediately heading back down the stairs, out the door, past the guards and toward the kitchen as if it's routine.
Eowithe prefers the more direct path downwards and drops down the chimney, trying to avoid the fire at the bottom.
Eowithe takes the more direct path, pushing off the ledge then kicking of the far wall to land at the bottom of the chimney, just missing the cookpot and flames to roll and spring to her feet inside the kitchen, startling the servants even more.
Morthos heads down the stairs and opens the door to the hallway. Merv and Gerrin turn to look as the door opens. You see the Hallway is about 80ft. long and the other 2 guards are at the far end.
"Took your time. You heading to Blackerly's game again? You know you'll just lose more money to him." Both guards laugh. "What's taking Greg so long?"
"Sometimes risks must be taken, Morthos. If we're going to get out of this, this is one of those times. Besides, I once performed an Iraen fire dance - this flame can't be much hotter." Sarela follows Eowithe down the chimney, carefully placing her feet so she can tumble past the flames and the cookpot with all her dancer's grace.
Cursing softly, Barnabas also jumps down the chimney.
Beating her in initiative, Seltyiel does a sidestep to get closer to the woman and the door. Trying to be precise, he swings his claws to trip her.
Don't kill him! He's not doing anything to us! I will deal with her. She's probably just scared... I'm sure she will come to her senses! - says Seltyiel, not too loudly, trying to keep the farce.