Ceres currently hears nothing beyond the door.
Gildevar armours up!
Currently it is the afternoon. The prison is on alert. You know of the outside only what Ceres relayed from her climbing of the chimney.
View from the Chimney
Small or medium characters could squeeze out of the chimney onto the roof. At the same level as the walkway on top of the wall there is no cover and in daylight you would easily be seen.
Below there is a fire danger from the kitchen and a boiling soup pot. 2 servants are in the kitchen.
The guard told you of an armory downstairs and that the Warden can cast spells.
Hearing nothing, Ceres hesitates, but then yells, "Oi! We've got one of yours still alive! Come in and he'll be the first to die! I want to talk with a priest! And I want a set of decent clothes, some parchment, and a quill!"
Waiting a few seconds to see if there is a reply, Ceres then turns and heads back towards the others. Finding Gildevar getting his armor on, Ceres nods. "I've got some information about the outside...
There is no response from beyond the blocked door.
After the hair lady's story, Tawg makes his way over to the fireplace and attempts to give a smell to whatever is cooking below. He then turns back to the group and you see his eyes darting back and forth like they did earlier. "What if...if...we go down the chimney instead of up?! The guard said weapons are down. If we go down, then we get weapons and food!"
Tawg stays by the fireplace watching the rest of the party going to-and-fro.
"I can't make it down or up that thing; we'll have to go out the stars."
Araton finishes putting on the bloodied chain shirt, adjusting for just a moment to feel the weight of it upon his shoulders. He looks at their ragtag group and smirks for just a moment before he nods.
"Going down seems reasonable. My...heritage...will provide a bit of a benefit from the heat and fire. I will smother the flames for you all and we shall secure the ground floor." He would take out the veil and pull the coil of rope from it. Tying it into knots, he would carefully lower it down the smoky chimney.
"Make sure the ogre comes too." Araton says moments before he begins to make his way down the chimney and into the smoke below.
As he gets lower to the bubbling soup pot, holding his breath in the rising smoke, he would kick off the wall and land into the room. Emerging like a devil from the shadows, he would stand up straight and look at those assembled in the room.
"This is your moment, your chance even, to decide your future. Will you be the hero, shout for help, and die...or will you be silent, return to your families, and live another day. If you wish to see what your life should entail, then you should kneel." The last words seethe through his teeth, his dark eyes evaluating all that are there.
While Araton works at knotting the ropes, Ceres goes down the stairs and fetches the conference table from atop the corpse pile. Grunting, she crouches and flips it onto her back, and scuttling like a hermit crab, ascends the stairs and places the table as a brace across the entrance to the chimney, for the rope to be tied off of.
As the others make their way down, Ceres steadies the rope, her attention divided between the stairwell and the chimney, looking for threats and listening for sounds from both places.
With a deft tumble, Araton bursts into the Kitchen. 2 servants occupy a corner of the room, looking startled and scared of you. "Don't hurt us please! We're just the servants!" They've been huddling in the corner since the alarm.
Ceres doesn't see anything so far.
Gildevar tries to imagine what an ogre squeezing himself into the chimney would look like. The one-word description would be 'painful'. As now isn't the time to start nagging at each other, he won't mention this perhaps salient detail to Araton. Perhaps the ogre will fit.
Unlike some of the others, he doesn't care for the ogre to survive this ordeal. It is a beast, a savage thing, and it cannot be trusted. Oh, and it's altogether too strong and big to control. The temptation to lie to the beast and tell it there are only a couple of guards at the door below, but that they're too cowardly to face them. They're not big and strong like Grumblejack. Surely Grumblejack can easily take them on and then escape. Ah! Why must we cooperate with this untrustworthy savage?!
Tawg joins Ceres down the stairs and helps her carry the table back up, reaching his arms up to hold the table above his head. After they set it down, while Araton is preparing the rope, Tawg makes his way over to the ogre, stopping at the cell door. "Um, hi. It's Tawg again. We're climbing down the chimney." He looks back over his shoulder, tightens his lips and turns back to the ogre. "I don't think you can come with us, but there's more snacks down the stairs and more beyond the door, I'm sure." Tawg looks around at the ogre's oversized chains and manacles. "I think we have a key to get you out if you want, but you have to promise not to fight us anymore."
If the ogre and the party agree, Tawg will gleefully get the key and make his way around, unlocking the manacles. He'll then make his way back to the chimney and get in line behind Araton. He follows Araton's lead and tightly grips the rope as he lowers himself into the chimney. Behind a shorter, stocky build, Tawg finds it a little more difficult to brace himself against the chimney wall, but manages to make it down without issue. He also catches on pretty quick to hold his breath and not get lungs full of ash.
Tawg is simultaneously impressed by Araton deftly swinging out of the chimney and saddened by him knocking over the soup bowl. Maybe some made it to the floor to drink later. He shimmies down a few more feet before attempting to dodge the coals himself.
Once in the kitchen, Tawg finds himself listening intently to Araton's fancy words. Seeing the cooks cowering in the corner, and not being much with words, he fights his urge to lick up the soup and, instead, makes his way over to the cooks, baring his teeth at them.
He apparently has something hilariously distracting in his teeth,
After falling rather than climbing down, Grengar grunts in pain at the remains of the fire below and quickly rushes out of it.
Hilda follows the others down the rope and elegantly swings over the smouldering coals, arriving just in time to see Tawg make an attempt at intimidating the already scared servants.
"I'm sorry for my friend here, he has some unresolved anger issues. Now I, and I think most of us, have no desire to hurt you. Just stay put and stay out of the way and I see no need to hurt you. I do have a question though, where can we find some more food here? We spilled the soup but that smell made me ever so hungry and I guess my friends could also use a bite to eat." Hilda's voice was calm and kind and she smiled as warmly as she could.
Ceres slips and lands with a snarl, sending a small shower of embers in the air. Stepping out of the fireplace and into the room, she makes a beeline towards the kitchen's cabinetry, looking for anything that could be a pantry, and begins flinging drawers and doors open, practically drooling at the thought of finding food.
"Peasants! Show the nobleman some respect and do as he says. Now, where's the food? And the armory?"
Grumblejack looks at the chimney and agrees with Tawg on going down the stairs. "Grumblejack don't like smoke. I escape down the stairs."
Tawg is next and easily avoid the coals and hot soup. Grengar follows, climbing down but stepping in the boiling soup!
The servants don't move from their corner, cowering in fear, begging for you not to hurt them!
Hilda follows and tries to calm the servants. "There's bread, vegetables, meat, grain. Take whatever you want." The man points to the cupboards around the kitchen.
Ceres lands next, not feeling the hot coals under her feet, inured to the heat, as if it's happening to someone else entirely. The servants are already on their knees. "Armory? We don't know. I'm sorry! We only work here in the kitchen and through the mess hall there, and in the garden outside." He points to each of the doors.
Last comes Gildevar, carefully climbing down and avoiding the coals and boiling soup.
This room houses a well-stocked kitchen and pantry. 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 roughly fifty days’ worth of food stored here – forty days’ worth of perishable and ten days’ worth of iron rations. The fireplace here is a relic of the old castle great hall that the servants now use to stew tough cuts of meat, bake bread or boil bones for broth.
Still at a distance, Hilda drops down to her knees to appear less threatening to the servants, a bit like what you might when comforting a child.
"Now what can you tell us about the garden? How big are is it, are there any exits besides back to the kitchen, what would we find there other than growing veggies? And once you told us about the garden, tell us everything about the mess hall, like do you know how many guards are there?"
"It's a small vegetable and herb garden that we tend. There are plenty of days’ provisions if you want to harvest it. It's between the building here and the wall out there, not 60ft. wide and running the length of this building. At the south end there's a belladonna shrub separate from the garden. The warden was poisoning the ogre with it. It saps your strength see. We made the belladonna tea for him and the Warden gave it to him to drink without knowing it."
"Well there were 8 off-duty, we fed some of them earlier. Since the alarm rang I heard a commotion as they got ready again. No one came in here and we didn't know what to do so we decided to hide. Please. Don't hurt us!"
Grengar looks around the room for a loaf of bread and something to wash it down with, grabbing whatever likely or delicious food he finds and immediately starting to stuff his face.
"ahhh! Now we are talking food! But a little ale would be better. . "
Feeling he's done a good job at scaring the cooks into the corner, Tawg joins the large man in helping himself to food. He's still somewhat satisfied from the dog earlier, but non-bloody food is nice now and then.
"ahhh! Now we are talking food! But a little ale would be better. . "
"What's 'ale'?" The goblin looks up towards the giant with a puzzled look and a mouth full of food. "Is it what my masters drank? A happy drink?"
While the big man is answering, Tawg will meander over to the shelves of cutlery and plates, picking them up and looking them over one at a time.
There is also a barrel of water and a barrel of ale that the guards prefer.
Finding the barrel of ale Grengar laughs, "Ho, hah, ho! My friend, you shall find out!" Grengar drinks down a ladle of the ale, then offers one up to Tawg. "Not too much now- later we can get right roaring drunk."
Never one to turn down food or drink, Tawg merrily makes his way over to Grengar and drinks from the ladle. When the drink hits his tongue, he quickly pulls away, shaking his head. "Ooooh, that burns." He smacks his lips a few times and exhales deeply. "I like it! I want to get drunk!" You can tell he has no idea what that word means.
Araton quietly listens as the others explore the room, some feasting on the food and drink that is there while others ask questions of the staff. Araton drinks from the barrel of water, sighing softly at the refreshing coolness that soothes his throat. Turning around to the others, Araton would clear his throat before he spoke.
"I've reason to believe this warden is the source of our...weakness at the moment. You said that there was a tower beside this building, yes? Spellcasters always loved their damn towers." Araton muttered, looking down at his fist as he slowly clenched it. He had only so recently been giving his gift and now they had been stripped from him. This warden would need to suffer for it. "I say we eat what we can, make our way out, and try to find the armory before assaulting the tower. Likely the armory has already been deprived of its goods though. These servants can be locked in a closet with some rations to keep them out of the way."
Finding a potato, Ceres stuffs it into her mouth, biting off hunks of the tuber and forcing them down to fill her stomach. Despite the blandness, the potato is simply one of the best things she's ever eaten. Listening to the others as she shoves the last bit of potato into her mouth, Ceres nods and grabs the ladle from Araton, taking a turn at the water barrel.
Next, she looks for sack and begins stuffing it with food. They would need fuel if they got out of the prison. Pointing to the servants, she mumbles, "Big tower is at the back of the prison. We can take them with us too. Less likely to get sniped with them between us and the archers."
Ceres jabs a crooked finger in the direction of the peasants and then towards the chimney. "You two! Want to live through the hour? Up the rope and into a cell then."
Grengar searches the kitchen, hoping to find either sack or a tablecloth he can tie into one, then using whatever the most portable container he can find begins loading provisions into it after people have slaked their immediate needs.
He grabs the largest of the knives, and secures it in his belt as best he can, ripping a strip of cloth to make a belt if he doesn't have one.
"Right then. Eat up everyone, and I'll carry what I can with us from here- I have a feeling there's hungry and thirsty work ahead."
When Ceres forces the cooks to 'volunteer' as humanshields, Gildevar notices he doesn't feel bad. How did the saying go again? All is fair in love and war. Right.
"Don't mind if I do, Grengar. Don't mind if I do. The grub they fed us in the cell wasn't exactly to write home about ..."
The east door leads outside to the garden. The north door to the Mess Hall and the Barracks.
Grengar and Ceres easily fill a couple of sacks with more than enough food for the next few days for everyone.
While you are deciding what to do, you hear Grumblejack roar, though it is muffled a little through the stone walls and wooden doors.
Tawg pulls away from the barrel with a mouth full of ale and his ears stick straight up when the group hears the muffled roar. "*gulp* Ah, uh, if that's our friend, maybe we should go?" He makes his way over to the cooks. "Hi! Our friend is telling us to go, and since you're here," he continues in a somewhat manic voice a few inches from their faces , "you're our friends now, too, so you're going to come with us!"
Gildevar is visibly perturbed when the goblin points out that that might very well be Grumblejack's dying sounds. Did the ogre really go down that fast? He has trouble believing it. "Eh, yes, I think you're right. We ought to get going." With pain in his heart, he drops the ladle and gets back to the task of escaping this hellish prison.
Hilda has seamlessly switched between talking and stuffing her face with food and downing large amounts of water.
When the muffled roar comes she shirks, "If that's him dead I'd say good riddance. I just hope he took some guards down with him."
She then grabbed her sword from the counter where she had laid it. "Do we have to bring the cooks? Those poor sods don't deserve any of this. And if the ogre still lives he'd probably want to eat them and that'd be even worse. You don't eat innocent bystanders, even I know that."
"Maybe YOU don't, but I imagine Grumblejack does," Grengar almost laughs, "Bring them or leave them or lock them up- I don't care. Someone lead the way and I'll carry what I can."
Grengar holds the sack on his back, and resealing it, rolls the cask of ale in front of him.
"We take them. We need every bit of leverage we can get." Araton says, making his way towards the door that would take them outside and closer to the warden's tower. "We find the warden, find an antidote, and then we'll all be in much better positions to fight our way out of here." Araton doesn't eat too much, just enough to curb the pain in his stomach and give him some relief. Too much food would make him slower, lagging behind. It was better to keep light on his feet while danger surrounded them.
"Come on, let's go." Araton says to them, grabbing the woman and pulling her in front of him. "Make a noise and I'll cut you open. Understand?" He hisses into her ear before stepping out into the daylight and the dangers ahead. His goal was the tower, to secure themselves there and be able to find what suppressed their magical power.
Ceres bursts through the door, a sneer on her face, her fists balled in rage. Any soldier beyond this door would die painfully. Perhaps, she thought, her rage overtaking her, there was even a chaplain that lay beyond, who would die painfully and slowly.
The woman whimpers and cries silently but doesn't resist. Neither does the man.
"The armory is downstairs."
Ceres finds the empty Mess Hall, a large room that has a few wooden tables and benches. It is here that the guards and guard sergeant take their meals. A banner emblazoned with the emblem of Branderscar prison hangs on the eastern wall. The banner is not valuable in and of itself but it is a point of pride of the guardsmen. The banner sees use whenever the guard contingent must assemble before a visiting dignitary.
There is a door to the north which has been left open, this simple room has a number of cots and small chests, the Barracks.
A door to the west is also open and leads to a Hallway. Sounds of struggle can be heard close-by, guards and Grumblejack.
Sounds of Battle
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Araton opens the door to outside and with his human shield walks out. The afternoon sun is hidden a little by the prison building, giving you a little shade from the brightness. A dry, dirt path runs along the edge of the building and around both corners. To your left, 4 guards had been coming towards the kitchen entrance and have now paused upon seeing you and drawn their swords. In front of you a distance away and 30ft. above are 4 guards on the wall with their longbows trained on you, hesitating to shoot in case they accidentally hit the servant.
It seems the guards haven't been sitting around while you've been planning and talking.
Hostage Showdown
Araton pulls her right back in with him and closes the door. "That way looks bad. They have four guards on the wall and four on the ground coming to us."
"Hey, let her go!" The guards try to catch you before you get back inside but the door slams in their faces and you shut the latch. It will stop them from simply opening the door. But it is rather flimsy if they decide to use force. There is no lock on this door.
Gildevar helps Araton lock up the door and tries to alleviate his worries. "Knowing we got some of their own might make them hesitant to barge on in, which means we bought ourselves some time. Now, we ought to help Grumble, because we're going to need a battering ram to break their lines ... let's go?"
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Grengar sets down the barrel of ale and the sack of supplies, and grabbing the largest barrel of water stands a few feet back from the door, "When you open the door, I'll roll this at them to trip the guards."
Tawg reaches out a rough green hand and grabs the servant's wrist with a big toothy smile. "I know the cages here are nice, but they told me we can get bigger and better ones." He pulls the servant to their feet as he walks towards the doors. "I'm not sure how many they have, but if you can cook some more soup for us, maybe you'll get one!"
Interest piqued by the sounds of battle, Ceres moves towards the door to the northwest, and cracks it open enough to get a view of what lies in the room beyond.
Seeing Grengar grabbing the barrel, Araton would wait just a moment to where he would think the guards would be outside. Kicking the door open, he would pull himself and the servant woman out of the way of the giantkin's furious attack.
Ceres moves to the already open door and peeks into the Hallway. There are 2 guards fighting Grumblejack in the door of one room and another 2 guards to the north with bows. "Draw him out so we can shoot!" They shout. None of the guards are injured so far.
Araton opens the door for Grengar as the guards outside bang on the door. They start to surge inside but are met by a barrel... barreling towards them! It rolls on top of them as it knocks them down.
Ceres balls her fists and shambles towards the guards, moving a bit towards the bowmen as she goes. Putting herself on the other side of one guard from Grumblejack, Ceres cocks her fist and throws every ounce of her supernatural strength into the punch, hoping to knock the guard out. They would likely need as many hostages as they could get.