Chapter 6: Escape from the Prison World - Dark Beginnings

[Grognardsw]

Deceidon thinks the magical transport back to his own realm has effected his fighting skills. He tries a sword-and-dagger combo but is parried each time.

Sword Attack [1d20] = 6, damage s/m [1d8] = 3, damage L [1d12] = 10
Dagger Attack [1d20] = 8, S/L Damage [1d4] = 3, L Damage [1d3] = 1

[Rukellian]

Whitsell once again hammers his opponent with his sword, but Flynn, tired of seeing his armored comrade take all the glory of battle, manages to finish off the foe with a rapier thrust of his own! The third guard collapses and silence momentarily fills the air around you once again, the pale blue torches flickering an ominous glow in the stone corridor of the castle. In the distance you can hear the sounds of the other conflict come to an end as well. The sound of a familiar voice comes through, giving orders to his men. It appears they faired well against these hollowed suits of armor.

As you round the next right corner using the same method of marking as before, you hear the footsteps of the familiar party approach. A torch of yellow flame illuminates the hall and the man holding it up is none other than Captain Hal himself, battered but still very much alive. "Figured we'd bump into you guys sooner or later. How are you all holding up?"

-----

A map of the city area is produced in the small assembly area where the Brotherhood presides. Some more members have been gathered and Rand is given the details of the hanging, to the best of the shopkeeper's knowledge. Joffrey unfurls the large map onto a table and points towards the main market place. "The area here is large and the well can be turned into a makeshift galley at a moment's notice. This is where the execution is to take place. The area is tight with security, guards watching every path towards the area. I'd imagine there would be at least two or three armed men at each alleyway and street, to help control any mobs that may start to riot.

"The royal advisor, Fenrin, has sent word of the horrible incident to all of the outlying villages and towns within the Dathanian Kingdom. The city will be hosting hundreds, nay... perhaps thousands of people in one small area. The royal advisor himself is going to arrive at the execution and supervise it. I'm not sure what else there is to say. The execution will be taking place soon though, when, I don't know."

-----

Elithil, after having collected his bearings and taking account of his new equipment, makes his way over to the boarded up section of the sewer tunnel. The wood itself is hastily nailed together and seems to be wedged tightly into the walls. To an ordinary man, a tool or weapon would be needed to break it down or pry it loose, but Elithil is no ordinary man, not even an ordinary elf. Using his incredible strength, the warrior elf easily pries off the wooden planks.

His infravision reveals very little at first glance, no noticeable outlines of any sort of objects inside. Holding a torch up, he finds that the surrounding stone walls that formed the tunnels behind him taper off and gradually turns into dirt and earth. The area has the makings of an underground tunnel. Before Elithil is able to progress any farther in, he suddenly hears the sounds of hurried footsteps coming down the ladder from before, the one where Sunshine tried to stop him. Not just one set, but two or three from the sounds of it. Shouts quickly follow afterwards. "Quickly now! I think he was around this area, couldn't have gotten far!"

[onlyme]

Whitsell slaps Flynn on the shoulder,
Bout time you did some fighting...
Capt'n, any idea what we are up against here?

[Zhym]

Elethil's instinct is to hide. He considers ducking into the tunnel that's still partially blocked off by boards, but he realizes he couldn't possibly make enough room to squeeze through quickly enough and without making noise. He ducks behind the same bit of debris he used to hide from Sunshine.

[MonkeyWrench]

Rand looks over the details, "What scrolls do we have? I can cast invisibility on myself and get close to him but I need an exit. Do we have anything pre-made that can be cast fast? teleportation? Another Invisibility spell that can envelope both myself and him?"

[Grognardsw]

Deceidon says to Hal, "We have been turned about in the castle. What is going on?"

[Rukellian]

Deceidon says to Hal, "We have been turned about in the castle. What is going on?"

Whitsell slaps Flynn on the shoulder,
Bout time you did some fighting...
Capt'n, any idea what we are up against here?

Hal shakes his head in response to Whitsell and Deceidon, a bewildered look of confusion on his as well. "I'm not sure what to make of these guards myself. Not the standard flesh and living sort I can guess as much. I think evil magic is behind these suits of armor, no doubt Fenrin's doing, that bastard...; but it doesn't matter, they go down just the same." Captain Hal ends in a proud smile. "Nothing my boys and I can't handle. Looks like you all had your fair share as well."

Hal looks around at the walls and back towards the group as he says a bit uneasily. "I don't like this place... the walls keep on changing. We've been bloody lost in here ever since that prison realm was put behind us. Same thing with you all?"

-----

As Elithil quickly finds cover in the darkness of a large debris pile near the entrance he gets a better look of his pursuers. The lighting from the sewer entrance does not provide a whole lot, but you can see that there are two figures climbing the stairs down, unarmed from the looks of it. They are wearing normal everyday folk clothing, but you notice a glint of metal on one of the person's vests, a symbol of the brotherhood you work with.

-----

The brothers of the order gasp in awe as Rand mentions his ability to use invisibility, a high level spell by their standards. "Certainly having such knowledge will aid you, I'm impressed! Oh but scrolls, yes...." Joffrey pauses for a moment and heads over to the basket that another member was preparing. He quickly unfurls the rolled up parchment and scans over each of them with incredible speed, and then pulls out a few after nodding his head in approval.

"We know not of any spells that cause harm, but we do have plenty that help use get away from it. Our guild leader has scribed many scrolls of magic for us, for study and practice. Some such scrolls may be helpful to us. Take for instance this scroll that contains Wall of Fog. It would take but only one person to chant it, and then a huge smokescreen will appear! We actually have quite a few of these, you know, just in case the guards ever sniffed us out." He hands one of such scrolls to Rand to look over. "We also have some that makes noises come from afar, ones that can make light out of nothing, ones that make objects shrink and grow, ones that can create illusions of big monsters to scare people, all of which are not directly harmful, of course, but great distractions if used properly."

"Unfortunately my boy, we do not have anything as advanced as teleportation or invisibility. How you know the latter is beyond me," he chuckles. "Many of us would be more than willing to help in reading these scrolls when the time is right, but the time has to be right, otherwise we could be throwing away some precious lives!"

[onlyme]

Whitsell nods.
Yes, we started marking walls a bit to determine what circles we are walking through... I supposed we should continue somewhere as standing still seems not to get us anywhere.

[Zhym]

Elethil emerges from his hiding place to greet the newcomers. "Brothers," he says with a significant look at the symbol on the one man's vest, "what brings you to this dark and malodorous place?"

[Rukellian]

Elethil emerges from his hiding place to greet the newcomers. "Brothers," he says with a significant look at the symbol on the one man's vest, "what brings you to this dark and malodorous place?"

The two are surprised at first, but quickly become all smiles as they look to each other and confirm what they see. "Brother Elithil! It is good to see you after so long."

"Yeah, we've been worried about your disappearance and our guild leader's too. When we heard that Guild Master Matkinsai was actually found and accused of murder, we could hardly believe it! Even now, our newest brother Rand and the others are working towards trying to free him from his undeserving execution!"

The other one who spoke first and wore the symbol but nods in confirmation. "Brother Rand performed a clairvoyance to seek you out and this is where he said to go. We could really use your help. We can't let Matkinsai get executed for something he didn't do!"

"We are currently at our old meeting room, the one underneath Joffrey's shop." The two brother's start to hastily climb back up the ladder to the surface. "Will you join us?"

[Zhym]

Elethil's usual measured speech is quickened only slightly by the news of Matkinsai's arrest and impending execution. "Of course I will join you. But let us speak no more of this until we have convened in a more appropriate location. The walls have ears—if one set fewer than before." He glances down at Sunshine's remains.

The elf pulls the hood of his cloak over his head and climbs out of the sewers.

[MonkeyWrench]

Rand looks over the different scrolls as well as the map. He begins pointing to the different streets leading into the large courtyard area that the execution is supposed to take place in. "Alright, with the amount of people gathering for this I believe chaos will be our best ally, if we gather all the members left in the city and load them up with the wall of fog scrolls we can hopefully cast a smokescreen over the entire area, then I can use my invisibility to cut the bonds holding Matkinsai and we can then use the fog to escape into the chaos. To keep the guards away from us we can have a few members cast the monster illusions, how complex are the spells? Can they make noise at least? Hopefully that will distract the guards and populace enough so that they won't be looking for us... If need be we can use the size scrolls to make them bigger or make things such as doorways smaller if we are pursued."

Rand thinks about the other scrolls for a moment more before continuing, "I also want each member to have at least one scroll that will project noise for another location, if they are found and chased I want them to use it to throw their pursuers off their trail." Rand looks at the assembled magic users, "We will need to see how the plan will change once Elethil arrives but for now we have the starting plan, let us take inventory on just how man scrolls of each spell we have, yes?" Rand then begins reading over the scrolls and piling like ones up to get a number count.

[Grognardsw]

Hal looks around at the walls and back towards the group as he says a bit uneasily. "I don't like this place... the walls keep on changing. We've been bloody lost in here ever since that prison realm was put behind us. Same thing with you all?"

"Aye, let's continue and mark our passage to hopefully exit this place," says Deceidon, continuing to chalk right corners as they move.

[Rukellian]

Continuing the previous strategy from before, having Deceidon use the elven dagger to mark the right walls, the group reunites with Captain Hal and his men. Apparently, they too were teleported here, or from here as it were. Both groups faced a number of armored guards who took on a ghostly visage within, the works of Fenrin's evil magics of which Hal has no doubts about. As the group navigates the maze like corridors they finally start to see the end of it oppressive darkness around them. The walls having not changed after being marked by the elven dagger, finding a way out became easy.

With Captain Hal and Whitsell taking front, the group emerges from the dark corridors and into a large throne room. Upon entering, they come across a most grisly sight, stacks of dead nobles and members of the royal court found strewn across the floor, blood and signs of struggle everywhere on the furniture and carpeting nearby. "Bloody hell..." Captain Hal mutters under his breath. One of his men drops his head and marks a cross on his chest, a silent prayer to his god.

In the distance you notice a robed figure huddling over one of the slain nobles. He looks up and smiles a wicked grin, his eyes crazed. He produces a staff with a blood red crystal mounted upon its head, and slams it into the ground. The air around the whole room begins to start shimmering. You can hear the sound of clanking armor rushing to you from all sides. "The master has made it clear that none shall interfere with his plans, not even the king's guests. Ehahahahaha!!"



Actions and rolls when you are all ready

-----

Inventory is taken of all of the guild's scrolls currently in their possession.

[1d4] = 3 Three wall of fogs are scribed.
[1d4] = 1 Upon close inspection, all of the grow spells are too damaged to use, there is at least one shrink spell in good condition though.
[1d6] = 3 Three fear spells are found, though some of the members seem reluctant to include them. Perhaps they are afraid of them too?
[1d4] = 4 Four audible glamours are in working order and ready to be used.
This is what the initial search turns up. These are spells that the brotherhood can use, everything else has been restricted from use or too high a level spell to use for them.

As the scrolls are laid out on the various tables, being looked over and examined, Elithil is lead into the room by two brothers of the order. Everyone is visibly excited to see him again, Joffrey himself steps forward and warmly greets him a with a handshake. "It's been too long brother. What of your mission? Is Markus..."

[Zhym]

As the scrolls are laid out on the various tables, being looked over and examined, Elithil is lead into the room by two brothers of the order. Everyone is visibly excited to see him again, Joffrey himself steps forward and warmly greets him a with a handshake. "It's been too long brother. What of your mission? Is Markus..."

Elethil shakes his head. "When I returned from Fenrin's plane, Markus was nowhere to be seen. I can only presume that he is dead."

The elf groans and rubs his side where Sunshine's arrow struck him. Large brown spots of dried blood stain his clothes. "Does the Brotherhood have any curative elixirs?" he asks. "It has been an interesting day. I would welcome rest and the attentions of a healer, if either is possible."

"Do we know when and where Matkinsai is scheduled to be executed?"

[onlyme]

Whitsell quickly grabs his metal disk and says a prayer to the great Karnagee, asking aloud in an odd sounding chant for the diety to hold the evil mage still for a bit, hoping to prevent more armybots coming their way.

[MonkeyWrench]

Rand visibly tenses up at the conversation between Elethil and Joffrey, speaking up towards them, "Markus a long time ago..." Shaking his head to to relieve the built up tension from himself continues on, "We need to move on, time is running out. Elethil, let's see what you can add to the plan."

Rand points to different points on the map, "The area they are going to hanging Matkinsei is in this open courtyard" he begins to point to the different exits, "These here are the exits and entrances, people will be flooding in here through these to watch the "kings murderer" get hanged, I believe that are our best shot at getting him out alive." Rand then motions for the scrolls, "We don't have a lot to work with but at least it's something." Go back to the map he points to the stage area, "There will be guards posted along here as well as the executioner and whoever will do the talking, I don't know if any guards will be posted in the streets or rooftops but if our plan works it won't really matter."

Rand points first to the stage area, "I will cast invisibility to get close to the stage while they make their preparations, once I have an opening I will cast the smokescreen scroll and cut Matkinsei free before attempting to flee with him, that will be the first signal for the others... For them though..."Rand points to two of the exits, "I think we should have two members posted here, and here. When the signal is given they cast their scrolls and create a large smokescreen, then retreat to save their identities. After they have cast the spells then we can have some brothers here, here, and here" He points to the different exits and one spot in a corner, "These members will cast their scrolls of audible illusion, creating large monsters to scare the populace into a panic; we want them to scramble. I'd go for maybe one land monster and two flying, dragons or something, in order to swoop down on the people to further scare them."

Rand motions towards the scrolls again, "That will leave one smoke screen scroll, which I will have, three fear scrolls, that I believe the members in most danger should have as a last resort, and one shrink scroll, which I am not sure we can use." Rand looks up towards Joffrey, "How effective is the shrink scroll? How long do you believe it will last? We should potentially shrink Matkinsei to make our escape easier..."

[Grognardsw]

Whitsell quickly grabs his metal disk and says a prayer to the great Karnagee, asking aloud in an odd sounding chant for the diety to hold the evil mage still for a bit, hoping to prevent more armybots coming their way.

Deceidon draws his special arrow and fires it at the wizard.

[tooleychris]

Flynn charges toward the sorcerer with steel in hand

[Zhym]

Elethil listens to Rand's plan. "I have some questions," says the elf.

"Assuming we get Matkinsai, what happens next? Where do we take him? Fenrin will certainly try to pursue. He has magics too, obviously, and no compunctions about using dark magic. A rescue plan is only a half solution." The strong elf closes his eyes and loses himself in thought.

"The best approach, in my opinion, would make it appear that Fenrin had succeeded. Is there any way we could not only rescue Matkinsai, but fake his death? Perhaps a levitation spell, to allow Matkinsai to 'hang' without dying? Does the library have access to that spell?"

Elethil pauses and drums his fingers on the table, thinking again. "The root problem is Fenrin. Perhaps we should consider whether we have the strength to remove the corruption at its source."

"And I must ask again how much time we have," he adds. "As you can tell, I am heavily wounded and will be near-useless unless I can find some healing and get a good night's rest. Is there any hope of either?"