Secret War - Pt 1 - Escape From Zanzer's Dungeon

Chauzu · Aug 20, 2008

“At last – bring it inside.” Dark corridors and torchlight twist and turn in your nightmares as a deep-sounding voice echoes inside of your throbbing head. “Here’s your payment…” Images of a large lizard crawls out of the light and into darkness, then a glimmering gold coin floats out of those shadows and causes blinding light to consume the rest of these images. “Look how it glitters! Concentrate on… …beginning to get very sleepy…”

[sblock=Farim]Knock, knock, knock. Water droplets fall from the ceiling onto your temple as you awaken, irritating your headache to increase in its throbbing. The cold stone you awaken on is sticky, for you are lying in a patch of mold on the ground.[/sblock]

[sblock=Thromb]You feel what seems to be incredible pressure on your forehead as you awaken. Your eyes open to find a simple gold piece lying on your forehead. As you pick it off of your face the pressure disappears, but you notice the headache at the back of your skull even more now.[/sblock]

You awaken in a musty room. The floor and three walls are of solid stone, but the fourth is of thick iron bars. You’re in jail!

As you look around you see your five friends also waking up, dressed in raggedy cloth tunics such as yourself. All of the clothing and items you were wearing before are now gone, and your bodies are all scraped up as if you were dragged to your present location.

Outside of the cell you are locked in is a room with a short, skinny table along the wall. This table is bare, save for a whip and a lantern (which is the only light illuminating this room). A thick wooden door looks to be shut tight outside of the jail bars, and the cell door itself appears to be sturdier than the iron bars themselves. The only noises in the room come from the lantern and the grunts of your companions as they regain their feet.

The last thing you all remember is being hit on the head by a couple of ruffians…

[sblock=Vondal]You notice you are the only one inside the cell to awaken on a small pile of hay. Formed like a hump, it explains the slight pain in your lower back.[/sblock]

[sblock=Morrim]When you look forward, past your friend Vondal, you notice on the wall a list of names etched into the stone. All are carved in different handwritings.

Barab
Carok
Dent
Fura
Hector
Jala
Nuggin
Pike
Tanarel
Sydney
Raven
Morn
Lucian
Geramon
Aamon
Axel
[/sblock]

Graf · Aug 20, 2008

Thromb pulls the coin off his head and holds it in a clenched fist, lizards fading away to memory.

He grabs hold of the nearby bars and pulls himself to his feet. His hair and beard have come unbound and form a bristling cloud around his head.

Damn brats.... stupid bird... he says to no one in particular.

The Digger · Aug 20, 2008

"That's enough Doris. I'm getting up. Stop banging!"

Thorfin's eyes shot open as he realised that all was not as it should be. For one thing his sister Doris had married and left home years ago. For another why was his bed hard and cold? For another...

He straightened up suddenly - and instantly regretted his action. His head pounded and his stomach heaved as he ejected a short burst of stinking vomit. His hands went to his head to try to still the hammering that made all thought incoherent.

After a moment he slowly opened his eyes a finger-width and saw grey, grey walls and dirty grey clothes. He opened them a little wider and his heart sank as he started to take in his surroundings.

Oh No! Drunk and disorderly again!

But that couldn't be, could it? Surely he had stopped drinking last year? This did not nake sense. It must be a dream! Yes, That was it!

Thorfin lowered himself back down and started to go back to sleep...

Walking Dad · Aug 20, 2008

"uah-ooh, my head. Stupid assignment and stupid humans. And stupid hay, aren't you supposed to be less hard?" Vondal groans as he awakes, speaking to no one in particular. Seeing his friends and silently congratulating himself to the acute dwarven sight, he uses even the poor light condition to search the pile of hay he had lain on.
At least my spells are still in my memory, but I need my book and other equipment back as fast as possible... he thinks.

Redclaw · Aug 20, 2008

Rangok's eyes open slowly, and at first he is calm and unaware of his strange location. The cell, after all, is little different from his simple room in the temple of Moradin. Upon stretching, however, he discovers his "clothing", and quickly sees the bars that lack him and the others in.

He stands almost instantly, a look of anger and offense in his dark dwarven eyes. What is this? Why are we imprisoned? he asks nobody in particular. He looks questioningly at his companions, then steps forward and tries to find and open the door in the bars.

renau1g · Aug 20, 2008

"Well, ain't that a fine reward for a job well done, I took care o' some kids messin' with that dang lizard and all I get is a bop on the noggin'" Morrim says groggily, his head in his hands for a moment as he rubs his eyes.

Looking up at the others, he gives a weak smile "Well, at least there's some fine company in here, and it looks like we ain't the first to be here" the warlock says, gesturing behind Vondal to a list of names carved in the wall.

"As for this lock, I'm sure I could blast through it eventually." Morrim suggests, as he stands up and stretches the tightness out of his muscles.

Walking Dad · Aug 20, 2008

"What the, you are right! About blasting something, let me try this first..."
Vondal concentrates and tries to summon a shower of purple sparks (ooc: Prestidigitation).

The Digger · Aug 20, 2008

...but then sudenly jerked upright, this time ignoring the pain in his head. Thorfin stared around him, at the cell, and at his fellow prisoners. At first he simply looked bewildered but then he chuckled.

"Well isn't this a fine kettle of fish. I don' suppose any of ye have any idea why we're here?"

He got up, stiffly, to his feet and stretched his back.

"At least if I have to be stuck in a cell I'm in with an illustrious company."

"And what are ye doin' there Vondal, wi' a hand stuck up yer arse. Is it piles or are ye lyin' on a needle?"

Chauzu · Aug 20, 2008

Vondal lifts up the pile of hay that he had lain upon during his slumber and discovers a small collection of rodents bones mixed together with the skeletal remains of… a halfling. The poor fellow was likely a former prisoner.

Rangok’s inspection of the cell door is disheartening. It is as stiff as the walls, unmovable not only because of the thick iron that the door is composed of, but also due to its locking system. It appears to the paladin that three long iron rods expand horizontally through the cell bars and door and into the walls. How this mechanism works baffles Rangok because it looks like the cell door wouldn’t even open as it is.

The Servant of Moradin shifts to the side as Vondal conjures his shower of purple sparks. Like a firecracker they shoot out from the wizard’s fingertips toward the locked door, but dissipate with a violet glitter while the door remains unphased.

Walking Dad · Aug 20, 2008

"At least this is no antimagic room, bolckin' arcane abilities. And Thorfin, my dear and eloquent friend, this seems like the sorry remains of some rats and a poor halflin'. Lookin' at the construction of the door, I doubt their intention to set us free again. Has anyone of you hidden locksmith abilities? If not, would Morrim be so nice to blast the door away?"
gives Vondal his speak in his slight Citadel Adbar accent.