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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 759603" data-attributes="member: 7737">Interlude: Dellarocca ImprisonedMichael Dellarocca swallowed the blood in his mouth and pressed the stump of his tongue against his teeth. His entire body ached, but inwardly, the wizard smiled.The sending had come in the early morning, just as the slaves were being roused for another day of back-breaking labor. Sara on her way. Expect rescue within three days. – Sionas, for Sara. Dellarocca was surprised that Sionas remembered him, let alone had cared enough to cast the spell. Ah, but my sister can be so convincing, he thought. Then a scowl crossed Dellarocca's face as he recalled the last time Sara had chosen to convince someone – not that that b*stard Heydricus had needed much prodding to take advantage of the situation.The lash across his back brought Dellarocca back to the present. He scowled at the taskmaster, swallowed some more blood, and half-heartedly tapped out a few cuts in the stone with his hammer and chisel.Things had started out so promisingly. After the departure of the self-styled Heroes of the Temple, the Company of the Red Kestrel needed new faces, so Dellarocca had recruited some young adventurers in Ragadorn. They were the typically motley assortment – a couple of dwarves, a Vakeros, two men. Good mix of abilities, though, he had thought at the time. Dellarocca frowned again. If Sara hadn't convinced him to let the newcomers stay behind to handle the Simovicci business, they might've helped in the fight with the ciquali. Or at least provided more targets and given Sara a chance to get to him.What a disaster that had been. Sara had cast water breathing on the lot of them – her brother along with the others. The they dove into the freezing water – he'd had to deplete his spell repertoire with a bunch of endure elements – and swam into the sea cave. Where they were set upon by scores of ciquali.What in Naar's name were the ciquali doing off the coast of Durenor anyway? Dellarocca couldn't figure that part of it out. Not that it mattered in his current predicament.The fight, such as it was, didn't last long. Gunther and Kednor had taken down a few ciquali warriors each, but their heavy slashing weapons weren't so effective underwater. Leta, moving more easily than the others thanks to her ring, almost got out the way they'd come in, but the ciquali were amazingly fast swimmers. The last Dellarocca had seen of her, she was being speared repeatedly by no fewer than six warriors.Dellarocca had blasted a huge group of ciquali with electricity, killing most of them where they swam, before stabbing a few to death with Fulmine. But their numbers were just too great, and he'd felt himself being grabbed from all sides, ruining his remaining spells. Sara had tried to reach him – he could see her clasping her holy symbol – she was bleeding from multiple wounds – and he'd yelled at her to get out and come back for him later – and with relief saw her finally speak the command word and disappear.If that damn fool Loi-Kymar weren't so stingy with his transportation magic, this whole mess wouldn't have happened. Even a single dimension door would've meant the difference between capture and escape. But no – the Guildmaster had to hoard that knowledge for himself. Dellarocca sucked at the pooled blood in his mouth and spat it on the ground, earning him another lash across the back.He turned to look up at the ciquali taskmaster and smiled, showing two perfect rows of bloody teeth.</blockquote>

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