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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 1777116" data-attributes="member: 9626">True Heroes: The JailbreakWow, thanks Neurotic for the kind words.  Honestly, I was just about to get disgusted with this project over all.  It didn't look like anyone was reading this at all, between the total lack of comments and the tiny number of views, and I was thinking of just ending the Story Hour entirely.  But it helps to know that there are still some people interested in this, and I'd like to hear some comments from my other readers as well, just so I know how I'm doing, what parts interested you lately, and where you think the story's going.  I still have over a year of backlog to catch up on, but considering that I got about a year and a half's worth of games into the Story Hour already, I'm not doing so bad!Anyway, on to the next update...The next night, back in the cell, Tal and the other captives received an unusual visitor.  There was a guard exchange, and the new guard wasn’t one that they’d seen before.  He looked around carefully, before speaking to the party.  “Don’t worry, I’m here to help.  My name is Annaryl.”He then told the party the same story that he told Sinael and Damien earlier, but he included some new information that he had discovered that very day.  “With Damien’s help, I was able to access some classified files.  It appears that the military has been constructing a strange magical transport.  Apparently, it contained materials scavenged from the towns that Bas’ forces attacked over a year ago.  I fear that the materials might be a few drops of Bas’ essence.  It won’t be enough to block out an entire town, but it should be enough to protect the vessel itself.  Ever since the town got paranoid, they’ve been guarding the ways out of town very carefully, and clearly neither the drow nor the traitors of Methosilang were trusted enough that they could just teleport into Bas’ properties.  I suspect that the traitor will be using this vehicle to pass out of town undetected.  If successful, he will be able to reveal the location of Methosilang to Bas, where it will be easy prey, especially since the traitor can trick the army into an ambush or into abandoning the city at a critical time.  We have to find him and escape before the vessel is completed!“Fortunately, I have been in contact with Robin, Danae, and Damien, who agreed to aid in your cause.  At around two AM tomorrow, I’ll be able to gain access to the generator that is creating your cell’s anti-magic field.  I’ll be able to disable it, but only for about ten seconds.  Use those seconds to escape your cell any way you can.  From there, you can reach the armory on the floor above you, to regain your weapons.  Your friends will be using this opportunity to attack the prison and distract the guards, so resistance shouldn’t be too bad at first.  Once you’re re-equipped and reunited, I recommend you find some authority figures in the jail, who might explain better who’s in charge here.  I even heard that Hestine Stael has been staying here lately for some reason, which alone makes me suspicious that she might be the treacherous force at work here.  If you can interrogate her, you might be able to get some idea just what is going on here.”Annaryl then entered the cell, and replaced the party’s chamber pot with a new one.  He winked at the party, and turned over the new one, revealed a hiding spot.  “I’ll be able to sneak some items to you using this pot.  If there are any light items from your equipment, I can get them hidden in here before tomorrow.”The party spoke, and agreed to get some of Sinael’s Potions of Fire Breath, and Galeron and Thorrun’s holy symbols, letting them use magic to escape.  Annaryl nodded, and sure enough, by the next night, the items were there and ready.  In the meantime, the party had to decide what to do with their scaly, half-ogre cell mate.  Tal decided to interrogate him.“Um, listen, um, err, what is your name exactly?”  Tal began.“Err,” the ogre replied, making it hard to tell if that was his name or if he was just repeating Tal.“Well, um, Err, what exactly are you in here for?”“Don’t know,” Err said.  “Me enter city, and they bring me here.  Don’t know why.”Tal turned to the party, “Probably another victim of the city’s paranoia.  I think we can trust him.”  He looked back at Err.  “Well, we’re planning on escaping tomorrow.  Do you want to come with?”“Can me get big sword back?” Err asked.“Probably, yeah.”“Okay.”With that settled, the party prepared for their escape.  The plan was a simple one.  Galeron will turn himself and as much of the party as he can ethereal, where they’ll float into the armory to re-supply, rescue anyone still trapped in the jail, and then find and deal with Hestine.At almost exactly two AM, Galeron suddenly felt the presence of his goddess’ power again.  He looked at Thorrun, who returned an affirmative glance.  At the same time, the sound of battle could be heard from above.  The rescue party had arrived, and it was time to go.  Galeron, Tal, and Thorrun escaped while ethereal, but Err and Sinael remained behind to try and deal with the guards.  That didn’t go very well, though, because Sinael either severely underestimated the strength of the guard or overestimated the potion’s power, because it barely singed the well-trained warrior.  The guard gave a yell, and soon another guard burst in from a side room.Meanwhile, Galeron and the others reached the Armory, and began to re-equip.  Outside of the armory, Robin, Danae, and Damien had their hands full with the front gate guards.  Robin, as the only one among them with any real combat ability, chose to stand in the doorway and absorb the attacks, despite his general preference for archery.  Fortunately, with two powerful spell casters backing him up, the enemy didn’t last long.  The two initial guards fell almost instantly to a chain-lightning blast and a fireball, and when two more guards arrived, Damien trapped one in a wall of force almost instantly.  Robin concentrated on the last of the group while Danae went into the armory to get her own stuff.  After all, she had been captured and stripped of her gear before her rescue, and she and Robin had been relying on lesser, spare equipment that they didn’t sell from the Manor incident.  Damien started to look for a way to the lower level where the rest of the party was.  About this time, Galeron and the others finished getting their equipment, and prepared to go back to help their imprisoned friends.  He and Tal floated back into the cell, while Thorrun left through the door to help the rescuing team.As soon as they returned, Tal and Galeron realized they had a flaw in their plan.  Namely, as soon as they returned to the cell, they re-entered the anti-magic field, which had long since re-activated, and fell to the ground in heap!  The guards, who had been laughing and playing target practice with Sinael and Err using their bows, were suddenly aware that they had two more, far better equipped allies.  Thinking quickly, Galeron dove through bars with his hand outstretched, and thus let his hand leave the effect of the field.  He used his magic to magically hold the guards in place, while Tal emulated his trick and used his outstretched hand to magically unlock the door, freeing all four of them.  They quickly pummeled the guards into unconsciousness, and Sinael and Err took whatever they could use of their equipment for themselves, before being rendered ethereal from another of Galeron’s spells and led up to the ground level.Damien, who thought there were still people left to be rescued, was the first to find the staircase between the basement and ground floor, but he rushed down it before anyone from either group could follow him.  He ended up running headlong into a group of spell-slinging defenders, who were hiding behind shutters in a side room.  They quickly charmed the surprised wizard, and ordered him to help them.  He was confused about how his allies were, and spent the rest of the upcoming fight futilely begging both groups to stop their aggression.  Fortunately, the far more useful Tal, Galeron, Thorrun, and the newly-equipped Danae and Robin found the stairs as well, and a magic battle between the two groups erupted.  The wizard of the defenders managed to slow the party down by magically coating the stairs with grease and filling the room with webbing, but a few doses of alchemist’s fire by Tal removed both obstacles quickly enough.  The party easily burst down the door leading to the defenders, and Galeron and Thorrun attacked the spell casters up close while Robin and Danae attacked them from through the shutters.  Err, meanwhile, spent the entire duration of the fighting getting his sword and other equipment back, and then attacking the guard that was trapped in a wall of force, without ever noticing the invisible wall that was blocking his shots.“Err, stop attacking that guy,” Galeron ordered as the party returned from the basement.“Okay,” Err said, beginning a long history of Err doing exactly what the party suggests.After just a few minutes of rest and healing, the party was ready to continue their exploration of the prison, in an attempt to find Hestine and get some answers out of her.  The first floor was empty at this point, with the exception of the door from the entrance way that the first guard reinforcements came out of, so the party went that way.  They found the stairs immediately from the corridor, and ignored all other doors in the hallway to get up the stairs as quickly as possible.  The second floor was guarded by more of the strange polygonal creatures that had previously been a part of the arresting team, but these resembled spheres with ten thrashing tentacles.  They appeared to be well-prepared for the party, but despite this and some strange hesitation by Damien (possibly second thoughts from helping convicted criminals, or an aftereffect of the charm magic,) the party overpowered them easily, and then went about searching the rooms on this floor.  They found what appeared to be the control room for the anti-magic generator, but left it alone, since it no longer mattered to them.  Finally, when exploring one of the bedrooms found on this floor, the party was surprised by a sudden attack from Hestine herself, who apparently was very good at stealth and brutal attacks on unaware enemies.  However, despite her ambush and the fact that she was willing to use lethal force while the party generally concentrated on subduing her, they quickly forced her to surrender.  She was nonetheless still royalty, and she had her pride.  She confidently said, “You do realize that reinforcements are coming, right?  And if you do anything to harm me, my family will make your punishment that much worse.”Tal shook his head, and tried to persuade her.  “Don’t worry, we’re not the villains here, despite how this looks.  Practically all the evidence at the trial was fake, and we think that there is a traitor very high up in the city’s authorities.  In fact, your brother even hinted that he was suspicious of you, and we’d like some answers.”Hestine looked shocked, and stammered out, “I can’t believe my own family would suspect me of treason!  But you’re right, there has been something going on lately.  Both Lancaster and Amira have been incredibly suspicious lately, and I don’t know if either of them is hiding something.  I will admit that I haven’t exactly been honest with my family lately, though.  I have made some new…”contacts” with the local thief’s guild.  Well, what do you want from me?  Do you have any idea how boring it is to be confined to a castle your whole life?  At least Amira and Lancaster were able to enter the military, and go out and do something with their lives.  But as the youngest of the family, they had to protect me to ensure that there will be someone to succeed the king and queen if my brother and sister both died, so I was never allowed to do anything!  And anyway, I think I got some information that could help you.  My “training” came in handy when I was wandering this place, and I noticed a very well-hidden secret passageway in one of the cells in the basement.  I decided to stick around to investigate it, but that plan was obviously shot to Hades by you people.  However, if you are telling the truth, maybe you can investigate it and do what I can’t.”She and Tal spent the entire conversation watching and listening to each other carefully, since neither trusted the other at all, but both seemed honest to the other.  To further seal the deal, Hestine said, “Look, the guards will come for you shortly.  You hide here for a few minutes, and I’ll tell them you escaped out the window.  That way, you should be able to reach the secret passageway in relative peace.  Does that sound okay?”The party dubiously accepted the plan, and a few minutes later, Hestine was as good as her word.  However, just to be on the safe side, Danae suggested the party reach the basement again by using her magic to “hop” into and out of the Plane of Shadows, making sure they won’t have to deal with any stragglers among the guards.  They agreed, and soon they reached the basement and discovered the passageway Hestine mentioned.  They opened it, and carefully entered the dark path, not knowing what was waiting for them or who their ultimate enemy would be.OOC Notes: Err is the newest character for Chris.  He actually didn’t have a name, but I spelled out his grunt as best as I could.  His intelligence, charisma, and possibly even wisdom were all sixes, I believe!Expect the finale to this adventure and an announcement from me about some changes to my update schedule next weekend.</blockquote>

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