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Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 939806" data-attributes="member: 6971">Session 5, Part 2"She's got to be pretty hurt," Shoji says while he wipes blood off of his arms with the hem of his robes."Let's finish her off then," Laurel suggests."That's a good idea," Erendil replies, "But where did she go?""Up," deadpans Shoji. The rest of the group groans, but takes Shoji's pun as their cue to move on. Laurel takes the lead as they move up the stone stairs. They ignore the floors with cells, hoping to catch the warden in flight. After a few floors, though, the layout changes. The central shaft is still open, but they emerge from the stairs into a large, open, circular room, dimly lit by sconces on the walls.The room is a summation of all that is wrong with the world. The five heroes stand in shocked silence, struck dumb by the scope and scale of the cruelty that lay before them. The three hundred foot diameter chamber contains examples of every type of torture conceived by mortal minds - and then some that could only have been conceived by immortal ones.Laurel cautiously approaches a large, frosted, glass tank, in which the figure of a male humanoid can be seen submerged under an orange liquid. Only his hands, which are manacled to the sides of the tank, emerge above the level of the liquid. Laurel hears a faint sizzling as she approaches the tank, and, as she peers over the top of the glass, her fears are confirmed: the man seems to be suspended in acid.The prisoner's skin is in flux - being dissolved by the acid, but continuously regenerated by some unknown force. His eyes and tongue have been long dissolved, but he seems to be capable of breathing in the liquid, which Laurel fears means that his throat and lungs are in the same shape as his exterior. She looks around and notices that that a dull bronze ring graces one of the man's hands, while a silver-blue ring graces the other."Can anyone tell if these are magical?" she asks with a pained expression on her face.Erendil looks visibly disturbed, but whispers an arcane phrase and looks at the man's hands. "Yes," he manages, "they seem to be."Laurel takes a deep breath and removes both rings. The prisoner shakes and spasms as the magic that was keeping him alive fails. After half a minute, he stops. With tears in her eyes, she whispers to her companions, "It was the kindest thing to do."Quara covers her mouth with a trembling hand, "Those inhuman bastards." She looks to Wrayce, "Will healing magic help these people?""There isn't enough to go around," he replies sadly. "I've got to conserve what we have to make sure that we make it out of here alive."Laurel looks around, then says, "The ghost said that there was a kennel in here. I have to make sure that those animals are ok." "We still need to find the prisoner," Quara says firmly, "That should be our first priority.""I say we kill that bitch and search later," Erendil interjects.Shoji and Wrayce both chime in, and the discussion quickly turns into an argument. As the argument becomes heated, voices get raised, and the five heroes begin yelling at each other. After nearly ten minutes of argument, Laurel turns and walks away in a huff. She sits down next to a pile of large wooden crates, and tries to shut out the group, when she hears a groan coming from the crate next to her."Shut up! Shut up!" she screams, and the rest of the party turns to look at her. She stands up and points to the crates, "I think there's something in these.""Well, they are designed to hold things," says Shoji."No, I mean, I think there's something alive in these. I thought I heard a moan." The party is suddenly silent as they remember where they are. Laurel looks to her companions, then back at the crates, and decides to see what is inside. Using her sword, she pries the top off of one of the boxes, and then recoils in horror."What, what's in there?" her companions all seem to ask in unison as they rush to see what is in the crate. What they see almost disturbs them more than the victims of torture around them. Inside the crate is a woman who is so emaciated that she very nearly looks like a skeleton: her flesh is pale and hangs from her bones, and all of her muscles are obviously atrophied from being confined to such a small space."Dear gods!" Laurel exclaims, nearly hysterical, "How can anybody be so cruel?"Shoji places a comforting arm around her shoulders, as he shakes his head in disbelief. In all of his adventures, he has never seen anything like this. "We need to go, or we'll end up in those boxes, too," he says quietly. The rest of the party nods their heads in agreement, and continues up the stairs.As she ascends, she hears the barking of dogs coming from above her. "The kennel!" she exclaims, and dashes ahead of her companions. Wrayce is right behind her, though, as they emerge into the kennel. Laurel is relieved to see that the animals are treated far better then the residents of this prison. Each animal is held in a separate stall, and all look to be well fed and watered. She quickly walks through the aisles to check on the condition of each animal, and stops in front of one stall."Wrayce, come look at this," she says with a smile on her face.The druid stops short as he sees what Laurel is smiling about. In the stall in front of her is a large black dog with two heads. "Is that what I think it is?" Wrayce asks."It's an argus!" Laurel exclaims happily, "Aren't they so cute?" She opens the stall door and bends down to pet the two-headed creature, making sure to give each head plenty of attention. "Who's such a cute doggie?" she says in baby talk. The argus seems happy for the attention and flops over on its side. Laurel smiles again, "I think this one is pregnant!""This is probably her mate," Wrayce says, from the stall next to her, where he is scratching a male argus behind both sets of ears."We could take them with us and have little argus puppies!" Laurel suggests excitedly.After a moment of consideration, Wrayce decides that he likes the idea, and casts animal friendship on both animals. The two dogs look at him with four sets of deep brown eyes, tails wagging wildly, waiting for their new master to lead them.Quara appears around the corner of the aisle and quickly raises her bow. "What on Trinis are those?" she exclaims, targeting the male dog."No, no, no," Wrayce quickly moves to protect the dogs, "they're friendly, and they're coming with us."Quara lowers her bow and shakes her head in frustration, "We’re here to find a prisoner, not to shop for pets.""Yeah, yeah," says Laurel dismissively as she walks back toward the stairs, "We know."The party ascends once again, emerging into a narrow hallway lined with wooden doors. They communicate to each other with nods and gestures, and Laurel checks the first door for traps. Finding none, she nods to her companions and kicks the door in. The occupants of the room, a middle-aged human man and a middle-aged human woman both shriek in terror and dive to the floor, sending a book, some yarn, and a pair of knitting needles flying across the room."Don't move!" Quara barks as she storms into the room, "Who are you? State your names!"Cowering, the man looks at the imposing archer, and stammers, "I'm Seamus, and this is my wife, Mary.""What do you do here?""I'm the janitor and she's the cook. Please don't kill us!""You cook people?" Quara says incredulously, pointing the bow at the woman."No!" the woman exclaims, "I cook for the guards and the warden.""Oh, right," Quara says as she lowers her bow. After a moment of thought, she points her bow back at the man, "Where is the warden?""I don't know," he manages, unconvincingly."Well, then you're no use to us," Wrayce interjects. He looks at Quara, "Is there any place we could lock them up?""Yeah, in the crates downstairs," she responds, glaring at the man."The warden's on the third floor!" the man exclaims."Great!" Quara says as she grabs the man by his collar and drags him to his feet, "You just got promoted to tour guide."Part 3 of session 5 to follow soon...</blockquote>

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