Jackson
*bursts out laughing*
Only beginning?
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Jackson
*bursts out laughing*
Only beginning?
Tommy sat in the corner of the small cell, trying to prevent the harsh circumstances from sinking in. He was just arrested by his own people for no reason! As Randolph lashed out and Jackson laughed, Tommy simply sulked. He let out a slow breath as he rose to his feet and banged a fist on the wall.
"I cannot believe they would arrest us! For what? Trying to warn the kingdom?! I don't understand!"
Charles hunches in on himself, seething, then forces himself to remember his companions.
"Ellie? Are you alright?" He asks, trying to keep his anger out of his voice.
The guards grip Ellie and pull her harshly. She tries to struggle against them, but she's too small, too weak. Then they throw her into this tight cell and laugh at her. After fighting the orcs, and leaving home, and struggling to get into the king's court, it's just too much.
As tears start to bead up at the corners of her eyes, she can only be glad that the light is dim. She can't let anyone see how weak she is. She has to be strong enough for this. She's a big girl now. She fought the orcs, for Pelor's sake!
Ellie can usually control her emotions, and at least now she's able to quiet her breathing. She's a master of subterfuge. She makes as if to sort through her sack while she carefully wipes her eyes, and coughs to cover a sniffle.
"Ellie? Are you alright?"
Apparently Charles caught one of her stifled sobs. She wanted to kick the guards, for making her weak in front of Charles. She wanted to kick the king, and pummel him with her club. She wanted everything to go back to the way it was.
"'Course," she lies. "This ain't nothin' compared to the orcs." Please let that be convincing.
Jackson smiles at the girl.
You know, Ellie has a point.
Then, he looks out into the dark halls of the dungeon.
Hey we survived orcs, we'll survive this, you hear!
Then he wiggles his fingers and mumbles something.
*the tears (and for that matter, the dirt and whatever else other than skin and her hair) on Ellie's face disappear.*
You had a smudge on your cheek, El. Got it for you. *he winks*
Anyone else want a quick cleaning?
Spoiler: OOC:Casts prestidigitation, then starts using it to clean up.
Charles knows better, but lets Ellie say what she wants. Sometimes you need to believe you've fooled the people around you.
"Um, I've got some blood in places, from carrying all that armor...." Charles offers, when Jackson starts cleaning people.
The guards dragged Aaron along with the others to a dungeon cell. He's roughly shoved in with the others, and he's not sure how to respond. He tries to stay out of the way from everybody else, staring at the floor and trying not to get in the way of other people.
"I should've stayed with my graveyard," Aaron thinks.
Aaron looks to the side and sees Ellie, crying but trying to hide it. For the first time in his life, he actually felt a bit of pity for the girl. He watches as Jackson simply waves his hand and the tears and dirt on her face vanish. Jackson reaches out and the others around him are immediately cleansed. Aaron finds the dirt fades from his clothing, making them look somewhat cleaner than usual. He looks up at Jackson, impressed. A hint of a smile appears on his face as he leans back against the wall. He works on trying to rub off a small spot of rust on the blade of his shovel with his cloak edge in order to pass the time.
Gee, thanks.. now everyone knows I was crying, thinks Ellie. At least none of them are making a big deal about it. But she notices Aaron looking at her, and she's even more embarrassed. Who knows what he's thinking...
She inches closer to Charles, and asks, hopefully, "got anything to eat?"
As Tommy banged on the wall, he turned and noticed that young girl, Ellie, tearing up. She was trying to hide it, but was doing a poor job of it. Seeing as nobody else was pointing out the obvious, Tommy decided to say nothing as well and took up Jackson on his offer.
Things were definitely looking grim at the moment, but his friends were right. They would survive this. Somehow, they would find a way and make it through this situation, wherever it led. Tommy closed his eyes as he let this thought sink in.
"Yes... we will survive this."
Randolph
This is all Rodney's fault. I was running a great con and he blew his part. Now I gotta get this lot out of trouble again…
He paces angrily, wallowing in his impotent rage; oblivious to the others, he considers what the king meant about Val being a 'filthy fiend'.
Charles pats himself down, then shakes his head. "I was planning on going fishing today. I've got a half-full waterskin, but nothing to eat. Sorry, Ellie."
After what seems like an eternity of solitude in this cramped cell, the steel door opens. A steel-clad guard looks at the peasants and smiles.
"Time to go."
The guard leads the party up the stairs, surrounded by guards, and out the back of the castle. He never says a word to the party, simply walks in silence. As the party gets outside, the fresh air is a welcome sensation in your lungs. However, the excitement of freedom is quickly grasped away as a group of Orcs approach the party. The largest one, a greenish yellow color, examines each peasant for a moment before acknowledging the guard.
"These will do. I'll give you 500 gold," the Orc grumbles.
"Well you have the child too. I believe that's easily another hundred gold!" the guard replies.
"You dare defy me, mortal? I am Grul of the Outerlands! You do not defy me!" the giant Orc roars.
The guard stiffens in fear as Grul leans in. His rank breath flowing past the unfortunate guards nose.
"Five... hundred... gold," Grul says slowly.
"D-d-done! Men, give him the peasants!" the guard orders as he accepts the gold from Grul. As soon as the exchange is finished, the guards run back into the closing, securing the door behind them.
Grul looks down at you and orders for you to get into a cart. Several other Orcs mock and taunt at you as you make your way to the wooden cart. You crawl inside and are surprised to see the rest of the villagers from Ro. They all wear a somber look on their face as the cart begins to trudge onward, away from the castle.
At first, Charles is too stunned to fight back against the guards attempting to sell them. Then, when escape crosses his mind, he sees Ellie firmly in the grip of one of their captors, and he seethes instead of running.
When all of them are in the cart, he murmurs under his breath in Elven, "we're going to make a break for it. If you know a language that isn't common or orcish, tell the others what I say after I say it." He takes a deep breath, eyes flitting between his companions.
"Jackson," he looks the mage-in-training directly in the face, "when I say the word, you shock one of the horses. Everyone else, the horses spooking is the cue; we're going to run for it. I don't blame you for staying here, but I won't let them take me to gods'-knows-where. Ellie, when we get going, jump on my back; I'll carry you. Everyone should run in as many different directions as possible, so they can't recapture us all. Don't worry about them hurting us, if they didn't need us alive they would have killed us by now."
Charles keeps his voice as low as it can possibly be and still reach the others in the cart, and prays to whatever gods are listening that none of the orcs in front can understand Elven.
The other peasants of Ro look at Charles in terror.
"No! We must not leave! We must stay," one of the peasants protest. "You... don't understand..."
"Keep your voice down,"Charles hisses, eyes flicking to the front of the wagon. "What don't I understand?"
The young man looked at Charles with hopeless green eyes. He stares in silence for a moment as the cart rides along the bumpy road before explaining.
"We were sold... by the king himself."
Randolph
This news snaps Randolph out of his malaise. Sell him?! Randolph Hostlerson?!
I swear to whatever power will hear me I will be avenged. I will not rest until every person from this orc to that &^%$ king are dead by my hand.
He repeats Charles' instructions to anyone who speaks halfling.
No one sells me.
"If he sold me to orcs, he's no king of mine," Charles lifts his head, looking around at his fellow townspeople.
Rodney keeps his head down during the imprisonment with hopes of using Aldear's acid spit on the bars when the guard was away. He knew he dropped the ball in the king's court and wanted desperately to make up for it. Weird how they didn't take our weapons or supplies. He thought to himself. Maybe they think we're that non-threatening. He resolved to use that to his advantage.
Regardless, his plans were shot to hell when he was suddenly being whisked away to a slave auction. He noticed, not entirely surprised, that the buyers were orcs. "Figures." he mutters.
As they're being corralled into a group with the other peasants of Ro, he listens to his new orcish overlords, seeing if any of their chatter would give him some clue as to where they were going or what was going to happen to them.
Listen: [roll0]
Sense Motive (if also necessary): [roll1]
He's surprised to hear Charles spatter out some weird sing-song nonsense and hopes against hope that he's about to use some weird spell or something. But alas, the locks don't burst free and the orcs don't fall dead. Then sense is made of the nonsense when Randolph translates to Halfling. He suppresses a smirk.
Spoiler: ElvenUmm... Charles, I don't have any of the spell you want left. I cast it in the battle. Between that and my prestidigitation, I only have a detect magic left.
Jackson looks terribly embarrassed.
As they're frees from the prison, only to be sold to orcs and led into the cart, Ellie can hardly feel anything at this point. She's gripped with terror until she hears Charles hatching a plan in Elven. Unfortunately, it's the only foreign tongue Ellie has studied.
Spoiler: Elven"Why would the king sell us? And why would I be worth more?"
Aaron sits in the cart, even more surprised by this turn of events than any other previously. As he sits down in the cart, he notices a few people close to him look uncomfortable and edge away a bit. He slumps, confused and frustrated by everything that's happened so far. He looks about, watching what's happening so far. He hears a few of the others speaking in a language he doesn't recognize. Aaron looks around, trying to estimate how many people are in the cart and how many orcs are surrounding it. Having done so, he sits back and tries to gather his thoughts.
Rodney:
SpoilerYou can barely make out what the Orcs are saying, but you manage to pick up the words "slaves" and "fortress".
As you continue riding down a path, the other peasants continue cowering in fear. They are obviously terrified by the Orcs. Before too long, however, the cart comes to a complete stop. Grul appears to the party and lets out a terrifying growl.
"Come. It's time to check you in." With a bunch of Orcs watching, Grul begins heading towards a small stone structure. As you look around, you can see many other peasants wandering about (not all humans). All are working tirelessly digging up stones, gathering stones, separating stones. All of them looked focused on the task at hand and don't even bother to look up at the incoming troop. Grul waits by the door of the structure, arms folded.
"Move slaves!"
Everyone:
SpoilerThe small structure is simply a place to check you in. They will hand you a set of work clothes and a Heavy Pick. Grul will wait outside as you are filtered through.
Aldaer will gladly pay the man five gold for training, and they set to it for the day. Afterwards, he leaves the shop, and goes to meet his friends at the tavern he saw Tommy in. He sits, at the bar, smoking his pipe, and time passes...and passes. Eventually he'll wave down the barkeep and asks, "Have you seen a group of peasants come through? They would have said they were from Ro."
Aldear:
SpoilerThe bartender looks you up and down for a moment and shrugs. "Ain't nobody here said they were from Ro, but I did see someone dressed like you walk in. He left before buying anything. Looked like he was headed for the castle..."
Aldaer will nod, and puff on his pipe for a second. The blue smoke will trickle out of his mouth, giving him a moment to think. The memory of their run-in at the gate comes back, but he shrugs it off. The king probably held them in waiting for a while, spoiled noble that he is. Still, no reason not to take precautions.
He will excuse himself, and head down to the privy. When he gets there, he'll take out the leather armor he scavenged, and replaces his rags with it. He'll then vomit into the privy, filling it with acid, and drop the rags in.
He'll make sure his head is freshly shaven, and then head up to the castle.
In Halfling:
Spoiler"Guys, this isn't our last stop. We're heading to some kinda fortress. I don't know about you, but I'm not waiting around any longer to find out what fortress we're spendin' the rest of our lives in. Anyone else interested a coup d'etat?"
He very cautiously gets his hand in position to draw his crossbow.
Sleight of Hand? [roll0]
Spoiler: In ElvenGuys, run!
Jackson then bugs out, running as fast as possible for the path, then down it .
Aaron stands with the others, watching some sort of mining force working.
"Well, I'm used to digging," Aaron thinks, "Maybe this won't be too ba-"
Suddenly, Jackson shouts something in a language Aaron doesn't recognize and sprints for the path. Aaron quickly follows his example, remembering the many times he's had to run from bullies in the past. He sprints down the path, taking a quick glance behind him as he runs to see if the others are following before refocusing his efforts on running.
Tommy watches, dumbfounded, as Jackson bolts down the pathway. He hears Jackson yell something, but doesn't understand it. However, knowing full well that the Orcs will make a move for Jackson, Tommy sprints after Jackson.
"Hurry! Into the forest!" Tommy yells to the rest of his comrades. As he gets to the path, he makes quick work to drop some caltrops as he runs.
SpoilerDrop Caltrops onto G20.