The night goes on, but the guards leave little chance for escape, tonight. Perhaps disturbed by the struggles of Fara, or suspicious of the odd sounds and whispers of the other prisoners, the guards seem unusually alert. Still, hope, such a small fragile thing, seems to flourish, perhaps, if only, they could work together, at least some of them might survive the day, for without hope, none would survive after 3 days time. All the time you have left on this world, and it is going so quickly. Before you know it, dawn is shining on your faces, and a new day begins with more drudgery, abuse, and neglect. Soon after the last bucket of water is flung upon you and the guards retreat to their hutch, loud voices can be heard from the guard room.

Ton and Derry, and FIVE others come back in the cell area. Ton waits outside with a horn, while Derry comes in to assist the others. They are led by Sergeant Tomas Blackerly. This was the man who held the brand that marked each of them. He laughed as their skin burned. He beat the snakeman to death for a snicker. Right now, though the sergeant seems a little...off. Something is not quite right about the brutish sadist if you have a care to notice.
He points to Sera, the one who first tried to speak with you in her strange languages, and says gruffly:

“You there! That’s the scum!
Get ‘er unshackled.
If any of you makes trouble, they’ll earn a thrashing!
Today’s your lucky day, scum.
You’ve got a visitor.
How you ever warranted such a fine lady is beyond me.
Seems she wants to say good-bye.
Now step lively. We wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.”

They take the hood off of Sera, who can now be seen as a red-headed waif of a girl. She looks bewildered, as if a visitor was the last thing in the world she was expecting. They take her shackles off of the wall with a forked stick, though you think the big prisoner, Hechter, could do it without such aids if the hook was bent. Roughly, she is escorted out of the room. The Guest in the Max, excited by the activity, acts up, howling horribly and banging mightily on the walls. The guards are visible shook, and hurry along. Sergeant Blackerly yells:

"SHUT UP YOU! OR I'LL BREAK YOUR OTHER DAMN LEG!"

The din subsides. Sera is hustled along to the branding room down the hall and shoved into a chair. Fortunately, this time, there is no hot brand and pain waiting this time. This time, there
waiting for you is a hauntingly beautiful woman in an elegant black dress and soft silken veil. She looks as if she is headed to a funeral. Her hair is so platinum as to almost be white and her eyes are a vibrant almost unearthly color, that seems to dance between blue and green. She clearly has been weeping.
Spoiler: Tiadora
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“Oh, dearest niece!,” proclaims the unfamiliar woman.
“I’m so relieved you’re alive!” She quickly turns to Tomas.
“Could we please have a moment alone, good sir? For pity’s sake?”
Tomas goes blank for a bit and then quickly agrees.
“Of course, my lady. For you,’ tis no problem.”
Clearly, Sera, this woman has some sort of power over the wretched Sergeant.
As soon as the guards leave, her demeanor immediately changes.
She drops all pretense of grief or concern. She is immediately all business.
“Have you forgotten me, dearest?” the unexpected visitor says with a smirk, dropping her pretense of grief. Despite having never met her, you feel an intense desire to have known her.

“You may call me Tiadora. Luckily for you, we possess a mutual friend who would like to meet you and your fellow cell-mates, every-single-one-of-them. Unfortunately, our friend is unwilling to visit you in your present rather shabby accommodations so it seems you must escape. Don’t pour dear, it will cause wrinkles. Our friend, is only interested in meeting resourceful survivors. Just because it’s never been done before is no reason you can’t be the first."

She pauses a beat to search your eyes for...something. Apparently she likes what she sees, she gives you a wicked smile and continues.

“If you manage that, cross the moors on the outskirts of town. On the old Moor Road you’ll see a manor house with a single lantern burning in the second story. There our mutual friend waits. That is all I know. Oh, and he wanted me to give you this.”

She takes off her silken veil and wipes away a few fake tears with it.

“Something to remember me by, dearest.” she says with a wink.

Spoiler: Veil
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