[Nexus] Random Places and Plots 5

[Earl of Purple]

Necanth Prison

"Well, now. The orcs and hobgoblins left two shifts back to find an ore vein- they pop up every now and then, and the crystals or metal they produce make good currency to buy booze. The elves went to witness the coronation of King Aesclepius, who is the first satyr to become leader of Elallfellala- the last king suffered a mysterious fall from his ground-floor window, apparently. The illithids and the ghoul went off together- look out for those; I reckon they're working together. Illithids can't eat anything except brains, and ghouls are cursed to hunger for the flesh of the living." He'll hand over their new maps, which are suspiciously similar to their old ones. There are differences, though- blank areas aren't as blank any more and rooms have grown from dead ends.

[Rebonack]

[Prison]

"Right. Look out for illathid."

Whatever those are.

Pretty sure Freddie doesn't even have a brain at this point. And his 'flesh' is a layer of skin over his otherwise wooden body. Because Huldra are really strange. Given the function of the soul and spirit in Freddie's world the brain only controls autonomic functions. The portions usually devoted to things like memory and thought are carried out by the immaterial portions of one's person.

Does Cat have a brain? If so she should watch out!

"Thanks for the new map. Any recent word on this Warden guy? Or is he still as reclusive as ever?"

[Zefir]

Necanth Prison- Cavern

The camp isn't near the walls; it's an area where the stalagmites have been shattered and cleared away. There's a snap and a rattle to the left, but it's faint. Probably some kind of animal, or natural process. But it might be somebody accidentally breaking a stalagmite as they try to hide.

Necanth Prison- Cavern

Zefir looks where the sound came from. Someone must be here. This camp doesn't seem lonely. Zefir you still don't get the time thing? Either way he throws his light souce into the shadows where the noise came from then he slowly hides behind the next stalagmite to his right. He tries to walk around the camp allways trowing a view at the opposite site.

[Eadin]

[Necanth prison]

Cat has no idea what these illthings are.
But it'll be very hard to get to her brain.
Especially when she's a huge sphinx.
She'll wait for the bartender to answer Freddie's question, since she has nothing to say or ask.

[Earl of Purple]

Necanth Prison- Entrance Inn

"Nope, no news. News about his doings spread quickly, but nobody wants to go gather news about him. The undead might know more; zombies can't argue about what they're sent to do, and they don't talk much to anybody else." A man walks past, and tries to dip his hand in Cat's pocket to grab something and sidle off with it.

Necanth Prison- Cavern

The light source bounces off a stalagmite and briefly lights up a four-armed chitinous creature with a bandoleer wrapped around its torso. It throws something back- a large, four-pronged Frisbee with razor-sharp blades.
"Go away! I here to stay away from other psychopaths, you leave me alone!" It then repeats the message in Elvish, Dwarfen, French, German and Gobbledegook.

[Eadin]

[Necanth Prison]

Trying to steal from Cat is obviously a bad idea.
She has claws, after all. And claws hurt.

She'll grab his hand, sending a shock through the man.
Probably enough to paralyze him. She'll try to pry the money he stole from his hand.
"Do not try this again." She says in a low voice, looking very angry.

[Rebonack]

[Prison]

That guy is really lucky.

Cat could have sphinxed up and mauled him to death.

And no one likes to be mauled to death.

Freddie winces slightly when the guy gets caught. That poor sod...

"I see, well. Thanks for the information. And I hope what you found out regarding New London turns out useful," the Huldra says. "I think we're going to see about investigating the Warden fellow. It might be dangerous but I would rather not live out the rest of my life here."

He probably wouldn't enjoy spending the rest of his life as a lawn ornament either. But that's a risk he's willing to take.

[Earl of Purple]

Necanth Prison- Entrance Inn

The man's paralysed, and morphs back into its true form- a tall, gaunt figure with large, featureless black eyes and a face featured primarily by its lack of a mouth. The clothes disappeared into it, part of its human disguise. It would nod agreement, but it can't move.

"It'll be useful, all right. I'll tell the pedlars and traders that New London has been reopened for non-human business people. They'll be glad to hear that. I hope you find out what the Warden's doing, though don't worry too much. I think, were I to leave, all the outstanding warrants for my arrest would have expired about three hundred years ago, and I haven't aged since I arrived." The barkeep smiles.

[Rebonack]

[Prison]

The barkeep doesn't seem very concerned about the guy getting the crap shocked out of him right over there.

Ah well.

These people seem to be a bit unhinged regardless.

"And near as I can tell we were dragged here by mistake."

They didn't do anything wrong!

I mean, littering?

Really?

Statues didn't even get their names right.

Freddie glances over at Cat. "Ready to head out?"

[Dark Elf Bard]

[The Underdark]

Tyalla should be able to get to the front door. However, it is locked and two male drow stand in front of it, halberds crossed. They don't notice the spider, though.

[orb_of_blood]

[Underdark]

Nope! Just an unassuming little spider, no cause for alarm!

And also maybe little enough to slip through a crack, if the door has any?

If not, she'll crawl along the wall in hope of finding a window or somesuch. Not sure why they'd bother as it's dark either way, and there really isn't very much to see out there, but she's been wrong plenty of times before!

Like when she accidentally told the guard to kill himself.

...yeah... like then.

[Dark Elf Bard]

The building has no windows. However, the a drow female strides up and says something that sounds like k'lararl to the guards, and they bow and let her through.

[orb_of_blood]

[Underdark]

The morph is getting harder to hold. This was a terrible idea. Spider? Really? At least wolves were mammals!

And drow were humanoids. The easiest morphs. But really, you'd think the guards would know who does and who does not belong in the house they're watching over! Nope, too risky.

So she crawls back to the door and waits there for someone else to enter or leave the house. If they enter, she'd drop onto them as gently as she can and ride in, hoping the worship of their spider-queen prevents them from killing spiders. If they're leaving, then she'll drop to the ground and try to crawl in before the door closes.

And in the meantime she waits! She likes waiting, it makes holding the morph easier as she doesn't actually need to use it's mind for moving the body around.

[Dark Elf Bard]

Tyalla waits for a while, and is let in after a few minutes.

I'd better describe the interior.

It's an eerie purple with statues of female drow and spiders adorning the walls. A grimy metal door leads downwards. Two drow stand in the hallway: a tough, burly male watching over the place, and a drow that Tyalla might recognize! Elkandar's sister, the one he summoned in Cylar. There are also three staircases, each leading up to the second level of the house.

[orb_of_blood]

[Underdark]

Yes, she remembers that drow. And she knows she does not like her. At all. Especially as she can stand there so calmly while Elkie is in danger!

Crawling along the walls now, and using the large statues as cover, she makes her way over to the staircases.

Hmm... seems suspicious that they only go up. Wouldn't a torture floor be, like, in the basement or something? Ah well, guess not.

Up she goes! Goodness, spider morph is somewhat slow. Tyalla to the rescue at half a kilometer per hour! Whoo!

[Dark Elf Bard]

Well, up the stairs is a row of dormitories. There seem to be ten bedroom on either side of a long hallway. At the end of the hallway, there are two more staircases. One, lined with beautiful, intricate webs goes up another level. The other, a simple stone staircase, leads steeply downwards.

[Eadin]

Necanth Prison

Wow, that was unexpected.
She'll release the... man?
The paralysis will pass soon, since it was just a weak bolt.

"Yeah, let's go."

[Earl of Purple]

Necanth Prison- Entrance Inn

"Yeah, sorry about that. We killed the people who maintained the statue's enchantment during the uprising and tried to smash the statues. They've been going a bit wacky ever since." The barkeep doesn't seem very sorry. Although he only has their word that they're innocent, and this is a prison- doubtless lots of people claimed innocence of the crimes they were accused of.

[Zefir]

Necanth Prison- Cavern

The light source bounces off a stalagmite and briefly lights up a four-armed chitinous creature with a bandoleer wrapped around its torso. It throws something back- a large, four-pronged Frisbee with razor-sharp blades.
"Go away! I here to stay away from other psychopaths, you leave me alone!" It then repeats the message in Elvish, Dwarfen, French, German and Gobbledegook.

Necanth Prison- Cavern

It was a good choice to hide behind the stalagmite for zefir that way he i save frm the thrown weapons.

"I'm new in this prison brought in for things I never do. I assume you where one of the guards?"

Some smalltalk may breake the ice.

[Earl of Purple]

Necanth Prison- Cavern

"No! Not guard, inmate! Murder, murder, murder! Killed halfling, then dwarf, then elf! Elf tasty, dwarf not, halfling needed more salt." The thri-kreen keeps itself hidden, moving away from the light source and readying another razor-blade Frisbee.

[Rebonack]

[Prison]

"You were just trying to stop other people from being taken here, right?" Freddie says with a shrug. "You didn't mean any harm, so there's no reason for me to be upset. Farewell!"

Freddie gives a nod to Cat. And with that he'll start heading off toward the Warden's lair!

Which apparently takes them past the undead and the crazy people?

Hoooo boy!

Won't this be all sorts of fun!

[Eadin]

Necanth prison

We're off to see the Warden...
Yeah, this isn't Oz.
Or Superjail, thank god for that.

And so they're off! To certain pain and probable death.
Sounds like great fun.

[Earl of Purple]

Necanth Prison- Entrance Inn

"Good luck, and have fun. Or at least, don't have anti-fun." The barkeep smiles and waves after them.

Also, there is a route to the Warden's Office that doesn't go near the Graveyard, however the Graveyard is where the undead go so there's plenty of ghosts there should Freddy feel hungry. Most of the solitary confinement cells are near the Warden's Office, however, and that's where most of the craziest prisoners ended up, yes.

[Rebonack]

[Prison]

Well.

It was just said that they're taking the Graveyard route, yes?

So that's totally the way that they're going!

Will there be adventure?

Danger?

Free food?

Dancing skeletons?

Stay tuned to find out!

[orb_of_blood]

[Underdark]

Well, up the stairs is a row of dormitories. There seem to be ten bedroom on either side of a long hallway. At the end of the hallway, there are two more staircases. One, lined with beautiful, intricate webs goes up another level. The other, a simple stone staircase, leads steeply downwards.

Yes! A downwards staircase! She crawls towards that one then, and wait at the top to see if she can 'hear' anything.

But it probably is the right way. Why bother creating an ornate staircase for a torture room?

[Dark Elf Bard]

[Underdark]

Spoiler

Show

Tyalla hears the crack of a whip and a scream down the stone stairs..

[orb_of_blood]

[Underdark]

...Yeah, that sounds promising.

Assuming there's no-one around - mostly because it hasn't been said that there's anyone around - Tyalla drops off the wall, and morphs back to herself.

Okay, one more morph, that's all that's needed for now.

But Andaress, she's just so tired! Spider morph had been a truly terrible idea.

In fact, if it weren't for that horrible scream, she'd be likely to collapse soon. She hadn't tasted the sunlight in so very, very long...

"I'm coming Elkandar..." The wolf is difficult to control. It can smell blood. It likes blood. It would like to taste blood.

Ooh, I know, let's follow the blood-smell!

...she was going to do that anyways...

As quietly as she can, she creeps down the stairs, hiding in the shadows, keen eyes bounding around for prey. Er, enemies. Totally not prey.

[Dark Elf Bard]

[Menzoberranzan]

Spoiler

Show

Down the stairs, a young female stands in front of a broken, bloodied form shackled to the wall.

Elkandar.

He's grown quite skinny and bony after the last couple weeks of torture. There are red marks along his ribs and throat, and his stark white hair has been burned. he's been beaten unconscious by the female in front of him, cackling horribly.

[orb_of_blood]

[Underdark]

Well that's weird. If he's unconscious, how did he scream?

...She'll come to that later.

Right now, she slips from shadow to shadow, as silently as she can. Her white pelt makes it hard to hide completely, but as the drowess' attention is on Elkandar, it shouldn't be too hard to get a sneak attack in there.

She lunges for the arm holding the whip, aiming to get it in her incredibly strong wolf jaws and crunch down on the bone to try and shatter it.

[Dark Elf Bard]

[Underdark]
He screamed as he was getting hurt.

The drowess shrieks as her arm shatters. She drops the whip and whirls around. A spidery shape takes form as she wiggles her fingers, but it dissipates as she collapses, writhing in pain.