WotW Solo game - Systole (IC)

[Maugan Ra]

Act One - Prison Break

Traitor, they called you. Oath breaker, assassin, murderer and madman - so many names, from so many different mouths. As though they had the slightest idea of what those words truly meant. As though they had the right to judge you so.

Still, at this point, whether they had any right to condemn you is something of an academic discussion at best. Once a man enters Branderscar, once the runic brand of the Forsaken is burned into their flesh, all such concerns become meaningless. No one has ever escaped from the foreboding island prison, and unless something drastic occurs it seems unlikely that you will be the first. All that awaits you now is three days of mindless imprisonment, a quick recitation of your crimes before a magistrate, and then a slow and torturous death.

You've been thrown into a cell alone, though it is really more of an alcove, separated from the main corridor by sturdy iron bars sunk deep into the rock. Your hands are secured to the wall by iron manacles, and the only real illumination comes from a small window high above your head. Noise is punished by a sound beating with wooden truncheons, and save for a quick patrol every half an hour, the guards seem content to ignore your very existence.

There is, as far as you can tell, only one other prisoner in this section of the complex, held in the cell across from your own. He's an ogre - a great muscle bound hulk with a mane of stringy black hair and glittering dark eyes - and from what you've overheard the guards saying it seems he was some kind of bandit before his capture and imprisonment here. Apparently, it cost the lives of two guards to get him in that cell, and it takes a regular dose of carefully administered drugs to keep him quiescent. The last dose appears to be wearing off now, as the ogre is starting to stir from his slumber.

A monstrous highwayman is unlikely to be much of a conversationalist, but really, there's not a great deal else to do here save count the days until your execution. Might as well try.

[Systole]

Taevos shifts in his manacles and grits his teeth to stifle a groan. Ugly black and yellow bruises have blossomed across his torso -- the price of hurling insults at the guards. The revolutionary has learned to be silent, but he did not learn quickly or easily, and some of the bruises are fresher than others. He coughs and spits a stream of sour bile and old blood onto the floor of the cell.

Taevos looks up at the ogre in the opposite cell and laughs weakly. "So, brute, you are to be the only comfort and companion in these my final hours? I, who would have shaped a nation, languish here in chains, branded like a pickpocket, and jailed beside a common ruffian? The philosophers were right: the gods have a dark sense of humor." He chuckles again. "Actually, you killed two guards, didn't you? Perhaps that makes you an uncommon ruffian. Well done, brute. I approve."

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Unarmed (+5,1d3+6 NL, 20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

The ogre looks up at you and grins, exposing yellowing teeth each the size of your hand. "The name is Grumblejack, little one. Not 'brute'." he says in a low, rumbling voice. And I killed three of the guards, though one was on the way here, so maybe they aren't counting that one. And maybe I'll kill more, when they drag me from this cell to have me killed in a show trial."

He snorts a laugh, though he keeps it quiet for fear of drawing the guards. "Are all you little ones so fond of fancy words for everything? I get that they want us both dead, but why does it matter exactly how?"

[Systole]

"And my name is Taevos Varnassian, not 'little one.' And under other circumstances, you would address me as 'my lord.'" He chuckles again leading to a brief but painful coughing fit. "As it stands, I suppose 'Taevos' will do.

"As for how they kill us..." Taevos shrugs with a soft clink of chains. "Some crimes are greater than others. Some crimes are more offensive to the soft, weak, bloated filth that run this country," he snarls, unable to keep the seething hatred out of his voice. He stares down the hallway, towards the nearest guardpost, as if he could kill his jailors with a fiery glare. "I would look forward to your next performance, Grumblejack, but I suspect I won't be around to see it. So I shall give you my best wishes now. I hope you kill three more. I hope you kill three dozen more. I hope you kill them all."

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Unarmed (+5,1d3+6 NL, 20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

As though summoned by the force of Taevos' hateful glare, the door to the guard post at the end of the cell block opens, and a small party of guards enters, quickly striding along towards your cell.

You recognise the man in the lead instantly - Sergeant Thomas Blackerly, a greasy haired and surprisingly portly soldier with a sadistic streak a mile wide. He was the one who branded you on the arm, and it was at his order that most of your beatings have been carried out. He seemed to enjoy every minute of it.

"Well, well, Varnassian. It seems you've got yourself a visitor." the sergeant says with a sneer in his voice as he unlocks the door to your cell. The other three guards watch you cautiously as Blackerly removes your manacles in turn, hands resting on the hilts of their cudgels until the sergeant steps back once more. "What you did to catch the eye of such a beautiful woman, I'll never know, but she's waiting in the interview room just over there. So let's not keep her waiting."

Odd. You certainly weren't expecting anyone - your family seemed perfectly content to just pretend you never existed.

[Systole]

Taevos draws himself up slowly. For a moment he seems to consider launching himself at Blackerly, but the three guards with cudgels convince him to maintain his composure. "When the time comes..." he says to no one in particular but pitching his voice loud enough so the ogre can hear. "When the time comes, this one first."

Taevos allows himself to be escorted out of the cell. The idea that a beautiful woman has come to call on him is unusual at first blush, but on second thought it is perhaps not that surprising. He is, after all, a hero and soon to be a martyr. Perhaps what is surprising is that more admirers have not come to pay their respects.

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Unarmed (+5,1d3+6 NL, 20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

The guards escort you along the corridor and into a small room at the far end - though it's really more of a repurposed cell, with the manacles stripped out and a simple wooden desk and two chairs thrown in instead. Still, there is at least a solid metal door and thick stone walls to guarantee privacy.

Waiting within the room is a hauntingly beautiful human woman dressed in a somber black dress and silken veil. Her hair is platinum blond to such a degree that it's almost white, and her eyes are the most vibrant green colour. She looks like she's going to a funeral, and from her expression has evidently been crying.

You have never seen her before in your life.

"Oh, dearest, I'm so glad you're still alive." she proclaims, before shooting a look towards Blackerly. "Could we have a moment, sir, for pity's sake?"

Sergeant Blackerly nods mechanically, and you cannot help but notice that he almost appears to be staring at something in the distance. "Of course, my lady. For you, 'tis no problem." he says, before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him, leaving the two of you alone.

"My, my, but you are a mess." the unknown woman says, dropping the pretense of grief with a smirk. "Still, I can see there's fire in your eyes even now. Good to know this might not be a wasted trip."

[Systole]

Taevos pauses, aware that something is amiss, but rather at a loss as to what that something might be. The conversation would be somewhat different if she was an admirer, wouldn’t it? Likely it would not be greatly different, but it would be different in small, significant ways. So perhaps she is an agent of one of the surviving members of the Brotherhood? Yes, that seems most likely.

He checks the door to make sure that the sergeant has indeed left. “I would ask who you are, but perhaps I should first ask..." He trails off. He'd intended to give her one of the Brotherhood's code questions to confirm her identity, but at the last moment, he realized that the betrayer almost certainly gave away all of the Brotherhood's secrets. The woman could very well be a spy. Damn the betrayer! Damn him to the foulest pits of Hell! Everything is compromised!

“Perhaps I should first introduce myself," Taevos corrects himself smoothly. "Taevos Varnassian, at your service, my lady. And you are?”

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Unarmed (+5,1d3+6 NL, 20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

"Call me Tiadora." she says, still smirking. "And I know who you are, Mister Varnassian. Your trial was quite a spectacle, after all, and you were most impressive in your defense. My employer believes that you and he might very well have common interests, and he wants to meet you."

She looks around the barren stone room you stand in, and her nose wrinkles in distaste. "Unfortunately, he is unwilling to visit you in these rather shabby environs, so it seems you must escape. After all, just because no one has ever managed it in the past doesn't mean that it's impossible."

"If you manage it, try to find your way to the old Moor Road, and look for a house with a single lantern burning in the upper window. That's where he'll be waiting, to see if you are really as good as we think you are."

Tiadora reaches up and removes her silken veil, pressing it into your hand. Looking at it, you can see it has a kind of pattern to it, a series of little shapes... a rope, a small knife, even a key. "A little something to remember me by, hmm?"

[Systole]

A shadow passes over Taevos' face at Tiadora's use of 'Mister' rather than 'Lord,' but he barely has time to recover before her next few sentences floor him.

"Escape? From Branderscar?" He looks down at the veil in complete confusion. "It's never been done. It's imposs..." he trails off. He raises his eyes to hers as a multitude of thoughts suddenly crystallize in his mind. "I see. It's never been managed in the past, has it?"

He looks past Tiadora and glares at the closed door. Imagining the guards on the other side, his fists clench. "If it were managed, there would be a few ... needful casualties, of course." He glances back at Tiadora to see if the thought of blood will make the woman squeamish.

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Unarmed (+5,1d3+6 NL, 20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

Tiadora merely shrugs languidly. "Whatever you feel is necessary." she says, seemingly entirely unbothered by the concept. "Now then, I think that's our time up."

She knocks on the door, and after a moment or two it's pulled open by Blackerly. Tiadora is once again the woman in mourning as she nods sadly to the sergeant. "Thank you for allowing me to see my beloved... one last time, Sergeant. There won't be any need to search him."

"Of course, ma'am." Blackerly says in that same robotic fashion, and begins leading the woman out of the prison complex. Just before she vanishes from sight, Tiadora glances back at you with a faint smirk, and you hear her voice echoing inside your skull.

Three days, beloved. Don't disappoint us now.

With curt words and readied clubs, the trio of guards escort you back to your cell and re-lock the manacles. True to Tiadora's words, though, none of them notice the silken veil clutched in your hands.

"Sleep tight." One of the guards says with a sneer, and then they depart, returning to their rounds and leaving you alone once more, save for Grumblejack the Ogre.

[Systole]

Taevos barely waits until the guards are out of sight before looking at the veil. Obviously it has some use, or else she wouldn't have given it to him. So it's a tool of some sort.

His eyes stray to the ogre across the hall. There are those tools we are given, and there are those tools we shape for ourselves.

"Friend Grumblejack, what would do if the door to your cell suddenly opened?"

Diplomacy: (1d20+9)[28]

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Unarmed (+5,1d3+6 NL, 20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

With time to examine the veil properly, you can get a good look at the different shapes on it. As your fingers brush against them, there is a faint sort of prickling sensation, and you somehow know that tugging on any of the shapes will manifest what they represent.

Items on the veil:

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- 2 daggers
- A bullseye lantern
- 50ft of rope
- A set of warm civilian clothing
- A healing potion
- A window, of all things...
- A small purse full of money
- And finally, what seems to be a skeleton key.

Grumblejack frowns. "You making an offer... Taevos?" he says curiously. "Well, if you can get me out of here, then I'd help us both get off this bastard rock. Best way I know would be to get to the bridge to the mainland, then jump into the sea. Tides aren't so bad there, and you don't leave an immediate trail for them to follow. After that... well, who knows?"

[Systole]

Taevos squints at the veil. A box full of tools. I must think carefully on this.

He looks with a scholarly curiosity at the ogre in the cage. And a cage containing a very large, very deadly tool. I must choose my words carefully, however; this brute is better spoken than most of the senile idiots in the council of Lords. Still, he is an amateur, or he wouldn't have given away information that would have been better used as a bargaining chip.

"I'm offering the chance for freedom and the chance to kill some guards. Or rather, I'm offering the chance to kill some guards up front. The chance for freedom comes later, if you kill enough guards. After that, well ... who knows? Follow me and maybe I'll make you a Senator one day."

Actions

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Taking the key out and trying it on the manacles. If that works, trying it on the door. Rolling DD in case it's necessary.

Disable Device:[roll]1d20+1[/roll]

EDIT: GRAAAAH! GITP roller ticks me off! Do you have any issue with Invisible Castle?

I assume the guards change every 8 or 12 hours. So the first patrol after we get new guards will probably be ambush time.

Mini Statblock

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Unarmed (+5,1d3+6 NL, 20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

"If I wanted to go into politics, I'd have gone into politics. Didn't pick up an honest labouring job for pretty much the same reason." Grumblejack mutters, as he watches you work on the locks. "But since right now my choices are work for you and maybe live, or turn you down and definitely die, I chose to follow. So get me out of this damn cage."

[Maugan Ra]

With soft clicks, the manacles and the cage door both open in turn.

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I'm not too familiar with Invisible Castle, I must say. If you prefer using it, then I have no problems.

[Systole]

"Then here's to a mutually beneficial arrangement. We'll wait until the guards change tonight, then take them as they pass our cells." He pauses. "You can wait a few more hours, can you not? If I free you now, you won't be overeager?"

OOC/Actions

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Invisible Castle is a website that rolls random numbers and saves the history in a log. Links to the rolls can be posted to a website. The downside to using it is that it involves logging into another site and copy-pasting some links. The upside is that (a) I can write my post with at least a guess as to whether a skill/attack/save was successful and (b) the stupid website doesn't get all finicky if I want to edit a post with a roll in it, nor does it erase my rolls if I click "Preview Post."

Taevos' plan is to leave the cell doors and the manacles unlocked but closed, so it looks like he's still chained, and attack the guards just as they pass the doors on patrol. He will pull a dagger for himself from the veil. Are there chains or benches that Grumblejack could use as improvised weapons?

Mini Statblock

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Dagger (+5, 1d4+6, 19-20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

Grumblejack tilts his massive head to one side. "Why? Why attack the guards? Listen..."

He seems to consider how best to put things for a few moments. "You're a noble, aren't you? Or you were, since they probably stripped you of your title when you got thrown in here. Anyway, point is, you still think like one. Only now, you're a prisoner and soon to be an escaped outlaw, if this works. So listen to the bandit here, right?"

"Never fight when you don't have to. We just want out of this prison. Killing the guards will feel good, but it means taking on a bunch of guys who have chain mail and swords with nothing more than our bare hands. Why risk that, 'specially if you've got gear there already?"

[Systole]

Taevos' eyes narrow as Grumblejack speaks. "Yes, I was a noble," he snarls, "and I still am a noble, and I will forever remain a noble no matter what the courts of the land may say. I will not be judged by maggots. They have neither the will or the authority to strip me of my gods-given birthright."

He composes himself. "But you are right that I am thinking like a noble, friend. And you are thinking like a bandit, hardly ten minutes ahead. We agree that unnecessary battles should not be fought, but the difference between a noble and a bandit is that a noble sees further. He knows that sometimes smaller battles save the trouble of larger ones, that sometimes one or two crucified peasants nip an entire rebellion in the bud.

"If we run without killing the guards on duty, we have at most a half hour before they find we're gone, at which point they will raise the alarm and send the entire garrison after us. If we do kill these men, then with a bit of luck, we might have as many as seven or eight. Gods willing, we might be leagues away by dawn with no one the wiser, except the dead."

Mini Statblock

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Dagger (+5, 1d4+6, 19-20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

The ogre shrugs. "Can't say I see it working out like that, but all right. You've got the keys, so we play it your way. "

Several hours later

The creak of the opening door at the far end of the corridor jolts you into paying full attention, and glancing across at Grumblejack, you can see the Ogre is evidently aware of it as well. The sound of booted feet on the stone floor echoes loudly as the two guards walk down the line of cages towards yours.

"That Blackerly is a damned thief... I swear that last game was rigged."

"If you think he's cheating you, why'd you keep going back?"

"The ale's decent."

A laugh. "Drinking on duty? Mitra, but this place has really gone to the dogs lately."

They're drawing level with you now, and a quick glance confirms that neither soldier has their weapons drawn.

[Systole]

As the guards pass, Taevos attempts to slip up to the door, open it, and put a dagger into the nearest of his antagonists.

Actions

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Aaaaand Invisible Castle seems to be broken right now, so it's going to be the GitP roller for just a bit longer.

Best guess is that there's Stealth -> Initiative -> Attack, so rolling those. Adding Lost Nobility trait into attack/damage.

Stealth: [roll0]
Intiiative: [roll1]
Attack: [roll2] for [roll3] damage

You know, Grumblejack might be right, but I see Taevos' foible-Wisdom to mean that he doesn't necessary listen to reason when his mind is made up.

Mini Statblock

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Dagger (+5, 1d4+6, 19-20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Systole]

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Motherf----


Stealth: (1d20+0)[10]
Intiative: (1d20+0)[16]
Attack: (1d20+6)[23] for (1d4+7)[10] damage

[Maugan Ra]

"Yeah, in the last couple of... gack!"

Your dagger sinks straight into the unsuspecting guard, who collapses in a shocked heap as you withdraw the bloodstained metal from his guts. His friend curses in surprise and starts to draw the sword belted at his waist, only to be rudely interrupted as a pair of enormous hands clamp around his upper arms with relentless strength.

Grumblejack grins horribly at his captive, then looks up at you with a raised eyebrow. "You wanting words, or should I just..."

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So, not only do you win initiative there, you put down the first guard easily (ten hit points...) and then Grumblejack grapples the other easily. So... good start to this one, I think...

[Systole]

Taevos is impressed in spite of himself. Exceptional initiative for a brute. I might have to make him a Senator over his objections. He bends down and quickly begins stripping the dead guard.

"Very good, friend Grumblejack. Words, if you please." To the guard he continues, "First, you will tell us how many others are on duty in the jail itself. Second, you will tell us about keys, passwords, and the like. Third, you will tell us about any interesting caches or shortcuts ... scuttlebutt, I think the word would be. Oh, and fourth, you will give us a rough layout of the prison. You will do this, or else I will instruct Grumblejack to kill you horribly."

Actions

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Take 10 on Intimidate for 19. I'm hoping that there's an Aid Another or circumstance bonus that puts that over the top.

Mini Statblock

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 10 (10 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Dagger (+5, 1d4+6, 19-20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

"Mitra protect me..." The guard attempts to struggle for a moment, before realizing that it's fairly futile. "Uh, there's... Fourteen of us around at the moment, best I know. Plus four dogs, and of course there's the Warden in his tower, he's a wizard."

The guard is plainly terrified as he continues babbling out anything he reckons might help. "Ah... the password for tonight is 'Hesterfield', it's the sergeant's hometown. Downstairs is the armoury and the barracks, but they shouldn't be full since folks are on-duty, oh and the kitchens. Then you've got the main courtyard, surrounded by the wall with the towers - the one at the rear is the warden's tower - and the gatehouse. Past that you've just got the bridge to the mainland, with a checkpoint at the far end."

Edit: The dead guard has the following:
- One uniform, now slightly bloodstained
- A chain mail shirt
- A Longsword and club
- 8gp in assorted change.
- A steel shield, light.

[Systole]

Taevos begins dressing himself in the dead guard's gear, pausing only to daub at one of the larger puddles of blood. "Where are those fourteen? I want to know how many at the guardposts, how many at each of the watchtowers. And where are the dogs?"

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That gear is looking pretty good for a mostly naked convict. He'll take all of it.

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 15 (15 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Longsword (+5, 1d8+6, 19-20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

"Two patrolling the wall, two in each of the towers of the gatehouse... though they might all be in one, you know, talking... Two at the checkpoint at the far end of the bridge, before you get to the mainland. Then there should be three in the barracks, no idea where the Sergeant would be..." he looks down at his dying comrade on the floor and swallows. "That's all of us, except uh, me and him..."

"Two dogs in the courtyard, and two at the checkpoint at the end of the bridge. Oh, Mitra protect..."

[Systole]

"Excellent. And as I am a man of my word: Grumblejack, do not kill him horribly." He pauses briefly to make sure he's understood. "Kill him quickly. And try not to get blood on that uniform."

Taevos straps on the longsword and winces as his bruised ribs complain. Using the guard's blood, he begins sketching a map of the prison on the rags he'd been wearing: a large circle representing the wall, with two smaller circles intersecting the larger one, top and bottom, and finally a square in the middle, for the prison/armoury/barracks. "According to what he said, this is the wall. The warden's tower, the inner gatehouse, the prison. There are three guards downstairs. The courtyard has a pair of dogs, and there is a patrol on the wall and more at the gatehouse.

"So from now on, we are bandits: We go downstairs, as stealthily as possible. If there's a fight, it is imperative that it be done quickly and that we prevent anyone from raising an alarm. The next step is the courtyard, where we avoid or kill the dogs. Then we watch the wall patrol briefly and learn their timing so we can also avoid them if possible. Next, we go on to the wall and move around to the gatehouse. I have a stash of rope, so from there we go over the wall near the gatehouse, preferably out of sight of the guardsmen, and onto the bridge. Finally, we swim.

"If we can get out without further bloodshed now, it may well be hours before they realize we're gone. If not ..." He shrugs. "If not, then we will do what we can. And if everything goes to hell, then the wall is the best place for two to fight against twelve.

"Does your bandit thinking approve of that plan?"

Actions

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If Grumblejack can kill the second guard without dirtying the uniform, Taevos would prefer the clean one.

Take 10 on Disguise for a 15 to make himself look like a generic guard. Hopefully in the dark from a distance and with a uniform on, that'll be enough.

Mini Statblock

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 15 (15 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Longsword (+5, 1d8+6, 19-20x2)
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF

[Maugan Ra]

"What! No, you can't..." Is as far as the Guard gets before Grumblejack grabs his skull in one meaty fist and, with a sharp crack, breaks his neck.

"Seems good." Grumblejack squints at the nearest window, and nods in satisfaction. "Fairly cloudy night. Should help us avoid notice, since I'm twice the height of any of the actual guards."

As he talks, the Ogre tears off a strip of his own dirty prison rags, and using it ties the looted cudgel onto the hilt of the Longsword in an improvised grip extension. He gives the crude weapon a few experimental swings, and nods to himself. "This'll do. Right, lead the way."

(Assuming you use your proposed plan...)

The stairs down lead to a corridor on the ground floor, which runs the length of the building before opening up onto the courtyard. There are two doors on the left, marked as Sergeant's Office and Armoury, and a single one on the right marked Barracks. You can hear the low voice of conversation inside, but no one comes out as you and your large companion carefully make your way out to the courtyard.

The sky overhead is indeed overcast, rendering the encircling wall into little more than an indistinct shape. Still, you can make out the nearest set of stairs up to the wall easily enough, and each of the patrolling guards seems to be carrying a lantern, marking their positions out quite clearly. There are, however, no signs of the dogs that should apparently be around here.

[Systole]

Taevos frowns briefly. "No dogs ... ? Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth, I suppose. To the wall, quickly." He makes for the stairs up the wall.

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Are the wall guards patrolling as a pair or individually? If they're individual, are they both circling in the same direction? Taevos would like to get behind one or both of the guards, and move in the same direction, about 90 degrees behind them.

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Taevos Varnassian
AC: 15 (15 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 12/12
CMB: +5 CMD: 15
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: +0

Perception: +3
Initiative: +0

Current Weapon in Hand: Longsword (+5, 1d8+6, 19-20x2), Light steel shield
Current Conditions in Effect: PA/FF