Chapter 1
Destroying bars
Destroying bars
You feel your head becoming hollow, and you know that you have won. You take a deep breath and smile to the celling above you. And then you hear whispers from the hole in a nearby wall.
-Hey, girl... are you alive? - a voice behind the wall is harsh and it certainly belongs to a man. - I hope so. Don't you dare die on me!
- I'm alright, Regreh. - you respond, looking at the little hole. - But I think we should start digging our way out of here. Now.
- What do you mean, girl? - the voice of Regreh, a dwarf, was a bit... worried. Well, he had good reasons. You are sure one of them was your screaming.
- Something is trying to get inside our minds, dwarf. It almost got me there. I'm sure of it. - you sighs as he yells to others.
- She is alive! But I think something happened to her...
- Well, at least she stopped screaming. - A female voice. Filled with sarcasm.
- Must you always be so cold, bitch? - A male voice, of an older man. He is probably a bit... angry.
- Can you two stop and maybe ask sir Mertelsson what ma'am soulless is talking about? - another male voice, younger. Calm, too calm.
- Eh, may Gods have mercy on her cursed soul. - A female voice. Hard as steel. But then Regreh spoke again.
- Are you sure there was something? Maybe it was just your ima... - you interrupt him, annoyed. You speak louder so that everyone could heard you.
- Listen to me, Regreh. Something tried to get inside my mind and wipe my memories, and probably not just that. It is possible that it is the reason why we have been locked away for such a long time. It fucked with me strongly enough to almost win, and the only thing that saved me was that I've lived so long and I've been trained in resisting mindbreaking magic. - You are tired. That was a long fight. - If we don't get out of here soon we will probably fail. And then everybody can hang themselves as that'll be their only chance for peace. Do you understand? - a moment of silence. And then, a responce.
- If you are right, then we really are doomed. We already tried to escape, but those doors are too tough even for me. And you, no offense, are rather less strong then I am. - Regreh Mertelsson, son of Merel, one of your companions in those dark times. He was the first person tp talk to you after your appearance in this cell that became your home for the last year. At first, you didn't tell him anything, but as time passed, you decided that it can't harm to talk with him.
You know a bit from his past - he was a part of a large dwarven clan hailing from their old world. He himself was too young to remember it, but he had much knowledge about it. He described himself as 'a warrior, a gourmet of booze and a tough motherfucker'. It was really hard to tell how he really was unless you spent much time with him. Under a mask of wag and behind a large black beard (at least he said that his beard was black), he really is a good man. Caring, friendly and what's most important, loyal. He and you were - if you could say so about people locked together - the closest thing to friends around there. He is only person that knows your past here... or at least a part of it.
- Sadly, sir Metrelsson is right... we don't have a way out of here other than death. And I wouldn't choose that way. - a calm, young voice of Castor. He was a bit annoying at first, yet this was not due to his character, but rather his way of thinking. His mind was cold, rational and fast. You have never heard him yell or speak in a tone other then the one he talks in now - calm, nice and respectful.
You heard him mumbling in his sleep, many times. Wizard spells. Incantations. Calculations. From what he told people, he was a student of magic arts from Vin-Libre University. Last class of specialization - however he never told which specialization that was. Rather then speaking about his work, he preferred to talk about what happened around him. Most of your talks with him were about the Night of Falling Stars - he was really interesed in how you survived it. Can you trust him? Probably not. As he himself said - "We don't know each other, we didn't even really see each other. How could you trust me? Or I trust you?"
- Oh ho hoh. Good to hear that our Godkiller lady is talking crazy shit again. Escape? How! We tried everything. I know how to open damn locks... and I don't see any on THOSE doors... - Silvana, the person that you probably hated most out of those that were locked with you. She didn't speak much about herself, but you know a bit anyway.
She was rather young for a thief with a very good reputation, but she earned it. You heard about her work, and what you heard and whom you heard it from was enough to impress you. Breaking into the house of a member of the Council of Guilds was one thing. Kicking him in the balls and stealing his best sword from his own hands was another. You still don't understand how someone so... reckless and with such an irritating character is alive after a stunt like that, but this means one thing - she is good... or at least lucky.
- Dead Gods, this again! Can't you shut up for a damn moment?! - an old voice belongs to Dambarg Silbarum. He was Silvana's nemesis, and their everlasting word battles probably were one of the few things that kept you sane in this place - that, and talking with Regreh. You know that they met here for the first time... and that it was a hate at first sight.
He is a hunter, and from what he says, he is good one. But his prey weren't just animals, but rather people that deserved punishment. In other words, he was a bounty hunter. A man of a many words and many, many deaths. You didn't exactly hear about his great hunts, but you heard his name and you know he has a solid reputation in that field. And he is probably the second and the last person that you... well... you can say that you like. He was about 50 years old - one of those people that had more power in their bodies and minds at an old age than one would think they should have.
Maybe he had a bit too much of that power, as he was trying to flirt with you everytime you and him spoke.
- May you stop arguing for once? - a cold voice struck everyone with its decisive tone. Lanine. A paladin of Dead Gods... well, maybe not a paladin. Gods were dead for two hundred years, so paladins didn't exist anymore. But she prefered to be called that.
You didn't speak to her much, because of a very simple reason. She hated you. And she had her reasons - in her eyes you were the one who killed her beloved gods. From what she told others you knew that she was a member of one of those sects from the South Kingdoms. More than that? Well, you knew nothing. It was all you have learned from listening to her or hearing her comment on other people's stories.
Then, another two voices joined the conversation.
- I am trying to sleep there. - An elven voice was filled with cold and annoyance. You didn't know anything about him, exluding that he was here first. He didn't even tell his name to anyone... or at least, if anyone knew it, they didn't see fit to share.
The other voice was not so calm. You recognized it. Madman, everybody called him. He was only screaming things about 'the dark hidden beneath'. Nothing more.
But this time, he did.
- They are coming.
And then an explosion blew away the front wall of your cell.
***
Explosion sends you flying right into a wall. Pain hits you as you fall into darkness...
You wake up a while after that... You sigh, as luck seems to have saved you once again. A chunk of the cell wall lies right next to your head. You look around, looking for other people, but all you is smoke and weird white forcefields in the place where the front wall once stood. Weird runes and lines all around it instantly confirm your suspicions - the walls weren't the only thing that you were locked behind.
You try standing up, but something pushes you back on the floor. The elf. You almost can't see him in the smoke, but one thing is clearly visible - his eyes, blue, almost like lights in the darkness.
- HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU POINTY EARS SHIT! - Regreh screams and charges at him, but he raises his hands and steps back.
- Wait, dwarf. She said herself that something tried to get in her mind... we can't be sure if she is still the same person.
- Bullshit! I know her... I mean, I know a thing or two about her, but those things made me sure that if there is a person I can trust there, she is that person. - the dwarf almost loses his temper again as he takes one of the bricks in his hands and aims at something in the smoke.
- Well, there is a way to confirm that... ask her something everybody around here knows and that she already told us about... her name. The name that she gave us. - you look at him, suprised... well, at a place where he is supposed to be.
- Uh... girl. Remind us...
1 What is your name?
a) I told you my real name - Rega van Lier'ze. (It is your real character's name, and the name of your family in Vin'Libre.
b) I didn't tell you my birth name... but the name that I have made for myself. - Freeform name for you.
c) Ha! Nice try, dwarf. I never told you my name... but my codename instead. - Freeform codename as a spy.
Regreh looks at you for a moment and smiles. He turns to look at the elf as he finally becomes visible in the smoke. The elf looks back at him, but he isn't smiling. His eyes stay cold.
- ... Fine. Correct. I remember it well. Now, we must get out of here as luck has finally smiled on us. - he looks at the corridor filled with smoke. - Is anyone still alive out there?! - he yells. - Maybe someone from the cells in front of us?
For a moment, you hear only silence... and you sigh with relief when you heard a cough and a response.
- All of us are alive... ma'am Silvana is hurt, however... her leg is broken. I think. - Castor's voice is still calm, but you hear a bit of nervousness in it. And then more replies come.
- YOU THINK?! Aght! Fucking bricks! Help me, for Gods sake! - ther thief was in her ussual mood, it seems.
- Don't move. - the paladin's voce. So she is alive, too. - Damn it. A broken ankle.
The elf nods to himself as he looks at you and Regreh.
- So everybody is... wait. Madman. - he looks at the other side of the corridor again - Is Madman alive?
Castor is helpful as usuall. - Yes, sir... elf. He is. However, most of his cell is still intact... I can't see him, but I hear his whispers.
Blue Eyes - as you call him for now... why? Because it is easier then just calling him 'elf' all the time - mutters something and looks at the young wizard. The holes in their cells are big enough that you could ride a horse through it, same as yours. The hole in the celling, however, is covered with yet another magical field... you can't see a thing.
- You are a wizard, yes? Can you get us out of there, now, when those shields are finally visible?
- Sir, I don't think so... those aren't shields, by the way... these are fields, probably of high... - he almost start a lecture but the elf intterupts him.
- 'Sir', I don't want to hear their specifications, but what you can DO with them, instead. - Castor looks at the elf, and for a moment you think he will respond in a different way... but he remains unperturbed.
- I can touch them. That is all. - he shrugs. - Those are way beyond my level of magical fields knowledge... I can say three things about them, however. They don't let people in the corridor hear or see us, these are the reason why we didn't need food or drinks... - he points at the weird, purple lines on the fields, - and if you want to break through them, I suggest you dig a tunnel... it would be faster.
Regreh curses. You understand it too well, as dwarves have a tradition of cursing in almost twenty words... and that was a friendly way of crusing... you saw a book once, filled with a single sentence... it was longest insult in their language (at least that was what Regreh told you). However, this one was just a normal equivalent of 'Oh, for fuck's sake'.
And then, the doors at the end of the corridor fly away. With guard on them, too. He hits the wall at the other end of it and doesn't move.
Multiple people run into the corridor, fighting each other. It is hard to say who the attackers are, but you could easly see who was trying to get out alive - prison guards, in their purple armors and helmets. And from what you see, they are losing.
One of them falls on his knees as his comrade loses his head when one of attackers swings his giant axe.
- Mercy! I beg you, mer-! - his voice is silenced with but a single move.
The man with an axe looks around, but he doesn't appear to see you. His voice is harsh and commanding. He is a man that has given orders to people for a long, long time.
- Open the passage. We must hurry. - Two of his men go to the end of the corridor and one of them whispers something. Almost instantly, the walls disappear, opening a way down... They run into the passage as the Axe Man turns to the rest of his soldiers. - Mozdak, Nirm, Morrow. You stay with me. The rest of you, clean the way for us.
Two soldiers that got into the passage come back... with another person. Black clothes and a hooded cloak make the person underneath disappear and almost blend in with darkness and smoke. That - person? creature? - is barely walking... but that's not the thing that makes you shiver as it looks at you. Wait, looks at you?!
It signals to the soldiers that help it walk to stop.
- Why didn't you help them get out, Samer? - the voice of the hooded thing was... weird. You couldn't tell it if was a men or woman... or even what it was. Samer, the man with an axe, looked around, surprised. Then creature laughed. - Oh, ho. I forgot. Sometimes I'm really foolish... - it moves its hands fast, too fast to see the gestures it makes. A flash of light blinds you as you hear a weird, cracking sound, almost like that of breaking glass. When your eyes start working again, you don't see a field - or a shield, whatever - anymore.
- Let's move, now. - The creature pushes one of soldiers, but suddenly stops. It moves towards the doors to Madman's cell and touches it. The doors opens.
Madman screams fill the corridor.
- NO, DON'T GET CLOSE TO ME! PLEASE, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG. PLEAAAAASEEEE!!! - the screams are soon silenced. The hooded person gets out of his cell, now walking like a normal person, but you could easly tell that it was still very weak.
- Get the man out of that cell and carry him with us. - It looks at Silvana. - Her, too. She can't walk... - it turns its eyes on the whole group now as you gather in the corridor - You can go with us... or try to get out by yourself. Whatever you decide, good luck. - It nods at his soldiers and they do as he ordered.
You take a weapon off one of the guards' corpses and look at the others... It is time to choose.
2 You must make your way out of this damn hole. What will you do?
A) You will go with the creature's forces. It is much safer then going alone or in a small group, after all, they seem to know the prison well. They knew exactly where the hooded creature will be.
A1 - You will try to convice everyone to go with you. (If you will have to)
A2 - You will choose some people to go with you/or go by yourself. (Freeform)
B) You will try to get to the prison armory first. You once heard one of guards talk about the place where every prisoner's equipment is stored after capture. It is supposed to be in another wing, which lies in the opposite direction from the one that the creature went in.
B1 - You will try to convice everyone to go with you.
B2 - You will choose some people to go with you/or go by yourself. (Freeform)
C) Try to find as many prisoners as you can to create a group big enough to fight with prison guards. This may be dangerous, but the more of you escape, the more people you will have to fight enemies with... and they might be powerful, as the magic that guarded your cells is not easy to come by.
C1 - As above
C2 - As above, but freeform again.
Time to vote - 24 hours. Good luck, prisoners.
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