Cade looks back at the party after dropping the lock.
"Yea the guards never give me the keys anyways."
*Crouching down again and smearing dirt on his face*
*starts drawing a map*
"There's a few areas we should probably avoid. What I'm looking for doesn't seem to be here but if you want to get out we need to travel south through the common area."
Cade looks momentarily distracted and then shakes his head.
"Can never be too careful, need to obscure the features of the face to remain concealed. Mud disrupts the peaks and valleys of the face to make it not look so........facey."
Ida is losing patience. She looks to the others in this cage and tries to determine who may actually speak to her and share information. She can't seen to get any to make eye contact, so she stands and walks towards the middle of the group of them. She has their attention, so she sits as to not keep the guard's attention so she can speak. "Hello, my name is Ida. I am from Haukberg, and I'm asking for any help you can possibly provide. I need to understand where we are, a layout of the cave, what lies beyond, and what we are facing once the gate opens each day. Can any of you help me?"
The Prisoners all watch you warily. The Halfling waves his bound hands towards his gagged mouth and shrugs. The Dwarf doesn't take his eyes off the drow but grunts. The Hob Goblin glares at you but doesn't respond. The Kenku doesn't move, continuing his meditation. You notice the Drow's attention on you fully but he sits silently. He appears to have shifted from staring at nothing when you arrived to paying close attention to the party since Antonius named his race earlier.
The Human takes his attention off of the Hob Goblin and looks at you. He smiles and pushes his hair back from his face, running his fingers through it in the process as if trying to brush the knots from it. His jaw is covered in thick blonde hair that is ragged and unkempt, though the longest portion beneath his chin is tied into a knot. His face is scarred and slightly weathered but his eyes, bright and vibrant, suggest he's still young, despite the miles he carries.
'Haukberg, you say?' He asks in accented common. 'Beautiful city.' he comments absently. 'I'm Agnar of Sólareyja.' He moves to you and sits in front of you. 'The caverns aren't very complex. The Orcs don't like to sit still for long, they're usually nomadic so this is abnormal for them. I've been here a while but the Dwarf and the Drow have been here longer.'
He sketches out another map, that matches the one that Cade presented. He speaks of the different sections of the map as he draws, 'We are here, in the top right. Across the way, this cavern is Volen's chamber. If you come out of this pen and head left, you enter into the communal space, where the Orcs eat. Off of that chamber, there are another three chambers.' He draws the first just below Volen's chamber, 'This is another cell, much smaller. That's where they'll have taken your friend.' he points to the one below the slave pen, 'This is Gruuk's chamber. You haven't met him yet, but he's the Champion of this tribe and the De-Facto military leader. I believe he was once the Chief and Volen was his consort, I'm not sure how she's now the Chieftess. He's usually in a pretty shitty mood, and I don't much blame him.' he chuckles.
He now draws a large chamber, about the same size as the slave pen, below the private cell of Antonius, 'This is where the majority of the Orcs who live here sleep.' Then he sketches a tunnel in the bottom right corner leading from the common space, 'And this is the way to the outside.' He sketches another small cavern off of this tunnel. 'This is the pantry.'
Agnar nods, satisfied with his creation, then turns his attention to your follow-up questions.
'There are usually about a dozen Orcs here, but I'm pretty sure they rotate. I think the Tribe is still out there, moving in similarly sized groups and this acts as a sort of base of operations. When one group comes in, the group that was here goes out, that way there's always pretty much the same number here.' He explains. 'They come in and usually grab about three of us at a time to go do some work. When they bring one group back they take the next group, usually. Cade was the odd one out today and the last one to be taken. They can have you do a number of things out there, like cooking the food, moving and fetching water, emptying the many chamber pots seen about, and cleaning. Not to mention, whatever an Orc orders you to do for their amusement. They had me and the big guy fight once. Damn Goblin cheated.' He glares at the Hobgoblin once more.
While Darwin and Cade talk, and Ida appeals to the rest of the people in the pen, Hamish glances at the map in the dirt and goes to the part of the pen that seems to share a wall with another room. Glancing over his shoulder at the runes on the walls, Hamish shrugs and tries to focus his desire to escape into magic, moving the soil and rock with gentle movements of his hands.
Hamish, you can feel the well of power within you, and you can make contact. As you pull power from it and shape it, nothing seems abnormal. As you release the energy to cast, however, the Runes nearest you glow brightly. You feel the energy leave you but nothing happens.
Ida listens to Agnar intently, and is reassured to see the map doesn't show a complex route of tunnels and rooms. It seems that it could be easy to get out, especially if the Orc's are taking you outside to do work. However, in taking them out 3 at a time, it would be improbable that you could get back to get all the prisoners. "Thank you, Agnar. I know you said you'd been here some time, do you know roughly how long?" As she smiles at Agnar, she notices the runes glowing brightly, and turns to look at Darwin and Hamish. She's not sure if anyone else noticed them, but she has the feeling that they were glowing in response to the magic ward that has been placed. She looks back to Agnar, "Has anyone else been here? Anyone that hasn't survived? And because I want to help if possible, why is the halfling bound and gagged?"
'Yeah, Magic doesn't work in here.' Agnar says, his eyebrow arched towards Hamish and the glowing runes.
He turns his attention back to Ida, 'No idea. I tried counting the days when I first got here but I see the sun so rarely that it became hard.' He shrugs. 'I know it was late Autumn when I got here.' You're aware that it's now early Spring.
When you ask about the Halfling, he chuckles and glances at him. 'He got here a few days ago. On day two, he jumped on one of the Orcs and started just biting him. I mean biting like he was trying to eat him. Not sure what they're planning to do about him but he's been gagged and bound since. They might just be planning to let him starve in here.' he shrugged.
'There's been a few come and go. A few tried to escape and failed. Some refused to eat. Some leave for work detail and just never came back. I think your Dwarf companion is the first like that I've seen. They'll probably take his remains out in the morning.'
"It seems to be a unique group. And I believe that was done intentionally. Was anyone traveling together and brought in together? Or was anyone treated in a special way - like Antonius? I suppose what I'm asking is, what makes each of you unique or special?" Ida says this to Agnar and everyone else in the hopes that they see that she's trying to piece together a puzzle but needs more information.
Agnar purses his lips and thinks for a moment. 'Well, the Drow gets tasked to an independent duty every now and then. He gets taken out of here and put in the cell I assume your friend is in, but it's not very common, but it's definitely recurring.' he explains.
'Other than that, the Halfling was being kept over in that cell until the incident with the biting...' he shrugs. 'Sorry, I can't help more than that.' he looks apologetic to go along with his words, 'So, are you Antonius' wife?' he asks quite suddenly.
"It makes sense that he would be tasked with creating the poison, and they would only need him to do it so often. I appreciate all that you've shared, I'm sorry that I'll keep asking questions as they come to me. I have difficulty understanding cruelty for the sake of cruelty, so I'm trying to find reason where I can.
Antonius hired us- myself, Darwin, Hamish, and Toryn, to guard him and his invention while he traveled. We made the initial end of the journey without major issues, he demonstrated his invention to Marshall Klaus and a large portion of the Emperor's Guard. It was announced that upon our return trip to Haukberg, anyone who attacked our party would be an enemy of the crown and would be hunted relentlessly. Antonius is under contract to continue making his invention specifically for the Emperor. We were going to return to Haukberg and let him connect with his partner and the rest of us were going to return to our every day lives.
'They're Orcs.' He answers flatly. 'Volen seems to have bent them to her will and made them a little more strategic but Orcs be Orcs.' Agnar shrugs.
'Ah, so you're a mercenary?' he asks with an arched eyebrow but he looks intrigued beyond the intial part of your statement. 'What was his invention?' Agnar asks as nonchalantly as he can.
Your final question puts him a little on edge. 'Well, I've only actually been once. I accompanied my Father on his visit a few years ago but I've seen it from a distance a few times.'
"She isn't a common orc. She's smart, she has plans, and I'm assuming quite a few backup plans. She's managed to do something not many could, which means she shouldn't be underestimated. And the rest are following her for a reason.
And no, we aren't mercenaries. I'm a Knight. Darwin works with the rangers and is an entertainer. Hamish is currently studying. Toryn was a blacksmith. We were brought together some time ago, and we've been able to work together a few times to do some good things in Haukberg. And since the Duke's Chancellor suggested we meet with Antonius, and because the job fit our skill set, we accepted the arrangement. His invention was a weapon, a very powerful weapon that I'm still not sure I could describe accurately even after seeing it in action. But it was powerful enough to get him betrayed, get us here, and to get Toryn killed.
I've lived in Haukberg all my life. I've been able to travel some, but Haukberg is home. I'm sure your Sólareyja is equally beautiful, because it's your home. Hopefully you'll get to see both again, very soon."
Darwin listens to the conversation between Ida and Agnar, a little uncomfortable at how much detail Ida is sharing. He takes a good look at Agnar, trying to determine if he has an ulterior motive for this conversation.
'Well, she's not is she?' he says, nodding to concede the point, 'In my experience, Orcs follow the strongest, so it's very uncommon for a female or a half orc to be in charge, and for someone who is both, well, I've never heard of it. Gruuk makes sense, he's a typical Orc chief, but somehow she's usurped him.' he states, thinking out loud.
He nods as you speak of how you ended up here, contemplatively.
'I fear that when, or if, I return home it will have lost some of it's splendor. I've tried to escape a few times and never gotten far. Now I've been sat here too long and my mission has almost certainly failed.'
Darwin, you get the impression that there's something else at play here. When she speaks of the weapon, Agnar is very interested but also concerned. When he speaks of home, he is plainly saddened by the thought.
"It will be when. I have no intention of being here for long at all. We will find a way out, even if it takes a few days or even a few weeks. What mission did you have? And why are you certain of it's failure?" Ida asks him softly, with kindness in her eyes. She is hopeful that Agnar and several of the others will be able to help with the escape plan when it comes together, but she also almost immediately cares about him, similar to Hamish and Darwin when they met. Something unexplainable, but she feels like she needs to help protect those that need it most and he seems to.
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Darwin shrugs.
”Maybe you could describe the layout Cade, or sketch out a map in the dirt?”, he says checking if there is indeed somewhere to sketch.
Cade looks back at the party after dropping the lock.
"Yea the guards never give me the keys anyways."
*Crouching down again and smearing dirt on his face*
*starts drawing a map*
"There's a few areas we should probably avoid. What I'm looking for doesn't seem to be here but if you want to get out we need to travel south through the common area."
Darwin looks Cade in the eye searching for hints of madness.
”You mean you are here intentionally? What is it you are looking for?”, he thinks for a second before deciding to ask, “Why the mud on the face?”.
Insight: 15
*with a straight face*
"I'm searching for a friend....."
Cade looks momentarily distracted and then shakes his head.
"Can never be too careful, need to obscure the features of the face to remain concealed. Mud disrupts the peaks and valleys of the face to make it not look so........facey."
Darwin, you can tell he's not being entirely truthful, and may be slightly unhinged...well...may is subjective
Darwin frowns and takes a look at the map, "Well if this is accurate it is a good start".
"Any idea how many of them there are, and where they are likely to be?", he asks before his curiosity gets the better of him, "Concealed from whom?"
Ida is losing patience. She looks to the others in this cage and tries to determine who may actually speak to her and share information. She can't seen to get any to make eye contact, so she stands and walks towards the middle of the group of them. She has their attention, so she sits as to not keep the guard's attention so she can speak. "Hello, my name is Ida. I am from Haukberg, and I'm asking for any help you can possibly provide. I need to understand where we are, a layout of the cave, what lies beyond, and what we are facing once the gate opens each day. Can any of you help me?"
The Prisoners all watch you warily. The Halfling waves his bound hands towards his gagged mouth and shrugs. The Dwarf doesn't take his eyes off the drow but grunts. The Hob Goblin glares at you but doesn't respond. The Kenku doesn't move, continuing his meditation. You notice the Drow's attention on you fully but he sits silently. He appears to have shifted from staring at nothing when you arrived to paying close attention to the party since Antonius named his race earlier.
The Human takes his attention off of the Hob Goblin and looks at you. He smiles and pushes his hair back from his face, running his fingers through it in the process as if trying to brush the knots from it. His jaw is covered in thick blonde hair that is ragged and unkempt, though the longest portion beneath his chin is tied into a knot. His face is scarred and slightly weathered but his eyes, bright and vibrant, suggest he's still young, despite the miles he carries.
'Haukberg, you say?' He asks in accented common. 'Beautiful city.' he comments absently. 'I'm Agnar of Sólareyja.' He moves to you and sits in front of you. 'The caverns aren't very complex. The Orcs don't like to sit still for long, they're usually nomadic so this is abnormal for them. I've been here a while but the Dwarf and the Drow have been here longer.'
He sketches out another map, that matches the one that Cade presented. He speaks of the different sections of the map as he draws, 'We are here, in the top right. Across the way, this cavern is Volen's chamber. If you come out of this pen and head left, you enter into the communal space, where the Orcs eat. Off of that chamber, there are another three chambers.' He draws the first just below Volen's chamber, 'This is another cell, much smaller. That's where they'll have taken your friend.' he points to the one below the slave pen, 'This is Gruuk's chamber. You haven't met him yet, but he's the Champion of this tribe and the De-Facto military leader. I believe he was once the Chief and Volen was his consort, I'm not sure how she's now the Chieftess. He's usually in a pretty shitty mood, and I don't much blame him.' he chuckles.
He now draws a large chamber, about the same size as the slave pen, below the private cell of Antonius, 'This is where the majority of the Orcs who live here sleep.' Then he sketches a tunnel in the bottom right corner leading from the common space, 'And this is the way to the outside.' He sketches another small cavern off of this tunnel. 'This is the pantry.'
Agnar nods, satisfied with his creation, then turns his attention to your follow-up questions.
'There are usually about a dozen Orcs here, but I'm pretty sure they rotate. I think the Tribe is still out there, moving in similarly sized groups and this acts as a sort of base of operations. When one group comes in, the group that was here goes out, that way there's always pretty much the same number here.' He explains. 'They come in and usually grab about three of us at a time to go do some work. When they bring one group back they take the next group, usually. Cade was the odd one out today and the last one to be taken. They can have you do a number of things out there, like cooking the food, moving and fetching water, emptying the many chamber pots seen about, and cleaning. Not to mention, whatever an Orc orders you to do for their amusement. They had me and the big guy fight once. Damn Goblin cheated.' He glares at the Hobgoblin once more.
While Darwin and Cade talk, and Ida appeals to the rest of the people in the pen, Hamish glances at the map in the dirt and goes to the part of the pen that seems to share a wall with another room. Glancing over his shoulder at the runes on the walls, Hamish shrugs and tries to focus his desire to escape into magic, moving the soil and rock with gentle movements of his hands.
((Attempting to cast the Mold Earth))
Hamish, you can feel the well of power within you, and you can make contact. As you pull power from it and shape it, nothing seems abnormal. As you release the energy to cast, however, the Runes nearest you glow brightly. You feel the energy leave you but nothing happens.
Ida listens to Agnar intently, and is reassured to see the map doesn't show a complex route of tunnels and rooms. It seems that it could be easy to get out, especially if the Orc's are taking you outside to do work. However, in taking them out 3 at a time, it would be improbable that you could get back to get all the prisoners. "Thank you, Agnar. I know you said you'd been here some time, do you know roughly how long?" As she smiles at Agnar, she notices the runes glowing brightly, and turns to look at Darwin and Hamish. She's not sure if anyone else noticed them, but she has the feeling that they were glowing in response to the magic ward that has been placed. She looks back to Agnar, "Has anyone else been here? Anyone that hasn't survived? And because I want to help if possible, why is the halfling bound and gagged?"
'Yeah, Magic doesn't work in here.' Agnar says, his eyebrow arched towards Hamish and the glowing runes.
He turns his attention back to Ida, 'No idea. I tried counting the days when I first got here but I see the sun so rarely that it became hard.' He shrugs. 'I know it was late Autumn when I got here.' You're aware that it's now early Spring.
When you ask about the Halfling, he chuckles and glances at him. 'He got here a few days ago. On day two, he jumped on one of the Orcs and started just biting him. I mean biting like he was trying to eat him. Not sure what they're planning to do about him but he's been gagged and bound since. They might just be planning to let him starve in here.' he shrugged.
'There's been a few come and go. A few tried to escape and failed. Some refused to eat. Some leave for work detail and just never came back. I think your Dwarf companion is the first like that I've seen. They'll probably take his remains out in the morning.'
"It seems to be a unique group. And I believe that was done intentionally. Was anyone traveling together and brought in together? Or was anyone treated in a special way - like Antonius? I suppose what I'm asking is, what makes each of you unique or special?" Ida says this to Agnar and everyone else in the hopes that they see that she's trying to piece together a puzzle but needs more information.
Agnar purses his lips and thinks for a moment. 'Well, the Drow gets tasked to an independent duty every now and then. He gets taken out of here and put in the cell I assume your friend is in, but it's not very common, but it's definitely recurring.' he explains.
'Other than that, the Halfling was being kept over in that cell until the incident with the biting...' he shrugs. 'Sorry, I can't help more than that.' he looks apologetic to go along with his words, 'So, are you Antonius' wife?' he asks quite suddenly.
"It makes sense that he would be tasked with creating the poison, and they would only need him to do it so often. I appreciate all that you've shared, I'm sorry that I'll keep asking questions as they come to me. I have difficulty understanding cruelty for the sake of cruelty, so I'm trying to find reason where I can.
Antonius hired us- myself, Darwin, Hamish, and Toryn, to guard him and his invention while he traveled. We made the initial end of the journey without major issues, he demonstrated his invention to Marshall Klaus and a large portion of the Emperor's Guard. It was announced that upon our return trip to Haukberg, anyone who attacked our party would be an enemy of the crown and would be hunted relentlessly. Antonius is under contract to continue making his invention specifically for the Emperor. We were going to return to Haukberg and let him connect with his partner and the rest of us were going to return to our every day lives.
When were you in Haukberg?"
'They're Orcs.' He answers flatly. 'Volen seems to have bent them to her will and made them a little more strategic but Orcs be Orcs.' Agnar shrugs.
'Ah, so you're a mercenary?' he asks with an arched eyebrow but he looks intrigued beyond the intial part of your statement. 'What was his invention?' Agnar asks as nonchalantly as he can.
Your final question puts him a little on edge. 'Well, I've only actually been once. I accompanied my Father on his visit a few years ago but I've seen it from a distance a few times.'
"She isn't a common orc. She's smart, she has plans, and I'm assuming quite a few backup plans. She's managed to do something not many could, which means she shouldn't be underestimated. And the rest are following her for a reason.
And no, we aren't mercenaries. I'm a Knight. Darwin works with the rangers and is an entertainer. Hamish is currently studying. Toryn was a blacksmith. We were brought together some time ago, and we've been able to work together a few times to do some good things in Haukberg. And since the Duke's Chancellor suggested we meet with Antonius, and because the job fit our skill set, we accepted the arrangement. His invention was a weapon, a very powerful weapon that I'm still not sure I could describe accurately even after seeing it in action. But it was powerful enough to get him betrayed, get us here, and to get Toryn killed.
I've lived in Haukberg all my life. I've been able to travel some, but Haukberg is home. I'm sure your Sólareyja is equally beautiful, because it's your home. Hopefully you'll get to see both again, very soon."
Darwin listens to the conversation between Ida and Agnar, a little uncomfortable at how much detail Ida is sharing. He takes a good look at Agnar, trying to determine if he has an ulterior motive for this conversation.
Insight: 15
'Well, she's not is she?' he says, nodding to concede the point, 'In my experience, Orcs follow the strongest, so it's very uncommon for a female or a half orc to be in charge, and for someone who is both, well, I've never heard of it. Gruuk makes sense, he's a typical Orc chief, but somehow she's usurped him.' he states, thinking out loud.
He nods as you speak of how you ended up here, contemplatively.
'I fear that when, or if, I return home it will have lost some of it's splendor. I've tried to escape a few times and never gotten far. Now I've been sat here too long and my mission has almost certainly failed.'
Darwin, you get the impression that there's something else at play here. When she speaks of the weapon, Agnar is very interested but also concerned. When he speaks of home, he is plainly saddened by the thought.
"It will be when. I have no intention of being here for long at all. We will find a way out, even if it takes a few days or even a few weeks. What mission did you have? And why are you certain of it's failure?" Ida asks him softly, with kindness in her eyes. She is hopeful that Agnar and several of the others will be able to help with the escape plan when it comes together, but she also almost immediately cares about him, similar to Hamish and Darwin when they met. Something unexplainable, but she feels like she needs to help protect those that need it most and he seems to.