The Undying Dragons - Campaign Thread

Marrin listens to the plan and nods along, waiting for the answers to her friends' questions.

Dodds listens closely when Avaria mentions a ring, lute and walking stick.

“There’s quite a bit of equipment in the guard post. Though their main armory is upstairs near their barracks. Most of what’s down there is for use in the arena.” Dodds says then pauses, momentarily unsure.

Gertrude squeezes his hand.

“Um, well, er, yes. Your magic, um, what’s the word? Your magic focus things will, er, be there.”

Dodds smiles.

“Right. There you go. Easy.” He says. “We’ll need to make the call on the ships when we get there. You two, “he says indicating Avaria and Ula, “do you remember where my shop is? We can meet there before heading to the docks.”

They both listen to the other questions, Dodds’ smile broadening as it becomes clear you’re on board with escaping.

“The guardpost will have one or two guards in there.” Dodds says.

“Only for a moment.” Haguur says. “Once that door is open, they’re dead. It has to be fast. You’ve seen the bell in there.”

“Right,” Dodds’ smile falters slightly at Haguur’s relish for killing. “Once you control that guardpost, you’ve access to the arena floor and to the stairwell up to the main level.”

Gertrude sighs at the question about the arena games.

“There will be, um, a match tomorrow,” she says. “I’ll try to get it so, um, so you’re not, ah, involved but it’s my father’s day and he, well, he, um, doesn’t really listen to me. None of them do.”

Dodds claps his hands together.

"Tomorrow then. Wait til the sun starts to set. That will be when they pull more guards upstairs. Then easy peasy, we're on our way out of here."

He looks back to the first cavern, looking to see what the hobgoblin guard is doing.

"We have to go. Tell Gertie the three she should ask for."

Marrin stays quiet for the explanations as well and raises a hand to answer Gertrude's question that she should include her.

Avaria looks to Marrin, Ethel and Jan to make sure they are satisfied with the focus locations (I don't remember if Ula had one?)

She nods at Dodds question of the shop, "Yes, I remember where that is, meeting you there sounds good."

She listens to Gerty and wonders what her father has planned for tomorrow.

"Yes, tomorrow evening then."  Ava then turns to her friends, "Marrin, you are planning on going with Gertrude, did you want me here with the orcs or with you?  Ethel, Jan, Ula?  where do you want to be, I'll go where you guys want me."  She grabs the warhammer again and swings it around in emphasis that she is ready.

Marrin looks to Avaria and considers.

"There can be benefits on both sides. Haguur is fully commited."

She gives the orc another nod,

"But Jisthelek may need some help wrangling his 'team' to make sure everything is in order and nothing gets spread around....and to keep Xanthe quiet. Speaking of which, we need a ship big enough for all the prisoners."

Jisthelek turns from watching the other cavern when he hears mention of his name.

"Oh, we don't tell them anything until the last second," Jisthelek says. "Doors open, lets get the frig out of here, was all I'd planned to tell them. Let them run yelling through the tunnels. If you don't tell anyone anything they can't give anything away."

He pauses for a moment.

"Do you have a way you think you can get through the door?" he asks. "I can come, hide right under the panel and be your hobbie voice if that helps."

Ula thinks about the plan a few moments before saying "I'm going to stay on this side. The worst fighting might be to get through that door and either up the stairs or up through the arena. I can provide healing as we go. Once we're fully equipped, the odds might shift in our favor."

Jisthelek looks at the tinderboxes in the pile of equipment. He picks one up and strikes the flint a few times, getting some good sparks. 

Ethel begins ticking off her concerns, one by one.  "No one knows, outside of this cave. No one.  Not until the escape is already underway.  There will be questions about this meeting.  Resist answering, but if pressed, say that we are working out more deals with Dodds to rig arena matches.  This meeting was to negotiate what we will get from the deal."

Ethel looks at Gertrude.  "And don't push things with your father, regarding the arena.  I'd prefer none of us get bothered with that, but don't press the issue.  I'm sure your sire didn't become leader of a pirate enclave and humanoid trafficking ring by being obtuse.  If you take an unusual interest in what prisoners do or don't fight in the pit, it could tip him off and sink us."

"During the escape, avoid Godrick, if you can," she says, taking long hard looks at Haguur and at Jan, knowing her interest in the mage.  "We haven't seen all he can do, but I've seen enough to suspect he will prove a dangerously proficient spellcaster."

"If you cannot avoid him," she pauses to glance at Gertrude to gauge her reaction, "then put him down, fast.  Ignore any guards or obstacles in your way.  Target him as if your life depends on it.  It will."

She purses what remains of her lips and scowls, looking back at Dodds and Gertrude.  "You need three for the evening event.  Marrin has volunteered, while Ula will remain here.  That leaves Jan, Avaria and I for the last two spots.  Jan, do you feel like you, Jisthelek, Haguur and Ula can manage getting into the guardpost, subduing the guards quietly and securing our weapons?  If so, then Avaria and I may be best for the serving job."

Marrin nods in agreement that keeping quiet on everything is for the best, and says,

"You being the voice is a good idea Jisthelek. Either Jan or I could manage a convincing guard with that, given they come in here."

"I think that decides it then, I'll stay here, to possibly pose as a guard. I may be able to get past the door, even without the key, but that certainly gives us better options."

((So just to make sure I'm clear, they gave us a key to... the caverns here? The lock is only on the other side, so would need to get to the other side, with the key to use it? Then get to the other side of the guard post, to use the keys that are hanging there?))

Gertrude looks relieved when Ethel tells her not to push her father too much about who might participate in the arena tomorrow. Ethel notices a sadness in Gertrude’s eyes when she mentions her brother and the danger he presents, but she doesn’t disagree with the assessment.

“He’s a scary one for sure,” Dodds says.

Once it’s settled that Marrin, Avaria and Ethel will be called for servant duties and Jan and Ula will stay with the others Dodds and Gertrude quickly make their exit.
Dodds clasps Jan’s hand when he does and passes the key over.

“Good luck.” He says.

They move quickly through the first cavern, not looking at any of the other prisoners and make their way through the door. The hobgoblin guard closes it quickly behind them and the lock can be heard clicking.

Haguur watches them go but voices no farewells. He grunts at the other orcs then turns to the group.

“We are going to sleep now. There is much killing to be done tomorrow.”

The caverns are quiet. For the most part the prisoners in the first cavern are sleeping or pretending to be. Xanthe though is clearly awake and looking towards the entrance to the orc cavern.

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[Your understanding is that the key will get you through the first door – the one between the caverns and the tunnel leading to the guardpost. The next door is the challenge – the one into the guardpost itself. Once in the guardpost you have access to all of the other keys]

"See you tomorrow."

Marrin nods to Haguur and walks out to the human/other cavern.

((So the door to the caverns has an opening for a key on our side? I'd honestly been thinking that was going to be more of the challenge than the one in the guardpost...))

Avaria watches Dodds and Gertrude leave, hoping that this plan has the merit she is feeling at the moment.  The water ways were interesting, but she felt they were mainly eliminating opportunities versus finding a way, and with Ethel?  How would they get her through it anyways?

She lets out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding and then turns to Haguur, "Til tomorrow then, I suppose." and she turns and follows Marrin out to their section and Xanthe.

Catching the old woman's eye as they enter the space, she nods to her and attempts to head to a corner to curl up in and get some sleep.  She didn't realize how tired she was until the prospect of sleep was finally here.

Xanthe looks concerned but with the others already sleeping and the darkness she doesn't approach any of you to talk.

You're all able to get a good nights sleep, though you could swear at different times during the night you felt fingers in your pockets and whispers of 'just practicing'.

Come morning you've all benefited from a long rest and for setting in motion the escape you've reached level 3.

Unfortunately for Jan, she's got a little added bonus too. The lingering cough and general malaise turned to a fever in the night and she feels really miserable this morning. She now suffers from one level of exhaustion and regains only half the normal number of hit points from spending Hit Dice and no hit points from finishing a long rest (starting with the next long rest, this one was fine). There'll be another CON roll at the end of the day.

When Ula sees Jan in the morning she gets quite concerned.

"You got too close to that disease pile by the arena didn't you?" she asks.

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Will let everyone level up before getting the day going.

As the others retreat to bed, Ethel struggles to find sleep.  Conjuring a tiny light, she sits up with her spell book inside her little nook, puzzling over arcane secrets and worrying about the day to come.  It would be decided by tomorrow night.  Either they would be free from this nightmare and she would be able to resume her quest... or they would all be dead.

She thought of her children.  It was all for them, though she often abstained from indulgence in their memory.  It was a trap... to linger in the halcyon haze of memory instead of pursuing the rigorous study and willful accumulation of power that would see them returned to living flesh.  But tonight, knowing what was at stake tomorrow, she allowed herself a few moments.  She pictured their faces... or tried to.  It was growing harder and harder as they months dragged on.  Their voices, yes.  But their faces... time had found a way to blur them.  Her husband was easier.  His disarming smile and that stubborn wink when he knew Ethel was right but would never give the satisfaction of admitting it publicly.

As she pushed those thoughts away, she thought briefly on her companions.  Is that what they were, now?  Companions?  She hardly knew these people just one week ago.  Now she was engaged in a life-or-death struggle, her fate tied inexorably to theirs.  They seemed so young to her, especially Ula and Avaria.  She found she was... worried about them.  Her mind lingered for a moment on what had happened earlier with Ula and the spiders.  She had nearly died.  To do so would be to see her little ones dead and gone from this world forever.  Yet she had recklessly thrown herself into danger just the same.  It was strange to realize that she cared for these people.  It had been so long... to have friends among the living, instead of chasing ghosts.

Enough.  She willed away the musings and refocused on her work.  Before sleep claimed her, she found the breakthrough she had been desperately seeking.  Spells she had been trying to unlock clicked open in her mind.  The gestures... the words... the precise intent required to bend the weave to her bidding.

Come what may on the morrow, she was as ready as she could be.

Let it be enough.

"By disease pile, do you mean Godrick?", Jan gives a wheezing laugh that devolves into a cough.

Marrin lays a bit away from the group and despite being exhausted has trouble sleeping. She wraps her arms around herself as she leans against the rock wall and looks up into the gap above. Rocking gently she mutters quietly to herself. Her voice is shaky at first but it firms up as she continues until her last words are uttered with, what sounds like, unbreakable confidence.

"You've got this. You've got this. Festan would have killed you. You had to. No other choice. They would all have killed you. You have this under control. You need to keep it together or else you will die here. Keep it together. You've got this. You need to do whatever it takes to get out. Whatever it takes. You can do it. You have got this. They need you. Keep it together, get out of here. Get out, get famous. Get out, make sure no one can do this to you again. You have got this."

At this point she takes a deep, steady breath and closes her eyes and falls to sleep with a small smile on her lips.

Jan winces, rubbing at her gloved left hand. Has it grown farther? It feels like it might have, but she's not tugging off the glove to check. If that's the cost for what she needs to get out of here, then so be it. Her sleep had been uneasy, the cough and chills waking her when the bone deep ache and fever didn't. She'd had a dream where she had melted down into the stone of the cavern, and was able to swim through it up and into the bastard's castle above, emerging from the floors to strangle them all in their sleep. Overall, and odd, but pleasant dream, until she got stuck in the stone and it flowed into her lungs, only for her to wake coughing on the floor.

Avaria watches as her friends find separate little nooks away from one another and a frown forms on her face.  Unsure where to curl up, she attempts to find a spot as equal distant as possible, finding herself wanting to protect her new family.

That's how she felt about them, they were each so strong and resilient in their own ways, but yet, their vulnerabilities were there as well and she wanted to be there for them.. always.

She thinks back to her time in the woods, after she was abandoned by her mother... where the animals were her friends.  She misses them sometimes, the freedom of their lives and being around them.  She focuses on each of her animal friends and their abilities.. feeling more connected to the animals than she had since she left.  She falls asleep excited for the next night and that they will finally be free of this awful place.. be in the sun again, amongst trees and critters...she drifts off

Jan will want to find a place to hide the key, not wanting it on her if she gets called to the arena the next day. She'll confer with the others, to make sure that they all know where the key is located, in the event that one or more of them are delayed in being able to make use of it.