From what Marrin/Marvin can tell, Soren seems completely okay with this turning into further adventure. He actually seems excited to see the prison. From the first looks of Peltarch, there's not going to be much to do here, especially in the winter.
Avaria sees Ethel's sadness and she puts her arm around her friend, giving her a little squeeze. The shifter is warm now after standing so close to the fire, so it's like a warm bear hug. As the food comes out, she heads over to the table to eat some as well and listens to the plan. "So... should I pose as a guard or how can I help?"
Jan will make sure that any chowder placed in front of her goes to those who were building snow forts with Dagg, though she'd not turn down a warm mug of mulled wine.
"I can maintain dwarf or guard as long as is needed, though I'd retain my full height, in truth. If someone were to lob and apple over the head of a dwarven version, I might catch it full in the gob."
((Jan would only be speaking so openly if she was certain they weren't able to be overheard. She will use K to keep tabs on any possible snoops.))
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Ethel accepts the hug from Avaria, then briefly ruffles the bristly hairs behind the shifter's ears.
At Hammerdasher's suggestion, she tilts her head, considering. A slow nod follows. “Yes... I suppose that could work,” she says, the faintest hint of a smile pulling at her scarred mouth. “Pretend to be an inquisitor. Intimidating. Ruthless. Someone who doesn’t hesitate to use magic to get what they want.”
She meets Hammerdasher’s gaze, her eyes thoughtful, but behind them, her mind is shaking its head. Pretend? What does he mean, pretend? Does he think I'm going to just ask politely? If this Korda knows something about the key, about the prophecy, about the threats that have stalked us all since Spandeliyon—I will make her talk. We're not about to let one of our only leads slip through our fingers because I'm too soft. We are inquisitors, if unofficial.
Her smile widens just a fraction as she adds, “Yes. I think I can manage that.”
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"We gotta count on them having some sort of magic detection in a prison. I'm not sure how long your disguise would hold up, even without apple tossing."
"Getting caught out as someone else wouldn't bode well... but might be handy for moving around once in... if it won't trigger anything.", Jan muses.
"Perhaps going in as myself... a bounty hunter with questions for a prisoner?"
@GM
As a bounty hunter, does she have any connections or knowledge with this prison? I suppose I could have asked well before now...
Urban Bounty Hunter
Feature: Ear to the Ground
You are in frequent contact with people in the segment of society that your chosen quarries move through. These people might be associated with the criminal underworld, the rough-and-tumble folk of the streets, or members of high society. This connection comes in the form of a contact in any city you visit, a person who provides information about the people and places of the local area.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
K' detects no signs of anyone eavesdropping. The inn is quiet.
Hammerdasher isn’t sure about magical wards and the like as any of that was probably added since his people built the prison. From his prior visit, he lets the group know that you can either go overland, skirting the lake to get to the prison, but no one does that, and there are no roads. Everyone else takes the lake – either by boat in the summer or by sail assisted sled in the winter.
The prison itself is a panopticon, a prison configured in such a way that the activities of the prisoners can be closely monitored from a central location (think the prison in Guardians of the Galaxy). Rising from the core of the panopticon is a tower that holds the prison’s administrative offices and guard barracks. Both the prison and the tower are carved from a tall, blade-shaped rock that rises high above the cliffs at the edge of the lake. This rock, called the Windbreak, shields the tower against the brutal winds that sweep down from the north.
@Jan
Jan is aware of the prison but has never been there herself. She knows that it’s controlled by an alliance of the larger settlements around the Sea of Fallen Stars. If you’ve been found guilty of a very serious offense in one of these communities you can end up in the prison. And she now knows that Hammerdasher’s clan was the architects and builders of the jail.
While she knows no more about the actual workings and security of the facility, she remembers she did know an old bounty hunter who ended up heading north to be a guard at the prison. Her name was Yula Dargeria, Jan remembers Yula could never quite get her head around the moral flexibility you needed to be a good bounty hunter. The hard rules of a prison suited her better, and Jan wouldn’t be surprised if Yula wasn’t a senior, or even head guard by now.
She’d have to ask around to see where the guards and other staff meet before heading to the prison, but based on the maps she’s see, it would be a safe bet they likely leave from Peltarch
"Okay, so let me see if we have it sorted. Ithleviur, Ethel and I will go in representing the Hammerdashers wanting to interrogate Korda. Jan, Ava, Soren and Geffroi will go in as guards."
Marvin looks around to see if that sounds right to folks.
"We don't know what exactly it is going to be like in there but Ithleviur has given us a pretty good idea on the place's internal layout. How are the two groups going to communicate inside the prison? Probably good if we have magical and non-magical means ready in case the magical way is blocked, which if I was running the place, it would be."
She poses a question to Ithleviur,
"Your clan build in a lunchroom or something for the guards to eat in? Maybe that would be the most inconspicuous place to meet up, at least initially once we have a better lay of the place?"
To everyone else,
"Next question is how we should get there, I think taking the sled over is fine for everyone but should we all be together or should one group go before the other? If we do decide to split up, I think it makes more sense for the guard team to get there first and learn the routines a couple of days before the clan team heads in. The clan team is going maybe have easier access to Korda but they probably will also be under constant accompaniment."
Marvin flexes his tingling fingers and looks around to see if anyone has any comments on what he's laid out.
"Everything else we will just have to figure out once we're there."
"Can we be guards accompanying the Hammerdashers? Is there a reason we need to separate?" Avaria is listening to the conversation, but struggling to catch it all. Actually took her a minute to realize Ithleviur was their friend Hammerdasher as that was all she called him since they met. She notices Ethel's grin and it makes her happy.
"It would probably attract more attention that a pair of dwarves brought in a group of non-dwarves for protection, but mostly I think by separating we maximize our chances for getting at Korda. Those going as guards will probably have more access to the prison overall than the dwarven group, but the dwarven group will have a reason to be interested in talking to Korda, and only her."
Marvin shrugs and sips his soup and wrinkles his noise remembering he doesn't really like clams.
((Plus, sticking together is way too easy on the DM. Maybe we should split into a third and fourth group...))
"I may have a name to drop... I don't know if she's still alive, or what standing she's in at the prison... likely either a bothersome thorn in the side of the higher ups, or she's been promoted there herself, but Yula Dargeria was a bounty hunter I knew from a while back, last I heard she was headed to the prison for guard work. Might be an in for me as part of the guard group... though I doubt she'll appreciate the subterfuge we're suggesting at the end of it once we have what we came for. If she's in a position of authority, might be a better play to lay it out to her straight than pretend to be looking for a guard job. As far as communication, K can potentially help as a go-between... but they may have anti-familiar measures too."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
"I guess you'll have to use your best judgment with her?"
Chewing on his lip he adds,
"But that brings up another point. We should decide how far we are willing to go, what are we willing to give Korda in exchange for the information on what she stole? I will wager she is going to ask for us to break her out, but do we want to go that far? What can we get her short of that?"
Hammerdasher is silent for a long moment after Marvin/Marrin ask him her question. Finally he nods.
"Getting the clans artifacts and treasure back is worth more than punishing her," Hammerdasher says.
"I'd give anything to see if that djed was really the Dark One's Djed that unlocked the hidden secrets of the catacombs," Geffroi says.
Hammerdasher then laughs, "And besides it's not like she'll ever be trusted by another clan in all of Faerun again.
((The party does also have another dwarf at their disposal. She's been quiet, and not a great 'NPC' but Ula is still here))
@the Party
If you want to outline your basic plan on how to get to and into the prison, we can condense some of the roleplaying and I can put it into a narrative to skip some of the less interesting bits - eg finding out where the guard shift change and prison visitors leave from, how one goes about getting work as a guard, whether you all want to try and be on the same sled ship or not. Hammerdasher has a legitimate claim to entering the prison and can bring 'clan members' and an inquisitor with him. Of that, he's certain.
I would like to send the Guard group in a few days before to get those details and to be known faces before the dwarf group arrives. That will let Jan also meet up with her contact.
Maybe start from the point of the Dwarf group arriving, with the Guards knowing what they know and the Dwarfs getting the tour?
((I think if Jan can make contact with her former bounty hunter, that might give us a bit more of a lay of the land, and she can pen a letter for K to carry back. She's liking the extra damage from Agonizing Blast, but Voice of the Chain Master would be awful handy.))
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
(Sorry for the silence - big wedding weekend then scratched cornea... fun)
That all makes sense to me, Avaria is not liking the idea of splitting up of course but can find no other way around it. The group back in town, going to try and find out more about Peltarch while there? Maybe find more warm clothing :)
The frozen winds off Icelace Lake cut like knives, sharper than any blade you’ve faced. The vessel the group is on is more akin to a large barge with ice runners underneath and sails above. It glides across the ice-choked surface with the vast silence of the lake pressing in on all sides. There’s no birdsong here, no splash of fish beneath the surface. Just the groan of the lake shifting beneath you, the whisper of wind, and the rhythmic crunch or creak of the ice barge’s passage.
Far ahead, the prison rises on a rocky spur at the lake’s edge like a bleak monument to isolation. It’s a dark silhouette against the gray-white world, its walls black with hoarfrost, its towers like raised fists in defiance of the cold. A plume of smoke curls from the central spire, the only sign of life—or warning.
As the barge nears, details begin to form: heavy iron gates, ballistae perched like watchful eyes, and guards cloaked in furs, faces masked against the cold. The air feels thicker here, as though it knows what this place is—a tomb for the living, a fortress not just of stone and steel, but of silence and secrets.
Every meter closer, the world behind you is slowly vanishing, and all that remains is what waits within those walls.
Four guard towers and extreme cold keep prying eyes from getting too close to the prison.
Logistics have prevented the guard group from getting to the prison any more than two days ahead of the Hammerdasher team. The ‘guards’ have only had enough time to get a brief orientation and the briefest of tours of the prison. They have a general idea of the layout and where everything is but they haven’t been able to explore that much.
TEAM GUARD:
The four who came as guards managed to get accepted as replacement guards for a few who didn't show up for the transfer. They ended up being part of a group of 25 guards arriving at the prison.
They've managed to figure out the layout of the prison and a few of the specifics and that there are a total of 75 guards on duty.
The former bounty hunter Jan knew is in fact in the prison and is the head of the guards now - Yula Dargeria.
They have not met the prison warden but know Marta Marthannis is her name and her office is somewhere in the upper reaches of the surveillance tower (that stands in the middle of the prison).
In the brief time here, they've had access to the barracks (in the lower part of the surveillance tower), the kitchen, mess hall, and have had to put up with a lot of explaining about how the locks work and patrols take place. This has given them an opportunity to sketch out a rough map:
Cells. The cells, highlighted in red, are blanketed in permanent antimagic. Korda Glintstone’s cell is the marked one.
Doors and Hatches. The doors and hatches are sealed with arcane lock spells that only prison staff can bypass.
Patrol Route. The yellow path marked on the map is the regular patrol route guards take. The usual patrol rotation is once every 20 minutes, but if the guards are suspicious, patrols will likely become more frequent.
Prisoners do chores such as emptying latrine buckets and cleaning up after meals, and they exercise in the courtyard daily. When prisoners are injured or fall ill, they are taken to the prison hospital.
The guard team is about to be made part of their first patrol
TEAM HAMMERDASHER:
While the rest of the group wanted to take their time to get to the prison, the only opportunity was a sled taking 6 cooks to the prison two days after the guards were taken.
Team Dwarf bang on the prison’s main entrance by the dock. Three guards escort them up the elevator, operated likely by magic. Once inside the main doors, the guards insist on confiscating the characters’ weapons and storing them in a nearby lockbox. In addition, one guard searches each character for concealed weapons.
After relinquishing their weapons, the characters are escorted by one of the guards to a meeting room (marked on the left side of the map).
They're told the warden is busy but will come as soon as they can to greet them. Once the guards leave, Hammerdasher mentions that the warden rarely takes less than an hour to rush over.
From what Marrin/Marvin can tell, Soren seems completely okay with this turning into further adventure. He actually seems excited to see the prison. From the first looks of Peltarch, there's not going to be much to do here, especially in the winter.
Avaria sees Ethel's sadness and she puts her arm around her friend, giving her a little squeeze. The shifter is warm now after standing so close to the fire, so it's like a warm bear hug. As the food comes out, she heads over to the table to eat some as well and listens to the plan. "So... should I pose as a guard or how can I help?"
Marvin squints at Ava,
"Ya, I'd peg you as guard material. Put some armor on you, hand you a sword. Solid guard."
Marvin holds his hands on the warm bowl, trying to get feeling back into his fingers.
Jan will make sure that any chowder placed in front of her goes to those who were building snow forts with Dagg, though she'd not turn down a warm mug of mulled wine.
"I can maintain dwarf or guard as long as is needed, though I'd retain my full height, in truth. If someone were to lob and apple over the head of a dwarven version, I might catch it full in the gob."
((Jan would only be speaking so openly if she was certain they weren't able to be overheard. She will use K to keep tabs on any possible snoops.))
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
Ethel accepts the hug from Avaria, then briefly ruffles the bristly hairs behind the shifter's ears.
At Hammerdasher's suggestion, she tilts her head, considering. A slow nod follows. “Yes... I suppose that could work,” she says, the faintest hint of a smile pulling at her scarred mouth. “Pretend to be an inquisitor. Intimidating. Ruthless. Someone who doesn’t hesitate to use magic to get what they want.”
She meets Hammerdasher’s gaze, her eyes thoughtful, but behind them, her mind is shaking its head. Pretend? What does he mean, pretend? Does he think I'm going to just ask politely? If this Korda knows something about the key, about the prophecy, about the threats that have stalked us all since Spandeliyon—I will make her talk. We're not about to let one of our only leads slip through our fingers because I'm too soft. We are inquisitors, if unofficial.
Her smile widens just a fraction as she adds, “Yes. I think I can manage that.”
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Marvin will give Jan an appraising look,
"We gotta count on them having some sort of magic detection in a prison. I'm not sure how long your disguise would hold up, even without apple tossing."
"Getting caught out as someone else wouldn't bode well... but might be handy for moving around once in... if it won't trigger anything.", Jan muses.
"Perhaps going in as myself... a bounty hunter with questions for a prisoner?"
@GM
As a bounty hunter, does she have any connections or knowledge with this prison? I suppose I could have asked well before now...
You are in frequent contact with people in the segment of society that your chosen quarries move through. These people might be associated with the criminal underworld, the rough-and-tumble folk of the streets, or members of high society. This connection comes in the form of a contact in any city you visit, a person who provides information about the people and places of the local area.
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
K' detects no signs of anyone eavesdropping. The inn is quiet.
Hammerdasher isn’t sure about magical wards and the like as any of that was probably added since his people built the prison. From his prior visit, he lets the group know that you can either go overland, skirting the lake to get to the prison, but no one does that, and there are no roads. Everyone else takes the lake – either by boat in the summer or by sail assisted sled in the winter.
The prison itself is a panopticon, a prison configured in such a way that the activities of the prisoners can be closely monitored from a central location (think the prison in Guardians of the Galaxy). Rising from the core of the panopticon is a tower that holds the prison’s administrative offices and guard barracks. Both the prison and the tower are carved from a tall, blade-shaped rock that rises high above the cliffs at the edge of the lake. This rock, called the Windbreak, shields the tower against the brutal winds that sweep down from the north.
@Jan
Jan is aware of the prison but has never been there herself. She knows that it’s controlled by an alliance of the larger settlements around the Sea of Fallen Stars. If you’ve been found guilty of a very serious offense in one of these communities you can end up in the prison. And she now knows that Hammerdasher’s clan was the architects and builders of the jail.
While she knows no more about the actual workings and security of the facility, she remembers she did know an old bounty hunter who ended up heading north to be a guard at the prison. Her name was Yula Dargeria, Jan remembers Yula could never quite get her head around the moral flexibility you needed to be a good bounty hunter. The hard rules of a prison suited her better, and Jan wouldn’t be surprised if Yula wasn’t a senior, or even head guard by now.
She’d have to ask around to see where the guards and other staff meet before heading to the prison, but based on the maps she’s see, it would be a safe bet they likely leave from Peltarch
"Okay, so let me see if we have it sorted. Ithleviur, Ethel and I will go in representing the Hammerdashers wanting to interrogate Korda. Jan, Ava, Soren and Geffroi will go in as guards."
Marvin looks around to see if that sounds right to folks.
"We don't know what exactly it is going to be like in there but Ithleviur has given us a pretty good idea on the place's internal layout. How are the two groups going to communicate inside the prison? Probably good if we have magical and non-magical means ready in case the magical way is blocked, which if I was running the place, it would be."
She poses a question to Ithleviur,
"Your clan build in a lunchroom or something for the guards to eat in? Maybe that would be the most inconspicuous place to meet up, at least initially once we have a better lay of the place?"
To everyone else,
"Next question is how we should get there, I think taking the sled over is fine for everyone but should we all be together or should one group go before the other? If we do decide to split up, I think it makes more sense for the guard team to get there first and learn the routines a couple of days before the clan team heads in. The clan team is going maybe have easier access to Korda but they probably will also be under constant accompaniment."
Marvin flexes his tingling fingers and looks around to see if anyone has any comments on what he's laid out.
"Everything else we will just have to figure out once we're there."
"Can we be guards accompanying the Hammerdashers? Is there a reason we need to separate?" Avaria is listening to the conversation, but struggling to catch it all. Actually took her a minute to realize Ithleviur was their friend Hammerdasher as that was all she called him since they met. She notices Ethel's grin and it makes her happy.
"It would probably attract more attention that a pair of dwarves brought in a group of non-dwarves for protection, but mostly I think by separating we maximize our chances for getting at Korda. Those going as guards will probably have more access to the prison overall than the dwarven group, but the dwarven group will have a reason to be interested in talking to Korda, and only her."
Marvin shrugs and sips his soup and wrinkles his noise remembering he doesn't really like clams.
((Plus, sticking together is way too easy on the DM. Maybe we should split into a third and fourth group...))
"I may have a name to drop... I don't know if she's still alive, or what standing she's in at the prison... likely either a bothersome thorn in the side of the higher ups, or she's been promoted there herself, but Yula Dargeria was a bounty hunter I knew from a while back, last I heard she was headed to the prison for guard work. Might be an in for me as part of the guard group... though I doubt she'll appreciate the subterfuge we're suggesting at the end of it once we have what we came for. If she's in a position of authority, might be a better play to lay it out to her straight than pretend to be looking for a guard job. As far as communication, K can potentially help as a go-between... but they may have anti-familiar measures too."
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
Marvin nods along,
"I guess you'll have to use your best judgment with her?"
Chewing on his lip he adds,
"But that brings up another point. We should decide how far we are willing to go, what are we willing to give Korda in exchange for the information on what she stole? I will wager she is going to ask for us to break her out, but do we want to go that far? What can we get her short of that?"
She looks over Ithleviur,
"Would you be okay with that? Letting her loose?"
Hammerdasher is silent for a long moment after Marvin/Marrin ask him her question. Finally he nods.
"Getting the clans artifacts and treasure back is worth more than punishing her," Hammerdasher says.
"I'd give anything to see if that djed was really the Dark One's Djed that unlocked the hidden secrets of the catacombs," Geffroi says.
Hammerdasher then laughs, "And besides it's not like she'll ever be trusted by another clan in all of Faerun again.
((The party does also have another dwarf at their disposal. She's been quiet, and not a great 'NPC' but Ula is still here))
@the Party
If you want to outline your basic plan on how to get to and into the prison, we can condense some of the roleplaying and I can put it into a narrative to skip some of the less interesting bits - eg finding out where the guard shift change and prison visitors leave from, how one goes about getting work as a guard, whether you all want to try and be on the same sled ship or not. Hammerdasher has a legitimate claim to entering the prison and can bring 'clan members' and an inquisitor with him. Of that, he's certain.
Marvin nods,
"Aight, well I guess sky's the limit for Korda but we don't gotta start there."
((I forgot all about Ula! Sorry Ula. I am working hard to remember Ithleviur rather than Hammerdasher.
Well, I guess if no one else has any thing to add/opposition we can just split into the two groups?
Dwarf Group: Ithleviur, Ula, Marrin, Ethel
Guard Group: Geffroi, Soren, Jan, Ava
I would like to send the Guard group in a few days before to get those details and to be known faces before the dwarf group arrives. That will let Jan also meet up with her contact.
Maybe start from the point of the Dwarf group arriving, with the Guards knowing what they know and the Dwarfs getting the tour?
@ Everyone, that seem okay?))
((I think if Jan can make contact with her former bounty hunter, that might give us a bit more of a lay of the land, and she can pen a letter for K to carry back. She's liking the extra damage from Agonizing Blast, but Voice of the Chain Master would be awful handy.))
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
(Sorry for the silence - big wedding weekend then scratched cornea... fun)
That all makes sense to me, Avaria is not liking the idea of splitting up of course but can find no other way around it. The group back in town, going to try and find out more about Peltarch while there? Maybe find more warm clothing :)
((Ouch, I hope it's healing okay!))
((Thanks! It's so painful, but heals quickly))
The frozen winds off Icelace Lake cut like knives, sharper than any blade you’ve faced. The vessel the group is on is more akin to a large barge with ice runners underneath and sails above. It glides across the ice-choked surface with the vast silence of the lake pressing in on all sides. There’s no birdsong here, no splash of fish beneath the surface. Just the groan of the lake shifting beneath you, the whisper of wind, and the rhythmic crunch or creak of the ice barge’s passage.
Far ahead, the prison rises on a rocky spur at the lake’s edge like a bleak monument to isolation. It’s a dark silhouette against the gray-white world, its walls black with hoarfrost, its towers like raised fists in defiance of the cold. A plume of smoke curls from the central spire, the only sign of life—or warning.
As the barge nears, details begin to form: heavy iron gates, ballistae perched like watchful eyes, and guards cloaked in furs, faces masked against the cold. The air feels thicker here, as though it knows what this place is—a tomb for the living, a fortress not just of stone and steel, but of silence and secrets.
Every meter closer, the world behind you is slowly vanishing, and all that remains is what waits within those walls.
Four guard towers and extreme cold keep prying eyes from getting too close to the prison.
Logistics have prevented the guard group from getting to the prison any more than two days ahead of the Hammerdasher team. The ‘guards’ have only had enough time to get a brief orientation and the briefest of tours of the prison. They have a general idea of the layout and where everything is but they haven’t been able to explore that much.
TEAM GUARD:
The four who came as guards managed to get accepted as replacement guards for a few who didn't show up for the transfer. They ended up being part of a group of 25 guards arriving at the prison.
They've managed to figure out the layout of the prison and a few of the specifics and that there are a total of 75 guards on duty.
The former bounty hunter Jan knew is in fact in the prison and is the head of the guards now - Yula Dargeria.
They have not met the prison warden but know Marta Marthannis is her name and her office is somewhere in the upper reaches of the surveillance tower (that stands in the middle of the prison).
In the brief time here, they've had access to the barracks (in the lower part of the surveillance tower), the kitchen, mess hall, and have had to put up with a lot of explaining about how the locks work and patrols take place. This has given them an opportunity to sketch out a rough map:
Cells. The cells, highlighted in red, are blanketed in permanent antimagic. Korda Glintstone’s cell is the marked one.
Doors and Hatches. The doors and hatches are sealed with arcane lock spells that only prison staff can bypass.
Patrol Route. The yellow path marked on the map is the regular patrol route guards take. The usual patrol rotation is once every 20 minutes, but if the guards are suspicious, patrols will likely become more frequent.
Prisoners do chores such as emptying latrine buckets and cleaning up after meals, and they exercise in the courtyard daily. When prisoners are injured or fall ill, they are taken to the prison hospital.
The guard team is about to be made part of their first patrol
TEAM HAMMERDASHER:
While the rest of the group wanted to take their time to get to the prison, the only opportunity was a sled taking 6 cooks to the prison two days after the guards were taken.
Team Dwarf bang on the prison’s main entrance by the dock. Three guards escort them up the elevator, operated likely by magic. Once inside the main doors, the guards insist on confiscating the characters’ weapons and storing them in a nearby lockbox. In addition, one guard searches each character for concealed weapons.
After relinquishing their weapons, the characters are escorted by one of the guards to a meeting room (marked on the left side of the map).
They're told the warden is busy but will come as soon as they can to greet them. Once the guards leave, Hammerdasher mentions that the warden rarely takes less than an hour to rush over.
Probably lots of questions at this point.