TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SEVEN
(I/C)
Dropping the dead goblin in one of the last cells, Abraxas wandered back to the rest of the group and whispered, “Que ahora, amigos? Que es next? Donde vayamos?”
“Go?” Lannis huffed. “We aren’t going anywhere, Pointbreak.”
"I tink we gonna be here a while,” Wyn replied, a wheeze detectible in his words. Settling down, he took out one of his remaining candles and lit it. “At least an hour or more, if we be lucky. Orc tempers cen run hot fer a while, so it be better iffin we cen wait dis out. We should probably switch to candles while we be in here to conserve oil.”
“On it, Wyn,” Kovid looked at the 4 tarnished weapons as well as the Corfard statue, then randomly picked (1d4: 1 – Hammer!) up his own Hammer and took out his precious container of metal polishing paste. Tilting his ear towards the door he sighed, "Sounds like we should expect company at some point. Let's sit quiet and I'll clean one of these weapons as fast as I can."
“I’ll just sit here and contemplate past decisions and how they end up being poorly thought out,” Lannis moaned.
Brendon was walking slowly back and forth down the main hall, fading into the shadows as he entered the various cells and listened to the walls where able to. Lyra reached over for the paste, giving the dwarf an inquisitive look. He nodded and pushed it towards her, muttering, “Just a little. And it’s more elbow grease that raw muscle.”
“Got it,” she replied and started work on her own Flail, her motions not nearly as skilled or expert as Kovid’s but still an effort.
Tapping Lannis and then pointing to the tarnished Ishtari Rod, Wyn picked it up after getting an absent hand wave and walked to Kovid and the candlelight. “Monsieur Dwarf, I know I not be nearly as good at it as you, but you don't get as good at swinging a sword as Wyn is without also knowing how to clean a weapon. If you cen share dat cleaning solution, I will work on anodder weapon with you. Between the trois of us, I tink we cen get all quatre of dem done in de next deux hours.”
“You’re welcome to try. Many hands make light work and all that,” he said.
“So dwarves are into group gropes?” Lannis asked.
“Just concentrate on keeping air in your lungs, Big Brain. Dwarves aren’t into group activities, sounds like something your mom might have exposed you to.”
“That’s not the only thing she exposed to him,” Brendon’s voice carried out of the gloom.
“Hey,” he exclaimed softly, “not cool.”
“Whatever, Big Brain.” Kovid chuckled slowly as he worked the paste and rag into the weapon’s fouled surface.
“We aren’t going back up to the second floor when this is done, are we?” Abraxas asked after a few minutes of comradely silence. “The Sulfur Pool? La Carcinera's? The Kobold Warrens? Do we stay aqui? Most of these places have been discover'ed and smash'ed I would think. Pero, no reason for there to be enemies staying in them. There will most certainly be patrols on both levels ahora para uno tiempo. So what is the plan?"
“Sulfur room might not be a terrible idea,” Lyra whispered, head bent to the task. “They might not look there. I’m still not above leaving the damn castle for the night either.”
Watching Wyn clean the Ishtari Rod, Lannis leaned forward and started to keep up a running commentary. “You’re doing fine, Wyn.”
“Your people are descended from the Fairy race, I can tell.”
“Just make sure to work up and down, don't twist too much.”
“You've got dainty fingers.”
“Make sure you really work one into the hole on top, clean it out so it doesn't misfire.”
“I swear, Monsieur Offop,” Wyn growled, “someone is gonna stitch your lips closed one day. I gah-ruhn-tee it.”
“I still don’t understand one word in four that you say, you are aware of that aren’t you?”
About fifteen minutes later Brendon held his hand up for the party to be silent and sure enough, shortly after that we could hear armored figures running down the halls. They were moving quick and passed to the south. Another fifteen minutes passed and another batch of moving figures could be heard roaming around. The party grew concerned as the wandering figures drew closer and tried the door, shaking it in place to verify it was locked before a deep goblinoid voice answered back, “Lock and clear, Leader!” and then moved off and away.
We could hear the screeching sound of the portcullis opening up to our west through the wall, and figures going out and in from the castle there. And still MORE figures could be heard wandering the halls at odd times over the next hour. Kovid laid the now gleaming and cleaned Hammer to the floor and picked up the Scythe to begin working on that weapon next. Wyn and Lyra were both about halfway done with their efforts and as the candle was guttering low, an additional candle was lit from the dying wick (remove another candle Wyn – down to 3).
From somewhere in the castle we heard the warbling echoing cry of “HROOOHAAA” as someone encountered the owlbear, and from the distant crashing sounds and repeated cries of the beast, Hoots was unfazed with the goblins and such bothering him.
And STILL we heard more moving around to our west as figures were going in and out of the castle. It was almost an hour and a half later that we heard figures coming up the corridor towards the jail again and the group once more grew silent and listened.
“Can’t believe that snaky haired bitch fucking left.”
“It was bound to happen, Mira.”
“Treacherous whore. She could have stoned even one of the Corfard Damned infidels before she turned tail and fled.”
“It happened.” There was the sound of something rattling around the door, small scratching noises of metal on metal. “I’ll tell you this, it would have been nice to have the key.”
“Even Seth didn’t have one. And stop wasting your time, 4 months you haven’t been able to pick it.”
“Where the hell is Travis’ keys, huh? Fat speed freak had his own ring, I swear he had one for the Jail.”
“If you didn’t try to pick his pocket the day you met him, Duchess, maybe he’d have let you take a look.”
The metal on metal sound stopped, followed by a quick slam of a fist against the door. “Fuck it. I hate this place.”
“Then why are you still here?”
“Because, Mira. I owe a shit ton of gold to the Unbent Banners in Jector and this job is going to help pay for it.”
“You’ve got to stay out of the Throne Room, Duchess. I can’t keep covering for you.”
“That wasn’t me, this time.”
“It doesn’t matter. Catharandamus has Blessed Corfard’s ear, and it’s his voice that is damning you girl.”
“Fuck that Salamander. Because of him, there is no crystal – Corfard’s or Halgafar’s. Not my fault.”
“How’d the hell the infidels do it?”
“Who knows, Mira. But I’m not going to go down like a chump if they come close. Just keep my pouch full of potions and I’ll take them out one by one.”
A heavy sigh. “Duchess, luck and magic won’t always have your back.”
“Maybe, Mira. But my blades work best when no one knows I’m there.” Some feminine laughing sounded out and then many footsteps walked away.
“Come on, Duchess. Let’s go see if we can find out where these rabbits have run off to.”
“I’m telling you, Mira. They’re upstairs somewhere, I just know it.”
After 2 hours the party had finished up their work (Lyra: >Int check, White 20.. Wyn: <Int check, Orange 11) and Kovid had cleaned the Hammer, Abraxas’ Scythe, and Wyn had done a good job on Lannis Rod. However, Lyra’s Flail was still pretty tarnished up and the Cleric sighed deeply in exasperation. “This didn’t work.”
“No shit, you think?” Lannis chuckled.
Kovid took the weapon and looked around. “I can work on this one, will take an hour. And if you want, I can do the statue as well. But it means we’re still here. Or do we go out there and take our chances?”
‘”It’s still pretty busy out there,” Brendon advised. “We kicked over the bee’s nest for sure.”
“What do you guys suggest?” Kovid asked. “Either way, this candle’s pretty much done.”
Time now is Day 7, 12:25 PM
(OOC)
Rod, Hammer, and Scythe all radiating magic again. Flail and statue are muted.
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