1 - 018: The First Piece

[K Man]

Hero, Newt, Garor, Caelith and Callian - You are all in the 'War Room', discussing the plans for surival.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yuri - Holding your breath and hoping against all odds, you rush headlong into the dark woods.

{4 AoO's as described = 20, 15, 4, 22 [Crit. Confirm Roll, 5, fail.] }

You duck a blade which imbeds into a tree and daftly avoid a spear thrust at you sides while jumping past an axe blade that digs into the dirt behind your feet.

All this stiffens your resolve that your efforts are not in vain...then you feel the strike. {Damage Roll = 5} Although not lethal, you surely feel the strike as you pass by.

Then you are in the clear.

The woods, although dark beyond your belief, seem to be devoid of other figures but you can tell they are not far behind you. They growl and snarl like rabid dogs at your heels, pushing you through the woods even further.

The path of your companions is easy to follow as they were clearly drug through bush and shrub alike, leaving trinkets, clothing and mostly blood on the ground. The trail continues like this for a few hundreds yards and by the time you reach a small cave mouth and pause.

There are four guards, three orcs and one kobold outside the cave mouth speaking to a fifth figure who is clad in monk's clothing and speaking to them while holding the reigns to a horse.

Your headlong rush through the woods interrupts the conversation before you can catch any of it and the guards pull their weapons with blinding speed. The monk looks to you, his skin devoid of color and his smile is pierced by two sharp fangs...

... a vampire...

You hear several figures crashing through the woods behind you...it won't be long until they are upon you. The vampire smiles wickedly as his voice emanates loudly.



"What's this? Another mouse?"

The vampire looks to the horizon that will spew dawn forth in a few hours and back to you.

"What have you come here for? I pray your answer is death for you have just found it..."

Guards and a vampire in front, a hoarde at your back...choices, choices.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Krysta, Sehanine, Girud, Balin, Galdren and Romar - Mordrock seems delighted to partake in more conversation as his body language is nothing less than excited. Looking to Sehanine, Mordrock smiles and leans against the bar causing a small lump of muscle in his arm to bulge...

...he's flirting...



"Oh yes...VERY strong...VERY brave. Mordrock is great and would be good to mate with."

Mordrock places a disgusting emphasis on this last statement.

"I will tell you how I did it...I did..."

"What did I do exactly?"

Mordrock seems lost in remembering what the attractive elf was asking about. Thankfully Krysta interrupts him in Goblin. Mordrock understands the words much faster and responds a bit more eloquently.



"The right leads out of this place, the left leads to more cells, the digging pit and your belongings."

"Last I saw, which was yesterday while digging, there were only a little over ten 'live' workers...and over forty un-living. They do not bind you while working, but the guards are heavily armed and prey on your weakness from starving and no water to keep you here."

"They work you till you die...making you dig in the dirt with only your hands."

"There are many guards..more than I can count. A small army is outside this cave and reinforcements are never far away...it's hopeless."

"I will do what I can and swear to help however I can...tell me what I must do."

Mordrock resumes speaking in common.



"They leave you here until you start starving. Then they come make you work with only hands. When you die, they raise you..."

"Eat...eat."
__________________________________________________________________________________________

[Fangor the Fierce]

Krysta, now thankful for her tachings, relays word fr word what was said to the Goblin. His response is also translated to them. "He says that the path to the right is the exit. To the left, more cells and our belongings. They do not bind us, for the guards know well that we are weak and prey on our starvation. We are to dig with our bare hands, until we die. There are only about 10 more left living at the moment, and over forty undead that have fallen and raised to continue their digging. We are to dog until we die, and then dig after our lives are over. The guards are well armoured and numerous. Outside this cave are more guards and a small army. Reinforcements are close by. He says it is hopeless. I say it's a challenge. He has sworn to aid us in any way possible. I have informed him that if he does indeed prove useful, I will take him out of here to his freedom. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

Turning to Galdren, she glares at him. "I too was there to aid you on the field. Do not make another mistake as to my honor, for your mistakes may cost you. I am talking to him in Goblin, for it is easier for him to tell all in his language, instead of fishing for the exact translations."

Noticing his fascination with Sehanine, she turns to Mordrock and speaks in Goblin again, "And what about the schedule? What time do we dig, rest, when do the guards rest and when do they shift numbers? And how exactly did you come to retrieve all this food? The elf here is very interested to know your story on retreiving this food and thinks it a great feat. She is very impressed..."

OOC - Luckily, it seems as though my riding dog stayed in the keep. I forgot about him!!! For those of you in the keep, he is well mannered, and will obey Callian the best or Hero, as they both have high enough Handle Animal checks. He knows Attack, Come, Down, Defend, Stay, and Heel. Use him wisely and feed him well for me....

[Japic]

Giurd listens to the most recent information about the complex and the more he thinks on it, the more he knows that they will all need their strength in order to survive.

Looking down to his poorly treated wounds he looks around the cell at his companions. Noting that none among them are 'of the cloth' he decides to take a different approach.

"I don't suppose any of you can give some proper attention to our wounds? As poorly as those creatures tended us, I'd hate to see any limbs lost to disease."

Hopefully someone has some healing skills to atleast clean and dress the mudpacked wounds. Either way Girud will rest and wait for the opportunity to strike back at his captors.

{OOC: Why didn't I take that feat that allows more rapid healing..? Grr. Nothing to do now but try to get some HP back.}

[Jevva]

Galdren bows to Krysta. "My apologies, I did not mean to insult you. I'm just a little jumpy after having been jabbed at a couple of times by dirty mongrels." He sighs. "Sorry, Girud. If I were able to, I would help you and all the others, trust me, but my talents lie in the field in destruction, not restoration."

[Fangor the Fierce]

"But remember what Mordrock said. Our belongings are nearby, on the way to the digging location. Perhaps we could manage to get something. I personally stowed 4 potions of cure light wounds and would like to see if they are still intact. As for our wounds, I wish I could do more, but my survival skills are a bit limited."

[VemuKhaham]

Romar is still being frustrated, and the hopeless news that penetrates his ears almost unwantedly do a good job at keeping that up. Although, maybe he... maybe Romar is just trying to avoid thinking about Húna with his mocking.

[sonnetinkinston]

[Damn you, K-man. I was being friendly, not flirty... ]

Sending an exasperated look to Krysta while the goblin's eyes are elsewhere, Sehanine thinks:

"The little thing's clever, gotta give him that... managed to keep himself alive and steal food, from the guards, I suppose. I'll play this off a little longer..."

"Yes, please regale us with your tale, strong one. I'm interested to know how you managed to do what the others working in there" she gestures towards the pit room "could not." She flashes a smile for emphasis.

[K Man]

{Sorry, Sehanine, the funny thing is, when I ran this in dice and paper, Modrock found two sister halflings attractive and would never let it die. For what it's worth...he'll move onto other females in the party after he gets the hint...in about a 100 years. ;D}
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordrock takes exceptional notice to Sehanine feigning interest in his story. He seems to flex even more causing a minimal change in his flacid arm muscles.



"It easy for Mordrock. Mordrock strong...really strong when it come to taking things."

The small goblin feigns a motion of picking a pocket of a passerby.

"I get food, water and everything else when no one else is looking. Sometimes guards fall alseep."

Mordrock jabs a thumb outwards to the guards that seem to greedily consume the cooked meat they have been given. He adds emphasis for his distaste for them by sticking out a relatively pink tongue in a mocking face towards them. The goblin reaches into his dirty, potato-sack loin cloth and begins to fumble around profusely.

For a moment you wonder if this is some strange goblin gesture to initiate mating or perhaps an unusual series of hand signals meant to infer something...but you audibly sigh when Mordrock's hands return from beneath the cloth. He looks side to side in a most wicked fashion before broadly grinning and holding out his hand.



"In fact, Mordrock so strong at taking that he get this when guards sleep."

There...dangling in the grubby Mordrock's hand is a key that suspiciously looks like it would fit the door to his cell.

"The guards leave me in here and Mordrock no work cause they can't open door. They begin to think why I not die cause they have not fed Mordrock in a week."

Mordrock snickers audibly as he quickly places the key back into a space best left unidentified under his cloth.

Leaning against the cell bars once again with an impossibly wider smile, Mordrock feels confident that he is now irresistable.

The small goblin listens to Krysta ask her words in his native tongue and briefly responds in his tongue without taking his eyes from Sehanine.

"You dig from sun-up to sun-down, no breaks. The guards are always four or more in number changing out every few hours."

"I get the food and water at night, after the meals when the guards are fat and lazy, falling alseep quickly."

Mordrock shoots a quick glance to Krysta.



"I know the elf is impressed...it's only a matter of time before we mate and live out the rest of our lives in bliss."

Speaking in common again with lust filled eyes towards Sehanine, Mordrock makes his confidence known.

"Mordrock make good mate yes?"

Mordrock continues to do his best to puff out his chest and look impressive.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

[Fangor the Fierce]

Turning to the others and relaying the schedule, she is grateful for a sign of hope.

"Perhaps we could get Mordrock here to go to our belongings and get those potions. They should be small enough to hide, and we could wait until the break-out to consume them. Mordrock here could get out of his cell and get our keys as well. I say we hurry up and decide on a plan before our captors know any better."

[sonnetinkinston]

[That's okay, K-man. I had the same problem with my ex-boyfriend... oh, well. ;D]

Sehanine, heartened by the production of the key, decides that this is no time to worry about her pride.
speaking once more to the goblin, Sehanine continues, managing to keep her humor in check, but only just:

"Impressed? Of course, my clever friend. But truly, would you expect me to mate with you here? Not likely."
'Or anywhere else,' she thinks to herself.

"Now, if you were to help us get our belongings back so that we could escape, that would be different, now wouldn't it? Surely one as skilled and strong as you could even, say, get the keys to our cells while the guards sleep?"

She once again smiles at the goblin, and even goes so far as to wink conspiratorily at him.

"What do you say?"

[GeneralMHB]

Yuri glares at the vampire and the guards in front. An evil smile brushes across his lips, friendly in it's own evil sorta way.

My ancestors have served with the Master for the longest time. I wish to continue that tradition and see what my great-great grandfather did not: the fall of the Blackwind Kingdom. I had to get away from the castle gate to make my true motives known.

He takes a knee and lowers his head, spear thrusted into the ground before him, elven lightblade lowered.

I serve only the Master. If that be in death, so be it.

(OOC: I don't mind being a vampire, just gotta chat with ya if your gonna do that.)

[Jevva]

OOC: Whoa, didn't see that coming, General...

Galdren walks over to Girud and Balin and whispers, "Am I the only one here who finds this situation amusing?"

[VemuKhaham]

"If only I could laugh, Galdren..."

Romar's frustration grows ever stronger, resulting in even more to him uncommon feelings and thoughts like these kind of sarcastic thoughts popping up at such a dire time. The situation of not being in control is really draining his normal 'mood'.