@Lord of Evil@Dusksong@Hekazu

"Thanks, I didn't notice." Mistletoe responded to her ironically easy breaking-free from the wall. "I can use a bow, no problem. Can't guarantee hundred percent performance, but routine shootings should be fine." She said while getting up with Kenza's help. "The door? It looks quite sturdy, but it won't hurt." That's better than doing nothing and waiting for Wolfwing to release them anyway.

"Why did you two get into monster hunting?" Derrick asked, presumably bored. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, I'm just a little curious." That was an interesting question. Despite being actually rather kind to friends, Mistletoe had always been a lone wolf who preferred not to talk too much about herself. This time, though, she wanted to share her story with Kenza and Derrick. There might not be another chance anymore.

"It all began when I was ten." Mistletoe took a deep breath and started telling her story, the first time in her whole life.

"That's good to hear," Kenza remarked, examining the wooden tray closely before snapping it in half. Brittle -- but worth a shot, she thought, setting down one half of the plate and breaking the other in half again, then again, until she had a thin piece the size of a small stick in her hands. Walking over to the door, Kenza put the piece up to the lock and slid it in, poking around for something.

A latch? A hole? she thought, frowning as she thought of possibilities. Behind her, Mistletoe was sharing her life's story. Kenza listened quietly as the girl spoke, attempting to work on the lock as she did so. At first nothing happened, irritating Kenza. Giving the stick another hearty stab, Kenza found it snapping in her hands.

"I'm out," she said with a sigh, backing up to give Mistletoe a try with the other small piece she'd snapped off earlier. "As for my past... Survival was a big part of it. I left home early and met a hunter who took me in and trainer me. When I learned enough, I went my own way and sought my own fortunes -- all that good stuff," she said, frowning and rolling the half of the stick around with her fingers. "Nothing exciting. You yourself, Derrick?"

---

@lord of evil @lchris314 @hekazu

@Hekazu@Lord of Evil@Dusksong

While Mistletoe was organising her mind, combing through memories and such, Kenza stepped back from the door. She evidently just failed to pick the lock with a stick, frowning and giving another to Mistletoe. With the tiny wooden stick in hand Mistletoe walked to the door. Meanwhile Kenza spoke about her past a bit, then asked Derrick to share his very own story.

Mistletoe decided to listen to Derrick before she tells her back story. She carefully inserted the stick into the lock hole. She didn't think it would work, since she had almost no experience with lockpicking whatsoever.

Derrick waited for Mistletoe to continue talking but it seemed like she wanted to hear him out first.
"Well, I can't say my story's going to be nearly as interesting as either of yours." Derrick began. "I never really thought about monster hunting to start with. I really just wanted to be a farmer."
That had been true for a long time, although he hadn't known it then. His lack of direction in life probably helped boost his decision to help his friends in the monster hunting industry. Derrick sank back into the wall as he reminisced about the times he had.
"The way my brother pitched it, it was like clearing moles out of the fields" He continued. "It was just me, my brother Fred, Greg and Val. We went around doing jobs as freelancers. But, well..."

Derrick sighed. He hadn't been able to admit it but it'd been a fun time for him, and it ended rather abruptly.
"It didn't really last." Derrick said. "We weren't making that much. Fred wanted to join the hunter's guild, Greg didn't, Val wanted to keep being a freelancer. We decided it was best if we all went our separate ways."
He didn't know exactly where the rest had ended up but he was sure they weren't in a situation like Derrick was in.
"And the rest is history." Derrick sighed. "I decided to give it one more shot and, well, here I am."
He sat back in silence. He missed his friends a little but he wouldn't be able to get to see them as he was now. He could've followed them on their endeavors, supported their efforts to become better hunters, but he didn't. Derrick got up and dusted himself off.
"I'm going to try looking around my cell for a way out." Derrick said. "Don't worry Mistletoe, I'm still listening. I just don't want to sit here doing nothing."
With that, he began inspecting the walls and floor of his cell, looking for something that could make something happen.

Derrick's search was not exactly fruitful at first: While there were other cells where part of the wall had even collapsed and even one without floor at all, his cell had all of that in perfectly good shape. The floor stones, while at some points uneven proved to still hold well enough that the combination of the traction from surrounding stones, the weakness of any grip possible to attain and the weight of the stones he couldn't get any off. The walls, in turn, were a no-go from the start: There was nothing he could do about the intact structure.

There was something he did notice though: As he was crossing the room at the iron bars, he noticed that the slam of Wolfwing had made a dent in the door and the frame. Some of that dent even reached to the lock; it was not completely detached but with any luck he could possibly wriggle something into the system and use that to push the latch out of the frame, thus allowing to open the door. He'd just need something to do that with... his fingers were too big.

@Lord of Evil@LChris314@Dusksong

Kenza listened quietly as Derrick told his story, fiddling with the slightly bent piece of wood in her hands. "Sounds like you miss them," she remarked once the boy had finished his story. She fell silent after speaking, mind wandering back to the days she'd spent with her mentor, then even earlier with her family. Now's no the time for reminiscing, Kenza told herself sharply, setting down the now frayed piece of greying wood with a sigh as Derrick came to a stop beside the door, examining something.

"Did you find something?" Kenza asked, rising from her seat in the cell and walking over to Derrick. As she walked closer, Kenza saw that the part of the cell the Wolfwing had slammed into earlier was bent inwards, creating a convenient crack that allowed for hope of escape. Turning around, Kenza picked up the original half of the wooden tray and stuck it through the bars, sliding it towards the boy's cell. "Here, use this," she told Derrick.

---

@lord of evil @lchris314 @hekazu

@Hekazu@Lord of Evil@Dusksong

Mistletoe tried to pick the lock while Derrick talked about his past. The lockpicking attempts were, just as expected, entirely futile. Nevertheless slightly disappointed, she stepped back from the door, the little stick still in her hand. Derrick's narrative was a short one of friends parting ways. It was surely not a heroic epic, but still managed to touch her in a curiously subtle way.

"Did you find something?" Kenza's enquiry pulled Mistletoe from wistful reminiscence abruptly. It appeared the werewolf made a crack in the door frame area when it slammed the door. Kenza promptly slipped a wooden stick towards Derrick. Mistletoe's story could wait - it had to wait. The sudden discovery of the (literal) opening to freedom cleared her storytelling mood completely, and brought her usual hunter self back. She moved closer to where Derrick's cell was and waited, silently and perhaps eagerly.

"Thanks." Derrick said, picking up the wooden tray. "Let's see..."
Truth be told he wasn't entirely sure what to do but he suppose he could figure it out. The lock's hole was larger than the tray so Derrick broke off a small sliver before slipping it inside. it took a little working but he managed to get it behind the latch and began pushing it out, only for the sliver to get caught on the lock, snapping into 2 in his fingers.
"Oops." Derrick said.
He dropped the shards and reached up to break another.

The shard was too long, it'd caught on the lock before the latch had gone all the way through. And it'd snapped rather easily, which was probably partially due to the integrity of the wood and partially due to its thinness. Derrick inspected the tray to find a part near the edge that wasn't as moldy and proceeded to break of a short but thick piece. It was shaped like a triangle, thick at one end while tapering to a point on the other. He pushed it into the lock using the wider end to safely lever the latch outwards. When the width caught against the lock and prevented him from pushing it further he turned the piece, pushing the piece of wood into the lock. It didn't take long for the latch to fall out of the frame.

Derrick fell back in surprise as it fell, and the door swung open slowly.
"I did it!" He said excitedly, albeit quietly.

@Dusksong@LChris314@Hekazu

Kenza was silent as Derrick fiddled with the lock, scenarios running through her head. There appeared to be no other way out of the cell, so the locked doors were the trio's last hope. If this doesn't work, Kenza thought somberly as Derrick struggled with the wood piece he'd broken off, I guess our only option will be to try and tackle the Wolfwing head on, and we already tried that once.

A sliding click informed Kenza that Derrick had been successful with the lock, and she sighed in relief. "And you said you don't have lock-picking skills," she joked. "Now come over here and unlock this door as well. We need to find our weapons -- or at least some weapons -- before the Wolfwing comes back sniffing."

---

@lord of evil @lchris314 @hekazu

@Hekazu@Lord of Evil@Dusksong

Mistletoe waited anxiously for Derrick to try to unlock his cell door. If it proved successful, their collective chance of getting out and surviving this whole ordeal would get greatly boosted; if not, they would have to face Wolfwing directly, a thought that sent shivers down her spine. Next to her Kenza was dead silent as well. With a direly dreaded atmosphere in the background, the suspense was deadly.

Almost miraculously, the first good thing since their capture happened as the door slowly creaked open. The two ladies sighed in relief at the same time. Kenza asked Derrick to unlock their cell door and said, "we need to find our weapons -- or at least some weapons -- before the Wolfwing comes back sniffing." The proposal was surely appropriate - Mistletoe's only skill apart from stealth was archery.

Having successfully fiddled the lock open, Derrick tried the cell door and found out it was, in fact, opening as expected. This allowed him access to the hallway of the dungeon block. From here... he could not see much further than from his cell. The light at the end of the hallway had not gone anywhere, but the flame in the lantern next to the door was now flickering away. It was as silent as before: Nothing seemed to have particularly noticed the beginning of their daring escape.

"Alright, I'll do my best." Derrick said.
Armed with half of a wooden tray, he quickly glanced down the hall to check if the Wolfwing was coming before he bent down to work on the lock. He hoped that the beast wouldn't come while he worked on it. He also hoped that working on it would actually work out, even though he didn't know anything about picking locks. Inspecting it, he felt less sure of himself. He couldn't tell where to begin, but he broke off a piece of the wood and decided to do it regardless. He stuck it into the keyhole and began searching inside, trying to find something that moved, or something.

@Dusksong@LChris314@Hekazu

As Derrick fiddled away with the lock, Kenza took one last look around the cell. Currently, the only loose parts in the cell were the tray and plate shards. Backtracking and leaning down, Kenza picked up the plate shards.

"Here," she said, handing one of the shards to Mistletoe. "It might not be much of a weapon, but it's better than nothing."

Straightening her arms, Kenza tried a few experimental slashes through the air with her shard of the plate. While not the smoothest or the toughest of things, the sides were still sharp enough that they would -- with enough force -- be able to break skin.

---

@lord of evil @lchris314 @hekazu

@Hekazu@Lord of Evil@Dusksong

Derrick successfully picked the lock on his cell door, and proceeded to try the one on Mistletoe's. Kenza took the plate shards and gave one to Mistletoe. "It might not be much of a weapon, but it's better than nothing." Mistletoe nodded silently and waved her arms around. It didn't hurt, but she was still a novice at melee combat. She followed Kenza and did a few slashes, but couldn't help and felt her own movement sluggish and awkward compared to Kenza's skilful attacks.

Derrick continued working on that lock, while Mistletoe was worried that Wolfwing would come back suddenly. That would surely spell death and destruction.

Despite Derrick's best attempts, this lock was not going to budge before his tinkering. The metal effortlessly ground down the piece of wood he was trying to use and continued attempts would be more than likely to simply fill the lock with scrap that would only serve to prevent it from opening later if appropriate tools were found. Despite this was not the approach they were looking for? The smell that emanated from the breaking wood didn't exactly inspire confidence either...

@Lord of Evil@Dusksong@LChris314

Derrick paused to see where the other half of his toothpick went. Noting that it was ground into powder in the lock, he decided that it was probably best to switch tactics. He didn't think that it was going to work, but it was worth a shot. Logically speaking, what he needed to do was get a key to the cell, which would be risky. Assuming it was the wolfwing that locked them in there, it would also have the key, and Derrick was pretty sure he couldn't beat it alone and unarmed. Kenza had mentioned something about finding their weapons and armour. A good idea, assuming it hadn't thrown them away or was keeping them on its person. Maybe it had kept their weapons somewhere, but what would it do with them? Nevertheless, it's not like Derrick had any other options right now. He wasn't the type to abandon his teammates so he'd have to try and find the key.

"I'm going to find the key." Derrick said, getting up. "Hopefully I won't run into that thing, but just in case..."
Derrick broke the tray in 2 and handed half of it to Kenza through the bars before drawing his own plate shard.
"You might still be able to use some of that." He told her. "I'll be back soon."
Derrick stepped back from the cell and scanned the hall, unsure of which direction to go to. He decided to go down the hall where the wolfwing had left, reasoning that it likely led out of the prison block. Steeling his resolve, he stepped forth into the gloom.

@Dusksong@LChris314@Hekazu

The door creaked as it had done before Wolfwing, nevertheless allowing access to the space beyond. It seemed to be a simple hallway, but with pretty much no light in this space, it was tough to tell further. Not being a fool, Derrick borrowed the dying lantern from the dungeon and took a better look around. Even in the flickering flame, he could make out some shapes in the darkness: There were quite a few ragged tapestries around, as well as plaques decorated by skulls of animals. An evident shield and weaponry rack had served here, but now it was empty and simply stood there without clear purpose.

As he stepped just a bit further to investigate, he noticed perhaps the best thing about this place: The smell of dust hung in the air, but at least the dampness and smell of mould were not present in this space! Just before the lantern took it's dying breath, he managed to notice the very thing he was here after: A ring of keys was hanging from a small hook on the wall to the left of the door (looking from this hallway to the cell block).

@Lord of Evil@Dusksong@LChris314

Seeing Mistletoe try a few experimental slashes of her own, Kenza frowned. "I guess that arm really is bothering you, huh?" she asked, sighing before looking over to Derrick to check how he was doing. Her heart sank when Derrick stood up, unsuccessful.

Taking the halve of the offered piece of wood, Kenza nodded at Derrick. "Alright. We'll be waiting here then," she said. Not like we can do anything else anyway, she thought to herself snidely as the boy left. Sighing, she turned to Mistletoe. "So. What should we do now -- wait?"

Something good and bad happened to Derrick at exactly the same time, and he wasn't sure where he stood afterwards. Just before the light went out he'd spied the keys. He sat in the gloom for a little while, not willing to fumble in the dark. It was dusty in the hall, which was good. He didn't quite remember what the wolfwing smelled like, but he was sure that the only scent was dust, which meant that it didn't frequent this area. But assuming that it was the one that locked them in the cells, why did it leave the keys out?

It didn't take long for his eyes to adjust. As they did he scanned the area for suspicious shapes, noting the animal trophies, the empty weapon racks, the tattered tapestries. Had this area been some kind of garrison? He'd have to ask the others about it, his knowledge of the local area was extremely limited.

Derrick walked forward carefully, wary for threats. The lantern and plate shard did little to assure him of his chances of success should he be attacked. He gingerly took the key ring with the the same hand holding the lantern, wincing slightly as the keys clattered against the metal lantern. He turned back towards the hall, sparing a glance of his shoulder one last time, before he began walking back towards the light.
@Dusksong@LChris314@Hekazu

@Hekazu@Lord of Evil@Dusksong

"I guess that arm really is bothering you, huh?" Kenza noticed Mistletoe's awkward slashes and asked. "I guess so. It's getting better, though. Shouldn't take too long before I can use a bow without much problem" The primary reason for her awkwardness was not injury but rather lack of proper training, but she decided not to tell Kenza, who was evidently not very happy.

"There's not much we can do now as far as I can think of, so we might just take the time and get some rest. We don't want to fight Wolfwing while tired." Mistletoe remembered fatigue almost killing her multiple times when she was hunting some big game alone.