Weapon was stirred by a throbbing sensation in his head. He couldn't even recall what had happened to cause such pain. All he could recall was that one moment he had been camping in a cave in the early hours of the morning before his mastiff had begun growling, and when he had taken the liberty of inspecting the entrance, everything went black, and now? Now his dog was gone and he was in another prison. Weapon was not a man to willingly be put in a cage, and it only took him a few seconds to perceive his surroundings. Torches. Boxes. Cages. Figures within those cages. A key.

As fate would have it, what he assumed to be his freedom sat only several feet beyond his set of iron bars, and whatever beings had brought him here had made the mistake of putting him in a large enough container for him to have just over a meter of space around him. They'd taken his armor and gear, of course, but even the most thorough of captors couldn't anticipate just what they'd come across.

From a seated position, Weapon held out his right hand to his side, closed his eyes, and channeled his energy. He saw the faintest hint of a glow, which would've been drowned out by the torches in the room if not for the fact that it was directly next to him, and felt his greatsword return to his hand.

He didn't take the time to pat himself on the back however, and quickly set to work. While grabbing the business end of a greatsword with both hands wasn't usually a good idea, Weapon did so in order to maneuver the pommel of the blade over the key's black iron ring and drag it towards him. With a twist of the wrist, Weapon managed to catch the ring when it began its fall. To his relief, the key fit perfectly in the lock on the other side of his cage.

Before he had the chance to survey the room in earnest however, he could see one of the four captive strangers he shared the space with begin to rouse themselves.

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Where am I? Branwen thought, coming to her senses in a dark, unknown location, surrounded by old iron bars.

Branwen's thoughts swirled in her head, thinking of whatever possibility that could have ended up for her to be in such a situation, yet alas, her memory had been fuzzy. It was unusual for an elf to sleep rather than meditate in a trance, even more so to sleep in an iron cage, leaving Branwen lost and confused. She needed to find out where exactly she was, but first, Branwen had an iron cage to deal with.

Making note of her surroundings, Branwen was unable to note anything outstanding other than the basics. She knew she had been in a cave of some sort, surrounded by iron and boxes alike, yet Branwen did not see anything out of the ordinary that would allow her to escape her metal prison.

That had been the case until the elf had heard the jangling of keys nearby, to which Branwen saw a scarred, human-like figure escape from his cage, and hoisting his greatsword over his shoulder. Branwen hesitated, for any elf travelling in the Gorgonite Vale would be no stranger to the racism towards their kind. The Gorgonites had no issue with shouting slurs, such as the famous "knife-ear" Branwen had heard a plenty. Branwen was certain that this man would likely be no different, but she swallowed her pride and attempted to capture his attention.

"Hey, over here!" Branwen spoke in a hushed whisper, casting a small pebble towards the man's feet. "You have the keys to our cages too, right? If you let us out, we can help each other out of this place--although I can't speak for them, but I'll surely help you!" Branwen spoke, motioning towards the other cages. "I just need to find my belongings and my bow, wherever it is."

Weapon took the liberty of taking a few steps closer to his Elven compatriot's cage when she began addressing and tossing pebbles at him. Even in the low light, he could plainly see that she was unarmed, same as he was when he initially came to. Though he couldn't help but raise a suspicious eyebrow at the offer of assistance, he nonetheless motioned to unlock her cage, albeit at a bit of a slow pace. Even if she turned out to be some sort of magic wielder, it wouldn't take much more than a single swing of his sword to split her in two. He didn't bother keeping his voice particularly low after he'd opened the Elf's cage.

"How'd you get captured?"

It was a simple question, but Weapon felt it was probably best to form some semblance of dialogue, if only to keep the woman even vaguely distracted. He waited for his newly freed companion to exit her container before pointing the pommel of his sword at the nearest cage, imploring her to take the lead to ensure she couldn't up and stab him in the back for his generosity.

Arin, awakening from a longer-than-usual slumber, was greeted to the faint sound of voices, the feel of metal under his body, and a throbbing headache.

A groan, that he would probably swear on his life wasn't pitiful at all, was released as he pushed himself up from the cold hard floor, a hand to his temple as he tried to remedy the deep pain he felt in his noggin. Through half-lidded, strained eyes he could see that he was in some sort of metal cage set up within a dark, dimly lit cave, with four other similar cages near his own with their own occupants inside. Well, at least two, with one empty and the other with an elf inside and a human standing outside, both mentioned metal containers with doors wide open. After some simple deduction, the halfling concluded that the human had probably escaped their cage, and was helping the elf escape as well.

Or the human was apart of the group holed up in this dump, and was ferrying the prisoners one at a time. That seemed like the more likely option, since the man had a weapon on his person, and none of the other prisoners did, including himself. With an internal sigh, he kept himself from foolishly calling out on the off chance that the human was actually one of the guards posted in here, and instead took his time to study where he was in more detail. After all, knowing the environment will aid his eventual escape, and he will be escaping from this mess. He, an entity seeking to rise above all, was not going to allow some rowdy bunch to get the drop on him and merely let them do as they wished.

After about a minute of searching from his place in the cage, having shuffled up to the bars to peer a bit easier into the dim lighting, Arin came to realize that this wasn't some random cave at all. Rather, it was an abandoned mine near the north of the vale, and most likely one commissioned by Halfhaven at that. Despite the situation, he began to chuckle under his breath, the acoustics of the cave most likely allowing the others to hear and notice him if they haven't already. Well, whoever got him into this mess, they probably haven't moved that far from where he had holed up, himself. Maybe, if he was lucky, they might have even gotten him closer to his destination. Well, no matter the case, he prepared himself to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, his gaze moving back to the duo once more as he finally took the leap of faith to call out to them. At worst, he'd get some wounds, and at best, he was set free. A good chance, if he'd ever seen one.

"Oi, you. The one with the sword," Arin started, standing to his full height in the cage as he tried to stare the human dead in the eye. Which was a pretty annoying feat when he thought about it, seeing that their height difference was greater than a foot. "If you're rounding up this room of caged prisoners to get out of this crapheap of a cave, count me in. There's probably a hell of a lot more foes in this abandoned mine than what the two of you can do alone. I'll kick their asses with or without your help, but I thought it would be a friendly gesture to lend my aid while you're still here."

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"How'd you get captured?"

The first words out of the human's mouth were straightforward as they could be. Freely exiting the cage once the door was opened, Branwen took a second to stretch her legs and brush off what rust might've fallen onto her.

"I'm not sure. The last that I remember was hearing a noise while I was cooking dinner... and then, darkness." Brawnen explained as her savior directed her towards the other cages with a pommel. The elf was hesitant to walk in front of the human, whom had the only weapon she could see, yet she ultimately decided in favor of doing so. It was better to be alive rather than chopped in half by a claymore, after all.

Approaching the remaining cages, Branwen was soon alerted to the sound of another prisoner awakening. Whereas she and her savior were of the taller races, this one was shorter than even Branwen herself--likely a halfling. "I say we should let them out, along with the others." Branwen explained, once the halfling finished ranting about how they would "kick the asses" of whoever captured them. "Yet you are the one with the keys."

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Traveling alone was rarely a good idea.

This was a lesson that Arius of House Badal would keep close to heart once the splitting headache left him.

Finally coming to, the young man's senses were flooded with information. First came the scent, that of smoke and dank earth, which tinged the air. Next was the sound of many useless things -- torches crackling, moisture dripping, metal creaking -- and more important things -- the words of people, and the pattering of footsteps in the distance. It was relief and worry in the same breath. The voices seemed not to be a threat, but the sound of the latter was definitely a cause for worry. Were they coming closer? Arius wasn't completely sure, but he wouldn't take the chance either way.

But before he could do anything about that, he had to first get out.

Arius' eyes snapped open, and he sat himself up right, leaning back against the bars of his cage to survey the situation at hand. Dim-light, boxes, cages, and people, both within those cages and without. One of them had the key, and had just let another out -- an ally? No, not yet. It would be stupid to assume that just because he'd let one out, he'd let everyone else.

Now then, what could Arius do in this situation by himself?

Bypass the lock? No tools on hand. All he had was a signet ring which he promptly took off and pocketed, the leather armor that he was wearing, two cantrips, and three spells at his disposal. None of them would help.

Blast the lock open with arcane might? No, that was pointlessly threatening; moreover, it was loud, and if he could hear their captors, they could hear him.

So that left...

Asking nicely.

Fortunately, the two seemed like reasonable people from what he could tell. While Arius would rather not be relying on the kindness of strangers to get by, this was his best option for the time being. At any rate, the elf and the human were likely not the ruffians from before who'd incapacitated him so rudely, but he'd be keeping his wits about himself regardless.

"Ahem. I will say I must agree with the elf and the halfling on this one; of course I am a tad biased as you can see," the noble cut in. He raised both hands in a show of peace. "I assure you that I am no threat; I'd very much enjoy escaping just as much as you all would, and the gods know many raindrops are what make the storm."

His right hand inclined and cast its index finger towards the corridor leading out of their makeshift cell room.

"Just as well, I would advise you to make haste. I can hear footsteps, and who knows when they will arrive."

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Cerys awakening came slowly, the aching from the blow to her head echoing through her head as she slowly pushed herself up from the floor. The floor of a cage, as she would soon come to realize as she fully came to her senses. Looking around the room, her elven eyes easily cut through the dim lighting as she observed the area outside of her imprisonment. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, she was not alone in her imprisonment. Through the dusk she could easily spy several other figures, all of them being rather chatty. Too chatty, especially with the sounds of approaching footsteps coming from a nearby corridor.

"I would advise that you all shut up and that you get back into your cages. As the human stated, we have company, and I'd rather not have them bring in reinforcements seeing him out and about." Cerys' pointed towards the larger human that seemed to have the key and was freeing the others. Whether or not the other's followed her advice, the drow would turn her attention to towards the corridor, reaching out with her mind, calling to something only she could hear. The shadows around her seemed to pulsate slightly as her patron responded, a dark whispering entering her mind as she let the magical energy flow through her for a moment, before releasing it with a breath. Good, so i can still use magic. That makes thinks significantly easier, though now I have to hope that the others don't call down a horde upon my head.