Kelewen

Friend or Foe?

Dane had recovered his breath by now and sprinted after the fleeing Edwin, trying to catch the younger man before he could disappear along with the others. A prisoner may be able to provide them some much needed intelligence on Octa's manpower. Not wanting to be lured too far from Kan, Dane dove at Edwin's waist when they'd gone only a few steps from the road, trying to tackle him to the ground.

---

"Captain Zula was captured and excecuted not many moons ago. We still haven't found a new base of operations, and I'm afraid we don't have much time to spare in that effort frankly. But what we had time for was..." Thaliar sighed briefly. "...a vote. And I was chosen as the new Captain...There's no more to say about that, other than the other factions don't look upon my promotion with joy."

@ONL

Ian Zula was dead... Rook sagged a little heavier onto the elf as she took in the news, feeling a numbness that had nothing to do with the cold. It hardly seemed possible. She'd served under the ranger Captain from before there even was a Revolt, back when their biggest problem had been a band of goblins harassing merchant caravans. It was Zula that convinced her and many others too that fighting against Lord Octa's reign was not only the right thing to do, but there was hope of actually winning.

She took a few steadying breaths until she thought she could trust herself to talk without crying. "I might know of a place we could use..."

But then Kan came into view through the snow, bloodied but alive and she broke away from the elf, limped the few extra steps to her friend and hugged him as best she could with her still-shackled hands. "It did, Kan. Thank you for coming for me."

Friend or Foe?

This was young Edwin's first assignment as one of Lord Octa's men-at-arms. He saw one of the raider standing in the middle of the road threatening the wagon's horses with a spear. With a mighty war cry of "Hail Octa!" Edwin charged the raider with his large shield in front of himself. He ran into the raider, knocking him off balance and pushing him off of the road. The road was now clear and the wagon bolted.

On the side of the road, Edwin fell on top of the raider, knocking the wind out of both Edwin and the raider.

@EricWald

Dane had been too focused on trying to keep the horse from running forward and hadn't even seen Edwin coming until the shield slammed into him. The spearman cursed his own stupidity as his back smacked the snow covered ground and the carriage surged ahead.

He abandoned the spear immediately, knowing it would be of little use to him now. Instead, he grabbed a handful of snow and threw it toward Edwin's eyes while trying to roll the younger man off of him.

---

Bad news. Rook steeled herself against what Thaliar might tell her. But bad news seemed the norm these days. "Has the base been compromised?" she speculated. If so, they'd have to find a new base of operations. But his tone suggested something else.

Escape Ardwill Asylum

@Bishop@EricWald@Leaves

psst.... Lucy said hi to you three.

Friend or Foe?

Rook gasped in shock as Thaliar's magic came toward them and attacked the man holding her, leaving her unharmed. It seemed the rumors about the elf's power were not much exaggerated after all. It was unlike anything she had ever witnessed and she couldn't help herself but glance at the remains of the guard on the snow covered ground.

She looked back at the elf after just a moment, seeing his hand extended toward her and she stepped close to him to allow herself to be lead, favoring her right leg and leaning on him for both warmth and support.

She did manage a small smile at his efforts to lighten the mood. "Stealing me right out from under ole Octa-pussy's nose. He won't be too pleased with you." She knew the decision to rescue her had as much to do with tactics as it did a sense of camaraderie. She had the potential to reveal damaging intel about the Revolt.

"There were others..." she told him, "...in the wagon. I didn't know them."

------

Kaden held himself erect as he was marched toward Lord Octa's throne room along with the others and next to the blond, scantily clad elf woman, as if he were nothing more than some kind of common criminal! He'd been given over to Lord Octa's men by his father, Lord Tobler, as a political hostage. It wasn't his father's fault, he knew. It was that or openly start a war with Octa, one in which his family could not hope to win.

While he hadn't expected quite the same level of accommodation he received at home, he had expected to be treated with some level of respect his status deserved. But they'd barely left his father's territory when he had found himself shackled and thrown in with this lot!

He'd been seething now for days, planning what he'd say to Lord Octa when he finally met him, about this unacceptable treatment, about how stupid his men were, and about how Lord Tobler would not stand for this sort of egregiousness against his family! It was not until the group was ushered into the 'Court of the Dead' that Kaden felt his first hint of doubts emerge...

Friend or Foe?

Combat should use the "defenders choice" to decide if an attack succeeds.

@Kelewen

Gentle reminder as we move forward...

Friend or Foe?

Rook was nearly as surprised to see Thaliar appear in front of them as Terrick was. The factions of the Revolt had been scattered with no clear leadership to unite them. But if her companions had joined with Thaliar, perhaps there had been progress in uniting the various groups. Or... she wondered darkly, had something befallen their own leader and they'd fallen under the magic wielding elf simply because there was no one else?

The knife pressed closer against her throat and she picked her head up slightly in an effort to keep the blade from scraping her skin. She could hear the tinge of desperation in the man's voice, but there was little she could do except comply for the moment and hope the rumors she'd heard about the extent of Thaliar's magic was true...

Rook and Terrick (except a lot less daylight!) :

Friend or Foe?

@gorgenmast, Lord Octa is way scarier than I had imagined. Nice work!

Friend or Foe?

The carriage bounced and swayed, repeatedly jarring the prisoners inside as Terrick urged the horse as fast as he dared on the rutted and snow covered road. But already the animal was struggling and slowing despite Terrick's efforts and for the first time he noticed the stocky horse was bleeding badly across its shoulder. It would not be able to keep up this pace much longer.

The sounds of battle were disappearing behind him and he realized the others had not heeded his call to push through the ambush. Or perhaps were simply unable to do so. If that was the case, the attackers would not be long in coming after the carriage. He urged the horse faster yet again until the carriage was well out of earshot of the ambush before bringing the horse to a halt. He held a blade in one hand as he jumped down and rushed to the back, hastily unlocked the padlocked door and roughly yanked out the nearest shackled prisoner, a brown-haired girl of average height and build.

As he re-secured the padlock, she lunged desperately for his short sword, but her chained wrists and stiff muscles made the movement awkward and Terrick elbowed her so hard across the cheek that she fell back. "You try that again, you get worse than that," he promised, hauling her quickly back to her feet, practically dragging her forward with him. He slapped the horse on the rump, sending it trotting forward once again, now driverless. Hopefully, that would buy him some additional time to get at least one of the prisoners back to Lord Octa. He hurried her away from the road and into the blustery, snowy woods.

Friend or Foe?

"Shades!" Terrick cursed as he looked up in time to see an arrow plunge into the carriage driver's chest. His adrenaline surged as his training and instincts took over and he jumped up next to the driver who was starting to slump forward. "FORWARD!" he hollered over the sudden chaos, knowing they needed to get past the spot of the ambush immediately. He slapped the driving reins against the horse's rump and the animal sprung forward, jerking the carriage so hard that those inside the moving prison were thrown to the back in a jumbled mess of limbs and shackles.

It's a rescue! Rook heard the cry as she struggled to untangle herself from the other prisoners. Kan?! The dark-haired ranger was filled suddenly with hope that she might escape whatever unpleasant fate awaited her at Lord Octa's fortress, but also with fear for her would-be rescuers. An assault against these well armed and armored men would likely cost dearly in injuries or even lives.

"Kan! Lookout!" she cried as she managed to extricate herself enough to look out the back bars in time to see Kan down one of the guards just as another of Octa's men swung a heavy club toward her friend. But a sudden gust of wind kicked up enough snow that she could no long see. By the time it cleared, the carriage had pulled far enough ahead that it's torchlight no longer reached the skirmish taking place behind.

Escape Ardwill Asylum

Recognizing her riddle as a sudoku puzzle, Lucy sorted out the numbers, writing on the notebook paper as she went. "That's a 5. And a 1. 4. And..."

A loud crash came from somewhere outside her room, distracting her from the puzzle momentarily. "What in the world?" Maybe that was supposed to be motivation to hurry up!

She looked back down at the puzzle. "That was 4... and 7." She put the numbers in order.

4 5 7 1

Then stood and punched them into the keypad, rewarded immediately with a green light and a small beep. Lucy smiled. Maybe this would be fun after all! Camera in hand, she pulled the door open and stepped out into the hallway, looking up and down the length of it. Three men were there already, the one closest to her covered in drywall dust with a gaping hole beside him.

He looked so perfectly disheveled that she was tempted to take his picture, but he already looked pissed enough to spit nails. The photo op could wait until after introductions.

"Hi," she said, looking at each of the 3 men in the hallway. "I'm Lucy."

Lucy