[u][b]Day 15[/b][/u] [i]The guards woke us up the next morning and gathered every prisoner into an entry hall repurposed into a cafeteria. The Goliath, who calls himself Drahg the Undying, carried my cage. It's not as noticable from further away, but up close he reeks like something dead! And the cold he emits...you'd think something so large would feel like a flame. We feasted for a good few minutes on bread and meat before Gregohr Shackleborn, the Dwarven High Warden of the prison, appeared on a balcony above and gave a fancy speech. He had men clear the remaining rubble of the tunnel we had opened up and sent a dozen scouts to explore the chamber beyond. Only 3 returned and reported nothing but darkness and a dead Dwarven city. He asked for volunteers to bolster the ranks of his guards and sweep the ruins. Any that returned would be given better rations, quarters, and shorter work shifts. I asked our own Dwarven friend (that has introduced himself with three different names at this point: Mr Wednesday, Papa Emeritus, and Father Callehan. I'm just gonna call him Stubbles because of his shaved chin. I thought that was blasphemy to dwarves!) Anyway I asked Stubbles why the High Warden doesn't just call in the Empresses men. He claims Gregohr was born in this prison from the remnants of the original Dwarven Noble House that lived here. Probably wants to claim whatever we find for himself or looking for some connection to his Noble lineage. Our group volunteered. Most of us we're already on board aside from Gabby the "Halfling" (she's hiding something) and "Lord Alistair Crowley" the Tiefling. Stubbles talked them into it saying to trust him when he smells an opportunity. I bet he could talk a dragon out of it's hoard! So we entered the tunnel and passed the threshold into the cavern beyond where a staging camp has been established in what looks like a large balcony overlooking...darkness as far as I could tell. Whoever said this place was a simple outpost was misinformed. There's a massive city down here...probably larger than Sarenport. Looks like they covered the skeletal remains I saw when I crawled through that hole yesterday. I didn't bother counting, but from the looks of it there are about 60 or so people in this camp, mostly prisoners. The team leaders decided to divide us into 3 groups and secure different sections. We were equipped with some pretty awful weapons and gear, they even gave me a tiny knife from the kitchen, but my companions are essentially pack mules and laborers while I'm a glorified torch. At least they let me out of my cage to stretch my wings. I considered flying off into the dark...but I'm not overly confident in my ability to escape this place on my own... [u][b]Day 15 and a half.[/b][/u] I've never seen darkness like this. Even with the torches and my dim violet glow we can't see very far ahead. RedRoot the Treant keeps claiming to hear things above us. I flew up a bit but only found bats. I don't think he...she? They like caves very much. My team went down a set of stairs to a lower street and slowly began clearing each of the small buildings carved into the stone walls. Ive made myself useful by picking a few locks on some doors, people underestimate me. I like that, so I've been playing the part of a dumb street rat. Stubbles and Gabby don't seem to buy it though... We haven't encounterd much, a few large rats and spiders. We also haven't really found anything of value. It looks like the original occupants grabbed what they could and left in a hurry. Still no signs of any missing scouts. We've decided to set up camp to rest and recover in one of the larger buildings before venturing any deeper. [b][u]Day 16[/u][/b] Two of the guards and one of the other prisoners are missing... We kept shifts of two people on watch, but no one reported anything strange. No screams, no one saw them leave, Hells there aren't even any tracks to follow in the dust covered brick streets... Everyone's a bit on edge now. Especially Maria the Bandit. She keeps... sniffing the air...humans are weird. One of the guards is a wizard and he cast a Sending spell to report our progress to the High Warden and await further orders. He told us to go deeper, so that's what we are doing... More rats, spiders, creepy sounds, darkness, and empty buildings. I'm taking a breather and resting on RedRoots shoulder to write this and ta Drahg and Maria saw something ... Things have gone very poorly very fast. Cave Goblins, pale skin, long claws and teeth, no eyes...Thousands of them. Drahg, RedRoot, and Maria are slaughtering them by the dozens, Stubbles has taken command of our group giving orders and healing spells when needed, and Alistair has been blasting them with fire, but there's too many of them. They were all around us, dropping from above and crawling up from below! Half the guards are dead and a few of the prisoners ran off. We were backed into a dead end with a massive door in our way. Gabby (who turned out to be a different kind of goblin by the way...the other goblins didn't care.) and I have been working on figuring out the locking mechanism while the others defended us. Then Maria took a big hit and SNAPPED. She threw her swords to the ground and ROARED as she shifted into a friggin Werewolf! The Goblins paused and a third of them ran off as Maria charged into their numbers and ripped them apart with her teeth and claws. Drahg roared with her and followed. RedRoot and Alistair handled any of them that got through and Stubbles came to help us with the lock while we had a brief moment. Together we got the door open. The others had run the goblins off, but Maria and Drahg were lost to their bloodlust. They turned on the remaining guards and we jumped in to assist. It's just us seven now. Gabby talked Maria down and he shifted back. She didn't say anything, just spit out a chunk of flesh, picked up two of the guards better swords, and marched through the door. We sealed it behind us and followed this new tunnel until we saw something beautiful: LIGHT! SUNLIGHT! We're on the other side of the mountains now, in the Nerulian Marshes! I've never been much for religion, but thank the Gods, we're free! Now if you'll excuse us, we're just gonna pass out here at the entrance for a few hours. BeeBee [/i] So yeah that happened, we also hit level 4! Not sure what to do with that yet though. Also, I added a tag but I'm not sure I did it right cuz I'm dumb at internets. Rest of the Party: [spoiler][u]"Stubbles" (Real name unknown)[/u]: Dwarven Conman. (Trickster Cleric) Imprisoned for impersonating priests to accept "donations." Always smiling and joking, very charismatic, pretty sure every other word he speaks is a lie. [u]Drahg the Undying[/u]: Goliath Murderer. (Barbarian) Imprisoned for dozens of murders, including an entire noble family. HUGE, very quiet, cold, smelly, never seen him eat, quick to anger, looks scary, but I think he's actually very sad. [u]RedRoot[/u]: Treant Terrorist. (Druid) Imprisoned for the destruction of the village of the same name. Really tall, reddish bark and bright red leaves on head, a bit niave but really kind. Unless you insult nature or eat plants, then they get mad. Says the village killed their forest so they returned the favor. [u]Gabby[/u]: Goblin (Bard) Hasn't said what she was imprisoned for. Talks. A LOT. Sickeningly upbeat, bit of a coward, pretty singing voice, "knows a little bit of something about everything," likes to disguise self as Halfling or Gnome (she slipped up and told someone she was one) to blend in. [u]Maria[/u]: Human Bandit (Lycan Blood Hunter) Imprisoned for Banditry. Quiet except when she's being RUDE, trust issues, very observant, strong, smells like a dog BECAUSE SHE IS A FRIGGIN WEREWOLF. [u]"Lord" Alistair Crowley[/u]: Tiefling Heretic (Infernal Warlock) Imprisoned for practicing forbidden magics and conspiracy to murder his father to assume control of his Noble House. Is a bastard (father had him with a mistress) is also an actual bastard: arrogant, rude, expects others to respect him. Is pretty smart I guess. Weird green skin and yellow eyes.[/spoiler]