Escape From the Abyss

[Noam]

Sleep in the Underdark isn’t exactly restful. Ever since arriving here you’ve been plagued by constant nightmares whenever you close your eyes. It’s not clear if this is some kind of magical effect that the drow have placed on your cell, or if it’s just a side effect of having one of the worst experiences of your life.

Either way, you wake up as you have for the past week—with a crick in your neck from sleeping on the rock and the lingering memory of a particularly gruesome dream.

The iron gate of the cell clangs open. Before you stand two drow guards, dressed in chainmail and dark uniforms. One of them is holding a crossbow loaded at his shoulder, the point trained in the general direction of all of you, while the other is holding a tray of soup. He sets it down with little ceremony. “Eat,” he says in flat Undercommon. “You have a lot of shit to do today.”

The soup, as always, is a weak, lukewarm mushroom broth. Not nutritious, but enough to keep you alive. The other prisoners begin to stir, shuffling over to the balls. Ront, the orc who’s made a show of not being intimidated by the guards, shoves the others out of the way to get the first bowl. There’s no point—they’re all exactly the same.

“So what do you reckon is on the docket for today,” drawls Jimjar, one of the deep gnomes imprisoned alongside you. He speaks in loud Common for the benefit of the ‘surface folk.’ “I’m guessing that they’re going to give us a break. Let us take relaxing hot baths, serve us hot spider pie with cream. What do we say?”

 

[Sherwood]

Beorin doesn't try his luck against the two armed Drow, but instead waits for them to step back before making any move for the food. As much as eating it turns his stomach, he knows that he won't last long without eating, and his captors won't give a damn if he starves to death.

He looks over at Jimjar and lets out a snort. "I never knew you were such a comedian. You missed your calling as a traveling teller of tall tales. Here. Come get something to eat before you make me laugh out loud."

 

[Psychie]

Sasha makes her way over to get her bowl of soup with a glower. "Even on the streets I ate better than this. We need to find a way out of here before we all starve, are worked to death, or sold off as slaves to someone that might make our lives an even greater hell than it already is."

 

[eldritch-flowers]

Nocturne looks a little confused at Jimjar's joke. "Don't drow have a thing with spiders though? So why would they..." She trails off as the realization hits her. "Oh, wait, you were joking. Never mind then." She quietly goes and gets her bowl of soup, more than a little bit embarrassed.

At Sasha's comment, she looks up from her soup and shrugs. "If you happen to have any ideas for how to get out of here, I'd love to hear them."

 

[Psychie]

Sasha shakes her head. "I've been looking out for any opportunity, but so far, I've not seen one that looks promising. We need a plan or else we are all screwed, beaten to a pulp or even worse. I'm open to any suggestions."

 

[Sherwood]

Beorin shakes his head. "I may be strong, but that alone won't break us out of here. We would need a way to open the locks on the gates between us and our freedom, all the while dealing with the guards that have armor and weapons while we do not. I am good in a fight, but usually I have my maul and something to keep me from getting perforated by the weapons of my foes. I will say that I doubt that any one of us can manage to get out of here on our own. We'll need to try and work together to have any kind of chance of success."

 

[Ilikepie]

Aiwa looks down at where her pendant that mother gave her normal used to hang down. Deciding working with these people is her only chance at getting it back she looks to the group speaking of escape. "I can try headbutting them with my horns. I don't really like doing that since I normally just use magic to fight, but I'm pretty sure the cell is blocking magic from being casted".

 

[eldritch-flowers]

"That is the root of the problem, isn't it..." Nocturne muses. "I'm sure we're all good at something - me, I can do a little magic and I'm not half-bad with a crossbow - but without our gear, there's very little we can do. So of course, the logical first step in getting out of here would be to get our gear back."

 

[Psychie]

Sasha takes a moment to make sure that there are no jailers listening in before saying, "If I knew where our things were, I might be able to do something about that. I have some talent in being able to pick locks and move silently and unseen, but if I'm caught . . ." She leaves the statement unfinished. It would certainly be the last thing she would ever do if she doesn't make it back. "Besides, there are a lot of us here, and it would take some time to be able to move gear from wherever it is being stored back to the rest of you."

 

[Noam]

"Escape?" The derro prisoner, Buppido, looks up from his soup. "Are they talking about escaping this wretched place? Is good word, escape." He grins broadly beneath his matted beard. "I like."

"They are indeed. Miss Sasha makes a compelling point, though." Jimjar drums his fingers on the now-empty bowl. "The odds of her escaping undetected, finding all of our equipment, and getting it back to us before anyone notices she's out and about are...slim. Though if anyone's in a gambling mood, I'd put a gold on her out of optimism. A gold on the human not getting fed to the spiders, any takers?"

"None of us have gold," says Eldeth, the dwarven woman. She shoves her soup aside. "If it's a distraction we need, though, I'd be glad to make one. No offense, little tiefling girl--" She waves her hand at Aiwa, not seeming to care that she's both taller than her and not a tiefling "--but I bet my head is harder than yours."

 

[eldritch-flowers]

For the briefest of moments, Nocturne considers bringing up that she has gold, but she decides it's probably not in her best interests.

"Hold on, hold on. Before we get riled up about making a distraction, there's something we've failed to consider. Does anyone actually know where our equipment is kept?" She points out. "Even if we could feasibly get Sasha or someone else out to go get our gear, if they don't know where to go we're all in trouble."

 

[Psychie]

Sasha thinks, then says, "If we could overpower some of the guards, we may be able to make a mass escape attempt, and with every guard we come across, we take their weapons and continue on. It would just require us to be able to get out of this cage to start out."

 

[Sherwood]

Beorin lets out a sigh. "If there were a way, I'd go for it. Better to die on my feet than live on my knees. Sasha, you seem to be quite confident in your abilities. Do you think you could open the gate?"

 

[Psychie]

Sasha replies, "If I had my picks, easily. But now? I might be able to, but I don't know."

OOC Noam would I be able to pick the lock, even without a pick? Using a long fingernail, perhaps? Or does someone have a strong enough pice of wire that I could use? I do have the Luck Feat that can help, too.

 

[Ilikepie]

Aiwa feels confused on why the dwarven woman confused her for a tiefling. She turns to Sasha. "I know you can do this. You just need to believe!!"


Sasha now has bardic inspiration and can add a 1d6 to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw in the next 10 minutes.

2/3 bardic inspirations remaining

 

[Psychie]

Feeling inspired by Aiwa's performance, Sasha says, "Keep an eye out. I"m going to give it a try." She pulls out the small obsidian shard and chips off a couple of thin pieces, then carefully reaches out to try and pick the lock.

OOC with my picks I have a total of a plus 11, and using one of my Luck points to make the roll.
Meh. I'm glad I have that Luck. It gives me a total of 21.

 

[D. Rex]

"I'll keep an eye open." Said the kobold. Hopping up from his now emptied bowl. Quite eager to give assistance on getting out of this place. The the little draconian scurried to a position towards where the guards might likely come.

 

[D. Rex]

Perception Check: 20

 

[Noam]

It's a complex lock, but Sasha is an experienced thief. After a few minutes of fiddling with her makeshift lock picks, the lock clicks open.

Looking out of the bars, Darko can see into the windows of the guard tower. None of the guards are looking out the window or patrolling on the balcony; most likely, they're inside eating their own breakfast. No one else is present.

As soon as the lock opens, however, one of the guards gives a shout from inside the tower. It seems that they were paying more attention that it seemed.

One of the lead guards emerges, pointing a crossbow directly at Sasha. You recognize him thanks to the thick acid scars across the left side of his face and the missing fingers on his left hand. This is Jorlan, one of the elite warriors at this outpost. "You!" he snaps in accented Common. "All of you, backs against the wall!"

 

[Sherwood]

Beorin's smile at the sight of the open gate goes to a deep scowl. If we do as they say, the rest of us might just be punished, but Sasha will be in deep trouble. Can't let that happen. Mighty Thor, guide my steps! Without hesitation, Beorin charges the guard, doing a full out sprint, knowing that he is about to be shot by the crossbow and hopes that his natural ruggedness will keep him alive long enough to get the rest of the prisoners out and on the run.

Spoiler

AC 10
Hit Points: 12 / 1
Second Wind: 1 use / 0 left

 

[Noam]

Jorlan immediately fires, crossbow bolt striking Beorin on the collarbone--not a fatal shot, but not a glancing blow either. While Beorin is off-balance, he grabs the arrow and uses it as leverage to shove Beorin back towards the cell, driving the point deeper into the bone. "Do not make yourself more trouble than you are worth to keep," he snaps.

Two other guards emerge from the tower, holding their own crossbows at the ready.

 

[Sherwood]

Beorin grinds his teeth in pain, but instead of just cowering back and letting him get pushed back into the cell, he reaches up with one hand and grabs the part of the bolt sticking out of his collar bone and pulls, trying to remove it from his body and catch his breath. If he is successful, the burly dwarf will try using the (hopefully) removed bolt as a weapon against Jorlan.

But unfortunately, the pain is such that even the mighty dwarven resilience is not able to overcome it, and he is forced back.

OOC can I try to use my Second Wind to regain some of my lost hit points?

 

[eldritch-flowers]

While Jorlan is distracted with Beorin, a plan occurs to Nocturne. She bolts out of the cell at a full sprint, hoping to get behind Jorlan before it's too late. Even if she gets shot by one of the other guards, that just means she's distracted that guard from shooting someone else.

 

[Dethrix]

• info
• stat
• cast
• Misc

• 
  
  
  
  
  Alakdyn Orlyrae
  Race: Dark Elf (Drow)
  Class: Paladin (1)
  HP: 12
  AC: 11
  Passives:
  

  • Perception/WIS: 12
  • Investigation/INT: 10
  • Insight/WIS: 12

  Unarmed Strike: +4, 3 Bludgeoning
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  Proficiency Bonus: +2
  
  Initiative: +1
  
  Attributes:
  Str: 14 / +2
  Dex: 12 / +11
  Con: 14 / +2
  Int: 10 / +0
  Wis: 10 / +0
  Cha: 15 / +2
  
  Skills:
  Acrobatics: +1
  Animal Handling: +0
  Arcana: +0
  Athletics: +4
  Deception: +2
  History: +0
  Insight: +2
  Intimidation: +4
  Investigation: +0
  Medicine: +0
  Nature: +0
  Perception: +2
  Performance: +2
  Persuasion: +2
  Religion: +2
  Sleight of Hand: +1
  Stealth: +1
  Survival: +0
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  Cantrips:
  
  Dancing Lights
  Evocation Cantrip
  
  Casting Time: 1 action
  Range: 120 feet
  Components: V, S, M (a bit of phosphorus or wychwood, or a glowworm)
  Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
  
  You create up to four torch-sized lights within range, making them appear as torches, lanterns, or glowing orbs that hover in the air for the duration. You can also combine the four lights into one glowing vaguely humanoid form of Medium size. Whichever form you choose, each light sheds dim light in a 10-foot radius.
  
  As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the lights up to 60 feet to a new spot within range. A light must be within 20 feet of another light created by this spell, and a light winks out if it exceeds the spell’s range.
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  Money: 0
  
  Active:
  
  Stored:
  1x Rope, Silk (5 feet)
  
  
  
  

Spoiler: Uncoded Text

Things had escalated quickly in a matter of moments, yet Alakdyn recognized a blessing when he saw one. Whether his patron had fostered this chaos or not, it was an opportunity that he couldn’t afford to lose. Between the door being picked open by the human and the dwarf rushing into conflict, his fellow prisoners were proving to be quite extraordinary. At least, as good as those from the surface could be.

After assessing the situation, Alakdyn watched as another elf of dark origin darted out of the cell and positioned herself behind Jorlan. The elite warrior was preoccupied with the dwarf, who was putting up a fight even after being shot with a crossbow bolt. Immediately, the paladin saw the plan and rushed out to box in their opponent from the side.

“Come. Better to die here, than be broken into slaves.” The drow huffed in undercommon, as he attempted to persuade all others in the cell into action. As he spoke, Alakdyn reached out to forcibly take the crossbow from Jorlan while the soldier wrestled with the dwarf. His approach was direct, to further distract and occupy the warrior.

Things had escalated quickly in a matter of moments, yet Alakdyn recognized a blessing when he saw one. Whether his patron had fostered this chaos or not, it was an opportunity that he couldn’t afford to lose. Between the door being picked open by the human and the dwarf rushing into conflict, his fellow prisoners were proving to be quite extraordinary. At least, as good as those from the surface could be.

After assessing the situation, Alakdyn watched as another elf of dark origin darted out of the cell and positioned herself behind Jorlan. The elite warrior was preoccupied with the dwarf, who was putting up a fight even after being shot with a crossbow bolt. Immediately, the paladin saw the plan and rushed out to box in their opponent from the side.

“Come. Better to die here, than be broken into slaves.” The drow huffed in undercommon, as he attempted to persuade all others in the cell into action. As he spoke, Alakdyn reached out to forcibly take the crossbow from Jorlan while the soldier wrestled with the dwarf. His approach was direct, to further distract and occupy the warrior.

Updates

Interactions: Ilikepie Sherwood Noam eldritch-flowers
Rolls:

Persuasion: 19 + 2 = 21​

Athletics: 7 + 4 = 11​

​

 

[Noam]

One of the guard draws his sword and swings at Nocturne, but misses. Before he can pursue her, he is distracted by a fierce battle cry as one of the prisoners, Eldeth, rushes forward and tackles him to the ground. The other guard runs to help him.

Rushing past the guards, she finds herself standing in front of the narrow spider-silk bridge leading to the guard tower. On either side, a sheer cliff face drops twenty feet to a dense nest of spiderwebs. To her right, a narrow stone staircase leads down, towards the northern entrance of the cavern.

Jorlan wrenches his crossbow out of Alakdyn's grip, just managing to hang onto Beorin with his other hand as he does. "You filth! Have you no sense of honor left?"