Dramatis Personae
Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 12).
"Jake" aka Alex, the actual character name but I refuse to go back and edit the old entries (Human Wizard/Rogue 12).
Zai (Human Tetori Monk/Lore Warden Fighter 12).
Glory, aka the Righteous Fury of Heaven (Aasimar Synthesist Summoner/Bloodrager 12).
The surprisingly easy "escape", Session 19.1 - 11/28/14
Day 48
Jake
Not a clever man
Jake finds himself in a mage deadened cage and bound with dimensional shackles just to be safe, though his gear is still on him for the moment. He is in an elaborate and well maintained torture chamber, obviously a place for professionals to work as opposed to the crude room Zai and Glory found themselves in.
In front of him is a man in ceremonial, yet functional, black armor emblazoned with the insignia of the tower. He has a sword on his back and a ragged bandage over one eye.
He introduces himself as General Mirak and says that he looks forward to speaking with Jake for the coming hours, days, weeks, months, or maybe even years. They will have all the time in the world to get to know each other after all, but first off he wants to know who Jake is and why the hell he is in his tower.
"Who are you and who sent you?"
Jake, cocky and unphased, says his name and how he and his friends were interested in Tsar and thought this giant evil looking fortress would be kinda cool to go into. The general detects the obvious sarcasm but then realizes that bravado aside, his new guest is telling the truth.
Incredulous, Mirak asks if Jake and company seriously just decided, out of the blue, with no real purpose, with no special preparations at all, to just break down the front door of the infamous Tower of Weeping Sores and walk in like they owned the place. Jake confirms that is pretty much how it went.
The general looks dumbstruck for a second and then laughs his ass off. Mirak suggests his guest may not be a clever man and asks if Jake is beginning to regret his compulsive trespassing attempt, especially now that he will be staying for much longer than he had intended, unless of course he had intended to stay for the rest of his life. Jake politely smiles in response and says he thinks he will be out of here much sooner than that.
And then he offers a wager to the general: "How about if I escape I get your sword?"
Mirak smiles and says he accepts the bet, but what if Jake fails to escape? The general looks into Jake's eyes and says that though the defiance there has been amusing, he now grows tired of it. If he wins the bet, he will take Jake's eyes.
In fact, since no one has ever escaped from the tower, why don't they just call the bet concluded now? Jake begins to object to this, but the general is already walking over to his wall of instruments and comes back with several spoons of various sizes, each with razor sharp edges. He takes his time and holds them up to Jake's face to find which one is the most appropriately sized for Jake's facial structure.
As he makes his decision and begins to move forward, Jake still objecting that this is not how bets work, the door to the chamber opens.
Minor problems
In step a large metal creature, an iron devil (some kind of construct or something, thinks Jake). It lumbers forward with the mindless gait of a golem, but Jake can see the malevolent intelligence its glowing eyes. Though Jake doesn't know it, this creature is the Seneschal, the general's secretary and top adviser. Even at first glance Jake can sense a barely contained murderous rage in the creature and gets the feeling that it wouldn't be amused, unlike the general, by his flippant attitude.
Behind the Seneschal walks a horned wolf headed bipedal fiend with armor embedded into its flesh and wings folded on its back, a gallu demon (some kind of demon or something, thinks Jake). The general's head of security you could say.
The iron devil steps forward and briskly tells the general that there is a situation and walks him off into the corner of the room away from Jake. The gallu ignores them and instead walks toward Jake's cage and stares into his face with unblinking eyes and a small, feral, smile. It is a look of hunger and soon to be fulfilled anticipation. It makes Jake a little uncomfortable.
The Seneschal and Mirak converse in hushed tones but aren't really trying too hard to not be overheard by Jake; it's not like he's going anywhere anyway. Jake overhears most of the conversation. The other two captured prisoners have escaped from cells along with the aasimar; they are now in the "playground" and most likely will be for some time. The more pressing issue is that it while the party was assaulting another intruder used the chaos to slip in unnoticed until now.
An "infernal intruder" says the Seneschal with emphasis and a meaningful look though he doesn't elaborate further. The general goes from "playful" to all business. Play can wait; there is urgent business to attend to. He walks toward Jake's cage, Seneschal in tow. The gallu silently turns and looks at the general, as if awaiting permission for something. The general nods.
With surprising speed the gallu reaches through the bars of the cage and pulls Jake toward him and rips into the space between Jake's left shoulder and neck with his teeth. Jake screams as the demon pulls back with a large mouthful of his flesh, leaving a vicious open wound. It reestablishes eye contact with Jake and then bites open its own wrist and begins to move it toward Jake's nearly bit open throat.
Jake struggles, but there is no real contest. The gallu grabs him by the hair with one clawed hand and jams its own open wound into Jake's. Jake feels the creature's blood mixing with his, flowing into his own veins, not knowing what this means, but still he struggles to stop what is happening. But it is done.
The gallu withdraws its wound from Jake's throat and brings its face close to Jake's. For the first time it speaks, low and guttural, barely more than a growl.
"You are mine. You will never escape me."
And then it viciously slams Jake's head against the bars and walks out of the room.
Dazed from the sudden blood loss (and gain) and potential concussion, Jake hangs limply from his bindings. As he struggles to regain his composure, he hears the general give his orders to the Seneschal: Find out Jake's and his party's capabilities and if he knows anything about the the new intruder, though Mirak doubts it.
But don't kill him try not to damage his skin anymore than it has already been damaged, the general says flashing a grin at Jake. It may prove useful. Once you are done extracting information come join us, concludes the general. And he leaves, closing the door behind him.
The Seneschal turns toward Jake and gets down to business.
Tense, easily angered
Jake starts to answer the Seneschal's questions in a satisfactory manner and without lip. He tells him all about how Zai grapples the shit out of things and how Beltin is a necromancer. Jake himself is good at teleportation. Doesn't know about the other intruder.
The Seneschal listens and nods, not seeing the need for violence. At least not yet.
While they are talking Jake begins to formulate a plan. He can sense how close his jailer is the tense, easily angered type, yet he also seems dutiful and he has orders... how much would it take to get him to want to open the cage to teach Jake a lesson?
And so Jake begins to taunt the Seneschal as he answers the questions. Stupid insults and comments. The kind of things that are so juvenile that a well adjusted person would just blow it off, but that description is not even close to describing the Seneschal. Jake tries to bait him and finds it isn't hard.
For a second Jake sees a look of mindless fury, the kind of fury that doesn't care about orders. Jake begins to wonder if he went too far but then the Seneschal reels it in and sighs. Murderous rage successfully quailed, but still a lesson must be taught to the prisoner.
Just as planned, thinks Jake, as the Seneschal unlocks the cage and gets ready to beat him for his insolence. The cage door swings open and the devil gets ready to break some bones and SURPRISE ESCAPE ARTIST CHECK. Jake slips his bindings, the dimensional shackles attached to the cage!
He tries to tumble past the Seneschal and... fail! The devil slams him back into the cage and throws the door shut again, locking it.
Jake stares at the devil and the devil stares at Jake. Well it seems they are at an impasse and the Seneschal certainly can't leave him alone in his cage now. He decides to just stare the prisoner down and wait.
Jake is undeterred. The childish insults and taunts continue. He begins to throw copper pieces at the Seneschal and though they bounce harmlessly off of his iron body, they are obviously leaving a mark on his mind.
Ting! Insult. Ting! Insult. Ting!
The cycle continues and the Seneschal tries to find his happy place. It isn't working.
Ting! Insult. Ting! Insult. Ting!
The Seneschal barely holds control. He struggles and manages to keep the rage from overwhelming him. Barely. Just barely.
Jake stops talking and smiles at the devil... and then throws one more copper.
Enough is enough. The Seneschal approaches the cage and Jake gets ready to dodge around him when the cage opens. Instead the devil pulls a large piece of metal off of its back and then there is a blade. A scythe. It holds it for a second, seemingly calm, and then it screams with mindless fury and slashes through the cage and into Jake.
It hurts Jake. A lot. But hey, the cage is open now! Jake moves out of the cage and feels the magical suppression lift from him but the Seneschal slashes him again and he knows one more hit like that and he will never leave this room alive. Time to go. Teleport to the door, open, step out, close. Cast Greater Invisibility and down the stairs!
Escape!
Behind him Jake hears the Seneschal break open the door and begin to come down the stairs after him. In front of him Jake sees several doors and picks one furthest away from the others; he quickly looks out the keyhole. He sees sky! He tries the handle and its locked. He teleports to the other side.
The Seneschal crashes down the stairs and Jake hears the other doors he passed get violently opened and the door he just teleported past shakes as the Seneschal tries it, finds it locked, and continues down the stairs of the tower.
Jake takes a couple seconds to catch his breath and enjoy the time he has with his 9 remaining hit points. It is dusk, which seems strange as wasn't it just morning when they came in? He looks around and below him he sees the roof of the fortress and various smaller buildings. A giant crane at one end. Siege weaponry. Undead patrolling in the distance and Vrocks in the sky.
He shrinks away as they fly over but then remembers they can't see invisible. He looks over the edge of the balcony he is on and sees the steps leading into the inner tower and a small inconspicuous side door. He teleports down to it and tries to open the side door. Locked. He begins to pick it.
The main door of the tower slams open and Jake, still invisible, tries to make himself inconspicuous just in case as the Seneschal runs down the stairs. He yells for a group of vrocks to land. He tells them a prisoner has escaped. Find him! The vrocks take off again and the iron devil rushes off away from the tower, perhaps to continue the search or to find the general and inform him of what had happened.
The sun has practically set by now.
Jake sighs in relief and finishes picking the lock, but as he finishes the door is opened from the other side! Jake quickly pushes himself flat next to the door and gets ready to act... and then he sees Zai quickly stick his head out the door, look around, and pull it back in.
Yay, Jake has found the party!
To be continued...
