Escape

Their attempt to sneak undetected into the castle having failed, the party found themselves once again stripped to their skivvies and thrown into a dungeon cell. Total silence reigned - obviously their captors had experience with spellcasting prisoners. The party wished their sense of smell was also magically muted, as the odor of urine, feces, blood, and death filled their nostrils.

Before the party could do much more than get their bearings, the door opened and a group of soldiers armed with crossbows entered, followed by a tall man with a shaved head, wearing a black robe and carrying a staff with a red dragon head top-piece. As he entered, the magical silence dissipated. He introduced himself as High Inquisitor Vors, and demanded to know who the party was and what they were doing here.

The party tried to truthfully explain that they had come from Merlin's cave, and were on a mission to prevent an out-of-control wizard from destroying the multiverse. Vors listened with obvious skepticism. Chuck even referred to the wizard as "Tweedledum". But when someone mentioned the name "Twynillios", the guards looked at each other with surprise, and Vors responded with anger. "So you are spies sent by the False Council in a futile attempt to undermine High Lord Twynillios' plan! You shall die like all the others. And you," he continued, turning to Chuck. "You think yourself clever to mock High Lord Twynillios.We'll see how funny you think it is after we've finished with you in the torture chamber. I shall personally try to see if we can extend your torment even longer than the last prisoner. I think he lasted for ten days."

With that, Vors turned and stalked out of the room, followed by his guards, and silence again descended. The party realized that they have traveled to Avalon's world of Arcadia, and ended up in the middle of the civil war he had told them about. They weren't keen on waiting for Vors to make good his threat of torture, so they began looking for a way to escape.

Ice tried his strength on the bars of the cell, and was able to bend one partially. With Mary's help, he worked on the bar opposite it, until they'd made room for the more slender members of the party to slip through. Meanwhile, Chuck had been searching the straw and rags covering the floor, and found a rusty nail amongst the debris. James was able to use this to pick the lock of the cell door, and soon the whole party was out of the cell, but still behind a solid wooden door that led out. There was a small opening in the door for the guards to look in on the prisoners, and James was able to peek out and see an anteroom with four guards playing dice. The door, however, would not open, and the party was still enveloped in silence.

Jerry searched his memory for a spell that did not require a verbal component. Wraithform seemed to fit the bill, and its material components were a bit of gauze and a wisp of smoke. Luckily, Jerry's tidy whities were old and ragged enough to pass for gauze, and a pair of torches provided the smoke. Jerry cast the spell, and slipped beneath the door unnoticed by the guards. Looking up, he could see an iron bar secured the door. He returned to material form, and leaped to his feet to throw off the bar, drawing the notice of the guards in the process.

But it was enough to allow Ice and Joe to bull their way out into the room, swinging the torches taken from the hall outside their cell. Jerry took quite a bit of damage from the guards before they turned their attention to the new threat. But as soon as he was able to exit the silence, Chuck cast a Hold Person that rendered all but one of the guards immobile. The fight was quickly over, and Joe and Mary were able to equip themselves with short swords and leather armor (Ice got a sword, but couldn't squeeze his NFL-sized frame into the leather armor).

There were two doors out of the room, and the party knew from being brought in that one led to the hallway out. From the other door, they heard a voice calling softly, "Is someone there? Can you help me? Please - help me!" While Mary stood guard, the others opened the other door. They found another room with three cells, one occupied by a thin man who introduced himself as Lord Palkins, the rightful lord of this castle. He explained that someone named Lord Lingon (apparently Twynillios' second in command) had killed his father and taken over his castle to use as headquarters for the rebellion. He asked the party to free him, and said some of his followers were also being held nearby.

When the party said they were looking for a source of magic somewhere beneath the castle, Palkins looked surprised. "You mean the grotto? I didn't know anyone other than me still knew about it. My grandfather showed it to me when I was a boy. He knew there was power there, but never knew how to tap it. The secret entrance isn't far from here - if you free me, I can show you."

The party agreed, and soon Palkins and eight of his men (who were being held in a large cell just outside) had joined them. One of Palkins' men took the left over short sword from the dead guards. The party's main concern at this point was finding their lost equipment (this seems to be becoming a pattern). They crept past the foot of the staircase they'd been brought down, and listened at another closed door, hearing voices behind it. Bursting through, they found four more guards. Now that they were at least partially armed, they made short work of their opponents, and four more of Palkins' men were soon armed.

The next room was a well-equipped torture chamber, thankfully empty. Beyond was another door, again with muffled voices. Inside were five men in robes, one with a wand, who were examining the party's gear. Jerry took advantage of the surprise round to cast a Silence spell in the room and after that it was all over but the (silenced) shouting. As the party collected their equipment, Palkins' men claimed the dead guards' weapons and armor, while Palkins put on one of the mages robes and took his travelling spellbook. "I don't know if we can sneak out disguised like this, but I'd rather die trying than let them hold me here until I rot."

Before he and his men left, Palkins showed the party a secret door in the wall of the room. It revealed a narrow stariway that led deep beneath the castle, and a winding tunnel beyond. At the end was a bronze door, green with age. Inside was a large natural grotto, with a pool of seawater at one end and a cluster of stalactites and stalagmites at the other. The Gatestone pointed at the cluster of stone columns. After spending some time to rest and relearn spells, the party placed the Gatestone in the center of the circle, pressed one of the facets, and waited for it to do its thing ...

... and suddenly found themselves surrounded by a thick, chill fog. The shapes of standing stones could barely be made out in the darkness. They checked the Gatestone for directions, but it simply throbbed in their hands, pointing nowhere. With nothing to guide them, the party just struck off in a random direction, hoping for the best. After a few minutes, they became aware of the smell of pine, and realized that the ground beneath their feet was blanketed with a thick layer of pine needles. They could now make out the shapes of large trees around them, and as they continued walking, the fog quickly thinned. The were in the midst of a dense forest at night. The Gatestone now pointed generally in the direction they were travelling.

After half an hour or so, they became aware of a violin playing softly somewhere in the distance. They soon began to see firelight flickering through the trees ahead. Deciding that they didn't need any new friends, they quietly made a wide circle around the fire and the unseen musician, and continued on their way. After another hour or so, with no indication sunrise was coming any time soon, they decided to make camp. They set watches and settled in for some rest.

James and Phil were on watch when a group of creatures leaped out of the underbrush and savagely attacked. They were half man, half wolf, standing upright and carrying short swords, but also snapping at their victims with slathering jaws. Four of them attacked James and Phil, while four more went after the sleeping party members. They were tough customers, doing significant damage with their dual attacks, but the party ultimately dispatched them. As they died, they turned into human form, ultimately leaving five men's and three women's bodies scattered around the campsite. They were clad in simple peasant clothing. Searching their bodies, the party found a collection of unusual gold and silver coins, but nothing else.

We'll be at Leo's again next week.