Liberty 'paths, <<Everyone here is a captive. They either work with lethal risk, or they go into the street and starve to death. I'm looking to free those who would rather risk starving than continue working here.>>

Eli squirms. His voice is then heard in Jake's head. <<I could show them how to live off the land...>>

Liberty 'paths, <<A community formed by children? Could work...>>

Wow!  We can all hear each other's thoughts?!  This is amazing!  We could give it a try, I guess.  Worse comes to worse, they can come back here willingly.  Maybe.  Or they get eaten by wild animals.  Whichever comes first.  So...  Um...  How are we supposed to get them out of here?

The thought conversation is interrupted by the guide. "Why are you staring at the girl? Do you want your own slave?"

Liberty telepaths, <<There will be an opportunity at night time... I can meet with you at the backyard fence tonight when the lights are out.>>

"Huh?  What?" Jake answers, snapping out of staring at Liberty, "M-my own... slave?  Eheh... eh.  I uh...  Heh.  Yeah.  I um...  I'm thinking about it.  Yeah.  Parents would pitch a fit if I got one without their permission, though, eheh.  So...  I'll be armtwisting and such.  Right.  So...  Thanks for the tour!  Seeya tomorrow if all goes well.  Oh!  How much for the pretty blonde?"

<< Gods this is embarrassing.  I'll try to find a way to be here, but it won't be easy to get past my guardians in the evening, so...  I'll just have to not go home till after we've rescued the slaves. >>

Eventually, the "tour" is over and the kids get to exit. Miranda faces the other 3. "We got a decent look at the layout of the place."

Eli smiles bashfully as he wiggles in place, pulling out a parchment on which he scribed a map of the layout.

Miranda raises an eyebrow, blinkblinking.

"Wow, nice work, Eli!" Jake commends, "With this we can make actual plans!  We should make copies for each of us in case we get separated.  This place looks like where Liberty told us to meet her.  From there, it looks like the best way out is down this way.  If that way is blocked or something, the second best looks like this way."

Jake randomly does his best to make a good plan now that he has a map to make a plan with.

Antoinette hugs Jake's arm for no apparent reason, leaning her cheek on it. She had been silent all this time and not giving an opinion or thought since they got to the place. But now that they are out of there, she points at the spots on the map that Jake points at whenever he does. She has a smile on her face and starts to giggle if looked at. Just playing "copy the brother". But she isn't copying what he says. That's annoying.

Time skip! Night falls and the group has a plan literally mapped out; each member of the team with a copy of the map.

Once they get there, Eli prepares his cantrip. Seeing a lone adult who is there pretty much to make sure kids stay on the premises, Eli uses ghost sound to cause the sound of a couple children whispering around a corner. The man, of course, goes to investigate, which allows for Eli and the bunch to enter the courtyard without any problem.

Liberty is there, waiting for them. She nods to the others as she sees them. She then speaks to their minds, <<I'll keep our communication sound-free. Let's go.>> She leads the group inside and paths, <<Out of all the kids here, I found only a few who were willing and wanting to leave. They are waiting at a rendezvous point, but before we meet with them, we need to rescue one. One girl was put in solitary confinement for something she didn't even do.>>

She leads the bunch to the solitary confinement room, which has 3 adults playing cards in front of it. The group can can see a tiefling girl behind bars, laying on the cold concrete ground. She is curled up and hiding her face, her tail and arms wrapped around her legs.

<<She knows we're here now and is remaining curled up to fool the guards. Now let's see about getting the men out of the picture somehow...>>

Jake of course smiled at his sister's adorable antics.

When Lib mentions the girl in solitary, Jake puts on a serious face and nods.  He looks at the adults and narrows his eyes.

<<I don't think Eli's earlier clever diversion will work on three.  The'll likely only send one to investigate unless...  Unless they see and smell smoke like there's a fire.  If not...  well I guess we just ambush them and knock them out.>>

Eli paths, <<But... they're grown-ups. What can we hope to do to them?>>

Miranda paths, <<Don't need to if fooling them works. But if it doesn't, I have magic. And so do you.>>

Liberty paths, <<Try it, Eli...>>

Eli gets to making some illusory smoke seep out the door, then adds the smell of smoke into the area where the men are playing cards. After all, he can't fill a whole room with smells.

Jake stays hidden and tries to be as quiet as possible, but he does draw a dagger just in case.  Fortunately, he's skilled enough with the weapon to not kill anyone with them and most of his powers don't require a weapon in the first place, but it's there if he needs it.

The guards soon notice and head out the door. It's all the distraction needed as Miranda rushes, grabs the keys from the card table, unlocks the prison door, and helps the tiefling girl to her feet.

Liberty paths, <<Now let's get out of here while we still can...>>

Fast forward: The group makes it to the meeting place, where Lucky was also told to meet with Liberty.

Lucky is of course waiting where he was told to, and smiles when he sees so many kids coming his way.  But he doesn't recognize most of them.  Odd.  He tilts his head and earpirks in curiosity and waves.

Jake of course waves back.

<<I'm guessing this one knows not to speak out loud?>> Jake paths.

Liberty nods. <<We rescued Shina.>> she explains to Lucky, displaying the bruised, tear-stained tiefling girl. <<And looks like all the others I asked you to bring are here. Let's go.>>

Lucky nod-nods and follows along, offering Shina an arm-around to comfort her.

<< Thanks for everything, Liberty!  So is this new friend of yours also telepathic?  I could hear his thoughts too. >>

Liberty paths, <<Nope. I'm just relaying what people are thinking.>> soon, the kids are all out of town and headed for the woods. This is where Eli takes point and tries helping the group find a good spot to camp.

Eli asks, "So... what if the grown-ups come looking in the woods?"

Miranda says, "Where else is there to hide? The town is too obvious..."

"Don't worry," Jake says, "I doubt they'll have any expert trackers on hand, so we're just looking to cover our tracks against amateurs.  We should all be very careful to stick to packed ground.  Avoid soft soil or mud.  Be careful not to snap any branches or twigs on live plants.  Dead stuff, they likely can't tell if it wasn't broken long before tonight."

"Wow," Lucky says, "You seem pretty confident in your know-how.  Name's Lucky by the way."

"Jake.  And this is my sister Antionette.  And this is Miranda.  Liberty I'm guessing you've met."

Lucky nods.

"Nice to meet you all."

Antoinette says, "Hi."

Liberty says, "And this is Eli. He's supposed to be the one to show us around the woods?"

Eli nods. "I lived here for a while..."

He looks around, finds his old stomping grounds, and takes the group there. It's a cave, wherein there is a hidden entrance to a room. Eli lights up the room with his light cantrip, which gets a lot of ooos and aahhs from the other kids. Including Liberty, Miranda and Antoinette.

The room looks like someone lives there. There is a makeshift bed, a table, a desk, a chair at each, a bookshelf with books, and many doodads. It's obvious to Jake anyway that Eli is also a dabbler in magically infused technology as well as straight up tech. "I only have one bed, though it's big enough for grownups..." he looks around.

"Antoinette, Jake and Miranda don't need to sleep here. They have homes to go to."

That's 3. But he notes Liberty, Lucky, Shina, and the 4 other kids that Lucky managed to talk into leaving, 3 of whom are boys. Conner (human), Maverick (human), Galinndan (eladrin), and the girl Mialee (elf). That's 8 if Eli includes himself. "It'll be crowded, but we can all fit on the bed."

It's sad, really. Many a kid might say "I want my mommy", but none of these kids CAN say that.

"Nice place, Eli," Jake says with a big smile, "I see you share my interest in the mechanical.  Maybe we can compare discoveries together some time.  But your right.  I need to get back home or they'll send a search party if they haven't already.  I'll bring food first thing in the morning if I can get away from my tutors."

He waves his goodbyes and heads out.

"Thanks!" Lucky answers waving back, "And thanks to you too, Eli and Liberty!  This IS a nice place!"

He crawls around in circles on the bed and purrs with a big smile.

Once the rich folk leave, Eli looks back at Lucky. "G... good night..." he offers before finding a corner of the bed to lay on. The kids all start crowding the bed chaotically. Liberty offers an orderly way to sleep in the bed that winds up maximizing the number of people who can sleep on the bed. It's crowded... but everyone manages to fit.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:40, Thu 06 Oct 2011.

"I hope they'll be ok," Jake muses out loud on the way back home, "Not sure what we're going to do after breakfast tomorrow.  I don't think they can get away with living at that place for long."

---

Lucky of course praised Liberty's smarts and offers a huggle to the nearest kid.

"Anyone know any good bedtime stories?"

Miranda looks over at Jake. "They are lucky already, though. They have 3 rich folk backing them, all of whom have powers. And among them, they too have powers. A psychic and a wizard. You have mentioned your sister just seems to know things. Perhaps she too is a psychic. You are known to dabble in magic and I have a pact with an otherworldly being. Yet all this and I agree with you... they can't stay there for long."

---

Liberty blushes from Lucky's compliments. Then gives a "trying hard to think back" look when asked if anyone knows any stories. Eli nods. "A few..." he says bashfully.

Shina smiles and hugs Lucky back, rubbing cheeks with him.

"Good points," Jake says, "Now that I think of it, I seriously doubt that the badguys have the resources for an extended search, much less do they consider a few lost kids worth the effort.  Probably best for the kids to just lay low somewhere in the city for a day or two.  After that the search will likely be given up."

---

"Feel free to share, Eli," Lucky answers, purring and smiling at Shina, "If you'd rather not, I can make one up."

Miranda nods, gives a curtsey to Jake and Antoinette. "See you tomorrow."

---

Eli says, "Well... I... there once was a world made mostly of metal. It sat deep in the stars and was unknown to the people of our world for many centuries. The people on that world were also made of metal and had the power to change their shape into forms that could move faster than their person form. All of them had magic crossbows that shot beams of light that were made of concentrated fire." he demonstrates with a cantrip, making a crossbow made of metal. But there is no bow on it and he fires a quick burst of light at the wall with a sound effect accompanying it that sounds like nothing the kids ever heard before!