Totmacher, hands manacled behind him, is escorted through the streets of Borderton...two guards in the front and to either side of the half-orc, two in the rear and to either side.  Savin leads the way.

As the group moves through the town, it soon becomes apparent that their destination is another of the few stone buildings in town--this one a squat, square affair with tiny windows and an iron door.  One of the guardsmen pounds on the door with a leather-gloved fist, making a muffled clanging.  The door is opened by, apparently, another Borderton guardsman--armored in studded leather and bearing a long sword at his side.  He looks at Totmacher and nods at the guard who had knocked.  "What's th' charge?"

"Murder, maybe.  We're gonna hold him 'til this thing wi' th' fires is sorted out."

Totmacher is led into the front chamber of the town prison...

More later.

Kev, I am interested in the layout of the building, # of guards, type of manacles, windows, etc--As stated earlier Totmacher's phobia of imprisonment may be too much to withstand...he will be plotting his escape the moment the manacles are placed on his wrists.

He will also keep a close eye on his belongings--were they taken to the same location?

OOC:  Alright...I need to put together a map for the gaol--that will happen later tonight, and I'll post it up on website.  As for Tot's belongings, they were conveyed to the gaol by one of the guards, so he knows they'll be here.  I'm still at work, so I won't get a chance to post much until later tonight.

Cheers,
Kev

OOC:  Hey Scott, sorry I've been incommunicado for a while--lotsa things going on here in Seattle.  The next post will give you a bit of info regarding the layout of the room, and may allow you to assess your actions a bit more readily.

Cheers,
Kev

Totmacher is led into the Borderton prisonhouse, two guards behind him, and two guards in front.  The guard who opened the prison door stands aside to allow the others entry.

The big half-orc steps into the room with his escort, and the iron double doors of the prison boom shut again, as one of the guards draws them closed.  Several other guards glance up from cleaning weapons or engaging in mundane duties such as oiling manacle locks, coiling ropes, etc.  There are the four guards that escorted Totmacher, the guard who opened the door, and four others in the room--making a total of nine guards plus Savin...who had accompanied the guardsmen to the prison.

The common room is about 60' x 60', with a ceiling height of about 12'.  Everburning torches are placed into sconces along the wall, and provide the room illumination.  Cells line the northern wall, and the rest of the room appears to be given over to storage, maintenance, or prisoner processing duties.

A desk with a leather-bound chair sits just to the southwest of the main doors, and a middle-aged man dressed in studded leather sits with a series of parchments strewn in front of him on the desk, and a large, clasped ledger book is pushed to one side of the desk.  Behind the desk, in the southeast corner of the room, a spiral staircase leads both to an upper story and to a lower one.  A nearby workbench has shackles and manacles in various states of disassembly, and a suit of studded leather armor sits on the bench also, clearly undergoing some repair.  A number of tools and clay mugs are perched on an overturned crate near the workbench, and two stools are positioned near the workbench as well.  Upon one of the stools sits a guardsman, working on the lock of one of the shackles in front of him.

A large stone fireplace dominates the southern wall.  A pile of stacked logs sits to the west of the fireplace, and a weapons rack is positioned along the southern wall to the east of the fireplace.  A large, scarred, octagonal wooden table and numerous mismatched chairs take up most of the southwest corner of the room.  A smaller table with two nearby chairs--both occupied by guardsmen with their feet up on the table--is close to the larger table.  An old, upright barrel stands near the small table, and a brazier with glowing coals, several tongs, hammers, and irons stands to the west of the small table.  A large tub of water with a ladle hanging from a hook on the wall sits between two torches on the western wall.

Two of the cells are occupied--one by a man who is snoring like the sound of tearing cloth---LOUDLY tearing cloth.  One of the guardsmen gets up from the table, retrieves a ladleful of water from the tub, and hurls it on the snoring man--producing a change in the timber and pitch of the snores, but little alteration in volume.  The other cell is occupied by a black-bearded, muscular man who stares morosely at the wall, barely turning his head to see Totmacher being led into the prison.

Kev, which cells are occupied (and with whom)?  Are the cells made of plaster, stone, with or without bars?  Would this be considered a minimum security prison town standards?

Tot keeps a careful eye on his belongings--making sure they do not stray off too far...

What is the condition of the manacles?  Tot will wait to see what is done with him.

OOC:  Occupied cells and occupiers are indicated on the "Gaol" map on the website.  Cells are made of stone walls, with iron bars fronting each cell (hard to tell with the map, I know).  Seeing as Tot has essentially zero experience with security and prisons in human towns, the thrid question is kinda moot.  As to the conditions of the manacles--well-made and -maintained, sturdy iron ones (Imperial forces don't really skimp on the basics).  The DC for a Strength Check to break is a 26, as per the PHB.

Ok, Tot will wait to see what the guards and Savin have in store.

The alderman steps over to the guard sitting behind the scarred wooden desk.  "You will be required to hold this man until I give my assent to release him.  There has been a crime committed, and there is some question as to the circumstances that attended it."  Savin smoothes his tunic and glances distastefully at Totmacher.  If the night ends with the capture or death of Zante Barbaras, the half-orc will be freed.  If not, he will be charged with and tried for murder--if he is a citizen of Paldor."  The alderman shrugs.  "If he is not..."

The guard nods.  "Aye, sirrah.  We be knowin' th' drill fer foreigners.  Inta th' cell, you!"  The guard addresses this last to Totmacher, and two of the guards place their hands on the big man's arms and escort him towards the middle cell.  The other two stand by warily, swords still drawn.

Do the manacles remain on?
Once in the cell, Totmacher will stand and provide Savin with a hard "Kubrick" stare without blinking until Savin is out of sight.

Once the guards go back to their "routines" Tot will begin to thoroughly examine the cell trying to find weak spots--bar corrosion, stones that are worn, patched floor boards, etc.  Note--just using his eyes initially.  If there is enough noise and distraction in the room, he would also like to get some info out of the non-snoring neighbor.

If the opportunity arises for some dialog without drawing attention to himself he will ask his neighbor:

"Totmacher wants to know what happens to "non-citizens?"

Totmacher is led into the cell, and then ordered to turn around and back up to the bars.  The big half-orc does so, and the manacles that had restrained the barbarian's hands behind his back are removed, as the cell door slams shut.  The half-orc favors Savin with a long, hard stare.  The alderman returns the stare with a steady gaze of his own, and then shrugs and leaves, remarking as he departs, "I go now to find the half-breed's companions...his fate is in their hands.  They are an unpredictable lot; you may wish to prepare for other detainees, if their methods continue to include murder."  With that, the alderman departs.

The guards who had escorted Totmacher to the prison leave with Savin.  The others gradually return to their tasks or their diversions.  The two guardsmen at the table take out a battered old tharls set and begin to arrange the mismatched pieces on the board.  The guard at the desk appears to be involved in some sort of paperwork, the quill pen scritching across the parchments in front of him.  The guard at the workbench continues his work with repairing the manacles, and the guard who had opened the prison doors lounges nearby.

The cell in which Totmacher finds himself is sturdily built of granite, with inch-thick iron bars set deeply into sockets in the stone.  An initial investigation gives the half-orc little hope that there are obvious structural deficiencies that he might be able to exploit.  As is almost always the case with fortified structures, the weakest point is the door.  However, the door is constructed of iron, the hinges are heavy and situatedon the outside of the door, and the lock appears strong--with a heavy, sliding bolt and a similarly heavy housing mounted on the door and the cell bars.

Totmacher looks over at the black-bearded man, who continues to stare morosely at the wall.  The half-orc asks, "Totmacher wants to know what happens to "non-citizens?"

Slowly, the man turns his head to regard the barbarian.  He blinks twice, and then replies in heavily accented Paldorian.  "They hang you."

OOC:  New gaol map is up on the site.  Sorry about the size...I think I changed the pixel dimensions somewhere along the line during the conversion to jpg process.

Forty-five turns of the minute glass past seven bells

What are the guards armed with?

What is the strength check to bend the bars of this cage?

where is the exact location of Tot's belongings?

OOC:

Typical guardsman weaponry consists of long swords, daggers, and short bows.  Some also carry saps or clubs.

DC to bend the iron bars is a 25 (in order for Tot to be able to squeeze out, normally the DC is a 24 as per PHB).

Tot's stuff:  tossed in a pile to the west side of the workbench.  One of the guards nudges the stuff with his foot and just grunts.

A muffled explosion and brief, faint flare of light spills through the narrow windows in the eastern wall.

"What th' ?!" the guard lounging near the door rhetorically inquires.  The man presses his face to the nearest window.  Peering out, he continues.  "Th' fuckin' square's on fire, looks t' be.  Mithras damnit."

The other guards turn to look at the one seated at the ramshackle desk.  "Nobody's goin' nowhere.  We sit tight, an' let th' others deal wi' this.  Orders, an' ye all know it."

Totmacher will listen for townsfolk yelling and the like as a result of the explosion.

23:04, Today: Totmacher of the Wilds rolled 16 using 1d20+4. Listen (w/mods).

If Tot does not hear anything, he will call to the guards speak with minimal inflexion:

"Totmacher requires sustenance.  Saving your residents from fire and certain death requires fuel."

If Tot hears people panicking he will call to the guards and speak with minimal inflexion:

"Hear the screams of your women and children?  Totmacher is here to save your town from Mithras.  Free Totmacher and you will all be rewarded for your heroism.  Totmacher cannot serve when caged."

OOC:  Ummm, Scott, Mithras is the chief deity worshipped by many people of western Paldor.  Totmacher's statement is sorta like saying, "Totmacher is here to save your town from God."  While there may be something to a statement like that, it makes you sound kinda like a crazy man when you say it from a jail cell.

Go ahead and make a Bluff check.

Cheers,
Kev
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:19, Thu 30 Sept 2004.

I guess my message did not take that I posted yesterday--

OOC:  Whoops...LOL--Totmacher was trying to imply that he will save the town from the evil infiltration--but that is ok...

00:36, Today: Totmacher of the Wilds rolled 14 using 1d20. Bluff.

The guard at the desk, busy with various parchments, doesn't even glance up as Totmacher makes his declamation.  "Nothin' doin'.  Yer a menace--y' killed one o' me men.  We'll bring 'im back, soon as we can get word to th' Sword an' get a cleric out here, but he's done as an active guardsman--comin' back from th' dead is pretty debilitatin'."  The man looks up at Totmacher.  "If Savin comes back an' yer friends ain't done th' job he wanted 'em to do, I'm talkin' to a dead man right now.  Savvy, half-breed?"

The man turns back to his papers.


OOC:  He rolled a natural 20 on the Sense Motive check, and there are significant bonuses (+10) due to the  nature of the Bluff.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:13, Tue 05 Oct 2004.

The sleeping man in the cell next to Totmacher turns on his side slightly, the loud snoring never ceasing for an instance.  The big barbarian can smell the fumes of whiskey arising from the snoring man from his own cell.  The black bearded man continues his sullen inspection of the wall, but begins to speak.

"It is of no use.  They are without pity or remorse, in this town of theirs."

The man turns to the half-orc.  "The caravan I traveled with was set upon and butchered, and only I was left to escape.  Not two days' from this...this...TOWN."  The man spits in disgust.  "And I came for help...only to be thrown into this place, because I am from Canile and they wanted to investigate the caravan disappearance.  I was there, but now I am a suspect...suspected of what?"

"Shut up, dog.  Ye'll be freed soon as yer story checks out.  Until then, enjoy th' hospitatlity o' Borderton's finest."  One of the guards playing tharls says this without looking up.

"And when is this 'checking out' to be, eh?  When will you investigate?"

The guard waves a hand negligently.  "When we ken get 'round to it, dog.  We're kinda busy right now, wi' th' fires an' all.  First things first, thass what I always say.  Why, I'd go so far as t' sayt that ye..."

"Shut yer yap, Tolly," the guard at the desk says.

"But I was jest gonna say that..."

"Fuckin' stow it, I said."  The desk guard's voice hardens, and the guard playing tharls does indeed fall silent.

Totmacher calls out to all:

"Totmacher does not see much "urgency" from this group in regards to the fires.

Totmacher is not quite sure how playing a game will address the issue at hand.

Lives will continue to be lost each passing moment Totmacher is unlawfully caged.

One of your own was about to set fire to a building.  Are you privy to that information?

Totmacher wants to know how many more snakes are silently waiting to strike from within."

If there is no response, Totmacher will finish with:

"Totmacher requires sustanance.  Defending your town requires fuel."

OOC:  Is Totmacher familiar with Tharls?  Is Tharls like poker or some sort of solitare?  Any change on the number of guards?

Totmacher says:
Lives will continue to be lost each passing moment Totmacher is unlawfully caged.

The previous statements elicited no response from the guardsmen, but the desk guard now looks up at the half-orc.  "'Unlawful'?!  Half-breed, yer up fer murder, dumbass.  An' murderin' a guardsman, too.  An' I know yer sayin' that Ulmo was settin' fire t' the stables, but that ain't fer me t' decide.  If Savin vouches fer ya, then we'll go from there.  But ya ain't goin' nowheres until then.  We're followin' our orders, an' guardin' th' prison an' what all's in it--includin' yer sorry ass.  Fer all's I know, yer in cahoots wi' Barbaras--ya look th' sort he'da met in th' Montvale dungeons."

The desk guard looks irritated, and speaks with a great deal of exaperation.  Upon Totmacher's request for food, the desk guard turns away and looks at the two playing tharls.  "Tolly, Reithrin, go check t' see if'n th' priests got th' prisoners' dinner ready, yet."  Grumbling, the two men get up from their seats at the small table, and head out the door into the night--drawing their swords as they do so.

OOC:  Tharls is a game played with pieces on some sort of board.  Roll an Intelligence Check vs. a DC of 12 to see if Tot knows what this game might be.

21:32, Today: Totmacher of the Wilds rolled 3 using 1d20. Intelligence Check.

Looks like Totmacher couldn't tell the difference between Tharls and a salad fork.

OOC:  Ok Kev, does that mean there should be only 3 guards remaining.

I would like to know the direction the guards are seated and their actions.  Tot is planning his escape.  If the guards are not paying attention to Tot, he will take 20 and bend the bars enough to escape.

OOC:
Hey Scott,

Yeah, it does mean that there are three guards remaining.  The positions are indicated on the updated Gaol map on the website.  The guard at the desk continues his work with the parchments piled in front of him, the guard at the workbench continues his work with repairing the set of manacles in front of him, and the guard at the door continues to peer out at the square outside.

You cannot take 10 or 20 on any action for which failure would have consequences.  Any attempt to bend the bars would draw attention to you in your attempt, and consequences would ensue.  Let me know what you want to do.

Cheers,
Kev