(Neide gets 1 new xp.)

Lieutenant Aekins seems confident. She puts her hand on her swordhilt. "You'll have plenty of time to think about it where you're going. Move it, Neide. Now."

Neide felt panic building inside her. All of the options flashed through her mind: should she comply? Should she keep protesting? Or, maybe, she should try running away? But there was no chance of her moving past Aetkins...

No, she decided. She need to play this *smart*. And so, she took a deep breath.

"All right, Lieutenant", she said, trying to sound calm, "As you command"

She stepped into the cell.

Lieutenant Aekins seemed almost disappointed by the lack of resistance. She partially satisfied herself, for the moment, with slamming the steel bars of the cell's only entrance (and its only exit) shut with a CLANG. "There will be questions," said Aekins, "asked by me. And there will be answers. And there may be a court-martial... if you're lucky. I will have the truth of exactly how that Westerner got as far as he did without getting caught... And I don't think the consequences will exactly go well for you, my lass..."

Lieutenant Aekins sneered at Neide, and then left.

Neide followed Aetkins with her stare, as the Lieutenant was leaving - then, she retreated deeper into the cell.

With a heavy sigh, she sat down on the floor.

"Damn", she cursed in her thoughts, "This is bad..."

She needed to think of some really good explanation for what happened today. She needed to convince Aetkins that she hadn't helped Aden to escape. But she feared it wouldn't be easy...

She wondered if there would be anyone else aside from Aetkins listening to her explanations. Aetkins was out for her blood - but, maybe, Neide could find a more sympathetic ear..?

For hours, Neide sat in her cell. She was brought only bread and water for her supper. Lieutenant Aekins apparently decided to let Neide rot until Aekins was good and ready to deal with her.

(WIS check, please...)

13:25, Today: Neide rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,5.  WIS check.

Around midnight, there comes a sound.

pssssst

Neide slowly comes awake.

pssssssssssssssst

She looks around.

The soldier assigned to be gaoler is over there, very obviously fast asleep. But it's not him who's making the intermittent noise (thank goodness).

psssssssssssssssssssst

Neide noiselessly looks around further.

There's someone's head at the barred window.

Someone's standing outside the barracks, looking in at Neide through the barred window, trying to get her attention.

As the day passed by, Neide sat in her cell, waiting - and worrying what Aetkins might be planning for her. Eventually, after supper, she fell into a shaky sleep filled with unpleasant dreams...

... and then, she was woken up by someone whispering at her.

"Huh..?", she thought, her mind a bit cloudy after such an awakening.

She looked around and realized that the sound was coming through the barred window. Cautiously, she walked over to the bars and whispered back:

"Who's there..?"

"It's me... I'm the cleric of Veles who accepted the sanctuary of the Western bard... remember...?"

"Ah, yes!", Neide replied, surprised by the cleric's presence, "What are you doing here..?"

She eyed the guard outside her cell. She hoped he didn't notice anything...

The gaoler still shows every sign of being asleep.

"I have come for you, sister. Aden, the Western bard, was sure you were in danger, and frankly he convinced me, as well. It did not take much convincing, truly. I have come to free you, if you will have it so."

OOC: Paranoid question: is Neide seeing the cleric clearly? Is this really the guy from the temple of Veles?

(Yes, she recognizes him.)

"Oh... that's very kind of both of you...", Neide replied, surprised by the cleric's offer.

"I... don't really know what to say", she shook her head, "Do you really think I should run? Am I really in that much trouble..?"

She looked at the cleric questioningly.

"Aden has said some... scary things regarding what might happen to me. Do you think he's right?"

"In my opinion? I think you should run. I think you're in that much trouble. I think he's right."

"So...", Neide replied, "... you agree with what Aden said about the Church of Alara? I've served them for years... Now, it turns out they are bad people..?"

She shook her head again.

"I don't know what to think. This... is my life, you know? Is it all a lie?"

"It depends on who's in charge of a given regiment or whatever you call it, as I understand it... Some Alaran commanders are all they're supposed to be, I'm told. Some aren't. But the ones that aren't... those under them who don't follow orders...? Sometimes they disappear."

"As for your last question... Alaran soldiers have done a lot for queen and country. But sometimes their definition of 'lawful' is... rather... well, 'harsh' doesn't cover it. At all."

"And you think this is the case here?", Neide asked, "You think that I have no chance of getting out of this mess..?"

She sighed heavily.

"But if I run, I'll be a fugitive forever... This is not a good solution, either..."

"Your long-term solution is up to you. I am here to offer a solution to your immediate problems..." The cleric raises one eyebrow. "Where there is life, there is hope. When life is done... only the gods know."

"That's true...", Neide agreed.

She bit on her lip thoughtfully for a moment.

"Please tell me...", she asked, "If I decide to run and you get me out of this cell - do we have any plan for what would happen next? You won't be able to hide me in your temple forever... The same goes for Aden, actually. Would you be able to get the two of us out of this city?"

"Yes. Aden-- and you, should you come-- will go north. I will be coming, as well. This city is no longer safe for either of you-- Nowhere in Sefonia will be, for a time..."

"The North...", Neide sighed. Leaving Sefonia was not something she would be keen on doing. This country was her home...

Did she have any other choice, though? As she thought about it, Neide realized she didn't have one, not really. She had a really bad feeling about her chances of dealing with Aetkins' accusations successfully - also, considering what she had witnessed today, she started to realize that she just couldn't remain a part of Church of Alara...

"Alright", she said to the cleric, "I'll be going with you and Aden. But... how can I get out of here?"

The man smiles. "My dear. I serve Veles, the god of stone." He steps forward and pours some sort of oil all over and around the bottom of the barred window.

The bars are unaffected...

...But the stone and mortar underneath them turns to very wet mud.

Thanks to the force that draws things with weight to earth, there is, quickly, a growing mud puddle in the cell... and one three times as big in the alley outside, made up of the stones that were recently comprising the wall. Where they rested, there is now a hole in the wall that's four feet long and three feet wide, and growing.

The cleric extends his hand, to help Neide step out of the cell and into the alley.

"Ah... That's one impressive trick", Neide commented, as she looked at the melting wall incredulously.

Without wasting any more time, she took the cleric's hand and made her way out of her cell.

"We need to hurry", she commented, "I suspect that, when the people in the temple see this, they'll have no trouble guessing who did it..."

"A good point. Let us make haste. First, to the shrine, to get Aden..."