Is it all a dream?

The world is a blur of color, light, and sound. Is time passing? You can’t remember who you are; you haven’t the focus to even know it. Everything is a swirl of minutes; stars swirl around you, infinitely distant yet immediate, so immediate—

You were only alone for a moment. Perhaps you were just around the corner from your friends and family; a doorway away from law and order and every aspect of civilization. But that moment was all it took.
As your vision began to blur, you felt arms wrapping around your torso, around your legs, around your arms—though that was impossible; you were alone. You fell backwards into darkness and the swirling vacuum in your mind.
Slowly, the colors faded, and the world began to reform, though you could see it only darkly, through a shadowed lens; your moments of consciousness weak and intermittent. You could feel something heavy and tight weighing you down, pressing in from all directions at once, though you could also feel wind against your skin.
Dim light; dancing shadows; the sound of heavy footsteps. And then, cutting through the fog—if only for a moment—the sound of a man’s voice. Cruel, contemptuous, self-satisfied; an aristocratic voice that seemed pulled from a distant century.
“Let us see,” you hear it say. You feel your arms suddenly hoised; some semblance of the physical world seems to settle in your brain. You feel fingers prodding along you experimentally; a callused fist grasps you by the chin and rotates your head. Your eyes might flutter open, or maybe you only imagine it, but you are vaguely aware of a man looming over you, examining you.
“Very good,” he declares. “The Ivory King will be pleased.” You fall back into the swirling void…

“Shame. Such pretty little things,” rasps a crude, hoarse voice.
“Shut yer’ gab. Don’t give the big man any pause to pause,” croaks another, equally hideous.
“I’m jus’ sayin’. Seems unfair, really. Why ‘an’t we ever get something…soft, y’know?”
A slap echoes.
“Arigh’, arigh’. Bleeding ‘ell.”
Wheels turn. You bump and jostle, becoming aware of warm bodies stacked against and over you. Like you, they groan quietly, struggling for consciousness.
“’Ey! They’re arousin’!”
“Not our bleedin’ problem. Keep it shut!”
Another slap rings out as you fade once more. For a moment—just a moment—you’re able to open and focus your eyes…
Towers and spires loom against a starlit sky. Gargoyles leer down from buttresses and bulwarks; a tattered banner hangs lifeless in still air. Its impossible to gain a sense of scale: is the yawning gateway before you as massive as it appears? If so, how do you explain the man-like figure outlined against it?
A wave of nausea overtakes you and the darkness returns.

***

The pale moonlight filters into this otherwise-dark chamber through a barred window, casting a harsh glow on the cruel machinery scattered about within.

Wine stains and the marks of heavy furniture suggest once this room was ornately decorated and heavily used; though surely for a purpose far removed from its present form.

The center of the room is dominated by a heavy wooden post, from which dangles a number of heavy chains and even-heavier manacles. Shoved against the walls are two pairs of low wooden stocks, and three iron-bound cages occupy the corner. The door is reinforced with bars and a heavy padlock, though it hangs unlocked.

A soft moan fills the air: the room is quiet, though perhaps not for long. Three figures are imprisoned here, two locked in the stocks, while a third quietly awakens, wrists chained to a post over her head.

Heavy steps begin to echo through the doorway. Someone, or something, is coming...
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:54, Sat 02 July 2022.

Agonizingly slowly, the world begins to reform around you.

You awaken in a small, dark room. The air is heavy and oppressive. Moonlight filters in from a barred window; the wall is stone, the floor is stained, ancient wood. There is a single door, and it stands closed. Beside it is a rack of old-fashioned keys, with elaborate brass teeth.

Abigail is the first to awaken fully, slumped against a post where he wrists are locked into rusted iron manacles; thick, stiff leather cuffs are wound tightly around her ankles and linked with a short iron chain. Yua and Lauren awaken next. Yua's wrists are loosely bound in front of her with rope, while Lauren's are chained behind her back. Yua is held in a pair of low, wooden stocks; Lauren lies curled in a low cage. Both are held fast with antiquated brass locks.

All three of you are barefoot, but otherwise wearing what you were wearing when you were abducted. Purses, backpacks, and anything of the sort are missing. While your minds are cloudy and your muscles ache, you are otherwise unharmed. You have no idea where you are, how long you've been unconscious, or who the people around you are; though clearly they are in the same predicament as you.

Heavy footsteps have been growing nearer and at last they are just outside the door. They pause at it, and then begin to retreat once more, each thudding step quieter than before.

There is a quiet pop as an ancient piece of wood gives way, and Abigail's wrists drop. Though still chained at the wrists, the wooden post in which they'd been anchored releases its grip on the metal ring. The sudden splintering is startling, but helps to clear the cobwebs from your mind.

Abigail is, to some extent, free.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:54, Sat 02 July 2022.

Abigail slumps to the floor, the pain in her ankles and knees exquisite from awkwardly supporting her weight for…hours? Her arms, in contrast, are numb, lifeless from being held above her head by the short chain that still connects them.

After a moment, she raises her head and begins to look around the dimly lit room, wondering where she is, how she came here, where are her shoes? She notes the two figures held in the—stocks? The place is a caricature of some medieval dungeon.

Hey, she calls softly, Hey! I'm Abigail. Who are you? And where are we? How'd we get here?

Lauren shakes her head in another attempt to clear the fog that surrounds her. An unfamiliar voice seems to be asking questions but she doesn't know what they mean. A glance around her clears things up a bit. She is curled up inside some kind of wooden cage. The voice that calls out to her comes from a very young woman like her. She sees her through the bars, her hands tied with a chain. "Where we are, I don't know. My name's Lauren. Help me out of here!", she whispers.
This message was last updated by the player at 13:12, Sat 02 July 2022.

As Yua slowly regained her consciousness, gradually coming back to her senses, the strange foreign surroundings she found herself in, triggered a mild panic attack. Stone walls, rusty iron cages, floors stained with who knows what, seemed so distant from the environment that she grew up in, that it made Yua's current imprisonment even more devastating. Deep and shallow breaths intertwined continuously, not really clear where one begins and other ends, until she heard the soft-spoken blonde teenager across the room.

"Hey..Hey, I am...Yua. I was about to ask the same thing. Can you...." Yua's whispering was cut short by The incoming footsteps. "Shhhhh" Yua tried maintaining her silence and relaxing her breathing as much as she could, until the mysterious figure has left their vicinity."We are not alone. Can you somehow let us two, out of here" She nudged her head in Lauren's direction, seeing that Abigail is less constrained once the wood has splintered away.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:10, Sat 02 July 2022.

It doesn't take an expert to recognize that the keys near the door seem to match the brass locks holding Lauren and Yua. Curiously, they're much newer than the heavy wooden devices. They almost appear...cheap?

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Abigail is free to move or act, but while her wrists are shackled it's difficult to do careful work with her hands, and while her ankles are its impossible for her to run. Lauren and Yua are imprisoned, with their hands similarly restrained. Lauren's are behind her back, making it extremely hard to do anything with her hands at all.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 17:24, Sat 02 July 2022.

Taking small, shuffling steps, Abigail crosses the room. As blood circulates to her arms and hands, she makes quiet hissing sounds at the tingling and prickling. Her legs soon work out most of the cramping.

She reaches into the cage and gently sets her hand on Lauren’s head. Be of good cheer for the Lord is with us. Give me your hands. she whispers. Then she gets to work on the knot that imprisons the girl’s wrists. Once the slender girl’s hands are free, Abigail studies the lock that clamps shut the two parts of the stock.

Turning to Yua, she gently touches her dark hair and says again Be of good cheer for the Lord is with us. She looks at the locks that secure the chain and stocks that confine the Asian girl.

Then Abigail shuffles her way to the key rack, peering at the keys. In the absence of any identifying tag, she plucks the likeliest candidates from their hooks and shuffles back to Lauren: Cup your hands.

Abigail drops the keys into the other girl’s hands.Once we have you free, you can try Yua’s..  Humming a hymn under her breath,  she begins trying each one on the lock, putting the failures in her mouth.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Sat 02 July 2022.

"Just please, please hurry up, I can barely feel my hands and legs" Being stationary for so long was not something that Yua was used to. The cramps have overtaken her body, and combined with malnutrition heightened her impatience further. While waiting for the fellow captors to liberate her from the stock, she repeatedly clumped her fingures into the closed fist and out, trying to get some circulation back into her limbs.

It doesn't take long to work through each of the keys. The locks pop open on the stovks and cage, freeing Yua and Lauren.

However, the shackles around Abigail's ankles and Lauren's wrists are held by a much smaller, more modern type of lock. There doesn't seem to be any matching keys in the room.

It is silent outside the door, and no light seeps under it.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Everyone is free! However, Lauren and Abigail are still hindered.

---

"Ugh....Finally...." Yua got back on her feet once she was freed, and immediately started doing a bit of stretching exercises she still remembered from the PE. "Thank you so much girls, I Was afraid I was gonna die in there, I hope I can return the favor", Yua reached for the bun on top of her head, which has lost its tightness from the hours of travel, and took out a black u shaped hair pin. "Lets hope this works..." She got back on her knees, hoping to set Abigail free.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Today: Yua rolled 95 using 1d100.  Sleight of hand roll for picking the lock.

---

"Thank God", Lauren whispers as she crawls out of the cage. With a pause, and looking at Abigail in th eyes : "And thank you!". Without saying anything more, she begins to search the room for anything that could be used as a weapon. She searches more on the surface (so as not to waste too much time), and tries to make as little noise as possible. She's looking for something like a tool (a hammer, a saw ?).

Abigail smiles at the others, Thank you, Lord Jesus, she says quietly, standing very still as Yua works on  the lock restraining her legs. If you can't get mine, try yours.

Twisting her body to see what Lauren is doing, she asks, What are you looking fot?

The tiny lock hobbling Abigail stubbornly resists Yua's efforts, and it quickly becomes clear she can't finesse the delicate mechanism. Curiously, the lock is far newer than the large, brass locks that Abigail previously opened. In fact, they look like nothing less than the small locks travelers often put on their luggage.

Nearby, Lauren glides about the room. Its difficult to see in the filtered moonlight, but at the far end of the room squats a wooden table, composed of crude wooden beams and bound with enormous square nails. A small, simple lantern made of iron and glass rests on it. A small reservoir holds a small quantity of yellow oil, feeding a wide cloth wick. You don't see any obvious way of lighting it. Beside it rests a small cloth smeared with similar yellow stains.

There's nothing else on or under the table, and aside from the various devices of imprisonment, there doesn't appear to be anything else in the room.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:57, Sun 03 July 2022.

Yua started chasing Lauren around the room. "Wait Lauren, Let me try your lock, maybe I will succeed this time." Once she has reached Lauren, Yua would start working on the lock. A bit frustrated from her recent fail, Yua hoped she could redeem herself by liberating Lauren from the debilitating . Once again she carefully slid her u shaped hair pin into the lock, moving it around with precision, just as she has done few seconds before.

"Go Yua, you can do it" Yua hyped herself up.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Today: Yua rolled 26 using 1d100.  Sleight of hand roll for picking the Lauren's lock. My Sleight of hand is at 40%

---

This message was last edited by the player at 12:18, Sun 03 July 2022.

This time, the lock opens quickly, with a satisfying pop. Lauren is entirely free once more. You get the sense these were not intended to stand up to much.

"Ah, finally!" Lauren sighs. "Girls, I don't know what dirty trick this is, but we need a plan to get us out of here!". As she says this, she cautiously moves to the door to stick her ear to it and listen to what is going on outside the room.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:36, Mon 04 July 2022.

Desperate to be free, Abigail looks about for something she can use to force open the little lock, something like a screwdriver.

While other girls are occupied with their own interests and troubles, Yua would come to the barred window, on her tiptoes if needed, trying to understand what lays beyond their imprisonment and which floor they are stuck on.

Abigail shuffles about the room, but finds little more than Lauren did on her own search. Whatever the chamber had once been used for, it seems it had been emptied prior to your imprisonment. Faded patches on the floor and walls suggest it was once lined with shelves and heavy furniture, but none now remain. Perhaps if you could pry one of the strange nails out of the table? But that would require having a tool to begin with...

The shackles are not particularly strong, though none of you are strong enough to break them by hand. Like the lock, the chain itself is relatively thin and narrow. The cuffs appear to be a thick, genuine leather, and would be slow but not impossible to cut through with the right tool.

Behind her, Yua is struggling to reach the barred window. With a slight boost, you're able to wrap your hands around the bars--strangely, there is no glass pane--and lift your head to the rectangular opening. The angle is severe and the window is narrow, but you're able to make out a starlit sky outside, and the nearby rise of a massive, jagged mountain. It's difficult to see the ground, which suggests that you're, for some reason, in a tower, quite high off the ground. The sloping terrain you can see suggests the entire building may be built into a mountainside; your prison is on the leeward side, giving it the appearance of exceptional height.
What little of the ground you can see is a carpet of moonlit treetops, though you think you can briefly see the flare of lights through the shadow. You don't recognize the area at all. You must be out in the country, somewhere.

Though you're immensely confused, your tired brain does make a conclusion: the moon outside is full and luminous, but that can't be, can it? It was definitely not a full moon when you were home...

At the door, Lauren hears nothing. You crack the door open experimentally, revealing a dark hallway. A heavy carpet runs over the center of the hall, helpfully muffling footsteps. To your right, it opens up into a broad room well-lit with a curious blue light; you can see what looks like machinery set up within it.

Two doors sit across the hall: one is open, while the other is completely boarded over, with nails driven into the doorjams. The open door reveals a dark room jumbled with furniture and lit by windowlight.

To your left, the hallway ends at an arched doorway. Orange lamplight floods out through the doorway, and you can see what looks like a table and chairs arranged near the center of the room; though the bright light is uncomfortable to look at after hours in the dark.

You still hear nothing, though you can see muddy footsteps tracking down the aged carpet. They run back and forth from the doorway you peer out of and into the well-lit room. They're troublingly enormous.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:33, Mon 04 July 2022.

Lauren looks at Abigail. "We won't find anything here to set you free. Maybe we should take our chance outside ? We must be careful, though. There are strange footprints out there.If one or both of you would like to keep watch, there’s a room across the corridor I’m tempted to go search.”

Upon analyzing the devastating sight which awaited on the other side of the barred window, Yua anxiously walked back to the two girls, trying to come to peace with the inevitability that the only way to freedom lays in the hallway in front of Lauren.

"That hallway seems to be our only way out of here. I just looked out of that barred window, and I could barely see the treetops how high we are. We must be inside of some kind of a tower of a castle which has been built on a side of the mountain judging by how far we are from the ground. And I am sorry I have to say this to you, but I don't feel like we are anywhere close to home. Yua said, trying to fight back the urge to shed a tear.

"If you want Lauren, I can keep my eye and ear out for any suspicious movement, how do you want me to signal you to hide or come back in? We need to have the plan ready in case the monster that has been leaving those footprints comes back in our direction."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:26, Tue 05 July 2022.