Piper looked about at who all was in the cages.  "I suppose we don't count the magician."  She commented of the dead man as she tried to get a head count from her vantage point.

"Does anyone have a mysterious mark?  Can anyone see one on the dragon man?  The scary lady was talking about that, but I don't have one, but maybe some of you do?"

Her line of thought was cut short as it turned out the strange man with the goblin wasn't going mad or trying to end his life by choking himself to death on his own pants in light of the potentially looming torture session he may be subject to in the near future.  Instead he had been perpetrating a rather clever ruse.

Desperately she pressed herself against the cage and stretched her tiny arms and paws to grab hold of the fabric with the intention of tying it to the bars of her own cage if she could.

Once the line was tied onto the cage, Hunter untied his end and began drawing the birdcage  gently and quietly towards him.

"Hallo there, I'm Hunter, and this is Jenkins. Don't worry, we will have you out of here in a jiffy" he said smiling.

"Can has eats mouse naow?" Jenkins asked, grasping the bars hungrily.

"No, you can't eat the mouse. She's our friend, she's going to help us get out of here."

"But you're going to *bzzzt bzzzt bzzz* and sparkies and fried roast mousies!" Jenkins pointed out, mimicking spasming death throes being electrocuted. "Delicious roast mousy!"

"Well fair enough, if she becomes toast crispy mouse, you can eat it. But let's hope that's not going to happen." He winked at the mouse and picked up the cage. "You'll be fine" He said comfortingly.

OOC: 16:40, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 5,11 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,(6+5)11.  notice. Inspecting cage.

Hopefully this will tell how to bust it open, and what to roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:20, Fri 15 Sept 2023.

[Private to Hunter Gallagher: OOC: Inspecting the cage you notice that most of the bars are made with a cold steel. While it might not be possible to bend them you could break them given enough time. You would need something to saw the bars down which will take time but is possible using something. In the dark light you can see some smallish rocks around the area that could be whacked against the bars until they get weak.]

Just as you are all talking a man walks in carrying a bucket of some sort with him. In he hand are a few bowls. Just like the big guy he has a hood over his face. His figure is rather cloaked so that you can't see what heritage he is. The man begins putting a bowl and a spoon full of food in front of Aeress's cage.

The food looks horrible but smells decent.

OOC: Pressing against the cage directly barely budges the bars cold steel. You'll need something else if you want to pressure them.

Aeress was in a thoughtful mood, she would solve this problem with her prodigious intellect!  She kneeled, trying to make eye contact with the cloaked figure.  Even if he didn't look at her, that would tell her something about how he attended his duties.

After leaving the food in Aeress cage it moves to the next cage with the dragonfolk. It bends down leaves the bowl and food behind but does not meet eyes with anyone. He gets back up and moves to hunter's cage. He takes two bowls out of his bag and puts them in the cage and leans down to fill both bowls.

As soon as the man opened the door, Hunter quickly reeled out the line to let the cage swing back into place. It had to be loose for Piper to untie the knot.

If she succeeds in untying the cord, he will swiftly pull it back into his cage out of sight.

"Hallo! What's your name? How long have you been doing this job? Are you happy here?" Hunter asked brightly when the man with the food came by.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:46, Fri 15 Sept 2023.

Piper held on as the cage she was trapped in swung, putting the whole thing at a rather awkward angle for herself, but at least she wasn't in danger of falling out.  Such a risk would make the end goal much too easy.

Staring warily at the goblin that appeared to have particular appetites, Piper gave a nod to Hunter's reassurances that there would probably be no consumption of her self.  Pre-mortem  at least.

"I'm Piper."  She squeeked out eventually by way of belated introduction.

Though whatever the plan Hunter may have been thinking up it was prematurely ended as the sounds of steps approached.

Piper clambered for the fabric and held on so Hunter could let the cage swing back into position before she undid her knot.

There was some straw on the floor but she hoped that, and the bit of motion in her cage as it slowly came back to a halt after being swung too and fro, would go unnoticed but the hooded man.

For her part, Piper buried herself in the remaining straw, just her tail poking out, content to stay in that position until the man went away again.

Rea watched quietly, not realizing she was holding her breath as Hunter pulled the small cage towards his cage. She just barely kept herself from cheering out loud when he got ahold of the cage, but remembered at the last second where she was and the circumstances they were all in. Once again wishing she had access to her magic, just being able to shift form and curl up on the floor would be nice, not to mention zapping that witch with a bolt of her own. But she couldn't do that without her fetish and she had no idea where that was at the moment.

Hearing the footsteps, Rea let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and watched forlornly as the small cage swung back and forth on it's chain. Cursing under her breath, she sent a glare over at the man that came in with the bucket and bowls. Sitting down next to the bars of her cage, she waited her turn to be fed, assuming this was probably the only meal they'd get that day.

Brightkin lifted his head as the door opened and watched the man come in start handing out the food.

He also noticed two of his companions, the mouse and the man with this little friend try to get their caged closer together quickly release the cord so the man didn't notice.

He kept quiet and took the bowl but didn't eat

When the request came out to know who was here, Kai reached a hand out between the bars, in a vain attempt to wave.

"I'm Kai. Not a wizard, so it isn't just magic users they're after."

When the bowl of food was slopped before them, Kai picked it up and gave a sniff, before placing a finger in to see if it was edible.

"Better than I expected. So, anyone got any ingenious way for us to break out of this place? As soon as I get my stuff back, I have a few choice words about this situation."

OOC: I figure thievery will help me figure out a way out of a cage.

14:37, Today: Kai Wasser rolled 5 using 2d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,3.  Thievery.
I didn't click Unique die, so I actually get to choose a 2 or 3...

So... no figuring out here!

While he laid on his back Brightkin studied the cage from that angle he then turned his head slightly and studied the junction between the base and sides joined..

He prided himself in getting in and out of places so studied everything he could see to try and work out if he could open the cage.

17:40, Today: Brightkin rolled 1,5 using D8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,5.  Notice

17:41, Today: Brightkin rolled 5,1 using D6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,1.  Thievery

The creature filling the bowls with food makes no small talk as he continues to move through the cages. He gets to Kai's cage and is filling the bowl when Kai is somehow able to slip his hand into the creatures pocket. Shockingly he doesn't find the key but that of a stone. You pocket the same stone thinking it might be useful and the creature does not notice.

He moves on to the other cages and repeats the same process. While this is happening Brightkin realizes that the cage has some sort of locking system but not one of standard locks. The key hole itself is less shaped for a key but something else. It appears that you can insert something similar to a key but sharp into the hole.

The creature once finished leaves the group to their own not making any movements or noise as he leaves other than grunts. He closes the door behind him.

Piper poked her head out after she heard the door closing.

Before returning to whatever plan Hunter had initially had before the guard had come in, she instead tried to get a good look at the cage itself.

She was mostly interested in any way that Hunter might be able to open it.

Either by physically breaking the cage, or accessing some sort of door that was out of reach of anything inside of said cage.


Piper rolled 5,3.  Notice

Aeress pondered options, but tried the slop first.  If this was going to work, she might need her strength.

She also very carefully examined whether any type of eating utensil was supplied.

When the man/thing left Hunter breathed out a big sigh of relief and visibly sagged. He waited a good ew minutes to make sure he was gone and not coming back before saying brightly: "Well, let's get started again, shall we? Fancy interrupting us like that. How rude. Jenkins, see if you can find me a rock about the size of your fist. Sharp is better. Go find one broken stones."

He began coiling the cord.

"Hello Kai," he called out. "Yes, I've got a couple of ideas. One involves Piper, our little friend here, and whether she can get to our stuff. Another idea, we'll how strong are you? Cam you lift the cage you're in? Can you push it? They aren't bolted down. If you could lift the cage enough to push a big rock under, assuming we can find one, you could get out. If we can push the cages together we could help each other."

He threw the cord to Piper's cage again, repeating as many times as necessary to get it to her.

OOC:
14:14, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 3 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3.  notice, looking for rocks. Does Jenkins roll one die or two?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:19, Tue 19 Sept 2023.

Pipers see much of the same as everyone else for the cage. There is a key for something sharp but less of a key and more like an object. You aren't sure how it opens but you know for sure that it's not a standard key. The structure of the cage itself is old and rusty but does seem strong for such an old thing.

Hunter tries grabbing some near by stones only to find that they are slightly out of reach from the cages themselves, if you could only reach a little further you might be able to grab one.

OOC: Jenkins rolls 1, not a wild card.

Hunter glanced down at the pebbles Jenkins had produced. "No,they won't do, they're far too small. We want one about head sized, like, Ooh, like that one over there! - and some fist sized ones."

"They are too far away!"

"Let me see." Putting down the line for the moment, Hunter tried to get the rocks himself, but they were just out of reach. He tried all kinds of contortions fo a while, but finally gave up. He looked around.

"Hey, Aeress! Can you reach those stones? Throw them to me if you can!"



11:23, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 2,2 using d6,d4, rerolling max with rolls of 2,2.  athletics - get rocks.

11:22, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 13 using 2d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,(6+5)11.  notice rocks

Does he see a head sized rock? Is it near anyone? Who?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:37, Tue 19 Sept 2023.

Piper finished her inspection around the time Hunter started looking for rocks.

"This cage is pretty rusty.  I think it could get broken with a bit of effort, but otherwise I don't think it's going to open without some sort of very special key."  She observed out loud.

OOC: You can see a few rocks that a located near the back of Aeress's cage and also to the right of Kai's cage.

Taking the stone, Kai looked at it. He could use it as a weapon? Or a tool?

Then, after Hunter shouted out to him, Kai replied. "I'm not especially strong, no. I worry if I try to push my way out, I could injure myself, or get myself trapped, and then when they come back, they will know something is up."

Once the conversation turned towards stones, Kai poked his hand through the cage bars, showing the stone he 'acquired' from their jailer.

"I did get this stone, when the food was coming round. Managed to lift it from their pocket."

"Do you see a keyhole on your cage?"  Piper asked Kai.

"Mine has an odd shaped hole that looks like it fits something, but not a normal looking key.  If yours does too, perhaps that stone fits?"

Seeing as nonprofit the other occupants were inclined to help him in his noble quest for stones so he could attempt to free the fair and lovely mouse, Hunter took off his jacket. He threaded it through the bars, and holding it by the arms, attempted to snare some stones and drag them within reach.

He succeeded only in dirtying his jacket and bashing his fingers.


Swearing mightily he kicked the bars in a temper, and then flew into a rage, pulling the bars, pushing the bars, trying to lift the cage.


13:24, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 1,1 using d6,d4, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1.  athletics, get stones.

13:36, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 5,2 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,2.  strength, try to lift/push cage

Aeress was surprised to be addressed after being ignored earlier, but she wasn't going to split hairs about it either.  She stopped her slop inspection knelt and crept to the bars.

"I will try, though I suspect my arm should not touch the bars."  She delicately extended her hand out.  The rocks could have multiple uses actually.

Brightkin sat in his cage looking at the others attempts to escape and felt useless perhaps he queen was right about him after all..... He was too small to reach out of his cage to get any of the stones so couldn't help in that endeavor

Hunter manages to move the cage but only slightly before the door opens.

Continue in Chapter 1: Scene 3: The rescue?