Adventures in Arajara
Adventure Journal
Session 4
Narwick looked around his cell. There was a wooden door with a small, barred window. Lower down on the door there was a small slot edged with metal that was used to give prisoners their meals. The ceiling and walls were gray stone edged with moss and slime. On one wall he noticed that many of the stones close to the corner were cracked. The floor was stone too, covered with bits of straw. There was a wooden bucket in one corner that gave off a bad smell. As he craned his neck around he felt a slight jerk on his arms as the bolt holding the chain to the wall gave a little and sprinkled his head with rust and stone dust.
He suddenly had some hope and strained to pull the bolt holding the chain out of the wall. After almost giving up he gave one last pull and yanked it out. Now he was getting somewhere! The chain was still manacled to his wrists but at least he could move around. He sat still and rubbed his hands until the sensation returned.
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Back at the campsite the four were collecting their stuff. Valennor went around to the other tents to look for anything of value. Suddenly they heard a shout from across the river. Everyone jumped up and looked at a lone figure staggering up to the other end of the bridge. It was Myryn! He collapsed before he reached the bridge and lay passed out on the ground. There was a quick discussion about what to do and then Bartley and Valennor walked cautiously across the bridge to help Myryn. He had been wounded and was faint from loss of blood. Valennor and Bartley carried him back across the river and Bartley began performing first aid and casting healing spells. After fifteen minutes Myryn had revived.
"What happened to you?"
"Where's Trodly?"
"Where's Narwick and Adia?!"
He held up his hand, "I'll explain as best I can. We went to the city and had no problem getting in. Then Trodly went to the keep to talk to his uncle, Lotherid. Then things fell apart. I guess his Uncle wasn't happy to see him and had him thrown in prison. Guards came for us too and I had to fight my way out... Oh wait! They're sending horsemen to attack our camp!"
Valennor and Bartley informed him that he had missed the attack and assured him that the horsemen were long gone. They also insisted that he lead them back to the city so they could rescue their friend.
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Narwick was exploring his cell. Particularly interesting was the cracked stones in the wall. He began pulling on them and found they came out pretty easily. Soon he had a good sized hole in the wall. It opened into a hallow space in the wall that extended for some distance to his right. Unfortunately it was dark so he was unable to tell if it went anywhere.
He started to pace around, wondering what to do next when he heard a guard down the hall say, "Bring out the prisoners!" He scrambled toward the hole and began pulling rocks back into place to hide himself. Then he started to move down the tunnel to see where it went. It was really dark and he felt the ground in front of him to keep from falling in any pits. Suddenly the ground in front of him gave way, he scrambled to grab on to anything he could find and ended up dangling on a ledge while clods of dirt fell and splashed into water below him. He couldn't get a good enough grip to pull himself up and the drop didn't look more than ten feet so he let go and landed with a splash. He came up flailing in the three foot deep water. After sputtering a bit he looked down the tunnel toward a grate that gave a little light. He had nowhere else to go so he began walking toward it.
He sloshed toward the light, scaring himself on the way with a length of rope in the water, and when he reached it looked up an access shaft that had a ladder running up it. The bottom half of the ladder had broken off leaving only three feet below the grate. He tied a loop in the rope and used it to climb up to the ladder.
Sewer rats had taken an interest in his activities and were jumping into the water from the banks and swimming towards him. He frantically pulled up the rope, kicking off the one rat that was hanging on. The he hurriedly unhooked the latch that held the grate closed and climbed up the shaft.
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Valennor and Bartley and company had reached the walls of Cathaw. Myryn claimed his wounds made it difficult to continue and insisted that he stay in hiding on the edge of the forest. The others agreed and went toward the city. Seeing people paying toll they decided that a better way could be found. So they scouted out the walls until they found a spot that wasn't regularly patrolled. Valennor used a rope to catch hold in a window high up on the walls. Then all four climbed up and into the city.
They hadn't walked far when Valennor felt a small hand reach into his pocket. He grabbed the thief up by the collar and began reprimanding him. The small boy was yelling and attracted the attention of two burly men standing at a doorway. Bartley suggested they let the boy go and leave. Frowning, Valennor agreed and gave the boy a farthing to make him be quiet. He ran off in a hurry.
Further on they asked for directions to the place prisoners were kept and were directed to the governor's keep just past the cathedral in the middle of the city. Soon they reached the keep. It was well guarded so Valennor suggested going up and talking to the guards. So he and Bartley walked up while Vaythien and Nydoregord hung back.
The guards were very unhelpful so Valennor and Bartley walked back into the street to think of another approach. A dirty beggar came walking toward them, his hands hidden under his shirt. Valennor was about to tell him to leave them alone when...
"Narwick!"
"Shhhhh!"
Whispering, "I just escaped from that keep! Don't alert them."
"Oh, okay. Maybe we shouldn't be standing out in front here."
"Yeah... There some sheds back that way we could hide in."
They began strolling off in the direction Narwick had come from. Just then there was a shout from the keep about an escaped prisoner and they had to restrain themselves from running.
Narwick led them back to an empty shed on one of the back streets. There Bartley attempted to magically create a key for Narwick's chains. The key was created, but it didn't fit the lock! Valennor then picked the locks and Narwick was free.
After deliberating what to do they charged out of the shed into the face of a guard.
Without much deliberating, Narwick and Valennor whacked the guard on the head and took his uniform, leaving him tied up in the shed. [Editors note: Bartley claims that Valennor actually bribed the guard with a gold soverign to leave them alone. Valennor replied that he would never part with money like that and it was actually a coin he found in the gutter.]
They went back down the shaft Narwick had so recently crawled out of. Their torches kept the rats at bay and they made it back to the cell without much ado. Valennor picked the lock and they snuck out and began searching various cells.
They're was a crash at the end of the hall and everyone jumped. The held their breaths as Vaythien and Nydoregord argued the blame in harsh whispers. Sure enough soon there was the sound of a guard coming down the hall. He took an arrow from Vaythien's bow, who was hiding behind the tipped over table.
The other three quickly ran to each cell and peered through the bars. They didn't find anyone until the last cell along the far wall. In it was a short older man, slightly overweight but with an eager, curious look on his face.
"Who are you?" asked Valennor.
"I'm... uh... Rhid," said the prisoner.
"Were looking for a guy named Trodly. Do you know him?"
The older man shook his head.
"Hmm... we're also trying to rescue a little girl, are you willing to help."
Rhid nodded and Valennor picked the lock on his cell door.
Narwick was standing near the door leading to the hallway, interrogating a wounded guard. Valennor, Bartley and Rhid came walking up.
"He says Trodly is being taken to be executed in the market square."
Narwick and Vaythien decided to return to the city and rescue Trodly while the rest continued to search for Adia.
The searchers walked down hallways as they made their way through the keep away from the dungeon.
"Okay, nobody else is here," said Valennor, "Let's look somewhere else."
They cautiously walked down the hall and took the first staircase on their right. Walking down another hall the ran into a group of women carrying a fussing child. Seeing the adventurers, the women screamed and turned to rush back down the hall. The child, a little girl, squirmed out the arms of the lady carrying her and ran toward the party shouting, "Daddy!" Rhid had broken away from the group and was running toward his child.
There was a lot of confused talk whipering.
"What?!"
"That's Adia!"
"Who is he?"
"We found her!"
"Are you the Baron?"
"We found her!"
"He's the baron."
After realizing that standing in the middle of the hall wasn't the best idea, the group rushed away too and ran into a bedroom, slamming the door behind them. After hearing no more noise, they peered out and seeing no one, started back down the hall.
They were headed toward another set of stairs - trying to reach the ground floor - when they rounded a corner and saw a pair of guards coming up the stairwell.
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Meanwhile, Narwick and Vaythien were approaching the market. Ahead Trodly was riding in the back of a cart - his hands tied behind his back. Narwick walked closer hoping his uniform would distract the guards long enough for him to get close. Vaythien moved into the crowd to find a place to use her bow to cover Narwick.
Narwick attempted to bluff the guards. He walked up and said "Halt the execution... uh... a prisoner has escaped. Everyone needs to return to the keep!"
Suspicious the sergeant shouted for a soldier to return to the keep and find out.
Narwick was feeling desperate when an arrow thudded into the wagon-driver's arm. He fell away from Narwick and rolled off the wagon onto the ground. Seizing the opportunity, Narwick jumped on the wagon an grabbed the reigns. The cart horse took off at a canter when he flicked the reigns. The sergeant kicked his horse to follow but was hit by an arrow in the back and he tumbled to the ground instead. As the cart charged for the gate, he pulled out his crossbow and shot the guard who was closest to closing the gate, giving the cart enough time to make it through before anyone else could get the gates closed.