Game 7: The Jailbreak

While in the prison, Erik came and brought the party some armour he had been working on for them. Carlana reappears and they talk - she asks them to question the prisoners. They agree, and she leaves. #8 leaves to scout the immediate area to make sure nothing else unexpected happens - they've had enough surprises to do them for quite some time.

It was decided that they would question the prisoners one-by-one, starting with the youngest. Rufus led the questioning, but was assisted by Altus and Enbel. Echo had no interest, and allowed her mind to wander while the others occupied themselves with their task. Rufus led every questioning with the same line -

Rufus: "So... how long have you been a part of the plot to overthrow the government?"

Starting the questioning with the youngest prisoner turned out to be a good idea. The young gnome - known as crossbow - insisted that they had no idea that Graf and Taka were planning to attack Carlana, or mount a coup. At first, he even insisted that Graf and Taka couldn't have been the ones to attack her. But he relents as Enbel is quick to point out that Carlana had left Graf and Taka locked up, while they were the ones asked to do the questioning. Carrying out the questioning in the crowded prison was made private through the use of a magic item that Carlana had left with them - a cone of silence. Crossbow went on to tell the party about the exclusive 'group' that the prisoners had all been a part of. They were a group of 5 guards, and 3 army members that would meet up - usually on the 2nd night of the full moon - to escort Graf and Taka to certain locations outside the fortress. He assumed they were meeting someone, but they never saw anyone else. He gives them the list of who is on the team, when prompted by Rufus:

Crossbow, Zepor, Rick, Golden, Shuffels, Brickface, Bob, Hammond

Previous Members: Evron (Golden's Dad), Vincenss - both passed away.

All of the current members were part of the battle and are now incarcerated, except for one - Hammond. The party take this information in stride, but decide to continue interrogating the others, instead of searching through the town for Hammond. Next for questioning is Brickface, one of the army members. He lives up to his name and refuses to talk. The interrogation takes a turn towards torture as Altus gets in Brickface's face, and slaps him. Rufus threatens him, and Enbel and Altus join in mocking his sexuality - calling him homosexual as he has no family. Brickface is resilient, and refers to Graf as "The Boss". He won't give them any more information, except to assure them that there were only 7 in the group (going against what Crossbow had told them, since Brickface did not mention Hammond). Rufus questions the intelligence of lying to your captors, then sends Brickface back to his cell.

The next to be questioned is Golden. Golden is also a member of the guard, and he seems noticeably slow-minded. He tells them that he was a relatively new addition to the team, after his father Evron passed away. Rufus recalls the events of Evron and Vincenss' deaths, and is of the opinion that they were both natural and not as a result of poisoning of foul play. At this point, Altus and Enbel decide that they want #8 to take Carlana a message - but they find him outside the prison, inanimate. They can't get a response from him, or detect what has happened to him.

Completing their questioning with the 'underlings', there seems a fairly obvious split - the guards, who support Taka and seem oblivious to any possible underhanded tactics on Graf and Taka's parts, and the Army members; Brickface and Bob, who seem completely unphased by the idea that Graf was planning a coup. The group then decide to question Taka.

Taka is slightly taller than the other gnomes, although compared to the size of Altus, this was still not to be considered actually tall. He appears well groomed, as though he takes meticulous care of his appearance. This is in stark contrast to Graf, who is more advanced in age, shorter, and appears scruffy and gruff. Taka gives off the aura of a weasel - no real confidence except when hidden behind a row of loyal men. As such, he is in no mood to stand up to a disgruntled Shardmind, Kobold, and Wilden, and he is quite sure that the Mul daydreaming in the corner is not predisposed to coming to his aid either. He therefore opens up to them and is very receptive to questioning. He tells them that himself and Graf attempted to form a truce 10 years ago, but it didn't succeed - however 4 years ago they managed to. The goblins and gnomes signed this truce, and since it was believed that Graf and Taka were the leaders they took on that role - behind Carlana's back. Taka infuriated them - especially Enbel, who referred to him as a stupid second fiddle to Graf. Taka maintained that he had not planned a coup, or known that Graf intended to stage one, but he went on to say that either him or Graf would be a far better leader than Carlana.

Echo is stirred from her reverie as she notices cracks appearing in the walls of the prison. She draws peoples attention, and then they chain Taka back up and run out to see the cause. Rufus, riled up by Taka debates slaying him while he is chained, but then relents, perhaps out of honour - or maybe just deciding that executing a chained-up gnome can wait until they've dealt with the more pressing concern of the building apparently coming apart at the seams. As the first down the stairs and out the door, Echo is the first to see a large drake land near the town square. It touches down and fires a number of warning bolts over the heads of the party. It is mounted by a particularly venomous looking kobold, with a scarred face and patches of discoloured skin - the result of a life spent primarily in the company of drakes-in-training. The drake seems primarily concerned with destroying the front wall of the fortress, and is paying no heed to the prison which is standing between it and its goal.

Altus, Enbel, Rufus, and Echo rush into attack. Altus - ever the diplomat when entering into battles where he does not know the exact motivations of his opponent - pulled his punches, trying to appeal to the nature of the drake and make a new ally. However, the drake did not seem susceptible to this, appearing to be completely subservient to its rider. Also, the pair seemed to draw power from each other as they fought. Rufus was able to use his knowledge of drakes, as well as his kobold 'shiftiness' to get up close and personal and deal some damage. Echo rushed in, unafraid of taking a few knocks. Enbel hung back and attacked from range - her speciality. Noticing the drakes unwillingness to betray its rider, Altus decided that forcibly dismounting the rider was going to be his 'Plan B'. He successfully got onto the drakes back himself, and got into a slugfest with the kobold rider. This went back and forth for a few minutes, with neither combatant seeming to tire, until Echo - through with pleasantries and wanting just to be rid of this oversized problem- promptly set the drake, it's rider, and by extension Altus, on fire.

Not exactly flammable, but not fireproof either, Altus got off the drakes back. The drake and its rider were decidedly distressed at being set alight, and after a number of failed attempts to douse the flames, they flew off to the north, a flaming beacon of warning - not to mess with Echo when she's not in a good mood.

The group noted that there were no people in the town outdoors. No one was walking around, and there were no guards on the walls. Enbel was quick to ponder aloud the stupidity of not having a guard posted, regardless of the fact that Zanster's funeral was being staged. If it had not been for them, one funeral could have become many the next day. Supposing that everyone was at the gathering in the town hall to honour the life of the recently deceased Zanster Trickfoot, the party return to the prison. On arriving, they discover that Graf, Taka, Bob, and Brickface have escaped. The guards have been left locked up, and the female goblin prisoner -daughter of Tep has been beaten up. On talking to them, they work out that it was Bob that committed the assault. At this, Altus specifically decides that enough is enough. Everyone else is quick to fall in line with his opinion. He walks from cell to cell, opening them all, including those holding Tep and his daughter. They then march through the streets looking for the escapees. As they near the town hall, they see that it is on fire. They rush to break it open, and have arrived in time that there are no fatalities. Carlana has marshalled the people inside well enough that they aren't panicked, and they have been trying to fashion a battering ram when they are broken out.

Ranger picks up a scent, and Echo is quick to follow him. One gnome was responsible for locking up the town hall from the outside - and they could only conclude that it was Hammond. Ranger can read the trail of Bob, Brickface, Graf and Taka over the wall, but confuses the trail of Hammond. Without missing a beat, Rufus spiderclimbs up the wall, dropping a rope to Altus who then follows him. Echo and Enbel turn their attentions elsewhere, as there is a trap on the door of the water and power plant - obviously a ploy to prevent any attempt to stop the town hall from burning down.

Rufus and Altus make ground on the escapees, and catch up to Bob, however after some physical exchanges he takes off ahead of them again. A group of kobolds come down the foothills and form a line. All the gnome escapees cross it except Bob. Rufus and Altus think better of persuing. Bob then crosses the line and the kobolds retreat with the gnomes in train. Rufus and Altus make their way back to the fortress. In the meantime, Echo and Enbel (with the enlisted help of Erik) have used their wits and a welding torch to remove the trapped-door, and have brought it a safe distance outside the fortress. The immediate danger had dissipated. But what to do next?

*End of Game 7*