50 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Bound-wrist (Condition) Your wrists are tied. It is difficult to do anything with your hands.
Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.

Everything was pain, nothing was alright, and no matter how long he remained on the brink of madness from the sheer agony induced upon him, Cain could neither collapse nor adapt. It as a constantly fluctuating pain that made him sick to the very core of his being, tremors passing through his body erractically as his jaw hung loosely from his head. Nothing was alright. This wasn’t playing. Why was it all so serious? Why was it all so real? His thoughts looped over and over, but there was no answer. Only more and more pain as his dislocated limbs remained bound behind his back.

What sort of sadistic bullshit was this, seriously? These weren’t the overwhelming odds that he lived to surpass. This was just absolutely pure, undistilled suffering, a gratuitously violent exploitation film with no end goal in sight. A breath was released, an attempt to gather his wits and calm himself. The others in the room with him seemed to be alive, but his own eyes were still brimming with barely-restrained tears. How many were there? How many guards were outside? How could they escape?

Everything hurt.

That had to be the first problem to resolve, right? Until he could move his mouth, until he could think past this mind-numbing pain, Cain Darlite couldn’t do anything at all. His muscles moved to grit his teeth with determination, but fresh roots of pain shot up as wounds oozed blood, dribbling down the front of his mouth. He was blinded again, by pain that he could barely suppress. 50% health? That was so, so bullshit. It hadn’t even hurt that much when his legs were turning into ground beef by the club of a sixty foot troll.

But he had to focus. The magic of a Muse could be performed with more than incantations and hand signals, after all, and his legs had survived the one-sided slaughter almost unscathed. A deep, shivering breath rose in, and slowly, gently, his feet began to tap against the floor, rhythmically.

A soothing drum beat for the injured and crying. A solemn requiem for the dead and dying.

Action: Proficient Muse Group Heal. Priorities – Cain > Ursa > Aden > Aalam

 

50 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Bound-wrist (Condition) Your wrists are tied. It is difficult to do anything with your hands.
Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.


The pain he remembers the pain when Aalam came to it was the first thing that he recalled as it brought him to conscious. There was still a sharp pain that was digging into his shoulder the muscle was stiff, and the joint felt inflamed to an extreme degree. By the Gods on high, it hurt it hurt so much that he didn’t notice when Cain had woken up he was busy nursing his pain so Aalam did the only thing that he could until he was able to manage the pain. So he watched the door to his cell he saw when the guard came by to check on them one of the same bastards that had betrayed them in the first place. It was the same blank stare that he saw when one of them had ripped the bolt from his shoulder and leg. He had to block out the pain he had to focus he had to.. he had to. God his shoulder was on fire. His pain setting was set to realistic in every second since he had awake he regarded that decision

Focus block out the pain and concentrate that was the only way he was going to get out of here, he tried to speak, but his throat couldn’t make words. His voice was gone, and his throat was raw there was a chance he might have screamed until his voice was going, pain could lead to that to a man. Well at least he was still able to move they had bound his hands, but nothing else guess that they weren’t high up on a leis t of threats. Well, he would make the regret that as painful as possible but first things first. He needed to get out of these binding and find a way out of the cell.

Pulling himself and leaning against one of the cell walls the pain in leg was stopping from moving with any real speed but speed was the last thing on his mind. The floor tiles near one area of the room seemed to be unsteady if there was a possibility to get those up. He might be able to cut the ropes that were binding their hands, and there was also a slim possibility that it might make a decent weapon. He had to check do crawling over to the titles and trying to see what could be done.

Action: Investigation of the floor tiles

 

54 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Bound-wrist (Condition) Your wrists are tied. It is difficult to do anything with your hands.
Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.​

Ursula wake up with a sudden and quick gasp for air. Given her heavy panting, one could swear she just woke up from a nightmare — not like she just came to a better place, either. Her blue eyes quickly adapted to the dark environment, thanks to her more than enough experience with underground, cave, or ruin raiding. After trying moving her arms, Ursula realized she had none of her equipment on her and her arms were tightly bound behind her back. Great, as if wearing these rags wasn’t enough!

“Aye… Once I git the hell outta here imma pickaxe the shit outta these guys.” She whispered to herself. Ursula then checked her surroundings once more, seeing about three others locked in the cell. Though she w asn't quite sure how it happened, warm magic healed and soothed a bit of the pain she felt, thanks to magic one of the other prisoners casted.

After noticing a pattern in the routine of the guard and mage duo, she carefully used the wall as support and stood up. She approached @Aalam Abungu who seemed to be moving far too much for some reason and upon coming closer, she realized he was inspecting some unstable floor tiles — hopefully they could use those to break free of their bindings.

“Howdy, turn around mate.” she whispered, enough for him to hear her voice. “I'mma see if I can git one o’l these up.” Should their investigation conclude that they could make use of them, Ursa would try and get one of them high enough to give Aalam some room for attempting to cut loose his bindings.

Action: Help Aalam to break free of his bindings.

 

52 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Bound-wrist (Condition) Your wrists are tied. It is difficult to do anything with your hands.
Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.

At some point, the pain had overpowered Aden's thoughts altogether, causing him to pass out. Even after he woke up in this surprisingly maintained cell, he could still feel lingering phantom pains despite knowing that every bruise and wound inflicted to him was healed by the enemy's clerics. Their goal was only to cause pain and break the adventurers' spirits.

Upon inspecting the room, he realized that there were 3 other people who were held captive in this cell with him, two males, and one female. He was familiar with the two males, Cain and Aalam. The blonde girl was a complete stranger and while Aden would normally not readily trust strangers, he decided that this was an exception since she had clearly underwent the same level of suffering and torment as them. From the looks of it. he was the first to regain consciousness as well.

"Kuh..." the Arcane archer gnashed his teeth after he felt some pain while touching the scars his captor's whip inflicted on his back.

For the first time, he noticed that his arms were bound as well but he still could somehow access his palm menu despite this bound state. When he tried to logout, however, a warning message of sorts popped up in his UI, telling him that logging out at such a dangerous location would instantly kill him. Disappointed, Aden tried to explore what options were left for him.

How could he possibly help, though? He didn't have any skills that could immediately help his team. It was when he noticed one of the guards observing their cell that he came up with an idea. Using the clock feature of his UI, he would clock in whenever a patrol got near to their cell, starting with the torch-bearing guard that observed them. A couple of hours later, a mage with a bluish light doing some kind of gestures at the wall and passed by the cell without looking in. 2 hours later, the guard with the torch returned. With this data, he hypothesized that this was a set routine of patrol intervals undertaken by the torch guard and the blue mage every 2 hours. Those 120 minutes would be their window to make any attempts of escape.

"2 hours... the patrol comes back every 2 hours." he mused towards his allies if any were awake now.

Action: Observe Patrol Routines for 6 hours.

 

51 HP

MAX HP

48 EN

MAX EN

Bound-wrist (Condition) Your wrists are tied. It is difficult to do anything with your hands.
Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.​

Who knew working magic was such a chore? It was like swimming through pitch-black tar when you weren’t allowed to use your legs and arms, wriggling on and on in the darkness as your lungs filled with mud instead of air and everything burned all around you because some sadistic asshole decided to up the difficulty further by lighting the whole pit on fire. Everything was still terrible even as his magic filled the room, invisible strands of power weakly ebbing out of him as his feet tapped on and on. The vicious hammering that originated from his jaw lessened slightly, teeth beginning to bud through bloody gums. It was a different sort of discomfort now, but Cain could still suppress the tremors that sought to snatch control of his body from him.

Others could speak, could listen, could think. Aden figured out the guards’ routine, while Ursa was helping out a stranger remove their bindings. Close by, he heard the complaints of another as well, farther off. Food for the hungry. Ah, it’d suck if they were given food now, while he couldn’t even eat. With those thoughts in mind, the midnight-haired muse with a mouth full of copper and rust, shifted himself away from the others, focusing his magic on himself. It was just repetition now that the ‘song’ was underway, a consistent pattern of footstomps that matched the metronome of his heart as Cain continued to ward off the pain, slowly gaining more room in his mind for other thoughts.

As the healing continued, blood seeping into his flesh and bones fusing back together, the muse did his best to focus on the conversation that seeped into the wall behind him. His jaw should be fixed after this, even if his arms were still hanging loosely out of their sockets. If there was something important, he could relay it.

Probably.

It’d be terrible if the first thing he did after the pain ended was cry.

Action:
Major – Proficient Heal Targeting Self
Minor – Listening to chatter in the back of the cell (3)

 

55 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.

Ursula diligently continued to try and break off of her bindings. Eventually, the damned rope gave in and she could finally claim — albeit limited — freedom. Stretching her arms, ursula tried to deal with the pain in her sore muscles, mumbling to herself some slight complaints. Honestly, she didn’t deserve this kind of treatment. Yes, she was used to very cramped and dark environments, but wearing a prisoner’s rags was something no woman should ever get the taste of. Having none of her raiding equipment on her felt both annoying and unsettling. Albeit masked by the dark, her cheeks were slightly flustered.

“Aye, next…” Her eyebrows perked up as she saw a figure with a wild hair that seemed rather familiar. He tapped his feet on the ground and she finally connected the dots of the puzzle that lead to the conclusion; it was Cain. Ursula picked up her bindings and made her way towards the muse and tried her best to remove his bindings, along with the redhead’s. When she looked to the second man unknown to her, she remembered what he said about the time or routine the guard took to check them. “Howdy, redhead buddy. How long ‘til that creepy quacker gits back here?” she asked as she tried to remove his bindings.

Her eyes returned to Cain after she received an answer from Aden. “Hey Cain, ya been oddly quiet, ye doing alri--” She grimaced upon seeing the muse’s jaw. That probably hurt quite a bit, and she could only feel bad for his pain — she knew absolutely nothing about healing. Her attention quickly switched to Aalam, noticing something on the ground. Much to her chagrin, however, Ursula felt a powerful sting coming from her healed right arm that prevented her from checking anything worthwhile. Apparently, the creepy people healed them some, but not quite enough to allow comfort. After receiving some answer from Aden, Ursula sat down in her previous position and pretended to be bound by her wrists again.

“Cain! Git yer butt back here!” She warned the muse, “One of the creepy guys will be here in a jiffy!”

Action: Major — Attempts to unbind @Cain Darlite and @Aden
Minor — Pretends to be bound by the rope she managed to free herself from

 

51 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.​

Well it seemed that there would be a chance to use the edge of the tile to cut through the rope it was slow going it was doable it just took him some time. However, when they finally were off it was wonderful the rope was rubbing his skin raw, and he didn’t need that pain added to the pain that was still in his body from the bolts. However, now his hands were now free and it seemed that the female was working on the restraints of the others she was able to get her off quicker than his so there would be no reason to help her there.

Aden warning, however, meant that there wouldn’t be must time before the guard came back so it would be foolish to try and pick the lock. Even if there was time, he didn’t have any tools to with so that would be a lost cause. Maybe if there was a way to get that enchantment off of Cain he might be able to work some magic on the standard solider and get him to unlock the door but for right now they still had to get their hands free. However, as he tried to move his arms above his head, he felt the pain run across his chest from his shoulder. Well, that was going to be problematic until that healed he was going to be a terrible situation. However, he couldn’t let any of the other seem his reaction, will being the first and most important tier in the pyramid of survival. He was not going to rob them of any will, by letting them see him fall.

There would be time to wallow in pain later but now he needed to make sure he was working on something and still looking bound so that the guard wouldn’t notice too much. So he fixed his hands behind his back noticing that the tile he had used to cut the bonds had some writing that meant this cell held someone before. They might have left behind information that could help them to escape now or it could a bunch of nonsense. He would have to look closer however if there anything to learn from them. If scratching was nonsense then there had to be a reason that it was pried up and he would find that reason. Laying on the ground making sure that his arms were trapped underneath his body so that if the guard walked by with the torch then he wouldn’t be able to see that his hands were free.

Action: Action: Major — Attempts to discover why that tile is special.
Minor — Frees himself from the rope bindings

 

53 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Bound-wrist (Condition) Your wrists are tied. It is difficult to do anything with your hands.
Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.​

An hour and 35 minutes after the torch-bearing guard left, Aden could finally feel some activity from the other people inside the cell. Somehow, he could feel some faint healing magic at work, most likely Cain's doing. It wasn't enough to completely heal him but it at least alleviated some of the pain he was experiencing.

Then, the blonde woman came closer to him asking about how long they have left before one of the guards show up while trying to cut him loose of his bonds. Relaying the information he gathered to her, he also mentioned that assuming the mage with the bluish light is the one who returns for patrols, they would only have 2 hours of a window to try their best making their way out of the cell in fear of the torch-bearing guard noticing their bonds have come loose despite their best efforts at hiding the fact.

After having been freed from the ropes tying his wrists together, Aden stood up and roamed around the cell where he noticed one of the floor tiles were removed. The tile must have been what the blonde woman had used to cut them loose. Upon borrowing and flipping the tile, he would activate investigation mode to make out any details that stood out before doing the same at the area the tile originally covered. After finishing his investigation, Aden returned near the cell's entrance.

"I suggest that after you get Cain out of those bonds, we pretend to still be tied up when the next patrol comes by. As for what we can do to escape, you guys are free to investigate any possible leads we might have to get out of here. " said the red haired adventurer.

"In the mean time, I'll keep a look out when the patrol returns. When you hear me whistle, it means a guard is close by. Once for Mage, and twice for the Torch-bearing guard." he added.

Sure enough, when he spotted the patrol, he gave his allies the signal before pretending to still be bound by the ropes.If the patrol was the mage, he would whistle once, and if it was the torch guard, he'd do so twice.


Action:

1. Investigation of the tile and the area the loose floor tile covered.

2. Keeping a lookout for oncoming patrols and giving allies a signal when one is close by.

 

54 HP

MAX HP

44 EN

MAX EN

Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.​

Bindings free, Cain could finally add more layers into his magic, his arms clicking back into their sockets. It was a strange combination of healing and suffering, a flash of pain that gave him access to his arms again. An experimental flex caused a starburst of pain to reverberate from his core, but this was pain that he could fight through, at least. Just sensations, no real effect on his HP bar. Cain’s jaw was clicking together as well, resetting and reforming, teeth sprouting fully to replace what was lost. There were still the bloody gums and the incessant taste of copper in his mouth, but spitting pink-red saliva cleared his mouth enough. Cain pressed his palms against his eyes, wiping away the tears that had formed, and finally, finally, got a good look of where they were.

Well, the reality of what he heard and the reality of what he saw wasn’t very different at this point. They were still in a prison cell with another one adjacent. He still couldn’t make out the noises from behind the wall. But at least now he could smile, even if that agitated his loose-feeling gums. And at least now…now he could talk. As footsteps sounded, an eerie-eyed guard appearing to check up on the group of four, his dark eyes went from the guard to Ursa, whilst everyone pretended to be tied up. She had a rope. He had his magic. If things went south…

No, things won’t go south, and if they expended so much effort keeping them alive until now, so that they couldn’t respawn in a safer place, Cain was certain that these robotic bastards whose routines were like clockwork wouldn’t go out of their way to instantly kill.

They had some leeway then. Time to give it a try. His feet continued to tap rhythmically while his hands, held behind his back to feign being bound, clapped against each other as well. It was the most rudimentary form of music, but Cain was a mage, and even if each of those magical notes felt like mucus stuck in the back of his throat, the magician pushed on.

A solemn elegy for a kind dragon resounded in the dank cell, weaving a musical spell that caused its targets to fall into a slumber.

Action: Magically convincing this guard to go sleep via Muse hijinks.

 

51 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.​

It was a map by the Gods above there was a map to well at least this section of the prison complex. If nothing else it would help them to plan a way to escape or at least to find out where the others were imprisoned on this floor. He had to memorize it was a too valuable piece of knowledge to let slip through his grasp. However, with the guard coming, he couldn't let the others know what he had found there was too much of a chance that the grey-eyed zombie would overhear. So he would have to keep this a secret for now at least until the guard carried on with his rotation. Now that he had an idea where the guard was going there was reasoning that once he left this cell he would keep following the path and that would carry him out of sight of this hallway. Which would give them a window to escape.

However, it seemed that Cain had other plans he appeared to be trying to influence the guard in some way. Moving closer to the back wall trying so that Cain could do his thing there was something else that he needed to check out. When they were first thrown into the cell Aalam had heard something coming from the other side at the time it wasn’t important because he was looking into the tile. If he could just make out what was being said then he would be able to tell if they were friend or foe. If they were friends then they would require a rescue.

If Cain failed however and the guard came to teach him a lesson well at least he still had one good shoulder that he would use to put some force behind a punch. He needed whatever Cain's plan was to work there was a good possibility that the guard would have a pair of keys to each cell on this block. If he was able to get those keys they could get out of the cell and with the map that he now had in his head they would know where to go.

Well, a hunt is always fun even if it was in a situation like this, besides there was no cell in any world that he was going to allow to hold him.

Action: Major try to listen in to the conversation on the other side of the wall
Minor: Memorize the map

 

53 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.​

Nervous silence dominated the cell when the guard returned to inspect his captives. His blank stare felt like it was going through Aden's soul as the warden diligently tried to make out if anything was off with the prisoners.

They were in a tough situation right now. On one hand, while weathering the storm by waiting until the guard leaves is the blatantly safer route for the team to take, there was a chance that the guard could notice something off and everything falls apart for them and their chances of escape. On the other hand, if they want to escape quickly, taking out the guard and possibly retrieving the keys from him, assuming that he is carrying a set on him for at the very least, the keys of this cell but if they mess up during the process, then they would only land themselves into deeper trouble than before, possibly ruining any chances of escape for them altogether for a very long time.

Nonetheless, they needed to do something, one way or another if they ever hoped to make it out of this damnable prison. Inaction gets them nowhere, and the longer they are stuck in this cell, the more this seemingly routine questline escalates into a serious situation.

Cain seems to understand that as well, as he was surprisingly attempting to sway the guard in some way using his magic. However, Aden knew that relying solely on his tactic would not guarantee them a means of escape. Should his magic somehow fail to achieve the effects he desired, they needed some sort of fail safe to fall back to in the event that the guard snaps out of Cain's magic and retaliates against them

That was why Aden deftly positioned himself near the guard waiting for the results of Cain's efforts. If Cain manages to influence the Guard, then Aden would be ready to pickpocket the warden for the keys. In the event that Cain doesn't achieve this, Aden would use his Aeromancy to constantly remove the air on a small area around the guard's head in an effort to incapacitate him.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Cain." Aden thought as he readied himself for what happens next.


Action:

1. If Guard falls asleep then Pickpocket Cell Key; else

2. Use Aeromancy to suffocate and incapacitate Guard then Pickpocket Cell Key

 

55 HP

MAX HP

50 EN

MAX EN

Magically Sapped (Debuff) Your magic mastery is halved.​

A chill ran down her spine as she noticed that the guard had finally reached their cell. His eyes peered inside, trying to get information on their current situation. Ursula’s eyes narrowed down on Cain — she wasn’t used to magic, and probably would never be, but she could feel he would try and pull off something. Alright, if they wanted to take the risk, then so be it. She readied her ropes, along with the others’ once either the guard fell asleep or noticed a muse spell was being casted. In case the guard did not fall asleep, however, Ursula would quickly close the distance between herself and the cell’s door to assist Aden on his attempt at incapacitating the guard by coiling the ropes around his neck and pulling the guard against the cell bars to speed up the process of suffocation.

In case they were successful, Ursula would notice Aalam in the back of the cell looking intently at something. She approached, checking what appeared to be some sort of prison map. Her eyes scanned the crude information in it for use later.

Action: If Cain's sleep spell fails, assist Aden on his attempt to suffocate the guard. If successful, memorize the map.