When you're Evil

[MrEdwardNigma]

OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153375)

The sun rose over the icy moors and glaciers of the northern wastes and announced a brand new day, even in Mordheim, prison to the most wicked of individuals and the foulest enemies of the state. Somehow everyone was feeling particularly vibrant today, specifically some of the prisoners, who had all chosen the same day to escape. To break out and once again reign terror on the six provinces, or perhaps even the world at large if they were feeling particularly ambitious.

The day began with a scream that, uncharacteristically, did not emanate from the dungeons...

Volpit
The body on the floor trembled a bit and then it gargled up a bit of blood. Volpit withdrew the stinger on his tail from the warden's back. The ring of keys jingled, dangling from one of his talons. The warden was the only of the highplaced residents in Mordheim that didn't have any magical wards about him, so it seemed proper for him to bite the dust first.

It was, however, an inconvenience that he was mostly a paperwork kinda guy. His office, where his corpse now lay twitching, was packed with filing cabinets, noticeboards and stacks of paper. There was an inbox and an outbox, but both had flooded long ago, overflowing onto the desk, onto the floor, and into the wastebasket. The most recent in- and outbox papers still had a tendency to float on top though.

The inconvenience wasn't that Volpit had needed to wade through a sea of paperwork to murder this guy (tricky as it was not disturbing the papers while cloaked) but that his function wasn't all that hands on. The keys stolen from the ward would open the cells on the first level, and the cells on the first level only.

There was a knock on the door.
"Sir?"
Volpit recognised the voice. It belonged to a particularly surly half-ogre guard.
"Permission to open the door, sir?" he barked.

Errant Slicer
His heartbeat sped up again. Along with the return of life to the body came nausea. Slicer doubled over and hurled all over the tiled floor. It wasn't so much the process of speeding up his bloodflow again that did this, no, he was used to that kind of tomfoolery, but the smell that filled the room was something else entirely. There were eight corpses piled up in the room that was known among the guards as the "rotroom" (officially it was referred to as the mausoleum).

Some of the bodies were prisoners that had died of malnutrition and hypothermia, but most had died more violent deaths. The oldest looking corpse had had it's heart ripped out. It looked as if the room hadn't been visited by the resident necromancer much lately, but Volpit had assured Slicer that Felix rarely ever raised all of the corpses, only as much as he needed to replace the ones that had broken in some sort of scuffle. Slicer had no trouble believing him. He knew for a fact that much more corpses were produced in Mordheim than were currently stacked in the rotroom.

There were sounds outside the door. Had the necromancer arrived? Volpit had promised the necromancer would show up today, after losing some skeletons in a poorly thought out escape attempt. Felix. Slicer savoured the name. He'd heard it whispered, just outside the massive metal door that separated the mausoleum from the rest of the prison. This meant he wasn't alone. Felix the necromancer was known for being a few spokes short of a ladder, but he wasn't the type to talk to himself. He went into long rants. It was his thing. It was why every single one of the guards in the place hated his guts. Still, they'd defend him with all they got. He was what kept the prison running. Him and that other one.

This meant there'd be a fight. Slicer was unarmed and except for a loincloth nude. He tensed his muscles as he heard the bolt slide off the door.

Teig
Every plan had a snag. He and the couple of former soldiers hanging out in the cell had agreed not to rat out Errant Slicer, so he could attempt to take out the necromancer, or at least escape, that alone would be a victory over the guards. However, they hadn't accounted for who killed the warrior. Slicer had been in the cell a long time, and he wasn't the type for suicide. The huge pool of blood didn't exactly spell out suicide either. So the guards had come looking for the culprit, and the former Anthrax soldiers had unanimously decided Teig killed him. The new guy got the blame for everything, it sort of made sense.

The normal punishment for this sort of behaviour would be torture, usually until death follows, but some of the guards had remembered Teig from his pit fighting days and had decided to make it a little bit more interesting. They'd cleared their cell, placing the old Anthrax soldiers elsewhere, and had surfaced one of the meanest killers in prison. The guy was a feral psychopath who lived for the fight and had been arrested after a long killing spree. He'd been foaming at the mouth as they dragged him in.

The idea here was pretty simply. Two guys enter, one guy leaves. The guards had locked Teig and the psychopath in the cell together and were standing by the sides, cheering. They were placing bets too.

Merikh
They'd dragged him out of his cell today. It was the first time in a very long while. While smacking him about with their sticks and boots and belts the guards had explained him that he was going to have some fun today. A fight to the death with another prisoner who'd been naughty. They'd dragged him off to the cell, tossed him in and slammed the door shut behind him... but not before one of the gaurds got the chance to slip him a dagger.
"I've got a lot of money riding on you, so you'd better win this, scum"

Merikh stood facing Teig. Two men enter, one man leaves.

Mucker
The situation was appalling. As agreed Mucker had sped to his secret stash to retrieve all improvised weapons, as well as the bits and pieces the imp had stolen from the guard's barracks, and had then started his rounds to arm the prisoners involved in the massive break-out conspiracy. His first stop had been Deitrix, who he'd supplied with a lockpick and a shiv, and his second stop would have been Lord Anthrax, right across. This is where he hit the first snag: Lord Anthrax quite simply wasn't there, as if evaporated into thin air, or escaped ahead of schedule.

The kobold had then gone on to the cell holding Slicer, giving him the okay to set his plan into motion, but holding out on weapons for now in case the guards would bother with a thorough search. If the alarm was sounded there would be royal reinforcements at Mordheim within the hour and there was no way anyone was going to escape with the royal guard breathing down their necks.

Then he'd run into one of the guards he had business arrangements with, and handed him the scrap of paper one of the guards in the lower levels had asked him to deliver. The guard in turn handed the parchment to one of the prisoners in the nearby cell and hid Mucker conveniently as guards passed by with Slicer's "corpse".

That's when he hit the second snag. When trying to return to the other cells he had found that a crowd of guards had gathered before Slicer and Teig's cell. They were having some particularly barbaric entertainment and didn't look like they were going to be leaving any time soon. What was worse, they were blocking the only corridor that led further down.

Mucker was now stuck in a small piece of hallway containing a single cell (with Norman Louis and Lion), stairs up to the first guardpost (these guys were actually thorough and nearly incorruptible, perhaps due to the constant presence of skeletal guards at the juncture) and some toilets. He was stuck here with two huge packs of weapons bearing down on him and with the knowledge that at any moment some guards that weren't on the take or, even worse, skeletal guards could walk by. Another matter of concern was that everyone was sort of counting on him for the big escape and if he ended up back in jail with characters like The Black Hat after having failed them he wouldn't live long.

Lion
The message had finally reached him, passing through the hands of several guards and that foul smelling kobold that strolled through the halls as if he were a guard and not a prisoner. In code the small scrap of parchment communicated a message from one of Lion's brothers, who were spread throughout the prison. The appropriate markings had all been made, now it was time for Lion to make the final mark, and the ritual would be set into motion.

Using an arcane ritual if you have no idea what it does is usually a bad idea, but already one of his brothers had been beaten to death by the guards while another had had his heart eaten out by one of the prisoners. This was not the kind of place you wanted to stick around in for too long.

All he needed to make the ritual work now was to ground spleen of a human. He'd been looking for options for a while in his cell, and he'd picked the perfect victim, a certain Darius, but he'd been dragged off by the guards, possibly never to return. Lion suspected it was payback for that one time when Darius swiped one of the bones off a skeletal guard. This left him with two options: Norman Louis, or one of the selfproclaimed men of the cloth that they'd stashed in their cell.

Norman Louis had only been in the cell for a few days and was therefore considered a fish, easy pickings. In addition to this it was already apparent that he was a selfcentered git with little interest in social contact with the other prisoners. The monks had been exemplary cellmates, making very little noise, being respectful and sometimes even sharing their rations.

Norman Louis
Norman was not content in this prisoncell. He'd been in solitary for a while as he was still talking to himself like a madman, but now they'd stuck him in with some other prisoners. He was getting quite utterly sick of them and in addition to that his execution was planned for later today. Seeing as most of the guards were distracted by some sort of brutish fight going on in the next cell (which was still quite the distance from Norman's cell and around a corner) this seemed like the perfect occassion to turn into a demon and wreck some havoc.

The Black Hat
Time tended to take longer when you were waiting for something, but this was getting ridiculous. Mucker was quite plainly late. Something had gone wrong. The Black Hat wondered why he didn't anticipate something going wrong in a plan hinging on a kobold.

Mucker left some time ago to put things into motion, now that for the first time in a long while things seemed just right, but he was supposed to already have returned from his stash with a weapon of some sort for The Black Hat. All he currently possessed was his little leather strap, and while nice, a professional killer prefers to have some variety at hand. To make matters worse cheers down the hallway made The Black Hat suspect that perhaps Mucker had been caught and was currently being quartered to entertain the guards.

"Gershwin!"
The Black Hat looked round, unfixing his gaze from the dim flickering lights in the hallway.
"Yes?"
"There's something wrong with the tunnel"
"The tunnel?"
"The thing the kobold dug before you decided on this plan. It's hidden beneath one of the bunks, but there've been... noises, sir"
There were some crackles from the direction of the bunks.
"Is it collapsing?"
There was a shriek from the direction of the bunks.
"I don't think so, sir"

Deitrix & Wulf
Initially the idea had been to free Lord Anthrax from his cell across the hall as soon as Mucker gave Deitrix the lockpick. However, the sly bastard was missing and she felt like having someone watch her back was a good idea, so she snuck on to the next cell, surprisingly several hallways from her own, and freed a tough-looking prisoner: Wulf.

They were trying to find their way through the nigh-impossible labyrinth that was this section of level one and ended up in ever darker and darker tunnels. At a certain juncture one of the prisoners spoke to them.

"Oh, free me, free me, I'll set you free!" he rhymed. Normally they wouldn't have time for this sort of nonsense (especially since a quick gaze through the feeding hatch confirmed that the prisoner was a bony old man with a beard stretching to his knees), but they briefly halted anyways.
"Quiet" Dietrix said, holding up her hand. There were footsteps, but she wasn't sure where they were coming from, back or front.
"C'mon now, be just, free me, you must!"
The rhyming was getting annoying, and she still couldn't tell where they were coming from, just that there were a lot of them.

Darius
This was disgusting even by Lord Darius Nietzsche's standards.
"Aren't you glad I got you a break from your cell?"
A shiver ran across Darius' spine.
"Get comfortable, why don't you, you must be relieved to get a break from those cold damp dungeons. A handsome man like you stuck down there? I can't imagine the atrocities going on there!"
Somehow the purple satin sheets he was sitting on felt less comfortable than the cold stone floor in his cell ever did. Darius' eyes dashed across the room, looking for some sort of escape, but most of the walls were covered in extravagant carpets and banners and the only door was locked, magically and otherwise.
"I'll pour us a drink, shall I darling?"
Somehow Cortex didn't live up to the expectations Darius had had of the archmage. Granted, he was quite obviously drunk, but it was hard to imagine he'd decorated the room while drunk and never bothered to change it. There were far too many teacosies, cute cristal figurines and fluffy bearskin rugs. As Cortex poured some of the red wine he'd gotten as a personal gift from the king into glasses for the two of them a slight breeze showed a window hidden behind one of the carpets. The one that had the unicorn on it.

"You know," Cortex said, offering Darius the glass, "usually the filthy loincloths the prisoners wear disgust me, but somehow it works on you"
Darius felt a large bulge in his loincloth. It was a bone he'd swiped from one of the undead guards.

Rexxus
He had his body back. He knew not what magics had facilitated this, but he had his body back, down to the last fleshy limb, and he was free. The massive door to his cell stood open, waiting for him to exit. Little for him to question the situation. Rexxus set a few paces and was almost surprised not to hear the loud clashes with every step he'd become used to in his metal prison.

The hallway was filled with doors like the one he had just exited from, in various forms and sizes, all shut tight. At the end off the hallway were some stairs up, from which a guard appeared, bearing a halberd.
"You!" he shouted, "You will not escape!"
He braced himself, unwilling to let anyone pass up.

The Shark
He had his arm back. A friend dearly missed, really. Imagine what kind of prowess he would possess with two arms, if he was already a masterfull fighter with one? What was more, the door to his cell stood ajar. There was a note stuck to the door, reading
"You're welcome
-Dad"

Curiouser and curiouser. Marius exited the cell and ended up in a hallway lined with metal doors, like the one that had so long imprisoned him. All were shut tight. At the end off the hallway were some stairs up, from which a guard appeared, bearing a halberd.
"You!" he shouted, "You will not escape!"
He braced himself, unwilling to let anyone pass up.

Zara Lasair
All of the sudden, without any explanation, reason or cause, the door to Zara's cell swung open. Beyond it two little men, inches high at the most, waited. They were bright and flickery, all made out of fire.
"Look Zara, we got you out!" one of them squealed happily.
"Aren't we the best Zara, aren't we?" said the other, almost dancing with joy.
"C'mon now, Zara, don't you want to go outside and play?"
They giggled.
"Follow us, Zara, follow us!"
The two little joyful fellows ran off, and Zara followed them out.

There was a hallway beyond the door, lined with doors. At the very end were the stairs up, and up these the little men climbed, helping each other mount every step, surprisingly rapid for their size. That's how Zara knew her little friends though, always much faster than anyone would ever think. As she approached the stairs, a man in guard's uniform appeared, carryign a halberd.
"You!" he shouted, "You will not escape!"
He braced himself, unwilling to let anyone pass up.

Lord Gigglenheum the Seventh
It was that time of the week again. Or, well, in fact they were late this week. Sort of inconvenient since there were rumours of escape and the last place one wanted to be tied down in such a case would be the tortureroom. It was such a bother, really, those weekly sessions. In the beginning it had been all sorts of horror, and even now, on Gigglenheum's weary old body, they managed to create a heck of a lot of pain, but the fear was just sort of gone. You got used to it.

Perhaps when the young king ordered to have the evil lord Anthrax tortured frequently so he didn't get too comfortable, he should have added "once a month". Were the little trips monthly affairs, then surely he wouldn't have gotten used to them by now.

The door opened and a flaky youth entered, wearing a long coat to absorb the blood splashed and two crimson gloves that had once been brown. Lord Gigglenheum was sort of surprised. He was used to getting his weekly torture from George, and this was a new face.
"George died" the rookie explained. Well, well, it only showed Gigglenheum was truly getting old. He was starting to outlive his torturers.
"A heartattack" the kid continued, "Uhm- they hired me to take his place"
He looked about the place nervously, finally finding the piece of equipment he was looking for.
"They told me-uhm- your nails would have grown back by now, so I thought I might pull them all out again? You know, to get started... And then maybe I'll put your fingers in the vice a bit? Did George ever do that? Uhm..."
He wiped some sweat off his forehead, almost cutting himself with the mean pair of pliers he was holding. He was clearly very new at this.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Marius the Shark

Looking down at his hands, his TWO hands, Marius felt better than he had in years. He flexed his right hand, then his left. His left arm was strong, which was odd, but it was not as powerful as his well honed right. He would need to work on that. Marius ignored the guard, though he made sure to not let too much of his attention drift from the man, he strode over to the metal doors and peered inside, getting a good look at the inmates inside.

[alexeduardo]

Yes, I supposse they would, would they not? George did that. Oh, did he ever...
You know, George was very wary of me...Rather scared fellow, was he not?
I think he carried a childhood trauma into the room with him...Yes, that must be it, must it not?
Go on, pull 'em out. One by one, like George used to do. It doesn't hurt anyways...
You see, young lad, I'll let you in on a little secret the court medics taught me...You see, friend, patients that are in pain are tied down, very much like I am right now, because that way the tensed body obstructs the blood flow, it doesn't hurt much that way...
George was a fool...all his life thinking he was giving me pain...such a waste, old George...
Anyway, go on and pull 'em, then you can go drinking with the halfbreeds, can you not?

[Savannah]

Zara Lasair

Zara stops a little ways back from the guard. "But I'm not trying to escape. All I want is to follow my friends," she says, smiling sweetly.

[Revanmal]

Rexxus Myrmidion

A dull thump echoed somewhere in his head. He could hear a quiet, rhythmic rushing of air nearby. He felt... chilled.

Wait. He "felt?" Looking down, Warrior King Rexxus began to slowly realize what had happened. That dull thump was the sound of the blood pumping through his chest. The rush of air was his own involuntary breaths. And he was cold. Cold. He could barely remember what it was like to feel cold.

He had all but forgotten what it was to feel. The darkness of his cell had been all he'd known for an eternity. But now, he was... free.

Free. Free free free. His beating heart swelled in excitement. FREE! FREE FREE FREE FREE FREEFREEFREEFREEFREEFREEFREEEEE!

"Freedom..." he whispered quietly to himself. The shouting guard and uother doors faded to naught in the wake of this revelation. This was another chance at fulfilling his ambition as he'd wanted to.

The guard with the halberd finally grabbed his attention. Nothing else had any meaning to him. If he wanted to get out, he figured he'd need a weapon.

"FREEDOOOOM!" he cried, charging the nervous-looking patsy without remorse. His body felt strong, as it had been in life. His muscles coiled and his joints glided like he'd never suffered an injury in his life. His mind sharpened and the world slowed down, his battle-hardened focus coming back to him like an old lover even after more than a century in the dark. He felt alive again.

[Kessler]

Errant Slicer

Slicer moved to one of the more decomposed bodies. He ripped away the remnants of the rotten flesh to get himself a bone, working as fast as he could, before his visitor would arrive. He broke his prize in two, making an improvised weapon for himself. Slicer tested the bone's sharpness on his own wrist, producing a small amount of blood. Some of it, he smeared across the top of the door and willed it into a single pool. At his command, it would drop on the head of the person entering the room, and he could move it to the opponent's eyes. That is, if he timed the drop right, because otherwise it would just splash on the ground and be pretty much useless. The rest of the blood remained in his hand and on the tip of the bone piece, to be used in the fight, according to the situation.

As the steps of the necromancer became heard, Slicer felt cold, recognizing that the necromancer had companions with him. The whole plan was insanely risky, without this additional complication. Before he spent more than a decade in this place, he never would have considered something so foolish. Unfortunately sitting it out, didn't seem like an option. The necromancer was the key and as long as he lived, Slicer doubted the escape attempt would succeed. And Slicer had to escape. He was too close to madness now. It would consume him, unless he escaped.

Slicer knew that he needed to focus on something other than the risks of the plan. There was something good in this insane escape attempt. He had a sharp weapon in his hand. Something that could pierce, cut, rupture the veins, let the blood flow. He couldn't indulge himself in his cell, not in the same way. This needed to be a quick kill, he couldn't afford the usual games. But the blood was about to be spilled and the thought set him on fire.

The necromancer wouldn't be fooled by his death act. So he'd wait at the door and strike the second dark wizard entered. And if it wasn't him, then it would be someone with a weapon. The bone was enough to kill someone in a surprise attack. A real weapon in his hand and his blood tricks might be enough to carry him alive through this. It is good that Felix rants so much. Not only it was a good warning, whoever is with him would be listening intently, pretending to give a damn, and certainly not looking around.

[CrypticOcean]

Volpit

Volpit recognized that dullard's voice from anywhere. Obviously the creature was one of the more dangerous guards in the prison, but he was also one of the least intellectually inclined. Even so, Volpit doubted that he could fool this guard by attempting to imitate the Warden's voice. Still, it couldn't hurt to befuddle the dolt a bit before making him suffer his Master's fate. He attempted his best impression of the Warden's voice, cleaning off his stinger to make sure he did not drip about when he took a nice killing position.

"No, you may not! Your stench could cause a walking corpse to gag, and your face forces me to consider your conception. I will not have another nightmare of your parentage! Begone!"

Satisfied with his response, Volpit hovered as high as he could near the door-frame, waiting for the creature to enter, so that he could drive his stinger deep into its throat (and perhaps burn it a bit just to be sure). He willed himself to become invisible, and tried very hard to keep himself from chuckling in excitement. The keys remained cloaked in his hands, clasped in such a way that prevented their jingling. He was certain that he would get the drop on this brute.

[WhiteKnight777]

Wulf

Wulf had given Deitrix a broad, hungry smile when she approached his cell and opened it, freeing him from heavy steel chains with links thicker than his wrists. It was an expression that never quite touched his eyes. Still, he was content enough to help her free the old man - for now. His eyes darted this way and that, and he sniffed the air like a hunting hound, trying to catch the faint, dry bone-dust scent of an approaching skeleton, or the heavier, living odors of a human - or, at least, humanoid guard. He glanced at his erstwhile companion, nodding his head towards the door.

"You going to open that thing, or do you need me to tear it down? I don't want to be hear when our break is discovered. It's been too long since I've savored the pleasures of freedom, and I'll be damned if I'm going back in that cell."

[WrathOfLife]

Darius

Darius swelled the wine around in his glass, considering his options. It was unlikely he'd be able to escape easily, but perhaps with a few more drinks he would be able to gain some advantage against the mage.

"Why thank you, and may I say how wonderfully your attire brings out your naturally charm." Darius smiles his most charming smile, then slides a finger down the front of Cortex's chest "Although I fear it hides your more natural beauty."

Rising carefully from the bed, Darius places the wine down and moves to walk around behind the mage, stroking him playfully as he does so. Just as he slides in around behind the mage Darius behinds to undo Cortex's robes/shirt as playfully and passionately as possible. Then as he pulls the robes/shirt down he stops just on the biceps, playfully trapping the mages arms.

Leaning in close Darius whispers into Cortex's left ear "You have a beautiful neck" while at the same time stabbing the bone shiv down hard into Cortex's throat with his right hand.

[ArlEammon]

Norman Louis

In the blink of an eye Norman transformed into a horned, red skinned, winged beast, with stereotypical tail, fangs and pitch fork. He began looking for any way to escape, and Gods help anyone who got in his way. He looked, of course, for any escape route. Any at all. Maybe he had to fly his way out, he didn't care.

[Lost Demiurge]

Mucker darts back and forth, almost panicking, looking for a way out...

...And stops, cold, in front of the cell with Lion and Louis.

He blinks at the huge, angry looking fiendish thing.

It looks angry. Hokay, hwee can uze dis.

Quick, too quick to think about it, Mucker snaps out a lockpick, opens the cell door's lock with a flick of his wrist, and backs up five paces, assuming a cowering position, the two large bags of weapons on his back jangling and incidentally, providing him a small barrier against horrible demonic claws. The way is open for the hideous creature that he just freed to go either way down the passage...

[Grimlock]

Teig stood in a crouch, watching his oponent through narrowed eyes. He flexed his hands and rolled his neck, losening himself up for combat. He shot a glance at the guards cheering and sneered at them. Idiots! Weak, pathetic wretches who look for glory but can't get it themselves. He gave flicked back to Merikh...Come on then! He snarled and rushed the other inmate and feigned a punch at his oponents head, to be followed by a savage blow to the ribs, hoping to break something and finish the fight quickly.

[Tyrandar]

The Black Hat

The blond lad heaved a sigh and wheeled on the speaking guard. "Tell me everything you know about this tunnel - where does it go, how wide is it, and what could possibly be crawling up from there." He walked a few paces around the cell, trying to get his blood flowing, then shot a glance down the hallway. "Hopefully they'll be too distracted by their bloodsport to notice whatever happens next. Give 'em hell, Mucker," he muttered under his breath, gripping the leather strap tight in his fist. He shook his head to stem his rambling, then turned to the soldiers. "What are you waiting for?" he whispered. "Go investigate. Because Mucker - the Dark Lady take him - isn't here to be blamed, so that just leaves you."

He offered a small, almost sweet, smile.

[BloodyAngel]

Deitrix Veshk

Freedom brought a wicked smile to her lips as she stalked down through the prison like a hnting cat, keeping low and quiet, ever aware and listening intently for the sounds of guards or the like. Something was coming. The brute could handle it.

Go. Kill. She told Wulf in rough, heavily accented common, I open this.

Crouching down by the cell, Deitrix set about it with her picks... working with precision and skill.

OOC Sorry it took me so long to notice this, and I'm a smidge confused. Is the old man Anthrax, or just some lunatic?

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Pawn to F4. ...I'm still not content we have to do this" the deity protested.
"Oh, please" the demon bellowed, "You've only got yourself to blame for this. You dropped the ball my old friend, dropped it badly. Bishop to E3"
"Still, I don't enjoy playing with you"
"Those are the rules, Trix, you know it as well as I"
"Oh, I know, and I stand by them, but you always try to cheat!"
The demon snickered.
"And you always catch me cheating"
"Yes, but I'm afraid some day I won't. Pawn to D6"
"No cheating this game, I promise" the demon said, smiling sweetly.
The deity laughed.
"As you always do! I'm pretty sure you're cheating as we speak!"
"Big words, but can you back them up with proof?"
"Hmmmm, not for now, but this whole prison break just reeks of tomfoolery. I still can't figure out how you're doing it!"
"My King will skip this turn"

Lord Gigglenheum
The kid was already fiddling on the leather straps holding Gigglenheum in place when he came to his senses.
"You were trying to trick me!" he shouted in his shrill voice, "They warned me you'd do this!"
Gigglenheum smiled innocently.
"Oh no, mister, no you don't! Not with me!"
The kid bit his fist and turned his back to Gigglenheum, but the lord could still hear him mumbling "Oh god I'd almost let him free"

He quickly swivelled on his feet and turned toward Gigglenheum again.
"You stay here!" he shouted, and then he dropped the pliers and backed up towards the door, "I'm going to take a break"
He then exited resolutely and bolted the door behind him.

Errant Slicer
The Blood Knight let some more of the crimson liquid flow with his new weapons and instantly felt faint. To produce the pool of blood by his "corpse" he'd already lost a lot of blood, and losing much more seemed like a bad idea. He stopped when he'd created a small amount and willed to the ledge above the door, where it would lay in wait to ambush any unwanted visitors.

Slicer flattened himself against the wall by the door just in time: it opened and a face appeared. It belonged to a guard, but his name soon became irrelevant as the blood poured into his eyes and the two boneshanks dug into his neck. There was a brief whail before the shanks cut through his vocal cords.
"Oh ****" the second guard exclaimed.
Errant Slicer was a bit surprised. He'd expected the one cohort, but not the second. Consequently he had no time to grab the dead guard's sword as he fell faceforward into the mausoleum. The second guard backed up, drawing his own weapon. At the very end of the hallway Slicer could see a man in black garbs slipping into a door.

Teig & Merikh
Teig rushed Merikh, distracted him, and then slammed him in the ribs with his knee, doubling over the psychopath. He heard something snapped and grinned. It seemed like this fight was going to be over soon and the killer wasn't putting up much of a fight.

Merikh crumbled into a heap and spit up some blood. Now Teig could see the dagger in his hand.

Deitrix & Wulf
The door quickly gave a click.
"Oh, thank you! This day you will not rue!" the old man proclaimed, never ceasing his rhyming babbling. At this point it was useless to shut him up since the footsteps had reached the hallway they were in.

Since Wulf possessed no special olfactory abilities, he had until now been unable to make out that it concerned skeletons, and not humans. Another surprise was that it concerned two regiments of them, and not one. One regiment approached from each end of the hallway, and it seemed the inmates had nowhere to run except the raggedy old man's cell.

The Black Hat
"You know as much about the tunnel as me, sir. The kobold built it in an attempt to escape, but he hit some walls and was forced to dig down. Then, when the tunnel began to flood, he abandoned the effort and instead started working on the new plan"
He paused, and then whispered "You know, the one that's being executed now!"
"What are you waiting for?" The Black Hat whispered back. "Go investigate. Because Mucker - the Dark Lady take him - isn't here to be blamed, so that just leaves you."

The soldier nodded and started moving one of the bunk with his mates, when something crawled out from under it. It was an overgrown crab, about as big as a dog. It angrily clicked it's pincers and took a snap at one of the guard's legs.

Mucker, Lion & Norman Louis
As soon as Norman transformed, the three monks shouted out in horror.
"By the flame!" one of them exclaimed, "A demon!"
"Stand back, foul beast!" another joined in.
The third wasted little time on words and threw a bolt of flame at the demon's face.

Norman howled in pain. Normally he had something approaching contractual immunity from fire, but somehow these little men managed to make it hurt a whole lot. In fact, their mere presence seemed to drain his strength. This, of course, explained why the imp had not frequented this cell to make these men a part of his conspiracy. Mucker wondered if it was still a good idea to open up the cell containing one angry demon, three even angrier monks of the flame, and a single innocent bystander.

Rexxus
Like the true warrior he was Rexxus charged the guard, and the guard followed suit. Rexxus grabbed the halberd he was charging with by the sharp end and tossed the guard over him with the strength of his own charge. The guard clashed into a wall as Rexxus took a better hold of his new weapon.

"You - won't escape" the guard said, still on the floor but already drawing a blade.

Marius
Marius peered in through one of the hatches meant for delivering food. Inside the cell he could spot a prisoner, but except for some outlines he was invisible in the darkness.

"You!" the guard repeated, "You will not escape!"
Marius ignored him and moved on to the next cell, where he was faced with the same problem: again the darkness in the room obscured the occupant. Suddenly Marius became aware of the guard rushing at him with the halberd.
"You will not escape!" the guard yelled desperately.

Zara
"But I'm not trying to escape. All I want is to follow my friends"
"You WON'T escape" the guard growled, preparing his halberd.

Volpit
"No, you may not! Your stench could cause a walking corpse to gag, and your face forces me to consider your conception. I will not have another nightmare of your parentage! Begone!"
"Whu-?"
There was a pause until the brute finally realised what had happened.
"Not even my boss talks to me that way!"
The door smashed open and the half-ogre stormed in. Volpit's tail shot out but the half-ogre grabbed it. He slung him into a filing by his tail, causing a shower of paperwork. Even a half-ogre has a lucky day sometime.

"What's all this then?" he said, somewhat confused. Then, for good measure, he slammed Volpit onto the desk.

Darius
Darius brought the shiv down on Cortex's neck as hard as he could. To his surprise it shattered, about an inch from Cortex's neck, as if an invisible forcefield was protecting the area. Strangely he had not been confronted with the same problem when stroking Cortex over his chest.

The mage turned around to face him.
"Oh, so you like to play it rough, do you?"
Cortex's arm swung round rapidly, and before Darius could dodge he was hit in the face by Cortex's fist. Instead of feeling a bony old man's knuckles though, he felt the same immovable, invisible wall that had stopped his earlier blow. Darius was knocked back, luckily landing softly on the satin sheets of the bed.
"So do I"
The archmage giggled.

[Lost Demiurge]

Mucker weighs the odds, and sees that none of the group in the cell seems to have noticed him doing his lock-pickery and prostrating.

He also sees that the demon is outnumbered three to one by priests who can throw fire.

Hwell, hi gave heem a chanz to esscape, an he didun tek eet. Ho well.

It is the nature of kobolds to seek the side with the greatest odds. And frankly, Mucker needed SOME backup to get through the guards, so that the rest of the plan could proceed. If the demon couldn't or wouldn't act, then maybe these fire dudes would work.

"Feer knot wholly men! Hi chall help hyu de feet de de mon!"

Mucker opens the cell door and pretends to stab the demon's leg. He whispers as he does so... Using his roguely skills to pitch his voice to the demon's ear alone. "Com hon! Get owt de door! Flee LEFT, kweekly!"

[Kessler]

Errant Slicer

The faint feeling in Slicer's head, after losing that much blood, almost made him pause before the second guard, but the exhilaration of murdering the guard gave him energy to move away. Fortunately he didn't let go of his improvised weapons.

The necromancer slipped away. He half expected things to go badly, but it still made him angry. Slicer feared the undead. That was one of the reasons he wanted the necromancer dead.

The situation remained the same - Slicer's superior skill and improvised weapons against the guard's healthy body and a proper weapon. The only way to kill was to have an advantage of surprise. A bluff then. Another trick from a time long ago.

The Slicer's eyes filled with blood and he screamed ''Get out of my head! Damn you mage!'' He flailed around with one hand and moved another, as if to wipe the blood from his eyes. If the bluff worked, the guard would believe him blind and vulnerable. He'd move to finish it quickly with a single blow. The Slicer, neither blind, nor vulnerable, would dodge the blow and finish him. His body could take a hit, if things didn't go as smoothly as he hoped. One wound for one measly kill. A very unfair exchange.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Marius the Shark

As the frightened guard charged him Marius turned contemptously toward him. With a speed beyond human means, let alone one who had been in a prison cell nearly unmoving for gods know how many hours, he slid to the side and grabbed the haft of the Halberd and twisted it aside, and grabbed the guard by the neck. He slammed him into the wall and spoke in a low, dangerous voice. "Whose in these cells, and do you have the key?" As he spoke, Marius was very careful to let his fangs be easily seen by the terrified guard.

[Savannah]

Zara Lasair

"You're making me mad. You won't like it if I'm mad. Let. Me. See. My. Friends." Zara's voice is no longer her normal friendly, girlish tone.

If for some strange reason the guard moves, she will thank him and walk past.

If not, she gestures as if to throw the guard aside, and a wall of flames envelops him. She then skips through and chases the fire elementals up the stairs.

[Revanmal]

With a triumphant laugh Rexxus swings his halberd in a flourish, taking up his favored pole-arm stance. He wields it in order to maximize his leverage and control, readying for his next attack.

"Escape will be only the beginning, knave. Thou shalt be the first of many to die by the hand of Rexxus Myrmidion! I will stain these walls with thine blood!"

Rexxus begins the Eight-Headed Snake maneuver, whipping the halberd's piercing tip and blade into a gale of deadly metal. Attacks fall upon the guard from seemingly every angle, the weapon in Rexxus' hands a blur.

[CrypticOcean]

Volpit

The brute had gotten lucky, and Volpit's diminutive frame was tossed about like a ragdoll. However, he had surprising resilence for his size, and what might have killed a mortal man merely left him dazed. He coughed up some black blood for good measure, just to clear up the internal bleeding in the organs. You always had to make sure to take care of your organs.

"Ouchies." Volpit croaked, his large, toothy grin growing even bigger, his sharp ivory teeth stained sable with his own blood. He extended a finger, placing it on the nearest part of his captor he could reach. His vision might have been blurry from the pain and internal bleeding, but the massive creature was hard to miss.

"I am afraid that this was your last day on the job. I am unsatisfied with your performance. You're...dare I say it...fired!" he cackled madly as he channeled hellfire through his body, into his finger, unleashing its unholy fury upon the entire form of the half-ogre.

[Grimlock]

Teig
He grinned at the sight of his opponent falling to the floor. The grin vanished when he saw the knife in Merikh's hand. Someone armed him! Who? Slowly, the grin came back across his bearded face. A weapon! he thought, revenge! Quickly he raised a foot to stamp on Merikh's back and finish the job. Die you f*** he snarled Then I'll take your knife and use it on the guards!

[alexeduardo]

As soon as the door was shut, he (whose name, for two decades now, has been LORD ANTHRAX) started shuffling in his place. He fought against the straps, hoping that the kid had loosened them, if only just a little.
If that did (or did not) work, he planned to reach for the pliers.
One never fully knows what might be of use to him later on, does he not?

[BloodyAngel]

Deitrix Veshk

Sizing up her chances, she eyed the two bands of skeletons... Her knife would far poorly against them. She flitted her gaze about to look for a more suitable weapon, improvised or not. A simple pry bar or even a heavy bit of chain would suffice. A plan formed in her mind. She waited until the skeletons drew near.


Go. Have fun. Dietrix said with a sadist's smile as she shoved the old fool towards the skeletons coming from one direction.

Turning quickly to the other, she darted towards Wulf, leaping from the ground to his broad shoulders with impressive balance and ability... and then leaping clear off of him, hoping to clear the mob or perhaps make it to a rafter or the like up above.

If Dietrix makes her jumpShe landed like a panther on the other side of the small unit of undead, and without even riding from a crouch, swept her leg out into the ones directly behind her, attempting to sweep them from their feet and acquire a good, blunt weapon. (If she didn't get one already)

With the undead now flanked, she lunged into them with glee, smashing skulls and spines with a malicious grin.

If Deitrix falls shortDeitrix muttered a soft curse as she realized the ranks of the undead were too deep. Still, fighting through one mob of them was better than two. She landed atop the nearest skeleton she could with both feet, tucking her body into a sharp roll and attempting to bowl through at least one other before she rose, picking up an errant femur that her first victim had been kind enough to discard as she did, and licking her lips, began smashing everything in sight.

She hoped the man she's escaped with moved in quickly to support her, as being encircled by foes made it difficult for her to use her agility to it's fullest, and she was in dire danger of being overrun.

OOC: Open to change by the DM, of course... but that's the plan. :smallbiggrin:

[MrEdwardNigma]

Volpit
A ray of hellfire poured over the ogre like hell's fury itself when Volpit suddenly, as the tide was turning in his favour, popped out of existence. He was rematerialised in a fiery pit smelling distinctly of sulphur. A wave of homesickness washed over the imp. He hadn't realised how much he'd missed it up until now.

"Volpit, was it? Ah yes, I've got your file right here"
Sitting across a desk from Volpit was a demon wearing a tie and some half-moon spectacles. He was staring down at a rather thick file.
"Not exactly an exemplary worker, are you? Tsk-tsk. Oh, and what's this, I see Bloodmoon's approaching. You don't have much time left to gather all those souls do you? How many did you need to get? Ten thousand? Hmmmm, and how many did you already gather? 73? Wow, for twenty-five years of work that must be the poorest number I've ever seen! My granny could get that amount in a week!"

The clerk buried the file in the desk again.
"You must be wondering why I called you here. Let's cut to the chase, The Forces That Be are having a little game and you happen to be caught right in the middle. If you do us a little favour, we'd be willing to extend your deadline by a month. Look at it as a month extra to enjoy the sweet life for all I care, because personally I don't think you're ever getting ten thousand souls at the rate you're going. So, are you interested?"

Lord Gigglenheum
A thin old man, hardly worthy of the title Lord Anthrax, struggled to free himself from his bindings in a ghastly torturechamber. He finally managed to loosen his right foot enough to lower it to the floor and pluck up the pair of pliers, which he then clenched twixt his knees and with a toss landed on his chest, then moving it to his hand via his mouth.

He now possessed a slightly loosened right foot and a pair of pliers. The flaky young torturer would probably soon recover from his first confrontation with the evil old man and return. Gigglenheum wondered what his plan of action should be, and if he needed any further preparations.

Errant Slicer
The guard was smarter than he looked, Slicer had to give him credit for that, as he ignored the ruse. He simply stormed forward, blade ready to pierce. However, his combat capabilities were less than Slicer had counter on. he easily sidestepped the guard and sunk one of the shanks in the side of his neck. The guard too dropped to floor, gargling.

Footsteps echoed off the stairs for a moment, and then silence came, as both the gargling and the echoes halted. Slicer was alone... for now.

Teig & Merikh
The pitfighter slammed Merikh back to the ground with a well-aimed kick. However, he was rewarded for his efforts with pain only. Swiftly the killer had stung Teig in his calf with the dagger, digging it in deep.

Deitrix & Mucker
Waiting one turn for other players to post, otherwise I'll deal with it.

Rexxus
Rexxus attacked the guard with one of his (in ancient days) infamous manoeuvers, and thereby made short work of him. The guard was soon reduced to a pile of rather bloody loose limbs.

Marius
Marius slammed the guard into the wall, holding him by the neck.
"Whose in these cells, and do you have the key?"
"They- must not escape!" the guard said, seemingly puzzled. He then stuck his blade in Marius side with all the strength he could muster (which wasn't very much, but still enough to do some damage).
"You must not escape"

Zara Lasair
The guard squealed as he was swallowed by the flames. His last words were something or the other about escaping. The fire quickly ended, leaving nothing but a blade and the tip of an otherwise very damaged halberd.

[Savannah]

Zara Lasair

Zara hurries up the stairs, looking for the two little flame creatures who had released her.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Marius the Shark

Marius snarled a hateful oath as the blade is driven into his side. He wrenches the half of the halberd with all the strength in his arm, and begins to drain the guards life with his very touch. This is not enough for him however, and quick as an adder he buries his fangs in the guards throat, draining the blood from his body to heal his wounds and give vigor to his limbs. When the guard is drained Marius searches his body for something like a key to the cells.

[alexeduardo]

Lord Anthrax, ever the tactician, attempts to cut his straps with the pliers, dull as they may be. However, as soon as the door starts looking like it's about to open, he twist his fingers in such a way that hides the pliers behind the back of his hand. Meanwhile, he puts his leg rigid as before and even tries to kick the straps so that it looks like it's still trapped.
Time for the old one-two, is it not?

[Revanmal]

With the guard safely dismembered and searched for any kind of key, Rexxus begins quietly sneaking along the passage and listening and knocking at the doors to the other cells to determine whether anyone else has been locked in the cells. Should he find a key on the guard, he plans to find a follower or two amongst anyone else who might be in the cells.

As he is doing that, he passes the room he emerged from, and Rexxus suddenly has an idea. He takes a detour inside to see if he can discover what became of his metal body. Perhaps if he could find some sign of it, he could discover what magics had caused his degeneration into a human.

He pauses slightly as he goes over what he'd just thought. 'Degeneration?'

Had he grown so used to his iron body he'd thought of it as an improvement? Or was it in fact truly superior, and his delight in his newfound senses just the nostalgia taking over? He isn't entirely sure, but does not let that stop him from continuing inside to search for the iron statue that used to be his soul's housing.

[WrathOfLife]

Darius

Wiping the blood from his mouth Darius smiles up at the Archmage. "Oh, I live for playing rough."

With that Darius grabs one of the satin sheets and hurls himself toward the Archmage, slowly at the last minute to drape the old man with the sheets. Given the chance, Darius will attempt run around the old man, entangling him with the sheets.

[CrypticOcean]

Volpit

Ah, it was good to be back. Aside from the fact that in spite of his stellar past record, one little screw up managed to make him fall from "grace". Hell was quite nice except for the fact that it was filled with people who hated him and would be quite happy to see him die. How he missed the smell of brimstone and the screams of the damned...

Although he did feel embarrassed about being grilled about his poor progress thus far. And a bit terrified. But mostly embarrassed. He conjured up a cigar and lit it with his thumb, blowing out a plume. He tried his best to act nonchalant.

"Erm, sure, yeah, what does the Big Boss want me to do? I'm completely sure that an extra month will be more than enough time for me to get the rest of those nine-thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven. Just tell me what I gotta do." he sputtered slightly, gaining confidence as he went along. He wasn't going to be afraid of some blasted paper pusher!

"I have just been testing the waters. I got a fool-proof plan that will damn more than my share! In fact, that extra month is probably not even necessary! ...Not that I won't take it! I'll just use it to get some extra capital for the Big Boss, he'll appreciate that, I'm sure..." he said deviously, certain that if he overshot his mark, he would actually be in a position to make a bargain for certain...benefits.

[WhiteKnight777]

Wulf

Wulf snarled, though his eyes flicked over the athletic young woman with a hungry fire therein. He gave her a predator's grin - getting a running start, he dashed sideways and up along the wall, moving swiftly for a few feet before coming down amidst the skeletons - he stumbled a bit, growling and cursing. He felt a tremble in his muscles. Supernatural his strength might be, but all the same he felt weak as a new-born kitten - at least, relatively. He began laying about with his fists, clearing a way through the skeletal throng to join Deitrix, seeking a way out - no point in fighting. There was no joy and no profit in killing that which was already dead.

[Kessler]

Errant Slicer

Slicer breathed heavily and moved to reabsorbed the blood he expended. He needed to move, before the necromancer set his servants on him. It would be futile to try and catch the fleeing mage - not enough strength for that and Slicer didn't knew the prison layout well enough to make a pursuit. Still, what now?

He could either try to flee, using other prisoner's escape attempt as a distraction or he could stay and help them. Not out of altruistic motive of course. The more of prisoners managed to escape, the harder it would be for the pursuers to catch them all afterwards. But was it worth the risk?
Slicer finished reabsorbing the blood and touched the cooling pool of the red liquid that spilled out of the guard. It was dead, unmoving. Slicer felt a pang of sadness and regret. Why didn't it move? Why wouldn't it flow as freely as his own blood? This sentimental feeling costed him a couple of seconds, and he truly had none to spare.

Slicer took the guard's weapon and quickly searched for anything useful, like keys and coin in his purse. A piece of armor would be useful as fell, granted he could put it on fast enough. If not, better to remain unarmored, but with no weight to slow him down. Flee or fight? Go to the prison gates or go back to help Teig?

In the end Slicer decided to check things out with Teig. Just as long as there were no undead between them. He could fight them, the undead abominations moved slowly and without skill. But he really didn't want to. If the necromancer set a group of undead, that Slicer couldn't dispatch in a few masterful strokes, then Teig and the rest could rot here for all he cared.

[Tyrandar]

The Black Hat

The blond sighed and made a brief mental note to tell Mucker off next time they crossed paths. While he had worked for a crab fisherman once before (it had made for cheap, covert passage and the pay was respectable), he'd never had to put down a crab without applying a long, sharp object to its ventral nerve, and certainly not an unrestrained one. As the crab lunged at one Anthrax soldier, The Black Hat dexterously sprung to the top bunk closest to the creature. Peeling off his thick leather greatcoat, he folded it over twice and gripped it tightly in his fists. He released it, aiming for the crab's eyes and claws in hopes of tangling it up for at least a few seconds. Then he dropped from above, driving into the creature with all one hundred and seventy pounds of his weight. Once back on solid ground, he fumbled beneath the coat for the crab's eye stalks, in hopes of ripping them clean off.

[ArlEammon]

Norman howled in pain. Normally he had something approaching contractual immunity from fire, but somehow these little men managed to make it hurt a whole lot. In fact, their mere presence seemed to drain his strength. This, of course, explained why the imp had not frequented this cell to make these men a part of his conspiracy. Mucker wondered if it was still a good idea to open up the cell containing one angry demon, three even angrier monks of the flame, and a single innocent bystander.

Norman
The demon got ready to charge. . . He forced his way past the monks, cutting them with his wings as he soared past them. Making a run for it, he hoped that he could escape them. In mere moments, was on all fours, scurrying like an animal, in a bestial looking display of speed, he was actually faster from the monks in running this way.

Fire, that hurts me. . ? Why? How? He wondered. Perhaps it was damned clerical magic.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Affer de de mon!" Yells Mucker, leading the charge... And hiding his grin.

The demon thing will run straight into the guards watching the cell fight, and cause one hell of a distraction. Easy enough to slip through, at that point.

Shouldering his two heavy bags, Mucker lets his pace slow down a tad. No sense in actually catching up to the damned thing.

[Grimlock]

Teig snarls as Merikh's dagger slices his calf and pivots on one foot, lifting his damaged leg out go the way. Continuing the movement he twirls and drops, slamming his elbow into the back of Merikh's head, hoping to crack his skill and force the man's face into the dirt, suffocating him. His other hand reaches for the dagger, hoping to twist it out of his opponents hand in the scuffle and conceal it from the guards...enabling him to use it on them when they let him out fo the cell.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Darius
Darius draped the sheets over the archmage and slowly entangled him in them. Cortex swore something in the most foreign of languages as he vainly struggled with the fabric.

This is when a small pyramid, seemingly one of many trinkets in the mage's lodging, started speaking.
"Mayday, mayday! Your claims of containing the country's most dangerous men with a thought rather than ten extra pounds of chain each seem to have been hubris, you old coot! Maybe you should have spent that funding on some unpickable locks or more magical crystals instead of more of those crystal figurines and Curgian carpets of yours!"

"Dammit, Cortex, are you there? There is a prisonbreak in progress! One of those pissants snuck into the mausoleum and thought I wouldn't notice, but he's slaughtering the guards in some of the secure tower levels all the same! Meanwhile I've got at least two brigades engaged in combat on level one and guards and prisoners are being snuffed out like candles on a rainy day! Get your goddamned apprentices down there to bring the situation under control because I have a nasty feeling my skeleton army alone won't cut it. Meanwhile, I'm sending out a squad to the contact tower. Let's see how those prisoners feel about escaping when the royal army's bearing down on them, eh?"

"...Cortex? Cortex answer me! I swear if you're not in your room at a time like this I'll have your goddamned head on a pike! It's imperative you send your apprentices down, you hear? If those lice escape and the army has to hunt them down for us it's our heads on the line!! If you make me take care of this myself your days frolicking about are over. Even if the baron doesn't believe me about your assinine negligence leading to this blasted disaster he won't have to think twice when he learns of the gross immoral conduct you've made yourself guilty of! Oooooooh, yes, I've got proof, my flamboyant friend!"

"-I've got company, I'll get back to you later. Remember what I said, Cortex"

Boy, the guards weren't kidding when they said that guy could ramble on. In the time he'd taken to make his little speech through the strange pyramid Cortex had been brought down to his knees and had, in fact, fainted from lack of oxygen. Darius now had free run of the room.

Lord Gigglenheum
Lord Gigglenheum had gotten about a quarter of the way through the leather strap on his right hand with the surprisingly sharp pliers when he heard the door creak. He quickly hid the pair of pliers in the back of his hand and gave the torturer a friendly look as he re-entered.
"I- uh -I decided you should be, like, punished for trying to trick me. So I remembered this thing I once read about in a Messath book on torture- a bit of an old thumbed copy from the lower reaches of the church's collection -which I thought I might try out. It's creative, and cruel, as you might expect from people from Messath"
He giggled, and suddenly the flaky youth seemed much less of a farce. He tied a piece of cloth around his forehead, explaining that it was to keep the blood out of his eyes. Then he took out a particularly mean looking cutting implement and bent over Gigglenheum's stomach to set to work.

Volpit
The bureaucratic demon gave Volpit a sceptical look.
"Testing the waters - I'm sure you have. Look, what we need you to do is pretty simple. You've probably heard of the former Lord Gigglenheum, AKA Lord Anthrax. We need you to make sure he makes it out of there in one piece, and while you're at it you may want to secure safe exits for as much as possible of the other scum as well. Once that's done we'll take care of the rest. Or well, we may call upon your services again and expect you to obey without being offered any further deals. You're still on our payroll, after all- proverbially speaking of course"

"Well, off you go"
The demon slammed his hand down on a big red button on his desk and Volpit poofed out of infernal existence again, only to reappear in the warden's office and be greeted by the half-ogre's fist. Volpit crashed into the desk again, this time simply splitting it in two. It seemed while that little burst of hellfire had done nothing to improve the guard's looks (in fact, far from it) it had only further enraged him, instead of killing him outright as had been hoped.

Norman Louis
The priestly pests were too much for Norman to take care of in such a confined space, so as soon as the door to his cell swung open (courtesy of a certain kobold) he chose to take the high road and fled. The monks dodged his passing blows and threw a few fireballs after him, making Norman happy to turn the corner.

The sight he was met with did not make him much more optimistic about his situation. As if lying in wait for him five guards stood outside one of the cells, together with about six skeletons. Power in numbers they must have thought, because while the average guard would have fled when faced with this type of horror, this bunch simply drew their halberds and attacked. Still, with the monks not having caught up to him, Norman wondered if he wasn't better off at this particular junction.

Mucker
The monks ran out into the hallway, throwing fireballs at the fleeing beast, but as soon as he dissapeared around the corner and they realised they were out of their cell, they seemed in doubt.
"Perhaps it would be a greater blow to evil if we were to abandon the pursuit of this soon-to-be-dead abomination and were to regain our freedom? Surely slaying demons is a much more charitable work in environs where the people they hurt are other than criminals?" one of them suggested. The other two still seemed hesitant.

There were sounds of battle around the corner. Mucker wondered if he should head into the fray in the cramped hallway or consider alternate options.

Teig
Teig's mighty elbow crushed Merikh's face into the rocky floor. Blood splashed on his already bloody claves. The psychopath was dead. Teig retrieved the dagger but soon saw there was no need to hide it from the guards, as they'd struck upon worse trouble. A demon had appeared in the hallway, probably some part of the grand escape scheme he was not informed of, and the guards were more than busy fighting off the abomination. Teig wondered how he would best make use of this development.

Errant Slicer
Trying to remember Volpit's description of the upper regions of the castle Slicer made his way down. He was going back to save an old friend, and was armed for the occassion. Two blades, one belonging to each of the guards he so quickly dispatched, hung swinging from his belt (also newly acquired). He realised he looked sort of silly, wearing nothing but a loincloth, a belt and some chainmail, but it was functional.

Soon Slicer reached a junction. As far as he remembered he could head further down here and pass through the guard's quarters before making it to the first level of the actual dungeon (passing through guardpost #1 on the way, a place where he'd certainly have to fight) or he could head in another direction entirely, making his way to the gate (where again he would be faced with a guardpost, guardpost #2). The only route he could think of not involving a guardpost led to the kitchen, but that was a dead end. He cursed himself for not remembering anything more useful.

The Black Hat
The Black Hat faced the problem head on, throwing himself at the crab from above to stun it and quickly following up this attack by tearing off it's eyes. the creature screeched and the soldiers cheered, seeing that the assassin would make quick work of it, but then the screeching was answered from below.

The hole the kobold had dug echoed with a screeching, a whailing and a shrieking that would drive even a legion of banshees up the walls. Three more crabs, each bigger than the one The Black Hat was facing now, crawled out of the opening. These were not just the size of dogs, but the size of large dogs.

Deitrix & Wulf
Deitrix mercilessly pushed the old rhyming man into the horde of skeletons. Despite him being locked up the section for dangerous (non-special needs) prisoners he didn't seem to put up much of a fight. He did manage to make his screaming rhyme though.

Deitrix then snatched up a chain the old man was inexplicably tied up with and with a running jump launched herself from Wulf's broad shoulders, landing on the other side of the crowd of skeletons. Wulf tried to follow by running along the wall, but tripped before he could reach the proper height, amking a hard landing on the rock floor. He managed to scramble up again before they reached him and put a heck of a pounding on the first few skeletons, but became aware that the second regiment would soon have him flanked. Deitrix, meanwhile, did her share by tripping up the rear end of the regiment and smashing into them with the chains, but the frustrating thing about these skeletons was that, no matter what you did to them, they scrambled back up.

Rexxus
The search for a key on the guard proved fruitless, and as did the knocking on the doors. No answers came from anywhere, even when there were vague figures visible in the cells. In all probability they were sleeping, or dead, or otherwise entranced.

Rexxus moved on to his cell to find it suspiciously sparse. There was nothing in there. Nothing at all. It was a square room hewn out in rock, an enormous room at that, but there were no traces of the body he had so long inhabited. It was gone. Rexxus wondered if he should really question the magic that gave him back his old body so gracefully...

Marius
The guard became limp in his hands and finally Marius let him slide down the wall, completely drained. He'd missed the taste of blood more than anything, more than his arm even. A diet of rats and bats had hardly been satisfying. He searched the guard in the hope to find a key for one of the cells, but came out rather dissapointed. Apart from halberd and blade the guard wasn't carrying anything.

Upstairs Marius heard voices. One of them sounded vaguely familiar.

Zara Lasair
As she mounted the stairs she became aware of water trickling down the steps, and soon it began to pour, not trickle. It became hard to make progress without slipping and falling, but Zara made it. She came to a short hallway after the stairs ending in a door. Water was streaming under the door and even slipping through the sides of it. There was also an embrasure in the hallway, through which Zara could see a forest outside, awash in her little friends. It was like the gardens of eden out there, flames playing everywhere, all over the forest, wrecking the trees, scaring away the woodland creatures. The forest was alight, and burned brightly into the night. Zara felt a strong need to get out there, but was she willing to face the room filled with water for that purpose?

[Lost Demiurge]

"Hokay!" Says Mucker. "Go to de raht, shuld tek yu howt soona ror layta. Me? I ghonna go faht de de mon. Gud lukk!"

Mucker digs in the packs, pulls out a shield hastily put together from a fragment of door and a few meal trays, lays it over his back like a turtle's shell, hunches over, and starts creeping down the hallway to the LEFT, toward and hopefully through the guards who are fighting the demon.

Hopefully he can get through unnoticed, he's only a foot or so off the ground...

[Grimlock]

Teig ran to the cell door and watched as the guards and skeletons advanced on the demon. Hey you! Beastie! he bellowed.If you can understand me it looks like you could use some help! Get me outta here and I'll even the odds some then we can both get out of this prison!
If any of the guards are standing close enough to the bars on the door, he will reach out grab their hair and slit their throat with the liberated dagger!
or
If they're too far away he'll wave his arms to try and attract the demon's attention!

[ArlEammon]

Teig And Norman
Norman, the demon, hastily ran over and tore the prison bars off. He turned around, and threw the bars at the gaurds. Before he roared and breathed fire on the enemies. Charging, he stabbed at the skeletal creatures, hoping to take off their skulls with a good blow. In the meantime, he would use his tail as an improvisational weapon.

[BloodyAngel]

Deitrix Veshk

Go! To many! The drow woman called out, lashing into the closest skeleton she could with her improvised weapon.

She already had a clear line of flight out, but disliked the idea of leaving the brute behind in case she ran across more along the way out. Still, she wasn't quite concerned enough for his life to rush in and get herself encircled. She would give Wulf a little more time to breach their lines and get to her before she hightailed it off on her own.

At the very least all the time it would take to bring the feral man down would be time they weren't chasing her.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Marius the Shark

Marius grimaced. Working quickly he took the guards armor if he was wearing any, and his trousers, but not his shirt. No need to be mistaken by a guard by some maniac if he could avoid it. He took the blade and the halberd, but he snapped off most of the halberds handle, to leave him with a long handled axe to be held in his right hand and a knife in his left. This done, he headed for the place the guard had come from, in hope that he might find some sort of keys in his guard post, and maybe another guard to sate his blood thirst awhile longer.

[Savannah]

Zara Lasair

Zara hesitates at the top of the stairway, chewing her lip. After a long moment of consideration, she makes up her mind. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," she mutters as she swings the door open.

[Grimlock]

Teig
Startled at the speed and strength of the demon. Teig paused a moment before he realised the bars were not there. He screams out a roar and dives through the hole left by the demon. thanks ya big red bloodthirsty bastard. Now let me hold up my end of the deal. Teig heads for the nearest guard and ramshis dagger into the guard's neck. If this is successful he will take the guard's sword and wield both attacking the nearest guard or skeleton. If the guard still lives he'll cut his face off! And then get the sword. Come on then! Who's next?

[Revanmal]

Rexxus
Rexxus' divine providence suddenly seemed somewhat suspicious (heh, alliteration). His metal body had disappeared for no discernible reason, and he had somehow been made flesh and bone again while noticing nothing. One moment he had been engulfed in darkness and immobile, the next he was free and human. Something was wrong.

Was this an illusion? Was his mind being controlled? Was this some kind of dream?

The warrior-king shook his head. He needed to figure this out, and needed a clear head. First things first...

Rexxus smacked himself in the face. If he felt pain, this might be real.

[WhiteKnight777]

Wulf

Wulf gathered his strength, drawing inspiration from his ally's own maneuver, he grabbed the nearest skeleton and used its shoulders as a vault leaping upwards and dancing over skulls and shoulders - never daring to do more than push off of each skeleton, leaving many of them collapsing as he leapt from one to the other. As he came to the end of the crowd, he stumbled, skinning his knees on the rough stone floor and crashing through the last few skeletons in the mob, joining up with her. He gave her a cunning, knowing look that belied his seemingly brutish nature - an expression full of evil cheer. "Glad you're so concerned about me, lady." he said with a soft chuckle as he began to move swiftly down the hallway, feeling his muscles groan in protest from months of inactivity.

[Tyrandar]

The Black Hat

Blood pounded in the blond's ears and his lungs pleaded for air. Adrenaline surged in the Black Hat's veins, slowing his thought processes and clouding his judgment, but only for an instant... Wild blue eyes snapped in the direction of the cheering onlookers and the assassin bit back a curse. In the mere seconds it had taken him to disable the beast, he had acted with preternatural agility and speed. The baron's allegations would be far more believable now that several guardsman had watch him maim a living creature. The crustacean's agonizing scream snapped him back to reality, and the Black Hat saw several more crabs, even larger than the first, crawl out of the tunnel. There was no point in maintaining the farce any longer - whichever prisoner was waging war on the guards would have no interest in a wrongfully imprisoned loverboy.

He scanned the advancing creatures. While they looked no smarter than the first scout, the Black Hat was skeptical that he would be able to dispatch three creatures in the same way. At least - not without sacrificing a limb or digit to their deadly claws. Waiting for just the right moment, the blond jumped to the far bunk, his eyes fixated upon the tin jug sitting merrily on the sill. If his honeyed words couldn't get him some help, at least he could make enough of a racket to draw someone's attention.

[Kessler]

Errant Slicer

Slicer slowed his steps. The rush of killing was still tingling in his veins, although he felt a bit weak, from the effort. But
not weak enough to prevent him from slicing more humans.
Slicer cursed silently at his poor knowledge of the prison layout. Perhaps if he talked with the imp more, but then again he disliked the creature and left Teig to handle the talks.

He actually hesitated at the intersection. What was the best option here? If he walked through the guard quarters then he could bleed out the guards at the first guard post, then return to the kitchen for a snack and provisions, then the guard post of the gate. This option certainly maximized the killing involved. Slicer giggled softly and blinked. He never giggled before and that worried him. He sighed looking at the door leading to the kitchens. If he could trust the others to break out on their own, he'd probably head there and stock on provisions. But that would take time and the guards could get whatever riot the others should have stirred by now under control.

Slicer moved to the guards quarters, taking his time to catch his breath and if possible, sneak on anyone inside. There could be useful things there. He tried to listen to the noises coming from below, to determine how well the break out attempt was progressing.

[BloodyAngel]

Deitrix Veshk

Deitrix flashed her feral companion a disjointed smile, like one might expect from a hungry cat.

Ha'shyiah! Worth more not dead. She said, leaving the skeletons behind her as quickly as she could. Her sensative eyes scanned the dimly lit hallways, looking for a way out of this hellhole.

[WrathOfLife]

Darius

Quickly tying the Wizard down with more sheets, ensuring that he's fully gagged, blindfolded and restrained in an uncomfortable manner, Darius starts to search the room.

He looks for weapons, magic items, good clean formal clothes (that he changes into) and any sort of map or blueprints.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Teig & Norman
Deals were made, an unlikely alliance struck. Together the demon and the pit fighter made quick work of the guards (though the altogether confusion, screaming and fountains of blood did prevent them from noticing a small kobold sneak by).

Only one of them was still breathing, though heavily. The guard was stuck to the wall, impaled on one of the bars that had originally belonged to Teig's cell. Teig took his sword without remorse, and a belt as well, to sheath his two swords and dagger.
"You'll... pay for this" the guard muttered, splatters of blood wobbling down his chin.

The options for escape seemed pretty straight forward. They could either retreat to where the living demonrepellants were last seen or continue deeper into the dungeon, where alarming shrieks and the occassional scream were to be heard.

The Black Hat
Climbing on the top bunk turned out to be, in retrospect, and extremely good idea. The wave of crabs had not ended at three and their numbers had increased to about eleven. More were pouring out of the tunnel every second. The soldiers who had not been smart enough to join The Black Hat in his little climbing expedition had found themselves forced to fight the beasts, but very ineffectively so. They were soon reduced to mangled bits and loose limbs and a whole load of screaming and blood. This was the cost of killing two crabs with improvised weapons such as wooden bowls and the tin jug.

The situation seemed pretty much hopeless when suddenly a familiar figure appeared in the hallway. Ducking beneath a large shield was Mucker, kobold extraordinaire.

Mucker
Aaaaah, home sweet home. Mucker arrived back at his old cell, hoping to be temporarily rid of the madness and violence that seemed to have taken over the whole dungeon, but alas, it was the same story here. His cell seemed to have filled with crustacean horrors who were quite hostile, if the loose limbs lying around were any way to judge.

His old buddy The Black Hat and two of Lord Anthrax's old soldiers sat desperately atop one of the bunks, waiting for miraculous rescue. Of course, the question was if Mucker really wanted to release that torrent of crabs?

Darius
Darius swiftly tied up the mage and left him there helpless, his discomfort ironically caused by his satin sheets. He then begins to search the room.

The room is a veritable treasurechamber for trinkets, though Darius is unable to make heads or tails of most of them. One notable exception is the small gray pyramid, whose use is clearly longdistance communication. Engraved on the front of the pyramid is an ear, with a small hole drilled in it. Specifics on how it works aren't included.

Formal dress is easily found as the wizard owned a quite expansive wardrobe, ranging from ball robes to exotic meditation robes. All of them have a very wizardly ring about them though.

Weapons are a bit harder to come by. Cortex's collection includes some primitive weapons consisting of reeds and sharpened rocks (a pointy hatchet, a double-headed spear which seems about to break and a club with fishteeth on it), a poker for the fireplace and a talking sword.

Exitwise there appear to be two options: the locked door and the window. Neither seemed very appealing.

Slicer
The guard barracks consisted of a piece of hallway with three rooms bordering on it: a dining hall, a sleeping hall and an armoury. Up ahead were stairs down to the dungeons and some stairs up leading to another bit of bafflingly confusing architecture. Comparing this place to a maze wouldn't do, it was more confusing than a maze.

In any case, the door to the sleeping hall was open, with several (read five) napping guards inside. Just as Slicer was quietly making this observation three monks came running from the dungeon's entrance. One of them was wounded, dripping all over the place, and none of them seemed to be concerned with being quiet.

Deitrix & Wulf
Lost somewhere in the catacombs these two were bravely (if not valiantly) fighting off a horde of skeletons. Wulf, eager to get to the other side of the crowd, tried to imitate his companion, with rather disasterous results.

It was about when he tried to leap off the second skeleton that Wulf noticed that leaving his gut open for an attack from the thing for whatever brief time he needed to make the leap was not a good idea. The rusty dagger the skeleton wielded cut through his flesh, making him roar with pain. Blood trickled from his well formed abdomen.

A hole in the skeleton's lines allowed Deitrix to grab his hand and pull him out of the mess. Both having reached one side of the troupe, they ran. Deitrix soon spotted a dim light in the distance, but not before Wulf's nose picked up the subtle ocean breeze. They smashed through some wooden panneling and found themselves on a ledge, outside the big fortress called Mordheim.

Beneath them, however, about five floors down, awaited icy death in the shape of the freezing, crushing waves of the Kirigg sea. The ledge ran on for about ten metres, covered in frost most of the time, only to then reach a dead end near a boarded up window. Escape was not quite the way to name this new development.

At least their current position offered them a nice vantage point. The sun was crawling downward to the horizon, where it would be met by a line of floating icebergs, and high above them they could spot one of several towers of the castle, it's tin roof shining in the sun. When the skeletons inevitably popped up from the hole in the wall, at least they'd die with a nice view.

Rexxus
Punching himself in the face had the expected result: pain. However, his new awareness and general paranoia did seem to bring about a new view of his environs. Rooms seemed to stop existing when he wasn't looking at them. Details seemed to shift. Rexxus wondered if it wasn't all just in his head. What if these thoughts were costing him the precious time he needed to escape?

Marius
Marius equipped himself (sad to find no armour on the guard) and headed upstairs, where he'd heard the voices, hoping to find some keys or a guard to kill. The voices grew louder as he climbed the stairs.
"He will escape, you'll see. He'll make me proud"
This was the vaguely familiar voice speaking.
"You're a fool, old man! Nobody escapes Mordheim!"
This was the other voice speaking. It sounded strange. Distorted. Somehow Marius couldn't quite focus on it.
"You underestimate him. And me. You should have realised insulting a vampire would be bad for your health"
There was a brief silence, and then the second voice spoke again, this time in a gurgle, as if he were dying.
"Let's see him get past this room then!"
The vampire laughed loudly, there was a thud of a body falling to the floor and then the noises ceased. Marius stood in front of the door, doubting whether to open it.

Zara Lasair
Zara opened the door, only to be greeted by a shockwave of water. lacking anything to hold on too properly, she was washed down the stairs, bashing into various walls along the way.

Somewhat bloody she crawled up again. The stairs had now turned into a waterfall, but at least the door was open.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Wew!" Says Mucker, coming into view and straightening up. "Yu wuld knot buh LEEV de trubble ai hadda tek caer uv to-"

He breaks off, and stares at the flood of crabs.

His one-eyed glare whips to Black Hat. "Wat da hey yu do to mai tunnel? Wear yu get all deze crabz from?"
He sighs, and breaks out the bags of weapons, using a short spear to pass shivs, homemade hatchets, and other toys through the bars, grumbling all the while.

Once it's done he sighs, pulls out a cigar stub, and lights it, staring morosely at the horde of pinchy crabs.

"Well... Hai Gezz hai can open de door an runn bakk, let de de mon frie em hop. Yu gyze hokay wit dis?"

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Marius the Shark

The mercenary paused at the door, it certainly sounded like a conversation about him. This was an awful confusing situation, but if Marius had learned anything as his years as a mercenary and a pit fighter, it was that bravado, tenacity, and a sheer will to survive could get him through tough spots. Tensing like a big cat, he slowly opened the door, ready to pounce or turn into mist if need be. He would be prepared for whatever was on the other side of the door.

[Savannah]

Zara Lasair

Zara shivers and pulls her wet clothing tighter around herself. A small halo of fire appears around her body, drying the parts of her that are not currently in water.

Once she's as dry as she can be, Zara scrambles up the stairs against the flow of water and through the door.

[Revanmal]

Rexxus

With a shake, Rexxus tries to clear his head, only to realize the hallucinations he thought he was seeing are not going away. He was seeing things, or this was some kind of dream. Not that it mattered. He'd slice his way out if he needed to!

Recovering the guard's weapons from his body, Rexxus moves up the stairs his dead enemy had emerged from, listening for enemy approaches or signs of anyone else who might have escaped.

[BloodyAngel]

Deitrix Veshk

Kresh vyn zuuri! Deitrix cursed loudly, Where is imp? Where are others? WHAT HAPPEN TO BIG PLAN!?

Deitrix looked down, and thought against hurling herself into the icy death that lay below her. Instead, she pressed her slender body tight against the wall, and began creeping along the ledge towards the boarded window.

Come. I am not die here! She yelled back to wulf, clearly intent on heading on regardless.

[Tyrandar]

The Black Hat

All thoughts of revenge and chastisement vanished at the first accented syllable that escaped the kobold's beak. The Black Hat's face lit up like his birthday had come early... assuming anyone had ever bothered to acknowledge the occasion. He grabbed two spoon-shivs and a set of nailpicks from the incoming treasure trove, passing the rest to his bunkmates.

"Open it - better to deal with the... demon, than starve to death."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Eh, de de mon hactually onlee eatun gardz so fah." Mucker pushes the shield up against the bars under the lock, to prevent stray crab claws from nicking him as he does so. "Kold be yuse full to get owta heer." He picks the lock with a few quick motions, then opens the cell door wide and runs back down the hall, toward where the demon and the murderer stand.

[Grimlock]

Teig
Breathing heavily after the fight, Teig grins as he sheaths his new weapons and wipes blood splatter off his face. My, that was fine! He turns to look at the big demon next to him. Thanks for getting me outta there beastie...say do you have a name...can you even talk? While saying this he looks around the prison, checking out entrances and exits before turning his gaze back to the creatur,. and how the hell do we get out of here? He suddenly spins and draw a sword, holding it out to point at a small kobold who had just dashed up the corridor...What do you want? he snarled!

[WhiteKnight777]

Wulf

Following Deitrix, Wulf merely grins, scrabbling crabwise along the slippery walk. His feet are bare, and they feel keenly the bite of the icy surface - but his long, ragged toenails grip like claws, and even weakened by long captivity and hunger as he is, he is a strong man, and his fingers grip the rock, moving quickly along the side of the edge until he reaches the board-covered entrance.

[Kessler]

Errant Slicer

Slicer moved back so he could ambush the guards as they would wake and attack the monks. It would be easier to try to rush them, while they were still waking up, but Slicer preferred his enemies to move, before he could kill them. Plus, if he attacked the guards on his own, the monks would have an opening to escape the situation they themselves caused. Better to have them engage the guards and attack from the rear. Or let the guards chase them to the depths of prison and get on with his plan.

After dealing with guard's sitation...

Slicer wasn't about to brave a maze of passages and stairs. Some people were born to navigate intricately designed prisons. Some were born to slice flesh and spill blood. Better to work with your strengths. The monks showed that the riot worked out well and others were soon to follow. So first he'd search the armoury for weapons and slain guard's possessions for some coin. Then he'll backtrack his steps and turn to the kitchen, where supplies could be gathered.

Perhaps enough bodies would be thrown at the gates by that time for him to simply walk out. And that necromancer could get killed as well.

[Lost Demiurge]

Teig
Breathing heavily after the fight, Teig grins as he sheaths his new weapons and wipes blood splatter off his face. My, that was fine! He turns to look at the big demon next to him. Thanks for getting me outta there beastie...say do you have a name...can you even talk? While saying this he looks around the prison, checking out entrances and exits before turning his gaze back to the creatur,. and how the hell do we get out of here? He suddenly spins and draw a sword, holding it out to point at a small kobold who had just dashed up the corridor...What do you want? he snarled!

Oh, Mucker knew the answer to this one.

"Too surv masstirs!" Mucker goes into a full flop, grovelling down on the floor.

"Surv masstirs bi gavvereen a harmy for Yu! An den ex capeen dis plaze. But, uh..."

He gets up slowly, glances behind him, and starts inching into the chamber.

"Hole bunscha wikkid crabz in de way of gettin de harmy. Cummen dis wai, tu. May bee, uh, de grate an powwer full de mon lord can fry dem wit fahr?"

While he's talking, Mucker is scooting into the vacated cell, stepping over the bodies of guards, and climbing up onto the elevated bench.

[Grimlock]

Teig
Teig, left standing with a sword pointing at an absence of kobold, sheaths the weapon and shares a look with the demon....Did he say... crabs?

[ArlEammon]

Teig
Teig, left standing with a sword pointing at an absence of kobold, sheaths the weapon and shares a look with the demon....Did he say... crabs?

"Whatever he said, let's make the jail break." Norman retorted.

[Grimlock]

Teig
He shrugs, Right then! Teig draws both swords and strides towards the open cell.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Wo!" Says Mucker, peering at Louis. "Yu tall k? O, hokay."

"Jay el brekk gud. Get mor, giv em weponz, den brekk howt. But evvry wun l's is behine crabz."

[Grimlock]

Teig
In a glance, Teig takes in the men crouching on bunks, the hole and the large crab things. He looks down at Mucker Behind those ugly bastards you mean? and points with one of his swords. Not really waiting for a response. He lunges at the nearest crab, slashing down with both swords, hoping to shatter the shell and leave the flesh underneath open for a follow up stabbing!

[Lost Demiurge]

Gleefully, Mucker follows in behind Teig with spear and oversized shield, poking at any crabs that try to get around the big killer's flanks.

[Tyrandar]

Teig

Behind those ugly bastards you mean?

The Black Hat

"Above, actually." The blond offered a sly grin at the deadly gazes set in his direction. "A pleasure to meet all of you."

If there's an opportunity to slay one of the crabs with a throw of a well-placed spoon shiv, he will do so.