The present year of the Asembian calendar is 1489 APC. 5 years since the Veteris Empire and the Novus Alliance agreed on a truth, but tensions are still high between them. At the same time, every major regions of Asembia are dealing with one of the usual issues that they always have. That being simple travel security as many beasts and monsters roam the wilderness and dangerous groups people patrol the roads waiting to exploit or attack any unprotected travelers. But this is why many people that decide to venture out across the Asembia travel in groups and hire enough adventurers for protection.

For the following cases, Najila and Azzen have had already been acquainted for a few days as they were traveling together with a small group of two Sansea nomads, a couple named Nadir and Layla, that enjoyed their show and welcomed them to their caravan which had two town guards traveling to help protect their crates. As they were heading south in the Sansea Desert, night arrived and they eventually found a cave to rest in for the night. Aron was making his way back to visit his old home before taking off. Also accompany him was a Dachaigh Highlander man and a albino orc woman, both having the same designation in mind, the elven city in the south western penisula of the Novus Alliance. What brought them together was a traveling human merchant named Tenkern Swiggin and a few of his newly hired workers that needed some protection head south to the bay city within the Novus Alliance. However, both of these traveling bands would find themselves to be surprised as they would find themselves awake blindfolded, gagged, and their wrists bound in some enclosed area. eventually they would find themselves in a deep sleep again.

Each character waking at their own time, would find that they were behind bars in a stark dungeon with a few small wall sconces providing dim lighting. The only thing that they could see out from their spacious cell was another similar cell across from them and the 10ft wide hall that separated the opposing cells. The cells both have some hay bed, water and food, but their items except for their clothes were missing. But in the corner of Azzen and Najila cell, another person could be heard quietly sobbing, a very young girl sitting down, hugging their knees. She was grey tiefling girl with platinum colored hair, but half of her right horn appears to be sawed off.

Thus far, Najila had enjoyed her time outside of the Cosmological Sanctum. She certainly enjoyed the company of Azzen, Nadir, and Layla. However, every day her words and Ralim's words regarding the deal they made still echo in her mind. Despite her seemingly happy, curious, and yet naive attitude during the day, her fastidious and cautious intellect showed itself every night, whether someone was paying attention to her or not. She sometimes performed rituals that casted certain spells, but she would always, always, write in her large book every night. Her tome seemed to give off mist from its pages, and the covers even appeared to be made of clouds despite that she could hold it like it was any other book.

She had always called that tome, "The Book of Clouds".

Unfortunately, after a long day of travel and finding the cave to rest in, Najila had neglected to put up an Alarm spell before turning in to sleep. She was still able to write in the tome that night, but if only she had taken a little extra time to put up that Alarm...

For when she woke up next, she found that she couldn't see, and she was restrained. She didn't know what was happening. She was scared. It was almost like...and her thoughts didn't finish as she was put to sleep once more.

The third time she woke up, she groaned and her eyes flutter open to take in her surroundings. As she did so, a million questions flew through her head, with her making no sound as they came to mind,

"Where are we? What was this place? We were clearly taken, but who? And why? How long have we been asleep here? How long were we imprisoned? Where's Nadir and Layla?"

She found her breathing quicken in fear. There was no doubt that she felt trapped once more and she didn't like this. She wanted to get out, but she needed to get her bearings first. She then realized that other than her clothes...she had none of her items...!

"My book! Where is the Book of Clouds?! Oh no! Oh no!"

She didn't want to think of what would happen if she hadn't written in that book for just one night....!

"Calm down....Calm down, Najila....No use in panicking....What can I do now...?" Najila silently calmed herself down, trying to keep herself from getting into a tizzy. Azzen was here, so at least she had a friend here. There was also another tiefling girl here...with her horn sawed off! Oh, the poor dear!

Before attempting to speak with the girl though, she thought of another being that might help...

She snapped her fingers quietly and summoned her familiar, Pythagoras the Barn Owl. She telepathically commanded the owl to fly to the rafters and wait for her future orders, if there were any. She was glad she picked an owl for her familiar, for they were definitely the most silent of fliers.

After that, she turns her attention to the girl, and she quietly asked the girl, her voice hushed, but concerned, "Are you alright, dear?" She hoped to ease into the conversation before asking the questions in mind right away. Plus, she wouldn't be surprised if the girl was in pain from having half of her horn sawed off.

One moment, he had been escorting a merchant and his employees to a city in Novus' southern peninsula. The next, he was blindfolded, gagged, and bound more tightly than was strictly necessary. And immediately after that, he woke up with nothing but his clothes and found himself locked in a cell even though he'd committed no recent crimes. Needless to say, Angus MacAlister was starting to feel very cross. An angry growl rumbled from his mouth as he rose to his feet and dusted himself off. "Whatever reeky scunner thought it was a good idea to lock up a MacAlister man is aboot to bloody well learn in the very worst o' ways that it is a VERY BAD IDEA!" Angus declared before walking up to the cell door, taking hold of the bars, and effortlessly yanking it from its hinges. "When I find the bastards who put me in 'ere, there's goin' to be a bloody reckonin'!"

When traveling, it’s always important to be aware of your surroundings. The war between the Veteris Empire and the Novus Alliance brought many things, both innovations and disasters. Many people were raised up from their lowly stations by profiteering off of the war while many more were turned to the dark side due to the death and destruction that follows any mass conflict. Orchid thought she knew this and was ready for it, but her naivety was shown that night when she kept watch, and fell afoul with the ambush. There was much she could have done to avoid that mess, but now was not the time to regret what could-have, and focus on what she needs to do.

When Orchid was fully awaken the first thing she noticed was her lack of equipment. She was stripped down to only her plain clothes, no weapons, armor, or other supplies. The rest were awoken as well, and one was loudly threatening harm for those who captured them. Orchid agreed: whoever captured them will certainly be sorry. Or dead. "Hey Angus, you ain't gunna kill much with your bare hands. Take this until you find your sword." Orchid summoned her Glaive to her hand, tossing it over to Angus so he would have a weapon. Orchid would join him later once she figured some things out.

First Orchid needed to assess the current situation. She has been captured in a cell, along with Angus and the other members of the caravan she was guarding. While Angus can no doubt force his way through the doors, they would need more help if they planned to fight their way out of whatever dungeon they're in. First they should try and free the others, and than figure out how to properly liberate themselves from this disaster. Orchcid had an idea how to escape that doesn’t rely solely on brute force though shell resort to it if push comes to shove. She goes to her cell door and examined the lock, trying to get a look inside. “Hope these locks are cheap...” Once she gets a decent idea of the internal workings of the lock, Orchid would use her Prestidigitation spell to create a skeleton key and try to open it. If the first key doesn’t work, she’ll just keep changing types of keys until one opens, but hopefully she guessed right the first time.

As Aron slowly returned to wakefulness, there was a moment before reality hit where he imagined that he was back at the old forge and Ilsur was cursing up a storm while working on a new weapon. Then Angus growled next to him and the memories being blindfolded, tied up and gagged hit him full force. Shooting upright, he turned his head rapidly as he took in his surroundings. He was in a cell with Orchid and Angus - the latter of which was angrily stomping over to the door. Tenkern and his workers was nowhere in sight and a spike of worry shot through him, hopefully they were alright. They all seemed to be stripped of all of their possessions, leaving them in nothing but their clothes. That revelation caused another spike of worry, but for an entirely different reason. Hand darting to his chest, his expression darkened as he felt nothing where his necklace usually hung.

The sound of the door being pulled from its hinges drew his attention and he looked up in time to see Angus swearing vengence, Orchid's glaive in his hands - at least they weren't completely weaponless. Standing up, he followed after Angus, "Hey MacAlister, wait up."not about to let him rush into unknown territory without backup. Passing Orchid on his way out, he gave her a nod and a slight smile, "Keep an ear out for screams of pain while you work, shouldn't be long before our captors investigate the noise."

Glancing out of the cell, he scanned the surroundings for anything useful as well as any signs of danger.

Memories seeped into the growing consciousness and brought with them a flame of rage and disgust inside his heart, burning with a fierce anger that was aimed at who ever or what ever unknown creatures had done this too him. The indignity of it all! His utter helpless. Still, he quelled his rage, he didn’t stir, he didn’t panic, he just slowly opened his eyes.

The dim lighting was perfectly adequate for Azzen’s infernal eyes, he saw his surroundings clearly but unlike Najila, as he awoke he stirred very little. Instead he chose to keep still and silent, soft steady breaths mimicking his sleep as he subtly assessed the situation he was in. There were other cells and other people too.

Of all those he was traveling with he was glad to find it was Najila sharing his cell, for he had began to grow fond of her during their short travels. Intrigued in equal parts by her obvious beauty, latent talent for music and her truly alluring clandestine mysteriousness. She was a puzzle and Azzen liked puzzles.

Not all puzzles though, he found little joy for the one they were in. Where were they, who did this to them, how and why. The thought hung in the back of his mind as he watched realisation hit Najila, they took her book. he thought to himself, what was it called again, ah that’s it.

Her panic was just part of her mystery. Just what was in this book of clouds that made it so important he wondered to himself. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted and with the sound of a solid metal door snapping from its restraints, there was no longer reason to continue the sleeping ruse.

The man who had removed the door did not look exceptional, clearly some sort of savage. Either magic was at play or the doors were of a poor quality. The later idea gave Azzen a sense of relief.

Azzen stood, putting the crying tiefling behind him. He had chosen not to acknowledge her yet as her presence and condition stirred a myriad of emotions within him that he wasn’t ready to deal with.

Standing up he spoke tauntingly with a sly obvious smile.
”Bet you can’t do that again!” he said to the barbarian, gesturing to his own cell door.

Angus was just about to step through the door when he heard his two companions call out to him. He turned just in time to catch the glaive that Orchid had sent his way. "Cheers lass" Angus said with an appreciative nod. "I'll get this back to ya one I've found me own weapons." Angus then turned to Aron. "Watch yerself if yer comin' with me, lad." Angus said. "It'll be tougher for ya at first since ye dinnae have a weapon, but we should be able to fix that quickly enough." With that said, Angus stepped out of the cell and looked around. It seemed like none of their captors were in the immediate vicinity, but Angus was sure that would change soon enough with the racket he just caused. He did hear the sound of other prisoners though. Specifically the sound of a little girl crying. As he looked to the cell the crying originated from, Angus raised an eyebrow as he saw a tiefling appear at the cell door. When the tiefling declared that he thought Angus couldn't repeat that feat of strength, the Highlander threw his head back and laughed. "That's a bet ye'll be losin' I'm afraid." Angus stated as he walked over to the cell. "Observe!" With that said, Angus took hold of the door and once again pulled it from its hinges.

Once Orchid finished figuring out if she could conjure a key to open the locks, she noticed Aron up and following Angus out. "Hey Aron, catch." Orchid summoned a Shortsword, her second Bonded Weapon, and handed it to Aron. "Sorry but I don't have anything bigger than this. It'll have to make due until we find our gear." She followed Angus noticing that there were other prisoners here. Two other people locked in a cell, a dark skinned woman and a tiefling. Where they also captured? Angus went over to their door and would go to rip it off it's hinges, so Orchid would look around and notice a crying tiefling. She had a horn cut off, and that immediately made Orchid furious. What sort of twisted person would do this? "We're busting out. We came here with a caravan, lead by a man named Tenkern Swiggin with a few extra hands. My name is Orchid. Any of you guys good in a fight?"

"No... No! Its... gone." She could hardly speak with as more tears ran as she spoke and tried feeling for the missing half of the horn. but she then quickly covered her head in fear as Angus shouted in anger at their captors who are currently no where to be seen. Trembling the girl remained silent, but at she heard someone said that they were leaving, the girl had to speak up "No, if you leave, they going to hurt mister Nadir and miss Lalya".

Angus and Azzen would only hear the sound of a creaky metal door echo as they had their brief chat. But as Aron and Orchid stepped out and looked around, they would have noticed about 25ft from them, a metal door with small viewing slits just, and through it, they could see a person go wide eyes as they stared at the now released prisoners. The door just closes, but frantic tapping where the lock would be, could be heard.

Najila couldn't blame the girl for her reaction regarding the missing horn. Before she could say anything else, Azzen showed that he was awake by taunting the savage man into ripping their prison door off the hinges. She looked to the half orc woman as she entered the room. Najila's eyes widened and she gasped quietly at the mention that Nadir and Layla would be harmed if they left. She reassured the young girl, and herself, "We won't let that happen. Nadir and Layla are our friends,"

She then answered Orchid, "Count me in. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with those of your caravan. Unfortunately, they took my tome and arcane focus, so I cannot use all of my magic right now. But I can provide a bird's eye view when it comes to scouting ahead," She subtly pointed upwards towards Pythagoras, her owl familiar who waited above.

She then turned her attention to the young tiefling girl. She saw much of her younger self in this girl, and she just couldn't find it in herself to just leave her here. So, she stretched out a kind hand towards the girl, for her to accept, and she suggested, "Please, come with us. We'll protect you, we'll rescue Nadir and Layla, and we'll get out of here together. Besides, you don't want to stay here, do you?"

Angus' ear pricked up as he heard the sound of a metal door creaking open. He turned towards the sound of the door just in time to catch sight of a thug going wide eyed at the sight of escaping prisoners. Angus was already running by the time the door closed, and the sound of desperate attempts to lock the door started the moment the Highlander arrived. One door ripped from its hinges later, and Angus was face to face with one of his captors. "Yer not goin' anywhere, ya plucky faced hinoot!" Angus said as he held the tip of the glaive to the thug's throat. "I have questions. Yer gonna give me answers. An' if ye do a good job of it, I might even let ya live."

It was long before trouble found them. A guard came to check on them, and seeing three of them freed and two of them armed, it didn’t surprise Orchid that he was trying to lock the door. Angus was quick on his feet and was the first to slay the third door that tried to hold him back. As he threatened the man, Orchid would run up to the man aggressively, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and dragging him inside the prison cell area, away from Angus but still within reach of the glaive if the man tried anything funny. Orchid would slam the man to the wall and snarl at him. ”I suggest you listen to my friend here. This is us being nice. You don’t wanna see what we do when we’re angry.”

Aron nodded at Angus's words "Got it." before he could follow after him though, Orchid called out to him and passed him her shortsword. Giving the sword a small twirl he grinned at her "Thanks, I already feel much better about our chances." and stepped into the hall just as Angus ripped of the other cell's door as well.

The sound of a child cries became even more pronounced and Aron longed to do something, but one of the other prisoners was already comforting her and Orchid was already filling them in on the escape while Angus chatted with the grown tiefling prisoner. He would be more useful keeping an eye out for when their jailers make an appearance.

Which happened sooner than he thought it would - he's almost impressed by their reaction time.

As he scanned his surroundings, his eyes landed on a metal door - most likely the exit - 25ft away from where they were standing, with small viewing slits, through it he saw a person staring wide-eyed at them. The door closes, tapping noises came from the lock's direction. The door was undoubtedly about to be locked and it was with that realisation that Aron found himself darting forward "Oi!" only to be surpassed by Angus as he rushed pass. That makes three doors ripped from their hinges within minutes of each other. Who needs keys with a Dachaigh Highlander about?

Orchid didn't waste any time either, quickly hauling him into the prison cell area and slamming him into the wall. His companions seemed to have things handled, so Aron quickly moved over to the felled door and pulled it upright back into the doorframe, it would still be easily knocked over with a light push, but at least any passing patrols wouldn't immediately be able to tell that a prison-break was taking place while they were still interrogating the man. That done, he posistioned himself in front of the door, keeping watch through the slits in the door, only briefly looking behind him to cheerfully add to Angus and Orchid's threats. "Cooperating really is in your best interest, you saw what happened to the doors after-all, just think what can be done with limbs."

It amused Azzen how easily each door was removed, one after another without fail. He studied the broken parts with an amused grin.
It was not his first time in a cell, but it was the first time he didn’t know why he was here, it was also the first time he had seen one of such poor quality.

The other escaped prisoners stormed a door and the guard behind it. Azzen was less inclined to rush to battle and left it to the brutes instead turning his attention to the child.
“Where are our friends?” He asked gently when she had calmed.

After listening to Najila and Azzen's reassurance to leave than staying, she began to slowly calm down and speak. "No... I, I want, to leave." She said as she tried to catch her breath and steadily pulled herself up, but as she heard that their captor spotted them trying to escape, the girl tried hiding behind Najila and Azzen. Seeing her now stand and not hiding in her ball, the two could assume her to probably be around 10 or 11 years old.

As the thug tried to hold the metal door in place as he tried to lock the door, the highlander forced the door open, pushing him back as he tried to find his footing. Before he could do anything else, Orchid grabbed and pulled the thug into the cell room while Aron tried to close the metal door. But before the door could close, those that were looking through the cell room's hall could briefly see a dim lit spacious room of about a 30ft square, containing some barrels and crates stacked, scattered, and filling almost half the room. In the center is table with a single plate and bones scattered the table, and a single chair with 3 high stools around it. And on the opposite end is a hall way to takes a turn.

Back in the jail room, Orchid slammed the thug against wall and being demanded to as requested by the highlander. The thug, a male human who appears to be of a young adult age, could be seen sweating profusely that his black hair starting to look soaked. His heavy breathing made it difficult for him to speak as he stuttered for a second before taking a deep breath "Okay okay look, I'll answer your questions? But no one here, even me, doesn't need to get hurt. Our employer is very negotiable fella, so maybe a deal can be arranged?"



EDIT:
Just added a bit more in the beginning for the tiefling girl.

Najila smiled encouragingly at the tiefling girl's answer. She answered the tiefling with a little more cheer and optimism this time, "Let's go then. My name is Najila," She noticed how young the tiefling girl looked, and after she gently stood, Najila gently moved her closer to her. She used the blue veils and robes that surrounded her simple white pants and red shirt and gloves as a shield of sorts to protect the girl. If possible, she would lead the girl out of the cell with her. Najila sees the young man grappled by Orchid, and raised an eyebrow at the mention of making a deal with his boss.

She asked him, her voice skeptical, and a little louder, much more haughty, than before, "And who is your employer, exactly? What makes you think that we would be in a negotiable mood after being kidnapped so suddenly, and after witnessing a terrible wrong done to another prisoner?"

Angus followed the others as they lead the thug into the cells and up against the wall, keeping the glaive's point to the thug's throat the whole time as the others delivered their threats and encouragements. "Okay okay look, I'll answer your questions. But no one here, even me, doesn't need to get hurt." The thug said. "Our employer is a very negotiable fella, so maybe a-"
"Not interested." Angus interrupted while pressing the glaive against the thug's throat a little harder for a moment "What is this place and why were we brought 'ere?"
"And who is your employer, exactly?" Asked another person who came out of the cell with the crying prisoner. "What makes you think that we would be in a negotiable mood after being kidnapped so suddenly, and after witnessing a terrible wrong done to another prisoner?"
"What she said as well." Angus agreed.

Azzen wasn’t getting much from the child but there was still much to learn from her. He followed them out of the cell.
”Najila, find out what she knows, I’m going for a little stroll.”
A wide daring grin took the tiefling’s face.

As the brutes interrogated the guard Azzen moved to stand close and watched the man intently.
He threw in his own questions here and there.

”What’s your name?”
”Who’s your captain?”
“How many guards are on duty?”
“Where are we?”

After studying his mannerisms and voice for a small while he uses an ability his cursed bloodline had given him. While often used to hide the very heritage that granted it, today it would do a little more as he used to mimic this man.

With permission and assistance of the savages he would take what clothing and accessories off the guard that he could.

”Now, where are my supplies?”

A snort left Aron from where he stood by the door. He and his buddies stripped them of their stuff, locked them in cells and now this guy was seriously trying to negotiate! How stupid does he think they are? The chances of him even being high enough in the ranks to even propose a negotiation was below zero. Luckily the others didn't seem to be falling for it either.

Eyes not straying from the viewing slits in the door, he listened intently as the interrogation took place, making sure to note everything that was said. He especially paid attention when the grown tiefling asked after his supplies, the absence of the familiar weight around his neck feeling all the more pronounced. Fist tightening slightly around the hilt of Orchid's shortsword, he glared out into the other room. Either he'll recover it or he wont, it's not like he'll die without it...

Taking a breath he forced those feelings down and threw a few questions of his own at the man. "What's inside all of those crates and barrels? And what's the layout of the place like?"

His eyes didn't leave the slits as he asked his questions, taking in every detail he could of the next room, pausing slightly on the bones.



***Edited***
Added a perception check, hope its alright

So long as the thug didn't resist, Orchid would keep her hand pinning the younger man to the wall. She'd also help Azzen strip the guard of his equipment, starting with weapons. She made sure to keep the thug's weapon tucked into her belt for when she'll need it. "Where are the others that was with us? Two caravans. Mines had the caravan leader and a couple of helpers. We had horses and supplies too. And where the hell are we even at?" Just to emphasis that Orchid has no hesitation letting this man be beaten or tortured, as well as to ensure full advantage of reinforcements show up and make this battle complex, while she still had a grip on this man she slammed him into the ground. Not only will this put him in a worse position to try and fight, but also give the others an easier time to strike him down should he try anything funny.