[center][b][u]Miserth Keep - Castle Dungeons[/u][/b][/center]

           It was on her way back to her chamber room when Aurelia decided to visit Claus Rotstein, where he awaited judgement in the castle dungeons. She turned about on the heel of her boot, and proceeded down the main hall, and took a left turn, heading into a smaller stone room, that had a winding, spiral staircase leading below to the dungeons. As she descended into the underground world beneath Miserth Keep, Aurelia wondered truly what this man, and his mercenary company was about.

              Once reaching the landing below, Aurelia entered  the jailers room, where a great, iron wrought gate stood, the jailer himself seated at a desk in front of the gate.

"Hello milady, how can I help you?" The jailer sat up immediately, he had been caught dozing off on the job, though Aurelia said nothing. 

"[color=82ca9d]Hello jailer, I wish to visit one of the prisoners. A Claus Rotstein, he was brought in yesterday I believe?[/color]" Replied Aurelia, with an air of officiality in her voice.

"Ah yes, right you are, he's in the second level, last cell on the right. Would you like for me to escort you?" Offered the jailer, trying his best to be helpful.

"[color=82ca9d]I would appreciate it if you would, I wouldn't want to lose my way down there.[/color]" Aurelia graciously accepted the offer, and waited for him to open the iron gate. She watched as he rose from his chair, and selected a key off his key ring, and let the gate swing open with a giant creak.

"Follow me please." The jailer grabbed a torch, already aflame, and proceeded into the depths of the dungeons. They wandered down past several blocks of cells before ascending to the second level of the dungeons. 
         Occasionally, Aurelia peered into a few cells, looking at the miscreants locked away inside. It didn't take long for them to reach the cell Claus was in. The jailer stood before the cell, holding the torchlight for her.

Aurelia neared the cell and called out into the darkness, "[color=82ca9d]Claus Rotstein?[/color]"

        Claus was surprised to hear a voice call out to him, even more so for it to be a woman's voice.

       He quickly sat up from his brutish seat and walked into the torchlight at the cell door.
Claus rubbed his eyes, not used to the light and studied his visitors, the jailer and a finely dressed woman, probably a noble he decided.

"Greetings milady and sir jailer, I'd offer you a seat and some drinks, but I seem to have run out." Claus' humor was as dry as ever, yet the jailer just met his gaze with a disappointed look.

             The mercenary captain stepped forward from the darkness and into the torchlight. Aurelia could see that he was a tall man, with a large scar across his face, with dark hair, she couldn't tell the distinct colour, be it black or brown, and as she peered at him through the iron bars, she could tell that he had blue eyes. 

"[color=82ca9d]Allow me to introduce myself, I am Aurelia Vyncetta, High Magister of the royal court. I am to preside over your trial, come next morn. Normally, this would fall under Alexander's jurisdiction as he is the Advisor of Law here; however, he already has several cases to deal with tomorrow, and I am expected to give you a fair trial. I wanted to hear the words from your very mouth. Claus Rotstein, I know that you are captain of a mercenary group of men, known as the Steel Fist. Can you please tell me as to why your men and you, have come to Nyhem?[/color]" She stood inches away from the iron bars that separated Claus and her, her hands clasped in front of her navy blue and silver-trimmed gown. She was not intimidated by any man, by any means.

         Claus eyed the woman before him, trying to make sense of her before returning to a more regular conversation.

"You wonder why we have come to Nyhem? It's rather simple really, we have returned from a long contract working for the elves, specifics are not necessary, and now we have after seven years finally returned home. Why Nyhem in particular? Most of my men hail from here or the surrounding lands. I myself was born in the neighboring lands to the east." Claus response was direct, and without fuss, and it was like he was sighing.

"The important people in this town seem to be completely unbeknownst to the fact that soldiers like to get home and have a massive party. If we were here to do some unsavory act the city of Nyhem would at the moment see siege towers being built outside effective archery range and sappers would begin the task of undermining the walls. True, the city's harbor makes it very resilient to sieges, therefore we would need to work fast since starving you out is not an option."
Claus stare was blank, it had lost its humor, and he was simply stating what he saw as facts. The jailer was visibly getting a bit tense. Claus held an almost unblinking eye contact with Aurelia.

           Aurelia listened respectfully to the man behind the iron bars, her face only changing when she caught note of the tone of his voice, he sounded as if he had had to explain himself before. Yet, she only felt relief that he did not badger her with taunts or insults for having him thrown in the dungeons.

"[color=82ca9d]I understand. You'll have to forgive us, as we only lost our King but days ago. We are very tense here within in the city, as we are not sure who will be the next King or Queen. Seeing such fanfare would make the citizens feel unease at your company's unexplained presence. The people of Nyhem have already come with questions as to why there is such a large group of militaristic men assembling in our town square. We presumed that you were an ally to one of the other Houses, that was declaring an act of war.[/color]" She paused and continued her gaze, unwavering, as she collected her thoughts before speaking again.

"[color=82ca9d]I will still have to bring you to trial in the morning, Claus. There is one question I do have before I go. We will need to increase castle security within the next two weeks, a fortnight or so, for all of the arriving lords and ladies. Your company has come at a time, where we may need your services, if you had a price...what would it be?[/color]" 

           Aurelia knew she was taking a chance by asking him such a question, but she needed him to cooperate, especially since he had a large group of men under his command. If anything were to go awry in the coming days when the other House lords and ladies arrived, Claus and his men would be beneficial to have around. Of course she would still have to ask Duncan for permission since he was now acting Regent King. She waited for his response, the tension hung between them, as Aurelia refused to look away.

"You want to employ the Steel Fist?" Claus was genuinely surprised and half laughed the next sentence.

"Typical lords, always paranoid..." Claus shook his head and then met Aurelia's gaze.

"Since I am in charge of a rather large band of very skilled troops, I happen to be able to name their prize as I see fit, and seeing that you miss are my prosecutor in my upcoming trial...." It seemed that Claus would come up with some completely unreasonable proposal after his smug statement.

"The typical fee will be needed, men who work expect payment, so 50 gold, or 5000 silver is only fair, but seeing that I want to make a good impression, we can knock of 100 silver, then of course I'd much prefer a trial in my favor, especially since I can't lead my men in protecting all the good lords if I'm locked up in a dungeon." He was grinning now.

"Oh, and he gets set free." Claus pointed at his trooper in the corner, now toppled over in an even more impressively uncomfortable looking posture.

A loud fart was heard from the rear of the cell.

"Excuse my company, there are more reasons than the obvious that I want to leave this cell." Claus stated, he seemed in a joking mood, perhaps he enjoyed grim humor?

          She listened all the while without a word escaping her lips, the captain of the Steel Fist appeared to be very certain of himself, though she said nothing. She considered his words but could only smile in response.

"[color=82ca9d]I will consider your proposal. However, your trial shall be a fair and just one, I will promise you that. I will not be deceitful in the eyes of the law, so I will not change any decision I make, unless of course, we find nothing to charge you with. If you are not  hiding some secret, or something more dire, which I hope that you're not for your sake, then we would be more than happy to pay your men for their work. We would employ our own, trusted guardsmen, but most have been gathered and redistributed for more useful purposes at this time. And it's much easier to employ a group of well trained mercenaries for a brief period of time. I will consult with the Regent King after your trial tomorrow morn, and we will decide as a whole if we will hire your men, or if we'll cast your entire company into the depths that are these dungeons.[/color]" So saying, Aurelia gave a pitiful sigh and brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen out of place.

"[color=82ca9d]I hope you have nothing to hide for your sake Claus Rotstein, is there anything else you wish to say, or ask, before I return upstairs?[/color]" She wrapped one hand around the iron bar of his cell and peered in at him closer, studying him very closely, as if trying to discover all of his secrets now.

      Claus Rotstein grasped a bar with his left hand, close to Aurelia's, and leaned in. Studying the woman before him.

"Oh I have many things that are hidden, but none that should keep me in a dungeon." He smiled wryly, in an untrustworthy kinda way.

"The only thing I'd like to ask for really at the moment is that I and my man here be kept in a guarded room instead of this dungeon, I promise I won't try anything stupid, and I have my men under control." Claus said seriously, he seemed to change his outward mood all the time.

       Her brows furrowed at the captain's attempt to intimidate her. She let it run off her back like cool water, as she remained where she stood.

[color=82ca9d]"We shall see when tomorrow comes. For the time being, I will have you transferred to one of our upper cells. Your man can stay here for another night, I'm certain that won't be a problem, especially if you are innocent as you say.[/color]" With that Aurelia took a step back from his cell and motioned for the jailer to follow her.

As she started down the dungeon corridor, Aurelia called out, 
"[color=82ca9d]I will see you in the morning Claus! Don't worry, we'll have you moved to your new cell shortly.[/color]" Her voice echoed off the stone walls, the torchlight held by the jailer growing ever faint as they moved up the spiral staircase.

           Claus waved to Aurelia by wiggling his fingers and smiling happily, watching the swaying motions of Aurelia's clothing disappear around a corner, he then leaned against the barred door for a while.

        That was all the fun he would have in a long while, at least he would have a nice bed. He looked over at the crossbowman from his company.

       Too bad he would be here with this brute and....   his thinking was interrupted by a loud fart, followed by a burp and the unmistakable sound of the scratching of a man's arse. Claus shook his head.

     Claus went over to his man and kicked his knee, not hard, just to wake him up.

"Ey, no sleeping on the job." Claus muttered, the man hastily got up after a bit of grunting.

"I wasn't sleeping... sir...." Claus looked at the worst lie he had ever heard was priceless, and the man in front of him knew full well that Claus, not in the tiniest sense, believed him.

"You need to drink less, also, you were not actually sleeping on the job... since we're in prison. So you get away this time." Claus tried to tell him seriously, but a hidden smirk betrayed his thoughts.

"I need someone with more brains than a snoring pillow or a fat fart to speak to, I'm going stir crazy. Care to help me out with that?" Claus gestured to the other cellmates while speaking his mind.

"Sure boss, I can help ya out." The man smiled and did a half assed salute.

      The time was spent bantering and trying to hit the brute's ear with tiny pebbles, tragically Claus realised he'd spent days in far less enjoyable recreation than this.

{Collab by ~ [@Klomster][@MacabreFox]}