The company the man found in the collective was far from friendly, for a myriad of reasons, but of which he could not fault them; they were not here, packed into this cage of iron and stone, because they wished to be, and each seemed to carry with them their own burdens beyond that which came with their sentence to this place. The dragonborn exemplified this, in that he announced his desire to be left alone if it came down to a disagreement on philosophy... or to outright settle the business before it could fester; either way, the pleasantry of his conversation was interrupted.

The dwarf had kept to himself, toying with a fine purple gem as large as the man's well worked palm. It was a strange thing, but he reasoned this unusual lot had done their best to keep [i]something[/i] of value. What good a gem would do here was unknown, but the dwarf muttered under his breath whilst looking upon its elegant surface, at least until the sound from the bars being struck rang out.

With a slight cough, the exile narrowed his eyes, looking over the guard who approached and scolded them; he did not figure the man cared, at least not anymore than he should have, but perhaps he legitimately preferred the sounds of moans, the clatter of picks on stone and the dragging of chain. Some men, as he had learned recently, did not find anything quite wrong with the situation they were in, caged and worked worse than animals. This entire place spoke volumes to what vileness had become this kingdom, however, and whatever supposed glory days it had were likely long since gone.

It was not long after the other man left that more neared, this time asking for "volunteers".

Branor might have spent the majority of his time away from his supposed kin, the very same who seemed content to shackle him in this moment, but he knew better than to resist here and now. Now was the time to see what this place was, and despite the looming shadows, few torches and sickly air, he considered himself better prepared than most. Falling in line with the dwarf, who seemed to be a clever man in burying his treasure deep within his beard, and the dragon-being.

[i]"And I will add my weight to the cause. Seems a silly thing to hack away at stone with no further purpose, but if moving mountains is your goal..."[/i]

A subtle grin pulled at the corner of his roughly stubbled cheek, but he said nothing in reply, instead giving the scaled titan ample room; the two had already sized one another up earlier, and both seemed to reason the other was dangerous enough to avoid being caught up with in a contest of might. It was a mutual courtesy and clearly the common enemy here was not anyone among this cell's confines.

Looking from the bars to the men outside, he nodded, "As will I."

[@darkandstar][@EruditeAssassin][@Hekazu][@VKAllen]