((To jog everyone's memory of this plot arc:
https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4461084
https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4463931
https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4465821))

The soft roar of a torch and soft footfalls on cold stone tile were the only sounds that could be heard in the dank undercroft of Lord Octa's keep that served as the citadel's dungeon. The silence was perhaps somewhat surprising if one considered that Lord Octa's barons throughout the land kept thousands of prisoners in their dungeons. Those provincial gaols were teeming masses of humanity, all filled to the brim with the Dark Lord's numerous enemies. But the dungeons of Lord Octa's own citadel were all but empty. Most cells were empty or occupied only by the cobwebbed skeletons of forgotten souls that had been locked away over half a century ago - prisoners of the old kings rather than Lord Octa. The Dark Lord saw little use in keeping prisoners for long periods of time. Lord Octa kept his thralls for perhaps a fortnight before consuming their life essence.

But there were the occasional exception; rare prisoners that were more valuable to the Dark Lord than the life force he could siphon from their bodies. Agael, chamberlain of the Dark Lord, made his way through the dungeon to retrieve one such exception.

"Quiet!" The Chamberlain heard a low voice shush from one of the the few occupied cells in this dungeon. "Someone's coming!"

Agael stood before the rusted iron bars of the cell - little more than a claustrophobic alcove dug out of the rocky soil - holding his torch to the occupants to count and inspect the prisoners. Having spent the past few days in the darkness of the dungeon, the prisoners within squinted or averted their eyes from the brightness of the torchlight. 

These were the prisoners who had arrived at the keep three days prior on a driverless gaol wagon, with a single prisoner missing. The Dark Lord, determined to find this escapee, dispatched the dread knight Vatikar and the she-elf - another arrival from the wagon - in a bid to bring the escaped prisoner back. Agael, however, suspected that there was one other prisoner from the wagon that might be of some use.

"Kedan Tobler," Agael said to the prisoners inside the cell, "present yourself."

"The little prince? He in 'ere somewhere." A toothless, wild-eyed prisoner replied. The other prisoners soon dragged the Tobler boy up from the corner in which he had been hunched up - either sleeping or keeping out of sight of the other prisoners - and shoved him up to the bars.

"I-I've done nothing wrong! I'm not a prisoner like them, I-I've committed no crime! I'm not like them!" Pleaded Kedan Tobler as his fellow prisoners pressed him up against the bars.

"Take 'im first!" A prisoner growled. "He's young yet; got a lot of life and vigor in 'im. Let the Dark Lord drain his life first."

Agael looked over the Tobler boy and his fellow prisoners, and took some measure of pity upon the young prince. The other prisoners were true criminals: horse thieves, robbers, and rapists. They richly deserved to have their life drained from their bones. But Kedan, Agael knew, had done nothing wrong. He had committed no crime against Lord Octa and in fact wasn't even a subject of the Dark Lord's realm. Kedan Tobler deserved none of this.

"I agree," Agael responded coldly. "Get back against the wall, all except for Kedan."

As Agael unlocked the cell's iron door, Kedan tried to get back against the wall, only to be shoved back to the door by the other prisoners. As Agael stepped inside to take Kedan away, they had practically shoved Kedan into his arms. Agael seized Kedan's wrist with a pale, bony hand, and pulled him through the door before slamming it shut behind them. 

"I've committed no crime! Please do not do this!" Kedan pleaded as Agael dragged him through the corridors of the dungeon.

Once out of earshot of the other prisoners, the robed chamberlain released Kedan and turned to face him.

"Enough," Agael declared sternly. "Now listen: cooperate with me, Prince Tobler, and you will leave this country alive. But if you prove difficult then you will meet a similar fate to them," the chamberlain nodded back to the cell from which he had just been released.

"What do you know about this missing prisoner that the Dark Lord seeks? What do you remember about those who released her?"