Hélène: A successful escape

Our target, the prison complex, was located high on a cliff and could only be reached by ascending a small, winding path - or by climbing the cliff walls. We chose the latter approach, in the hopes of staying undetected, and so, after nightfall, we approached the cliff from below in a dinghy. From there, we scaled the jagged rock wall, one by one, with Master Krastus taking the lead, who, aided by his magic, simply scurried up vertically. Once up there, we could see specks of firelight shining from the outer wall, indicating that guards were observing the surroundings from up there.

Staying close to the wall, we looked for a suitable spot to ascend, but we had to realise soon that our approach had not been undetected, and thus, the opportunity for a stealthy operation had already passed. In fact, the guards had been heating up cauldrons of tar on the walls, and when Master Krastus and the Captain climbed the wall, they were immediately engaged by guards from both sides. It took them a while to fight themselves clear and allow us to follow them up, and when I finally did, I was presented with a rather dire scenario.

The guards all along the wall were on high alert, and their commander was assembling a firing line in the yard. A flow of additional guards rushed out of the barracks and into action behind them. Master Krastus, who had advanced onto the top of the prison building, was their main target. On the wall itself, Sira had taken a firing position, and was mercilessly discharing her firearm collection into the yard. The enemy commander threw an explosive charge at her and, incidentally, also at me. Barely dodging the thing, and with my ears still ringing, I summoned up my elemental effigy into the yard, to soak and douse the opponents' muskets and fuses. Accompanying the battle, the frantic ringing of a bell set the prison, and probably the whole town as well, to high alert, a redundant effort, with all of those gunshots.

Our onslaught did not falter, however. Faced with such formidable opposition, the enemy commander ordered a full retreat, and we ceased fighting and let them leave immediately. A column of torchlights could be seen in the distance, ascending the cliff road, so reinforcements were on their way. We concentrated on getting done with our main task quickly.

The main building was locked, and with most of the guards, the keys had escaped too, so we resorted to blowing open the door. While Sira and Carlton watched from the outside, the rest of us inspected the prison. In here, there were rows of cells, some with prisoners inside, who were held in horrible
conditions. None of them, however, matched the description we had of the man. There was, however, a platform that could be lowered deeper into the ground. Deep underground, we found a single cell occupied by three people, one doreen and two humans, bound and gagged. They appeared starved, weary and had been intentionally deprived of most of their dignity in here.

After opening the cell door, the Captain paused. He was certain he had detected a trap, a pressure plate of sorts, directly in the entrance. When pointing that out, the prisoners emphatically gave noise through their gags, as if trying to warn us. We considered our options, and finally it was decided
that the Captain would use the Archmage's magic to walk into the cell, across the ceiling. There, he ungagged the prisoners, and started to free their shackles as well.

The doreen was freed first, He appeared desiccated, and I summoned up my elemental again to soak and revigorate him. The second prisoner was our quarry, Tomas, the fire mage, who informed us that there was no trap at all in the cell, and the guards had been passing that spot all the time. Finally, the Captain freed the last prisoner, a young water mage named Kylie, a strikingly attractive woman,
at least under most other circumstances. More than a quarter of an hour had passed, and we hurried to escape.

We left the complex through the front gate, that was left open, and hustled to the cliff wall. From up there, we could see the dinghy was gone, nobody had obviously bothered to anchor it. The doreen was unconcerned by this, and took his chances by diving into the sea and escaping.

Eventually we spotted the dinghy, that was drifting several hundred paces away, and so we descended into the water, and the Captain, the most accomplished swimmer, recovered it as the rest waited close to the cliff. Finally, we could climb aboard and set course for our ship.