Rescuing Porter 

27 DECEMBER 3460

The night was without incident. Rockrender goes around everyone at 7.00am, raising everyone from an uncomfortable night on the floor of the shop.

As everyone comes to from their sleep, Mrs. Veverka brings a large cauldron of porridge that she serves to everyone.

While she is doing so, Winnacer asks Mrs. Veverka:

"Would it be alright if we were to stay with you?"

"Of course you can, dearies," Mrs. Veverka replies. "It's been a pleasure having you all staying here with us."

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," the CornerStone interjects. "Whether you are successful in your attempts to release Porter or not later this morning, the garrison is going to be stirred up as never before and getting from the undercity to Tall Town and back is going to be a major exercise each time, especially after the Witchfinders arrive."

"I really think that it would be safer and easier if you are to base yourself within the city itself after the mission is accomplished. It is a lot easier to hide in the undercity than it is in Tall Town. There are just too few places to hide here and I think that it would put Mrs. Veverka in too much danger."

"There is a good inn called the 'Cask and Bottle' just a stone's throw from the Cathedral of Zemnye. I know the landlord well and so it should be safe. I think that this would be a better venue for the remainder of your stay."

"Zosia, Milan and the Kristus family should stay here with Mrs. Veverka though, with Rowan accompanying them in case of any potential trouble. I think it will be safer for them here that in the undercity, just in case there are more problems with the Nyemetz and ratmen than we would hope for."

Zosia, Rowan and the Kristus family all seem to be very happy with this arrangement. Milan is not so sure.

The spellcasters are all awake now. They head off into the different corners of the shop and backroom in order to make their preparations, with the priests muttering their devotions to their deities while Faewen'il and the illusionist quietly read from their spellbooks.

Winnacer sees Milan's ambivalence at being left behind. After everybody else has their attention elsewhere, the young Lord comes to sit besides his squire:

"It probably would be best if you stayed here. I need somebody I can trust to keep an eye on Baby Yaz and make sure he stays safe. I know that he'll be fine as long as he's under your watchful eye."

Winnacer gives him a pat on the back. Milan grins in response, the pain from yesterday's burns now having been healed by the priests:

"Don't worry, Lord Winnacer," the squire responds. "I'll make sure that the baby is safe."

"We'll just be gone until the New Year," the young Lord continues. "Keep a keen eye open and see if you can learn a thing or two from Mrs. Ververka. Wish us luck."

"Oh, aye," Milan replies with a grin. "You be havin' some good luck now."

"By the way," Winnacer adds. "Could I borrow your Fabio armor just for the next few days? The fact that it does not make any noise could prove to be very useful in the coming action."

"Sure," Milan agrees, pulling off the robes and handing them to Winnacer.

The young Lord thanks his squire once again and puts on the armor. He then readies his equipment. Preferring to travel light so as to make as little noise as possible, he takes just 'Old Bohavia', a dagger, his shortbow and arrows, leaving his shield, calivers and other equipment with Milan.

The LawBringer then seeks out Mrs. Veverka:

"Mrs. Veverka," he starts. "I would just like to thank you for your hospitality last night. Although most of us can't take advantage of your kind offer to stay longer, I would be obliged if you would allow the Kristus family, Zosia and Rowan and Milan to stay for a few more days. I can pay you for your accommodation."

Mrs. Veverka laughs and shakes her head:

"Oh no, deary," she replies. "I wouldn't take your money off you. I'll be glad of the company. I get lonely here on my own, to tell you the truth."

Winnacer nods:

"Please feel free to ask Milan to help you with your chores," he continues. "He has a stout heart and is willing to learn. If he could help you with the cooking, and perhaps learn a little in the art of herbcraft while he is with you, then it would be very useful for us all."

She laughs again and nods:

"I'll do that for him, deary, don't you worry. I shall teach him some of my secret recipes."

The priests finish their praying, but it takes Faewen'il over two hours to replace the mass of spells that she used the previous day. As a result, it is after 9.00a.m. by the time everyone is ready to make their final preparations for the mission. While waiting for Faewen'il to finish, the three priestesses of Zemnye heal all of the remaining wounds of the dwarven warrior that will be accompanying the party on their mission.

Once all are ready to depart, Rockrender speaks to the others:

"So what assistance can we give to the Bohavians so that they can rescue their friends?"

The illusionist is the first to speak:

"I can make each of the four of them invisible," he says. "It will be easier for them to move if they all have separate spells cast upon them so that they do not all have to stay close together."

Rockrender nods and looks to the priest of Ohen:

"Are there any blessings that you can give them?" he asks.

"I'm afraid not," the fire priest responds. "None of the blessings at my disposal would last long enough to be of much use."

The CornerStone nods sadly and looks back at the party members:

"As for myself, I can bless you all so that the effects of any flames would harm you less, if you consider it would be useful. The effects will last for a little over an hour and a half."

"It certainly wouldn't hurt," replies Winnacer. "Thanks."

"The most useful assistance I can offer you, however, is that I can make the skins of two of you as hard as rock until you have taken a fair bit of damage," the CornerStone continues. "Which two of you should receive such blessings?"

"Fae and Yaz would probably be the best bet," suggests Winnacer.

The CornerStone nods:

"Very well, if they are willing then I shall cast it upon them. Please be aware that the spell provides no protection against the effects of magick; only physical damage such as cuts and blows."

Faewen'il then speaks:

"I be hopin to save most o my spells for tha way back. I be memorizing two spells that make all close ta me invisible today, plus I can turn myself into a ghost form if'n it be useful. I be takin a spell ta be stopping enemy magicks and another one o tha webs. Tha only offensive magicks I be havin are a couple o magickal missiles. I can't be rememberin no lightning bolt today, what with all tha other spells I need."

There is a pause and then the CornerStone speaks once more:

"So is there any other assistance that we can provide before you make your departure?"

"Would it be possible for you to transport some of my equipment inside the gates of Opava?" the young Lord asks. "While I can be without most of it for this excursion, I will need most of it if I wish to be effective against the ratmen later this week."

Rockrender nods:

"I'm sure that we can arrange that. We shall wait close by the gates, as we might as well take advantage of any commotion that you make on your way out of the garrison. If you are able to pull it off without raising any alarm, then we shall bring the items in later in the day."

"It may also be best for us to start our infiltration while somebody goes through the gates, just to keep their attention focused away from us," asks the LawBringer. "If we can arrange for that, it would be appreciated."

"I'll volunteer to accompany you," speaks up the illusionist. "It doesn't matter if they see my face, as it won't be my real one in any case. If there is any problem, then I should be able to get away quite easily."

The CornerStone's attention then rests upon the Lord Protektor, who is tied up and lying in a corner. He looks to Yaz:

"What would you like to do with your new friend, the Lord Protektor?" he asks. "We can't really take him into the city with us, as it would be difficult to get him past the gate. I'm not sure that it would be such a good idea to leave him here though."

"Any suggestions?"

Yaz looks up at him from his seat on the floor, where he is casually but somewhat artfully applying green dye to his now-dirtied white leggings:

"What I don't understand," he says, too loudly, "is why we don't just hand over the goblin-assed git back to his people in exchange for Porter. Saves us all that sneaky business. How come we haven't talked about that?"

The CornerStone looks over at Winnacer for a response.

The druid continues without waiting, knowing he'll receive an answer that doesn't make any sense (to him) anyway, and he doesn't feel like arguing. He's felt less and less like arguing lately, actually. Communing with Prirodna through the inhalation of Her Most Holy Spiritual Lubricant seems to have become much higher priority than waving his arms around:

"Ya, ya, he deserves to die, the Nyemetz scum that he is. You're right. So in that case... I figure that although his spirit is one of a tree-killer, his decomposed body would still be of benefit to the earth. I'd recommend burying him up to his eyeballs in an anthill if it were spring... but in this cold weather, that wouldn't work... String him up by his toenails in the forest somewhere, maybe? I can have my bird friends pluck out his nosehairs one by one and make nests in his orifices while we're gone... he oughtta be ready for death by the time we get back. Starvation is pretty hideous, especially if he is slowly warmed out of frostbite beforehand... but maybe we don't have that kind of time."

Yaz looks up at those few who are looking at him in horror and glee. The majority of the dwarves seem to be pondering the question, trying to decide whether they should give in to their natural hatred of goblins or set an example to the community seeing as how they are its leaders.

"Oh. Did you mean, what use can we make out of him, CornerStone?" asks Yaz.

He grins fiercely:

"Shit, the only use I can think of is to get him to help us enter the place. But he'd likely only help me, not the rest of you. And you seem to have already decided to do this invisible-sneaky shit as a group. So whatever. I'd like to take him for a walk, if you wouldn't mind, guys."

The CornerStone nods:

"I would not tell you what is right or wrong to do with him," the dwarf replies. "Spravedelna is the goddess of Justice; Zemnye has nothing to say on the subject. Such matters are of little interest to Him whose demesne changes little over the millennia."

The priest of Ohen shrugs:

"Sure, whatever you want to do with him is fine with me," he says. "Obviously if it was down to me then he would burn alive, but then again Ohen is fairly consistent in His punishments."

"But you were the one to have charmed him, so it is your decision. As long as we guarantee that he's not going to be coming back to Opava any time in the near future, that's all that matters."

Winnacer watches the conversation with interest:

"He has committed many crimes against Bohavia and has much innocent blood on his hands."

Winnacer unsheathes 'Old Bohavia' slowly:

"Spravedelna demands his life in forfeit, Her Justice is swift."

With well-practiced ease, Winnacer places his foot on the goblin's back, forcing its neck to be exposed:

"By the Book of Punishments, I execute Spravedelna's will. Justice will be served."

The Lord Protektor is panicking now, looking up at Yaz:

"What? What?" he gabbles. "What he do to me? Say you he friend of yours?"

With one quick motion, the question of what to do with the goblin is moot before the Lord Protektor has chance to say anything else.

The CornerStone looks down on the headless corpse of the Lord Protektor that is staining the floor of Mrs Veverka's shop green with its blood:

"Well I suppose that is that matter resolved."

As Winnacer wipes his blade clean of the blood, he turns to Mercenary leader:

"Somebody may want to hold on to the Protektor's head. Proof of his death may go a long way in helping to unify the battling clans in the deep levels...and garnering support of some of the other churches."

"Fine," the dwarf replies. "It certainly can't hurt."

With that, he grabs the Lord Protektor's head by an ear and lifts it, still dripping blood, before placing it in his backpack.

"I guess we should burn the rest," Winnacer adds.

"Leave it with me," priest of Ohen. "I shall take care of it."

"I think that we are almost set to embark now," Winnacer says. "Before we go, however, I think that we should all take a look at the Lord Protektor's map and determine the plan for getting to the jail and back."

With that, Winnacer takes the map and lays it before them all, studying it intently. After taking a few moments to refresh his memory as to the lay out of the complex, the LawBringer speaks:

"I figure we'll try to take a direct route up to the jail, having to make a judgment at each gate if we want to attempt to bypass then another way, using whatever spellcraft we have at our disposal."

"It would probably be wise if we all took a stick of chalk to quietly write messages in a pinch and work out a simple series of taps in order to communicate; one tap meaning yes, and two taps meaning no, for example. Considering we can't see each other, it would probably behoove us to move through the gates one at a time, meeting up on the other side at a chalk marked area made by the first person through, so that we don't trip over each other."

"So we move one at a time past obstacles, meet up at a small chalk mark on the wall, decide our strategy, whether to proceed or circumvent, erase the mark, and move on."

"But be there not a chance that tha goblins might be able ta see tha marks?" asks Faewen'il. "Would nae it jus be better ta hold hands when we move through?"

"An I think tha whisperin'd be fine as long as they be no goblins close."

"As for overcoming barriers," Winnacer continues, "jail guards would best be charmed or held, so they can't raise an alarm. Then we release Porter and retrace our steps."

Faewen'il nods:

"Charmin be better than fightin, that be for sure," she says. "I can be charmin them with ma ring. Remember that when I try it I will be made visible though, so it still nae be without risk."

"Spells for finding traps may be useful here, as well as making sure none of us are carrying anything that makes too much noise," the young Lord adds. "If we can pad our boots, it may be worthwhile - but I don't know how to do it."

"That shouldn't be a problem," the mercenary leader replies. "All we need to do is tie sacks around our feet. It will slow us down a little, but it is probably worth it."

"I nae be havin no spells to be findin traps," the magess adds. "I be usin all ma spells for invisibility an tha rest."

"I'm hoping that they won't have too many traps," the mercenary leader comments. "Goblins aren't the brightest creatures around and so they'd probably keep setting them off themselves in the area that the mass ranks have access to."

The CornerStone nods:

"Well it seems as if you have the basics of the plan all worked out now, so I suggest that we all start to make a move now, as the morning is wearing on."

"As for what to do after you have retrieved Mr. Porter, I suggest that you make your way immediately to the 'Cask & Bottle'. I shall make sure that the landlord is expecting you."

"Let us set the Council Meeting there for 6.00p.m."

He looks around at the other dwarves for confirmation that this is acceptable to them all. They all nod in agreement.

With that, everyone starts to make their final preparations. Everyone ties sacks to their feet under the mercenary leader's guidance. The two warriors check over their weapons and ensure that they have nothing that is going to make any noise on their persons. Faewen'il and Yaz check over their spell components and other equipment. The priest of Ohen takes care of the Lord Protektor's remains.

Winnacer looks around and sees that everyone seems to be ready now. He looks to the spellcasters:

"I think it is time to cast the spells now," he says.

The CornerStone nods and starts the process of preparing the party member for the assault. He starts off by taking some powdered granite and diamond, which he proceeds to sprinkle over Faewen'il while muttering a quick incantation. Once he has finished the action, he takes another pinch of the powder and sprinkles it over Yaz, while uttering the same incantation.

Once he has finished, he speaks to them:

"The protection should save you from a few attacks," the dwarf says, "but remember that it does not provide any protection against attacks that are magickal in nature."

He then takes his holy rock in hand and starts to cast once more. He starts with Yaz, and then proceeds to cast upon Faewen'il, Winnacer and the mercenary leader.

"This should lessen the effects of fire damage upon you," he comments. "Bear in mind, however, that it will only lessen the effects. It will not negate them totally."

"That is all that I can do for you, I'm afraid," he finishes.

"That would make it my turn, in that case," the illusionist says.

With that, he produces another eyelash encased in gum Arabic from his pouch and proceeds to cast over Faewen'il, muttering an incantation. As he finishes, Faewen'il's form begins to shimmer before disappearing completely as she turns invisible. The illusionist repeats the operation upon Yaz, Winnacer and then the mercenary leader until all of them are invisible.

"Now to do something for myself and then we shall all be done," the illusionist says.

He begins to chant once more. As he finishes, he gains a couple of inches in height and he becomes so fat that he can hardly move. His clothes change color from the subdued earth tones that he had been wearing before to some highly gaudy and extravagant robes of purple, green and gold. He takes off his mask to reveal a ruddy face with a ginger beard.

He goes over and looks in a mirror:

"Disgusting," he says with a grin. "It should be just the thing for the task in hand."

The illusionist looks over in the direction of the invisible partymembers:

"So are you all set to go then?" he asks them.

They each respond positively.

"Let's go, in that case," the illusionist says.

As the visible illusionist and the four invisible party members head for the door, the others all wish the party the best of luck and then they head out of Mr. Veverka's shop, walking towards the gate.

As they get outside, they realize that it is another freezing cold day and shiver a little as the cold wind whips past them. They see that Tall Town is fairly busy at the moment as the dwarves head about their business. As it has not been snowing for five days, the snow is gray and churned up, meaning that the footsteps that appear as they make their way invisibly towards the gate are not obvious.

As they continue to walk, they hear snippets of conversation from the dwarves that they pass by. Faewen'il understands that almost everyone seems to be talking about what happened at the warehouse the previous night, as it seems to be the main topic of conversation. Already the facts have been exaggerated greatly.

After five minutes, they reach the gate and see that the guard on the door is still as strong as ever. In each of the towers of the great gate, there is a platoon of archers, with a company of spearmen between the gates. The recent events have certainly made the goblins less lazy, as the archers are alert and looking out over Tall Town while the spearmen at the entrance are checking everyone passing in and out of the city very carefully. The illusionist stands back in the shadows and observes what the goblins are doing carefully before proceeding. He sees that the goblins are searching all of the dwarves' bags for anything suspicious and questioning each of them at length before letting them pass in and out. The illusionist observes the goings on for the best part of five minutes before starting off towards the gate. As he makes off, he dumps his pouch of spell components just to be on the safe side.

As the illusionist heads off towards the gate, Faewen'il whispers to them all:

"We should all be holdin hands so we dinna get separated."

They all fumble around until they have formed a line with Faewen'il in the lead, she having the most experience of traveling while invisible.

The illusionist gets to the gate and he is immediately stopped by the goblins. A couple of the goblins start to frisk him, going through his pouch while the corporal, who can speak some basic dwarven, asks him a few basic questions regarding who he is, where he was going, what he was doing the previous night, etc. This doesn't faze the illusionist in the slightest as he comes out with an alibi about his being a merchant who has been to the temple of Obkod to make his devotions. The party members notice that, while the goblins were checking the contents of the illusionist's pouch, the goblin relieved him of a few pieces. It is obvious that the illusionist has spotted it to, but pretends that he didn't.

While the goblins are thus occupied, Faewen'il tugs on Winnacer's hand and starts to lead the four of them through the gangs of goblins that are at the gate. Although the goblins are standing around in a messy heap, they are not forming a line and so, with just a little caution, it is quite easy for the party members to wind their way through the mass heading inside the city. Each of them holds their breath as they come close to the goblins, but they manage to get through them all without accidentally bumping into any of the goblins.

They are inside the city of Opava now.

They walk forward a few yards, leaving the illusionist still answering the goblin's questions. As per the Lord Protektor's map, they see the guardhouses on either side of the door. They see that there are a couple of goblin spearmen on sentry duty outside both of the gatehouses, but in neither case do they look terribly alert. To their great relief, the party members see that the doors to both of the gatehouses are open.

There is little difference between the two gates, and so they decide to take the one on their left. Quietly, they advance towards the gatehouse and pass by the two bored looking sentries as they walk inside the first gatehouse. As they enter it, they see that there are arrow slits in the tower above the gate. The gatehouse is protected by a pair of stout iron doors at the front, with a portcullis at the rear of it. However, it is obvious that the goblins were not expecting any company, as the gates and portcullis are open. They pass through the gatehouse looking up and see that there are murderholes in the roof. It is lit dimly by flickering torches. They can hear some greenskin babbling from above telling them that there are more goblins above them.

Although your hearts are pounding from being in the proximity of the goblins, they pass through the first gatehouse unseen and start to slowly ascend the steep staircase upwards, which is also lit by torches. They take each stair at a time, treading carefully in case the advice that they were given regarding the fact that it is unlikely that any of the common areas would be trapped is false. As they reach the halfway stage without incident, they believe that the advice is probably correct, however.

At the platform, from which the stairs turn at a 90-degree angle, they see that there is another narrow walkway heading back to the gatehouse at the same level. They see that this is how the goblins gain entrance to the upper levels of the bottom gatehouse, and presumably to the towers incorporated into the main gates of the city. The ingenuity of the design of the staircase shows that it is of dwarven construction rather than goblin.

They continue up the second flight of stairs, seeing the second gatehouse before them. It seems to be identical to the lower one in that there are currently two goblin sentries on duty and that there are arrow slits in the top layer.

Once again, they hold their breaths as they approach the second of the gatehouses. Again, however, the sentries seem to be bored and they pass through the gatehouse without incident. After passing through the gatehouse, they turn and start to make their way down the long corridor towards the entrance to the complex proper. They pass a ladder that leads up to the second level of the gatehouse and then continue along the dim corridor. As they walk down the corridor, they see that there are arrowslits in the wall to their side that gives them a view of the main gates. They also see that there are thick metal grilles in the floor allowing burning oil and arrows to be rained down upon any getting through the gates and entering the city. They can see that the complex and the city itself would be almost impregnable against anyone trying to take the city by force.

They continue to walk down the corridor until they get to the final gatehouse that leads into the complex. As they approach it, they are almost afraid to look in case the gates here are closed and their plans would be thwarted after getting so close. Much to their relief, however, they see that the gates are open here as they are everywhere else in the complex. Once again, the sentries that are positioned here are less than alert and so the party members have no problem in getting past the guards and through the gatehouse.

They are now within the complex.

Having memorized the map, Faewen'il leads them all to the left and they continue down the corridor, which is a lot better lit than either the staircase or the corridor on the opposite side of the gatehouse. They pass the doors to the general stores to the right and the doors to the officers' private quarterss to the left. As they continue onwards, they can hear the odd faint goblin babble coming from behind them, from the area coming from the barracks, but all is quiet ahead of them. They carry on silently down the corner and then turn to the right in order to continue onwards towards the jail.

As they turn the corner, Faewen'il stops in her tracks. They look down the corridor and see that, some 50 yards away, there is a thick iron door blocking the corridor, as was shown on the Lord Protektor's map. Standing in front of the door are two goblins wearing half plate and holding broadswords. At their side, fixed to the wall, is a large bell.

The party members stop and look at the sight and then Faewen'il speaks:

"What shall we do?" she asks. "I think I can be charmin one o them with ma ring but, when I do it, I will become visible again an the other one'll see me an raise the alarm."

"How can we take two o them out without one o them soundin tha alarm?"

"Sounds like a holding spell would do the trick," the young Lord replies. "Has anyone got anything like that?"

The silence from the others is deafening.

"Well, in that case," he continues, "then I suppose that we shall just have to use stealth."

"If myself and our dwarven friend ..."

"Call me Zbignor," the dwarf replies. "I think I can rely on you not to give anything away."

"...Zbignor," Winnacer continues, "can use stealth in order to get close to the goblins, then we can hopefully incapacitate and muffle them before they have chance to ring the bell."

"The guards may have the keys on them, which would be nice. Once incapacitated, they can be slain easily and dragged into the jail proper."

"That's unless anyone else has any better ideas."

Obviously no one does, as there is only silence from the others in response.

With the plan now set, the foursome start to make their way carefully up the corridor towards the two goblins. Faewen'il and Yaz stop some ten yards before getting in front of the goblins while Winnacer and Zbignor cautiously advance until they are right in front of the goblins.

Not knowing how long it is going to take her invisible companions to get into position, Faewen'il leaves it a couple of minutes before she points the ring in the direction of the left of the goblins and quietly utters the word:

"Umberto."

As she does so, she immediately turns visible. The goblin on the left just stares around stupidly, but the one on the right stares at the magess that has appeared as if from nowhere and starts to move for the bell. Winnacer lunges for the goblin, also becoming visible in the process. The goblin, however, moved too quick for him and the goblin slips from his grasp.

Immediately that he does so, however, the form of Zbignor appears, with his spade-like hands wrapped around the goblin's throat. With one almighty twist, there is a sound like that of a walnut being cracked and the goblin slips to the floor as Zbignor neatly breaks the goblin's neck. Zbignor carefully drops him to the ground so that he does not make any sound and then investigates the bell.

He reaches inside the bell and grasps his hand around the donger before ripping it out with his fingers.

With the goblins successfully having been taken out, albeit with the loss of everyone's invisibility except for Yaz, they pause a minute and listen to see whether their activities have alerted anyone. All is quiet, however, and it seems as if all is well.

Zbignor immediately tries the door, but it won't move:

"It's locked," he whispers.

"Hopefully one of the guards has the keys on him," Winnacer says as he slowly kneels beside the dead goblin and starts to rummage through his belongings.

He looks over at Faewen'il:

"Can you see if your charming friend has it on him?" he says.

While Winnacer proceeds to check him, Faewen'il silently walks up to him, smiling as she does so:

"Would ye be havin a key on ye?" she asks the goblin.

"Nerozumim,' the goblin squeaks back to her, smiling.

"He nae be understandin Bohavian," Faewen'il says. "Hopefully he nae be mindin if I be friskin him."

With that, she starts to frisk him. The goblin, thinking Fae is playing a game with him, does not seem to mind at all.

Winnacer finishes going through the dead goblin's pouches and shakes his head:

"No key on this one," he says sadly.

"Not on this one neither," says Fae.

Zbignor sighs:

"Let me try this other door," he says, pointing to the door on the left. "If we can get in here then perhaps we can find a way in through the administration block."

The dwarf tries the door, but it too is locked. He looks back to the others:

"So any idea how we can get past one of these doors?" he asks.

Winnacer thinks for a second:

"Were there any keys amongst the pouches we took from the Lord Protektor? If anybody would have the key, it would be him."

"Can anyone speak Nyemetz?" he asks. "If so, we can ask the goblin who would have some keys."

Faewen'il takes a look through her many pouches:

"There were some keys that tha Lord Protektor had on him. I was nae sure whether they were his or Porter's though."

She rummages through her assortment of pouches and backpack to see if she can find them.

As she does so, Zbignor speaks:

"I can speak Nyemetz, but I'm not sure whether it'll agree to speak to me what with him being the magess' friend. Dwarves and goblins aren't that keen on each other."

"Give it a try," says Faewen'il.

The dwarf tries to speak with the goblin, but the guard just growls at him.

As he tries, however, Faewen'il pulls forth a set of keys from her pack:

"Try these," she says handing them to the dwarf.

Zbignor takes the keys and starts to try them all on the lock. The first seems to fit.

The dwarf grins:

"Looks like it's the right one to me," he says.

Winnacer stops him from opening the door:

"Before you open it, we really need to know whether there are any guards or anyone behind it. Perhaps you could take a listen."

Zbignor nods and puts his ear to the door. He spends a couple of minutes concentrating, but then gives up with a shrug:

"I can't tell," he says. "It's a thick door and so I can't hear anything from behind it. Perhaps the rest of you can try."

Winnacer puts his ear to the door and has a listen, but he cannot hear anything either. Faewen'il tries also, but the results are the same for her too.

"So what now?" asks Zbignor.

"Tell Faewen'il how to say 'What is behind the door' in Nyemetz'," Winnacer begins. "You can translate for us, but she can do the talking. She has quite the gift for languages."

"Sure," Zbignor replies before whispering to Faewen'il.

Faewen'il nods as she listens to the dwarf and then speaks with the goblin:

"Tzo ye vzadu dverzye?" she asks.

"Sou dvye shoutky," the goblin replies.

"There's a couple more goblins," Zbignor translates.

Winnacer sighs:

"I suppose it is only to be expected. Forewarned is forearmed, I suppose."

The young Lord pauses for a moment, working on a way to get rid of the guards before they can raise the alarm. After a moment, he speaks once more to Zbignor:

"That worked quite well, perhaps we can make more use of the guard. Would it be possible to tell Faewen'il how to ask the goblin to open the door and speak with the guards in order to divert their attention?"

Zbignor nods:

"Sure it would be," he replies, "but we still need to find some way of stopping the guards from sounding the alarm."

Winnacer looks around to see if there is any sign of Yaz:

"Yaz, you are the only one who is invisible. Do you think that you can trail the goblin in and take care of the goblins while they are distracted, or just the bell, at least?"

The invisible druid lets out a long sigh:

"OK then, anything to get whatsisname out of this hole and get out of here," he replies.

Winnacer nods:

"OK, so the goblin opens the door and heads over to the guards to distract them and Yaz follows him in so as to stop them sounding the alarm."

"Once they are in position, then perhaps, Faewen'il, you can use your charming ring in order to take one of them out while Zbignor and I charge the remaining one."

Faewen'il nods in agreement.

Zbignor heads over to Faewen'il and whispers to her once again. Faewen'il nods and then speaks to her new friend, the goblin:

"Prosim otevrzyeno dvere a potom mluvite s shoutky," she says, repeating the words that Zbignor taught her.

"Samorzyemnye," the goblin says in reply and obediently opens the door and walks through it, heading for the goblins outside the door to the jailblock. The invisible Yaz follows in the goblin's shadow. He sees the alarm bell beside the door and interposes himself between it and the goblins.

The two goblins on the door look a little surprised as to why the goblin is coming to speak with them and grunts at him questioningly. The charmed goblin starts to speak to the two guards. Faewen'il pops her head around the door and immediately points her ring at the first of the goblins while whispering:

"Umberto."

Nothing seems to happen, but then one of the goblins sees the form of the magess around the side of the door and starts to grunt excitedly. The other goblin immediately tries to reach for the bell, but the invisible Yaz is in the way. The druid immediately tries to grab one of them, becoming invisible in the process, but the slippery greenskin manages to duck under the hold that the druid puts on him and draws its broadsword, while screaming at the top of its voice.

Immediately that the goblins start the commotion, Zbignor shouts "shit" and immediately takes his mighty battleaxe and charges towards them. Winnacer draws forth 'Old Bohavia' and charges in after the dwarf.

Faewen'il steps through the door right after them, grabs the keys and closes the door behind her, hoping that it will deaden the sound of the combat.

As the dwarf rushes the first of the goblins, the greenskin lashes out at him with its broadsword, cutting the dwarf badly. The dwarf shrugs off the wound, however, and retaliates by neatly hacking off the goblin's head with one almighty blow of his axe. The other goblin strikes out at Winnacer as he charges into combat, but the young Lord neatly sidesteps the thrust. He follows up with two good hits upon the goblin with 'Old Bohavia' that cause the goblin a couple of serious wounds, but are not quite enough to finish the creature, who cries out even louder as a result of its wounds.

Yaz quickly draws his lucky scimitar to try and finish the wounded greenskin, but the goblin's half-plate takes the damage with a loud 'CLANK'.

As Zbignor and Winnacer turn to finish off the badly wounded goblin, they hear a door opening from behind them and briefly see an enrobed goblin peering out at them. From her position in front of the door blocking the corridor, Faewen'il sees it too and immediately points toward the goblin while uttering a quick incantation. As she finishes, three bolts of pure magickal energy fly from her fingers and hit the enrobed goblin. All three bolts find their target, and the goblin is severely grilled, but does not fall. The goblin immediately bolts back inside the room, shutting the door behind him.

Zbignor immediately charges to the door, just managing to get his foot inside it before the door closes. He pushes on the door with his immense strength and it flies open, almost toppling the injured robed goblin in the process. He lifts his axe high and brings it crashing down upon the greenskin, hacking it in two.

However, the goblin is not the only occupant in the room. There is another robe-wearing goblin inside which immediately starts to cast at the dwarf. The goblin chants and throws his hands towards Zbignor, yet nothing seems to happen. The dwarf grins and starts charging towards the unfortunate goblin boss.

Meanwhile, out in the corridor, Winnacer lashes out at the goblin once again, trying to finish it off as quickly as possible. The young Lord is unable to find a way through the goblin's half-plate, however and Yaz' attempt to fell the greenskin is similarly unsuccessful. The goblin tries to strike at Winnacer, but the 'Fabio' armor that he is wearing proves to be an impenetrable barrier. Winnacer lunges at the goblin once again, and manages to run the greenskin through, finally.

Inside the room, Zbignor laughs madly as he sees that he has the other robe-wearing goblin trapped. He lands a mighty blow upon the goblin, which causes it immense damage, but does not manage to topple it. The goblin feebly tries to strike back at the dwarf with its flail, but Zbignor's half-plate soaks up the damage. The dwarf brings his axe crashing down upon the goblin once again, splattering its blood around the room as he hacks off the goblin's arm and kills it.

After the intensity of the fight, there is silence around the party members. They all stand still and listen for the sound of any activity coming from elsewhere in the complex, yet all seems to be silent.

Winnacer and Faewen'il quietly walk into the room to see what is inside it, stepping over the body of the first of the goblins. They see that the room contains a number of desks along with many shelves, upon which are a number of ledgers and vast quantities of paperwork piled up on the desks and in piles upon the floor. Winnacer glances at the paperwork, but sees that the majority of it is in Nyemetz, the rest in dwarven.

Seeing that it could take a week to study all of the papers, Winnacer whispers to Zbignor and Faewen'il:

"Let's see if Porter is in the jail. That was close, we should get out of here as quickly as we can before someone misses these two."

They all head out of the room and try the doors to the jailblock. Needless to say, they are locked. Zbignor takes the Lord Protektor's ring of keys once more and starts to try them all on the lock. He goes through all of them before finding that it is the last one that opens the door.

Inside the room it is almost dark, as there are just a couple of torches burning in the large room. As they all enter, the first thing that strikes them is the stench. Although the rest of the complex is far from fragrant, the stench in here is unbelievable. Luckily there are no guards inside the room and so they walk in. Through the half-light, they can see that the room is full of steel cages that line the walls of the room. They investigate them all carefully. At first, they think that perhaps the room is empty, as there is no sound from within. However, as they look closer, they see a shape lying upon the floor of one of the cells.

The sight that they see is a terrible one. At first they can hardly recognize him, such are the extent of his injuries, but then they realize that the figure is none other than Porter.

He is naked and lying on the floor of the cell. The only signs that he is still alive are the faint spasming through his body and the shivering from the cold coming from the stone floor. He moans quietly to himself and his breathing is shadow. They see that he has obviously been tortured mercilessly. His body is covered in burns, scratches, piercing and long red wheals that show that he has been flogged over and over again. The fingers of his left hand are covered in dried blood; obviously his fingernails have been ripped off. His knees have swollen up to the size of footballs, a sign that his kneecaps have been crushed with a sledgehammer. The sickening stench that is coming from him is terrible and they can see that he is lying in a pool of urine and excrement, probably not his own.

As they stand gazing at the horrific sight, Porter obviously senses their presence. He painfully tries to lift himself up, but fails. He just manages to roll on his side to where he lies in the goblin filth, simply staring back at them.