You awake lying on a stone cold floor. Somewhere off in the distance, there is a dripping. The lights are very low except for a center area which has sunlight coming in from a small grate that gives some view of other people who are in the area with you. You realize you are in huge cages that are arranged around the room.

In the middle of the room is a small chair and bucket. Inside your cell you can see that other some basic straw, you don't see anything else.

One person in one of the other cages awakes. He stands up scratching his head and then says, "No cage will hold me!"

The man can be seen conquering something in his hands which looks like a fireball. He throws it at the gate which promptly does nothing and seems to absorb the fireball. All of the sudden the energy crackles and a bolt of energy rings out striking the man in the chest, killing him instantly.

He falls back and the hole in the middle of chest is smoking with fumes.

Waking up, Kai's vision is initially fuzzy, as he didn't even get a chance to reply to the shopkeeper about the map before passing out.

He comes too in time to see the person immolate themself in a failed attempt to make ther way out using magic.

"Guessing this is meant to hold mages. Wonder if that means it isn't as good against someone who isn't a mage?" Kai said aloud, to no-one in particular, but seeming more like he is working through a process.

Thinking Notice to see if there is anything about the cage, Thievery to see if there is anyway to unlock it, possibly Occult to see if I know of anything to absorb and reflect magic?

Awakening with a groan and clutching at her head, Rea was almost sure she had a hangover. But she hadn't drank enough the night before to be hungover. Stumbling to her feet, she looked around at where she now found herself. A cage of some sort, alone it seems. There were others in other cages, but she seemed to be in a cage by herself.

She was trying to think of what to do when suddenly one person in a different cage got himself killed as his attack at the cage reflected back to him. "Holy...I was not expecting that to bounce back on him." Seeing someone else in another cage, she tried to call out to them to see if he could hear her. "Hey, hey you. Yeah you talking to yourself over there. Where are we and do you know anyway to get out of here?"

OOC: Rea is trying to talk to Kai, in case that wasn't clear from my post.

Aeress pushed herself up.  She'd been dumped in a most undignified position, finding dull pieces of straw in her similarly fair bright platinum hair.

The scream and the bounce and the death brought her attention to the fore, she didn't get a great look at it but she sure heard it.  And now, smelt it.

Finding the bars of the cage, Aeress pulled herself up, grunting and groaning.

"Those churls."  She murmured.  "They will pay for this affront to House Veles!"

Though she wasn't exactly sure how at the moment.  She stopped to breathe, and look around the chamber.  She clearly was not alone in here.

Hunter sat up at the explosion, staring round wildly. He rubbed his eyes and looked around."Urgh. What a dream. I was walking down the street, then I was beset upon by ruffians, and then there was a huge metal machine monster on steel tracks pumping black smoke, with mages waving wands, and now I'm here. Am I awake? Am I dead? Is this still a dream?"

Groaning, he got to his feet and kicked the iron bars hard. "Ow. That hurt. I guess I'm not dreaming, or dead. What of that chap, did he blow himself up or was that an illusion to stop us trying to use magic."  Closing his eyes he inhaled deeply. "Ah! Smells like roast pork. Yum. Well, I haven't heard of an illusion that can change smell."

He looked around again, running his eyes. "Hallo there, good people! Well met and all! My name is Hunter, as is my profession! Now, Where are my belongings? Jenkins, do you think you could get us out of here?"


A small creature stirred itself, looked glumly at the iron grill and black iron lock, and mutely shook its head before curling back into a ball.

Was that actually an illusion? And do we still have our equipment?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:14, Tue 12 Sept 2023.

At all the talking, and shouting, and dieing, a pair of white paws poked up out of a pile of straw inside a birdcage that was stood within the prison room.

With a yawn a tired looking white mouseling unburied herself and got to her feet before doing a big stretch to shake off the sleepiness from the nap that had been so rudely interrupted.

She looked around at the new bigguns which had apparently been dragged in to join the others while she was sleeping and wondered what the plan was.

Piper herself had been holed up in a warehouse tucked warmly inside a bundle of straw when she'd found her temporary accomodations suddenly tossed into a wagon and eventually brought into this room to be strewn about the floor.

She'd done her best to go unnoticed but had been spotted, snatched up, and tossed into a cage like some common animal.  To what end, she was unsure, but reasoned her captors had no good intentions.

Awake now, and with the sleep rubbed out of her eyes she looked about rather glumly, waiting to see if perhaps one of the other big people might have a more successful plan for escape than the one who'd just zapped themselves with their own magic spell.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:53, Tue 12 Sept 2023.

Brightkin groaned and held his head as he slowly sat up. He noticed he was now in a cage but what annoyed him more than anything was his cage was smaller than all the others around him.

He pulled himself to his feet and turned until he found Kai in his cage "remind me never to follow you into a map shop ever again......" after a moment he added " are you OK?" concern in his voice...... Just then the cage near him exploded as a man tried to blast himself out..... Notecto self don't use magic for the time being....

He stood there studying the others the tips of his wings drooped slightly reflecting his mood

You notice pretty quickly that most of your gear other than your common clothes have been stripped from your bodies. All weapons, trinkets, necklaces, rings, armor and misc goods have been taken.

As you all stir a guard walks in. A big monster of a guard with hulking features and a slow walk comes into the room with a groan. The guard is covered in armor and has a hood over his face but you can't tell what type of creature he is. All you know is he is big and looks mean.

Behind him walks in an infernal woman in very revealing armor covered in spikes. Once again he has a rob and hood that covers most of her features but her infernal eyes and horns give her away much more than the big creature.

On the way to one of the cages she taps Pipers cage with a finger, "That's a good mouseling. Sit in your cell and wait your turn."

She walks right past to one of the of the cages with a dragonfolk. "YOU!", she points at the helpless creature in the cell. "Time for some truth."

She flicks her wrist and the cage opens the huge beast like creature grabs the dragonfolk who tries to resist but is quickly overwhelmed by the strength of the creature.

He drags him to the mid of the room where the infernal woman summons a torture table of sorts. The dragonfolk is strapped into the device and left for viewing.

The infernal summons a magical whip that comes into her hand. "You bare the mark. I need to understand why? Our master seeks to know why, you have this mark and who do you serve?"

The dragonfolk only manages to squeak out a few words, "You are scum. I have no idea of this mark. Do as you will hell-born."

You watch for several minutes as the woman goes back and forth hitting the creature with the whip which leaves flesh blood dripping in a pool beneath him. Occasionally the big creature punches the dragonfolk in the face but stops after each hit seeming to relish in the pain.

Rea looked at all the others that were waking up in the other cages as well. There seemed to be quite a few of them, including herself. Looking around she was about to try and start a conversation with the nearest one to try and plan a way out of these cages before things started happening. A big...thing came in, it was hard to tell what it was, other than big. Rea watched as an infernal woman came in behind the big and mean looking beast. This woman walked to one of the cages and had the beast take the dragonfolk that had been inside it out.

His torture progressing, Rea had to turn away from the sight as she desperately tried to figure a way out of this situation, wishing she'd had her fetish and access to her magic so she could at least transform. But they'd taken that from her when they put her in this cage and she didn't know where they'd put her stuff as her armor was gone as well. Looking around, she hoped someone came up with an idea of what to do soon.

Aeress was not having it.  Well actually she was because she was locked in a cage with no way to do anything about it, but her attitude and reality did not coincide on this occassion.

"You!  You vile reprobrate!  You sniveling blackguard!  Acts of torture are illegal!  Cease your unlawful antics at once, I command you in the name of House Veles!"  Aeress grabbed the bars of her cage and tried to shake it.

Jenkins went to the front of the cage and gripped the bars as she watched the torture avidly.



Hunter went to the side of the cage and leaned languidly against it as he looked around the room.

OOC: How close are the cages? Can we pass things through the bars? What are the cages made of? How strong do they look? Is it like a cell block with stone walls and a front grill, or bars everywhere? The smaller beings cages, how strong do they look? Are they within reach of anyone full sized?

"Damned if I know. Last thing I remember is being in that blasted shop. Feel like we were moths, drawn to a flame." Kai replied to the woman, not recognising her.

Looking around the room, Kai sees how he is not alone, and that there are a surprising amount of others in cages. A worrying amount.


Kai nodded at the fairy. "Yeah, no harm done. Though I'm pissed off at being locked up!"

Kai then witnessed the continual torture of the dragonfolk by the infernal, and much larger friend. He debated calling out, getting their attention, maybe give the dragonfolk a moment of respite. But then what? So he said nothing, and watched, listened, to understand his captors, and his surroundings.

Hunter takes his pants off and apparently starts eating them.

OOC: Cages are fairly close together but they are far back from the wall itself. The material of the cages are some sort of cold iron. Pretty old and rusty but still strong for the age of the material. You could pass things from cage to cage but it would be a stretch doing so and in clear view of your assailants.

The infernal looks at the Hunter eating his pants and reaches out with her hand and says, "Stop this."

Hunter freezes in place like being held by something invisible and falls over. Not hurt but his lips can still move.

She looks at Aeress with fire in her eyes, "Your house means nothing here! You are but a puppet in my masters game. And you shall speak when spoken too."

She holds out her hands and curls his fingers up to the sky as the cage bars become electrified. You realize quickly that if you hold on to the bars you would likely be shocked.

"Grog. Grabs that pet and throw him back in his cage. This guest will need food sooner rather than later. Get the guards to bring in some provisions. Give them nothing but the bowls."

The giant creature shakes his head as he grabs the man and throws him back into his cage and locks the door. Both walk out of the room leaving you to your own devices again with the exception of Hunter who is still frozen in place.

The fairy watched them leave before he spoke....

So our slightly deceased companion over there... He pointed to the cage with the pile of ash in it.... Used direct magic to attack the cage, I wonder if more subtle magic that is directed towards things outside the cage would slip through as it is not an attack...

Turning he focused on one of the candles thst lit the space and used his magic to shrowed it in darkness

16:39, Today: Brightkin rolled 7,3 using D8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 7,3.  Spell casting darkness on candle.

The cage seems to sense your intention and before you can stop yourself the edges of the cage seem to glow with a frenzy. A bolt hits Brightkin right in the chest sending him to his knees. The blast itself you do notice was not as powerful as that of the caster in the other cage. You also notice that the spell does nothing outside of the cage so it does not work.

OOC: Take a level of fatigue damage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:23, Wed 13 Sept 2023.

Brightkin laid on his back and groaned.... At least it wasn't as powerful as the blast that took out the wizard in the other cage.

Gingerly he sat up well that worked as planned... He stated to no one in particular..... OK so we now know the cages react to magic, I'd deduce that the more magic you use the more powerful the retaliation as my spell wasn't as powerful as the bolt our deceased friend used. Perhaps someone with strength in their arms could see if they can bend the bars.... He then slumped back onto the bottom of the cage waving his hand at the others... I'll just lay here for a moment and catch my breath

Jenkins yelped when the bars electrified and flung herself backwards. Wringing her hands and glaring angrily.

Noticing her master lying otionless on the floor, she scampered over to see what was wrong and had a whispered conversation with him.

When the two creatures left, she resumed ripping Hunters pants into shreds.

OOC I presume after some time (ten minutes,  an hour, whateve), Hunter is going to come right.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:25, Thu 14 Sept 2023.

Piper sat in her cage, eyes downcast at things until well after the infernal woman and her monstrous muscle had left.

She perked up as Brightkin announced his intention to experiment and frowned when the results came in.

"If anyone tries to damage the bars, be careful.  No telling if they're reactive to that just like they are to magic."  She commented.

"Though if they aren't, then maybe one of you bigguns can figure out a way to bust one of these small cages open.  That would probably be easier than one of the big ones."

"You cur!  You oily savage!  You... lascivious slime!"  Aeress hurled invectives at them even as she backed the hells away from the now electrified bars.

She sat down, frustrated, then tried to calm down.  Once she did, she began to ask.

"So then, who am I trapped in here with?"  The question was thoughtful in tone as some more rational behavior began to assert itself.

OOC: Yes, the cage and the spells release upon the person leaving the room. With the exception of the casting of spells.

"Terrific, we're stuck in here and we don't even know where here is. Is there anything we do know other than that lady is scary and so is his friend?" Rea stayed well back from the bars, not wanting to get electrified like the other person did. Seeing the others as she looked around she tried to get a head count and see how many of them there were in the cages. "How many of us are locked in these cages anyway? Can any of you reach each other at all?"

That gave Aeress an idea.  She didn't know if it was a good idea.  She'd seen those big burly porters on the docks moving many a large crate by "walking" it, which involved twisting it back and forth using the corners.

Why couldn't that be done from the inside of a box? Maybe the top of this cage was loose for all she knew.  Aeress braced her feet on the center, and extended her arms, trying to exert pressure on top and bottom simultaneously, perhaps enough to be able to move it with some twisting motion.  Or maybe she really would get lucky and it would come apart.  Or it would kill her.  The last was possible too!

Hunter groaned and came to his feet. He had a whispered conversation with Jenkins, and then put his pants back on, only tragically one of the legs had disappeared.

Making his way to the front of the cage, he produced a ball of cloth line, made from strips of fabric tied together. He tied one end onto the bars, and threw the line out towards a birdcage nearby that had a white mouse inside. It was an awkward throw, and fell short, and the next one went wide, but he tried again and again and eventually the line landed right next to the birdcage.