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Post by Mankoi on Oct 24, 2014 0:37:06 GMT 1
Fintan was content to let his arms stay behind him for now. "I was including you, actually. Sudden magic from nowhere? That's me as well. They think I'm one of the Children of Power, apparently. If they tossed you in with us, and you also had sudden magical abilities, I don't think that's a coincidence. What is it you can do? Because I can summon up a ball of darkness. Not much use for getting us out, but I think I could blind a guard if we can get loose."
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 24, 2014 11:57:23 GMT 1
Hairah wriggled her arms in front of her, almost crying out in pain as she did so. Eventually, and painfully, she succeeded - in no particular mind to talk for a minute.
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Post by Prof. Cinders on Oct 24, 2014 13:50:34 GMT 1
The pair's companion sighed pointedly, and pointed at the candle. "Magic candle," she said, as if stating the obvious, and abruptly summoned an orb of flame over the flickering wick. The cellar was briefly flooded with a yellow light, and the woman grinned as she let the fireball shrink back to the original small flame. "I'm not a Child of anything except my mother, anyway. This is just a handy thing," she muttered as an afterthought. "And if you can summon darkness, can't you just cover whatever light source there is, assuming we can get out? There might be more than one guard."
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 24, 2014 15:59:38 GMT 1
"If there's only the one light source, sure," Fintan said. "But for all we know, it's daylight out there. And, I admit, I was thinking I'd blind them just long enough for someone else to club them in the back of the head. That'd be an appropriate fate for them, wouldn't you say?"
Of course, they had to actually... escape first. Fintan remembered some winters, when he knew he'd need a distraction at a certain point, there was a mechanism he'd set up. It was triggered by the fact that materials expand in the heat. The idea was that, when the fires were lit, a tiny shard of metal would expand and trigger the delicate mechanism. Usually in Fintan's designs triggering it would cause a spring loaded bar to smash a vial of some foul smelling liquid. It never actually worked, the mechanism was so delicate the footsteps regularly set it off at the wrong time, but the principle was still there.
"It almost certainly won't work," Fintan said, "But you could put your little ball of fire at the base of your chains, where it meets the wall. Things expand when they get hot, and the metal will get a lot hotter than the stone. That's why they make ovens of stone, not metal, right? If the metal expands faster, it'll loosen the stone up, we might be able to pull it out of the wall. I can cover your fire with my darkness, so no one outside will notice."
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 25, 2014 11:08:41 GMT 1
[OOC: I might have forgotten to mention that Fintan can see in 100% darkness, candle be damned.]
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Post by Prof. Cinders on Oct 25, 2014 21:29:54 GMT 1
[OOC: I figured as much ] The woman shrugged. "Worth a try, I guess," she muttered, and moved as far from the wall as she could before creating a fireball where the chains met it. She tried to make it as hot as possible, and then proceeded to engulf the metal in fire.
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 26, 2014 6:11:09 GMT 1
Fintan put a ball of darkness around the flames, trying to hide the light from them, though he wasn't sure how much anyone was paying attention.
"In the likely event this doesn't work," Fintain said. "We each have a length of chain. We could try rubbing them against each other until one chain or the other breaks. If that doesn't work... I don't suppose anyone knows that trick where you slip out of cuffs by dislocating your own thumbs? Because... I don't know that trick."
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 26, 2014 17:44:12 GMT 1
[OOC: Cinders, you don't know how magic works. As soon as I get a spare half-hour, I'll upload some guidelines but for now I'll make it up for you.up t I'll point out each person is manacled, and the manacles attached to the wall by a chain. Each person's chain is, for clarity, attached separately. And you've not separated your chain yet - up to you how to finish freeing yourself. (You'll remain manacled, but at least free to move.]
The chain was quickly rendered red-hot. Hairah, who was sitting closest to it, winced and moved as far away from the sudden furnace-heat as she could in the tiny cell.
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 26, 2014 18:32:24 GMT 1
Fintan's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't expected the metal of the chains to get even close to that hot. Still if they could get that hot, they might become malleable enough to bend. Of course, the chain might conduct heat to the manacles... Fintan suspected it wouldn't be a problem for the woman with the fireball, but for the rest of them it could be problematic.
Fintan slipped his arms around his legs so his hands were cuffed in front of him, facing the wall now so that the chain didn't go between his legs.
"We're all attached to the wall separately," Fintan said. "So if you step over my chain, I can loop it around yours and use it as a file, try to cut through your chain where it's heated. ... How did they manage to capture someone who can toss around fireballs anyway?"
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Post by Prof. Cinders on Oct 26, 2014 18:42:42 GMT 1
The woman glared at Fintan yet again. "When you're driving a wagon full of tent, and suddenly bandits jump you, the horse tends to go a bit insane," she said, and stepped carefully over his chain as he had suggested. "You try throwing fire around a panicked horse, see how far it gets you." She pulled the chain taut, and let the flame dim so it kept hers hot, but wouldn't heat Fintan's too much. She grinned wickedly as she remembered the ambush: "Got one of them on the head, though. He probably doesn't have much hair left..."
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 26, 2014 18:51:04 GMT 1
[OOC: This is a clear effort for Lemiah. Not that it means much to you, but you used four out of ten magic points in the initial spell, have used another now, and will use one for every thirty seconds the spell remains active.]
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 26, 2014 19:02:59 GMT 1
Fintan brought the chain over her head so it looped around hers, like a rope would loop over the wheel of a pulley.
"Hairah, I'm gonna need your help. I can pull the chain towards me easy enough, but with my hands cuffed like this, it's gonna be harder to pull it the other way. Can you grab the other end of it and pull it back? If we can do it pretty rapidly, I think we can at least break her chain."
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 26, 2014 19:07:23 GMT 1
Hairah nodded. "I can help, but my arm hurts pretty badly." She took up her end of the chain, trying not to wince too visibly.
[OOC: Strength test. Fintan's roll will be counted as-is, and for every four that Hairah scores, I'll add one to Fintan's result. (That's the rule for assisted rolls). Hairah is rolling at -1 due to injury. I'll just do one Strength roll for everything, I think, rather than fussing around. I'll give the results when you actually pull... unless you want to spend a Benny to auto-pass.]
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 26, 2014 19:21:33 GMT 1
Fintan started to pull, feeling bad that it had to be Hairah helping him on this, given her injury. He figured it was more painful that she was letting on. Though it did give him an idea.
"If this doesn't work, we can try the sick prisoner gambit. It's an old one, but we do have a legitimately injured companion, and that wound could turn very nasty in these conditions."
Fintan winced slightly at his utter lack of tact, even as the words came out.
"Point being, they've given us a fair length of chain here. If we play our cards right, we can probably get it around the neck of a guard, strange the bastard, get his key. If our captors are smart, the guards have the cell key, but not the manacle key. Given they've given us enough chain to make this a possibility, I rather suspect they aren't smart."
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 26, 2014 19:51:13 GMT 1
While, technically, the chain was moving back and forth, neither Fintan nor Hairah had the strength to pull it hard enough to break through the hot metal, and all it did was just limply rattle back and forth.
[OOC: It's still red-hot... another strong blast of magic from Lemiah may well melt it completely... That's up to Prof. Cinders though.]
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 26, 2014 20:14:25 GMT 1
"This... isn't working," Fintan said. "If uh... fire woman here, sorry, I don't think I ever got your name, wants to try just pulling forwards, we could both help push her. We could use our legs, so Hairah doesn't have to mess up her arm any further. ... Or not. Up to you." Fintan added in that last bit preemptively, seeing how someone might object to the plan of yanking on a chain, while already focused on magic, and being shoved in the back by two strangers.
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Post by Prof. Cinders on Oct 26, 2014 21:38:28 GMT 1
The woman's glare turned back into a grin as if nothing had happened, as she kept the chain taut. "I was wondering if you'd get around to my name. It's 'Mia. Also, pulleys are a lot stronger than just pulling forwards. If you pull diagonally against my chain, and I pull, er, other diagonally, we should get a lot more out of it." She moved round slightly, to give the others room, then crouched down and prepared to dig her heels into the floor to pull.
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 26, 2014 22:10:55 GMT 1
Fintan nodded and pulled once she was in position, not asking Hairah to help this time. He was sure she'd do it of her own accord if she was able, and he worried that pushing her too hard might make her wound more serious.
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 27, 2014 12:27:27 GMT 1
[OOC: Strength rolls all round! Fintan has the highest Strength, so I'll have him do the first roll... 8... plus 1 from Lemiah's successful roll, plus two from Hairah's very successful roll, even at negatives... Lemiah does not have enough MP left to do anything close to that again. She'll need a good night's sleep before trying it again...]
The combination of pure luck, desperation, and tactics seemed to work, and the chain snapped through quickly.
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 27, 2014 14:35:33 GMT 1
"Okay," Fintan said. "Mia is free. ... Ish. Would you mind to try the door, Mia, just make sure it's locked? I'm sure it is, but we'd all feel really stupid if it wasn't."
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 27, 2014 14:44:24 GMT 1
[OOC: Cinders: The door is very well locked. And barred.]
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Post by Prof. Cinders on Oct 27, 2014 14:48:44 GMT 1
Mia quickly tried the door with both hands, pushing gently in case it creaked... Or swung open too fast. Or didn't open at all, then she'd look a fool for pushing too hard. Nothing happened, so she pushed a bit harder, then shrugged. "I guess it's locked. Want to call a guard for your friend?"
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Post by Mankoi on Oct 27, 2014 18:23:56 GMT 1
"If no one has a better idea," Fintan said. "They seem to want us alive, and I really don't care if they live or not, so that sort of gives us an edge in a fight."
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Post by Prof. Cinders on Oct 28, 2014 20:39:16 GMT 1
Mia nodded. "Good. If we can find my sewing kit, too, and assuming someone can pick locks, we might not need keys for these damn things." She rattled her shackles, then banged abruptly on the door. "Hey! Hey! We need some help!"
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Post by Maiyrhia on Oct 29, 2014 11:19:33 GMT 1
There was some muffled cursing on the other side, and the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, followed by the door being smacked by something hard - possibly the hilt of a weapon. "Shut up!" came an angry male voice.
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