The Only Way to Fly

[JadedDM]

Keep
Peeking through the doorway, Babushka sees the kitchen and pantry. Some human and elven slaves work the area, preparing tonight's meal.

(OOC: Ah, no then. The structure she is in is the only building within the keep's walls.)

Outside
Locky settles down with a 'harrumph' and everyone sits and waits quietly.

[Breila]

As fast as it is possible to do quietly, Babuska hurries back into the hall and tries out the stairs leading down next.

[JadedDM]

Babushka descends the stairs into what appears to be a dungeon.

To the left is a fireplace and a table with several chairs (all ogre sized). Four ogres sit here, playing cards and talking with each other in their own tongue. To the north of them are three prison cells, side by side. To the south is a door with not one, but two padlocks on it. There are also two doors to the east.

[Breila]

Babushka sees no chance of opening the first door, since it is in plain view of the ogres, so she walks on to have a closer look at the more southerly door that's out of their line of sight. If she can (and it doesn't look like it will creak like hell when she does), she'll open it for a careful peek inside.

[JadedDM]

Sneaking southward, out of the sight of the ogres, Babushka checks the door there and finds it isn't locked. Pushing it open, she sees a new room with another door to the north. There's also a large sewer grate at the end of the room. Beyond that, it appears to be an ordinary storage room for things like barrels, crates and so forth.

[Breila]

Babushka enters the room and looks if there is any place where the flywheel might be hidden. In the relative safety of this room, she thinks for a moment. Of course, she could go on exploring quite safely, on the other hand, her friends were waiting outside and might decide to come looking for her if she stayed too long. She decides to go on exploring for as long as she estimates it will take to fully prepare the meal in the great hall. Then she wants to go there and watch. Hopefully, the groups of ogres that were out during the day will report to the ruler then, and she might find out where the flywheel is.

If there is still time by her estimate, she will open the door to the North.

[JadedDM]

Babushka finds no sign of the flywheel in this room, so she tries the door to the north. It opens up into a hallway that leads to another door further north.

[Breila]

Guessing she still has time (and discussions about what happened during the day would probabply start only toward the end of the meal anyway), Babushka decides to continue exploring and opens the door across the hallway. Are the walls of the hallway in any way decorated?

[JadedDM]

The hallway isn't decorated at all, as it is just part of a dungeon. Indeed, there are cobwebs in the corners and some kind of stains on the floor.

Babushka opens up the last door to find another room identical to the storage room to the south. There's a large sewer grate and numerous crates and boxes, but no sign of the flywheel anywhere here, either.

[Breila]

With a resigned shrug, Babushka returns the way she came, into the guard room. How good are her chances to have a look at the prisoners without the guards noticing?

[JadedDM]

Each of the doors to the prison cells have barred windows in them, so the guards can look inside without opening the doors. However, they are high off the ground, about 7 or 8 feet, for ogres. Babushka is far too short to see inside at her meager height, even on her tip-toes.

[Breila]

Babushka stops for a while and listens, even though she doesn't really expect the prisoners to make any noise. Then she continues back up into the hall, where hopefully the meal is ready now.

[JadedDM]

Unable to hear anything from the cells, Babushka climbs the stairs back up to the first floor and approaches the dining table.

The first thing she notices is that the front gate has been closed and the guards have resumed their posts. The patrol that she followed in is gone.

The table is now set, and sitting around it are ogres wearing fine clothes and jewelry. Two on the right, two on the left, and one at the far end. The chair at the head of the table--which is by far the most elaborate and cushioned one, remains empty. A pair of slaves, one human and one elf, stand nearby ready to refill empty wine cups or provide any additional service the ogres may need.

Someone then descends from the second floor, stepping right up next to Babushka. He is not an ogre. He more resembles a draconian--but not any kind that Babushka has seen before. She fought Baaz in the desert and Bozaks in the forest. Karkat, the draconian who was a part of the Hungry Shadows, was a Kapak. And most recently, they encountered the shapechanging Sivaks in Silvanesti. Jerrard had, in the past, made brief references to a fifth type of draconian. Was this one of them?

The draconian is seven feet tall and covered in beautiful, golden scales. He is not as large or muscular as some draconians; rather he is sleek and sinewy. His tail is short, and unlike the other four types of draconians, he has no wings at all. Small spines grow from the back of his head and his bulging eyes are emerald green. He smells awful; like sulfur. He wears very fine robes; they appear to be made of silk.

Aurak.jpg (39.53 KiB) Viewed 5573 times

The draconian stops suddenly, and starts to sniff the air. He looks around the room, then seems to look directly at Babushka. He sniffs the air again, and then turns his head to the table. He approaches the table, and all five ogres seated there stand up in respect while the slaves bow down.

The draconian sits in the seat, and only then do the ogres sit back down. He lifts his glass of wine up to his snout, and swirls it around, as if enjoying the aroma. "A fine meal," he says in Common. Strangely, despite his outward appearance, his voice is smooth and melodious. "I'm sure it will be enjoyable to all." He nods, and the other ogres take this as a signal to begin eating.

[Breila]

Silently, hopefully covered by the sounds of the eating, Babuhska moves back a few paces, close to the grate. Obviously, the draconian had smelled her. She seemed to have been lucky the creature felt safe in his fortress. With some more luck, the conversation at the table would continue to be in Common...

[JadedDM]

"Anything to report?" asks the draconian.

"Patrol this morning found some treasure. It's down in the treasure room," says one ogre. "Not sure it's really worth anything."

The draconian nods. "I'll check it after dinner," he says. "Anything else?" He drinks some wine.

"No sign of anything much," says another. "No enemy, no game. The troops are worrying about how much longer the food will last."

"Food is not a concern. If worse comes to worse, we still have a number of slaves to eat," the draconian responds.

"One of the guards claims he saw something fly through the air last night. Something big, that moved fast. He said it looked like a ship," says a third.

"A ship that can fly? Interesting. Perhaps we should send some patrols out to search for it," the draconian suggests.