Closed Capture (Garland)

[Sayana]

“I returned this Spring,” Sayana answered in a low tone and without going into further detail. During the bells that had passed, it had grown dark. In past years the Eypharian might have struggled to wait patiently during that time, but now she was able focus on a forming a plan during this time.

There were a few things she had determined. Firstly, there would be a guard on watch. At least one and most likely two. Even if Garland couldn’t see anyone outside, she knew it was standard practice to keep at least someone on watch throughout the night. Especially in a group this size where they could spread the shifts. Second, even if they waited for the others to fall asleep, the guards would alert the camp as soon as they knew something was amiss. That left two options, either to keep them from knowing something was amiss or to keep them from alerting the rest of the camp. As she thought about the options, a smile formed on her face. Perhaps she could do both.

“We wait till the camp is asleep, except for the guards. I will come out and start flirting with them, saying that I grew bored of you and knocked you out. That’s when you carefully leave the tent and sneak around so that you can surprise them from behind. Stay out of the fire light’s glow and take out one guard silently. Only one. Make sure he doesn’t scream. I will handle the other.”

The Eypharian paused at this point, considering the plan and something else she particularly wished for. To get her gold mizas back.

“If everything goes well and no one wakes up, I will sneak into the leader’s tent to steal back my gold. But, I need to know which tent is his, so don’t attack the guards until they have told me. As for your knight friend, leave him for last or don’t touch him at all. It would be better for you to return for him and the slaves with a group of your own knights, but if you must do something against him then save it for the end when I’m busy getting away from here. And the slaves you don’t touch. Come back for them when you have more people with you.”

Throughout her plans, she spoke quietly. She emphasized that extent of their escape would only include themselves. They were not in a position to play the hero and free everyone. Something could easily cause a hitch in the plan and she wasn’t going to bite off more than she could chew in case things got unexpectedly complicated.

“Are we all clear?” At this point she would wait for confirmation from him that he agreed to her plans. Should he have any questions, this would be the time to speak them and she would answer and clarify accordingly.

---

About half a bell later, she was feeling quite confident that both slaves and slavers alike had fallen asleep. The camp was quiet and still, and the fire had burned low with only the occasional murmur exchanged between the guards on watch.

Sayana held a finger to her lips, then carefully unlocked the cuffs of Garland’s manacles with a faint click. She hoped he would have the sense not to use them, lest they chink and jingle by mistake, but if he did then she hoped he could keep silent.

The Eypharian rose and left the tent quietly, garbed in her black robe and wearing her array of daggers at her hip. When she stepped into the glow of the firelight, weapons were reflexively raised. She held up her hands in surrender and offered a playful smile to the guards.

“Couldn’t sleep, and slaves can only last so long for entertainment. He’s knocked out now, and probably just as well since he was nearing his limits. You know, the point in which a slave can’t even groan in agony because he’s too much in agony?” She chuckled softly and took a seat next to one of the guards with a toss of her hair.

“So tell me, are you two on duty for the whole night or do you get relieved partway through?” She asked curiously and placed a high hand on the shoulder of the guard nearest. “We, uh, switch in about a bell,” replied the guard with a bit of redness to his cheeks. Perfect. She wouldn’t need to worry about the exchange happening right away.

“And does your leader take night shifts too? Or does he get to sleep in the best tent and get the best slaves for petching?” She inquired further. By this point she had her legs curled upon the one guard’s lap and was snuggled in rather close. At first he had seemed uncomfortable but now he was rather enjoying the company. The other, however, was less impressed by the obvious flirting.

“All the tents are more or less the same here,” replied the second guard. “There is no best tent. His is that one over there. Might be a bit bigger but not by much.” The guard pointed to a non-descript tent just beyond the fire’s glow.

“You said a full bell? You know, there’s a lot one can do in a bell. It’s not like we’re going anywhere but if you’re worried about leaving your post… well you could take turns.” There was a glint in her eye that was more than just the dim firelight. “But that knight, he gives me the creeps. Wouldn’t want him walking in. Where does he usually sleep? I wouldn’t want my moans to ‘carry’ too far.”

By now they were certainly interested even if she was clearly still favoring one guard over the other. There was a quick point to another tent, which she noted at the back of her mind before tenderly caressing the neck of guard whose lap she was in.

[Garland]

"I couldn't care less about the others right now. It would be the right thing to help but honestly, they can go petch themselves." Garland said softly, there was no trace of the jovial mirth that had always traced his voice before, in it's place was dead seriousness.

"I doubt your key would work on their chains anyway. If you could take the keys from the leader then I would unlock the knight's binds and let him deal with the other slaves. I'm sure other knights would be here eventually, there were a few greenhorn squires I had helped escape, so either a group of veteran knights are on their way here, or those fools are still stumbling around in the dark of the woods."

Garland was restless, his blood had prevented him from relaxing as they waited for everyone to fall asleep, a part of him just wanted to rush out and kill every slaver in the camp with his bare hands if needed.

Sayana on the other hand, had grown. One could say mature, the other could say more cold-hearted, either way she was his anchor against his anger. It had built up and there were only three things keeping him in check, his two children, and his friend that was in as much danger as he was right now.

Garland stayed silent while they waited, no words were exchanged during this time. After Sayana had removed his chains, he had a sudden urge to run out and start ripping apart the entire camp.

Though they had a plan and running out there is a sure way to get captured again. Garland waited inside the tent while Sayana lured the guards away, he needed to focus, he let the chains and manacles drop to the side, they would make noise, he needed something silent.

His body could be used as a weapon, in fact it is a weapon, and in any other time he would show off his power, but now, he was not certain his skills could silence the guard without alerting the camp.

There was a sense of doubt in him that he had not felt in years. He shook it off and waited.

After a few chimes, Garland crept out the tent, he had not found anything of worth inside, just a few lengths of rope and a rough looking bed. Garland had taken the rope just in case, though he doubt he needed it.

Garland kept his head low, he was glad he was short in stature, being tall just made him a bigger target, and easier to spot. He kept to the shadows, eyeing Sayana as she flirted with two guards.

"So should we do it here or somewhere a bit more private?" The first guard asked, though meek, he couldn't stop ogling at Sayana's body.

Garland waited by a tree in the darkness, looking at Sayana, waiting for her to leads one of the guards away, and he would creep behind him and end his miserable life.

Sayana was the only thing stopping him from leaving now, the guards were distracted and he knew the way back to Syliras. If he left, she would be in trouble.

[Sayana]

By now the first guard has his hands tentatively roaming over her. She didn’t mind, it was what she did. It also meant that her method was working. “Perhaps somewhere a little more private, unless you want an audience,” Sayana answered buying herself time. Anytime now Garland… Anytime… their eyes are all on me…

But even as the guard shifted beneath her so that he might stand, her squire friend still didn’t strike. Had he not understood? Had he decided to ditch while he had the chance? Sayana stalled for a couple ticks longer and then finally moved gracefully into a stand. She ran her hand along the guard’s arm until she grasped his own hand. Why hadn’t Garland attacked? She was almost tempted to start the dirty work herself, but she had no way of knowing whether he was in a position to make the attack or whether he was still sneaking through the camp.

She began to lead the guard away from the campfire, unable to stall for much longer. As she left the glow of the campfire and rounded one of the tents there was a sound to her left. Oh petch, were they both going after the same one? But when she squinted in the direction of the sound, it was not Garland who emerged from the darkness.

“Oy, trying to sneak off or somethin?” Came the voice of the lead slaver.

She froze for a tick and in that moment she saw a glint of understanding cross his face. There was no talking out of this one now. He was perhaps five paces away and in the next tick she had a throwing dagger in her right mid hand. She wasn’t sure if she could kill him in a single throw, but she could do her best to silence him. Her hand went back and with a practiced flick of her wrist, the dagger flew in a single spin before it embedded itself into the slaver’s throat.

There were muffled noises from the man and in the next tick she had her left high covering the guard’s mouth who she had been walking with. Her right high unsheathed the large dagger that bashed him hard upon his head, knocking him to the ground with a thud. To his credit, he managed to bite hard on her hand before going down and she winced painfully as she shook him off.

The lead slaver wasn’t quite dead yet, but a few quick steps and a thrust of her dagger into his chest ensured such. Her plan had certainly not gone as smoothly as she had hoped, nor as quietly. As she swiftly made for the leader’s tent, she hoped Garland had taken care of the second guard or if nothing else, that the guard wasn’t hot on her trail after hearing his fallen comrades.

The tent was dark and rather cluttered. Four of her hands hastily riffled through the contents until she heard a soft chink of coins paired with the weight of them in a cloth bag. It would have to do. She didn’t have time to check that they weren’t coppers. Armed with two daggers in her highs, Sayana left the tent preparing to make a dash into the night. If she managed to catch sight of Garland, she would head in his direction and aid him if need be. Otherwise she would be off on her own.

[Garland]

Garland had to admit he was barely paying attention when Sayana was saying her plan, his mind kept wandering back to Syliras and his children, he had difficulty in focusing.

Garland saw Sayana stand up and move away from the campfire, which was the center of the camp. Sayana had left one of the guards near the campfire, the guard kept an eye on Sayana as she walked away.

Garland crawled slowly behind the man and took out his rope. The man yawned loudly, and Garland threw the rope around his mouth and pulled it tightly. The guard tried calling for help, only to have it come out as a muffled groan. His feeble attempts at breaking free were quickly stopped by Garland's movements.

The squire dragged the man towards the fire and dunked the man's head into the roaring flame. The guard screamed and cried, even the rope couldn't completely stop his screaming, the man's face boiled and bubbled, burning away chunks of flesh and charring his skin.

The rope had burned away as well now, and the man had gone limp as the fire crackled. Garland threw away the rope and took out the guard's weapons, a low quality longsword and a shortbow that had been damaged in the fire.

Garland grumbled and took only the sword. By the time Garland had finished, Sayana had hurried off to the leader's tent. It seemed despite the muffled screaming, no one had come out to see the commotion, not yet anyway.

Garland was tempted to creep through the tents and slit the throats of everyone there, but that was not part of the plan. The squire ran over to where Sayana was previously and searched the dead leader, and the unconscious guard.

The only thing he had found of worth was a ring of keys. He wasn't planning on a rescue and he didn't care, but he still had to wait for Sayana. He dashed back to the slave tent and woke up the knight, it looked like he had been trying to break his bonds. Garland ran through the keys until he heard a click an the manacles were off.

He gave his sword and said softly. "I'm leaving, my family is in danger, I hope you can take care of this." With that Garland ran off, without hearing an answer. Slavers started groggily waking up and started leaving their tents.

Garland saw Sayana go into one of the tents, and he waited for her to emerge. He was not making himself hidden so she could easily spot him. Garland saw Sayana emerge from the leader's tent, making the other slavers turn their heads towards her.

They had their weapons but they were still shaking off the sleep. Garland motioned towards Sayana and dashed towards the trees. They had a few ticks before the entire camp knew what was happening, hopefully it was enough.

Meanwhile, the knight, Ser Corak had woken up to Garland unlocking his bonds and gave him a sword. The knight was about to ask what the hai was going on, but before anything Garland had left.

The knight looked over to the other slaves and started unlocking the bonds from them, he put his finger on his lips and signaled the other slaves to be quiet, the slaves nodded and cowered, confused as to what was going on. The knight could hear yelling from outside the tent.

"After them! They're making an escape! To the trees!" With that he heard heavy feet running away from the camp. To leave now would make them a target.

The knight thought that Garland was distracting the camp, or something along those lines. He wasn't going to waste it by running out there and making him and the other slaves targets.

He waited for a few ticks until the camp was quiet, Ser Corak peaked through the crack of the tent flaps and looked around, there were a few guards looking nervously around.

Corak took one of the shackles and threw it off to the side. The metal flew off, hitting a trunk of a tree and clanged loudly on the ground.

One of the guards took the bait, while the other watched around the camp. This one was jumpy, and nervous. It seemed break-outs were rare among these slavers.

The knight signaled the slaves to stay put, he crept quickly to the back of one of the tents. Corak made his way to where he threw the shackles and saw the man looking around, trying to find the location of the noise.

Corak wasn't one for stealth, he rushed forward, pressing the sword Garland had given him in the man's chest, making him gasp for air. The knight threw him to the ground with a large thud.

"Marv? Ya alright?" The other guard asked. The knight threw the shackles he had retrieved from the ground towards the guard.

The guard was not paying attention and had been hit and stunned by the sudden metal flying to his face. Corak rushed forward and skewered the man in the throat and pulled back to the shadows as quickly as he could.

It looked like the camp was empty for the time being. The knight signaled out slaves and made a break towards the trees.

[Sayana]

When she emerged from the tent clutching the pouch of coins, it didn’t take her long to spot Garland. However, there were other slavers and guards waking to the sounds that had been made. She saw his brief gesture to head for the woods, and she needed no telling twice.

Sayana dashed after him, skipping over a fallen log in the process as she left the dim light provided by the campfire. She had hardly gone a dozen paces when it got dark, real dark, and fast. She had to slow her escape and dramatically to avoid crashing into trees or tripping over any roots or rocks upon the ground. She heard a couple sounds of pursuit from behind, and she sped up her walk but kept her high hands out to push back branches and avoid smacking into something.

It took several chimes for her eyes to truly adjust to the dark, and even then she could only do a slow run at best. More than once, branches slapped at her face and she stumbled as a root snagged at her ankle.

But despite her troubles of navigating the dark forest, their pursuers were stuck following after them in the dark too. Until… Sayana glanced back along the trail and she spotted a light. It flickered in the distance and in that moment she knew the slavers had acquired a torch. The Eypharian quickened her pace, but she knew that their pursuers had gained a substantial advantage but also a drawback.

“Garland, we have to get off the trail.” Sayana whispered urgently. “But don’t snap or crush anything.”

Easier said than done. Sayana tried to find a place that was definitely off the trail but she had to push away the undergrowth as she stepped gingerly away from the path. She was momentarily distracted when she heard shouts from the camp. Were the slaves also taking this as an opportunity to escape? She pushed through the vegetation ducking under branches and trying her best not to make a noticeable trail.

When she thought she was a good distance away from the path, she gestured to crouch down behind a tree. The torches were like beacons in the darkness and for a moment Sayana thought they had been found out when they stopped. She held her breath, peering out through the thick vegetation. But then the lights started moving again, moving along with urgency down the forest trail. Even though they had the light to see by, they were most certainly blinded by the bright flames and would have a hard time seeing very far into the darkness. Only when enough of the torchers grew distant did she let out her breath and gesture for Garland to follow away from where the slavers headed.

OOCShall we start to wrap up this thread?

[Garland]

Garland ran as far as his eyes could see, as soon as his eyes could no longer penetrate the darkness, he stopped and started creeping along rather than running. He kept his pace with Sayana as well as he could, breaking into short sprints to stay behind her.

If they had arrows, he would get shot first if they manage to see them. Luckily enough the slavers were easier to avoid than expected. They just kept away from the light.

Garland was not experienced with stealth or subterfuge, unlike Sayana, he followed her lead, trying as best as he could to learn from her movements, one day he might not be so lucky and have a friend help him escape. He watched Sayana, she kept an eye out on where she was stepping, avoid twigs and sticks, and he followed suit.

They had left the path and stayed silent, waiting for the guards to wander off. The guards stopped for a tick and Garland tensed up. He was not very good with daggers, but those were the only things in reach, and he was sure Sayana had more experience with them anyway. If push comes to shove, he was hoping they would come close so he could steal another sword.

He swore mentally at himself, he had forgotten about the other guard that was knocked unconscious, he was sure the unconscious guard had a blade on his person.

Luckily enough the lights started moving father away from them, still Garland was tense, a strong punch to the throat would collapse the windpipe hopefully if they were spotted.

Garland walked behind Sayana, not uttering a word as they crept along. There were a few times he had almost stepped on a branch. He was not used to sneaking around. He was use to running away from his well-executed pranks, not skulking away through the back-alleys.

He was uncomfortable, but being skilled in stealth would come in handy for plenty of things.

After a while, the slavers had not stopped their search but they had instead spread out, there were two torches in the group of guards that pursued them, they split off in different directions, one group was heading away from them, while another was coming dangerously close.

Shyke, sooner or later we'll be spotted...

Garland had to take a gamble, he picked up a stick and hoped that no one was looking at their direction, and he chucked it to where the further group was, hoping to lead the closer one away from them.

One of them heard a sound to where Garland had thrown the stick. "I heard something over there. Get the light over there." With that, the one holding the light walked off towards the sound.

Garland tugged Sayana's arm and started creeping pass them. Garland was nervous as he sped silently along, behind the backs of the guards. He moved from tree to tree and eventually.

They had moved passed the guards, at least a few feet away from the light. Garland relaxed and looked over to Sayana. "I'm heading back to Syliras. I know there must be a reason why you have a problem with the knighthood since you didn't even tell me you were back, and most of your acquaintances are squires too."

In normal circumstances, he would ask about her, what she had done, how he could help, what news she brings, ask about Aren, but right now there were more pressing matters to attend to.

He gave Sayana a quick hug and then he just ran off back towards the city.

[Samuel Longwell]

Grading Complete Please edit your grade request thread so that it's obvious that it's been graded. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/problems with your grade. Name: Sayana XP Award: Tracking 1 Acting 5 Negotiation 2 Subterfuge 2 Unarmed combat 2 Rhetoric 3 Planning 4 Leadership 1 Hypnotism 1 Interrogation 3 Seduction 2 Weapon: Dagger 1 Larceny 1 Escape artist 1 Running 1 Stealth 1 Lore: Garland: Captured by slavers Acting: Not pulling punches Name: Garland XP Award: Leadership 2 Planning 1 Tactics 2 Weapon: Bastard Sword 1 Weapon: Shield 1 Rhetoric 2 Endurance 3 Brawling 2 Acting 2 Planning 1 Stealth 3 Escape artist 1 Running 1 Lore: Sold into slavery Treacherous knight: Revenge needed Sayana: Rescuer Shield Points: +6 Killing bandits and helping free the slaves Notes: A great thread, well done guys! I am happy to assume that you broke even in this thread Sayana, you managed to steal back your money. Sorry for forgetting shield points the first time round. I decided to give Garland more than he probably deserves. Although he wasn't too bothered about helping the slaves, it appeared as though he was leading the slavers away to help them. This means that the knights would hold him in higher regard than if they knew the truth. Enjoy your grades.