Yo Ho Ho and a Dungeon of Fun ((Open to any and all))

[Armitage Apolithymius]

Damn Armitage cursed her luck. How had she managed to get captured? She had spent the last few months in the wilderness; living off the land, foraging, hunting, and just in general trying to find herself. For some reason, something about the plight of man had begun to annoy her. So many cried out for help, demanded protection, wanted for so much. Then just as many do nothing for themselves, they don’t strike out to be the change they wish to see. Sure they whine, plead, and beg but do they actually want change? Really? She wasn’t sure anymore. She had start to doubt the sincerity of most of the human race. But, she didn’t like that part of herself. She didn’t want to think that most people are actually incapable of helping themselves.

Slap! Armitage was slapped back to reality and the weight of where she was and what was happening fell back upon her. Her arms ached and she was bleeding from her, lip, nose, and a cut above her eyebrow. Tied to a chair in a dungeon, Armitage had accidentally found herself captured by a band of pirates. They had surprised her while she was sleeping in a hammock. She had traps set, of course, but they were laid and set to alert her to animals approaching her camp. She hadn’t actually expected to need to worry about humans. Bandits sure, but they sleep too. She cursed again at her foolish stupidity. Trusting that she would only need to worry about predators. This was not helping her thoughts on humanity.

A punch to her gut bent her over in her chair. She spit blood in the face of the pirate that was currently beating her, prompting him to punch her in the face again. She let her face hang for a moment. They were trying to beat information out of her; find out where she got such expensive armor and if she could lead them to an armory or treasury of some sort. Because of how she was dressed, they assumed she was some important military type and mistakenly thought they could get something out of her, if not through straight information then through ransom money. They had been interrogating her for hours now, but they were complete amateurs. Armitage had withstood worse torture techniques. She would not be broken by petty pirates.

After they either got bored, or the pirates hands hurt too much from hitting her, they took her back into the depths of the pirate base and threw her in a cell. She didn’t know exactly where she was, but she could tell she was deep underground. Whenever they first brought her here, only the first two floors had windows; after that it was all dingy, lamp lit darkness. Armitage glared at the pirate as he locked the cage and left her in the dimly lit prison. She had shown defiance the entire time she was here. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t spoke a single word since she had been captured.

To be honest, a part of the reason she hadn’t talked was because she was just so mad. She was purely enraged on the inside. It took everything she had not to unleash a bestial scream and just yell continuously. Maybe it was her time in the wild, but she felt like a caged animal. Her rage came from many sources; her capture, her frustration that other humans would do anything like this, her anger that they took her armor. Her armor. She was sure they wouldn’t harm or bust it up in anyway. It was well made and used well cured metals. That meant, either the pirate captain would try to use it as a status symbol, or they’d sell it off somewhere for some quick gold. Armitage didn’t care what they planned to do however, as she fully intended to stop them.

Armitage stalked back and forth in her cage as she thought of a plan. Her fists were clench and she was clearly seething with rage. Her unclothes were bloodied and they had taken her shoes and spear. A few of the pirates tried to take advantage of her beyond that, but she made sure they limped off with some broken limbs for the trouble. Since then they’ve taken to just roughing her up every few hours. She could tell there were other people in this dungeon with her. They were mostly separated into cages, but left in groups. The ones in the cage with Armitage huddled near the back, seemingly afraid of her demeanor. The room was dark enough that she was having trouble seeing who was in the other cages. Realistically, she didn’t care though. She needed to think of an escape.

[Marle Daviau]

Marle hated boats, she HATED them. Why cross over the sea when land was good enough!? Well, the Isles made sense for a boat, but to leave from Ilia to here, all the at way in frigid waters on a boat, how awful. She was a lady who was surefooted, and boats were anything but sure. She hoped this job wouldn't take too long, she dreaded getting back on that piece of kindling. Though Marle thought badly of the manner of transportation she took, the boat was actually quite large, nothing like the dingy she imagined it to be. It was nice to be on ground...even if the ground was rocky and sharp...aw hell, it wasn't any better. The rocks were hard to position her boots on. This was something the knight was not at all used to. She had crossed mountain ranges in Ilia, but the Rocks here were different, eroded by water, and her armor wasn't making the trip any easier. It was hard to be stealthy in this heavy suit!

Marle had been inwardly grumbling like this for the past few days, muttering curses and other such obscenities. Normally she was quite spoken, but ever since she kept falling in puddles, or tripping on rocks, she was showing that she could swear as well as any sailor. She was pretty glad she wasn't alone though, looking back at the fiery red-head, whom she hadn't seen in years, Syana, had agreed to help her with this job. Not for free of course Marle wasn't so prudish as to withhold a split of the payment with the other woman. She probably should have let the other woman lead. She wasn't as bogged down as herself with being more nimbly equipped. Normally she would have withheld from using such heavy armor, in favor of lighter gear, but from what was described to her about this place, well, she might need it.

From the sound of it, it was an abandoned fortress. The world was filled with them, it seemed even the Western Isles had their fair share. It was just starting to come into view, in these twilight hours. The sun was well into setting by the time they got within view that she could actually start making out individuals. Hiding behind the rocks that scattered the area, Marle gripped her lance tightly in her hand as she huffed. Laying the lance out, she withdrew a map from one of her pouches, and looked it over, before looking to Syana.

"Think this is the place? Got some people outside, rough looking ones, I'll stake a claim that this might be the right one. How about you?"

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana felt quite bad for Marle. She had been pleasantly surprised when the two had run into each other again after such a long time, and even more pleasantly surprised when the knight had offered payment in return for help on a job. Syana was never one to turn down money, and working with a friend was just a bonus. Since then, however, she felt as though her friend rather regretted taking on this mission. While she had laid about on the deck of the boat relaxing, Marle had been... less than happy about their mode of travel. Sure, boats weren't great, but they weren't as bad as many people made them out to be. The happiest the mercenary had seen the knight was when they had finally reached the Western Isles and got off the boat.

That happiness didn't last, however, as the terrain was not well suited for one in armor such as hers. Syana herself had little trouble with it, bouncing from rock to rock before realizing how far ahead of her companion she had gotten. She felt bad, but as an agile mercenary, this terrain was nothing to her. Sure, it could be tricky, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Marle in all her armor, however, was another thing. During some particularly rough parts, Syana actually lagged behind just to make sure Marle was able to get through them ok. It was during one of these times that Marle spotted an abandoned fortress that she believed to be the one they were looking for. She moved up next to the knight and took a look. "I think I'll have to agree with you on that one." She perched on a rock and stared at the figures moving around. "If you want, I might be able to slip through the darkness and take a few of them out before they even know we're here."

[Armitage Apolithymius]

((Sorry if this post seems like it ends a bit strangely--I figured I'd have to occupy myself in these dungeons a bit so I didn't want to finish my encounter quite yet, ha.))

How long have I been in here? What time is it? These are questions that Armitage’s mind began to ask as she calmed down a bit. In reality, she hadn’t had a straight thought in some time, with these being the first. She had been, is, enraged and mostly operating off of instinct. After a long time of stalking in the cage, however, she began to try to let her mind formulate a plan. Originally, Armitage was just going to try to rush the exit next time they came for her. It was an awful plan and, admittedly, one she had tried before. But it was all she could formulate. Not only that, but she probably would’ve been happy just to do some damage to the pirates. They had not came to her cage for awhile now.

Armitage was not expecting to be rescued. As far as she knew, any military presence in the Western Isles tended to stay away from these abandoned fortress. As a matter of fact, it was exactly that reason they were abandoned in the first place. No one knew were she was; actually, Armitage hadn’t kept correspondence with anyone for quite some time. That was the entire point of this personal walkabout of hers--she wanted to get as far away from people for as long as she possibly could. These pirates were really starting to grate on her nerves and frustrations. Armitage ran up to the bars and started banging on them and yelling, just to see what reaction it would provoke. Nothing.

She continued to yell for a bit, perhaps it a cathartic. She wasn’t sure anymore. It definitely did not seem to calm her down any bit. If anything, it was making her angrier. Combine that with the fact she was getting ignored now by the pirates; he irritation was rising. Then, in her anger, Armtitage got an idea. She wasn’t sure what sparked the idea, nor how this dark part of her mind seeped to the surface, but in her anger she wasn’t able to deny the impulse. Animalistically, Armitage turned and looked at the other men in the cage with her. There were about four of them and something in the look of Armitage’s eyes must have frightened them as they huddled together closer.

Adroitly, Armitage leapt across the cage and grabbed the closest man by the collar. She pulled him up and punched him clean across the face, knocking him to the floor. The other men yelled and hollered, claiming she was a crazy woman. Good. If they wouldn’t come for her screams, maybe they’d come for the others. Armitage moved to the next man in the cage and stomped on his knee. He let out a howl. She wasn’t sure if she broke his leg or not, but was certain to hurt him. Armitage did not know who these men were or why they were in here, but they must have been here for much longer, as they were much more emaciated and weaker than she. Armitage was still in the early throws of her imprisonment.

After hurting the second man, the others got the idea and jumped at Armitage, intent on defending themselves. She tossed them aside easily and continued to beat on the group of men. Eventually she hurt the pirates yelling behind her, telling her to get off of the other prisoners. They had finally come for her. Armitage turned toward the entrance of the cage, her face emotionless as she looked upon her captures. This was the moment she had been waiting for. For a long moment, the pirates just stood, staring at Armitage. They were trying to figure out what had set her off, what caused her to snap. Armitage stared back at the pirates as the other men in the cage returned to their huddling. She waited, as they did, composing herself for what was going to be the real fight. This part would be hard as they had weapons--they had gotten accustomed to bringing them for her as she had a habit to attack the unarmed ones almost immediately. Armitage continued to wait for just a moment longer.

[Marle Daviau]

While she waited behind the rocks, Marle would pull out a piece of paper. She had got a bit of information about the layout, but it was old, and who knew what could be reliable. By the look of the place in the dark of night, she could see it was in disrepair. Some of those room s she had mapped out by the way it was explained to her were probably gone, filled in or just too unstable to use. Pirates and other nasty sorts didn't much care for upkeep afterall. Couldn't spend their hard earned loot on fixing up a place they might have to abandon.

Looking up at the red headed girl across from her, she gave a small nod of her head, folding and tucking her map away again. The place was much more expansive than it seemed. It seemed it was only two stories above ground, but it had a bit of an underground catacombs, making this rescue a bit of an issue. Marle peeked over the rock she hid behind, seeing the two outside the gate, standing guard.

"That would probably be best Syana. I can't really do that myself, afterall, would be too noisy."

Marle would only give a grin, and shrug her shoulders. She would have to take a secondary role on this, until she was inside. When inside, she would be of use. Out here amongst the rocks that were hard to see due to the low amount of light, there was just nothing she would be able to do. Best let Syana handle this.

"You're up whenever you're ready. I only see two, try not to alert them."

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana watched as Marle looked over the map. Normally it was something she herself would be doing, but as the knight was in charge, she didn't say anything. Instead, she stared over at the people walking about in front of the fortress. She gave a nod when Marle started talking, as she only saw two people over there as well. That didn't mean there weren't more lurking, but those two would be a good place to start. Drawing her sword, she got to her feet and smirked at her friend. "Oh, Marle. I'm always ready." With that, she dashed into the darkness.

She had become quite good at moving quickly while also making very little noise. It was something that tended to help out during jobs like this, so she had taken the time to perfect it the best she could. Moving from rock to rock, she got closer and closer to the two men on what appeared to be guard duty, for lack of a better word. Luckily for her, the two were patrolling and not simply standing guard. This made it much easier for her to take them out. The first one made his way towards the rock she was behind. Clutching her sword, she waiting until he had passed her before making her move. In one swift motion, she moved up behind the man, clamped her hand over his mouth, and drove her sword into his back. By the time she had the body lowered to the ground, he was dead.

Syana shifted her attention to the other man, who was a distance away at this point. Keeping her eyes peeled in case of any other guards about, she started to make her way over to him. This one seemed a little more panicky and kept looking around constantly. She'd have to do this carefully so he didn't have the chance to yell out if he saw her. She got as close as she could, but there was still a distance that she'd have to close, and quickly. She waited until he looked right at her rock and looked away before making her move. Holding tightly onto her sword, she sprinted from behind her rock straight at him. Before he had time to react, she has closed the gap and threw her shoulder into him. As he fell to the ground, she landed on top of his. The man started to open his mouth, but before he could speak she plunged her sword into his chest. With him taken care of, she cleaned and sheathed her sword before making her way quietly back to Marle. "Considered them unalerted."