Escaping The Empire - The Nonhuman Chronicles

It's a brisk and cool morning on the mountainside. The Nokoisle Heights separate the heartland of The Stinitis Empire from much of the rest of the known world. The sun has just cracked over the land below and illuminated your location upon the mountainside. The convoy that holds you all prisoner started in the hallowed trees of the former Kingdom of Saveneas. Some of you were taken in the chaos and disorder that the region has, others may have been taken on the trip through. Regardless, you are all prisoner now and on your way to the heartlands of The Empire.

It's been nearly three weeks since the elven capital had fallen to the soldiers of The Empire and it was often for such convoy trains to ferry prisoners and slaves out of captured regions. Often they weren't very heavily guarded. Maybe a dozen men on top of the oxen. The Carriages that hold you all prisoner are chained together with heavy chains in a line and pulled by five hearty oxen. Each carriage is its own cell and made of heavy timber. On one side is a set of thick bars and is your only light out into the world outside. Only one of the carriages is different. One prisoner is held in a heavy Iron carriage. An exaggerated precaution to house one of potentially immense strength is the final cell in the convoy.

The soldiers have been eating breakfast for nearly an hour. The delicious scents of sausage and meats waft through your cells. However, it seems as if it's about time for them to begin as soldiers are seen moving about outside of your cells. They check the chains and the fittings to make sure nothing is out of place. Finally, the captain comes to inspect each of the prisoners.


He's a taller man and has seen combat. Heavy armor covers his body and he holds his helmet in his arm to leave his short black hair flow freely. However, one thing that you all have learned is that he enjoys taunting his prisoners. Today is no different. He appears in each of your views flanked by a pair of his men.

The Captain:

Spoiler

@Omega98

He walks up to the first cell. The heavy iron cage and clangs his helmet on the side. It makes a nearly deafening bang that's easy to hear in the valley alone, let alone for the one inside. He peers inside and inspects a bulky minotaur. The large male bull has his arms chained with thick chains similar to the ones that hold the caravan together. The chains pin him to the wall to prevent him from attempting an escape. His chest is bare and he barely has a loincloth left to cover his groin. A testament to his size and the lack of appropriate garments in the soldiers' possession for such a large specimen.

"Time to wake up, beast." He growled, "Don't worry. Just a few more days and they'll put you out to pasture. I'm sure whatever farmer pays for your hide will ensure that your bulk is used to carry some nice and heavy farm equipment. Maybe if you're good, they'll let you breed the heifers."

The men laugh at the captain's crude joke before continuing to the next cell.

@moonblack

The captain peers into the next cell. This one holds a beautiful angel girl. Her underwear leaves little to the imagination as one can see the agreeable parts of her body through the thin fabric. The men decided not to cloth her in anything and made up the excuse that they did it for the 'morale' 'boost of enjoying the sight of her body. Her wings are bound tightly and a dampening collar is placed around her neck. It's a simple bit of enchanted leather with a lock on the front, but it prevents her from utilizing any potential magic or divine ability.

He grins lustfully at her like most of the men in the caravan. "A pretty bird that we have here. It's too bad that you're worth more to us untouched, or we could have so much fun with you. Of course, we also have that girl up front too, but I would have settled for you any day. It's too bad the stuck-up nobles prefer their slaves not to smell of cum and booze."

With a few more chuckles, the soldier continues on his inspection of the goods.

@Tjf

He arrives at the next cell. This one is also specially built for its inhabitants. A single, golden ball of magical light glitters from the ceiling. This ball drenches the cell in sunlight at all hours of the day and illuminates the one within. On a side note, it would also destroy one's ability to get a comfortable sleep if one was needed. The only way to get such special treatment was for a special, VIP prisoner. She is unbound and unrestrained, but for a dampening collar around her neck as well. Unlike the other prisoners, she was also left in her elegant red dress.

"Here we truly have a real monster." He glares at the countess through the bars hatefully. "Truly the only reason that you still live is because of the need to hold a public execution...and the money on the head of a vampire alive is far better than the ashes of one dead. Still, you will be stripped, naked in the city square and left there all day long. Then just as you have a glimmer of hope that maybe you'll make it out at sunset...They'll light the fires. I hear that fire is the worst way to die...You'll have to tell me."

With a chuckle, he continues to the next cell.

@Auraicide

Inside this cell is a beautiful Drow Elf. Like the others' with the potential to do magic, she's wearing a dampening collar as well but is otherwise unrestrained. Her clothing is currently a simple brown tunic and trousers.

The captain grips the bars of the cell and gives a sarcastic wistful sigh. "Oh, my beautiful girl. If only you didn't have that chastity belt, you would be the one entertaining my men at night. I'm not even going to bother asking where the key is again. All I know is that when we get home and get the tools to take that off. Well...Use your imagination."

He lets go of the bars before any kind of feisty reciprocation can be had. The man goes to walk away before stopping and coming back as if he had forgotten something. "Oh, and once we sell you to a whorehouse, I'll be sure to visit you once a week to make up for the lost time."

He pats the cell gently before moving on to the final one.

Finally, he arrives at the front and speaks to the last prisoner. Some words are spoken to its inhabitant, but none that any of you could hear. At least Xil and probably Wilhelmina would know that the prisoner at the front is female and has been regularly "entertaining" the soldiers at night. While you both may have heard her protests, none of you have actually seen who or what is in there.

Then he shouts to continue the descent down the mountain road and the caravan lurches forward into motion.



<OOC: This is really just an introductory chapter. It's more of a Role Call to ensure that everyone is here and ready. Curse at the captain, call him names, but he's not really going to react to what you have to say. Some of you have been imprisoned for up to two weeks like this, so keep that in mind. We'll start meaningful posts next time. You all won't stay long in that cage though. I'm going to bed though. It's 1AM here and I'm exhausted from work.>

 

"Why don't you stupid assholes just let me go already? Who in the abyss do you think is seriously going to try buying me? Because we're just so valuable on the market?"

She was starting this again. The last few guards near her cell had tried taunting her with the prospect of being sold to a human as an elven slave...only to get the absolute worst headaches they anticipated trying to get it across to her that she was actually a drow. They didn't particularly care what she thought. They knew her body was good and she could at least fight..so she would be valuable if not for the fact some suspected that her almost insane zealous tendencies were going to annoy any prospective buyers. Much of the group of her captors were divided in trying to steal her virginity or arguing that she was worth way more as a "pure" one, hoping that would offset any of her crazed logic.

She knew that the convoy had other prisoners and everything...but was really more of focused on herself. It was as her scriptures said. "Life is fleeting. Put what you want first. Everyone else just gets in the way or holds you back." It was a pretty well known fact that the drow as a whole tended to worship dark gods, so none of the humans found any of her constant reciting that bizarre. Just another thing that aggravated them. She was right she'd probably have few buyers, but for all the wrong reasons. Between violent tendencies and quoting "holy" books at anybody within earshot, that killed a lot of the value of everything she could really be worth despite her looks and remaining chaste.

"Captain...what I want is to see is every last drop of blood pour from your body, turning into a shriveled and whimpering husk while you beg to just let death take you. Please. Step closer, and indulge me."

 

Wilhelmina perks up, smelling the captain before she sees him. As he goes to leave, she calls out "Blood! Please, give me some blood! I'm starving".

 

"Do to others..." Axel grunted in a deep guttural voice as the captain moved away. The urge to crush the arrogant human's skull surged forth within him and his muscles tensed, The hulking minotaur snorted once in annoyance before testing the chains that bound him again. He'd done so periodically ever since his capture; as always the metal clanged loudly but gave nothing to his brute strength. He snorted again, his warm breath forming vapors in the cool air. He took several deep breaths and found himself wishing he had his scripture, dismayed he settled for reciting what he could remember while continuing to test the chains of his cell.

 

Ariel remained with her eyes closed and did not acknowledge the man's words. The disgusting pig wouldn't care about anything she said anyway. Thus she continued to wait.

 

Fortunately, once the captain got his morning taunting out of the way, you all were mostly left alone. A partial loaf of bread was put into your cells, then the caravan continued on its journey.

The road was well used but precarious. It cut down the side of the mountain and snaked back and forth the whole way to the base. One side of the road cut through the mountain and was sheer rock that led up to a point on the same road higher up the mountainside. The other side was a steep slope down to a point farther down on the road. Various parts of it narrowed almost to the point where the caravan had to proceed in a narrow line.

It was around one of these narrow points that a shout was heard from up ahead and the caravan lurched to a stop. A shout was raised and the captain's voice was heard barking at his men to start "Clearing the path". It wasn't long after that when distressed shouts started to be heard. It was difficult to see what was going on from your positions, but it was clear that the caravan was under attack. Especially when the odd stray arrow started to plug into the roof of your cells, or clank off of it in Alex's case. Maybe by bandits in search of loot or freedom fighters, such attacks on caravans were not rare on this mountain pass.

The fighting continued out of your sights when suddenly a distressed call from one of the oxen was heard and the cells lurch forward again.

"No! Get those oxen under control!" The captain shouted, but it was too late. You all get a brief view of the captain's despaired face as his prizes escape. The oxen caravan lurched into the makeshift barricade of rocks and banged all of you violently around the cells before making it over. Briefly, the wagon of cells flees smoothly from the battlefield, but the terrified oxen, now free from their handlers continue to gain speed. When they attempt to take the next turn in the road, they move too quickly and the rear end of the wagon chain whipped out over the edge.

It maybe would have been fine if the last cell on the wagon train wasn't a heavy iron cell made to hold Axel. However, as the weight of the heavy prison pulled the caravan back towards the edge. The desperate groans of the Oxen are heard pulling against the weight, but it was not enough to stop the whole thing from going over the edge.

The slide down the mountainside may not have been too bad if it had been done at the very last segment of the road, but that was not the case here. As soon as the wagon crashed into the next layer of the road, the whole thing flipped and began to tumble down the mountainside. All of you were thrown about your cells and the impact broke the magical light in Wilhelmina's cell. The force also snapped Axel's chains.

It was several hundred feet yet to the bottom of the mountain by the time you all regain your bearings and senses, all you could hear was the trickling of the river that resided there and whatever sounds your fellow prisoners were making.
________________________________________________________________________________

Ariel and Xil both find themselves in largely similar situations. both of you are bruised and banged up, but relatively fine. The iron bars are bent and warped and you could easily squeeze your way through. Both of your cells landed with the cell opening facing the sky. So it would just be a matter of climbing over the debris to get out.

Wilhelmina finds herself in a cell that's relatively upright. The bars are bent a little, but probably enough to squeeze out and it might be for the best as the magical sunlight orb that kept her cell well lit has burst and is currently consuming the top of the wooden cell in fire and flooding the interior with smoke.

Axel finds himself in the least damaged wagon cell. Since it was made of heavy Iron, it had mostly survived the impact. While Axel is free, the bars on his cage are still sturdy. Not only that, but it had landed and slid nearly into the river and the final lurch to a halt buried it partway into the riverbank. Thus, Axel finds himself standing roughly knee-deep in cold river water.

finally, there's the fifth cell and the carriage. They came to rest closest to the mountainside.

 

The snoke is of little consequence to Wilhelmina, but fire is the cause of abject terror for a vampire. She squeezes out between the bars, impeded a little bit by her generous bust, before finally escaping. Looking around, she spots the trapped minotaur.

@Omega98 Wilhelmina approaches Axel, still clad in the red dress. "Hello, beast. I seem to have caught you in something of a disadvantage, have I not? I can set you free from your cage. In return, I ask for some of your blood. A good deal, yes?"

 

Oh, fuck! Was Ariel's only thought when she realized that the entire caravan was about to slide down the mountainside. Unfortunately, it was too late for her to try and do anything, thus she just braced and endured to the best of her ability.

Thankfully, she ended up relatively fine, if a bit bruised. Seeing the bent bars of her cell she recognized the chance to escape and seized it.

Her sizable bust made squeezing through more difficult than it should have been, but eventually she managed to get out. Once she was free she immediately started looking around to make sure there were no enemies or any other potential threats apart from the other prisoners. Then she moved over to the first cell, curious to see who – or what – was inside it.[/i]

 

“That’s annoying.” Xil was calm with muttering her thoughts to herself. She groaned a little from the impact. She was trained to take injuries and deal with torture better than most, but was far from immune to pain.

Crawling out of her cell, she surveyed her surroundings, noticing the collision of all the other cells in the convoy. She wasn’t really interested in any of what had happened or who may or may not still be alive. She was. That was what mattered.

Must suck.

The first thing she did was make a beeline for the nearest dead guard to grab his sword. She would need to scavenge for her old gear later, but having a weapon on hand would make her more comfortable. Not really interested in what anyone else was doing, she was focused on using the chance to loot the bodies, muttering some kind of prayer in a demonic language, shutting the eyes of the nearest soldier.

 

The occasional shout from farther up on the mountainside suggests that whatever skirmish was going on is still ongoing. Although by the time any of you arrive, it will likely be over.

A pair of soldiers lay crushed under the front carriage and you manage to grab one of the blades out of his hand. The carriages itself is smashed and there's debris scattered along the area between the hillside and the flat land where you are now at. It looks like at least two of the oxen were dead. The others likely managed to escape, or died higher up on the mountainside. Other than their military gear though, it doesn't seem as if they have anything of real merit. Both men are wearing a medium breastplate and some chainmail with iron helmets that are dented beyond use.

The first carriage is slumped over on its side having lost two of its side wheels. The only real way to approach from your angle is around the back and as you come around the side, you're met with a sudden flash of metal and a fearful shout. "Stay back!"

Just inside the cell is a young faun woman. She looks to be around 18-20 years old with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. Her legs are covered in similarly colored fur and speckled with white spots and her digitigrade hooves are braced against one of the bars of the cell and the floor. Her clothing is simple prisoner garments. A brown tunic and shorts that end at her knees. The clothes themselves are filthy and especially the tunic has visible droplet stains from her time "entertaining" the men.

Her expression is fearful but determined and she's holding a broken and sharp piece of one of the cell bars in her hands. She may be young and traumatized, but she certainly doesn't seem like she would hesitate to stab anyone who tries to enter her cell.

Fauns in this world are essentially female satyrs. They're known for their jovial side, but really it's their passion that drives them and they put their all in anything that they're passionate about. This can make them fierce opponents when their passion is survival.


Prisoner 5:

Spoiler

 

A faun? I haven't seen one in... I'm not sure how long. The angel examined the scared faun for a bit longer before finally speaking, trying to calm her down. “Do not be scared, I am not your enemy. My name is Ariel and as you can probably guess,” the angel pointed at her bound wings and the collar around her neck “I am a prisoner too. What's your name, girl?” Ariel asked after introducing herself. She remained where she was, not moving closer as she did not want to risk further scaring the faun.

 

They aren't dead? Huh.

Seeing the other passengers pull out, she found the limit of her concern for them being whether or not they were alive. They were here for a reason. Odds were that the rest had probably done something to actually deserve her capture. Not like Xil. She only killed bad people. She knew this because she was good. Therefore, she fought bad people and she fought bad people because she was good.

Following that, she grabbed the sword ready to make use of it if she had to. Without any proper armor to wear, she felt almost naked, but none of this was usable.
The rest seemed caught up in talking to each other, she was already searching bodies for coins. The rest could go and talk about nothing. She was going to take what she needed to survive before the rest could paw at it...but should she just leave? They were obviously criminals and meant to be brought to justice. Whatever the case, she got up after her attempts to scavenge whatever money she'd need in order to take a look at these dead oxen to see what parts looked fresh enough. It was going to be a long journey home....and food had to come from somewhere.

 

"Talia." Despite introducing herself. Her stance remains guarded and her expression fierce. "But don't think you can trick me! Just because we're both prisoners doesn't mean that I can trust you. For all I know, you may be worse than them!"

Hmm. While you may not be any kind of skilled butcher, I don't know why you wouldn't be able to cut off slices of meat. You may not cut the pieces off efficiently and they may not be very good slices of meat, but it should be passable for survivability.

As for looting the bodies, you find about eight gold pieces between the corpses of the two guards. Anything else of value is likely in the wreckage of the carriage, or strewn across the area where the convoy landed and that will take a fair amount of time to scavenge through.

 

“Nice to meet you, Talia.” Ariel nodded to the faun. “And that goes both ways: Just because we're both prisoners doesn't mean I can trust you. For all I know you could actually be a criminal that deserves all the horrible things the guards did to you.” She paused for a moment. “Still, I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're a prisoner because you're a nonhuman, like the rest of us, and not because of any crimes you have committed. I hope you can find enough trust in yourself to extend me the same courtesy.” The angel made another pause, giving the faun a bit of time to consider her words before continuing. “But no matter what the truth is, the fact remains: We're both prisoners of the humans and they will soon come looking for us, aiming to recapture us. We need to act before it is too late, and it would be easier if we work together, at least for now. So how about I help you get out of that cage, and in exchange you'll help remove the bindings of my wings and my collar?” She suggested, trying to be as charming as she could in an attempt to calm the faun down.

 

Xil began to carve into the oxen. It wasn't pretty and she was using her weapon in a way that most proper paladins would never even consider, but survival was more important. Other than her thoughts about the rest of these people being obnoxiously loud, she wasn't too concerned. After a while of some less that glamorous carving, she managed to procure her meat, a few blood stains getting on her prisoner rags, but she had to ignore it. She didn't have the patience to properly scavenge and loot the entire caravan, but she went to her cart and used her weapon again as a lever to pry off some splinters of broken wood, gathering up some sticks, as she took her head start upon herself to take a look at what direction looked the most promising to flee in and set up camp.

 

The faun lowers her weapon slightly as she considers what you say, but quickly raises it again. "I'm not trusting you!" Her group tightens on the improvised spear "but you're right. I'll help you if you let me out, but if you get within arms length of me...I will cut you!"

The girl shakes her spear aggressively to emphasize the point of the matter.

There really is only three ways to go in this scenario.

The river essentially blocks your travel to the East unless you wish to get wet. You could travel south towards the road, or west back up the mountain. Finally you could go north, but you dont know exactly what is in that direction.

 

The "imp" had puzzled it out quickly. A source of water was more important. She'd have to follow the river and test the current later to see if she could cross. If not then, just follow along the river...but first...

Perhaps it wasn't the most well tempered act of paladins or the most reserved. Maybe it was the long trip. Or that she was still hungry. Or just the fact she still felt very, very, pissed off about the whole situation. She picked up a small stone in the dirt and took aim at the faun...and chucked it directly at the irritatingly loud thing's forehead. "Shut it! Gods! Why did they even want to keep you? What in the abyss are they going to do with your stupid ass in the capital?"

 

Ariel nodded at the faun's words. “That's acceptable. After all, trust is something that has to be earned, and we just met. Besides, it wasn't that long ago when I got betrayed by some of my supposed allies, so I am in no hurry to start trusting people again.” The angel admitted. “Now let's see, how do I get you out of there...” She started examining the damaged cage and looking for a way to free Talia, but making sure to keep an eye on the faun and her improvised spear, just in case.

 

Axel grunted, the hard trip down the mountain may have torn his chains loose but it had also not been kind to his bound form. He sat in the rising water of his cell and lapped up a few mouthfuls before rising to his hooves. His eyes narrowed on the iron bars of his cell, he put his head down, crouched and sprung with every ounce of his might towards the bars. He impacted hard and fell back unceremoniously into the water.

"Hello, beast." He heard from beyond the bars.

Axel looked up towards the voice and his eyes narrowed. It looked like a human woman; reasonably pretty by their standards if somewhat pale. She was clad in what he recognized as a fine dress with a cut of deep cleavage, but there was something... wrong about her. One whiff of her scent gave him the impression of rotting flesh and he had to fight his instinctive recoil.

"I seem to have caught you in something of a disadvantage, have I not? I can set you free from your cage. In return, I ask for some of your blood. A good deal, yes?"

If it hadn't been before, his blood was up now. Another human taunting him. He got to his hooves again and huffed. Head down, shoulder's hunched, his hooves pawed the water clogged floor of his cell, and Axel charged.

 

The door to her cell is pretty smashed and it probably wouldn't take much for anyone to force the shattered doorframe to yield so she can walk out.

As for the rock...Fortunately, Talia was still in her cell and the distance for the rock was fairly well and so it just tinked against the floor of the cell between her legs. However, Talia's eyes widen in surprise at the potential assault and shouted louder. "Just how many of you are there!?"

However, the shrill shouting of the fearful faun was nothing compared to the loud metallic screech that erupted when Axel crashed into the bars of his cell as he wrenched the bars right out of the metal plating. It wasn't enough to escape completely, but with a push, Axel managed to finish the job and open up a path large enough for him to enter.



<I keep switching from past to present tense. I don't know why and I'm sure that it's just as annoying for you all as it is for me.>