The room was dark. No light existed in the endless gloom. The smell of mold and decay hung heavy in the air, making every breath a battle to not gag. Moans echoed throughout the abyss. They cried of exhaustion and pain.

Hours passed. Maybe days.

The sharp sound of metal sliding on metal broke the monotony. It was followed by the protesting of rusted hinges and hollow footsteps.

A dark figure illuminated from behind by a pale red luminescence approached. Malevolent eyes and a wicked grim materialized within the shade as a pale hand as cold as ice reached out.

“Ahhhh.. Good tissue. Sturdy frame.”
The gaze rose and the lips smirked, their emotion never reaching the eyes.
“Spirit as well. My superiors will like this one.”
The eyes looked slightly off to one side and the smirk was replaced with a frown of dismay.
“Pity about the arm. It can be replaced, but that is never as good as the original.”
The gaze returned, piercing straight through to the soul.
“Yes… This one will be magnificent. We begin at nightfall”
As Ladrin turned to leave, the source of the illumination came into view. A spectre of darkest black, wreathed in pale red flames. Its eyes lingered, then it too turned and followed its master.
The last of the pale light revealed half a dozen mangled bodies, barely clinging to life, chained along the wall. All save one seemed to not even have life left in them. Only one pair of eyes have fire in them. Richak’s gaze met Ladrin’s one final time before the door closed with a deafening slam and the bolt was put back in place.

Fear; Its an emotion I vaguely remember from being a child.
 I was taught early on that fear was a normal part of life, and forceably  taught to accept whatever was happening that was causing it. More then accepting it, I was taught not to run from it… They ensured what happened if I tried was worse.
I accepted fear quickly; as a near every day occurrence frequently accompanied with pains both physical and from unknown sources.  After a few years the fear was gone. I haven’t been afraid of anything since, because there has been no cause for it.

Until now.

I don’t understand it; the dogs were not a problem. His strength was not a problem. So what was it about him? Despite all the fear I’ve known, I wanted to run- to get far away… so I reached into the darkness, that abyss I’ve long pushed the pain and injuries into, the nothingness that lingers in the corner of my mind and let it soak over me. I hate it- the feeling it brings, but I used it as a weapon when the others were in danger, and I’ll use it to escape this mans grasp as well.  
If the others can run fast enough and they… they are not afraid?

Did I miss something? Do they know something I do not? They stand boldly against this man and they… are protecting me?

Despite their tender flesh they stand against this man and his dogs; they gaze upon him without fear and refuse his demand to take me from them.
And… they protect me. They put themselves between me and the stranger. They plan on my escape to meet his terms, putting themselves in danger.

And they’re doing this— for me?

I follow their request and actions; I know they can do special things, but between the strange fear of this man and concern they may get hurt protecting me I don’t fully understand their plan.  It turned out to be a good one and kept me out of his reach till the rise of the sun, but I could only wonder what was going on with the others who call me a friend.

We flew a long way, far above the land; I never knew the world was so vast. I became confident that there was no way that we could be caught.

I was wrong.

Something in the air caught us and pulled us faster then we were moving, then we were moving in a different way and a stranger kept appearing in front of us. Turns out he is on our side and helped protect the others. 
He took us back home, and I was informed of what happened in our absence.
These people who call me a friend, who put them self in danger to protect me,  were in more danger then I was.  All I did was run, and these two men proved that running is pointless— just like when I was young.

 But now, if I do the wrong thing, others may be hurt because of me. I asked them all how they do things, and I dont really understand it, but it seems everything that exists in this world has a presence of one kind or another, and people who can see these things can use it in special ways. 
I can’t see these things so I have no way to use them… but if others are using them on me, and that’s putting my friends in danger… 
then… 

Then I shall remove myself from this world. 
I will  live outside it. I will exist in that nothingness I long hated, I will turn it into a shield and use it to protect those who protected me. Through that nothingness I will ensure  the life of those I care for continues in this world.

I never had a need for conversation; when you grow in a cell and are taught with force to ask nothing, or have no one to talk to, it tends to be useless. In the prison where we dug glowing rocks I continued my silence, which seemed fine by others- they seemed to prefer keeping their distance anyways, even when I tried to help them.

I never had to remember things either. They (the people who kept me) never told me what the marks they put on me did, nor why they bore holes into my flesh with tools. They did however seem interested in how quickly I healed.
It seems this is why they kept experimenting on me, because I was a new canvas for their art each and every day. They wanted nothing from me beyond my flesh, but since that was all I had I refused to give it to them; I took everything they carved into me and hid it within. They wanted nothing from me and I gave them nothing. I stopped responding to what they did to me, but I continued to look at the symbols and listen to their words and some of them- I remember.
Everything else- My flesh remembers.

But that has changed. The people I now walk with do not seem to fear me, nor do they seem frightened by me. When I sketched one of the symbols- one they saw from a parchment, they didn’t get angry, but in fact it made them happy. If they like seeing some of the symbols, I will show them more, but on parchment rather then skin. They don’t seem to handle being hurt so well.

They must be different too, though I’m not sure how. They seem to be able to do things when no one else is around, and talk about it like no one else should know. Even amongst themselves.
Some don’t even seem to know they are doing things.

I was injured. It wasn’t as bad as some of the things I had happen before, so I wasn’t worried. Like everything else, I took this into myself, into my flesh, and put it into the abyss of my heart. The pain, and slowly the injury, all faded away, And by the next day— there was nothing left of it. Something was different however. I usually don’t need to sleep from an injury, yet I felt as though I had to rest.

No… that’s not right. I felt as if something was creeping over the wound, trying to get out.
Or… trying to get in.

The travel through the marsh was miserable, cold, and wet. I was barefoot except for a few bandages improvised as footwraps, hardly clothed, and worn out from the escape and hardly slept. I wouldn’t trade it for the routine of the mines, but I couldn’t help but wonder where I’ll end up after we get to this town Sorin’s from. I was able to distract myself a bit by examining a strange dagger Steph liberated from the mines. I don’t know quite how it’s enchanted, but it seems very powerful and has something to do with summoning or binding, which I know little about. It seems dangerous to have, but might be even more dangerous to leave behind. Still, to help keep it from being noticed, I did what I could to dampen its magic. Maybe it’ll keep anyone from locating it, I don’t know. Anyways, even when we did get a spot of food and rest, it didn’t last. The pursuit I’d hoped we had avoided apparently caught up with us, because we all got a harsh awaking from one of our escorts urging us to hide, and quickly.

I quickly gathered the energy to take to the water completely and dove under to wait, but not everyone had that advantage, and Vilma was seen before she could hide completely. As the others engaged the half dozen guards who had followed us, I had to take time to dredge myself back out of the water and clear my lungs, but at least I was able to avoid the front line. Once I was up, I was able to help the fight by freezing the guards in place one at a time. It was even more effective than I thought, with the help of Vilma, Ariana, and Belluar. It seems it wasn’t just luck we were able to escape; this group is pretty good at fighting, and we were able to make it out of the fight without taking any losses, although I had to draw on my reserves in order to help Vilma. I hope I don’t have to do that too much; I don’t have that much to draw on.

In the fight, I noticed Steph casting a spell, followed by the sound of stomping boots. I knew she was capable of illusions, but I hadn’t seen her in action before, though it sure seemed to fool the guards! I had to cover for her, since no one else would know what was going on, but I didn’t want to tip our hand to the guards. A strange thing happened in the fight as well; other guards were freezing on their own, and it wasn’t any overflow from my magic, nor magic at all. It seems someone else is keeping secrets in our group, but I can respect that. I know better than most how… misunderstandings can happen between my kind and people who don’t know better than to be afraid.

At least the fighting brought us one thing: boots! And real clothes, and a few small supplies. Unfortunately, the boots didn’t stop Ariana from stepping on her own dagger she had dropped. I wish now I’d dealt with that right away, but I didn’t see how bad it was until almost a day later when we stopped again. We didn’t get much rest in between that time either, since another group of guards caught up with us, and they had dogs with them. Unfortunately, Costin’s friend fell behind, and was either killed or captured. A few lucky shots by jets of water on my part, along with Costin’s grudging acceptance of some conjured arrows made sure we didn’t have another full-fledged fight on our hands, though, scaring our pursuers into retreat. We didn’t see them again after that, and it seems like we made a clean break for once… except for the one we left behind.

We finally reached dry ground and got out of that awful marsh and were able to stop to rest. I had to make sure Ariana’s foot didn’t become badly infected, but she was VERY insistent about not being touched. This, and she keeps herself wrapped up constantly; I wonder what ails her, but she’s been evasive, and my reserves are too low to do much about it for now anyways. She seemed comfortable being treated with magic, though. Not like the people who would come by my old teacher’s home for help, fearful and mistrusting, afraid to even be seen nearby some ‘witch’. I wasn’t sure how it would go, but in the end it seemed like I was able to get the infected fluids drained out, and Vilma was allowed to dress the wound. Strange that Vilma is the only one allowed contact with her… I wonder if there is something more going on there? Not my business, I suppose. I had to help Teo pop his shoulder back into his socket after he fell out of a tree (what blind man tries climbing a tree?), though that didn’t go as well… Still, it seems like I’m becoming more of a medic out here than I was back in the mines. I hope the availability of magic doesn’t prompt any of the others to take unnecessary risks, I don’t think they realize how it drains me to do true healing.

The next day we approached the city, Costin took his leave, and Sorin guided us to his gang’s hideout. I thought maybe we’d have hot food and beds, but the hideout had been raided and everyone killed by some large animals. In the captain’s room, we found a strange man by the name of Robin Goodfellow, who claimed to be tracking the beasts that slaughtered the men. Something seems off about him, and I don’t trust him, though I doubt he was behind the killing. He also carried a bow that had similar markings to the dagger Steph found, something I’m not sure I want to have anything to do with. I’m not sure if anyone else noticed the similarity, but then I was the only one who got a close look at the dagger, and I only noticed the similarity when I could see that his bow had a suppressed magical aura on it and looked closer.

Well, Robin took his leave, and we went back inside to see what we could salvage. I thought Sorin would have something more to say about us taking supplies, but he seemed to be in shock. Still, we managed to get a collection of food, weapons, and clothing, which is more than any of us have had for years. Things are looking up, for once. We just have to make sure to stay ahead of any hunters from the mines.

The day finally came. I didn’t think it ever would, not really, but when Richak started spreading the word, I knew it would be my last day in the mines. Whether we actually made it or not, I doubted the guards would risk keeping me around if they knew I could still use magic. So when the time came, I didn’t hold back. The little control I could manage over my environment was still enough to help the fight, and some of my conjured blades found their marks. I think one even killed a guard, but I didn’t stop to find out. I don’t want to think about it.

As the other escapees were finishing with the guards, I tried to persuade the others in my cell to join in, but they were all afraid to leave, except for Steph. That was when Igaris showed up with another guard. Shame he had more sense than the guard and ran—I wouldn’t have cared if he’d died. With Igaris shrieking the alarm, I figured we didn’t have much time, so I tried to make sure the other cells were open. Still everyone else was too afraid to run for their freedom! But there was no time to waste trying to convince them to help us; I ran after Steph and Richak, with the others close behind.

Once we made it into the next room, the big guy blocked the door behind us and bought us a little time. I opened the medical cabinet for Steph, then turned to wake Jimi, who was sleeping there. As I talked with her, she refused to come with us too! I shouldn’t have been so surprised, since she’s always expected someone to come rescue us, but I couldn’t believe it. The only thing I could do for her was promise to find one of Prince Grey’s men and let them know about the illegal slavers.

Teo knew somehow that Tarsin was blocking our escape route (good hearing?), so Richek stayed behind to buy us more time as we turned down the only passage left to us… to find a dead end! As the others searched the room, however, they did find a ladder in the ceiling, only it was blocked by a raging inferno. Damn! It seemed like we were blocked at every turn! Now that we had a moment, however, Ariana tried to pick the lock on my cuffs. I quickly provided her with some less improvised tools, both nervous and desperate to finally be rid of the accursed things. She was startled, but didn’t seem afraid or distrustful; she even seemed impressed! Before she could get the lock open, though, Steph had found the key we needed to get our cuffs off.

Freedom! Or the closest thing to it I’d felt in years, anyway. I couldn’t savor it, though; we had to do something about the fire and get out. As I considered my newfound options on how best to deal with the inferno, it seemed to dim away from the hole at the top. That was our chance, and we took it. Only when we got to the top did we see that the fire was actually some giant beast being directed by Ladrin! I only know enough about binding to know that it’s dangerous, and if Ladrin’s powerful enough to command something that great, I would hate to find out what else he’s capable of.

While Ladrin was busy, however, we were able to sneak off out of the camp, with the new guy, Sorin, showing us the way into the marshes where we found a pair of his allies waiting for us. As we waited to see if any others from their group would make it back, I took a look at the manacles the others were wearing. I don’t know what I was thinking right then, maybe just that I could be useful, maybe I just forgot in all the rush and the excitement of finally being out of the tunnels and unshackled, but before I knew what I was doing, I cast a spell to release a pair of manacles.. right where Sorin’s friends could see. Right in the middle of a group of people I didn’t know how they would react! I can’t believe I was that stupid! It scared the guy, Costin, pretty badly. I tried to make peace with him, but I think what I said came out sounding more like a threat to him, which is only likely to make things worse.

The others seem fairly calm about it though… this might be a group to stick with, if it’s not just the shock of the whole situation keeping them from reacting. In any case, I have nowhere else I can go, since I don’t even know where we are… and Sorin’s friends are the only ones that can guide us away safely. I just hope we can stay free from those slavers as we make our way.

Though we escaped the mines, we still not out of trouble. We traveled some and rested, but were woken up by one of our rescuers as the enemy approached to take us back. I uused my magic to try and scare the enemy with sounds of approaching defenders and it worked on a few of them! (I am glad that I do not need to use words or gestures to cast so our rescuers won’t be scaredd of me, though I need to tell the rest of the group….eventually). As I maintained that spell, I used my staff to attack one of the taskmasters. I missed the first time, but after Amara used her magic to freeze him in place, I hit him! I know I’m not the best at weapons and most of my magic is best for stealth, but that made me happy! Belluar bashed one of the taskmaster’s up bad with just his hands! Most of the rest were good as well, and Ariana seems very good with those daggers. Well, most helped anyway sine Teo is blind I’m not sure what he did, but he can see without eyes, so I have no clue there.

I did talk to Amara about the dagger and the notes I found, and most of the others listed. She was able to tell some of the magic around the dagger, which is helpful and something I need to learn more about.

The next few days were similar….rest, run, rest run, chast off enemies, rest run. One of our rescuers was captured, which I am sorry for, but we have to keep moving. I am glad we did get some boots and better glothers from the enemies we killed though. We got to dry land and out of the marches finally. Ariana had hurt her foot and didn’t want to be touched (which I can respect), so Amara used her magic to help. Teo tried to climb a tree and fell and dislocated his shoulder (what was he thinking! Blind man climbing a tree!) Amara tried to help, but couldn’t help and he wouldn’t let me help at first. Left with no other option except for me helping or traving like that he consented and I popped it back in place. If he doesn’t like me, fine,since I do not really care for him now, but he needs to trust my abilities so our group doesn’t suffer.

We finally make it to the twon and the hideout with the final rescuer going ahead to run errands, and the door was stuck!! Belluar managed to get it open, but everyone was dead and looked like they were torn apart by animals or demons! Teo said there was no one the caves, but as we searched, we found a strange guy in the last room. (why Teo coulldn’t detect him, I don’t know. Or maybe he was wrong?) He said he was a hunter and had been tracking the creatures that had killed the people here for several days and stated that it looks like they were controlled and sent here for that purpose. Looks like we may be unintentionawith something bigger. The hunter, Robin, left at a fast pace, though he said we could leave a message at the tavern I think if we wanted to contact him. I would like to talk to him again…

We gathered some supplies and weapons so we could survive better. Vilma seems a little greedy going after the coins, but what do I know? I spent most of my life in the minds so I don’t know much about coins and cost. Amara wanted what daggers no one else was using, which I understand since she throws them. I got one of the daggers and a leather shirt. It’s better at least. We gathered the other weapons together to maybe sell.

We may have escaped the mines and immediate danger, but safety was not as sure as I had originally thought. We marched for days through mud and muck with only the rags on our backs and barely enough rest to keep us moving. We were tired, some more than most which slowed our progress enough to let the searchers catch up to us as we got the first real sleep in days.

We rose to the sound of one of our escorts crying an alarm and ordering us to hide. Bleary eyed, I pulled Vilma along with me to an area of deeper water and submerged myself as much as possible with still allowing regular breathing. I was too disoriented to think of a better way to hide. The enemy rushed to the island where we had been sleeping until recently and immediately spotted Vilma who had not quite finished concealing herself. I know she is slow to wake like me, but she could have been a little faster to save her own hide!

The battle was short, but eventful. Amara’s magic was wonderfully effective, freezing the enemy in place to await the strike of my blades. Belluar ripped one of the taskmaster’s heads clean off his shoulders with a simple kick! I took a mean hit to head from one of their clubs, but Vilma was in far worse shape. Amara was able to heal her wounds with a touch! How I envy her the ability to bring life instead of death with her touch.(I am getting dangerously close to hero worship :) )

Soren worries me a little. After ending the life of his opponent with a thrown dagger, I was on the receiving end of an unnerving glare. Those eyes did not look human! I will discuss this with Vilma as soon as we get an opportunity for privacy. We relieved the thugs of what equipment we could use as quickly as possible and made a run for a safer place to camp.

The whole situation was rather repetitive: run, rest, run, fight, run, and so on. We lost one of the archers on the way and I had almost lost my best dagger.(In hindsight, considering the almost cost of finding it, I almost wish I had not.) By the time we got to a solid, dry forest, my foot was in so much pain that it was too difficult to hide and someone noticed my limping. Amara insisted on trying to treat me despite my protestations of danger, and I finally relented after being confronted with the possible loss of the foot. Once again, she demonstrated her ingenuity by pulling the infection out of the wound with magic and instructing Vilma a little in the dressing of the wound so as to avoid any permanent harm. I am considering explaining my situation to her, if only to prevent what might become a tragic accident, should she or any of the other less robust people become exposed to my venom.

We reached the town and, finally, safety. The archer who made it back with us went into town to check something out and requested that Soren take us to a safe house of some sort. It did not take long to reach an area with trees peppered by arrows. Teo said that there was no living creature in the area other than us.(If he does not find a better excuse for his detection, it may put Vilma in danger. I know the thought of the inquisitors terrifies her beyond most reason.)

We got into the hideout, and our senses were assaulted by the stench of blood and the sight of mangled bodies everywhere. We grab a few weapons in case of danger and continue to check for survivors. We met a strange and suspicious man in what seemed like the commander’s room. He wore an unusual cloak made from the hide of an impressive looking beast and carried a very well made bow. He introduced himself as Robin Goodfellow, the Northern Hunter. After explaining what killed the people here and mentioning that those creatures might have been directed to this slaughter, he told us to leave a message for him at the inn if we found anything out and took his leave saying that he must check on the other villages to the east.

I know vengeance is a foolish emotion that causes more pain than satisfaction, but my heart burns with it as I tally up all that I have lost: my family caravan, 2 teachers, a rescuer who might have become a friend, and who knows what possibilities had the hideout been intact when we arrived. Vilma and I talked over our options as we picked over the remnants. We could try to forget about it all and run our separate way, but that did not sit right with either of us. We/I owed Soren for the loss of his father, and he seemed very distraught by the loss of his compatriots. I would stay and help for as long as I was allowed. Vilma could track the beasts back to their lair once we had rested and gathered supplies, and I think we will at least be able to discover the reason if not exterminate those responsible.

After all this time, Richak finally announced it was time to excape, and he was right! It’ll be nice to go home and see why I was sold into slavery. I helped spread the word as I was passing out water with Jimi, so people could get prepared. Finally, the time came for us to escape, and we fought the guards to get past them, the others took rgem down *good to see the one that hit me with the door get it!! plus I’m not great at fighting yet). as we made our way out, we ran into more guards and that smelly overseer guy whose nume I try not to even think, and as others fought, I was with Richak scouting ahead.

As we were heaing out, Belluar was nice in moving things in fron of doors so guards get delayed and he helped people up the ladder as well. Teo was helpful in seeing ahead of us, even though he’s blind, but I wish he wouldn’t flirt with the more attractive girls so much. I grabbed some healing salve and bandages, which will be useful, and inn a desk I founf the key to the manacles they put on myself and other magic users, and used it. I also found some nots which look important and a decorated dagger in the desk, sealed with a ribbon and seal. Odd, but could be useful, so I’ll keep them for now and decide what to do with them later.

The fire finally moved. Yes, moved. Like any creature would. We did book it from there to the marshes where we met up with strangers who knew Sorin and went to their camp. I’ll probably need to talk to Sorin about the notes I found and see who to take them too, and maybe Amara as well to see if she recognises the symbols of the dagger. Once I get to know these people, I’ll trust them them more. Maybe. But my trip home will be delayed since the notes showed other mines and more guards, and there will be others to rescue. For now, I’ll stay.

I did ask Belluar if we would help each other and he said yes. I know he tends to get hurt and accidents happen around him, so I can talk to him as I bandage him, and he seems trustworthy enough. Just need to remember not to stay too close because of the accidents….

I do wish Jimi would have come or Richak was here, but things are what they are, and we’ll need to move forward.

Session 1-The Escape (Belluar)

Richak told me to be ready to help the others; he said that we were going to get out of the mines and that everyone would be happy once we did. He said that we would have to hurt the guards, but not to worry because the guards were always hurting them when I was not around. I haven’t seen the others get hurt in a while, but the guards always send me away, and Richak has never lied to me, so I’ll believe him.

I don’t think escaping went as easy as they expected. Some of the others didn’t want to leave, so they didn’t fight to get away. The guards put up a good fight; I was still leery of hurting them, but the fight was taking too long, so I had to hit the taskmaster. The new guy, Sorin, must have thought so too, because he did something to the taskmasters leg that made him stop fighting. I felt bad for Ariana; she was trying to help and tried to take the taskmasters head off so he wouldn’t hurt anymore, but she missed and cut off his arm instead. At least he won’t be hurting anymore.

We got in a room I’ve never seen before. Jimi was there; she said she wanted to stay there to help the others who stayed behind too. Some more guards were coming and I didn’t want her to get hurt, so I pushed the table in front of the door to stop them.
Someone else was behind another door; I don’t know how he knew, but Teodor said he was there.
Teodor can see good for someone with no eyes. If I lose my eyes, I hope I can see as good as he does.
Everyone thinks the other guy is strong and is afraid of him, but Richak said to keep going and he’d keep the other guy busy and catch up later. He planned everything out, so he must have known this would happen.

We came to a ladder to the surface, but the surface was on fire. Ariana was eager to get out and climbed up my back; her touch felt different— it kind of tickled. She was afraid of the fire too, and climbed back down. Everyone else was trying to figure out what to do about the fire, so I let them think about that while I moved a piece of furniture in front of the door. The slower people are, the less likely they’ll get hurt. Since I had to help Ariana to the ladder, I moved stuff over so I could climb out too. The others are nice, but they’re not strong, and I don’t want them to hurt themself trying to help me.
Stephanie found paper and pretty ribbon in the dresser while I was moving it; she must have liked it, because she kept it. I hope it makes her happier. She also found a key and took off her shackles. Amara must have found a key too, because she and Ariana took theirs off as well.

The fire must have died out, because everyone was eager to get out again. I helped them to the ladder, then went up myself. When we got on the surface, the fire was walking away. I guess it ate all the wood it wanted, and was looking for more.

We went into the woods, and met a stranger. He seemed friendly to the others, so he must have known we were coming. Amara took off my shackles; I’m not sure how, but it turned into a sword when it fell off, and so did the ones on the others before turning back into chains. The new guy must have been very impressed with how Amara did it, because he was very surprised. I should have paid more attention to what they were saying, but I didn’t want to startle him; people always seem bothered because I’m so big so I stayed in the back of the group.

It’s finally happened, we’re finally free of those ghastly caves. Even though Richak kept saying that the escape would be any day, I could gather the hope to believe him. I had thought that if I trained enough, Vilma and I could quietly escape on our own. What a fool I was! If the slavers were skilled enough to kill my teacher, the only person other than my sister that I had begun to trust, then they could easily foil the attempts of a weakling like me.
Without another option, we waited for this “any day”.

He arrived a little over a month later, bearing a striking resemblance to Teacher. I was curious, at first and overheard him speaking with Richak. He was Teacher’s son. After that, I pretty much avoided him which was fairly easy since I avoided contact with pretty much everyone unless it was necessary.

Two weeks later, we were informed that the day had finally come. I had been a bit more careful it the last week or so to not stand out as much, and as a result, managed to have quite a few crudely made knives.

Now, I am not bloodthirsty by nature, but I will admit that I wanted as many of the slavers to die in our escape as possible, especially Igaris Tharr and Tarsin Echlor.

We waited until rest time and killed the guards that were trying to lock us in for the night. The small girl, Amara, made a dagger appear out of no where. I was not as much surprised by the source (I practice slight of hand frequently), but where did she get such a well made dagger? That’s when the plan changed. I still don’t know how he does it, but the blind flirt (I think he said his name was Teo) detected 2 more people blocking the way we were planning to go.

I got my chance at the toad, Igaris. Soren and the big guy, Belluar, faught along side Vilma and I, but he managed to get away and bring more guards. We ran to catch up with Richak and the others only to discover that Tarsin was blocking our way to freedom. Richak ordered us all to make a run for it while he played for time against a better trained and well equipped enemy. I had to persuade Vilma to give up her hard won sword; each second that Richak lasted would increase our chances of survival.

We made it to a room with a hole in the ceiling that lead outside. Impatient to taste fresh air once again, I climbed Belluar like a tree to reach the edges. Only after I was up did I think to check his health. He didn’t even flinch! Seems like there may be others besides Vilma that I can associate with. There was an intense fire blocking the exit, but Amara said she might be able to do something about it if we removed the ornate manacles from her wrists.

The lock was fairly good, there was no way that I could pick them without proper tools. Just at I reached to pull a thin bit of stone I had worked on as an improvised tool, she held out her hands, and a lock pick appeared! This was not slight of hand! We had managed to rescue a witch! Due to the environment of my family caravan and the quirks of my own best friend, I was not as suspicious of magic users. Stephania (She seems like she’s hiding something, probably won’t trust her until I find out what) ended up finding the key to the manacles while I was working on Amara’s.

Just when we were about to take action about the fire, it moved away from the exit. Fires don’t move; they spread! Enough time for thought later, escape was the first priority. After Soren fell from the ladder, I asked Vilma to go up first and I followed. The others came up in time to see the fire moving toward the forest seeming to obey the commands of Ladrin.

We took the time that he and others were distracted to run to the marshes for cover where we were met by a bowman who told us our next destination was the town of Fairwell.