Cheezus made quick work of the lock on the cell door in front of them. Glancing outside it was pitch black so he took the risk and used their torch to scan the hallway. Seeing no immediate threats, he motioned for Thag to follow him. While the light could give away their position, there was no point in adding their voices to the mix, furthering the possibility of discovery.
A few feet away from their cell they spotted another occupied cell. Peaking in through the top of the barred door he could see a mix of humans and mutants. Nearly all of them looked malnourished and they were mostly asleep or just lying there with a dead look in their eyes. One mutant, who looked to be a teenager came to the door and shouted, “Help us!”
Cheezus looked at Thag and shrugged. She shook her head. “If you free them where are they going to go? We don’t know anything about this place other than the fact that its crawling with undead.”
That was extremely practical; however, Cheezus knew that neither of them could just do nothing.
“At least help me. The name’s Sam,” the young man said. He had calmed down somewhat and was no longer yelling. “We’re due to be swept and I don’t want to die. Not like these others.” He gestured to the people behind him, most of which were dead eyed.
“What do you mean swept?” Thag asked.
The boy’s eyes got huge. “The prisoners are what feeds Drak’s army. Some of the strong ones he keeps to convert, but the rest are eaten. When a cell gets full like this one they drop the floor and it goes down to a feeding area. I don’t know much more than that, but that’s what old Joe said.” The boy looks sad for a moment. “Too bad old Joe didn’t make it after the last sweep. He was in the cell over there.” The boy points across the hall to an empty cell.
Cheezus had an idea. Although most of the prisoners didn’t look like they could walk, let alone escape on their own, they might be able to buy these people some time so they could come back. “I’ve got an idea.” A few minutes later he had picked the lock to both cells and he and Thag started marching about half the people across the hallway to the other cell. The idea was that if neither cell was full, hopefully they wouldn’t purge them. While they were filing across, Cheezus noticed that there was a wide range of people represented here. These weren’t just Australians, but rather there were folks here from half-way around the world and everywhere in between. It wasn’t just the fit and healthy either, but all ages were in the mix. Wherever Drak was getting these prisoners, he hadn’t been picky at all. Thag covered her mouth in surprise when they saw a young pregnant woman filing through. When she thanked them both quietly, Thag started to cry. Cheezus had to look away before he lost his cool and decided to free them all anyway. Plans be damned.
When they were finished he turned to the young mutant man. “Ok Sam, you’re welcome to join us but you’ll need to be quiet. We can’t promise your safety but we are looking to escape, same as you,” Cheezus explained.
Sam nodded. “We should be on the lookout for patrols. Every so often they come down to bring in more prisoners. Drak needs a steady supply to keep the army fed,” Sam warned.
Thag and Cheezus looked at each other. How many people was Drak consuming with his army and where was he getting all these prisoners?
The group made their way carefully down the hallway. Cheezus didn’t look into any more of the cells on either side. He didn’t want to see just how many there were or see the dead looks in so many of the prisoner’s eyes when he was powerless to help them at this time. He promised himself they would come back when they had the ability to make a full rescue or at a minimum when they had some weapons. He couldn’t, in good conscience, send unarmed people against the horde of undead he knew were all around them. If he or Thag saw another pregnant woman in the crowd, they might have tried to free these people anyway, even unarmed and not knowing what horrors lay ahead.
Just as they were making good progress a sixth sense fired off. He immediately doused the torch and pulled them into a small cell that was unoccupied and unlocked. It wasn’t any skill ability or magic in game that he relied on in that moment, but an instinct far more ancient that told him a predator was coming. Moments later they heard the shuffling and scraping of bone through the dirt hallway. The creaking of old tendons and slurping sound of dead flesh told him that a patrol must be passing. He willed the other two to the complete silence that he was used to in his stealth mode and hoped that it would be enough to go undetected. They weren’t unarmed; however, fighting here would doubtless bring numerous undead down upon them and they could ill afford that, trapped as they were down in the dungeon.
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They spent an unknown period of time like that in the silence before Cheezus relit the torch and confirmed that it was all clear. Quickly, they made their way to the end of the dungeon hallway and Cheezus picked the lock on the cell door at the end. It led to a stairwell leading down, and so they descended, still careful not to make noise. Cheezus didn’t like the fact that there was no option to go up and briefly contemplated turning around and trying to see what was at the other end of the hall. However, the sound of a door being opened at the other end of the hallway made him decide not to pursue that. They could always come back if they had to.
In the stairwell were several glowing rocks sitting in small piles near the edge of the wall. Wordlessly, Cheezus grabbed one of the rocks and examined it. Thag pointed at it excitedly as well. It looked like one of the phosphorescent rocks they’d found at the cave near the lagoon. Saving that gnome on the island seemed like ages ago. Using this would be a lot less obtrusive than their torch so he doused it again and stowed it.
At the bottom of the stairs, Cheezus had to resist the urge to gag. These must be the ‘kitchens’ Sam had referred to. All three of them stood there for a minute trying not to be overwhelmed by the stench. It smelled like dead cat and hot garbage mixed with sewage. Although the glow stone is dimmer than the torch, his eyes had adjusted to the lower light. Before them were cauldrons of what he could only assume were boiling people. Various zombies wandered around mindlessly checking on the contents of the human stew every so often. The situation reminded Cheezus of an old zombie game where the objective was to eat more brains. Only under these circumstances it didn’t seem remotely funny.
It didn’t look like there was going to be anything useful down here so Cheezus turned and indicated for them to go back up. If there was any question as to what happened to the prisoners, it had been dispelled with their visit to the kitchens.
Upstairs again they snuck back to the other side of the hall. Several times, Cheezus pulled them into an empty cell and once even had to pick the lock on a full cell in the dark to avoid the patrols. Fortunately, their new glow stone was less obtrusive and they made it to the other side undetected. This stairwell led up and so they climbed.
On the other side of the door leading from the staircase was a hallway larger than any they’d seen thus far. It appeared to be a main corridor through the fortress. Bones jutted out of clay stone walls, and the earth below them was well trampled by the undead. They began walking in one direction and Cheezus heard the marching of those feet coming their way. Quickly, he grabbed Thag and Sam and ducked behind an alcove. Peering beyond the alcove he could see Drak’s army was on the move. Thousands of skeletal warriors went past their hiding spot, the sound of their bones creaking as they impacted the dusty floor. Seeing the warriors reminded him of their own bodies back at the bunker and the inevitable doom marching towards them. He briefly considered messaging the guild but it wasn’t like they weren’t already aware that Drak’s army was on the move and they hadn’t yet rescued Smash. Time was wasting.
Thag and Sam weren’t terribly stealthy, fortunately the patrols thus far hadn’t been very observant. Cheezus had his usual weapons and armor that allowed for stealth. Thag was wearing a new set of plate mail that Kantala had made her; however, the mutant boy was in little more than rags. Fortunately, the next locked room that they encountered turned out to be the armory. Sam put on some armor and grabbed a short sword. They would be even less sneaky now but walking around without equipment wasn’t safe either.
Knowing the armory was here was definitely a blessing, since it wasn’t too far from where they had ascended the staircase. If they could just get the weapons to the prisoners they might be able to stage a riot and escape. The one major concern Cheezus had with that plan was whether the prisoners would rally. They looked beaten down, and were probably starving. Would they even be able to fight? Once they had rescued Smash they would need to make a decision. Did they let the prisoners try to fight and probably die or leave the prisoners to certain death in the food vats below? Given those two unappealing choices, Cheezus was inclined to free them and he would have to persuade Thag that it was the best of the two terrible options that were available.
Sam turned to them both. “I know that you need to find your friend, but my own friends are down there. Now that I’ve got some weapons I’m going to try to free them,” he said with a determined look.
Cheezus couldn’t say no to rescuing ones’ friends, despite the danger. “Be sure to take an extra stone from the hallway so you can see. Also, here is this in case you need it.” He handed the young man an extra skeleton key he’d made with his lockpick tools. “This will work on any of the dungeon doors downstairs. Security here is surprisingly lax for the prisoners.”
“Yeah, I don’t think they are expecting a riot,” Sam said ruefully. “But let’s plan to give them hell anyway.”
Cheezus and Thag waited until Sam had made it safely to the stairwell before they turned and started looking for their own friend. Hopefully, he was somewhere in the upper keep.