Pellex looked around the small, rocky room at his chance companions. After the [Ulvis] had left, most of the arders had gone back inside, spreading through the halls and making movement impossible for a while. Refos and Ucria had taken the opportunity to nap, the stress from captivity, the [Ulvis] attack, and their escape overwhelming them. Evwel was doing some stretches in the corner, her breaths coming in staccato puffs as she went through exercises that the shackles Pellex had freed her from wouldn’t have allowed. Pellex buried his head in his hands as he thought about what he had done. Now, instead of being a single individual who, though a prisoner, had pretty wide access to materials and a suite of hidden abilities that would serve him well in blindsiding the arders, he was attached to a group of randomly chosen prisoners, who had been overworked and underfed since before Pellex came here, hiding inside the enemy’s own headquarters, with no supplies. Pellex chewed over that word in his head. Supplies…

Ucria coughed awake, and Pellex lost his train of thought. Refos woke up as well, looking blearily around for a few moments, before his eyes snapped into focus, and he seemed as awake as ever. Evwel, seeing their motion, stopped stretching and sat down next to them. Ucria turned to Pellex and tried to speak, but had to clear her throat several times before it was anything other than a gravelly hacking.

“So, what are we going to do?”

Pellex opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to come up with a response. He couldn’t do it.

“I don’t know.”

Ucria seemed dismayed, but Evwel only sighed, and Refos just nodded slowly before speaking his piece.

“I expected as much, to be honest. You’d have to possess prodigious foresight to have actually planned that. I’m quite thankful enough that you chose to free us instead of making off on your own.”

“I agree,” Evwel said, “and besides, you know what they say about plans. We need to put our heads together and figure out what we know and what we can do before we go making decisions.”

Refos nodded again, even more slowly this time.

“That’s a proper starting place, indeed. Well, if Ucria has no objections, I’ll tell our story. We were on a flight to Vokit, an ordinary business trip, nothing noteworthy, when we were boarded and commandeered by a group of arders. We would have fought back, but neither of us had our weapons, and the thi-casters on board were hampered by the arder lieutenant’s use of [Silence]. The ship was brought to Julian’s Court, where all of us prisoners were sorted into cells. The next day, we were brought up to the landing platform and assigned our tasks at the end of a lash. I’ve walked the path between the dungeon and the outside so many times by now that I could probably do it eyes closed. As for abilities, I’m a [Precisian], the nineteenth of my kind.”

Pellex nodded along with the balding man’s story, fascinated. He’d read about [Precisians], but never actually met one. The [Monk]-[Gunslinger] hybrid wasn’t a common choice, in part due to the mental discipline required from any [Monk]-type class combined with a [Gunslinger]’s intense level of required practice and skill being an off-putting amount of work.

“Many of my fellows pour their skill points into making their long-ranged shooting more accurate and deadly. I branched out a little more than that, adding skills that increase my possible weapon choices, though I prefer guns, of course, while focusing on a few thi skills for deadly effect on shots that need to count. Ucria?”

The disheveled girl looked around the circle, and cleared her throat again a few more times, before picking up where Refos left off.

“I’m an [Apiarist],” she said, quietly, “It’s more of a beekeeping class, usually, but the way I did it lets me work with a lot of different insects, instead of just, um, bees. I’d need a hornet’s nest or something to be effective in combat, though.”

Evwel smoothly slid in after Ucria, saving the group from any more awkward silences.

“I was on an airship as well, but we weren’t as easily captured. There was a contingent of Dawnwatch boys guarding some Zolnre VIP, though he recalled right after the attack, and they didn’t go down without a fight, let me tell you. Without thi-casting and well-outnumbered, though, they weren’t good enough. Just like you two, I was brought here, chucked in a cell, then brought to the platform and told to work. As for class, I’m an [Apheretic]. A doctor by trade, but that’s not what the class is usually used for. Back when I wasn’t enslaved by a group of bandits, I would go on hunting safaris every weekend, and I wasn’t along as a medic. Until we get all of you some weapons, if we need to fight, I’ll probably be our best bet. And that leaves you, Pellex.”

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Pellex nodded, internally scrambling to decide what he would say. At the end of the day, [Cogseer] was a Rare class, and he wouldn’t tell a group of strangers about it back in Zolnre. There was the argument that they would need to know his capabilities, but did they? He had a few basic tree skills and [Cogsight] as the extent of his non-[Artificer] ability set. It wasn’t all that important. And, too, though he was hoping it wouldn’t happen, recapture was a definite possibility, and Pellex did not want to find out what would happen if Julian learned his true class.

“Pellex?”

“Sorry, yeah. I was on an airship flight back home to Zolnre, the arders attacked, there was a Circleman and a High Auditor with a guard contingent, they used recall stones to get back, there was a shootout between the arders and the guards after [Silence] was used, I shot the arder in charge, the experience sent me into class selection, and when I came out one of the arders was standing over me. I don’t know how he moved during class selection, but the ship was captured, I was brought here and thrown in a cell, then brought to see Julian because of the aforementioned killing of a lieutenant. When he found out I was an [Artificer], he sent me to repairing weapons, and my first day doing that ended when an [Ulvis] tried to eat the mountain. And yeah, I’m an [Artificer]. I make stuff and suchlike. Get me to the guns, and I can make them work. I’m a decent shot, but a far better fencer, and that’s about the extent of my combat abilities.”

Despite Evwel’s best efforts earlier, she hadn’t completely eliminated the threat of an awkward silence, as evidenced by the one currently happening. Ucria coughed a few times, and Refos’ mouth was slightly agape. Evwel looked a bit shocked as well, but she shook it off before the others could.

“Three weeks I spend here and you’ve already got a more interesting story after two days. That’s got to be some kind of record. We should ask the other prisoners if any of them can match that.”

“How did you kill the silver arder?” Ucria asked.

“A lot of luck. It required completely empty phi reserves, good cover, a convenient cogrifle, and a clear shot. If I ever even have an opportunity to replicate it, never mind actually pulling it off, I’ll be amazed.”

“Very well,” Refos said after a few moments, “time to decide what we’re going to do next. In the short term, I believe food and especially water are going to be a priority.”

“Yeah, I could go for a snack,” Evwel said.

“That may be easier than you think,” Pellex said, “the chef is a prisoner, too. I’ve already met her. Holia Kardobri.”

“This is a very inappropriate time for humor, Pellex.”

“I’m not joking. She was captured a few weeks ago, we had close cells. There’s a kitchen somewhere in this labyrinth, and Holia cooks there. If we can make contact without alerting the arders, she’ll help us.”

“Well, it’s not as if he’s got a reason to play us false, right? Finding anything seems a bit of a problem, though.”

“Actually, um, I think I can help with that,” Ucria said, digging in one of her pockets. After a few seconds, she brought out a closed fist and held it in front of her face, where she whispered something before opening her hand. A small beetle crawled to the tip of her outstretched finger and leapt into flight, buzzing right out of the door.

“That was the only insect I ever saw, when I was working outside. I didn’t really know what I would do with him, but it uh, worked out, I guess.”

“Clever thinking, Ucria. I presume we should just wait here until it returns?”

“Yeah, uh, I can’t see through his eyes or anything like that yet, I just told him to find Holia Kardobri. I’ve seen her on the cover of newspapers often enough, and the beetles can handle simple images. When he comes back, we can follow him to wherever he found her.”

“Sounds great, more time for stretches.”

“That’s a good point, actually,” Pellex said, “Technically, only one of us needs to make contact. It’d diminish our chances of discovery by a lot.”

Evwel and Refos gave it some thought, then assented.

“A salient proposal, and one for which I believe I would be the best suited. Stealth is a function of focus, after all.”

“I’m no big fan of splitting the party, but you’re probably right in this case. So long as we don’t make a habit of it.”

With that agreement, they all waited anxiously for the beetle’s return. Just as Pellex was starting to work out how big the complex was from what he had seen, and the length it would take a randomly-searching beetle to find a specific person, the bug flew into the room. Ucria put her hand out, and it landed on her palm, doing what looked like a little dance.

“Ready, Dad?” Ucria asked, making Refos snap out of his meditation.

“No purpose to delay. Stay safe, please.”

“You too.”

At that, Refos slipped out the door, and all they could do was wait.