A Miner Concern

Our would-be hero didn't consider himself to be a violent person, generally speaking. Okay, in all honesty, aside from playing with his friends using foam weapons, he really had no practical experience at fighting anything. He knew the theory, he even went so far as to take a few martial arts classes and... Alright, he wasn't terrible with a quarter staff but... He wasn't exactly the King's Champion, either.

He stared a moment longer as the... Overseer, he decided, shouted something gruffly at the stout folk and cracked it's whip at them again. There were a number of reasons why the youth might regret the actions he'd decided on. This might be a case of a lawful warden lording it over criminals, forcing them to work for their food and shelter... But even if that was the case, the creature's actions did not sit right with the boy.

The blue-eyed boy crouched, gingerly making his way forward, careful of his footing as he inched his way along. The youth wanted to stare at his target, but he was worried. Instead, he chose to look at the floor, not wanting to give anything away until it was too late to stop him. He'd read that, sometimes, staring at people could alert them to your presence. Was it superstition? Hard to say, but he had felt that 'someone is looking at me' feeling a number of times in his short life.

Then, he heard a gasp. Glancing up, surprised, the youth thought that maybe he had been discovered! Fortunately, it was just one of the miners staring at him. That fool was going to give him away! The overseer was starting to turn; there really was no more time for subtlety. He leapt forward, left foot first, bringing the left end of the staff down toward the creature's head. There was a rather satisfying crunch, followed by the collapse of the stunned... wait. There was a foul odor and a nasty looking substance on the end of his staff. Gross, was that supposed to be blood?

Meanwhile, the miner was speaking in a low voice to... his? Right, his companions, gesturing at our hero emphatically. "Great... Just great." Grimacing, he cleaned his staff off on the overseer's cloth... Well, he hoped it was cloth. It could have been fur, the nasty thing, and it didn't cover much. Yech! He kicked the whip away from the body, rolling it over with his foot. "I'd hoped to find a key around your neck," he admitted, speaking to himself. "Doesn't look like you have much of anything."

"It's him!" he heard a slightly high-pitched voice state urgently. "It really is! That's the missing son! That's Lord Ian! I'm telling you, I'd know him anywhere!"

Wait... what now? It wasn't well known, but this youth had two names. The name his parents gave him and his Scadian name, or the name he used within the Society. To those of the SCA, he was known as Ian, Viscount of Maris from the Kingdom of An Tir. Well... Technically, being under-aged, he was 'heir to the Viscount of Maris' and his title was 'held by the King' until he turned eighteen and proved himself in glorious combat, but it was all just a formality. The Society wasn't really all that strict and he'd earned his Title defending his King during wartime.

He rubbed his chin, thoughtfully staring at the speaker. The boy wasn't just a 'little' displeased at the moment. In theory, he'd need allies to get back home, and it seemed they'd heard of him. He didn't think that the little people were bad or anything but... There was a moment of shock that hit him. First, it was a fact that the overseer wasn't a creature he'd ever seen before. That in itself didn't bother him, he wasn't the only person on good old Terra Firma to keep his head more or less down with no real plans of ever leaving the state he'd been born in.

No, the problem was in his head. For just a moment the dirty face of the kid that'd given him away was interposed onto the face of someone else, a clean young woman whom had been kind to him. The thing was, to his knowledge he'd never seen her before. His body was moving forward on it's own, kneeling before her and touching the chain. Strange words left his lips and, just like that, all locks on that chain opened. He felt dizzy for a moment, swaying back and forth. Honestly, if he hadn't had the staff planted just so, he'd have fallen over.

"Lord Ian?" the quiet voice asked, an urgent whisper as feminine hands shook his shoulders. "Hey! Lord Ian!" Then she slapped him. He rocked back on his heels, shaking his head firmly. What the hell was that? Okay, magic was kinda cool, but this idiot had almost gotten him killed and, what was more, he was a proper nobleman! Well, she thought so at least, even if it was all pretend to him. He really wanted to be angry with her but... for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Sunny." The name was flat as it left his lips, coming to him out of nowhere. "What exactly were you doing, giving me away like that? No, before that, why are you here, of all places? No... Rather, who are you?" He gasped, holding his head as the feeling of confusion settle in once more. It was hard to tell with the dirt, though most of this group seemed to be older than he was, but he knew Sunny was a human and the others were... Dwarves? With a goblin overseer?

"Ian! I knew you'd come back for me! I knew it! I prayed with all of my might and I knew the goddess heard me. Those goblins lied, they did! They said you were dead for sure and I'd never see you again but... I knew it..." the girl trailed off, frowning as she looked him up and down. "What's with the strange outfit? And how come you're using a peasant's weapon?"

The youth wasn't given a chance to answer as the remainder of the group circled the pair. "No, getting out of here is more important. With that one dead, the rest will come screaming for blood sooner or later."

"There is a way out nearby," Ian replied, indicating the path he'd taken, "Shouldn't take long to get there if we go now. Ah, there's a bit of a fall though... Maybe we should use this chain to climb down?"

"Well... it'd depend on the climb, of course, but it's not all that long a chain. Once it's properly anchored it won't give you but a few feet of wiggle room, depending. Perhaps we should try for the armory first? I'd feel a bit better with an axe in hand..."

"We're going to need supplies, too," an older dwarf added thoughtfully, looking just a bit worse for wear. "Gobbos will eat jus' about anythin', iff'n ye let em, but there's bound t' be somethin' edible in th' kitchens, if you've a mind to try it."

"The problem is time," the Sunny said, looking thoughtful. "Depending on how much time you're willing to spend, we might be able to get to one or the other easily enough. But the armory and the kitchen aren't exactly close together. Do we split up? Do we pick one over the other? Should we try for both as a group and hope we get lucky?"

"I dunno, but I thought escaping was more important," Ian said, shrugging. "What about the rest of the prisoners kept here? If we were to free them, it might buy us more time, perhaps, and perhaps give us a better chance at escape."

"They're on the far side of the barracks. We'd never get there unarmed... and even armed, we might not be able to do anything for them. Our best chance is to get you home and send the army back here to clear this place."

"Home," the youth said, frowning. For him, home was back on Terra. He shook his head, clearing it for the moment. He'd worry about that later. "I'd like to get my hands on a sword. Armory's my choice. What about the rest of you? I've got a couple of weapons on me if you want to split up, but... Well, these things won't last in a real fight."

They spoke for a little bit, then finally there was a bit of nodding, little trepidation, nervousness if you will... but five of the dwarves decided to head for the kitchen and supplies while both Sunny and the three others chose to stay with Ian. The young man gave the girl his staff for now, he retrieved the ancient revolver and some ammo from his backpack, and then gave both daggers, as well as the overseer's whip, to the party heading for the kitchen. "May Fortune shower you with favor," he said unironically as he followed his own group toward the armory.