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 Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 7:51 am
The Dungeons
The Dungeons of Castellum Umbra look like the worst nightmarish dungeons of the best medieval period films. Hard iron gates separate prisoners from the dank, musty hallways. Straw is strewn over a dirt floor in each cell, and a wooden bench is suspended by thick chains against one damp, mossy wall. Only a tiny rectangular window near the very top of the ceiling lets in any light by day. A bucket is in one corner for waste and a slot in the gate is there to slide food through on a tray. Both window and food slot are much to small for anything bigger than a kitten to climb through. On one wall of each cell are three sets of manacles bolted to the wall for wrists and feet. Torches line the hall, casting a dim, flickering light throughout the space.
There are eight hallways in the dungeon, each lined with cells. At the center is a large room filled with torture devices. A rack, cages, a dunking tank, iron maidens, and other machinations of torment reside there for use on prisoners.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:34 am
There wasn't an inch of her body that didn't hurt. Whatever they had used to put her to sleep wasn't making nice with her digestive system, either, and it was all she could do to control the impulse to retch upon waking. She knew it wouldn't do her any good to do so-- her ability to move was limited, and she would just be sitting in her own vomit if she did...which would just make the roiling worse.
What she wouldn't give for a nice hot bath right about now. And some of sissy's lovely nectar tea...that was some of the most wonderful tasting stuff ever created. And then she'd curl up under the covers with the plushie mice Alcie gave her for Valentine's Day...
Alcie. She hoped he was all right. She was glad he had done as she told him before starting out and had run off. It really wouldn't have been good if both of them had been caught and no one had made it back to the Sun Court to tell King Cervus what they had seen.
Perhaps they would be able to rescue the girl still after all of this...Alcie must have seen some of the castle in his flight from it, maybe he could tell where they were keeping Whinny.
He had to have made it out...he just...yes. That was what she'd believe. Alcie would be here with her if they'd caught him. And he couldn't be...no, definitely not. Alcie was with the King right now telling him what had happened and they'd rescue Whinny. It was too late for herself-- these crazy Moon Court people wold probably kill her soon. Just as long as they saved the girl..
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:44 am
Aranea breathed in the dank, fetid air that permeated the dungeon floor. Her bare feet made soft noises as she walked along the cold stone floor, and it was cool down here, the air chilling her skin. But this wouldnt dampen her spirits. A faint smile adorned her face, and her sharp nails scraped along the wall when she could. She wanted to let the prisoner know that something was coming.
'Welcome to my lair, said the spider to the fly...' she said, her voice low and dripping with venom. She peered through the bars at the mouse-fey.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:56 am
Muris found this strange spider woman significantly less intimidating than the cat had been. Still, she was a little...odd, and Muri was less than inclined to count her as less dangerous in any way. She didn't have the feline intimidation factor, but as a member of the Moon Court, there could be no doubt that this woman could hurt her just as badly as the cuts and scrapes that cat had given her did.
Still...welcome to my parlor? What was the matter with this woman, using lines like that? They certainly didn't help her intimidation factor any. It would've been laughable if the circumstances hadn't consisted of Muris tied up and injured, awaiting her own doom.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:59 am
Aranea ran her nails against the metal bars, and moved to turn the key that locked the cell door fast. The hinges made a high pitched noise as she pushed the door open, and she walked inside.
'Are you not comfortable? This is one of our best 'guest' rooms,' she smirked.
'Are you alright?' she said, her voice suddenly sounded full of concern. She knelt before Muris, leaning in and stroking the side of the mouse fey's face.
'Because when I torture you I want you fully able to appreciate it - all.' she purred, slapping the woman hard on her face. She stood again, brushing dirt from her dress.
'I shall return...' she slipped through the cell door, locking it securely.
'And whilst you wait..I should tell you. That male you came with,' she gripped the bars with two hands and her eyes flashed with malice.
'Oh he cried and screamed - and turned such pretty colours before his end.' her voice tailed off as if to let her false words sink in. She walked off, her laughter echoing around the dungeon.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 5:01 pm
Pteryx had let go of his arm by the time they'd gone down to the Dungeons, and shuffled behind him quietly. She was figuring out where to go by the sound of his feet, and by the sight of the flickering torches along the walls trying to learn the best way to move quietly. Pteryx wasn't very good at it, she often found her hand bumping into a wall.
But when they got down to the right place, it was easier going. The hall was pretty straight, she was glad to find, and she paused and waited as she listened to the scratchings and echos of things. Was there another person here besides them? Or was that the prisoner? With a very quiet whisper, Pteryx asked, "What's happening?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 5:22 pm
Lupinus looked around the dimly lit halls, only half paying attention to Pteryx, looking back only once or twice to be sure she was following. He located the cell they were keeping the prisoner in and motioned to it, realizing a second later that the child probably couldn't see, and so he turned to speak to her. He spoke as softly as she had-- no sense letting the prisoner know they were coming if they could. It would add to the uneasiness, he hoped.
"This cell just ahead is the one she is kept in. No one else is here, but I can unlock the cell for you if you want to see her closer. Look through the bars first, see how bright she is." He smiled briefly, wondering how the prisoner would react to being in the power of a small child.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:11 pm
"I'd like to see her closer." Pteryx whispered, and made her way slowly to the door. She got on tiptoes to peer though the bars... and made a loud pitched shriek before she could get back down again. Quickly, she turned to Lupinus and guestured to her eyes so that he'd know it was just so she could see her.
She wandered back over and whispered, "Not too bright. I wonder if that noise was scary for her too?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 3:44 pm
"I hope so." Lupinus moved to unlock the door, peering through the bars at Muris as he did so. He didn't think she was in any shape to move, but he'd be cautious. He stepped inside and held the door open just wide enough for Pteryx to follow. "Here, come in." It was good to know that the woman wasn't bright enough to hurt the child's eyes, but that could be because she was still weak from the potion and injuries. He glanced into the hall wondering if Aranea had been down here yet, then eyed the prisoner again.
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:15 am
Well, that had done it if nothing else had. I didn't matter that her logical self had decided Alcie was still alive. The comment that he was dead had simply been too much for her.
By the time Pteryx and Lupinus showed up, she was a sobbing mess, made only more disgustingly messy when one took into account that she could not even move to wipe away her own tears.
After a moment (for she had been weeping for some time already) she quieted a little, though her eyes still looked pained and her expression hollow.
Alcie...was gone. Dead. They had tortured...she had said...she didn't believe her, but the idea...she couldn't deal with this. She wanted to die now, or to go home. She'd had enough already.
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:08 am
Pteryx watched him open the door, and his glance back. Maybe they'd try to question her soon, and Pteryx could listen? She wanted to learn about it, how her people got infomation. It had to be a really good skill!
She slipped into the cell, making her way carefully towards the sound of the sobbing. It didn't really make Pteryx feel sorry for this woman, if anything, a bit amused. She was crying, and she'd choosen to come here! Bet she was really sorry now, she should have stayed in the nasty sunshine and yellow flowers with shiny butterflies and things.
Pteryx prodded at the woman carefully with a foot. She didn't know what to say just yet, so she hummed quietly an odd little tune as she observed the woman and waited to be noticed.
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:27 am
Muris had noticed the two entering her cell right away. She just hadn't been inclined to acknowledge them, so lost in her own woes was she. Still, when the girl prodded her, it became impossible to continue.
"What? Come here to watch my misery as well? Is that what your kind is all about? Making others suffer? Well, you've done a bang-up job, thank you much."
She had never really believed the Moon Court was as blatently evil as they had always been portrayed as, but her mind was quickly changing from that decision. After first that cat and then the spider woman and now this little orange-haired girl and the tall man that looked like Aesculus....
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:57 am
Pteryx looked back in the direction of Lupinus, not sure what he planned on doing. She only had just come up with an idea, and it was lucky this mouse woman hadn't really paid attention to her. It was a good time to test if this would work or not.
She turned on the full 'I'm a poor little blind child' act, hands moving around in all directions, eyes blinking stupidly, even fell over slightly onto her side as she sat next to the Sun Court woman. Pteryx crossed her legs, and stared in the general direction of her, but she made sure it was wavering a little so that her sight wouldn't focus directly on the woman's face. "I can't see your misery. I can't watch anything, because I'm blind," Well, it was only a little lie, "I know you're there and sad because I can hear you. What's a bang-up job and why are you crying?"
Had to be some odd sort Sun Court talk for 'Made me cry' or something.
"I only came down, because I can't go and play games with;" Pteryx's quick mind interrupted here to make sure she only gave one vague hint of one other female, "...with that big teenage girl, and I like to talk, but I think that big teenage girl hates to talk as well and I think she even doesn't like that I'm younger, and you are all alone and I usually am too so... do you mind if I say and talk with you?"
As she talked, she got a clear image of the woman. She looked positively miserable, Pteryx was happy to find, but she kept her face serious... and slightly sad. Pteryx could look really cute, when she wanted to. She was just glad she couldn't see the expression she was making, it would have made her gag.
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:03 am
Muris blinked. Oh. She hadn't realized the little girl was blind. It had rather startled her to see one so young in the dungeons like this, afterall. What would a child be doing torturing prisoners, afterall? Didn't they wait until they were older before teaching them malice?
"I'm sorry.." Muris sniffled, tilting her head in some vague attempt to clear her sodden face on her shirt, as nothing else was available,
"I didn't realize."
It sounded like the girl really was lonely, too. She knew how that felt-- she had been the only child who didn't live -in- the castle itself and she'd never felt very comfortable going there...besides, taking care of the horses left her little time to go in search of the other fey.
The mention of Aranea, if only in a vague sense (for that was who she assumed Pteryx meant, as Muris had only met the one teenage female) made her stiffen a bit, however. Alcie...
"However, I do not think I am the one for you to seek out for companionship. Your fellow Fey will, undoubtedly, look down upon that. Besides, I am not much in the mood for conversation."
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:08 am
"I think the other fey are busy anyway with lots of things I can't do, I don't care what they think. I want to talk to you instead of them right now, because you seem really nice and they are always too busy for me, I'm too little anyway." Pteryx shrugged, reaching down to play with the little strand of fur around her wrist. Truthfully, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be saying to the woman. But names were always a good start, right?
"I'm Pteryx, I was named after bats with cute little wriggly noses and wriggly ears, and wings that fly really good. What is your name?" Again, Pteryx tried to not make a face. Cute little wriggly noses? ...that HAD to be from one of the childrens books that Neith had brought her.
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