=Meanwhile=

[Nemesis]

"So. You're telling me that you knew that I'm not from here." She asked the man as he sipped a swig from his mug of ale.

Yet, Jasken only chuckled. He put down the mug as he grinned at her knowingly, as if she was an open book that never had any secrets to hide. Though, she supposed that it would be obvious. Considering that she was there to repel a raid, it would've been easy to assume that at least one soldier would be able to tell everyone.

"Your friends too, but that's not important. Not in this rebellion at leaast." He began. "What matters more is that there's something we're not telling you... Something that I'm not a part of."

She only regarded him with with an inquisitive look, and her narrowed eyes were hidden by her mask. The strange man can only grin, as he looks around before standing up.

"You see." He chuckled a bit. "The boys here... They're planning something, and they're willing to bank on this war. Let's just say that they're willing to burn it all down to the ground to start all over... And rule over the ashes."

"But why are you telling me this?" She asked.

"Because I know you can tell, and the one that can help with... removing them from here. My brothers and sisters are willing to fight for the Necromancer, but they? No, your friends fates, they have already decided when they came here. They just wanted to keep quiet."

The Goddess hummed for a bit, pondering on how to go through this. If what the man says is true, then she can trust him, but if the others were planning to backstab them since day one, then he could be lying.

Yet, she knows what he says is true. No lies, no strings attached, none. She can tell that he genuinely wants to help, but with the words he says, they could very well be alone. Worse too, considering she's only here to help Dennis and his friends pull through, and only that. Besides, he was the one that came up with it.

Why are human politics so complicated?

"Now, I think it's time that both you and I go ahead and settle things." He said as he rolls his neck.

"Are you planning to fight them?" She asked.

"No." He simply replied. "But of it comes to it, I will."

Then he reached for her with his hand, and she idly shaked it.


[Dennis]

= Dungeons (roughly three days later)=

With a groan, he wakes up and as his eyes adjust groggily, he sees himself surrounded by cobblestone walls, and a really fuzzy headache.

He grits his teeth as he holds onto his head, shaking his head in an effort to relieve it.

"Finally, you're awake." The elf inside quipped at him sarcastically. "Must be nice to sleep for 3 days."

"Quiet, you." He groaned.

The elf only sighed as she looked around, her eyes downcast and dejected from the betrayal, and from the fact she now has to deal with him.

A part of her wishes that they could've just killed her already.

"So... Is this a part of your plan? Or did your friends basically betray you and the dogs?" He quipped with a slight smirk on his face.

"Shut it!" She snapped at him. "I don't need to hear this from a lowlife like you!"

"And I don't need to hear this from backstabbed elf like you!" He snapped back. "Besides, I don't have my hands tied together."

Both of them growled and glared at each other, yet none of them did anything, just glaring. Yet, they slowly calmed down, and both of them shared a collective sigh as the reality of the situation downs on them once more.

"Funny how trying to get them on our side resulted in us being here." Dennis said with a light chuckle. "I mean, if you're here, surely that dog would have wanted to join them, right?"

He gave her a friendly smile, but didn't continue on as he noticed she wasn't returning the gesture. Both of them sighed, and both of them tried to wrack up a plan to escape, and essentially go back to try and help their friends. If the betrayal happened to them, who's to say that it won't spread further to the others?

"Okay, so how are we going to escape? An Elf like you surely has some ideas...?" He asks.

"That's easier said than done but..." She looks around as she thinks. "We have to get out of our binds."

Seeing how the cell they're in barely maintained, she cringes not just from the sight of it, but from the wet, invasive dankness permeating in the air. 'They really let this place go.' She quickly thought, but then, it quickly struck to her. The tiles on the walls and on the floor were worn down by the negligence over the years, and it just so happens that some tiles were chipped off from the wall inside, a shard conveniently right next to her cellmates thigh.

Dennis quickly caught on to what she was looking at, so he shifted his weight over so he's on his side, and with his feet, he keeps on nudging it over.

Only for him to stop and press down on it.

"Why did you do that?!" She yells in a hushed tone.

"How am I supposed to know you're not going to betray me?" He asks with his eyes narrowed. "Your hands maybe tied together, and I can cut them away, but how am I supposed to know you're not going to punch me in the balls and slit my throat with this?"

"Because they're going to throw me back in." She answered honestly. "I already failed trying to get them to join us. Do you really think I'm just going to walk up, say sweet words, and let me go because they had their fun?"

Dennis grabbed the shard and grabs her hand. "Fair enough." He quickly uttered and began cutting.

When the cordage was cut, the elf sighed in relief as her hands are now free, and she looked at him, before kicking him hard, causing him to crash against it.

"Ow!" He yelled in a hush tone. "What was that for?!"

"For not trusting me." She stuck her tongue at him. Then her face becomes serious and helps him up. "If we're getting out of here, we need to trust each other, so no hard feelings about that."

Dennis rolled his eyes, but relents as he looks around. Brows furrowing as he looks for anything to get them out of here. "Nothing here." He muttered before noticing a nail and a piece of scrap wire just outside of the grates.

The elf saw what he was looking at, and a small twinge of disappointment appears on her face. "There has to be a better way than that."

"Guess you're going to have to risk it." Dennis uttered.

The elf sighed, and decided to stretch her body and fixing her hair before putting on a smile and started whistling. She kept on with the serenade, hoping that some guard patrolling would get irritated by the noise and come over to stop it.

'Wish I have an harmonica with me right now.' Dennis thought to himself as he patiently waited.

After a good long while, the two heard one guard cussing something out in frustration. Fortunately, it's related to them as a guard came over, quite angrily stomping over as it was clear that he was more than annoyed by the noise they were making.

"Shut up over there!" He yelled out, and slammed his mace against the bars. "You know how much noise you're making?!"

"Why don't you try and shut me up then~?" She challenged him with a smirk.

Seeing how angry the man became, they put the plan in motion. He fumbled for the keys he had on him, and when he got them, he opened the cell, and barged in, quickly grabbing her throat and promptly slamming her against the wall. It didn't take long for him to try and grab at her clothes to essentially vent out all of his frustrations at her.

Dennis quickly got on the move. He pulled of his shoes and sneaked up against him, and when he's at the perfect position, he slammed the shoes against his ears. The guard yelled out in pain, and the elf quickly used this opportunity to knock him out by slamming him against the wall, making sure that he hit his head in a way that knocks him out. After he was downed, they quickly grabbed his weapons and ran out of the cells as fast as they can.


[Thompson]

Thompson can only gulp as he realized that Dennis' entourage is slowly going missing. One by one, they were picked off, and he became concerned that they were being assassinated as he noticed a pattern: They all came up to them, and asked them if they can talk about things in private.

Thankfully, he wasn't the only one that noticed it. Alicia ended up denying them the privilege of even being asked that, and with the ones remaining with her, flocked to him. Nemesis only kept calm, and intuitively scanned the folks minding their own business.

"I don't like this one bit..." Alicia began. "First we ended up catching the elf, and then suddenly, he disappears for three days."

"I'm getting worried." Torien muttered in concern. "First it was Boe, and then Ogrimm... What's going on here..."

"We can only keep our wits up that's for sure." Bronn added.

Thompson sighed as they stayed within this simple room they're hiding in. The soldiers for this place just doesn't feel the same anymore, and they felt that they have their own agenda at play, and it's not the good kind of agenda, that's for sure. He felt Alex patting him in the back in an attempt to reassure him, but he only brushed him off politely, saying that it'll be fine.

'I hope everything's fine, Dennis.' He thought to himself as he looks out at the window.

Unfortunately, for him, he noticed a sight that only made his suspicion's grow. He saw Jon walking with Ratcliffe, heading to the front gates with a small entourage of soldiers. What could be the reason of even wanting to do this? He thought. Surely they're there, going up to motivate the soldiers there, right?

"What do you see?" Lutwidge asked him. "Is there something wrong?"

"I just saw Jon heading up to the front gate with a small entourage of men..." He explained. "I don't know if he's going out there to boost their morale... or maybe negotiate?"

"Whatever it is, surely it won't be a bad thing, but... With the way how things are, things can only be stranger." Arten muttered as Tek hummed in approval.

While they were busy thinking it through, they heard loud knocking emanating from the doors. They knew it was only a matter of time until they're found, but with the way how aggressively they're knocking, they dreaded what's to come next. They didn't bother to even try and open the door, all of them drew out their weapons, and waited.

The knocking on the door only became louder, and louder, but they stood firm. Still waiting for them to come in through.

It didn't take long for their prediction to become true, as when the door stopped knocking, the guards forcefully opened the door, and a good portion of them flooded in, their halberds raised and pointed it at them, and some of them aimed their pistols at them.

"Drop your weapons!" The guard yelled. "You're under arrest under the crime of treason, and colluding with the enemy."

Unfortunately, they didn't. They held onto them, glaring them down as their apprehensiveness faded away, any lingering suspicions they may have head in the days spent in here might as well be proven true. They weren't colluding with the Black Dogs, that's for sure, and they can tell that the truth is not what they're after. They stood firm, and they'll never give them the satisfaction of them surrendering.

Seeing as how they refused to surrender, the guards decided that getting them disposed of might as well be easier. With that, they cocked their pistols and got ready to fire, and with that, they squeezed the trigger.

Unfortunately, however. They didn't count on the sound of a whip being cracked.