Curiosity that Nearly killed the Dwarf (Ana)

[Paradox]

Of all the foolish things he could have done, Delvar Stormgirder had to admit, as he anxiously paced the length of his cage,  that getting captured was one of those things. Being ambushed by drow was perfectly unavoidable for the dark elven folks tread so quietly in the night that one would need be the night itself to detect them! Humans? This was also understandable because humans could be quite clever and tread silently when they had the mind (and skill for it) . By the hammer, even being ambushed by bloody orcs was believable but giants? Giants! Delvar grabbed the bars of his cage with his meaty hands, sighed and smacked his head repeatedly against them.

The place which he had taken to was pitch dark and Delvar, having lived his whole life in the surface world had no dark vision with which to tell him where he was. But since there were frost giants, he'd venture to guess that he must have been in a cave. The only thing the young dwarf could truly gather from his surroundings and limitations on his senses was that the still air felt cold and damp and smelled of mildew with a faint hint of decomposing flesh. How charming! Occasionally, he would hear a dripping sound echo against the walls and the skittering of tiny, clawed feet which he guessed was a rat. Well, he HOPED it was a rat and not something far less pleasant that could be found in the deep dark reaches of the earth.

The giant that had caught him by the beard (yes, the beard!) had tossed his sturdy person into this wretched cage had told him to "sit tight" and then lumbered off. He'd been sitting in silence for hours, listening for sounds of others but there was mostly silence and the dwarf was certain that he was alone, left to ponder in silence as to what his fate would be. What would the enemy do with him? It seemed odd that he was spared when so many of his brothers had been slain on sight. Ultimately, Delvar came to the conclusion (and quite swiftly) that the reasons hardly mattered. He needed to find a way out of here before his captors had made a decision!

[Anadwen]

It was completely dark. When Aldanith opened his eyes for the first time after a few hours of unconsciousness, he thought they were still closed, as he couldn't see a thing. He let a sigh escape through his clenched teeth, and turned hid head aside a little. It was still throbbing from the hit with a mace he received, and he could feel the dried blood on the side of his face.

He tried to move a little, but found out that the discomfort he found himself in were actually chains, holding him in a twisted and unnatural position a few feet off the ground, pulling the wrong muscles in wrong directions and restraining him from any movement at all. He blinked. His vision, used to darkness, was slowly becoming clear, and he could recognize iron bars somewhere before him. So he was in prison... A prison of the giants. Chained. In a cell.

It could have been a perfect day, as he managed to escape a dwarven town completely unnoticed with two wonderful, expensive relics, which he could sell for a nice pile of gold... And then a giant smacked him into the head on the way back. A giant. A loud, clumsy, stinking giant simply ambushed him on the road and knocked him unconscious.

He twisted his wrists in the cuffs, and looked up. "Is..." he coughed, clearing his throat, and raised his voice again. "Is anyone here?"

[Paradox]

Multiple ideas were turned over in the dwarf's mind. The first among these was feigning death , another was feigning illness or insanity. Anything that made him an undesirable thing. However, halfway through this brainstorming session, Delvar realized that his captors had no reason to keep him alive if he were worthless and so he backpedaled through his ideas and considered in what ways could he make himself worth keeping or, at least, in what way could he stall them from smashing him to a pulp or eating him.

Did giants eat dwarves? He'd never heard of that ,actually. Ogres, yes. Trolls, most definitely!  But frost giants? Nope. He couldn't say he'd ever witnessed such a thing. Oh sure, he'd heard silly tales from humans of giants grinding people's bones to make bread and other absurd things but humans had very little experience with the giants at all so how would they possibly know? Smith father's beard! They even were silly enough to believe that female dwarves didn't exist!Just because...

The sound of a voice calling out from across the darkness brought the dwarf to a still attention. He turned slightly and moved to the opposite end of the cage, towards the sound of the voice. It wasn't the deep, thunderous baritone of a mighty giant. Nor was it the rough, rocky timbre of one of his people. Nay. It was a voice that was silvery , smooth and melodic (at least by the standards of his kin) ."Scorch me beard and call me a gnome...ah dinnae think there'd be any other idiot down 'ere , but ah s'ppose the smith father 'as a sense o' 'umor. Aye, laddie. Yer nae alone down 'ere."



((I suppose we are to presume that both of these characters are speaking common? Delvar does for sure. xD))

[Anadwen]

(((off course they are, at least Aldanith is)))

Aldanith let out a sigh of relief when he heard the other voice, coming from afar. It was rough and quite deep, speaking with a strong accent - most definitely a dwarf. Usually, he disliked dwarves, and thought that they stink and are beyond disgusting and foolish with their beards, but right now, he was very thankful that he isn't alone. Even a bearded companion was better than being completely alone, and relying to the (nonexistent) mercy of frost giants.

He shook a little in the chains, trying to get into a more comfortable position, and breathed in the cold, damp air. "Who... Who are you?" he called out again, simply for the sake of holding a conversation and not falling into desperation. It was incredibly dark, but as his eyes got used to it, he found out that he is in a small cell, three walls roughly carved in stone, and fourth were thick, strong iron bars. Dim light was coming from somewhere in the corridor into which his cell led, and from its faint sparks he assumed that it is still - or already? - day.

He bit his lip. His mouth was dry and he'd give the crown he stole for a glass of water without hesitation... It was a miserable situation, and he could hardly see any way out. The cuffs were far too tight around his wrists and ankles to get out... He could try, but he doubted that.

After trying to pull for a while, his assumptions were proven correct. He could hardly move for a small bit, and even then the chains were biting into his skin. He groaned. Was there really no way out at all?

[Paradox]

"Delvar Stormgirder," the dwarven engineer replied gruffly and gripped the bars of his cage. And though he had already tried, the surly dwarf tried pulling them apart again, praying to the Smith Father that his best effort and a little old-fashioned dwarven elbow grease would save the day. Alas, it did not! "Hrm. Not ordinary steel, I'd wager. Enchanted? Probably. Ah would nae be surprised. Possibly sky steel stolen from me people and be that th' case we're definitely breakin' out the old fashioned way. Ah've been tryin' fer hours.  " He muttered and rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully.

The clinking of chains was a sound lost on Delvar though he turned his good ear towards the elf's voice and inquired, " And 'oo might ah be talkin' to, lad? Ye sound elvish which is quite peculiar because we dannae get too many elven visitors up 'ere often. " Delvar's first guess would have been that the other was a rogue, a wanderer of sorts. It wasn't terribly common among the prideful elven folk (well, not to his limited knowledge anyway!) 

[Anadwen]

Aldanith listened to his answers. It was quite a talkative dwarf... "My name's Aldanith." he replied, but said nothing more of himself. "Yes, it's true you don't get many of us here." His voice was weak with exhaustion and hunger, but he tried to project it as loudly as he could for the dwarf to hear him. Eventually, as his eyes could see more in the dark, he saw his short, sturdy figure by the bars of the cell opposite him.

"I can see you... I'm in the cell opposite to yours... But I can't move, I'm chained. Can you... Can you try to get out?" he kept questioning him. "I can't help you with anything but telling you where's what... There's a lock on your right side... No, your left. My right. Can you get to... To it? You could try to break it... It doesn't look too strong. Just a simple lock."

He'd do anything to get out, even help a dwarf. Though, if this really was a dwarf from the city from which he was just returning, as he assumed from his speech, it might turn against him later... Now, however, his main concern was to get out, and get out quickly. He kept pulling the chains to yank himself out.

[Paradox]

"Can ye?"  Just the smallest twinge of jealousy pricked at the back of Del's mind. Well, of course the pointy-eared bastard could see better in the dark! Bloody elves. Oh, hells. If he were a true brother of the stone , then he'd possess a similar dark vison. Actually, better. (and this was merely by his own assumptions since he wasn't aware that he was not speaking to a light elf!)

And at the question concerning trying to get out , the dwarf kicked the bars in a fit of typical dwarvish frustration and released a snort, "Try to get out, 'e says? Try!? What do ye think ah've been doin' this whole time tha' ah've been 'ere? Sittin' on me bum an' countin' the stalactites and waitin' fer the giants t' come back?!"  He kicked the bars again. "If there was a way out of here ah would 'ave-"

He stopped ranting and listened to the durned elf, feeling around in the dark for the lock. He'd felt the bloody thing before and knew that appearances , when dealing with dwarves, was deceiving. "Oh this ain't no standard lock, laddie. It's joost meant to look it. Dwarvish. Aye. Ah tasted th' metal. Even if ye were right, how would ah pick the thing? With me beard? Or ..." He got down on his hands and knees and reached through the bars, feeling around for a nice , sizable rock.

"So 'ow did ye get caught, eh? Ah was diggin' , meself. Found somethin' interestin' 'ere in the mountains. Oh joost some old dwarven ruins mostly stripped of its valuables. Dinnae smell the giants comin' til they were right on me. Knocked me out , they did. Nae sure why. Normally , they joost kill us dwarven folk. "

(( I'm going somewhere with this, I promise. xD Although , you're welcome to do whatever you like. I can probably adapt. ))

[Anadwen]

"Got a club into my head." Aldanith groaned back. "I was immediately out. F***ing giants." He spat onto the floor with rage, and tilted his head aside. His spine cracked a little as he stretched his neck, and peered into the darkness, thinking.

If the dwarf has nothing to pick and break the lock with, it could prove difficult for him to get out. But there could be something to get him... In the best case scenario, Delvar will get a knife to break it, and in the worst one, Aldanith will lose a knife. He bent his head and gripped his teeth around the hilt of a blade, hidden within his clothes. As he pulled it out, it slipped out of its sheath, and he held it in his mouth. With a broad spin of his head, he tossed it towards the iron bars. It was only fortunate that it flew straight through them, and crashing against the ones on the other side of the corridor, it clinked on the floor of the dwarf's cell.

"I got you a knife. Try to pick it with it..." he reminded him.

(((OOC: There will be blood. Mostly Aldanith's.)))