Calendar/986/September/7-Lothar

Treatment has been negligent; he's been ignored.
But as over a week passes it becomes maltreatment. By (sept. 7)…
GM: The guards shove the food your way--sometimes spilling it as they do--then immediately slam the opening and stomp away. You hear another prisoner somewhere down here screaming that he's "thinning" and begging for "someone... please!"
Lothar: what's my 'accomadations' look like?
GM: You are in one small room. Pretty much the stereotypical dungeon: stone, carved, underground. The only oddity is that it is fairly new: this is no ancient, well-worn cell.
GM: Your neglect is becoming unsanitary too: your chamber pot has not been emptied in days.
GM: Due to the days and days of confinement, poor food & lighting, and now your mistreatment, Lothar is FP -2
Lothar: what's the cell door look like?
GM: A heavy oak door with steel bands supporting. Very well-built and, like your cell, new. There is a flap in the bottom for food passing, and a peep window (barred across the outside) about the height and size of a man's face.
Lothar: can I open the food slot from inside?
GM: no--it has a latch or lock on the outside. You can hear them undo it before the food is slid, then reattached after.
Lothar: can I still hear the other prisoner clearly with it closed if I'm close to the door?
GM: It's never "clear", but instead a shout from around the corner or such, echoed, and it's only periodically. Lothar can hear it from everywhere in his cell.
GM: To "talk" back he'd have to shout.
Lothar: well guess only thing I've got left to do then, brace my hands against the floor (back at like a 45 degree angle) and keep kicking the food portal with my good leg, till either someone comes or I break it open
GM: Your foot (the working one) is worn sore within an hour, but nothing appears to be happening to the door.
GM: And no one comes.
GM: After periodic breaks, at last a face appears at the door--an angry face.
Soldier: "Here now--shut that pounding up! Now!!"
Lothar: "My chamber pot needs empting! And I require more food. Does your so called Lord always treat his political prisoners as such? For I will infrom his king and my Order of the treatment I am receiving at his hands!"
Soldier: "You can eat the pot for all I care, and thereby take care of both your bitches!"
Soldier: "Now, you pound again and I'll come in there again and STOP YOU from pounding, Pollexian!"
Lothar: "Ok, I'll take you up on that."
GM: The soldier goes away, grumbling.
Lothar: I stand up and grab the chamber pot before moving back towards the door
Lothar: then I start kicking the door again
Lothar: ready with the chamber pot in a hand, balancing myself with the other
GM: After awhile the same man returns to the barred window.
Soldier: "You keep pushing and you'll get pushed back--right over a blasted cliff!"
Lothar: I'm going to dump my chamber pot on him through the barred window
Lothar: oh crap, guess I should've stated I was standing when I did this last... but ok.... I'll just kick the door a few more times
Lothar: and stand up as soon as he starts opening the door
Lothar: that's why I was using one arm to brace myself this time
Lothar: and still holding the chamber pot
Lothar: no, I've envisioned him with a dead leg dragging behind... but still stiff
Lothar: not jelly like
Lothar: if you see it as jelly like, then ok
GM: oh, so he's propped on it?
GM: no problem. so it is written, so let it be done!
GM: OK, so to throw/dump the chamber pot on him, just roll; it no crit failure, it's a done deal.
Lothar: [3d6.skill(12,+0)] => [2,3,1] = 6 vs (12) or less Success! by 6
GM: A DIRECT HIT IN THE FACE!
GM: You nail this man with the filth of the last few days.
GM: He sputters and cries out--it's in his eyes, and he groans and then barks angrily--and ever more angrily as he realizes what has just hit him!
GM: The man runs from the hall, swearing and barking the entire way out.
Lothar: did he leave the little door open?
GM: No, he never opened the door--he peeped in through the window.
GM: did you mean to only throw if he opened the door?
Lothar: no, I was asking if he left the little window open
Lothar: not the door
GM: Yes the window is open.
GM: (it is barred, though, you know)
Lothar: yes I know... what do I see and hear througth the window?
GM: there is a hallway before you, left or right. The guard went left. Otherwise, there is nothing there that you can see but a wall: the angle is too great. Light comes from both ends--although the right shows much more.
GM: will you do anythign after looking?
Lothar: well I'll shout out to the guy down the hall, see if he's got a name or anything...
Lothar: and of course see if I can maybe jimmy the door open
GM: The door is as tight as ever.
GM: When you shout out to the man down the hall, you hear him shout back something about "victuals" "sustenance" (or "substance"?)
Lothar: ok, lets see, I'll call out to the guy down the hall or whatever and see if I can get a name or anything from him... find out why he's in here
Lothar: I'll also work on trying to bash through the door
GM: The door is as tight as ever.
GM: The man shouts back: "I am a priest! I am here because I am a priest, no other reason! My gods--the true gods are under seige! Oh, but must they starve me? Why, oh why?"
Lothar: hhmmm
Lothar: "What do you mean your gods.... these true gods.... are under siege? And please! Have patience! I will do what I can for your sustinence."
GM: "Ohhhh....mmmmmmm...the gods! The gods! Have they forsaken me? No! No! I mustn't lose the hope in the Light! It is the New Believers who are lost! Not I, not I! Mmmm, errrggg...how long has it been since we have eaten bread?..."
Lothar: "Did you have no food today?"
GM: "No! Not in days!"
GM: "And my water grows shallow! Less than a swallow now, I suspect!"
Lothar: "What is your name? So that if the chance presents itself that I can help you, I would know who it is that I am aiding!"
Lothar: "What are the charges laid against you?
GM: "I am the priest! That is me! The priest! I was taken by this young lord for impiety, for not believing in these false, foolish, young gods! The fools! They have lost their way, they are in fog--all of them! And I can prove it, friend!"
GM: "They pester ME with questions! They query me tirelessly--or, at least, they did when I was thrown here. Asking, always asking! But at least then they gave me bread!"
Lothar: "And how can you prove this? Who are the upstart young gods of which you speak?"
GM: "Oh, Young One---you know not the power of the old gods! I have seen it. I have known it all my life, as my father's fathers on down were witnesses to the Old Rites! But I myself have seen it! SEEN it! And it was terrifying!"
Lothar: "I see. Where does one learn of the old gods? Where does one learn the old rites?"
GM: "If ever we leave this place, you and I, I can show you the rites! Improperly, of course--of course!--but I can show them to you. The Return is not yet at hand, but perhaps you and I, friend, shall witness it together--if we do not die here."
Lothar: "Perhaps, uummm 'Priest', such an odd name for one such as yourself. I will do what I can for you."
GM: By the time you finish this conversation, you hear heavy footsteps coming down the hall.
Lothar: I'll move back up against the wall on the side of the door that opens, staying as close to the door as possible without being seen through the peep hole
GM: The door opens immediately--no one even appears to look through the window.
Lothar: as soon as I start to see a hand show itself or some such I'll swing the chamber pot at what should be head level while making a grab for the arm at the same time
GM: lol--ok, there are four of 'em. Do you want to play it out or just narrate? (They;re coming to beat the tar out of Lothar--especially his good leg, wiht which he did the pounding)
Lothar: hahaha..... you can just narrate it out, but the whole time I'm going to be calling out about the lack of food for myself and the priest and any other prisoners and that I'll be informing my order of the courtesy given to one of their order
GM: Ok, the men basically beat Lothar. It is not the worst he's ever received, but it has a vehemence Lothar would not expect. And not only from the guard whose face is so scrubbed clean it's now reddish, but from ALL the guards. Lothar is a political prisoner, and a ranking one as well; it is odd that these men are so enraged with him.
Lothar: normally now, I'd just play this out
GM: By the time they are done he cannot walk very well and is badly bruised and fairly bloody. No permanent damage, but even as fast as he heals it will take some time to regain his strength.
Lothar: dang, I didn't even get a couple of shots in at the start???
GM: (Sure--I assumed you got some good shots in--sorry, just forgot to say it. The chamber pot nails one--a well-placed and unexpected hit. A couple others are going to be sore in spots for a few days, too. But they had sticks and worked together.
Lothar: gonna commit as many of the faces to memory as I can
GM: gotcha
GM: They spit on Lothar and leave.