Minecraft Forums

"Once I get the keys, and the guards aren't around, that's when to set the fire." Godric answered. "I'll try to signal when I've got the keys. I'll just say it if I can, but if not, I can communicate with the prisoner next to me without speaking. Let him give the signal when I give it to him." Content the plan was ready and almost in motion, Godric waited, ready but stealthily waiting to snatch the keys from a passing guard...if possible. He was well aware the likelyhood of it even being possible, much less getting away with it without getting caught, and thus getting beaten and the keys being confiscated, the odds were very low.

((Yeah, I assumed they were in the hall.))

((And the only way to tell if the fire would last long enough to spread, or if it's even got anything to spread to, would be to set it on fire. That's my thought.))

"Yes, I'm..." Godric seemed reluctant to admit it, but even he thought his plan was a bit faulty. "...aware of that. But it's the safest plan I could think of. Everything else will result in all of us being butchered alive if we fail. If this plan fails, at worst, somebody gets the stuffing beaten out of them. I hope. There's definitely a chance it would be much worse."

"As for backup plans...if we even make it that far...New guy here can always try his plan. If we get far enough to try my plan, at least we'll have the keys."

The idea is well thought out, in my opinion. It's a neat-looking mob, none too gimmicky, and it's got a unique function that's hard to replicate, but definitely useful. My one question though, is what would determine who owns the perch? To my knowledge, Minecraft doesn't quite have an owner-of-block tag for any of it's placed blocks. Also, if the pigeon becomes the recipient's pigeon when they take the items, wouldn't that discourage sending it to other players? I'd think you'd lose a lot of pigeons that way. May have misunderstood that one, though.

Support, with questions.

I think one idea, though, would be to tell a pigeon to fly to a given coordinate/chunk coordinate pair(X/Z coordinates), and deliver it to any perches in a certain area around that if it can find one. Just a suggestion. I apologize if anything in this post was already stated, or is wrong.

((I don't think you burnt it off, but I imagine it's charred and shortened or something.))

"No, I'm not happy." Godric stated. "Not with this situation, and not entirely with your answer. I'm very glad your bindings are off, but I also asked if you can cast magic still. I know you've only got so much energy for casting magic, and it sounds like you cast two spells there. But if you still can, I need you to listen. My plan has become extremely risky at this point, so in case I can't explain when it's your turn to act, I'm explaining now. Once I get the keys...I need you to cast a fire spell at-" He points to a wooden beam near the ceiling, completely forgetting Alyssa probably can't see his hand. "-that wooden beam, up near the top of the room. If we're lucky, the fire will spread and engulf the palace in flames."

"I'd like to stress, don't cast it just yet. We need the keys first."

((I had to choose between a wooden beam or some sort of cloth or tapestry. I assumed, though, a wooden beam might have a place near there, while a tapestry is purely decorative and has little place in the prison area. At the very least, there's gotta be something flammable there for them to plot on.))

((I am also aware there may be a few flaws with Godric's plan. This is Godric's plan. Tell him that.))

Godric waited for a good long time, until he could no longer hear the clatter of armor or the loud footsteps, and felt comfortable with the idea that they were more or less alone. "For anyone to enjoy torturing that much, regardless of the person..." Godric shuddered. He was familiar with the many horrific things that happen among the world's natural creatures, but the capacity humans have for malice and terror put all that to shame. "If you felt like lying down and dying before, Alyssa and Jeck, note this. I can assure you that the death we'll receive for staying here won't be a quick one."

"...Oh, I'm not very bright..." Godric lamented. "I should've seen if I could grab the keys off the guards as they passed by that time. We'll need them for my plan. Alyssa, Please tell me you actually got the bindings off and can still use your fire spell."

Godric could smell the burning of cloth...at least, he hoped that was cloth that was burning. Hopefully Alyssa got out of her bindings. Unfortunately...it seems the guards had caught the smell of burning cloth as well. As he heard the footsteps heading towards their cells, Godric hurriedly slipped his gag back over his mouth and put his hands behind his back as if he was still bound, and hoped they wouldn't notice. He heard a sharp whistle from on of the cages on the other side of the hall from Alyssa's cage, so he knew someone was trying to divert attention. That's...actually rather clever. If Godric's plan were to work,(Which he's starting to believe it might not,) They need Alyssa well. He knew both of the thragons were on that side, and both of them survived a crocodile, so hopefully they can survive whatever is coming to them.

"I suppose you could try pulling them apart with your teeth," Godric suggested, "but I don't know if you'd have any luck with that." Godric picked up the knife just outside his cell. "This knife could cut your bindings, but I don't know how you'd use it with your hands tied. Other than that...I suppose you could do what I did to get out of my bindings."

"Hmm. Magic." Godric said, pondering. "Yes, that might help-wait a minute..." Godric was scheming at this point, and a smile started forming as he got, at least what he considered, a pretty good idea. "Alyssa, normally I'd just be disappointed by you giving up. But you keep saying you're useless and nobody will miss you, when you hold the power to, quite possibly, save all of us right now! If you don't help us now, there's a good chance we'll all die in a very brutal fashion. In what kind of universe is that useless?!"

"To put it simply, we need your magic. If we can get your bindings off, would you be able to cast magic?"

Godric performed what modern people would call a facepalm, bewildered by how little common sense everyone else had. "Look, Alyssa, Jeck." Godric called out, trying to keep it as quiet as possible, which seemed to be a point those two missed. "If you two would rather it end here, I can't force you to change your mind. But if they catch you speaking, or even with your gag off, they may go ahead and butcher the whole lot of us."

"And Alyssa." Godric directed towards her. "I was not giving up, and I am ashamed of you. We may not have gotten along very well, I'm aware. But if there was one thing good about you, it was your undying stubbornness to uphold your idea of what was right. Even after I viciously slandered your entire race and their shady town-building practices, you persisted on your opinion that no one man can own the wilderness. And even though I disagree with you on that point, your persistence to your ideals was an admirable trait. And now you just toss it away, all because of a little bad luck?" Godric thought for a second, and if what he inferred from Alyssa's message of surrender was right, he may be able to at least inspire some temporary willpower. "Are you seeking to prove your mother right?"

"Jeck." Godric addressed the monk on the other side of the line of cells. "Assuming I understood your math correctly, it sounds like you're giving in, too. Seriously? I'll admit, I'd be the first of us to run from a dangerous fight. But am I the only one who doesn't want to lie down and surrender our life to the tyrant queen? Does your quest, our quest, mean nothing to you?"

"I refuse to give up. There's gotta be a way-" He cut himself off, addressing the male human in the cell next to him. "A good way, out of this prison somehow. And I'm not taking no for an answer this time."

((Does anyone remember the crocodile that nearly killed Zenowo AND Kaleth? These Guards are stronger than that crocodile! And I think they're elves, because holy cow, that speed is high! I think the queen hired professional dragon slayers as guards. How she found that many to guard in an out of the way town of about 1,500 is beyond me. Thanks, ykcud, for letting us know that attempting to outrun or fight is suicide.))

((If we all ganged up on a single guard(After retrieving the equipment) we might be able to kill one without casualties. But it's not just one guard. Not nearly.))

"Is that it?" Godric said pessimistically. "We'd have a better chance gambling on the possibility of the guards rioting. Your entire plan relies on maybe-ifs and assumptions about the design of the palace. Besides, we'd have to sneak out to have any chance of survival. I can tell just from looking at them, not even I could outrun them, and their equipment is well-forged metal. Far stronger than the simple wood-and-stone we have locked in the chest."

"Besides that, I don't plan to be at the execution. At least not alive. If they come to take us away, I will probably not make it there. Die with honor, right?"

Godric was shocked. Not in a good way, either. Since it was clear he needed clarity in his voice, he pulled the gag down to his neck. Worst case, he could keep his head down, maybe they wouldn't notice. "That is possibly the most insane plan I've ever heard." Godric stated quietly. "We'd need some sort of distraction that would get a guard to pay attention without killing the person, not to mention the skill to-" He heard the footsteps and immediately shut up and put his head down, hoping beyond all hope that the guards wouldn't notice. Fortunately, it seems that they only heard the noise from the knife, but didn't see the knife, nor the fact that Godric had managed to ungag himself, nor did they hear Godric or Garwend conversing. He waited a good few minutes until the guards left and he couldn't hear anymore before he resumed, speaking even quieter. "You better have thought this through."

((In case it matters, I finished the edit.))

((Well then...the only thing I can think of is that not always is there a new post to find.))

((Also, I have no idea how you tried to slide Godric a knife...Through a wall. I assumed the wall is solid, hence the tapping on the wall separating us. But I guess there might be small cracks or holes or it's made of bars or something.))

((Lastly, from Ykcud's post, it seems from one end to another, Alyssa's cell is on one end of the hall, Garwend is next to that, Godric is next, followed by Zenowo, Kaleth, and finally, Jeck is on the other end. Just making sure I got that straight.))

Godric examined his own surroundings. There was a large enough crack in the wall between him and his new friend that he could see through it, and maybe reach an arm through it, but not far enough to actually grab anything from his cell unless it was handed to him. On the other wall, there was a small crack very low to the ground. He couldn't see much through it, but he could tell the person on the other side was a Thragon, so that means either Zenowo or Kaleth. On the wall at the back of the cell, there were some crude carvings from people jailed here before. Unsurprisingly, at least a few were poorly-spelled death threats to the queen. The bars in front of his cell were tough. If he had a weapon, or maybe the strength of a warrior, he might be able to dent them. Attempting escape that way, however, would be even stupider than waiting like a lamb to the slaughter. The ceiling of his cell was maybe a foot or two above his head, and there appeared to be a weak point, but there's no way he'd be able to break it open and get out, much less undetected.

He also noticed a sudden lull in the guard shift. He couldn't hear the usually clatter of moving armor, the conversation of the guards, aside from a few who just walked past about a minute ago.Shortly after, he heard the human next to his cell attempting to start a conversation with him. He pulled one arm out of his restraints in order to loosen the gag just enough to be able to speak somewhat intelligibly(Though the gag did get in the way a bit.). He purposely left in on to avoid raising suspicion from any guards that may walk by later. He slipped his arm back into his bindings and attempted to tighten them a little bit to keep them from sliding off accidentally. After all this was done, he spoke to his cellmate.

"Mah nahm if Gobric." He said. Maybe not as intelligible as he wanted, but better this than risk getting caught. "Ahn speafehn if riskeh. ah'm suffohst tah be gafghed."

((In case that is as unintelligible as it looks..."My name is Godric. And speaking is risky. I'm supposed to be gagged." You can choose if you're character understands it or not.))

((Have you tried refreshing the page? Or leaving this thread and then going back in? The Minecraft Forums don't autorefresh like some forums do.))

((I know of morse code, but never bothered learning it, so forgive me if I don't add the actual code. I'll just underline anything tapped out))

Godric was still looking for a way to communicate with the prisoner, when he heard some slight, almost inaudible tapping. Oddly, it sounded like a method of communication he once used to speak secretly with elven merchants. Wait, he wasn't mistaken; it seems the other prisoner knew...what was the human name for it again...Ah, the morse code. The message said..."Talk Later". Godric sat down near the wall to the human's cell and, trying to conceal his attempt, tapped out a response. "Understood".

((I guess I'm up.))

With his bindings and gag left on, Godric was barely able to get up, but he had mountains of anger to expend. He slowly got to his feet, and managed to back up to one side of the cell. He then got himself hopping fast enough to tackle the other wall. He hit the wall with a thud, dealing more damage to himself than the wall and falling to the ground.

This was the thirteenth time he slammed himself into the cell wall. His body was bruised and beaten, but his mind still had loads of willpower. Angry, directed willpower. On top of that, he noticed that after all the slamming into the wall and falling to the ground, the cloth bindings on his arms got scratched and torn up enough that he was certain he could get himself out of them with a fair bit of effort. That'd be useful, but maybe he shouldn't unbind himself just yet. He also noticed that the same filthy human, the one he caught a glimpse of while being thrown into the jail, seemed to take interest in one of the members of the group. Maybe he could scheme with this prisoner a way out if they could figure out a way to communicate without getting caught.

((I had to assume some details(Godric still being bound, as that was never stated) and make others up. Feel free to let me know if I went too far with something or got something wrong.))