Jade knelt besides the bed so that her face was leveled with the brown bearded face of the sleeping man. The large man was snoring loudly, but, Jade decided, he looked kinda cute and innocent with his mouth halfway open.
“Should we wake him up?” Jade asked, keeping her eyes on the mans massively muscled arms. He must work out occasionally.
“Yes,” Acantha replied decicively, “he’s no threat to us, being bound like that, right? And he might be able to help us get out of this mess.”
Jade glanced at Acantha. The spawns face was stern. Jade couldn’t remember ever seeing her new friend laugh. Perhaps she wasn’t the laughing type. Jade decided not to worry about it too much, but a part of her didn’t listen and worried anyway. Ignoring her inner conflict, Jade reached for the mans bulky shoulder and put her hand on it, shaking gently.
“Gooood morning?” Jade offered as quietly as she was shaking him.
The man replied by snoring some more.
An exclamation of impatience came from where Morn was standing. Jade let go of the shoulder and stood up to avoid Morn pushing her aside. Without hesitation, the orc grabbed the man by his collar and with their other hand, smacked the man right across his face.
The snoring made way for a howl and a few sputtering noises. The mans eyes were open and he was looking angrily at the stranger holding him up above the bed. The man struggled to grab Morns arm in an attempt to free himself. He failed, however, since both his arms were still stuck to the wall. Morn let the man go and huffed in admiration of their own methods.
“What did you do that for?” The man demanded in a slightly hysterical voice.
Morn shrugged, there was no need to explain themselves. The man took a moment to look from the orc, at his bound hands, then again to the strangers standing by his bed.
“Wait, who are you?” The man asked in a less hysterical tone. Though his panic did not yet subside, “And what are you doing in my house?”
The man rested their eyes on Jade. Jade blushed, feeling the mans anticipation.
“Ahrm, well, you see, we were looking for weemen..”
“Those pesky creatures! They’re the ones who bound me, you know. They made me a captive in my own house.” The man had interrupted Jade with his own explanation as if he had just remembered what he himself was doing. With the sentiment of hopelessness the man added: “Oh, if only Black was here, he would know what to do.”
Jade was taken aback by the sudden openness of the man. She felt uneasy, like an intruder, which she realized she was. Jade decided it was best to just get this over with and get to the point quickly.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but would you happen to know a way out of this place?”
The man stared at the elf a bit. The black haired woman had a deep walnut skin tone. She was not from around here, that much he gathered from looking at her. She was dressed for a much colder climate. A thick sleeveless leather vest covered her torso, fur stuck out from where sleeves could have been. It seemed she had taken off her shoes. Those bare feet would probably do badly in snow.
“Who are you again?”
“Ah, my name is Jade.”
Jade paused, unsure whether to share her friends names too. But the man didn’t seem to care.
“Great, Jade, I’m Decker. I would love to help you out, but I’m a bit stuck, you see.” The man jangled his chained bangles.
Jade nodded in apprehension. She waited for the man to continue, which he did not. Morn raised their axe.
“Wow, chill there! No need to get all aggressive about it.”
When Morn didn’t put their axe down Decker added.
“Your axe won’t be able to break these chains. I know this, I made these chains myself.” He sounded proud, despite the awkward position his own creation kept him in.
“But if you get one of my tools, we will be able to cut the chains.”
“Tools?” Acantha asked.
“Yes, from the storage room. It’s behind the workplace at the far end of the smithy.”
Acantha and Jade exchanged a look.
“No problem,” Jade replied with a hint of a grin on her face. Her eyes glazed over as if her mind made an attempt to rescue itself from the unfortunate situation her body found herself in. In a humorless voice Acantha added:
“Except that room is on fire.”