Game thread

BACKGROUND
In the Third Age, the giants, led by the fire king, attempted to overthrow all humans and reclaim the world of Aereth. The fire king’s armies were led by the Titanic God of the Chaos Flame. To stop this, a mighty herald of Justicia led righteous armies and met the Titanic God in a victorious battle. In its moment of failure, the Titanic God poured its blood into the invocation of an eldritch being to defeat Justicia's herald, but that beast also tore out the Titanic God’s heart, mind, and soul. That same day, the fire king was slain in battle. Since then, his widow, Queen Thrupi, prays and sacrifices for all giant-kind to rise again and take their place as the rulers of Aereth. When the prayers of her and her priestesses reach a fever pitch, all who hear are instantly immolated in flames and transported to her realm on the plane of fire. Her scouts hunt across the fiery landscape to capture such new arrivals.

The sleeping volcano erupted, and magma rolled over your village. You felt the heat of death, but somehow you did not perish. Instead, you awoke in an unfamiliar, blasted landscape where volcanoes fill the horizon and roiling clouds of black ash fill the sky. Before you had time to gather your bearings, a pair of horned giants with smoldering soot-colored skin arrived on the back of an ornately bejeweled reptile. "More sacrifices for the queen!" they shout as they throw your group into a caged wagon carried by the great beast.
The metal cage emanates a blistering heat. In the distance, a grand city only holds the promise of death. Cliffs to your right show the vista of an ocean of limitless lava and a titan who wades through the liquid flames. Your only reminders of home are what you still carry and the old shaman woman, Martila, from your village who has begun a prayer chant.

"What are we going to do? We have to get out of here!" Stated Cedrick to the others that he was among. "We're going to die otherwise!"

Gorn rose and tested his surroundings and how sturdy they were abd whether the mechanisms could be foiled.

Rurik wondered if some force could be applied to the cage with enough effort, maybe with enough help.

Wisco just considered if there was a way he could sneak away undetected being beneath everybody's notice. A Halfling could dream...

The plucky halfling makes a quick assessment that there is no sneaking out from this cage. It is built by the hands of giants who have refined their skill over millennia. Wisco does however have quite a few heftier captives to hide behind.

Rurik seems to have come to the same conclusion as the halfling that trying to break the bars of this cage would cause only damage to his hands and arms.

Gorn however can see the oversized tumbler mechanism in the lock on the cage door and wonders what might work to trigger it open.

"That's my luck!" says Jo, exhibiting a terrible temper. "I knew I shouldn't have come to visit this village! Not only am I the ninth in line to inherit the domain, but I always have to attend those annoying errands. Where do they bring us like that? Why aren't we properly seated? AND WHERE IS DAD??" he complains.

Ton checks what Gorn is doing with interest, hoping to help if needed.

Fi Dre stays impassible for now, checking on the giant beast and observing its behavior, checking if it can be influenced in any way.

Da Ak looks around, not knowing what to do or who to talk to.

Milo "Bye the gods!" the gruff halfling shouts. "I always thought my end would be the briny depths not some fiery hellscape."

Conrad grips his holy symbol tightly and begins to pray for anything to save them

Hawthorne begins to look around to see if there may be some way to save them all or at least some method of escape.

Eldarin reaches a hand out to Conrad and offers him some comfort joining in his prayer.

It looked bad. Even if they got out of this cage and away from these terrible giants, they were still trapped in a volcanic hellscape.

Slane rattles the bars of the cage. Given her former profession, she's very good at rattling.

Army tests the structural integrity around her cramped area.

Fortune begins desperately consulting the tarot to divine some guidance on how to escape.

Astro peers around in her spyglass, trying to find safe haven.

Conrad and Eldarin, shifting their attention inward, feel drawn to combine their prayer with the shamaness’s chanting. Fortune sees dark omens in the cards but also feels a magic of sorts emanating from Martila. Jo sees no mothers or fathers, as if those spared might be chosen for their manual labor.

Hawthorne watches Ton, helping Gorn, using a lucky turkey wishbone to fiddle with the oversized lock finds the metal to be searingly hot. This makes the attempt tricky, but the wishbone must be lucky indeed! The tumbler mechanism has been tripped open. The lock’s jaws release the cage. Slane rattles the cage just as the lockpickers make their attempt. Astro, who happens to have a most valuable trade good in a spy glass, sees a most incredible sight:
In the distance, a hulking onyx cyclops wades through an endless expanse of molten lava. It briefly tangles with some hellish serpent that lurks beneath the waves before devouring the creature. Not too far in the distance, you can spy a narrow gap between the cliffs that leads up and away from the fiery sea.

Hessarion kept his cool as he leaned against the cage. His eyes scanned the sky for any sight of his companion, a falcon named Wingnut. Despite his aloof demeanor, he was thinking on his toes on how to escape.

Tully, on the other hand, was shouting curses and spilling his woes, to any who were unlucky enough to hear.

The Dwarf, Melba, Pulled at banged on the cage with as much strength as she could muster, like a raging bull. "Oh, would you shut yer trap, ya wee numpty!" she snapped at the halfling, feeling the urge to wallop him.

Berlotte felt her heart beat quick as fear and adrenaline coursed through her veins. Realizing that her fingers were sticky with honey, she stuck both out through the bars, allowing the aroma to fill the air. Maybe this could help in some way?

If there was one thing worse than the smell of shit, it was the smell of hot shit.

"Och, Gan, do you rub it all over you?" Magnar Duron the dwarven arkwright wrinkled his nose, pressed up against Gan Saran the gongfarmer. The throng of sweating bodies and shit mingled with sulfur and ash, packed full to bursting in this hellish place made the dwarf wretch.

"Let me out!" Gan yelled, pulling at the bars until the heat threatened to burn his hands. Wide eyes darted about, his breath quick and ragged. The young man had been caged before, and now any time he felt trapped he was driven to fits.

"Calm yourself, Gan," Jermyn Dane said, clasping the panicked man's shoulder, "You don't want to draw attention here." The wainwright surveyed the situation with a critical eye. The best thing to do in situations like these were to wait patiently and observe, he knew.

Cedric Schou, the woodcutter, stared at the vision of hell before him and said nothing. A tear rolled down his cheek which quickly evaporated. He must have died in his sleep, and this was his reward for a life ill-lived. He wished he'd paid more attention to the words of the priests.

Fortune peers at her reading, and then looks over at Martila with a start.

Stee is watching and contemplating the situation he grips his pole tightly just in case it is needed. He is self trained while he had downtime on the docks. He looks around and notices Tobias. He was an orphan boy who used to run the docks but is older now.

Nathan has no idea what to do. He will run at the first chance he gets if there is one.

Tobias has been in many tight spot growing up an orphan on the docks. He could usually talk his way out of anything but this doesn't seem likely here. He looks around and sees a human man looking at him. For some reason he seems familiar.

Jeptha thinks to himself what a terrible time to take his wheat to market. He has always been pretty lucky in life maybe that luck will serve him again.

Hessarion, eyes on the skies, tries to see if Wingnut made it to this world. And the dwarf, making a bit of a rage racket, draws the attention of one of the fire giant guards. And Gan, whose luck was never strong, tries to yell their way out.

OOC:

Fortune will spend 1 luck point for a better roll.

Also I totally missed that you called for a Luck check for Slane, I'll do so in this post.

Hessarion caught a sweet scent as he kept his gaze to the skies.

Unperturbed, Melba backed a few feet, bumping into a couple sweaty odorous bodies, and slammed into the cage.

Seeeing what Ton did in unlocking the cage, Gorn exclaims "Freedom!" and wastes no time in trying to escape.

He is no fool, though, and does not barrel blindly into the wasteland alone, once out of the cage, he pauses to let the others join him, as going anywhere alone would spell suicide.

Hawthorne sees the opening in the gate and being a keen hunter knows to not let an opportunity slip by. He exists joining with Gorn.