Mae'el's Escape (Playthrough of Unbroken)

Mae'el slowly opened one eye. She couldn't believe she was capable of opening an eye - she should be dead. If she weren't so good at hiding, she would be. Like the rest of her adventuring party. She peered out from behind the giant mushroom she had used as a hiding place. The stench alone had kept her enemies from searching too closely here. Growing up in the slums where refuse was regularly dumped into the streets had paid off this time. Nostrils of steel.

Alive, yes. Safe, no. She now had to find a way to get past the searching enemies lurking in the dark and find her way back to the exit. She had spent so much time running near the end of their disastrous quest that she wasn't sure she could remember which way was out. She did possess a strong sense of direction, however, so she was sure she would be fine.

A less experienced adventurer might make a break for it, but Mae'el knew better. She began by scouting the room she was currently in, trying to discover if there was any danger nearby. What she discovered was not encouraging.

Mae'el managed to sneak past the venom-filled beast and found a forbidden room, teaming with energy and power. She gathered her strength and prepared for her attack on the spider.

Making every effort to remain completely silent, the sneak crept across the rock wall, much like a spider herself, as she moved herself directly above the awe-inspiring arachnid. She braced herself, flexed her fingers, and leaped onto the back of the beast. She quickly got her bare hands around its furry neck and twisted with all her might.

The spider's neck snapped with a sickening sound. Mae'el felt energized and strengthened by her first kill on her journey to safety. A giant spider may not be her idea of the perfect last dinner, but if it gave her the sustenance she needed, hopefully it wouldn't be her last.

She crept along the cave, aware that there were fouler denizens hidden in the shadows. As she made her way, she started to collect any materials that she thought could help her make her escape. Living as a street urchin in the huge market city of Izriatol, Mae'el had performed a few tasks for a friendly tinkerer. He had shown her a few tricks for working with metal and wood and she implemented those now to craft herself a weapon.

All of a sudden, a furious roar echoed through the tunnels. No longer masked by the ancient mushroom, Mae'el's scent was free to be picked up by predators. The roar sounded again, closer this time. It sounded like some kind of, probably gigantic, bear.

Scrambling for safety, Mae'el fell down a long chute, landing hard on the stone ground about fifteen feet lower than she had previously been. Wasting no time, she scampered to her feet and checked herself for injuries. Nothing serious. As she took in her new surroundings, she discovered the body of one of her adventuring friends. Well, at least what was left of him. It was obvious that he had been mauled by some kind of huge creature with sharp claws. Like a bear. Oh no, she thought to herself. I've fallen into its lair. She heard the ground-shaking roar again and quickly scrounged on the ground, finding her old companion's sword and another weapon from an ancient suit of armor.

Before Mae'el could put her newly found weapons to use, the bear was upon her. He swatted her aside with one gigantic paw, sending her across the room. The bear wasted no time lunging towards her again, but the petite rogue had enough time to pull out her dagger and thrust it before her. The beast's strength was it's own undoing as it impaled itself upon the sliver of steel. 

Using her last vestiges of strength, Mae'el pulled herself out from beneath the bear. Leaving the bear where it lay, she cut off a few pieces of meat to feed on later and moved off to the side of the room to find a place to hide and sleep. Leaving the rest of the bear there should satisfy the scavengers so she could get some rest.

When she had rested, she used her newest materials to craft her knife into a spear. If she was going to face any more bears, she wanted to be further away from it when she killed it! 

Feeling adequately rested, she continued her journey towards the surface. Now that she was even deeper than she had been at the start, she wasn't sure which way to go, so she was mostly choosing paths by instinct, trying to find a trail that was leading upwards. After several hours of walking, she sensed something up ahead and stopped in her tracks. It took her a moment to realize that it was a slight lessening of the darkness. She tiptoed forward and came across a fire. There was no one in sight and her tracker sense told her that whoever made this fire was not nearby. With this knowledge, she sat down and took this chance to rest, keeping her senses keenly aware of her surroundings.

As she rested she took in her environment and quickly deciphered who had made this campsite - an orc. She had seen enough campsites filled with bloody weapons and human entrails to know what those signs meant.

The orc would be back, there was no doubt of that. There were too many goodies lying about for them not to, so Mae'el began to play for her attack. It was kill or be killed, she couldn't afford to show any mercy. As she searched for a place to attack from, she found some rusted armour that would do the trick if the orc managed to get a swing in at her.

It was several hours before the humanoid returned and she came back with her guard up. She could sense something was amiss but it was obvious that she couldn't put her finger on it. Mae'el didn't waste any time. She jumped out of concealment and stabbed her spear as hard as she could. Unfortunately, the orc brute was wearing better than rusted armour and her first attack did little more than damage her breastplate. Fortunately, it did knock the warrior off balance enough that her return attack rang harmlessly off Mae'el's own armour.

Mae'el struck again, quick and hard, exactly in the same spot where she had already weakened the armour. The jagged burst through and find flesh. The orc screamed in pain and fury and struck Mae'el a blow across the side of the head, dazing her momentarily.

Knowing it was now or never, Mae'el gripped her spear firmly in both hands and thrust again. Whether by luck or skill, it didn't matter, but she struck in the exact same spot again, the spear piercing through the orc's heart. She slumped to the ground, dead before she landed. Mae'el caught her breath, gathered anything worth keeping from the camp, and left before those who had surely heard the sounds of battle arrived.

It was a long and eventful journey to the surface. Mae'el put her spear to use catching fish, met some mysterious fellow travelers, and rested when possible.

The air began to feel lighter and fresher as Mae'el rounded a bend in the path. The exhausted sneak knew that she was getting near the surface. She also knew what that meant. There was only one way out of these caverns and it was the same way her party had attempted to take last time. She would have to pass right through the lair of an evil shaman. Her only hope lay in the fact that he probably thought she was already dead. She was so close to her freedom, but she felt despair begin to close in, to suffocate her. She had to make it.

Her good luck remained. As she came upon the sorcerer's lair, he was deep in the throes of an incantation. Mae'el may have had a better chance of escape if she simply snuck past the creature, but she had to avenge what had been done to her fellow adventurers. She crouched and walked as close as she could safely do and then she lunged. Before she got within a foot of the evil wizard, she was thrown backwards and onto the ground. The shaman had a magical shield in place! He must have been waiting for her! She should have noticed the hazy feel of the air surrounding him, but now it was gone. Was his shield gone as well? Turning with an evil grin on his face, the shaman pointed his staff towards Mae'el.

The fear was replaced by fury and Mae'el threw her spear surprisingly fast. Her throw needed to be true or she would be in deep trouble. The shaman's eyes widened as the spear hit him in the stomach and carried him several feet back. He landed with a thud and did not move.

Sunlight streamed in through the opening that was only a hundred yards away. Mae'el ran the entire distance, not wanting to spend a single second longer in those dark, dank caves. When she burst into the open air, she collapsed onto the grass. She knew that she was in danger this close to the cavern, but she had nothing left. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the scroll with the transportation spell on it. If only it were effective underground she could have avoided this escape attempt, but alas, it were not so. Now that she was above ground, however, she could. Between deep breaths she recited the words of the enchantment and smiled as she felt her body fade.