You continued to a staircase where you spotted shadowy movement below. Bryce, trying to draw them out, descended first and was heard from no more. You quickly bound down to his aid and were attacked by two mages. Before you could mount a sufficient offensive, magical fire began to erupt throughout the room. Badly injured, you realized the error of your ways when the remaining five mages made their presence know from the room beyond.
You fought valiantly but in the end succumbed to their overwhelming magic. The next thing you remembered was waking in a cell, all but Lanolin and Marlon. After three days in the cell, you regained your strength and planned your daring escape with the aid of Vlaad. You snuck up on your three blind jailors and cut them down, but not before they could let out cries for help. Answering the call was a hill giant.
Meanwhile, Lanolin and Marlon, the two without marks, were being tortured with cruel impunity. The addle-minded torturers emasculated Lanolin before flaying the flesh from his body. Marlon, ever defiant, paid dearly for his insolence. The sadistic men cut his foot off, then his shin, then detached his eyelids and fanned his eyes till they shriveled in his skull. Then they placed his arm in a meat grinder and ground his flesh and bone up to the elbow, all the while keeping the two alive with magic. They were begging for death when Vlaad managed to charm the captors into fighting each other and the healer into raising them to full health.
As they exited the room they joined in the battle with the others against the hill giant and together managed to finish the creature off. From there they made their way to a storage room where their goods were kept.
On they went to another door and opened it to reveal…