Berrick, Lotty & Null rush back in to the tunnels having caught the attention of the Vikings, Huscarls & undead. After a display of excellent strategy they eventually decide to tuck in to a corner to keep in Berrick's Oasis and forcing the guards to bottleneck.
The exhausting cold and icy surface slow the guards down and the three fairly easily overcome the Vikings and undead with Flynn Berrick keeping the battlefield under control whilst Lotty & Null hack at any that come close.
After knocking out the two Huscarls for interrogation a stone wall is put up and muffle cast to avoid further detection. The first Huscarl turns out to be a devoted zealot who would rather die for his queen than give any information and knocks himself back out banging his head against the wall. When they wake the next one Flynn Berrick tries to trick the Huscarl in to drinking a charmed potion as Null's mage hand feeds it to him. In his panic the Huscarl spills the liquid all over him but seems like he's happy to talk regardless.
As it turns out Bennit was previously and adventurer until he was conscripted to his position in the Queen's ranks. He explains that the rods have three buttons:
- Top - shock the prisoner
- Middle - Blows up the collar
- bottom - move the cages
Bennit explains there is a controller in the centre of the room for the cages, he explains people talk about the controller as if it were a person. He's also aware of the necrostones, they're spread throughout the city to trap the souls of anyone that dies. They have a mile radius and spread throughout the city.
Null ghost walks and pokes her head out to the corridor to see a hoard of undead roaming outside. After much deliberation on how Bennit can be useful (or if they should just kill him if he can't be useful) and ideas of using him as a distraction or sending Null out to try and lure the undead in another direction the Ashen Company decide to use a few more passwall spell scrolls to tunnel safely past the undead and in to the mouth of the prison.
The whole time Null & lotty can't help feeling Berrick isn't himself. Maybe Flynn's loss is effecting him more than they first thought - it's almost as if he's channelling Flynn's personality as part of his grief.