Smirking, the prisoner glances towards his chest, "The Kiss of the King, right over my heart and the hearts of all the King's men, placed there by the King himself. We all proudly wear it, and so will you if the King thinks you worthy of it, like he did for the men of my village when he liberated it and freed us." When Valenar strides out into the hall and starts thrashing a canvass sack, the prisoner jumps in his seat, his eyes growing in fear. Snarling and sniveling, he screams with terror in his voice, "Kill me if you like, but it'll do you no good! The King will kill you, he'll kill you all! He's smarter than you, he'll... he makes us forget things, and not say things, and I couldn't take you to him or talk about him even if I wanted, but I don't, because he's my King and Lord and Liege! But I can talk about other things, if you don't hit me!" [Val, that's an Intimidate not a Bluff, but no worries it worked.]

"Freed your town?..." Cruxil mused aloud as the prisoner continued to talk. At first he was worried that they wouldn't be able to squeeze much information from the man due to the magical control, but it seemed that some things were slipping through. Albeit most of it seems to be tainted and obviously biased but there had to be some truth in what he said. Things were turning out to be interesting. "Now my good-and-tied-up man, whom or what do this King free you from that has earned your blind trust and obediance?" Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Diplomacy Check: 1d20+7 = (9) Well then...

"He freed our eyes so we might see! Before we were blind and stupid, but now we know the truth of the world and who is to be its one true ruler! It shames me how we fought the truth at first, when the Guardians came for us, but with the Kiss our hearts are now true, all of us who survived the liberation." He seems to think a while, and then says, "When the Guardians come to find you, I could tell them you wish to become servants of the King as well. You are strong, and I'm sure you would be put to use and not killed."

"Well, that's one way of finding them, I suppose. What say you all we let this man free, and have him send these Guardians to us? They may have more information than he does."

"I think he may have information, just that he's currently magically bound not to....wait, what? Those...those sho survived the liberation? Kabren, do you remember anything about the Blood Ritual being fatal? I think there may be more here than we know..." Turning back to the prisoner, Sariel makes a vague hand wave towards the mark on the mans chest. "Is that all that was given to you during the liberation? Surely, it wouldn't hurt to at least tell us what our impending 'liberation' will entail, would it?" Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Diplomacy: 12

He turns towards Sariel, "Oh, I don't mean the King's Kiss killed people, I mean people what were killed because they tried to fight the Guardians. Well, I mean, I don't think anyone died getting the Kiss. I wasn't awake when I got it, and when I did wake I remember seeing... Y'know, those that weren't worthy to get the kiss. Or what bits and pieces was left of 'em." He turns a little red for a moment and averts his eyes, then turns back. "Can't say how many of my Village's folk were worthy, now that I think about it. I got knocked out at my mom's, and woke up in the dark in the King's Chamber as a free man with a couple dozen other men of my town. That was... Oh, must be more than a couple weeks now. Hard to tell time in the King's Keep; no sun or nothing, just working and scraping tunnels and coming up here to steal food every once in a while. 'Sides that, I just stay in my room with those same men, sitting and waiting on the pleasure of the King."

"So, the King's Keep, it is below the city?" "Can you tell us who your mother is and where you used to live?" Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Yup, rolled another 2 on Diplomacy.

To Kabren's first question, the man half-shrugs. "It's dark, wet, drafty, we have to climb to get out of it, and we're always near the city walls when the Guardians tell us to open our eyes, either inside or outside. I think there's a couple different ways we come and go, maybe a couple entrances inside and outside Vathirond's walls, but I don't really pay attention, the Guardians know best of course." To the second question, the man's eyes light up a little. "My Mom's name is Marianne, Marianne Blacksmith on account of her dad and granddad being our town's smithy before her brother's took over the trade for him. We call our village Greenmount Homestead. It's a few hours ride south from here; you can tell you're getting close when you see two cornfields next to a creek about 10 feet wide just north of the old road towards Kalazart."

Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Quick heads-up: I totally just fried my Laptop. I should still be able to post some, but might take me a bit of extra time. Have y'all decided on a new course of action for the prisoner and yourselves?

Cruxil arched an eyebrow as the man talked about his mother and his town. It was curious that he would be able to give them all of this information. He wasn't sure of what the others were thinking but he made a motion to move away from the prisoner so that they may consult on their next move without having the prisoner overhear. The Tiefling leaned in closed and kept his words hushed as added security against potential eavesdropping. "Well, this 'Greenmount Homestead' may bare further investigation. If it is where he came from, then there might be more answers there. That's assuming that this isn't a trap of some sort, of which I'm more inclined to believe."

"If it is a trap, so much the better. We haven't had any trouble with this "King's" men so far, and maybe we'll get some answers."

[On to the Homestead? If so, let me know what you're doing with the prisoner.]

"But what are we to do with this man here? I'm against bringing him along. It will pain his family to see him like this. I say we let him go, as there is nothing we can do for him. That is, if he promises to not hurt himself." Kabren returns to the prisoner and asks "If we let you go, what will you do with yourself?"

With no hesitation, the man turns to Kabren and says, "Steal food and supplies for m'Lord, wait around for more Kingsmen to come find me, and kill anyone who gets in my way." He seems to consider this a moment, then gulps sheepishly. "I'm sorry, those were the words of my King, and I do as he commands." [You did notice a fortified room on the ground level of this place, one with a nice big lock on it and no windows, probably for storing money and documents temporarily.]

Cruxil eyes the man sharply as he talks. "Well, we can't hand him over to the guard nor can we release him. There was a secure room on the first floor. We could put him there, with some food and water for now. Hopefully we can break whatever hold that's on him so we can release the poor soul."

"Why can't we let him free? What better way is there to draw out the King? And isn't that our goal here, to find out about the King?"

Valenar adjusts his hat and scratches his head. "That makes a little more sense to me," he says to Kabren. "He'll probably just find a way out of the thing anyhow, knowing our luck."