After healing several of the wounded, the party crossed the searched halls toward the remaining floor. At the stairs, Adam’andiel Ironbane insisted they clear the current level first. Wyn checked a door for traps, heard familiar voices and the sounds of distress inside, then opened it briefly. The passage beyond stank of misery and unwashed bodies and was lined with cells. Adam’andiel identified it as a prison.
Vesper Farheel found a battered Hellbreakers recruit behind one cell’s viewing panel. The party used keys taken from the dead torturer to inspect and open the cells, freeing Hellbreakers they knew, including Old Man Padisco. One prisoner was an Azri family member the party had framed. He and Makoviz had unlocked cells and retained their weapons; Adam’andiel recognized that their imprisonment was largely a public show. The Azri men attacked. Wyn badly wounded one and demanded the password; Vesper killed Rensoulos, and Adam’andiel killed Makoviz. The surviving Hellbreakers were found, including Otton, badly beaten and injured. He apologized for revealing the Hellbreakers’ location under torture. Sira Antkeep refused to let him be killed and tended his injuries; Otton said Vesper had made him think he no longer belonged. Wyn reassured him that he remained a Hellbreaker.
After a brief pause for healing, the party searched the dead Azri men and recovered a ring, a sword, and clawed bracers, which Vesper gave to Wyn. Vesper kept the signet rings despite learning they had no monetary value. The party climbed to the tower, where the warden confronted them. She said she had to kill some of them because they had killed her guards. Rin’s driving rain obscured part of the room, but the warden was unharmed by it. She struck Isaac and knocked him down, while Wyn, Vesper, Adam’andiel, Rin, and Isaac attacked her. Adam’andiel badly hurt her with a shield slam; Rin left her near death, and Isaac stabbed her from behind. As she died, the warden’s eyes went white and she said, “Thank you.” Adam’andiel took her flail and gauntlet, leaving his plate gauntlet in its place.
The tower’s records documented the Hellbreakers’ imprisonment and confirmed that the prisoners had been rescued. They stated that Otton had disclosed the hideout’s location after several days of torture, and that the authorities were targeting more Hellbreakers for the same purpose. The records also gave the day’s passcode: “It’s colder than a rime dragon’s breath.” Sira took five silver ingots from the chest. Adam’andiel said he regretted being unable to visit his friend Farron’s grave outside town.
The party headed for the stables to obtain horses for themselves and the rescued Hellbreakers. Outside, a winter storm and a riot complicated their escape. Adam’andiel pushed through guards, Rin found a way through the crowd, and Sira called on people to make way for the Hellbreakers. Wyn made the group invisible as they crossed the riot. The storm obscured landmarks, but Adam’andiel chose a route to the Royal Stables. Rin calmed the horses, and Vesper prepared the horses and supplies while Sira and Rin tended the wounded. The pursuers cleared the riot and began following; imps searched overhead. Vesper misdirected them with ventriloquism, and Wyn’s planted bombs distracted them. Watchmages then twisted the roads toward the prison. Rin, Wyn, Adam’andiel, Sira, and Vesper worked against the magic; Vesper’s bomb destroyed a tower occupied by watchmages, disrupting their spell long enough for the party to pass.
A final force blocked the way out of town: infantry, Hellknight cavalry, and a standard bearer. The defenders refused Sira’s offer to let the party pass and ordered them to die. Wyn’s Eternal Eruption and Adam’andiel’s Frozen Lava injured the line, while Rin’s Winter’s Clutch, Vesper’s Dirge of Doom, and the others’ attacks continued the fight. The cavalry and infantry wounded Rin, Wyn, Sira, Isaac, and Adam’andiel; Adam’andiel repeatedly intercepted attacks aimed at companions. Wyn and Cray killed advancing infantry, and Wyn’s Spellstrike incinerated the remaining Hellknight cavalry. The party fought through the remaining soldiers, with Sira hiding beneath a wagon and Isaac and Adam’andiel taking further blows. Wyn killed the last infantry with a sword strike. The defensive line is down, and the party remains at the town’s exit with the escape from their pursuers unresolved.