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"They stayed in their bunks mostly, although they get along well enough with our people. You can join them with a bit of food later, that'll put them at ease. I expect they'll be eager to have someone strike back against their enemy anyway. Or maybe you can do that now? By the time you'll have spoken with them, I expect several good candidates for your strike force will have arrived. With whatever information you get, you can discuss how to tackle this with them."

OoC: up to you, really, maybe depending on how many questions you have.    I'll have time this weekend, so I won't mind a really long post though.

Everyone's had a solid breakfast and lunch, though when Arvindur brings in the food basket they all fall on the food with gusto. All the escaped prisoners have benefited from basic magical healing, but it will be a while before they'll have recovered completely and in the mean time their bodies burn all the fuel they're getting at an astonishing rate. Anchors, who'd stepped out for a short walk - taking care to remain inconspicuous, of course - joins after a few minutes and wolfs down sandwiches with the best of them.

Oswald is the first to answer, although he is a bit reluctant: "I'd gotten caught up with the wrong crowd, if you know what I mean. Had to do some things I'm not proud of, things the Watch wouldn't agree with." He swallows uncomfortably, then continues.

"It wasn't anything too bad. No violence, if you're wondering. But I have some skills, and I got a reputation for being dependable. One day, I was approached by two men who told me I should join up with them and they'd make it worth my while. I asked for more details, didn't like what I heard and turned them down: they were hardened criminals, they didn't mind a bit of bloodshed. I didn't want to know. They tried again a couple days later, implied I'd be sorry if I didn't do as I was told. They scared me a lot, but I turned them down again and planned to lay low for a couple of days and then maybe leave the city for a while. The next day, when I went about settling my business, I go hit over the head in an alley and woke up in the cell you got me out of."       

"A couple of months ago."

Oswald still looks uncomfortable, but also somewhat relieved to have owned up to his sins.

"They didn't really want to hire me. That's what made me want to refuse in the first place, although I heard them out. More like they wanted me to become a member of their gang, or whatever you call it, and not do any work by myself or with others anymore."    

The dwarf expresses his thoughts regarding this arrangement by spitting on the floor.

"They had their story ready, making it look like a mutually benefial deal, but I wasn't buying. Like I said, they came back with a more forceful suggestion then, but that just gets me to dig my heels in."     

"I don't know why they stuck me in there, unless they wanted something from relatives of mine."

Oswald shrugs.

"They live far away from here and I barely have any contact with them, so that doesn't make a lot of sense either."

The others school their expressions to blandness, but it doesn't take a mind reader to know there are criminal aspects to their background as well. Onearm maintains he has no idea what they wanted from him, Anchors eventually relents and admits he was in a similar situation as Oswald, except he did accept the offer that was made to him at first. He was told barely enough to participate in a burglary, which went wrong almost from the start and resulted in a several innocents getting killed by his accomplices before having to run from the guards with nothing to show for their trouble. He was thrown in a cell when he tried to leave the city after that. He thoughy it'd just be for a few days and they'd either decide he'd learned his lesson or that he never would and kill him - but the days just passed without change, until Arvindur came along and broke him out.