PYRANHA BYTES PYRANHA BYTES
With a surge of desperation and your last ounce of strength you endeavour to break free from the mean grip of the guards at your sides, constantly trying to haul you forwards. Just a few more steps from the edge. You dig your feet into the dirt, to stop these brutes bringing you any closer. The guard to your left, his long, black hair, wet with sweat, clinging to your face, wheezes into your ear " It's time to meet the other side".With mighty hands he grabs your arm and your shoulder, kicking at the backs of your knees with his heavy boots, lessening your defence. The rogue to your right starts to tear at your arm with malicious laughter.
You look up. On the other side of the cliff you see the enormous shimmering dome, that you saw from afar, now towering
above you. Stunned, you stand gaping at the vastness of the barrier, frozen in a moment of horror. Long enough
for the guards to cut through your defence completely. The black-haired brute to your left forces your legs from
underneath you and they drag you to the edge of the cliff on your knees. The dark humming hardly noticeable before,
is now clearer and louder. At the centre of the dome you see something similar to a village. Smoke rises from the
small huts dotted around the land. There, beside the rocks is something that looks like the entrance to a mine.
"Stand him up" a voice behind you booms, the royal judge. The two guards quickly drag you up. Stretching
your neck to see behind you, you can only catch a glimpse of the tall man. "Prisoner! For your misdeeds you
are sentenced by our king to slave-work in the iron-ore mines. Here you will stay till the end of your miserable
days! Guards....."
From the corner of your eye you see the tall figure behind you raise his hand. Wriggling wild and furious you strive
to escape the strong hold of the two guards, finding of a sudden new strength in the will to live. A powerful kick
to your back and you're free from the guards hold and falling over the edge........ plunging down toward the barrier,
you fling your arms up to soften the impact but there was none, just a strange sensation as you pass through the
hazy green light ..... You fall further and further getting closer and closer to the ground. No! There's water,
underneath you... Your screams are silenced as you hit the surface of cool water. Lack of strength leaves you no
other option but to let yourself float to the surface... AIR! You see the blurred outlines of the shore. Slowly,
with little strength left, you swim towards land and drag yourself gasping onto the muddy sand. You see through
half closed eyes, a heavy foot in the mud in front of your face, you look up... more than one! Prisoners in ragged
cloth and rotted pieces of armour unmoving, glaring, with folded arms, one hefty ruffian bends down to you, pulls
up your head by your hair and spits at you with rotten breath:
"Welcome to jail !"
Background:
War sweeps throughout the kingdom. Hoards of orcs invading the land from the North. In order to keep the royal army going the blacksmiths of the land strive constantly over their hot coals replenishing weapons and forging new ammunition. Those who break the law in these days are punished hard; they are sent to slavery in the mines, to delve deep into the earth and dig out ORE for the weapons. There are no guards here, there is no need: The entire mining area is surrounded by a magical barrier, this dome is a thousand metres in diameter and stretches over the prison reaching through the underground and meeting to a perfect sphere in the depths of the mines. The barrier can be passed from the outside with no effect whatsoever. No living being can pass through from the inside however, only lifeless objects.
This way the prisoners have the monthly opportunity to exchange the ore for food, medicine, even drugs and small
luxuries, with the world outside.Within the prison there is a callous hierarchy, only the most powerful of prisoners
are allowed to receive goods from the outside world and only they have the right to share it among the others.
The strong take a huge amount for themselves and live in luxury, where the others are made to grind in the mines
day after day for their miserable share.
The penal colony has two rival groups. On the one side: An old encampment, under the authority of the Ore Barons
who control most of the exchange between the prison and the outside world, on the other side the smaller, new encampment,
where the inhabitants are runaways from the other side who have opened their own mine and work desperately on a
breakout plan.
Other than that, there is a somewhat remote temple, whose leaders rant and rave their prophecies of the end of
the world. Together with the younger members, they constantly celebrate the few days they think they have left.
The temple and the New Camp have joined together against the Old Camp and the power of each is more or less equal.
Every now and then there are some attacks and small hold ups between the two sides, for more extensive assaults
neither of the two are powerful enough. Both sides however, keep constant watch over the other in case of some
otherwise unknown weak point that would aid them in their fight against each other.
This twisted predicament is not your only problem, it is just one of them.