Hypothetical scenario, what would you do?

[John Carroll]

Hypothetical scenario:

You are a good person. You have been captured and imprisoned by the guards of an evil city. You manage to escape your cell.

Now you are in a prison with a master set of keys. There are numerous cells with prisoners between you and freedom.

You have no idea if the people in those cells are imprisoned because they stood up to the evil guards of the city, or if they're imprisoned because they truly committed heinous crimes.

Do you release them as you try to escape, or do you sneak past as quietly as possible and leave them in their cells?

[crich70]

Sounds a bit like the lady or the tiger scenario. I think I'd probably 'borrow' the uniform of the guard that I'd taken the keys from and try to walk out as if I had the right to be moving round the prison. If I managed to escape I could always try to get my story out and push for a review of cases in case other innocent prisoners were incarcerated. Or try to organize an uprising against the corrupt city government that had seen me tossed in a cell for something I hadn't done. Certainly releasing other prisoners who may actually be guilty of the crimes they were being punished for wouldn't help my case in either event.

[cromag]

Releasing the other prisoners is likely to cause a great deal of confusion and make it more likely I can escape. As far as the moral question -- all bets were off when I was "falsely" imprisoned.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by cromag

Releasing the other prisoners is likely to cause a great deal of confusion and make it more likely I can escape. As far as the moral question -- all bets were off when I was "falsely" imprisoned.

I imagine that I would be pretty desperate at being "falsely" imprisoned. If releasing the other prisoners would help/guarantee my escape then I would use the keys. (Hopefully, it would be a single master key I had to deal with in opening cells and not have to mess around with finding the right key for each cell using a large set of master keys)

[crich70]

Originally Posted by cromag

Releasing the other prisoners is likely to cause a great deal of confusion and make it more likely I can escape. As far as the moral question -- all bets were off when I was "falsely" imprisoned.

But isn't it just as likely that with all the other prisoners running round you could end up finding yourself being attacked by one of them? Not to mention that with the noise of their actions the guards will know something is up that much faster.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by John Carroll

Hypothetical scenario:
You have no idea if the people in those cells are imprisoned because they stood up to the evil guards of the city, or if they're imprisoned because they truly committed heinous crimes.

This is pretty much true of every real prison in every city in history. The real question that would need to be answered it "what are my goals" if they are to get out alive to make it home to my starving children, then that is the only thing I would be thinking about as I busted out. Am I a loner starting a revolution? Then I am letting everyone out to create chaos. So on.

[John Carroll]

Originally Posted by crich70

But isn't it just as likely that with all the other prisoners running round you could end up finding yourself being attacked by one of them? Not to mention that with the noise of their actions the guards will know something is up that much faster.

Yes. These are both issues. The characters may not be strong enough to survive a gang of hardened criminals.

[John Carroll]

It's really not an easy answer. My characters were totally stuck on it as was their illustrious writer. I decided to ask the audience. I kept the original question simple to get gut reactions and avoid giving too much away. It surprised me how many people responded throughout the different places I posed it.

On my facebook page, the consensus was unanimous that the characters should release the prisoners to create a distraction. I had a few suggestions that stated there may be an ally in the prison that could help my characters. This actually solves a problem for me as to how they escape the rest of the way, so I'm going with it.

Okay, so to answer the other questions posed. This will contain some spoilers, but here's the scenario:

The Two characters that are escaping are neutral good alignment. They both have strong morals and a code of honor. One is a warrior monk, the other is a wizard. They are armed, fit and healthy, but tired. Any extensive use of their abilities could put them out of commission.

They were exploring ancient ruins and discovered the city underground was still flourishing. They learned that a black dragon is in charge of the city and that there are slaves working underground ranches in massive caverns. (It's very different from the Underdark. There are no traditional fantasy races such as dark elves either)

Their (powerful) friends were captured and taken away. Just the two of them were left and they fell in battle. The monk woke up in captivity and overpowered her guard. She then saved the wizard (her husband) They have the keys and escaped the lower level of the prison. They just reached the main level with the other prisoners. They know nothing about the prisoners.

Here is the conversation they just had:

Teluith checked to see that Reben was ready. At his nod, she opened the door and stepped through, ready for a fight. Instead of guards as they expected, they entered into a long hallway with stone cell doors. The murmur of voices turned out to be prisoners speaking through food slots at the bottom of the doors.

Reben touched Teluith’s shoulder and gestured with his head for them to retreat into the room. Once the door was closed he whispered, “Do we help everyone to escape, or just sneak past?”

Teluith opened her mouth to answer, but conflicting thoughts interfered. “Are they in jail for bad crimes, or for trying to escape this place?”

Reben shrugged. “Both are possible. I don’t know the answer.”

“We should ask them, no?”

“Criminals tend to lie, my lovely. It would do no good.”

Now I just need to figure out who's in the cells and go from there. It shall be fun.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by John Carroll

It's really not an easy answer. My characters were totally stuck on it as was their illustrious writer. I decided to ask the audience. I kept the original question simple to get gut reactions and avoid giving too much away. It surprised me how many people responded throughout the different places I posed it.

On my facebook page, the consensus was unanimous that the characters should release the prisoners to create a distraction. I had a few suggestions that stated there may be an ally in the prison that could help my characters. This actually solves a problem for me as to how they escape the rest of the way, so I'm going with it.

Okay, so to answer the other questions posed. This will contain some spoilers, but here's the scenario:

The Two characters that are escaping are neutral good alignment. They both have strong morals and a code of honor. One is a warrior monk, the other is a wizard. They are armed, fit and healthy, but tired. Any extensive use of their abilities could put them out of commission.

They were exploring ancient ruins and discovered the city underground was still flourishing. They learned that a black dragon is in charge of the city and that there are slaves working underground ranches in massive caverns. (It's very different from the Underdark. There are no traditional fantasy races such as dark elves either)

Their (powerful) friends were captured and taken away. Just the two of them were left and they fell in battle. The monk woke up in captivity and overpowered her guard. She then saved the wizard (her husband) They have the keys and escaped the lower level of the prison. They just reached the main level with the other prisoners. They know nothing about the prisoners.

Here is the conversation they just had:

Teluith checked to see that Reben was ready. At his nod, she opened the door and stepped through, ready for a fight. Instead of guards as they expected, they entered into a long hallway with stone cell doors. The murmur of voices turned out to be prisoners speaking through food slots at the bottom of the doors.

Reben touched Teluith’s shoulder and gestured with his head for them to retreat into the room. Once the door was closed he whispered, “Do we help everyone to escape, or just sneak past?”

Teluith opened her mouth to answer, but conflicting thoughts interfered. “Are they in jail for bad crimes, or for trying to escape this place?”

Reben shrugged. “Both are possible. I don’t know the answer.”

“We should ask them, no?”

“Criminals tend to lie, my lovely. It would do no good.”

Now I just need to figure out who's in the cells and go from there. It shall be fun.

One thing that you may want to keep in mind is the question, "What constitutes a crime in this setting?" If they are in a city where everyone is supposed to be serious in demeanor for example even showing a smile on their faces may be enough to get themselves arrested.