>>5726748>>5726756>>5726759>>5726812Your first swing connects with one of the bars of the grate and bends it completely out of shape, tearing it free from the wall of the culvert with a loud *clang* and shower of dust. Joz swings next. His blow striking the grate and bending two of the bars inward with another resounding *clang* The two of you continue to slam away at the grate, each impact bending or tearing free another of the grate's bars. The hairs on the back of your neck rise as out of the corner of your eye you spot the dance of approaching torch light and hear the shouts of the Gerudo as they come to investigate the racket you're making.
With one final swing Joz knocks, the mangled metal grate free of the culvert mouth. You don't waste time with celebrations or congratulations as the grate falls. You simply scramble into the now open culvert on your stomach. Joz Is close on, your heels as you shimmy through the pipe to freedom. Your passage through the pipe feels like an eternity as you slowly crawl your way through the pitch blackness with only the sound of your breath and the scraping of your body along the pipe to give sustenance to your deprived senses. You try to estimate how far the pipe goes and come to the conclusion that it would only reach a dozen or so feet away from the wall. Which by your reckoning you should have reached by now, but ahead of you is only darkness, you don't even see the stars that should be shining at the mouth of the exit. Panic starts to set in as you crawl a few feet more and there's still no signs of the exit. Your crawling becomes a desperate clawing at the pipe in front of you as you search in vain feels for the exit. At last your hands make contact with something that's not empty air. A blockage? Another set if bars? No, this feels different, not cold and metallic but rough and somewhat plant-like. You push hard against the substance and there is a tearing sound as the curtain of vegetation is push aside. Fresh air and the night sky greet your senses, you've made it outside. You pull yourself out of the pipe and tumble onto the foul-smelling sludge at its base, somewhat marring your enthusiasm. Joz tumbles out after a few seconds later, Similarly, relieved then disgusted as he ends up next to you in the muck.
As much as you want to sit there in the muck and enjoy your new found freedom, your duty calls and the sounds of the Gerudo shouting from behind the wall drives you forward. The two of you stumble in the dark toward the lights of the siege encampment.
