It took a substantial amount of force for Brad to open the heavy metal door even though it was unlocked, it creaked loudly, deeply, like the rumbling of some monstrous throat from the depths of Hell.

The first thing Brad notices is the smell: coppery, rotted, the smell of blood and offal. It's too dark to see anything at his current angle but from the smell alone he can tell that something serious happened here. He takes a step in, browline scrunching from the ever present scent. The men behind him slowly walk inside as well.

"Goddamn shmells like...hic...somefin up and died in heeere" Birdie tries his best to sound sober but its no use, his drunken slurs reverberate off the metal walls.

Tiger Mans faux fur stands on end somehow, the smell of death and gore only makes him ready for what might as well be a potential battle.

The newest party member, Jack, looks terrified. The young magician grasps at the drawstrings of his hoodie and pulls on them. "B-Brad...um...can we go now?" His voice is a far cry from the boisterous one he used mere hours ago to introduce himself to the much older man.

Brad looks at Jack sternly before turning back around. The smell was stronger now. The sound of chains rattling against the floor made him look up, eyes going wide for only a second before he jumped away from what appeared to be a massive iron ball rocketing towards his face at immense speed.

The ball landed with an explosive thud, cracking the ground, its chain clanked and clattered as it was pulled back to its owner.

"!!!" Tiger Man let out a muffled snarl as he readied his spear, he looked to his left; Birdie was shuddering and rifling through his pockets for any sort of booze. To his right was Jack, pulling the drawstrings of his hoodie even tigher and shivering like a little kid.

Out of the shadows emerged what could only be described as a monster

A massive man, way over seven feet tall, with a long matted carpet of dirty blond hair dragging behind him like some sort of cape. His face looked sunken in and led to a body rippling with musculature; his pecs pushed tightly against his worn and torn striped shirt, his bulging hairy arms had large metal shackles attached to his wrists.

The giant man looked down at Brad with a blank stare, looked towards the open cell, and then back to Brad; his expression shifting into an odd mix of shock and worry.

Brad was still shook up from the iron ball almost hitting him square in the face, he had to admit, this isn't what he expected to be in this cell.

"What're you looking at?" He curtly asks the large man.

"..." He opens his mouth, but all that comes out is a noise

"I asked, what are you looking at?"

"...aaa..." He tries again, managing a moan, but still no words

"Hrm"

Brad turns to leave and hears the sound of footsteps behind him, he glances back, seeing the large quiet man stumbling around aimlessly, his eyes seem transfixed on the open door.

"You want to get out?"

The man turns towards Brad and nods slowly, not trying to speak this time.


---


The sunlight and fresh air is such a foreign and alien sight to the large man, he inhales deeply a few times, each breath sounds shakier until he falls to his knees and sobs into his hands. Deep baritone sobs that shake him to his very core. Brad just stares to the road ahead with the others.

Except for Jack

Jack was scared, yes, but seeing this large man reduced to tears so suddenly made him feel a little...bad? He pulled his drawstrings again and frowned, looking down to his shoes and kicking at the dirt before he took a deep breath of his own and walked to the crying man.

"E-Excuse me" Jack stutters, he takes his top hat off and holds it in his hands, squeezing the brim of it slightly while he sways ever so slightly from side to side "U-Uhm...don't be sad, it's impossible to be sad in the presence of a travelling magician!"

The large man coughs, wipes at his face, and looks at the young man with tears still streaming down his worn and tired face; puzzled by what he was talking about.

Jack tried his best to summon a smile, placing the hat back on his head, he put his hands on his hips.

"Yes sir! I'm Jack, the Travelling Magician! You pay me and i'll perform for you! But you seem so sad and upset, i'll perform for you for free!"

The man tilts his head and scoots away from Jack nervously

"N-No wait! Just watch! Watch! Watch and be amazed by my hat trick! Behold as I pull a beautiful white dove out of my hat!" The small magician takes his hat off, holds it out in front of him for a moment, but all that comes out is a carrot that limply falls to the ground with a thud "Uh...BEHOLD! I turned the dove into a carrot! I meant to do that!"

"..." The large man forlornly looks down at the carrot and then to Jack.

He pulls a set of three colored rubber balls out of his hoodie pocket "Okay but my juggling trick is a masterpiece, I can keep every one of these from hitting the ground, like so!"

The balls are thrown into the air...only to come back down and hit Jack square on his head, it doesn't hurt physically, but it does hurt his pride ever so slightly.

The large man's expression softens slightly, he wipes at his face again and silently watches the young man struggle. He sighs and lets his hair droop down over his face.

"Um...um...I saved my best trick for last, Mr. Armstrong was nice enough to find my cards so I could do this!"

Jack stops and looks, his smile becoming a frown yet again, he sighs and picks up the carrot as well as the juggling balls.

"I'm sorry..." he murmurs, a small sniffle escapes him "I'm not good at magic...I never had the manual to my magic kit...I try my best but it just makes me look...dumb...i'm sorry for bugging you"

As Jack walks off to join Brad and the others he's suddenly face to face with the man, he yelps at just how QUIET he must have been to get in front of him like that. Fear quickly returns to him and tears billow at the corners of his eyes.

"W-Was it so b-b-bad that you're gonna h-hurt me?"

The comment makes the large mans eyes widen slightly, he crouches down even more, making a noise under his breath and gently running his thumb against Jacks eyes to dab away his tears.

"A-Aa..." He tries again to talk but nothing comes out, he opts to instead make a comforting cooing noise to show that he's not angry at the magicians failed attempts at magic. He didn't mean to make this person cry, he really didn't, it had just been so long since he had ever seen the sunlight or breathed in air that wasn't filled with the scent of dried blood and rotting food.

He felt even worse now.

He then looked at Jacks hat and got an idea.

"W-What are you-HEY! Gimme my hat back!" Jack shouted a little louder than he intended to, but that man had just taken his favorite hat from him, this only made the tears come back to his eyes and made his cheeks redden in frustration...before he noticed what this tall man was doing.

The large man tried to mime the actions and gestures Jack did before and held the hat out in front of him, only to have the same carrot fall out limply to the ground

"Huh...hhhuhuhuh" The large man laughed and placed the hat back onto Jacks head, mumbling out nonsensical noises that almost sounded like 'I turned the dove into a carrot, I meant to do that'

Jack gasped at the man's attempt at magic, small sparkles appeared in his eyes and his sad frown was replaced with an excited grin "You...liked my magic?! REALLY?! WOW! But it wasn't good though..."

The large man ever so softly patted Jack's head and smiled, the guys attempt at magic, as bad as it was, was one of the first acts of kindness he had seen in such a long time. He was grateful for it, this world was filled with disgusting people and horrible monsters, it needed someone like this guy around to bring a little magic back to it.

"Hey uh...do you wanna come with us? Mr. Armstrongs getting people to come with him to find a girl! We could really use a big guy like you to keep us safe! How about it? I'm sure Mr. Armstrong won't mind...even though you tried to hit him with an iron ball"

Jack looked up at the man with sparkles in his eyes once again, standing up on the tips of his toes in sheer excitement. The sight of that was so cute that the large man couldn't really say 'no' (not like he could in the first place). He laughed again and nodded 'yes'.

"SPLENDIFEROUS!" Jack exclaimed. He grabbed the large mans hand and led him towards Brad and the others. "Mr. Armstrong! Mr. Armstrong! This guy wants to join us, please let him come, he's really nice and strong and he's sorry for almost hitting you! Really!"

Brad only nodded in response

[Mongo Jailbird has joined your party!]