Warden Ramos put Bleak End on lockdown, but the Whistledrop Crew weathered the increased scrutiny; Poons learned from other guards that the high alert would remain for two more days. In the kitchens, Ellenor quietly worked double shifts, using Dee's expertise to cover for Mercy’s lack of skill. Their improvised recipes proved popular, earning them goodwill among staff and prisoners. The following morning, the crew regrouped in the mess hall and pieced together a plan to transfer the Bag of Holding seamlessly. From then on, the mess hall became their regular meeting place to determine what their next move should be.
After scouting several locations, they chose to use an alcove next to the courtyard's door, concealed by a loose brick. Ellenor slipped into the courtyard using her Boots and Cloak of Elvenkind, bypassed the arcane lock with her sapphire, and planted the bag. Mercy and Ellenor also began slipping notes to Prisoner 13 through her meals, instructing her to trust anyone who flashed a “2-1-2” hand signal.
Meanwhile, Nessa and Poons learned they could trade, bribe, or volunteer for shifts, so they could position themselves where needed. They acquired the right shifts to retrieve the Bag, and by chance, "Yula" was assigned to escort Prisoner 13 into the courtyard and subtly signaled her allegiance. "Persimmon" was posted in the watchtower, standing on a footstool to see over the edge, and comically fell off when she spotted Punmiri below. The distraction almost worked, but another guard noticed the cleric's strange movements as she tried to recover the bag. Her excuse of “ doing calisthenics” failed, but Prisoner 13 saved her with a sharp rebuke about the guard's lax supervision, attracting back attention just in time.
With their magical gear secured, the crew repeated the maneuver, this time intending to speak directly with the dwarf. Nessa and Poons bribed their way to guard Prisoner 13 themselves, and while the gnome distracted a third guard, Punmiri quietly questioned the prisoner. Though she was evasive, the dwarf eventually acknowledged that she had heard of the key. Her price, however, was not freedom, but rather the Bleak End Records of Imprisonment, a ledger in the warden’s office listing the names, crimes, and fates of every inmate.
That night, Nessa and Punmiri slipped unnoticed from the barracks, aided by magic items and wearing false armor that was easier to move in. Poons' trickster magic proved key, concealing their footsteps while pointing them to the ledger's exact location in the office above the barracks. Using their sapphires, they bypassed the arcane locks to the trial room, where an invisible Punmiri kept watch while Nessa retrieved the records. She learned that Prisoner 13 went by the alias "Voice", and was seemingly linked to a cult called "The Fold", though did not have time to think about what this could mean.
The gnome did not want to rob the office, hoping to delay the warden's discovery of their theft, but when Punmiri spotted Ramos leaving his room for a smoke break, Nessa couldn't help but seize the opportunity. In his quarters, she picked a chest, uncovered a false bottom, and stole a Wand of Binding as well as 750 gold. They restored everything as best they could and withdrew unseen, but knew it would only be a matter of time before their theft was discovered. As such, the next morning, the plan had to be enacted, and thankfully the Warden had not yet checked for his wand or looked for his records.
"Persimmon" and "Yula" traded for positions in the surveillance room, watching as “Mica” and “Keke” served poisoned food to Prisoner 13, with a note indicating their plan. Punmiri confirmed the effect, and Nessa slipped upstairs once the cooks returned to the kitchen. Both Keke and Prisoner 13 played sick convincingly, aided by the minor poison in the food. Mercy magically disguised himself as a guard and took Keke toward the hospital. Meanwhile, Prisoner 13 began vomiting, and "Yula" escorted her along with two other guards. Realizing that their company would not leave the hospital bay, Mercy put one guard to sleep and his Wild Magic surged, causing disco lights to dance from his eyes. He and Ellenor knocked out the other before an alarm could be raised, shutting the doors and framing the unconscious guards as victims of poison.
Prisoner 13 spent ten minutes reading the ledger, and Punmiri recognized that the dwarf was sending the information through Telepathy afforded to her via Magic Tattoos. Once satisfied, Prisoner 13 then revealed the true nature of her Key, which was branded into her own forearm. As a proficient forger, Ellenor was able to trace a copy of the key, but its intricacy meant the process took another ten minutes. During this time, multiple check-ins occurred; somehow, Poons bluffed her way, as Ellenor hunched over backwards and Mercy stood disguised with his eyes kept shut.
At the same time, Nessa had run upstairs to signal Captain Jolly of their impending escape. Over the past few days, she had lifted countless items from the storage room, keeping them in the Bag of Holding, and now littered these supplies atop the surveillance tower. She ran an oil-soaked rope over the tower's edge, poured oil over the supplies, and stuffed a bottle of Alchemist's Fire in the center for good measure. With an agility she had not employed in decades, Nessa Nina climbed down by hand, avoiding arrow slits and eyes from the other watchtowers. She was spotted only by a confused Lizardfolk inmate, who she shushed with a finger and a saucy wink.
At this point, however, she realized a hole in their plan: she did not know how to escape the panopticon. Now near the ground floor, "Persimmon" panicked, burst into the surveillance tower, claimed a prisoner was ill, and drew two guards with her. She mimed to the lizardman to fake sick, but the prisoner did not understand her message or really even know who she was. As the guards could turn to question her, she immediately ran, scattering ball bearings behind her to slow her pursuers.
The Whistledrop Crew's calculated escape had detonated into chaos, and Nessa gave a bird call indicating as such. Punmiri collected the ledger from Prisoner 13 as Ellenor gave a farewell, and they all dashed from the prison. Nessa sealed the front gate with her sapphire, and Mercy launched a fire bolt to the top of the surveillance tower, lighting their improvised beacon with a flash of magic. They then jumped off the crane, expecting their sorcerer to cast a spell of feather falling. The Crew indeed began to drift down, but a wild magic surge transformed Mercy into a massive block of earth which hurtled downward. Remembering Stratus's last lesson, Mercy forced another surge; a copy of himself exploded into him, destroying the block in an act of wild magic that knocked him unconscious but kept him alive.
As Ellenor readied a rowboat, Punmiri and Nessa revived him with magic and a Potion of Healing, and the gnome scattered Dust of Disappearance to make them invisible. However, Warden Ramos had at this point ordered a lockdown inside, causing the six guards stationed on the towers to see through their invisibility. The Crew rowed hard while Mercy used his Wind Fan to propel the boat faster, and as they skimmed past ice floes and rock spires, they endured sixteen rounds of arrow-fire. By employing clever illusions and judicious use of healing, they somehow navigated through the storm of arrows long enough to see Captain Jolly approach.
Having escaped the longbow's reach, they climbed a rope ladder and onto the welcome deck of the Jolly Dodger. The ship lived up to its name, cruising out of the ice floes and successfully leaving Aone Isle in the mists behind them. In gratitude, Nessa gave the Captain a 100-gold bonus as they sailed back to Farrozandmar, looking to let the real Mica, Yula, Keke, and Persimmon out of their imprisonment in the hull.
After that, they would sail to an even more dangerous place than Bleak End; their last stop was the Pixis Palace.