Piles of bones

no dungeon. pre-canon. the castle has been taken in a coup d'etat, the royal family separated and locked up.

without the dungeon's miracle, eodio dies from his illness.

the queen is kept in good condition as a hostage to keep her birth family from joining the war and reinforcing the melini loyalists.

the usurper king wants thistle’s magic and knowledge for himself. rumors of a great power hidden beneath the castle have reached his ears…

delgal is useful to the usurpers only as a way to get to thistle, who loyally stays silent during questioning until they show they're willing to torture delgal to make him talk. there is irony in the king being more expendable than the servant.

in the main path of this story delgal is executed by beheading. in the branch path thistle escapes with a living delgal rather than with his severed head.

they flee through melini’s war-torn lands pretending to be a yeoman farmer and his cherished daughter. thistle disguises himself with hair caps to cover his elven ears and his hair dyed black. delgal is disguised by rumors of his death as well as how the torture changed him physically.