Waiting for the dwarves
Subject: Waiting for the dwarves
As the party realizes that the fighting is over they start checking on the wounded. Of the sixteen warriors that had assaulted the fortifications, fourteen were dead. Many of the bodies were almost unrecognizable. Harp had been able to save one on the east side and Ragnar another on the west side. When Ally realized that the other mage had run off, he and Mund had gone back to get the Lady De Blum from the rope trick. She seemed a bit shaken and quieter than usual.
Maximus was a different story. He flatly refused Ragnar's aid, though it was obvious the centurion was in serious pain. Without a word he started gathering the bodies of his fallen comrades, quietly telling the others that it was his responsibility and asking Ran to let those on the other side of the pass know this as well. The party watched in uncomfortable silence as the old veteran gathered up his fallen patrol and laid them out in formation.
Before Maximus was done with the east side Ran reports "The dwarf column is just down the way." He turns to Ragnar "How do you want to meet them?" Ragnar thinks for a moment and says "Ran, you and Harp are with me. The rest of you stay here." The fighter and the two clerics head down the stairs towards the pass. When they get there Ragnar leads the other two, whispering instructions "Let me do the talking. Harp, they may recognize that we wear the symbols of Heironious, but they will be suspicious. We will have to explain the dragon and what we are doing here. If you value your life do not pull a weapon." The other two nod and follow a few steps behind the dwarf.
They can see the dwarf column working its way up towards the pass. The dwarves are in a shield wall formation and moving slowly. When the formation sees the three it stops and a voice calls out "Who are you to stand in Backbiter pass and keep us from our places?"
OODM: I will let you guys role play this.
From: Kevin
Subject: Waiting for the dwarves
Harp will join Ragnar. He will respond to any direct questions with the approval of Ragnar and will not respond to any taunting he may receive. If anything out of line or inappropriate is said, he will let Ragnar respond.
From: Jason
Subject: Waiting for the dwarves
Ragnar calls out "I am Ragnar, son of Glim and servant of Heironeous. We travel to the World Spines on a diplomatic mission for the temple at Gorn, and have no desire to keep you from your place.
You should know, however, that on our arrival we were ambushed by giants and a human mage. The giants are slain and the mage fled, but we found the bodies of a dozen warriors on the battlements.
In addition to the three of us, we travel with five other companions, as well as a emissary from Bhyo and the three surviving members of the escort."
With that, Ragnar waits to gauge the dwarves' reaction to the news.
From: Derek
Subject: The dead dwarves
Can Ally make a spellcraft check to try and determine if Sleep, Hold, or some other spell was used to incapacitate them?
Also, what about the one giant that was dead before we got there? Did the dwarves kill him or something else?
From: Derek
Subject: The dead dwarves
Allistair is with the others who aren't down meeting with the dwarves. Some of the others remark that many of the dwarves appear to have been burnt or crushed without a struggle. Around the lifeless dwarves, he notices something strange, a few rose petals.
"These are interesting," Ally says to the group. "Rose petals are used as a material component in sleep spells. By the number of dwarves here that appear to have been killed without a struggle, I would guess our enemy wizard used a powerful sleep spell on most of the dwarves here. Most of them then were killed by these giants and perhaps a fireball from the wizard. The ones that weren't put to sleep were able to kill one of the giants (he points over to the giant that was dead when they got there surrounded by dead dwarves) before they were overwhelmed themselves. Then the remaining three giants and the wizard set the ambush for us."
"Whoever that wizard was, he's long gone now. If only we had some way to track or find him..." Allistair trails off, lost in thought for a second. "Mund! Ran! Both of you skirmished with the enemy wizard. Do you have anything from him on you? A bit of hair, a piece of cloth, or a spot of blood? I think I might be able to find him!"
From: Porter
Subject: The dead dwarves
"I dunno. I tussled with him but then I went flying all over tarnation. I don't see nothin' from him."