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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 285952" data-attributes="member: 2323">Part 2: Shadows In the SnowThey listened intently for another cry, but heard only the howling wind. It shifted for a moment and blew snow directly into their faces. Karak sputtered and wiped the flakes out of his eyes."Hrmmpff," he snorted, his frown deepening as he squinted into the whiteout. "I think ye best be gettin' out that prayer symbol, me chalak. Me thinks we's goin' ta be snowed in right short.""What shou' we do, then?" Malak asked. He clutched his holy symbol with his off hand. "Me must go out an' look for Arngrim, though I dinna think we'll find him. An' we may find somethin' we dinna want ta find!""I agree an' fear tha worst for Arngrim," Karak put down his war axe and began to don his plate mail. "Nae Dwarf wou' scream if nae in mortal pain or death. Me thinks he be lost, though I hate ta leave 'im out there.""My thought is ta look around ta see if'n we find anythin'," Malak suggested as he helped his brother assemble his protective shell. "If we find nothin' - which I think will be tha case - we head toward tha monks o' tha Light's Ascendance. Someone there may be o' some assistance ta us... maybe e'en just for temporary shelter. O' course, we dinna really know where tha monastery is, now do we?""Me also thinks findin' this Monk's Temple be tha thing ta do, 'ceptin' for one problem. As ye pointed out, me chalak, we ken nae where it be. That must be why tha Queen picked ye ta be her chosen Guard, an' left me ta scrub Temple tile; because ye's smarter than me. It cou' be just over tha hill, or it cou' be miles from here.""Shou' we then stay put here until tha weather clears some?" Malak asked, handing over Karak's great helm."I'm proposin' this: ye begin prayin', and I will try ta find suitable cover 'ere and we hole up and find shelter," Karak suggested, hefting his huge axe once more. "I have nae been this far out in tha tunnels, but thinks I remember me old Sarge, Tarak, told me our tunnels stretch tha whole world - one end ta th' other. So mayhap there be one near that we can detect."Malak too had heard the tales told by the older dwarves. Stories had been handed down for countless generations that told of ancient tunnels that extended for leagues underground, some said to go all the way to the heart of Oruene. Malak had always suspected that they were just mere stories, but he had thought the same thing when he'd first heard that human females could grow no beards. That had proven true. Perhaps the world-tunnels would as well."Malak, quit yer zonin'!" Karak growled, snapping his brother back to the moment. "Tha Queen did nae take yer natural born ability to detect tunnels did she?"Malak shook his head."So pray then look," the other dwarf growled. "Me wonder's if Tha Queen can loan ye a little heat as I think this fine Dwarven plate mail, if e'er she gets cold, will kill me quicker 'n any foe, I tells ye that!""I can pray for elemental endurance," Malak said. "But it will only protect one o' us.""Save it for now," Karak told him. "If'n I starts ta feel cold in me bones, I'll get back ta ye for some o' tha Queen's warmth. Meantime ye can get that goat under control an' have a look about for any hidden tunnels what might shield us from this 'ere storm.""Be careful, chalak," Malak said solemnly.Karak harrumphed and said, "He who fears death invites it ta visit."Then he turned and stepped out into the storm.Karak hadn't gone more than ten paces before the campsite was swallowed up completely by the blinding snow. He could dimly make out a feint trail leading downwards from the rocky outcropping toward the main path below. At the point where the smaller footpath met the wider trail was a small stone plinth carved with a diamond-shaped spiral of well-worn dwarven runes."belbak=dwar-dwarmer=gulmursar//horlembakthanmorn""Above you, dwarf or dwarf friend, is a good, safe high place. Take your rest there."Apparently it was no accident that Arngrim had found the site for last night's camp. It had likely been used for such by dwarves since before the sundering. It heartened Karak somewhat as well; for where there was one dwarven marker there could be more.He began looking about in the chilling wind for any other signs of refuge, but found nothing in the immediate vicinity. There was no abatement in the snow. If anything, it was getting heavier as he looked. The wind sent icy tendrils through the many gaps in his armor and froze his breath. The blinding snow was so thick that he almost walked right passed the small footpath that ran parallel to the main trail, but cut away from it up the side of the mountain. If he hadn't tripped over Arngrim's ice axe lying at the foot of the path, he would certainly have bypassed it entirely.He bent down and picked it up. The axe was undamaged and unbloodied. Whatever had befallen Arngrim - and Karak couldn't now believe that he'd find the hoary old guide alive - had taken him before he could land a single blow. Or else his opponent had no blood to be spilled...He glanced up the footpath and for an instant he saw a furry shadow, hunched and vague in the blinding snow. It lurked for a moment at the limits of his vision and then bounded off into the storm before he could determine more about it than its man-like shape.As Karak's figure faded into the blinding whiteness, Malak inhaled sharply and held it a beat, exhaling slowly as he gathered his thoughts. Things were getting a little strange and he thought that perhaps sticking together might have been a better idea. But Karak had always been strong-willed and there would be little use in arguing with him. Malak allowed himself a single small comfort in thinking about Karak's absence: he had always had a "sense" that allowed him to be privy to his brother's most urgent emotional reactions. If something went terribly wrong he felt he would know it. Not that it would do him any good. Whoever came upon Arngrim meant business; they had taken him almost from under their noses and he'd vanished without a trace.With a frown planted firmly on his lips, he picked up his scalemail hauberk and began to suit up. The metal scales were deathly cold despite the fact that he'd purposefully left his armor near the fire, and he shivered as he worked. It took him, perhaps, a few moments longer than it should have to don his protection; it was certainly far slower than his record from training days.Despite the armor, it was only when he had his scimitar sheathed at his waist and his claymore strapped across his back that he began to feel safe.He looked at Arngrim's pack animal and the mountain goat looked blandly back at him. Its breath had painted the hair around its muzzle with frost and it gave the creature an aged appearance. Its great horns curved backward and down like two crescent moons framing the goat's head. It snorted and shifted its hooves in the snow. Malak decided that he should take the goat and search out the tunnels that were supposed to exist underneath the entire land. He doubted that they did, but if ever there were a time to exhaust every option, this seemed it.Turning his head back toward Dwurheim then, Malak squinted hard into the snow. What was that shape just beyond the outline of Arngrim's goat? Had Karak returned so soon ? No. It was not his brother's shape, he could tell that the manlike figure was larger even though it was hunched and Malak thought he could make out an outline of fur. His hand slid toward his scimitar and slowly he unsheathed the weapon. As quickly as the shape had appeared however, it was gone. Malak stepped into the storm to see if he could catch a glimpse of this creature, but the snow was too heavy. A gust blew hard against his face and Malak refused to turn his head from it, peering instead into the vast whiteness to try to make out any familiar shape.Nothing. He pushed his scimitar back into its sheath and turned to finish his preparation.Malak knelt briefly at the makeshift altar that he had prepared, asking Shaharizod to oversee him during his efforts to find the underground passages. He rose to his feet and doused the last smoldering embers of their fire with some kicked snow. Then he grabbed the lead attached to the mountain goat and stepped out in to the snow once more. If he found the caves, he didn't know that they would be any easier to negotiate than the mountain passes would, but they would at least offer both familiarity and some protection from the elements. If not, Malak thought, if they were forced to traverse the rugged terrain and fight the elements, if the snow continued, it might be best to travel at night. Perhaps the night sky would offer some contrast to the blinding snow, allowing them to make their way a little more easily. Light being cast by the torches of a town or village might be more easily seen through the nighttime sky as well.</blockquote>

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