At the Grand Portal of the Dead

[Bronn Spellforger]

Hah! You confuse me cousin, Cousin. First it's "kill the lich and burn his house to the ground," now it's "Oooh! Leave the Lich alone! I'm on a mission! And Bronn's being selfish for wanting to destroy evil things!"

I'm sick of your moral superiority cousin ... and hey, where did you get that holy symbol of Clangeddon? I've never seen it before..

But nevertheless, you say it's your mission to remove the curse, but not to restore the City of Gold. If you don't want dwarves to live here again, why remove the curse? I thought we had the same goal of removing the curse and bringing dwarves back here. Is this not your goal?

So I ask again, what's our next move? Fine, let's bring the bones back to Flame... but I'm not the one who will have to deal with their god or goddess being angry for creating another lich..

 

[Tom Cashel]

Velm: "Snowcap made the promise to Flamecoil, and if you were listening, you would have heard him say that it could wait a few days. It is Snowcap who'll have to make amends to Selune if things go bad. So be it.

"Sick of my moral superiority? Not surprising. The morally inferior often find it hard to stomach honor and good dwarven values. You're the only one among us who apprenticed himself to the lich. What reason do we have to trust anything you say?

"Our next move? Sorry to confuse you, Cousin, but it's really rather simple: no dwarves of any Clan can come in here until the Curse is lifted. Instead of planning the next dwarven regime, maybe we should follow one of those maps, find the Lunar Speculum, find the Crown of Fire, something productive.

"Is that simple enough for you?"

 

[Bronn Spellforger]

Bronn casts Dancing Lights around Velm's head.. then whistles and looks up at the ceiling, feigning innocence.

OOC: Hey, it wouldn't let me delete the post. I had to come up with something.

 

[Tom Cashel]

Velm: "Ha! Have some wine and shut up, Cousin. No one's listening to you anyway."

 

[Bronn Spellforger]

I promise you, jargh, I did not apprentice myself to your taerin and friend, the Lich. And I'm getting tired of your bedorn and beldarak, cousin.

But although your logic is convoluted, I agree with you. Let's find the crown of fire and welcome the dwarves back to their faern.

OOC: Serves you right, Tom. Now you have to look up all these dwarven words.

 

[Tom Cashel]

Velm: "Cousin...is there no end to your murmelings?"

Daziel: begins praying to Selune and pointedly ignoring the dwarves

Corwyn: "You two are boring." (goes to keep watch)

 

[Van Dyksun]

There's a difference between an orc and a bugbear that had been welcomed into civilized society, Bronn. I'm not surprised that you can't see that distinction; your eyes are often blinded by your personal interests. Selune teaches us to be merciful because just as the moon waxes and wanes, so do our fortunes, and while we may be victors in one battle, in the next we may be defeated. I treated the Scarlet Flame as I would have wish to be treated by them had they defeated me in battle.

Regarding Flamecoil and these bones before us, I've said what I've said. The bones will be returned. As for what you have to say about the lich and his past, I can't make any comment--you're older than me and may have actually known someone who was there. It's been my experience, however, that commonplace legends often have more complications than current folk admit to, and that every story often has several tellings. You seem to think that any dwarf is a good dwarf, but just as the elves have drow and humans have Zhentarim, it may be that the clan Darkfell wasn't entirely engaging in the best interests of all. Let us compare ourselves to the Scarlet Flame--had we been first, would we not have also staged a surprise for them had they been following us. Would that have made us evil?

We found Shieldcoil's bones with these two dwarves, but was she engaged in battle against them or was she standing in battle with them? Even if it looks like they killed the other, it may have been to prevent a worse fate. I prefer to trust my own experience with people than to trust the bards, who often have their own melody that they are adding to the song.

Damn, I'm getting as long-winded as the two of you, and there's no ale handy, too.

I'm glad we've agreed to pursue the crown now. Can we get some sleep, too. Those damn statues of your ancestors put a kink in my neck and I was hoping a good night's rest would put it right.

By the way, where did that holy symbol come from, Velm? I didn't know you were religious...

 

[Bronn Spellforger]

Van - I'm sorry, I dozed off there during your speech. I jest, of course, very well spoken.

And I admire your ... innocence in your views of the world. But I think my cousin would agree, that in my 60 odd years, I've never, ever met a good orc. Or a good goblin. Or a good bugbear. But please let me know if you do find one. But for now, my advice would be that if you see one of these creatures, you might consider reaching for your bow.

As for the Scarlet Flame, I bare them no ill will for their surprise trap. However, if you believe that they would have spared your life if the situation was reversed, well, I respectfully disagree.

In any case, let me finish translating these maps ... I think that will lead us to the crown of fire, and perhaps how to use this skul.

One thing, though, I'd recommend a change of heart in giving me time to learn that spell. I have a feeling we're going to need help. Remember how outclassed we were against leather boots last time? I don't want to have that happen again.

OOC: Tom! How 'bout that translation? ... stop playing with your dwarven forge and help us!

 

[Van Dyksun]

The bugbear with the Scarlet Flame was able to peace-bond and walk with her company in Eveningstar, under the eyes of the Dragoons. When was the last time you saw an orc do that?

Yes, it is quite possible that had the Scarlet Flame been victorious over us that they would have shown us no mercy, but so? I do not act as others act but how I wish others to act. This is what Selune teaches us, and I warn you not to take her lightly.

We don't have time for you to learn your blasted spell! We're not sitting around in the middle of bloody Eveningstar here, but in cursed Aerundar. There are things around here that want our blood, including the damn Zhentarim. He's not going to take a bloody four days to learn a spell right now. In fact, if we sat around here for a couple of days, he might just return to finish us off. He's not going to wait around for you to be ready.

Talk some sense into your magic-befuddled cousin, Velm. Saeita? Can you stun him or something long enough for us to get some sleep?

 

[Tom Cashel]

Velm: “I knelt to pray at Clangeddin’s statue, and I tithed some coins and a small piece of mithril...when I opened my eyes they were gone, and these crossed battleaxes lay in the quartz bowl. That is all I need to know; I will not question the ways of the Father of Battles. But I still pray to him as I always have...with my axe.

“Cousin, Van is right. We have tarried too long already, and Leather Boots is out there. Not to mention the Banites who entered through the Southeast Gatehouse and sealed the tunnels in their wake. Although they may dig through, Uncle Dorn and his Doomslayers cannot follow until the Curse is lifted.”

Daziel: “And it’s been four days since we attacked the troglodytes at the bridge. Who knows what defenses and preparations they have made since then?”