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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DoctorB" data-source="post: 102677" data-attributes="member: 903">SecretsMy name is Rolf Wolfcaller.  I am a dwarf of the Mountain and a servant of Her spirit.  I am also a keeper of secrets.Others have spoken of my first meeting with the Champions of the Lady when they rescued me from torture and death at the hands of several hill giants.  I owe them a life-debt for that, though I would never speak of such a thing to them openly.  They did not know the service they did for the Mountain.  I am the eyes and ears of the High General, the Kurnzarn, in the wider world.  I travel in the Free Kingdoms in the guise of a merchant selling my trained animals.  My animals aid me in watching for danger to the Dwarvenrealm.  I have trained hundreds, but my dearest friends are Nar and Ang, my wolf companions.  When the Champions approached the sacred Mountain of the Dwarvenrealm, I recalled my debt and made sure to aid them in whatever way I could.Having settled them into the trading town, I went to the Council of Nine to petition for the Champions’ entry into our home.  As one of the nine Defenders of the Mountain I have some sway with the council, but I was not prepared for the reaction when I told of their errand.  Cobbe had told me they are seeking the Salutorum, a gift given by Lord Horus to Regor Blackblade, a Companion of the great Alexander.  The Council erupted into argument.   It seems the Council already had a secret plan to try and retrieve the weapon of Regor Blackblade and they worried that these humans had suspicious timing arriving at the time they did.The Drukar, Rigall Stronhome, though physically frail, looked through me with his piercing eyes.“How can these people have our own interests at heart when they concern themselves with the entire world?”I answered the leader of the council with a proverb:“Both gold and granite fear the touch of the pickaxe.”Rigall nodded.“How do you explain these outsiders’ incredible timing?” demanded Sidroc Warweaver, the Kurnzarn.“I believe, High General, that their own goddess and Mother Mountain have sent them here to aid us when we might have failed alone.”I bowed and took my leave, but heated argument followed me out until the great doors closed, cutting off the sound.After four days of waiting, the Council still could not decide.  Rigall held a narrow majority in favor of granting the Champions entry and asking for their help, but he hoped to convince the others.  They finally decided to see the strangers, though.  I watched from the observation seat as they confronted Cobbe and his companions.  Sitting at their raised half-circle stone table, the Council seemed to tower over their visitors.After formally hearing Cobbe’s request to retrieve the Salutorum so the Champions could recall Lord Horus, the Council displayed their uncertainty.  The Kurnzarn finally allowed that they might be able to help, but first he insisted that they must swear to reveal nothing of the secrets of the Dwarves to anyone else.  While most of the Champions quickly agreed, Toiva recoiled.  As he had announced to any who would listen, he had become a Holy Liberator of the Lady and would not have himself constrained.“Why can you not rely on my discretion?” He asked.“We trust your discretion,” replied Sidroc, “but if you tell someone we must rely on their discretion and then that of every person he tells.  Eventually, someone’s discretion will fail.”Finally, Toiva nodded.  Grumbling to himself he swore on the grave of Claudia of Tilea.  That seemed to satisfy the Council.Galena seemed pleased she had sworn only not to tell anyone.  Sidroc cautioned the others to watch her.“She is of the Tower,” he said “and we do not yet know if they are enemies or allies.”Smiling at the wrangling over oaths, Rigall turned his gaze on the Champions.“Before you will understand the difficulty of what you ask, I must relate to you something only dwarves of the Mountain have known for four hundred years.  You see, though the Sazoni threaten us, we are already at war…”</blockquote>

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