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<blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 1009" data-attributes="member: 99"><p><strong>Final Encounter with the Duergar - Words or Swords</strong></p><p></p><p>The group cautiously ascended the stairs back into the throne room. As they went, a quick conversation was conducted in Gnollish (a language shared by Speaks, Krase and Rhys but not by Ilrath or the Duergar). Speaks urged Rhys to be generous with the dwarves when it came to the money. He also mentioned that Rhys should warn the Duergar that the "combined forces of Glynden and the Fodor barbarians" (i.e. the party) would need to "withdraw from the region" in order to "secure the rest of the barbarian lands against the remaining orcs." As a result, the mountain could fall back into the hands of the orcs before reinforcements could be spared to help guard the upper levels.</p><p></p><p>All of that was technically true. But whether Rhys could bring himself to say it with a straight face was yet to be seen.</p><p></p><p>In a few moments, they found themselves before Nimira. She questioned them about their success with Nightscale, whether they recovered the weapons they were after, what else her hoard consisted of and why they were leaving so abruptly.</p><p></p><p>Rhys answered that the dragon was defeated with relative ease, that they had recovered the weapons they sought and that they had realized how long they had spent in the mountain and needed to get the weapons back to their leadership so that they could be employed against the orcs. With regards to the treasure, Rhys turned over all of the silver and most of the gold to Nimira. He additionally mentioned that they had left behind the corpse of Nightscale (minus the head) for the dwarves to deal with as they saw fit. Ilrath handed over the (non-mithril) breastplate he recovered from the shrine.</p><p></p><p>Rhys made it a point to mention that this was in excess of the third of the treasure that they strictly owed the dwarves per their agreement (it also completely discounted the value of the armor and the wand they recovered - Sense Motive check for Nimira). But in light of the fact that it would be some time before the people of the Glynden-Fodor alliance could return to resume trade, they wished to do whatever they could to foster the goodwill of the dwarves.</p><p></p><p>Nimira was happy at the treasure distribution (She has no skill at Sense Motive and Rhys is quite good at Bluff) but still wanted promises of when she could expect help from the Glynden-Fodor men to aid in guarding her caverns. Rhys offered no concrete terms and could only say that they would discuss the matter with the leaders of the alliance as soon as possible. He also urged her to be on guard against any "wandering orcs" who had escaped the notice of the alliance army.</p><p></p><p>With these vague promises, considerable distortions of the truth and a sprinkling of outright lies, the party bade Nimira good luck and goodbye. They were escorted beyond the iron door and through the Glitterhame by a pair of Duergar who were on their way to take up watch at the archer gallery in the Mountain Door.</p><p></p><p>When the party arrived back at the entrance, they discovered it was early afternoon and that if they hurried, they could make it to the base of the mountain by dark. But, Krase wanted to make one more inspection of the items they had cached from the orcs to see if any of them were of exceptional quality. He spent somewhat over a quarter hour doing this before the group departed the Mountain Door and began their descent.</p><p></p><p>There were several inches of snow on the path down the mountain and footing was treacherous. Krase slipped once but managed to catch himself before he plummeted over the cliff edge and fell 80 feet to the next ledge down.</p><p></p><p>As they made their way down the various loops and switchbacks of the trail, they came around the northern side of the mountain to an unwelcome sight below. In the dimness of twilight, Rhys spotted an encampment of some two to three score orcs in the valley below. They were camped fairly close to the bottom of the trail and were breaking camp as the group watched.</p><p></p><p>They knew that it was impossible to reach the bottom of the trail before the orcs got there. They were trapped between the orcs and the Mountain Door. None of them wanted to place their fate in the hands of Nimira again. They hurried down the trail further until they were on the opposite face of the mountain. If they descended any further, they would find themselves on a series of switchbacks where any descent would put them in the path of the orcs.</p><p></p><p>On the eastern face of the mountain they were as close to the valley floor as they could get but there was no path down. They would be forced to do a hasty, dangerous rappel down as steep (approximately 60 degree), sporadically snow covered, cliff face, in the dark while tired with little climbing expertise among the party. Rhys' spells were not an option since they party had not rested since awakening in the Black Lake.</p><p></p><p>A brief search discovered a ledge, large enough for the party to use as a halfway point, 85 feet down the face. 70 feet below that was the ground. Ilrath volunteered to belay the others and then free climb down by himself since he was the only one with any real skill at climbing. Krase went first and was successful at making the ledge. Rhys followed and also made it safely. About this time, it dawned on Speaks that Arc would have a tough time managing climbing down the rope (what with no thumbs and all). He tied the end of the rope to the wolf and then he and Ilrath let it out slowly to allow Arc to "walk" down the cliff.</p><p></p><p>After Arc was a short distance down, Speaks followed, knowing that the orcs couldn't be far away now. As he and Arc neared the ledge, Speaks slipped. He made a desperate grab for the rope but his cold numbed hands failed him. He began to slide and then tumble down the steep face. He fell all the way to the bottom. Worse still, Arc panicked as Speaks fell by and managed to pull free from the poorly tied harness. He too went cartwheeling down the mountain.</p><p></p><p>Miraculously, both survived, but there was little time for celebration. As Ilrath made it down to the ledge, he, Rhys and Krase heard voices from above. The orcs had rounded the mountain. The three young men hugged the cliff face, hoping to escape the notice of the orcs. But their trail too obviously ended at the edge of the cliff and moments later, some of the orcs spotted the trio huddled next to the steep wall.</p><p></p><p>With their cover blown, all three began a rapid descent as the orcs hurriedly readied missile weapons and began to fire at them. This was especially bad because the two warriors had removed their new mithril breastplates to facilitate their descent. Fortunately (as far as that word applies to this situation) the best line of fire was at Rhys who still wore the practically non-encumbering mithril chain shirt. He still took a couple of arrows but managed to survive until he worked his way into a narrow crevasse that hid him from the orcs.</p><p></p><p>The three of them made it to the bottom without taking the "express ride" as had Speaks and Arc. But as they observed from below, they could make out dimly that nearly half of the orcs had turned around and begun descending the trail on the mountainside.</p><p></p><p>The group was now tired, battered, without spells, without shelter, in knee deep snow and had, at most, a handful of hours before a score of orcs would be on top of them. In other words, things were about like normal.</p><p></p><p><strong>NEXT: A Risky Gamble</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rel, post: 1009, member: 99"] [B]Final Encounter with the Duergar - Words or Swords[/B] The group cautiously ascended the stairs back into the throne room. As they went, a quick conversation was conducted in Gnollish (a language shared by Speaks, Krase and Rhys but not by Ilrath or the Duergar). Speaks urged Rhys to be generous with the dwarves when it came to the money. He also mentioned that Rhys should warn the Duergar that the "combined forces of Glynden and the Fodor barbarians" (i.e. the party) would need to "withdraw from the region" in order to "secure the rest of the barbarian lands against the remaining orcs." As a result, the mountain could fall back into the hands of the orcs before reinforcements could be spared to help guard the upper levels. All of that was technically true. But whether Rhys could bring himself to say it with a straight face was yet to be seen. In a few moments, they found themselves before Nimira. She questioned them about their success with Nightscale, whether they recovered the weapons they were after, what else her hoard consisted of and why they were leaving so abruptly. Rhys answered that the dragon was defeated with relative ease, that they had recovered the weapons they sought and that they had realized how long they had spent in the mountain and needed to get the weapons back to their leadership so that they could be employed against the orcs. With regards to the treasure, Rhys turned over all of the silver and most of the gold to Nimira. He additionally mentioned that they had left behind the corpse of Nightscale (minus the head) for the dwarves to deal with as they saw fit. Ilrath handed over the (non-mithril) breastplate he recovered from the shrine. Rhys made it a point to mention that this was in excess of the third of the treasure that they strictly owed the dwarves per their agreement (it also completely discounted the value of the armor and the wand they recovered - Sense Motive check for Nimira). But in light of the fact that it would be some time before the people of the Glynden-Fodor alliance could return to resume trade, they wished to do whatever they could to foster the goodwill of the dwarves. Nimira was happy at the treasure distribution (She has no skill at Sense Motive and Rhys is quite good at Bluff) but still wanted promises of when she could expect help from the Glynden-Fodor men to aid in guarding her caverns. Rhys offered no concrete terms and could only say that they would discuss the matter with the leaders of the alliance as soon as possible. He also urged her to be on guard against any "wandering orcs" who had escaped the notice of the alliance army. With these vague promises, considerable distortions of the truth and a sprinkling of outright lies, the party bade Nimira good luck and goodbye. They were escorted beyond the iron door and through the Glitterhame by a pair of Duergar who were on their way to take up watch at the archer gallery in the Mountain Door. When the party arrived back at the entrance, they discovered it was early afternoon and that if they hurried, they could make it to the base of the mountain by dark. But, Krase wanted to make one more inspection of the items they had cached from the orcs to see if any of them were of exceptional quality. He spent somewhat over a quarter hour doing this before the group departed the Mountain Door and began their descent. There were several inches of snow on the path down the mountain and footing was treacherous. Krase slipped once but managed to catch himself before he plummeted over the cliff edge and fell 80 feet to the next ledge down. As they made their way down the various loops and switchbacks of the trail, they came around the northern side of the mountain to an unwelcome sight below. In the dimness of twilight, Rhys spotted an encampment of some two to three score orcs in the valley below. They were camped fairly close to the bottom of the trail and were breaking camp as the group watched. They knew that it was impossible to reach the bottom of the trail before the orcs got there. They were trapped between the orcs and the Mountain Door. None of them wanted to place their fate in the hands of Nimira again. They hurried down the trail further until they were on the opposite face of the mountain. If they descended any further, they would find themselves on a series of switchbacks where any descent would put them in the path of the orcs. On the eastern face of the mountain they were as close to the valley floor as they could get but there was no path down. They would be forced to do a hasty, dangerous rappel down as steep (approximately 60 degree), sporadically snow covered, cliff face, in the dark while tired with little climbing expertise among the party. Rhys' spells were not an option since they party had not rested since awakening in the Black Lake. A brief search discovered a ledge, large enough for the party to use as a halfway point, 85 feet down the face. 70 feet below that was the ground. Ilrath volunteered to belay the others and then free climb down by himself since he was the only one with any real skill at climbing. Krase went first and was successful at making the ledge. Rhys followed and also made it safely. About this time, it dawned on Speaks that Arc would have a tough time managing climbing down the rope (what with no thumbs and all). He tied the end of the rope to the wolf and then he and Ilrath let it out slowly to allow Arc to "walk" down the cliff. After Arc was a short distance down, Speaks followed, knowing that the orcs couldn't be far away now. As he and Arc neared the ledge, Speaks slipped. He made a desperate grab for the rope but his cold numbed hands failed him. He began to slide and then tumble down the steep face. He fell all the way to the bottom. Worse still, Arc panicked as Speaks fell by and managed to pull free from the poorly tied harness. He too went cartwheeling down the mountain. Miraculously, both survived, but there was little time for celebration. As Ilrath made it down to the ledge, he, Rhys and Krase heard voices from above. The orcs had rounded the mountain. The three young men hugged the cliff face, hoping to escape the notice of the orcs. But their trail too obviously ended at the edge of the cliff and moments later, some of the orcs spotted the trio huddled next to the steep wall. With their cover blown, all three began a rapid descent as the orcs hurriedly readied missile weapons and began to fire at them. This was especially bad because the two warriors had removed their new mithril breastplates to facilitate their descent. Fortunately (as far as that word applies to this situation) the best line of fire was at Rhys who still wore the practically non-encumbering mithril chain shirt. He still took a couple of arrows but managed to survive until he worked his way into a narrow crevasse that hid him from the orcs. The three of them made it to the bottom without taking the "express ride" as had Speaks and Arc. But as they observed from below, they could make out dimly that nearly half of the orcs had turned around and begun descending the trail on the mountainside. The group was now tired, battered, without spells, without shelter, in knee deep snow and had, at most, a handful of hours before a score of orcs would be on top of them. In other words, things were about like normal. [B]NEXT: A Risky Gamble[/B] [/QUOTE]
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