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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 23316" data-attributes="member: 99"> PrologueHe was short and stout, wore very heavy armor, moved incredibly slowly, walked into an area known to be occupied by Gnollish raiders and it was getting dark. To the casual observer, the figure that made his way down the road, roughly three days west of Glynden, was in a less than ideal situation.  The traveler himself thought otherwise.True, his short legs and the immense suit of plate mail that he wore conspired to place him among the slower creatures among all of creation.  But he made up for his lack of speed with his untiring stride.  It was typical for him to walk long into the night.  The darkness posed no annoyance to him whatsoever.  The starlit sky was far, far brighter than the underground homes of his folk would ever be.  As for the Gnolls reported to be in the area, they were cowards.  And if they mustered the courage to attack him, they would feel the might of one of the servants of Moradin.  He hefted his well crafted warhammer for a bit of self assurance.Ahead, jutting above the tree tops he spotted a flicker of light.  He paused and saw that it came from the top of a narrow tower.  He was unaware that anyone lived this far out from the protection of Glynden.  He made his way cautiously forward.As he approached the base of the tower, he could tell that a battle had taken place there very recently.  It was apparent that at least one of the factions involved were the Gnolls since their bodies littered the ground near the tower steps.  Most of them were charred black and there were a lot of them.  They had obviously attacked the tower en masse.  Perhaps his assessment of their cowardice was too hasty.One thing was certain, he was well inside the Gnoll's territory and there must be a sizable number of them.  It was also pretty obvious that whoever lived in that tower was no friend to the Gnolls.  Perhaps they'd give an honest dwarf a bed for the night.He climbed the stairs and called up to whoever occupied the tower, "Hullo?!"Speaks and Rhys had been sitting in the upper floor of the turret, quietly discussing how they would strike back at the Gnolls who had killed their friend.  The planning helped to distract them from the feeling of sadness that threatened to overwhelm them at the loss of their friend.  Abruptly, they heard a voice call out from below.  The grabbed weapons and ran down to the main tower roof that overlooked the stairs.  Below, they spotted a squat figure atop the stairs.  Rhys conjured a Light spell and they saw a dwarf standing before them.The dwarf squinted at the unexpected magical light.  Must be some kind of wizard that lives up in the tower.  That'd explain the fire that cooked the Gnolls.  "I'm headed west and saw there must be Gnolls about.  Would ya mind if I slept in your tower tonight?"Rhys regarded the dwarf with some suspicion.  "Where exactly are you headed?"Fair question, figured the dwarf, "I'm looking to catch up with some of my kin that were heading to the Stone Tooth.  I got a late start."The dwarf's answer checked out with what Rhys knew about the dwarven expedition to liberate the Stone Tooth from the Duergar.  He glanced at Speaks who nodded his head.  Rhys called down, "You can come in.  What's your name?"The dwarf smiled to himself.  The peoples of the west had been very hospitable so far.  Certainly more than the insular clans of the Novantae Highlands from where he came.  "The name is Irakthanbar Derin Khazundam.""What was that again?" called Rhys from above.The dwarf chuckled slightly.  He was used to that response from the humans.  They had no appreciation for the long names borne by the dwarves that reflected their noble heritage.  "My middle name translates as 'Raven'.  You can call me that."Rhys winced slightly.  The party's recent experience with ravens had been less than pleasant.  He hoped that the dwarf's name was not some sort of harbinger.  "Well, friend Raven, welcome."  Rhys descended to the windlass to lower the drawbridge.Rhys and Speaks invited Raven inside and they got acquainted as the dwarf doffed his armor for it's nightly cleaning.  They mentioned the recent loss of their comrade in arms.  As it turned out, they had more of a connection than they would have thought to the dwarf: Raven's father was the cousin of Wakenzaki, who was close friends with Krase's grandfather and became an "adopted grandfather" to Krase.Raven was very distraught to hear that Krase had been killed by the Gnolls, especially since he had recently learned that Krase and his friends were the very ones to have delved into the Stone Tooth and discovered that it was where Durgeddin had made his home.  Raven immediately put his services at the disposal of the party insofar as they could be employed to avenge Krase against his attackers.The three adventurers put their heads together and began to plot their next attack on the Gnolls and their dog-lizard allies.NEXT: Revenge!</blockquote>

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