Interludes
Quickly the party hurry back, through the fungus filled cavern and back to the mine carts. Still making the best haste they can, they use their mine cart to travel back towards their entrance gate, pausing only to make sure that they haul their golden statue along with them which they won from the dragons small hoard.
Just as they prepare to enter the main thoroughfare of the gatehouse they become aware of gnollish voices snarling at one another. They burst open the doors and surprise a group of five gnoll warriors playing cards around a makeshift table. Trajan steps forward and with three blows kills the two nearest him. Anne-Marie makes a somersaulting leap across the table and polishes off two more. Taran puts on his best darktongue and says
“You will lead us to the exit or we will gut you like a sheep”.
Overwhelmed by the speed and power of their attack, the gnoll capitulates. He leads them out past the main guards at the front and down the track outside the crater ridge. Halfway down the track they pause to question him. There isn’t much information available, it seems he is merely a mercenary guard for hire. Apparently most of the conflict occurs between the various elemental temples around the rim of the crater ridge mines. The gnoll pleads to be allowed to escape to his freedom in the wilderness. Anne-Marie is becoming uncharacteristically bloodthirsty and votes to cut him down right now, but cooler heads prevail and he is released unarmed.
Trajan, Taran and Anne-Marie, the only survivors, manage to return to Rastor that evening. Before settling down to bed, Taran pays a visit to the local undertaker and arranges for a coffin to be delivered for “a friend”. He wants this friend to be transported back to Morannon (to his cohort, Dominic’s villa.) The undertaker is given warm assurances of money should things go well, and dire consequences if his friends body is interfered with. Taran brings back the coffin heavy with the weight of his “friend”. Actually containing (amongst much padding) the large golden statue which weighed about 160lb. Now safely en-route to his main base of operations.
That evening Taran hears a whisper which indicates that Dominic is scrying him again, and is ready for a chat. Gladly he listens to what his friend has been discovering.
“ Taran, I’m sorry to hear about the death of those other two adventurers, especially since you’ve lost your local arcane support with the death of that Mendonnan woman. I’ve got some good news though”
“Speak on, Dominic”
“There is a woman, a necromancer, here amongst the halls of wizardry in Morannon. Her power rivals my own, although she concentrates on the arts of life and death rather than information like I do. I think she would be a good match for your adventuring group since she is not evil despite her professed subject matter. I’ve had some initial contact and conversation with her and she is very amenable to joining up with you. Apparently she has some good reasons for leaving the city at the moment and it will only take a few days to ride down to Rastor. Her name is Tania”.
“Thanks, Dominic. I’ve sent a coffin across to you containing a large gold statue. Please see that it gets melted down and the gold sold to good jewellers – the ones on sharp street, I’d suggest. Everything else going OK?”
After a little more chit-chat they cease their connection and Taran talks to the others about Tania. They decide to welcome her into their company when she arrives in a few days time.
Next: re-entering the mines...