Turn 71 -- Follow that Stench!

Figuring Ramor and the smelly man can't move too far too fast considering the wounds they received in the battle, Ortho cries out, "To the glory of IronRock! Pestkiller!!" and rushes after the departing Ramor and Co, axe in hand.

"Red Feather Company, follow me!"

"By Moraddin's bare bottom!" cries Druckner as he sees his company start off down the cavern. "Ortho, what's in that head of yours, boy?!" Druckner is now bright red and fuming, but nevertheless, he sets off after Ortho, axe at the ready before him. Weary of an ambush, he sets off at a slower pace.

Seeing his red-beared companion coming behind him, Ortho slows to allow him to catch up, "Come on, Druck, but 'ware yer backside. That hobbit's back there somewhere."

Talimar just watches the dwarves run off into the darkness, probably into a trap he thinks to himself. Feeling the blood running down his side, the elf sits down and tries to care for his wounds. He leans his sword next to him so he can use it in a hurry. Sweat pours down his face despite the chill in the dark cavern.

Looking after the charging dwarves, Kersath nods his head and smiles to himself, "What the heck? It's not like they don't know we're here or anything..." Seeing that no one else is in dire need of assistance, the dark elf readies his crossbow once again and quietly sets off amid the shadows to follow the dwarves.

Dain expresses a perplexed look after the charging dwarves before checking to insure that his wounds have indeed stopped bleeding, muttering a few curses about damn short sighted dwarves. He then moves over to look to Talimar, taking a seat beside his leader.

Turning his head to glare at Dain, Gnore snarls a retort to the caster, "Watch your tongue, mage. Ortho may be daft to tempt Death as often but he does what his will demands of him. Besides, what is it to you all if a few dwarves die in the glory of battle? And I'll not let a kin die alone." He then turns and rushes off after the other dwarves to support them. Dain merely shrugs his shoulders at the departing dwarf and pulls forth his pipe.

Randor looks down the passage where the dwarves charged and sighs, "They'll be back," he mutters. "Maybe not in great shape but they'll be back." Seeing Garth move over to assist Talimar with healing, Randor takes a seat himself on a small boulder. He keeps shield and warhammer at the ready as he pulls out a small cloth to wipe the blood and brain matter from his weapon.

Realizing that Talimar has had more of his usual luck, Garth instinctively moved over to the elf to assist Kersath. While the dark elf bandages Talimar's wounds, Garth pulls out his silver crescent moon of Selune. While it flickers in the dying light of the oil fire, he uses both hands to hold closed Talimar's wounds. In moments, a silvery blue glow lights Garth's eyes and seems to drain away. The light reappears later and runs from Garth's fingertips into Talimar's wounds. Soon, to the eyes of the night seeing, the angry red wounds are cooler as they draw close.

Hearing a commotion from down the passage, and knowing that it is probably his fellow dwarven companions, Garth says with a twinge of emotion in his voice, "I know what they feel." To the others that did not run off, he adds, "Shall we follow at a distance and pick up the pieces?"

"I will go and cover their back," says Ras as he stands from one of the dead bodies after checking it over. Twin daggers appear to spring forth from nothing into his hands before he steps into the shadows and quickly disappears from view.

"Well so much for staying together," responds Talimar. "Thank you, friend Garth, for the ministrations to my wounds. And to you as well, Kersath. Let us wait here for our companions a moment and rest, then we will follow after them." The others nod at Talimar's direction and pass around a waterskin offered from Brother Randor; Dain quietly puffing away on his pipe.

Up ahead, Ortho and Druckner doggedly follow after the retreating men, unaware that Ras and Kersath come silently and unseen behind them. They are aware of the charging form of Gnore behind them though. Ortho quickly sees that Ramor is moving at a pace much faster than everyone, one which he could not achieve without some means of magical enhancement.

"It appears our friend ahead be cheatin' in this 'ere race," Ortho puffs to the huffing Druckner beside him. Druckner merely snorts his confirmation of that to his friend.

The two dwarves and the others after them follow the retreating men south, slowly catching up with them but not quite as they move much slower in the unknown terrain. Ortho, having memorized all of Ol' Grizzler's map of the mines makes a mental note as the group moves through the area marked on the map as the Flitch of Bacon and into The Cat. He quickly sees where the narrow passage gets its name as they pass a huge, knobbed rock formation that looks vaguely like the head of a cat. The companions don't have long to ponder the likeness though as they see their prey veering toward the western chamber noted as the Grand Cascade. Ortho knows that their target then must be the chamber noted as The Shaft.

Moving through the Grand Cascade, Ortho slows the pace a bit, not wanting to charge head long into the next chamber and into an ambush. Gnore reaches them then. Ras and Kersath have yet to make their presence known.

"'Ware yeself, friends." says Ortho as he and Druckner and Gnore fan out moving through the narrow tunnel.

As they reach the center of the Grand Cascade, Ortho looks back north to the next chamber and spies the spot marked as The Shaft, he also makes out the form of one of the men apparently disappearing into the ground!

"We've got 'em now!" offers Druckner as he spots the man. Nudging his companions, they three set off to the north.

Warily moving into the chamber, the three dwarves see in the far northern corner what appears to be the namesake of the chamber. There appears to be a rather large sinkhole in the cavern floor. The hole appears to be perhaps fifteen feet in diameter. The sinkhole once must have carried on down from the surface but the miners long since shored up the upper half with wooden beams and sealed it off. Looking across the way, the dwarves see an iron rung ladder leading down into the shaft. It appears to descend perhaps forty feet or so into darkness. No movement can be seen from below.

"Well wat do we do now?" asks Ortho to the others.

As he broaches his question, Ras and Kersath both step out of the shadows at the same time from opposite sides of the chamber. The dwarves practically jump out of their distinguished beards as their companions make their silent entrance.

"Moraddin's blood!" exclaims Druckner. "How many times have I got ta tell ye not to do that, dark elf?!"

"Sorry," answers Kersath. "Old habits. You understand."

"Well, do we head on down this ladder here, or wait on the others?" offers Gnore as everyone's nerves settle slightly.