Turn 82 -- Moving Out

Following the momentary distractions caused by the orcs, Randor stumbles over to a large rock and sits down. He begins to mumble a few words and after a while his hand glows blue and he presses it against the worst of his wounds. His wounds partially heal and close up and then he begins to bandage the rest. "I am not feeling all that good," he says as he looks up at the others. "I wonder what they were doing here? Maybe one of our sharp-eyed thieves had better check their bodies?"

Across the cavern, Ortho surveys the scene before him, "Wal, that was fun. Ah think that's three fer me," he says smiling at Gnore. "Oh no, me beautiful cloak!" exclaims Ortho after collecting his axes, "Curse ye beastie's fer messin' up me cloak!" He then removes the cloak and moves over to the edge of the pool, dipping the cloak in the water and attempting to rinse most of the blood and gore away.

Druckner winces at the fire and pain in his shoulder but calls out to the others, "Hey! I think I've got a live one 'ere. I just conked him on the noggin. Ras, you're pretty handy with the rope, you mind hog-tying this one? Does anybody speak orcish? I'd sure like to ask this filth a few questions."

As the magical energies ebb from Dain's body he slowly walks over and picks up the pair of daggers he had thrown earlier. "Sorry for the close call," he says to Kersath. "My aim seems to be slightly off today."

The dark elf simply frowns at Dain as he looks around the cavern. Dain draws forth his pipe from one of the many folds of his robe. Pulling tabac from another fold he begins to load up his pipe, within minutes smoke is billowing forth in front of the mage. "Apparently we entered their territory," he begins solemnly, speaking to no one in particular. "I can't help but wonder if there may be more. Druckner or Gnore, could you enlighten us perhaps? Is this the normal method of action for common orcs, or is something amiss?"

Gnore shoots a quick glare at the back of Ortho before moving toward the unconscious orc. Once there, he assists Ras in the securing of the orc prisoner as he takes a moment to answer Dain's question.

"If there is any sense to an orcish attack then that is strange enough. Then again, Ortho kills three, Talimar is awake and tally's a kill and I can only butcher these beasts as they turn to run away? Things are strange all over." Gnore flashes a short smirk as he and Ras finish securing the prisoner.

Ortho, busily dipping and rubbing at his cloak, calls back over his shoulder to Gnore, "Jus' cause you got that big toothpick in yer hands don't mean yer always gonna best the rest o' us in a fight. An' Tal actually got two. Doubled his production in one fight, he did!"

Kre returns from the dark shadows muttering to himself as Talimar gives Ortho a hard glare. Kre's daggers disappear from his hands into unseen hiding places on his body. He then moves forward to pick up the rope and finish fishing the body from the pool. With sword in hand, Talimar keeps his eyes on the passageway as Gnore and Druckner begin to interrogate the now conscious orc prisoner. "Kersath, Kre, why don't you two have a quick scout outside and make sure this was the lot of them."

Looking around at the mangled bodies of the dead orcs, Kersath moves to the nearest orc and after securing a dry spot on its clothing cleans his twin blades. "Well what about we move out of this stinking cavern and try to find that annoying Ramor and get this ordeal over with?" With a nod to Kre, who just dumped the decaying body on the shore of the pool, the two make their way out of the cavern to scout ahead; Kersath's thoughts on the fighter Ramor and his battle with him. As he steps from the cavern into the passageway beyond, he has to remind himself to remain calm and stay focused before his anger takes over. Having never been bested in combat nor that close to death, the dark elf's thoughts continue to focus on the hopefully inevitable rematch with Ramor. Putting the thought from his mind momentarily, he draws forth his hand crossbow and motions to Kre, daggers in hand, to move ahead of him and out of the passageway. Without a sound, the two disappear to scout the caves ahead.

Back in the cavern, Talimar moves over to Ras who is listening intently to the interrogation of the orc prisoner, even though he cannot understand the questions from Gnore or the answers of the prisoner. "Why don't you have a look over these bodies for anything of interest?" asks Talimar of the halfling. Ras nods solemnly before moving among the dead bodies. Secure in the thought of Gnore and Druckner interrogating the prisoner, Talimar sheaths his sword and moves to a spot along the cavern wall affording himself a clear view of the cavern entrance. Pulling forth his bow, he takes out an arrow and begins to take up watch, awaiting the return of Kersath and Kre.

"Drakkt cregdin gre!" snarls the orc in response to a question from Gnore. The dwarf's hand snaps out in anger, smashing into the snarled mouth of the beast before him.

"Ignorant retch," exclaims Gnore to the others. "This sorry excuse for a dung herder would rather die than answer any questions from us."

"Then p'rhaps Ah can arrange that!" smiles Ortho as he steps forward, his great axe catching the light of a nearby torch. The orc simply stares defiantly into the face of the dwarven priest as the axe blade is placed at the head of the creature.

"Wait," begins Druckner as he places his hand on the forearm of Ortho. "He's told us more than he thinks, I believe. Only one reason I know of that an orc wouldn't talk. And that's that the tribe must be near. He doesn't want us continuing because he doesn't want us ta find the others."

"Perhaps you're correct there, friend Druckner," answers Dain from a few yards away. "Look at this," he says as he lifts one of the shields from the ground. The shield bears the symbol of the orcs that first attacked the party and slew Zir'zool as well as were found in the castle when the group attacked. "Apparently, these orcs belong to that same 'BloodSkull' tribe that has attacked us before."

"'BloodSkull'?" asks Gnore to the mage.

"Why yes, I just thought of that, what do you think? Seems fitting considering the shield design."

Having regained some of his strength, Brother Randor stands and makes his way across the cavern to the pool and the decaying body. As the Hand of Tyr gets closer to the body, the stench of decaying flesh becomes almost overwhelming. Randor's hand flies to his nose in an effort to shield it from the stench. Fighting back nausea, Randor leans down and slowly turns the dead body over. Looking at the body, Randor can tell that it was only recently dumped in the pool, a few weeks ago perhaps. The flesh on the face has been nibbled on and torn away in several places by fish, the left eye completely ripped from it's socket.

"If this is the cave of the kidnappers, why would this body be dumped?" wonders Randor to himself as he searches the body. He can tell from the garments that the man was a mage of some stature. According to all he knows about the kidnappers, the man should have been everything they were looking for. Reaching inside the torn tunic, Randor pulls forth a garnet-encrusted gold brooch. As he looks over the brooch, he suddenly takes a step back from the body, realization dawning in his mind.

"Diseased!" he whispers as he takes a closer look at the body, keeping his distance of course. The body has several pock marks on the skin and some weird coloring to it and even though the body has apparently been in the water for a few weeks, the fish have not eaten from it as much as one would think.

Making a mental note to turn the brooch over to Ras, he pockets it before walking over to join the conversation around the orc prisoner. Having exhausted all avenues of questioning the prisoner and getting no answers, Gnore has finally decided to give up the questioning; although he was rather enjoying the slapping around part of the interrogation. Taking a thick piece of cloth from his backpack, he fastens a gag for the orc and pushes him to the side near Bob.

As everyone moves forward to gather around Talimar, Kre and Kersath return from scouting and report.

"We took the north passage out of here and went through the chamber marked 'Fairyland' on the map." begins Kersath. "Nothing unusual there. The right chamber opened into another empty cavern. We then continued north into the 'Chamber of the All-Hearing Gods'. Empty as well. At that point we decided to return."

"Well I definitely say we get out of this chamber," answers Talimar. "I don't want to be attacked in this chamber again with no way of retreat."

"Ha! Retreat?" exclaims Ortho with a wink to Gnore, "Why am Ah not surprised it's the elf speakin' of retreat?!"

Gnore laughs at the jest from Ortho while Talimar once again ignores the dwarven priest. "Get Bob and our orc prisoner and let's be off then. Kre, Kersath and Ras at the point again with the rest of us following."

The others nod and quickly file out into the passageway, Bob and the orc in the middle of the group. Heading north about twenty paces, the group comes into the 'Fairyland' chamber. Apparently the name comes from the many-colored hues in the rock here; orange, yellow, speckles of blue garlstone, and brown delights the eyes of the companions. This part of the cavern is very rocky underfoot and the group has to slow down somewhat to keep from stumbling.

The companions file through the 40 by 50 foot chamber and emerge to face the fork beyond. Kersath, Kre and Ras step out of the shadows as the others approach, waiting on the group to catch up and decide which passage to take.

"Let's continue toward the Grand Cavern," offers Talimar. "As long as there are no enemies behind us in the 'Crab Petals', we should continue on."

Kersath and Kre both shake their heads at the mention of any trouble in the Crab Petals and the others agree to continue on northward. The thieves and the dark elf quickly set out scouting ahead as the others wait a moment before following. Ortho and Gnore continue to prod Bob and the orc forward, each trying their best to slow the party as much as possible. Gnore points out the agitation of the orc to Ortho and they both share a smile as they realize they must be going the right way.

Continuing northwest for another seventy feet brings the group into the Chamber of the All-Hearing Gods. It is easy to see how the chamber got its name as to the north there appears to be a curious scalloped depression in the floor area resembling a human ear. There is nothing else of interest in the cavern. To be safe, the party fans out and searches through the large chamber with weapons drawn. Finding nothing, everyone forms back together and starts toward the narrow chamber to the north. As the group gets closer, the orc becomes more and more agitated. Gnore grabs a hold of the orcs bonds and tries to shake some silence and submission into him. Grunting and trying to break free of the bonds, the orc finally gives that up and knocks a shoulder into Gnore, sending him sprawling to the cavern floor. With a free path, the orc takes off running toward the passage beyond. Ortho quickly grabs one of his hand axes and before Kersath and Kre can move to intercept the orc, launches the weapon at the fleeing creature. His aim true once again, the orc falls to the ground with the axe lodged in its back.

"Anot'er one fer me," smiles Ortho to Gnore as the dwarf rises from the ground, knocking dirt from his clothing.

Talimar frowns to the pair of dwarves and motions for silence as Kersath moves over to pull the body to the side. Ortho retrieves his axe and turns a meaningful glare to Bob. The bandit nods toward Ortho and bows his head in acquiescence.

The northern passage continues about thirty feet before curving slightly southward before turning east and opening into the Grand Cavern. This large chamber appears to be roughly 130 feet across by 80 feet at its deepest. This appears to be the most worked of all the chambers in the mining complex. Apparently it was also the headquarters of the group as there are three beds in the chamber, reserved for Ramor, Imrin and Shilek no less. Talimar motions to everyone to fan out and search the cavern. Several minutes of quiet searching lead to nothing before Ras lets out a slight yell from the far northeast corner of the cave. Hidden behind some large boulders is a short passageway that leads to some steps that lead down to another passageway farther on. Talimar looks to the group and seeing a nod from everyone, the group starts down the stairs.

The twisting passageway beyond goes north and east for another 40 feet or so before coming to end at a rather large doorway, perhaps 9 or so feet in height. It is a very solid and sturdy door and locked tight. There are two keyholes in the front though.

"Well what now?" asks Talimar as he looks to the others.