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"We encountered a dog-man fleeing from something in this direction--we assumed it was you, so we came this way. In what way can we aid you?" Kieros continues.

"Do you think they could catch the dog-man before it brings its friends?" Lug asks Orrin. "Or maybe they know how far away the dog man came from, how many friends it has, or who runs this area of the mountain? Heck, even a map would be a big help."

"I mean, if they wanted to join us and fight with us, that'd be great, but I wouldn't expect that."

"We're also injured. If they have any aptitude for healing, it would be well appreciated.", Bertram chimes in.

"How did you enter this hold?" Krysta asks.
"Is there another way out?"

Kieros nods and smiles. "We slew the dog man as he fled toward us. We left his body where it fell. We came in through the passage above, where you met us before. The way remains clear from here to there." He frowns and shakes his head as he is asked about healing. "Unfortunately, we have no power to heal. If you require assistance, we can move to a safer place and help watch over you, if you like."

If they know of a place safer than where we are, Galen is willing to relocate. Otherwise, they can join us here. If the gnoll is dead, we probably have time to rest and recover our spells.

Lug visibly relaxes. "Hey, thanks," he says through Orrin's translation. "I thought we was dead for sure cause the dog man would bring more friends back. Still, we'd better be where they haven't seen us. If you know a place that's safer than here, I'm all for it."

While the others inspect the hallway and discuss with the northern barbarians, Niles heaves, drags, and flops the dead enemies into the piles of spilled oil to make it easier to burn their remains when it is time to depart. He puffs and grunts, seeming very displeased with himself, muttering about next time and attention to chronophysical parameters.

Bertram bandages his wounds as best he can before they move out again.

May 26, 1 VC - 3:00pm

The three northmen lead the party out of the area after they have a chance to pile up the corpses and set them alight, and regroup. The party travels swiftly down narrow halls of dwarven residences, further into the mountain and around corners. Eventually they reach a set of narrow stairs leading up that lead roughly back toward the caldera, but at the top a passage perpendicular to the stairs stretches left and right. The party heads right toward a pinpoint of light, passing by a number of doors standing slightly ajar or jammed closed by half-collapses of the surrounding stone, and then finds itself perched above the slope on which they had treated with Kieros and his companions some time before. There, with rope ready at the edge of the drop for easy escape, the group makes an uncomfortable but defensible camp in the late morning.

The northmen keep the watch, mainly, so the party members can rest, and those who remain awake see the sentry crouched near the lip of the passage tense up several times near and after mid-day, presumably as some threat passes below. As the sun begins to drift into the afternoon sky, those members of the party not memorizing spells, who have grown restless, are alarmed to see the sentry turn, face stern, and point below. Creeping to the edge, the party can see a band of more than a dozen goblinoids arrayed below: two ogres, six orcs, and seven gnolls. They are some distance away (perhaps sixty feet away and almost twenty feet below) but in plain sight of the passage, and they have obviously spied the party. As the party nears the edge, one of the orcs turns and addresses the group:

"Ho, intruders! You are trespassing on the territory of Sazik the Mighty! Come down and surrender yourselves to his judgment or face the consequences." He makes a motion to one of the ogres, that steps away from the group, scanning the ground in search of a large rock it can pick up.

No rewinding needed for me. We put our trust in Keiros and friends and it is what it is. Let's talk about how best to fight or flee from these new threats and move on.

"Urgh...not...enough...rest," Krysta complains, waking to find themselves in hot water. She sighs and breathes a prayer to Pelor as she checks her gear, especially her supply of sling bullets.
"Since they are below us, what is the chance of sending some boulders or loose rocks down upon them as we make our getaway? Should we have to fight, at least being above them gives us the advantage, no?"

Niles willingly followed the warriors, both foreign and domestic, to this new location. The night sky, the faint glow of the sulfurous caldera, not a bad place to sleep. That is, while he could sleep. Five hours? "Nrghflbrglm..." he mutters into the furry side of Ferris, his wolfhound. "No. Nope. Not getting up." He tries to roll over and ignore the situation.