Chapter 2: On the trail of orbs, bad guys and adventure

[tumblingdice]

Albrecht keeps his flail at the ready. So far it looks like Kane's got this.

[badams30]

Seeing his possessions being rifled, Kane charges in at full speed.
(the dwarf is completely absorbed in his pilfering activities, so I'm giving Kane a bonus for his charge/tackle and a minus for the dirty dwarf)

The dwarf is oblivious, completely oblivious. His grunting and groaning and noisy activity hide the approach of Kane, who tackles the dwarf and quickly rolls him up into a ball, effectively pinning him to the ground. To Kane's surprise, the dwarf is almost literally skin and bones, and he almost rolled completely over him when he tackled him, anticipating more weight.

Despite his appearance, the dwarf has some fight in him, and he does his best to try to bite Kane, coming close, but just catching a mouthful of his robes, growling while he does so. Wide eyed with fear (and probably a little bit of crazy) the dwarf growls, baring his teeth, staring at Kane. His gaze shifts as the rest of the party quickly enters the cave, and Kane feels the fight leave the dwarf, and he quits resisting and growling. He does continue to stare at Kane with wide, scared eyes.

Kane notices it immediately, but the rest of the group does shortly after - but this disheveled dwarf smells HORRIBLE. His hair and beard is matted and has leaves and twigs caught in it, his eyes are sunken in and he has lots of insect bites and lesions on the exposed areas of his skin. He seems to be attired in some patchwork clothing, a combination of a burlap sack or tarp and remains of some trousers and a green shirt, now just in tatters. The only thing he seems to possess besides his terrific odor and rags is the broken pickaxe that was on his belt, now sitting across the floor after being dislodged in Kane's tackle.

With the end of the dwarf's activities, all is silent inside and out, except for the heavy breathing of the dwarf as he stares at you all in fear. Theo pulls some rope out and says quietly "should we tie him up, Master Kane?"

[kipper]

"Does a bear sh** in the woods?" Kane replies to Theo.

"Now, time for answers." Kane says to the dwarf after Theo finishes tying him up. "And don't make me spell it out. I'm waiting."

[tumblingdice]

Albrecht, conscious of his clerical calling, starts thinking about giving this wretched dwarf some of his rations. He holds off on opening his pack, though, until the dwarf a swers Kane's questions.

[badams30]

Theo casts a disdainful glance at Kane, but ties the dwarf up securely, yet loosely enough that he's not hogtied. The dwarf glances at all of you, but stares at Kane, clearly NOT a fan of everyone's favorite monk. He sits stone faced for about a minute. Then he looks at Albrecht, and clears his throat noisily.

His voice is raspy, almost croaking, but understandable. He says "Sorry. You ain't one of them, or you'd have killed me already. I thought you was more of them from up on the hill. I'm hungry. I ain't a hunter, I'm a miner. Best I can do is eat rats and whatever I can find."

He looks at Kane and a look of resignation crosses his face. "Just get it over with. Kill me so I can be back with my brothers."

Before anyone can say or do anything, Theo is holding a piece of his parents fresh bread up to the dwarf's mouth and says quietly "here, eat this." The dwarf nods and demolishes the large chunk of bread in a couple bites. Theo follows up with offering the dwarf a drag from his waterski, which he accepts, taking a small drink.

[connivingsumo]

Zapolas


Zapolas's anger melts away to sorrow and pity. He pulls a chunk of salty pork from his rations and offers it... at a safe distance, to the stinky dwarf.

"I also have a bit of soap; you're welcome to it." The Wizard says, shyly.

[kipper]

"Who's up on the hill, and what happened to your brothers?" Kane growls.

[badams30]

The dwarf scowls at Kane, then he sighs. "I'm Gord of Clan Rocksplitter. I'm from The Granite Halls to the north. My clan brothers and I were sent to find some special metal that this mine was supposed to have, but we was only here for a few days and them on the hill showed up one night and dragged us up to that unholy place, the place you was all looking at, I presume."

He glances at each of you and continues, "I was kept in a dark cell near my brothers, and if we tried to talk, they'd come beat us. Not sure how long I was in there for, no way to tell day and night. But they kept coming and dragging us off, one by one, at least that's how it sounded. And one day they came for me, kicked me around and said something about being put to work with the rest of my friends, and they laughed about it. They kept kicking me around, and I passed out for a moment, and when I woked up I was in a passage I hadn't seen before, but I could smell fresh air, and those two were arguing about something, and I ran for it, and made it a good ways before they noticed I took off. Just dumb luck I suppose, but I ran straight and came out a hole in the ground and just ran, I hid behind a boulder at the edge of the hill and one of them must have went to get help, and the other came out lookin' for me, and he would have found me too, if not for that big flying thing, they saw it coming and took off back underground. When that thing was circling the hill, I waited till he made a wide circle, and I ran down the hill, or I guess I half fell and half ran, and that thing caught sight of me and came back my way, lucky for me grabbed a deer or something at the base of the hill and took off with it. Those guys on top the hill came out when it was flying away and they were laughing and pointing, I think they thought it got me, 'cause they aint bothered to come look for me. Since then I been down here in the valley scrounging. Those jerks took all our tools and gear, all that was left was some burnt tents and broken stuff. I've been trying to find a way back up that hill so I could find my brothers, that is if they are still alive."

The dwarf stops talking and says "I ain't goin' nowhere, and I reckon you's here because of them up there. If you turn me loose and give me somethin to bash their heads with, I'll help you get up there, maybe you can help me find my brothers, they's all I got left."

[kipper]

Kane nods, and unties the dwarf. "Just keep your sticky fingers off of my stuff."

[tumblingdice]

Once the dwarf is loose, Albrecht will ask, "What can you tell us about the people we saw from the hilltop?"