Turn 69 -- Intruders!!

"Naye, not me," replies Ortho to Kersath's inquiry of one of the casters dispelling the protective ward. "Ah'd be surprised if any of us could dispel the ward. Why not use it to our advantage?" There is a slight twinkle in the eye of the dwarven priest as he shifts his great axe in his hands and turns to address the entire group, "Here's me plan: Let me an' one other set up a false camp near the ward like we was in here minin'. The rest of you hide out in the shadows or down the other tunnels an' wait. Ah'll 'accidentally' trip the ward. Me an' me mate will be all the varmints see when they come oot o' their hole. After they commit themselves to attackin' us, the rest of you fall upon them from all sides. Works great with goblins an' such. What do you all say?"

"Who'll stand beside me while we do a lil fishin'? Here's yer chance to be the bait. What say you, friend Gnore? Garth? Druckner? I think it would be most believeable if another dwarf were ta join me."

Ortho scans the entire company, the prospect of battle has put a mischievous light in Ortho's eyes.

Upon hearing the dwarf's suggested plan, Kersath's eyes widen in surprise mixed somewhat with horror. "By the heavens! Don't you see? Our whole advantage lies in our ability to surprise the enemy, although your suggested plan would certainly do that, from my personal experience, it is best to get rid of enemies quickly and quietly. Your plan would make such a racket that we would lose any chance of surprise later! I think we should try to find a way around it, however difficult it might be. The whole point of fighting in areas like this, where some of your senses are impaired, is to use all the other ones more efficiently. So if we make noise, we doom ourselves to any and all chance of surprise we might have."

"Okay, elf, Ah'll grant ye that me plan will reveal our presence," begins Ortho as he turns to face the dark elf, "But surprise? Wal, the surprise will be on the varmints!"

"What, pray tell is yer idee? Ah don't hear a plan from ye. Come on, out with it! It burns me bunyons when someone cuts down one of me woonderful ideas but offers no alternative! So, elf, what is YER great idee as to how we get past yonder ward? Ah'll sneak if ye tell me how. Else, lets ambushk 'em!" Ortho ends his speech with arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently while he waits for Kersath to detail his magnificent plan.

Before Kersath can answer, Randor turns back from looking at the smoky form of the wyvern, "I'm not sure what we should do here. Anyone who steps through that area will be paralyzed. I can not think of a way to get past it. There are spells to counteract such things but I am not yet powerful enough to cast them yet."

With a deep frown, the priest of Tyr moves forward to inspect the area guarded by the wyvern, being sure not to get close enough to set it off.

"I hate magic," mutters Kre from opposite the form of the wyvern, "especially the guarding types. If anyone can get rid of it, we can hurry up and get on with this. Hey Ortho, did Grizzler tell you about some other traps or other little quirks in these caverns?"

Momentarily distracted from the pondering dark elf, Ortho turns to answer Kre, "Nah, but if yer worried Ah'm sure that Randor or Garth could provide us with a Find Traps spell to enlighten our passage. Unfortunately, Ah don't think there's an easy way around the ward that Kersath found. How about we go fishin'?"

Garth motions the others to be quiet for a moment. Speaking softly, he enlightens his comrades, "Whoever cast this spell must be near by. This type of spell usually lasts no longer than a third of a day. Since we never saw anyone come out of the mine in a longer time than that, whoever cast it is still in there." He punctuates this statement with a jerk of his thumb towards the trapped tunnel.

"If triggered, it's effect is rarely more than a few brief moments of paralyzation. So I assume that there must be guards nearby to wait for it to be triggered. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a secondary trap waiting to let off an alarm"

Stroking his red beard with his stubby fingers, Garth muses, "Maybe it was cast to keep someone in, not out?"

Ceasing his musings, he waves away his conjecture and continues, "Anyway, if we keep a hidden watch nearby, we can surprise whoever passes by when they come to cast it again or continue on when the spell fails."

With a shrug, he adds, "That is if we are patient and want to maintain our surprise." Finishing his little dialogue, Garth grows quiet once again to see how his companions decide to use his observations.

"Wal that's a dandy idee! Let's do 'er!" exclaims Ortho. "Ah wasn't all that anxious to trip the ward anyway. Kersath, what say you to Garth's plan?"

After hearing the wise dwarf's plan, Kersath thinks a bit, then replies, "There is much wisdom in your words, my friend. You obviously have a deeper understanding of this magic than most of us. I think that waiting to surprise whoever is trying to surprise us is perfectly fine. There is just one problem--If we decide to go about that plan, we cannot ALL stay and wait to surprise whoever is here. Only a few of us should stay, those of us who can actually stay to the shadows and be quiet," he says this with a quick look to Kre. "And once in a while, perhaps switch guards. The rest of you can wait outside and we'll come out when we have some results. Or perhaps when we're simply sick of waiting. I suggest that Ras, Kre, meself and perhaps Talimar stay here and wait. The only problem is, we do not know how much time we'll have to wait before somebody comes, if at all."

Druckner speaks up after Kersath finishes, "Well, Garth said that this spell last about the third part of a day. So, I figure that's about the longest we'll have to wait. Either they come to renew their spell or it fades and we can go through."

"As for who stays to watch the magical ward, I want to be part of that group. I'll hardly have any problems staying quieter than you lost. You'd think it's the first time you'd stepped into a dark mine!"

"What do we do when we spot something?" inquires the fiery dwarf. "He or they might be headed for the exit, so we would need a signal. Or we might want to jump a fellow if he was alone."

"Ye know Ah'll come a runnin'!" exclaims Ortho. "But why wait eight hours or so? Why not just send one of the horses down the passage and through the ward? Ah'm not too disposed to waiting, in gen'ral."

Gnore listens to Ortho and nods his head, "If I'd had known we would wait for a room to become friendly, I'd have volunteered to take the horses back to town. How about if we throw an object down the ward? Will that trigger the ward? Or one of the horses will work just as well as Ortho mentioned." Gnore shrugs as he finishes and waits for a response from the others.

Garth ponders the suggestion a moment and says, "Aye, I don't see any reason why a horse wouldn't set off the trap. But, assuming you get him down here without him skitterin' or breaking a leg, how do you propose getting past him once he is paralyzed and filling up the corridor?"

Hearing Ortho and Garth's suggestion, Kersath shakes his head in disagreemnt, "If you send a horse down that tunnel we lose all the point of surprising the enemy. Wouldn't YOU be just a little suspicious to find a big horse paralyzed by your ward? The horse will also make noise, which kind of beats the purpose of staying quiet. I think, in my opinion, waititing is what we can do for now, unless of course, one of you would like to trigger the ward themselves?"

With a look of frustration on his face, Ortho speaks up, "Wal, that WAS my original suggestion. But Ah'll wait if it makes ye happy."

He then turns to address Gnore and Druckner, "Never been around a darkie elf afore. Get flustered easy, don't they?"

Smiling as Ortho states his observation of Elves, Gnore gives a wink and a nod, "It is in my opinion that all elves get flustered easily."

Having had enough of the banter back and forth between Ortho and Kersath, Gnore moves beside the pair and offers his thoughts, "Now Ortho, Kersath is used to a different approach to situations. It is the fault of the elf's blood in him." He winks with a smile to Talimar as well. "But his words do hold some wisdom. We have no idea how many, if any, foes lie waiting in these caverns. We don't know how many fools will respond to the ward and I don't want to face them stone stiff." Gnore states calmly before turning to the rest of the company.

"Still, we are running out of solutions quickly. If the casters can not dispell the ward, then we may have to fall on to Ortho's plan. How about if the casters combine their might? Do you think then the ward can be banished?"

The casters in the group shake their heads in unison. "Not possible," answers Dain. "The problem lies in the lack of the knowledge of a dweomer to dispell the ward, not a lack of power."

Talimar shakes his head in annoyance with the dwarves' impatience and nods in agreement with the others objections. He then quickly comes to a decision, "We shall stay with the original plan. We don't know what we may be facing down here, so I feel we had better be cautious than charge blindly into what could be an overwhelming situation."

"We know this is not a permanent spell and will have to be recast regularly. Therefore, myself, Kersath, Ras, Kre and Druckner will conceal ourselves as close as possible to the ward. With infravision there should be no telltale signs to give away our presence."

"The rest should find somewhere to hide where you can come to help when needed. I am sure the sounds of fighting can bring you running."

Deep frowns line the faces of Gnore and Ortho each as Ortho shakes his head at the plan. "Hey Druckner, looks like Gnore an' me will be awaitin' ootside fer y'all ta call. Ye watch oot fer yerself an' keep yer back to a wall. An' keep Tal awake if ye can. Don' want 'im sleepin' on ta job again." With that, Ortho turns about and begins to trudge after the others that are heading toward the exit to the mines.

Before he can exit, Druckner answers him, "Yeah Ortho, don't you worry your head 'bout me. Someone has to stay and keep an eye on them elves." He then nods in the direction of Tal, Kersath and Kre. "And you guys should be on your guards too. Who's to say there's not a patrol of orcs just about to return."

Ortho waves back at his dwarven companion before he disappears around a bend in the cavern. The group of Ortho, Gnore, Garth, Dain and Randor move about fifty feet or so up the passageway before stopping. They are not visible to their other companions but still within earshot of them. They settle down in the small passageway to await the springing of the trap. Gnore quickly places his great bastard sword in his lap as he takes a seat on the cavern floor, his head quickly moving down to rest on his chest, his eyes closing moments later. The others take up similar positions of comfort, not knowing how long they may be waiting.

At the cavern entrance Ras, Kre, Kersath, Talimar and Druckner each take up positions of hiding behind various fallen boulders or stalagmites on the cavern floor. Each can see the others as well as the cavern before them and the shadowy form of the wyvern.

What amounts to about four hours time passes with no change or activity in the cavern before the group. With each passing moment, the tension increases for the companions on guard as they get tired of waiting. The others up the passageway are rather calm as they relax, waiting on word from ahead. Finally, the companions are awarded for their waiting, although it may not be quite the way they had anticipated. Kersath is the first to see the torchlight moving toward them from the area marked on Grizzler's map as The Cat. Seven shapes move toward the group, six human size while the last is smaller; maybe a halfing. With a few silent gestures, the other companions are notified and everyone prepares for the coming visitors. The torchlight makes the infravision of the demihumans useless but they soon make out the appearance of what appears to be six human fighters and one small halfling. The fighters are dressed in what appears to be chain mail armor and each carry a shield. One in the middle appears to be the leader and is dressed in splint mail with no shield. The halfing has on simple leather armor. Each of them are also heavily armed with longsword in hand.

The men continue on down the passageway, through the Flitch of Bacon before stopping perhaps twenty feet from the hiding companions. The leader steps forward then. He appears to be about 25 years of age or so, 6' 3" and of medium build. He has flaming red hair and dark blues eyes. He has a thin scar running from the middle of his right ear to his mouth and a permanent sneer on his face. He wears a tacky platinum and gold medallion around his neck.

"My name is Ramor and you are trespassers to our domain. Come out of hiding and surrender to us and we will let you live. Do not, and you die."

The rest of his men fan out blocking the passageway, waiting on the companions to step forth. They all have their weapons drawn and shields at the ready.