“You speak with wise words Jex, as always. We should be careful. But I am with Val. He seems trustworthy and if his words are true and have an army behind him could be what we need to storm the Sister’s stronghold. With an army on their doorstep we could infiltrate inside and end them once and for all” 

Jex scowls. "And what when that army wants our mines or land in return? I have seen it happen." He climbs on top of his wagon and sits in silence for half an hour or so. Eventually though, his mood returns and he begins whistling joyfully, strange tunes from the distant lands of Saramei. 

After half an hour walking behind the cart Thurston approaches and replies to Jex as if he had spoken just a few seconds ago.

“Hmm they can take the dammed sister stronghold if they want we don’t have people to man it anyway and that would prevent it for being occupied for more brigands like it happened with the campment when we first drove them out.” 
He pats his friend on the shoulder and kept walking happy as if he has found the solution to a very difficult problem. 

The mountainside beings to grow increasingly familiar to Hurrig as the group continue on their way. After pushing onwards for just another couple of hours, a dull roar can heard in the distance. Val's keen ears pick it up before anyone else. Shouts. The thundering march of a hundred booted feet. The ring of metal on metal. The sounds of battle!

"We should find somewhere to hide the wagon. I don't want the fleeing, defeated army taking advantage and trying to take it." He begins to look around for a good hiding spot. "Unless you want to roll on through and fight from around and on top of it?"

Vark readies Path Maker in his hands, bracing himself for the fight. “Well... it does make a good platform and cover. I could hide it with a cloud too. But it’s your wagon so... up to you.”

Val hefts her hammer and immediately begins watching the ridge-lines. "We cannot just leave the cart unattended. We carry Brundir, wounded, in it. We should either wait out the battle, which I would prefer not do, or just push through it with the wagon in the middle of us. Rouse yourselves, friends, I imagine our destination is under assault by the goblins we heard the night before our battle."

Jex nods. "You are right. It is the safest way to bring Brundir through. I will trust you to keep it safe, and go ahead to find the way through."

Valen wheels his steed around back to the wagon, "Hmm? What did you say about someone wounded? Should we go see what lies ahead?"

The quiet dwarf listening to the others finally pipes up. “I agree with Val, we should not leave the cart alone.” Hurrig quickly readies his axe, “If there is a fight, then we must fight our way through to the dwarves. I will make sure we stay protected.”

Jex smiles, apparently excited again by the task ahead of them. He gleefully hands over the reigns, hops from the wagon and bounds off up the path to scout ahead and see what lay before them.

Jex's Elven cloak flutters in the mountain breeze, blending with the shadows cast by the afternoon sun as he ventures ahead to assess the situation. The road rounds the south-western flank of the mountain and a broad, wooded vale opens up on the far side. The taste of smoke is on the air and Jex can see black plumes rising from below, where a swath of pines have been set alight to clear a path and provide cover for the approach towards the rising walls of Khaz a Grungron on the far side of the vale.

A prime example of classical Dwarven craftsmanship, the mighty stone edifice has been hewn from the rock of the mountain itself. Dwarven crossbowmen stand atop the crenellations, raining death upon a ram that hammers at their gates, and a ballista is mounted atop each of the twin towers, hurling bolts at what looks like a hobgoblin shield wall below in the vale. The distance and smoke makes further details hard to make out, but clearly battle has been met!

Jex eyes the battle, a glint in his eye, he checks his weapons are in place and turns to signal to the others. Placing a finger to his lips and two palms gesturing down and up a couple of times out to his right. He then bounds off down towards the valley.

Following to the best of his ability to the nimble Jex, Thurston reaches the edge of the ridge and looks down to the battle. 
His eyes darts towards it assessing distances and enemy forces. 

Brundir can tell for the way he holds Rikkazzarik that he wants to jump towards that shield wall and break havoc under it. 

“You see my friend?” He wishers to the hammer “I promised you great battles. Here we go..” 

then he turns towards the rest.

”No time for much planning now. We should try to break that shield wall so the defenders can kill as many of them as possible and let’s hope they break out and help us. Jex, Vark.. do you see a path for us to go undetected until we can strike them there? I think our best chance is to hide it. I don’t see how we can cross that force with it. Not you worry. We will kill them all so no one will take advantage of it in case they have luck and found it.” 

Dark smoke hangs thick in the air as Jex heads down into the valley. The hobgoblin vanguard clearly knew what they were doing. The cloud entirely obscures the approach from the dwarves on the wall. Heat still radiates from the blackened and crumbling tree trunks as the half-elf slips between them, heading north towards the battle. He takes another step and abruptly draws back as the tell tale whistle of an arrow in flight streaks past him and thunks into the charred bark of a nearby pine. On closer inspection, it's no barbed goblin arrow, but a bolt from a dwarven quarrel - likely not meant for Jex at all. The trajectory is all wrong though. There must be dwarves outside the walls!

Giving cautious thanks to a deity he is unsure still even acknowledges him he continues on his path, careful to keep his movement covered by trees to avoid any further near misses. 

Valen dismounts and approaches Thurston on the hill. This was one of the few times he'd actually stood on level ground with the others since meeting. His stature was imposing, though not nearly as much as the Norscan, but his demeanor belied a pacifist at the core of a trained combatant. At his hip hung a short, curved blade, and his horse's barding sported a few leather straps to carry his lance and one by its neck where a long-handled war pick hung. "There are too many for us. What do we bring to defeat so many? And you 'hope' the dwarves come to help? I do not doubt they would, but I fear it would be too late." He surveys they scene a few moments longer, trying to look more toward the terrain than the enemy, "What if we move wide, then strike closest to the gate? We can call the dwarves to let us in, or sally forth, while we protect the entrance."

As Jex stalks the burning swath of woodland he hears the laboured breathing of a beast from between the trees up ahead. Peering through the brush he spies a goblin upon its worg mount. Blood drips from a wound in the canine creature's flank and the rider glances about for targets, bow in hand.

Jex pulls an arrow silently from his quiver, slotting it to the string he draws a breath, exhales, draws again...

Releasing with the second exhale, the arrow flies true into the neck of the warg. With barely a whimper it collapses to the ground. Jex has the next arrow drawn as he tries to step back behind a tree, only to step into a pile of loose leaves which make a rather satisfying crunching sound which otherwise would have brought joy to his cold heart....

The rider lets out a surprised squawk as its mount collapses beneath it, tumbling onto the soft earth with a bump. Jex raises his bow for a kill shot as the goblin scrambles to regain its footing, but just as he looses his arrow an enormous boar comes charging through the thicket to his right and a longspear skewers the green-skinned warrior to the ground. Atop the boar sits a rugged looking dwarf with a dark brown beard. He's dressed in a leather tunic with a dull breastplate strapped over the top and a crossbow slung over his back. The dwarf peers down at 'his' kill, only to notice Jex's arrow protruding from the goblin's eye. His ears twitch and he hefts his shield, glancing about warily as he senses someone nearby.

"A'ight get out here y'sneaky bugger," he rasps in Jex's general direction. "There's enough folks creepin'bout these woods as it is. Friend or foe, show y'self!"