Vark gazes into the translucent depths of the stone and its colours twist and swirl. Rusty orange flowing into jet black, which blossoms into blood red. It beckons him in and makes him want to dive in amongst the colours and let them envelop him.

Make a charisma save.

Dorno takes a deep breath and lets out a long sigh as Dorno speaks, his belly and broad shoulders rising and falling along with it.  He listens to the dwarf, pauses, and then says "I have not seen my home in a long time."  "Don't think I have a home, really.  There are friends there though, at least."  He pauses once more, but then sad words break the silence.  "Nothing great here, only people getting hurt.  I had to hurt people and the nice elf wizard man still takes the long sleep.  Little, loud friend is gone, too."  Another pause ends with more anger in the firbolg's voice.  "I am a bad friend if I let the little one get hurt.  No more.  Now Dorno will protect everyone."  He raises a large arm and pats the dwarf on the head, probably in an unwelcome and awkward way.  "You and your funny words don't worry, more friends will come help soon, too."

Dorno's concerns left a sour taste in  Bründir's mouth. They had failed to save the few despite defeating the greater evil. "Have ye ever heard about The Champion? It's a tale my ma used to tell, but seems fittin' 'ere. See, there's this man ages ago, people knew he was a great hero, so they called him Champion. What no one knew, was he was unhappy all th' time." Bründir took out his knife and began tracing a large rectangle and filling it with smaller blocks of various sizes.

"See all over the city, this Champion fought evil an' save people, but had a bad luck about it. Ev'ry time he showed up, he'd save the one he came fer, but somethin' would 'appen: A building caught fire, someone else died, a bad man got away, these sort o'things. No matter how he tried, the Champion could ne'er shake his bad luck. But there's a kicker in it: the people of th' city did'na care. All these bad things were small compared to the bigger good. Yea, it was sad to see some houses burn, but they get built back up. The bad guys who get away think twice 'fore comin' back, and th' few that died 'fore bein' saved - he saddest of all - people remembered fer years when they toast the Champion." Bründir sat back and smile at the old story, but felt a bit incomplete.

"I guess what I mean, is there's gonna be bad things 'appenin' when we fight. So long as you fight fer the right things an' win, the bad things work themselves out."

In the cave Valaith lets out a heavy sigh of relief as she realizes the bones within did not belong to Archie; however, a sudden frustration overcomes her at all the setbacks of losing not only the person for whom they came, but now also one of their own companions. Her breath begins to come in ragged, angry huffs are the cold fury builds within her and suddenly the temperature all around her drops several degrees. Hoarfrost begins to wrap its way up the handle of Valaith's hammer as she grips in tightly in her fists. Frost suddenly starts to coat the clothing and armor of those around her as little snowflakes begin to swirl around her companions and despite the bitter cold, they find themselves unaffected by the cold. In fact, they find themselves feeling... protected by the frosty layer. Suddenly Valaith lets out a primal scream of fury and slams her massive hammer into the cauldron over and over, denting and cracking the metal until suddenly the fury is dissipated almost as quickly as it appeared, leaving Valaith standing there panting. The frost and snowflakes...gone. With one last disgusted look at the cauldron she leaves the cavern behind without another word...

Outside she watches Dorno as he works on his strange fire, wondering what exactly he was doing, but finding the ritual strangely interesting. She finds herself smiling as she watches the strange druid working his nature magics. For the first time in a long time Val thought about her tribe, specifically her brother, and she felt that dull ache in her heart that never seemed to go away. She missed him so much... Val puts muscular knees up to her chest, resting her chin upon them and sits quietly, reliving some of her favorite memories as the day drifted on.

Seeing the mood of his comrades Thurston keeps himself quiet, sitting next to the elf corpse and conforting the other elf. 

"No worries lad. They will be ok " he says to him " we are just frustrated that we couldn't save your friend, that the leader got away and we are worry about the fate of our friend... but in time they will see that we had done good today, and that we've achieved a victory. Thor should be pleased... but he doesn't like unfinished deeds, so we will be on the road again trying to hunt that dragonborn I guess... " 

The elf is sat by the fire in the heart of the camp, picking the dirt out of from under his nails with a knife. He has warmed a pot of water and is trying to get clean of the grime of captivity. He glances up at Thurston when addressed.

"What is your name, Norscan?" He asks.

"Thurston Barnatson" replies the paladin with pride "Servant of Thor." he sits with him and drinks some water.

"I am Lúthedir," he replies, raising his cup back to Thurston before sipping at it softly. "Who was this friend you lost freeing me? Did he enter the caves without you?"

Dorno looks confused as Brundir tells his tail.  The wrinkles on his brow show that he is concentrating and trying to make sense of what the bard is saying.  After a moment of silence the firbolg foreigner says "ok little guy with funny words, Dorno will help you help the Champion, too, when we see him, since you say he is mostly good.  I think we should help the elf and find our little friend, first, though, ok?  He should be easy to find, he is very loud.  I do hope we don't have to burn houses, though.  I won't do that.  Maybe houses of bad men, I guess.  I will try to talk to the fire spirits, just in case the bad men have big houses."

( Sorry!! didn't see the last post!! ) 

Thurston seems to come back from his own thoguhts

"Hmm? Archie? Yes... he came with us trying to find him and stop the cultist. We first thought they were mere bandits, but then we found their fiendish traces and we knew they should be destroyed. Knowing that their leader has escaped, pobably with our friend captive, gives a bitter taste to this victory. And beign too late to save your friend not the less bitter of it. " he puts a hand in the elf shoulder, trying to confort him " But we all knew the dangers when we decided to come here. No one forced us and we had fought well against many and both the bandits and the cult threath had been adverted by now. And you are alive! And the rest of us too. And everything points that our friend is still alive. That gives us hope and we must rejoice our victories. I think that Thor is pleased today, and we should be proud for the good that he had done today." He pats the elf on the shoulder, perhaps a little bit too strong. 

"Here " he offers his skin to him " there's not much left but it will do you good." 

Lúthedir gladly drinks as Thurston tells his tale, only couging a little from the pat on the back.

"Your friend, was... was he a gnome? I saw Korinn and Arathac taking a gnome out back. He didn't look like a cultist."

"Indeed he was. To the back you say? Show me please " he says to the elf.

"Oh, you saw the passage I mean," Lúthedir replies, dabbing the water from the corners of his mouth and stretching. "I believe you said that Korinn left down it? The tunnel leads to the stables."

"Oh! yes.. we went that way. Then it is was we feared and he has been aprehended. We will have to hunt them if we want to help him. And there maybe your people could assists us with magic " he says hopeful.

Lúthedir shrugs indifferently.

"There you must have words with Lady Lelfaer. I do not know what she can offer you."

Some time later, Jex has the wagon loaded up and the party is ready to return to Hyarantar.

"That was in my mind friend. We have to talk to her and inform her of all that had happened here. Look! " he says when Jex appears with the wagon " Let's help him load it and be gon of this accursed place... " 

Jex is less keen to have help loading the Wagon, through the crack in the doorway as he loads the equipment on board several baskets and chests can seen. He works with a kind smile on his face and a cheery attitude though as he waves away the offers of help.

"Company is all the help I need. The lifting keeps the arms strong. Perhaps if I keep at it, one day I will swing a short hafted hammer at my enemies. If anybody cares to ride up top, I would be glad to offer a rest to weary feet though." 

Vark will timidly take the offer to ride atop the wagon, seeming to enjoy the view and the chance to relax a bit. 

At camp, Vark will somberly look through Archie's pack, pulling out the cooking supplies their gnome companion had bought before the journey. he'll forage around their camp, looking for things like wild greens and spring onions, and will begin to simmer them with a little water and seasoning. "Uhm... hey Dorno, could I see some of your herbs? Some medicinal plants can be tasty when cooked down." If any are suitable, Vark will add those as well. Once the veggies are tender, he'll serve the meal to his friends using whatever cups or bowls people have in their mess kits. 

Dorno perks up and smiles at Vark's request, nodding and hurrying over to assist.  He looks at the wild edibles Vark has gathered, smells them, and nods with approval.  Sniffing at the simmering dinner, Dorno's ears wiggle for the first time since before the battle and the loss of Archie.  He opens up his various pouches and shows Vark their contents, offering most of the herbs to the sorcerer but making faces at the particularly foul tasting ones and stuffing them back in the pouches.

Knowing that Archie was taken captive weights heavily upon Valaith's shoulders, but knowing that he at least lives gives her some measure of peace. On the journey back, Valaith will offer to ride in a position that will allow her to keep a keen eye on the horizon with her newly acquired bow at the ready. "Thank you for your assistance, my friend." She says to Jex as they begin the long journey to the elven city.