Stonebound

"Maybe it's not a true dragon at all? Like my companion isn't a dragon, just the essence of one." Hitticus says while taking down the other prisoners

Freak kneels next to the injured Dwarf, his face filled with concern.

"We can not just leave you here." he grumbles to himself, "I will will help her out of here and to safety. You all go ahead and we can leave together once you have made sense of this dragon riddle."

"Friend, before you go, there is something you should know... I... Used to work for the ones that captured you, I was sent to collect you when the dragons attacked. We don't have time to unpack the details now, but I owed you an explanation in case one or both of us die today." Hitticus looks ashamed and disgusted, but did not break eye contact with his companion

"Can any use a scroll of Polymorph?  Also I have a really nice healing potion, will be good for an extreme emergency I suppose. Also got 70 gp to be split up." Mercwri tells everyone.

"Polymorph?" Randrak asks. "What's that?"

"Ye ken turn inta something else, or if yer pretty good with the razzle-dazzle stuff, ye ken turn something else into something else," Mercwri says with a grin. "You could turn yer mare-in-law inta a snake, least fer awhile anyway."

"Why would I want to be anyone else?" Randrak asks. "It seems like it overcomplicates things. I like to know who my comrades are and who my enemies are. If an ally looks like someone else, they could end in disaster."

To Randrak (sarcastically) "You're saying you wouldn't want to change into something OTHER than the Umberhulk's arse you are now? Interesting"

Despite the attempt at humor, Hitticus looks a bit nervous

„That is a quite peculiar choice of spell… what might they have brought it for?“

Alanis wonders to herself.

“In any case, I believe Dvori is right. We need to have something of substance if we truly hope to gain any sort of reinforcements.“

Randrak chooses to ignore Hitticus's attempts at humour, and instead responds to Alanis, "So you're thinking we should continue to investigate and risk getting ourselves into further trouble?"

Alanis nods slowly.

„Yes, crazy as that is. I certainly am no master of dwarven politics, but they seem to be… quite difficult to get to actual decision making, what with everyone watching their own backs. If we have nothing more than hearsay, I don’t think they will send any kind of military forces, given that there are not enough to deal with the chaotic situation as is. However, you might know better than I do. Do you think what we have so far is enough?“

"I need to try to bring peace between us and the other races. The bureaucrats might fight amongst themselves on what to do, I have made a pledge to bring peace to this land. I say we rest up and then continue on this search. At the very least, I'd like to know that I am not just murdering other creatures who have no desire to fight."

„I am sorry to say, your grace, but they did hang up your fellow cleric upside down, threatening to feed her to a dragon. I fear a peaceful solution is very unlikely here.“

Alanis carefully suggests. She voices some of her thoughts.

“ It‘s just… I feel so uneasy. You guys have braved a dragon attack. Then in the mines, the Flumphs showed us that green dragon. And now, a day‘s march  away from that, we have goblins capturing people, claiming that they will feed them to yet another  dragon. Can we… can we even afford not to investigate?“

"You've got my support Miss gnome, if for nothing else I want to know the source of what happened to me" Hitticus says to Alanis

Randrak shoots a look of almost disgust at Reggarn, "I have no intention of making peace with no stinking goblin. Not those who killed my comrades. Even if these goblins aren't directly responsible. They didn't give them a chance, and I won't give them a chance either."

He turns his back on Reggarn to fully face Alanis, "You have a point. Though we best be careful. We wouldn't want to be caught and fed to a dragon."

OOC: Sorry work took over life!!

Hitticus; Freak looks confused at first. Your admission being lost to the group in the midst of their other conversations, he looks around and finds nobody else has heard. He then looks to you and slowly his eyes widen. His mouth works for a moment and you see his fists ball into barely supress rage. He says quietly;

"I will meet you all outside and then... we will talk." and with that he scoops up the wounded cleric and carries her out of the room without looking back.

Uldran speaks up as Freak leaves. So do we press on? The traps our captured goblin spoke of lie ahead of us, so we should be wary.

Quote from Rylentlar >>

"Friend, before you go, there is something you should know... I... Used to work for the ones that captured you, I was sent to collect you when the dragons attacked. We don't have time to unpack the details now, but I owed you an explanation in case one or both of us die today." Hitticus looks ashamed and disgusted, but did not break eye contact with his companion

 "Right now would probably be a bad time to get into this, as you say.  But maybe we can use this situation to our advantage," Mercwri scratches his chin. "Sortta turn things around on them what done this to you, perhaps."

Looking round at the party Mercwri, sounding very grim, says, "There is NO quarter given in this fight, these damned things have killed a lot of folk, destroyed an entire city, and wreaked havoc far and wide. From this moment on if I come upon them, they die."

Hitticus nods at Mercari, agreeing with the sentiment

"Randrak, I have to try. I can't call upon my God in good faith if I haven't done what I promise to do. Granted, we will have peace one way or another. As for finding out more about this dragon, I am all in."