Stonebound

Randrak winces in pain from where the last troglodyte he fought caught his arm. Then he looks around the area and realises that of the troglodytes are dead.

"Was that it? Ias looking for a challenge, that was too quick and easy" he grumbles. He then turns to Freak, "That was some great axe work there. You really had my flank there."

He then turns towards where he thinks he last saw Alanis and Mercwri.

"You two can come out now! I think they're all dead unless there's some still hiding in these here buildings. Though I really don't think that they're the strategic type."

When everyone draws in closer Randrak will continue speaking.

"So that is how you defeat a larger group of enemies without barely breaking a sweat. Though I could do with sitting for an hour, got to get the adrenaline out of the body. Then we can go clear out that temple."

Hitticus is just staring at his scorched hand in shock.

Freak jumped out of the way of the gout of flame, avoiding most of it. He looks at Hitticus with anger, but that fades to give way to sympathy. "Are you unwell, friend? Are you hurting?"

"Something's not right, I may not be a traditional mage, but I know where my magic comes from and that wasn't it."

Mercwri, who was just coming up as Hitticus was speaking, looks puzzled. "You mean you didn't do that on purpose?  But if you didn't do it on purpose how did it happen?" he scratches his head.  "Do you have any 'odd' items one you that forgot you had?  Or seems just a bit, how to say, off?  You know, something you acquired not thinking it was of any value?"

Seeing that people are starting to gather around Hitticus Randrak wanders over, "What's up? What's going on? Why does everyone look concerned?"

While Alanis is concerned about this display of apparently accidental magic, she isn’t sure she could offer anything to the discussion. She does however give this phenomenon a bit of thought.

(Arcana I‘d assume? 24)

However, there is also the brave stranger they just met. She wonders if he knows more about the troglodytes.

“Greetings Sir! That was incredible brave of you to face this creatures! May I ask your name?“

Given he answers, she introduces herself and tries to ask a few more questions.

“Are you from the village? We escorted some refugees back here and are to see to their safety. Would you know if these were all the troglodytes? Or could there be more, maybe in that mine we were told about?“

Hitticus holds up the scarred hand. "That egg... It... Marked me somehow." He sits down just staring.

“Egg? You mean the one . . . umm, back there?” Mercwri jerks a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction they came from.

((sorry for my absence))

Uldran picks himself up and wipes the vomit from his beard. He walks to the group around Hitticus. "Are you in need of healng Hitticus?" Turning to the old dwarf- "Well met friend, looks like we got here at the right time. I am Uldran. You are from this town?"

Seeing Hitticus sit down on the floor, Randrak decides to drop to the floor beside him. "This is what we need. Just a good sit down then we can calm down and think this through logically."

He pauses for a moment, not sure what to say. Randrak does not know anything about magic its something that he just simply can't get his head around. Knowing how to fight is something he has learnt from experience. That he finds easy. Just remember the strategies that he has seen succeed before. Magic though, he has no experience with it at all, and he doesn't ever intend to.

"So what are you saying? That the egg has changed you? Because you still look the same to me... well, mostly."

Hitticus will hold up his scarred hand with the drogonmark(not ebberon) on it. "I don't like it. My patron warned me about it but I didn't know if was going to do that... Worse yet it used my own magical reserves to do it. Think of someone coming to your forge to use your metals to make themselves a weapon without your permission. I feel... Violated." Hitticus shudders. "I need some time to process this... Could someone carry the statue, I'll be able to hear what's going on." And with that hitticus will disappear using his bottled respite ability and a statuette depicting an idealized feminine form is left in his place.

Randrak is started to see Hitticus just disappear right before his eyes, "Wait, where did he just disappear to?"

"They call me Grockle." the Dwarf replies to you Mercwri and Alanis, "And my thanks to you all for the timely intervention. Thought I was done for I did."

He listens to the conversation around Hitticus for a moment or two and releases a string of curses when the Dwarf disappears. "Well of all the things I expected to see or not see this day that was amongst the least."

He walks over and picks up the statue and studies it carefully for a few moments, before handing it to you Randrak. 

"I am afraid you were correct in your guess," he says to you Alanis, "The rest of the beasts are held up in the mine. They chased me down here and that's when you found me."

Randrak takes the statue off Grockle and studies it. As he examines the statue, he turns it around in his hands. He then tosses it up in the air a few times, places it in his pocket and shrugs.

"There's more of these creatures nearby? Well then we had better go deal with those first, and then we can deal with the goblins in the temple or whatever. But first, let's formulate a plan.

Tell me, Grockle. Is there only one entrance into those mines?"

Uldran frowns at the statue as Hitticus disappears. "He is .... strange"

As Randrak starts talking strategy with Grockle Uldran interjects- "Is there a defensible point in the mine, a tunnel or something that can be used as a choke point if we get overrun?"

Suddenly Randrak's face lights up in response to Uldran, "That's the kind of thinking we want! That was going to be next attempt at formulating a plan. If we can't trap the troglodytes between us, then we should look for a way of limiting the numbers we have to face at a time. A choke point is the ideal of way of doing that. We could also possibly create one if we need to."

"Grockle, have you any idea how many of these foul beasts are in the mines?"

Grockle considers for a moment before answering. "I'd say around twenty in all, there were more but we managed to collapse a few tunnels on em before we... well before I escaped."

"There is a side entrance yes," he explains, "...that's if you dont mind a short swim."

He kicks one of the nearby corpses making a soft squelching sound and releasing a putrid stench, "Savages it what they are." he spits holding his nose.

"As to finding a choke point, the sunken tunnels come out in a narrow chamber with only one other entrance and a ledge above the water. If you can draw them into there it may serve your need."

As you all stand talking Master Fredrock approaches followed by a handful of the villagers, crudely armed.

"Does the tunnel come out onto the ledge?" Mercwri asks. "Be it possible, or desirable, to draw them into that area and collapse the dry tunnel?  If that is how they would access where the two tunnels meet; the watery entrance and the 'dry' entrance?" He scratches a circle on the ground, marking one side with an arrow and wavy lines and the other with only an arrow.  "Where is this ledge in relation to the two tunnels?"