Chilling Adventures in the North

Qinfaren makes his way along the passageway and up the other end until he finally climbs out into a room. Piles of equipment are pushed against the walls of this room. In the southern end of the chamber is the hatch that spider Qinfaren just climbed out of.

Qinfaren the Spider looks around for another exit from this room, other than the one he just came through. As curious as he is about the equipment piled up, his friends may need his help and he wants to get to that drawbridge and lower it. If there is another exit, he will head towards that, still in spider form.

Shad listens to the exchange between the female druegar and Muharg. He tries to understand their intentions without understanding their language: Insight 13

Shad wonders for a moment about Qinfaren. Hopefully, he will arrive soon.

Qinfaren sees a door to the west and heads through it. There he sees a set of steps leading down to the next room. This room is large and nearly empty. Snow has drifted into the corners of the room, and frost covers the stone walls. Three barred openings overlook the snow-covered grounds outside the stronghold.

Shad sees that whilst the duergar are still tense and on edge, they are not currently threatening.

Bjorn listens to the exchange and will translate for Shad and Arogna. Understanding that the negotiations aren't exactly going that well, he will keep a look out for any sign that the duegar want to turn violent again.

Qinfaren doesn't spare any time looking around the frosty, snow filled room other than to note that coming through those open barred windows probably would have taken less time. He does look for another exit and races as quickly as he can through it.

"You gonna give back what you stole from the town?" Arogna inquires loudly. "Bring it all out an' we can take it an' go. An' one of you stay here so we can keep eyes on you."

Arogna's inquiries fall on death ears as they fail to understand her words. When her words are translated for them,  the female duergar responds,

"No, Nildar needs them."

Meanwhile, Qinfaren makes his way into the room from the northern door. He is the first to get a good look around the room, and what he sees is shocking. Firstly, Qinfaren sees his friends just outside the fortress, with three duergar standing near the gap talking to his friends. Then he notices three iron cages pushed against the back wall of this hall. In the cage furthest from him are two goats, presumably the two goats that have gone missing from Caer-Konig.

The second cage is empty. Resting against this cage is a wooden dog sledge with ice clinging to it. A faint trace of snow can be seen leading up to the sledge. However, the third cage, the cage closest to him, contains the most shocking thing in this room. Inside is a malodorous ogre with rotting, half-frozen skin and an empty right eye socket. A fourth duergar stands near the zombie ogre's cage waiting to open it if need be.

(Qinfaren, roll for stealth.)

"So," Shad says, "there is this process? You may have heard of it? One person gives another person something in exchange for another thing? Called 'trade'? Or 'barter'? You may have heard of it by that name? We can help you set up such a process. It is often less violent that theft."

Qinfaren the Spider freezes for a moment at the sight he sees in the third cage. At first he wonders if it's just his view from the ceiling that is making him see things oddly but then he realizes that he really is seeing what appears to be an animated dead ogre. If spiders could shudder he would be shuddering now.

He hopes that the duergar will take no notice of a spider on the ceiling, but he decides to be as careful as possible and stick to the darker shadows if he can.

(Stealth: 9  )

As he moves, he looks for the lever or chain that will lower the drawbridge so his friends can cross over.

When Shad's words are translated the female duergar replies,

"I know what a trade is, and there was no violence until you lot showed up."

Qinfaren sees that there is a lever positioned close to where the group of duergars are.

The one lone duergar standing by the zombie ogre's cage was feeling a bit bored standing and waiting for a signal. He happens to glance up and sees a spider climbing across the ceiling, heading towards the main entrance. However, he assumes that Qinfaren is just a spider and goes back to staring into empty space on the floor near the man entrance.

Qinfaren the Spider moves across the ceiling and positions himself above the lever for the drawbridge.

He looks out the entrance at his friends and lifts a little leg and waves it at them, not sure if they can see him or not.

He then looks back down at the lever, takes a deep spider breath, and jumps down, aiming to land right next to or on the lever.

(Athletics? 16  )

Qinfaren manages to jump down from the ceiling and safely land on the the lever.

"Nildar, you say? Might it be possible for us to talk to them?"

Qinfaren the Spider hesitates for a moment when he hears Muharg ask about someone named Nildar. But when he uses his many spider eyes to look around at the duergar he does not see any interest in talking. And the kind of people that would keep that monstrosity in the cage are probably not going to be the nicest of people.

He takes a deep spider breath and moves into action. As the spider slides off the lever, it quickly disappears and is replaced by the massive 7'10", shaggy beared frame of Qinfaren standing next to the lever. He smiles and waves out at his friends and then grabs the lever in his large hand and moves it to lower the drawbridge.

Bonus Action: End Wild Shape and revert back to Qinfaren the Quiet.

Action: Use Object - activate the lever and lower the drawbridge

The sudden appearance of Qinfaren next to the lever startles the duergar and they are too slow to stop him. He pulls the lever lowering the draw bridge, covering the gap by the main entrance.

However, the female duergar shouts in Dwarvish, "Open the cage."

(Reroll for initiative.
Duergar 18
Ogre Zombie -1)

"Ah! That's more like it!" Arogna grins at the duergar across the pit. "Now we can come over an' chat." She raises her hammer and jogs onto the drawbridge, trying to look less like a charging half-orc with a warhammer, and more like someone dropping by for tea. She probably doesn't do very well.

Arogna doesn't know about the ogre yet, although she likely will soon. If she can reach the group of duergar, she will only attack if they make a hostile move, which would include ogres.

Arogna's initiative: 17

Arogna's attack, held for someone making a hostile move - if she can reach multiple such enemies, she will use it on the biggest one: 
Warhammer 2h 7 to hit for 5 damage
If someone attacks Arogna, she will also Rage as a bonus action.
"I guess we ain't talkin' now, then!"

Shad's initiative: 15

Like Arogna, Shads holds his action for hostilities. Also like Arogna, Shad considers releasing the undead ogre a hostile action by the Duergar. As his bonus action, he will start Monty up the far side of the pit and cast Toll the Dead on the most wounded enemy.

Muharg's init 2

Qinfaren's Initiative: 11  

Qinfaren waves again at everyone now that the drawbridge is down.

"Muharg," Qinfaren calls over. "There's an ogre here I don't think you're going to like very much. Looks a bit, um, undead."