Once all food and drink was consumed that was desired, the group reluctantly moves outside, as the patrons watch with curiosity as you all do, some looking more impressed, while others more concerned. Regardless, once you all get outside and manage to close the door, Zomith giving Shautha a fist to the chest on the way out. The wind was strong, but not so much that with enough of a concentrated effort that movement was impossible, just extremely slow and difficult. The winds seemed to be washing directly in the direction but slightly.. ever so slightly to the 'left' of you as you moved. The town looked like a ghost town with only a few unfortunate folks trapped under awnings or otherwise open doored stables, watching you all with curiosity. 

In the distance, the tornado continued to rage but seemed to be heading the opposite direction as if urged by the winds to proceed in that direction. Occasionally a small rock would fly by or near but nothing that would have done more than annoy or perhaps leave a small welt if it hits but deal no actual or lasting damage, though you all know that if you were several miles closer to it it might be different. Pushing hard against the winds, the slow progress seems to take forever just to move a few feet. Having had studied the map earlier one of you knew that it would be a twenty four mile walk from here to there, and with the winds the way they were that could take you at-least two days, though you expected the winds to only last at most a few more hours.

A few hours into your travels you see a group of Dwarves trying to take shelter from the winds by putting a relatively thick tree between them and the winds, and each of them had rope tied around their waists clearly going around the tree itself as they huddled there. They don't seem to notice you as you are all downwind of them. They seem to be grumbling among themselves but the wind catches and devours their words before they reach your ears. It's only been a few hours of tedious, and slow travel, but the sun is slowly starting to set.

Ulf points at the dwarves, "Need to camp soon. Safety in numbers? They may have news."

He looks around at their surrounds for better shelters, perhaps a hill to hide behind, or a small valley. Recalling what he can of the map, he tries to remember where the nearest water might be.

Shautha looks at the dwarves when Ulf points at them. "Yes, they may... But we don't know them. We should talk to them, but also be careful. Danger takes all kinds of forms..."

From where she is, she attempts to get a good luck of the group, trying to see what they could be doing out here. 

As they venture out into the winds, Ulric dismisses Cyrin, and she fades away into a fine mist. As they travel, Ulric stays silent for the most part as he ponders the recent events that transpired. When they reach the dwarves, he asks, "Why would dwarves be out here? Maybe they're searching for the delegation as well..."

Shautha see's that the rope is being used as an anchor so they don't have to resist the wind, each of the four has one end of a rope that goes around the tree itself so that should the wind get stronger, so long as the tree itself didn't uproot or the rope break, they would likely be fine and secure y the counterweight of their fellow bound dwarf. Each of them had a pickaxe on their belt, and one of them was hugging onto a medium sized sack of who knows what. All of them are wearing leather armor but it doesn't seem battlescarred in the slightest despite how old the armor looked. They also each carried a shield though from the angle you were approaching the symbol of it couldn't be seen. So to Shautha's best guess, they were caught out in the middle of the road when the winds picked up and they likely felt they didn't have time to seek shelter and have since found themselves stranded.

Ulf scans the area, but the nearest mountain is several miles away and directly where the wind seems to be blowing in from. The only things nearby being a massive plain of grass to the right, and the aforementioned mountains, with a few sparse tree's like the ones the Dwarves were strapped to.

Ulf considers his companions words for a moment then turns to them, "I'd like to get a better look before we decide" he says.

With that, he tries to circle around them to get a better view and see if there is anything else that might give away their purpose.

Stealth: 23

Perception: 11 (passive 16)

Ulf would be able to sneak easily as they are both simultaneously distracted and the wind is keeping any noise from going their way for more than a moment, let alone someone actively trying to be quiet, though doing so makes for excessively slow progress, and the wind, seems to peel into your eyes, drying them quickly. But circling around, you manage to catch a glimpse of their shields symbol, and on it is the "Thundertree Branch of the Phandelver Mining Guild" though not particularly famous, recently some adventurers had restored the lost mine of Wave Echo Cave about a year ago, and was using a renovated Thundertree as their base of operations and a frontier town with the creation of some lesser magical items recently.

Though little else is known to you beyond that. They seem to be grumbling among themselves, and constantly testing the rope to make sure it's secure. 

Ulf emerges from the shadows amongst the tall grass near his companions, "I think they are miners. Probably come to sell their wares. We should talk to them. Learn what we can."

He unhooks the rope on his pack, "They might also welcome some more rope."

Seeing as they are just some miners, Shautha drops her guard. She nods to Ulf.

"Let's go talk to them, then" She says, "Might be better if you or healer girl are the ones doing the talking, tho. Me? I might scare the little guys off."

If everyone is in agreement then Ulf moves a little ahead and, when he is 40' from the group, he calls out, pitching his voice as loudly as he can to counter the noise of the wind. "Hello travellers!"

If necessary, he moves around to get into their field of vision, and calls out again.

 Healer girl?
Yeah, I know. Shut up. 

Ylnira walks forward alongside Ulf, posture and demeanor poised in a nonthreatening manner. "Travelers, you seem to be struggling with the wind. Are you in need of any any aid in the form of rope or passage to town?"

As the group moves to engage in conversation with the miners, Ulric follows them. Seeing that the others have already initiated in conversation, Ulric watches for any aggressive actions. He knows that they dwarves were not likely to attack them, but he has been hurt too many times by those he thought he could trust. Once lost, trust has hard to gain back.

They don't seem to initially notice as from that distance his voice still can't be heard, but repeating it a bit closer and all of their heads swivel towards first Ulf, and then Yin right after as at-least one waves at them, to try to get visual attention. Ulric see's a few of them reach for their pickaxes but stop once they see who is hailing them. It takes a moment but they let their hands slip away as they relax as much as they can without the wind blowing one of them over. Yin can see that they're reacting no differently than any group would caught off guard under similar circumstances. It seems that though surprised, they're no direct threat so long as the situation doesn't get hostile from the other side.

Their expressions shift from a mix of shock from seeing anyone moving in this wind by choice, realizing that you all were likely not a threat, to curiosity and so forth. Looking between eachother a moment before one of them, a pugnacious looking dwarf who looked a bit more like a rogue than the others Oh! Well aint this a su'prise! We dinnae expect tae run into anyone while we were out here! The winds came so suddenly we had barely the time to react. Seemed tae come out of nowhere. We've been stuck 'ere since, just watching the whirly-wind o'er yonder. But nay, we got our rope covered, so long as she holds out and Tubby back there doesn't start rollin' we'll Hey! be fine. Just travellin up from the new town after the mines got up. Tryna sell our ingots an ores.  They don't seem afraid of what's going on, but annoyed by it halting their travels.

Ylnira will calmly retrieve a small length of rope from the pack she wears around her waist and offers it as additional securement for the dwarves that are more precariously tied. "I am glad you were not swept up any closer to the tornado. Call me Ylnira, of the All-Faiths Shrine." She turns a head towards the phenomenon, raising a hand to shield her face from most of the dust and debris flown up by the wind. Those looking intently will, once again, notice something strange about the healer's cloak she wears as it billows in the wind; it is inlaid with black cloth as opposed to the white exterior. "Are events like this a common occurrence?" she asks, intending more to open a possible conversation to note on what the dwarves have seen. If this had happened before, they clearly would have been prepared, but it never hurt to ask.

Standing behind Ylnira, Shautha stares at the dwarfs silently, her hand holding her sickle tightly.

"A wind like this... It's like something is causing it. Not natural." She grumbles to herself.

To Yin, the 'leader' of the group looks quizzically as he rubs his beard, chewing on his lip for a moment before shaking his head and responding Well to be quite honest, we were about tae ask ye the same thing. We'd heard the weather up to the north-east had been a bit odd but we were expecting a sudden drizzle or perhaps an unusual bit of snowflakes or maybe hail in the middle o' summer. Not bloody whirly-winds an' earthquakers poppin' up randomly after eachother. But 'tis nice tae meetcha Yil-nye-ra of All Faiths. But if this is what's they been meaning we may need tae re-think frequent trade till it's over... This isn't a great first impression for the region.

The other Dwarven Miners seemed to look about in unanimous agreement but didn't have much else to contribute themselves. Adjusting their belts, rope and such as one of them takes the offered rope, and was just about to begin typing it about himself when out of nowhere, the winds just.. stopped and a gasp rose up from the band, looking around them, as one of the other ones, the fat one from before points in the direction the tornado was in Oh bloody Moradins beard! The whirly-wind is dissappearin! Almost as fast as the wind just did! he said, pointing and prancing like a child trying to get their parent to pay attention to something.

Should anyone look, they'd see in the distance that the tornado was becoming unstable, more 'curved' before finally, ultimately, dissipating in an explosion of dust, debris, and other detritus that had been caught in it though most of it was only seen as the brown dust that permeated the former cone. What in all the nine bloody 'ells... I never heard o weather comin out o' nowhere, only tae dissappear as quick as a halfling caught in bed with someone elses wife! I dinnae like whatever happenin here but We also cannot leave till we've seen whether business can be handled...  Aye... still. Thank you fer the offer but.. it seems we won't be needin' it. But thank ye nonetheless. Still ye travellers should take care, this all makes me bones cold, and bodes ill.

You may continue conversation at this point or I can move things along once prompted by atleast two of you that you're ready!

Ulf looks around, half expecting the foul weather to return, but eventually shrugs before turning his attention back to the dwarves. "Odd. Very odd. But also welcome!"

"Have you seen anyone else on the road?" he points in the direction that they were heading before seeing the dwarves. "We are looking for a missing caravan..."

The dwarves look between eachother before all shaking their heads in the negative. Nothin' outside the normal. Passed through Wompford, place has seen better days but nothing much else to say except that there's been a spat of raidin' along the river. Merchants ant such travelling along it by boat or land  north of womford be gettin' attacked and rarely coming back, though sometimes their supplies come floatin' down the river, headin' south. We weren't attacked, but part o why we bring these shields is to prevent such a thing. Few will attack a large enough group o' shield dwarves. But no one seems to know who's doin' the muggin. Only reason we trusted ye is ye hailed us afore ye came near.

Ulf nods, "Thank you. North of Wompford you say."

He looks up the road again and his brow furrows. "I think that matches what we heard. Do you think the folk in Wompford may know more?"

The heavier dwarf grunts a long drawn out grunt like one does when they heavily doubt something Auughh...... I doubt it. The place seemed like it were run by an inept idiot. Lots o' wheat but little else. So we didnae do more than pass through 'er once we realized it. Their inn is pretty shitty too, low quality food, wouldnae  recommend er. But ye can always try, never know. We didn't stay long.