19 Eleasias, 1368: Dreams of Dwarves

The dwarven priest and dwarven warrior are badly wounded and exhausted...they have staggered back into the sacred altar room for their last stand. A strange wizard surrounded by a garrison of soldiers enter the room. He speaks to the dwarves, but his speech is badly garbled...The dwarves stand defiant and prepare to charge the wizard.

The wizard casts some sort of spell at the two dwarves, who are held fast as the soldiers come up to them. They spit on them and ridicule them before hacking their motionless bodies to pieces. The dwarves fall dead to the floor. The wizard pushes his way through the soldiers and gives them a command.

As the soldiers set about searching the room for any sort of secret door out of the complex, the wizard bends to the bloodied corpses. He reaches out to grab the short sword held in the and of the dwarven warrior but shrieks in pain as his hand touches the blade. He recoils and growls something profane at the bodies. Then he turns, and climbs up on the altar. He asks for tools and is given a hammer and chisel.

The wizard carves a series of runes in the stone above the altar and when he is finished everyone in the room who is still alive laughs in a horrible, jeering way. They look at the bodies and back at the altar and then the wizard leaps down and leads the soldiers out of the room.

The two dwarves lie there in the gathering darkness, the waterwheel slowly turning and the sound of the water is all that can be heard. Then it seems as though time is rushing faster than normal, incredibly fast. The wheel is spinning whildly until the water stops flowing and it abruptly stops. The two bodies on the floor turn from meat to bone in a flash.

Then, suddenly, the vision ends.

2:00am
Routunious and Elessaria both wake up in a cold sweat.

"I had a dream, about the dwarves in the other room." Routunious says.

Elessaria is stunned, "As did I." They excitedly tell each other the details of their dreams, and discover they were both having the same dream.

Routunious says, "I couldn't see his face, the wizard, but everything else was so real."

"I couldn't see him either," Elessaria says, "...but if the dream is true, he is the one who killed the dwarves and wrote the message on the wall."
we had the same dream!!!

"Maybe we need to go back and re-examine the altar room. Those soldiers were looking for something they didn't find," says Routunious.

"Yes. Perhaps going back in the room will help us remember more of the dream. Even now the details are fading," replies Elessaria.

They check to see if the bear is still there. It is, though sleeping and snoring loudly. They creep into the altar room and instruct Tick-a-Tick to resume turning the air pump as the conduct a fruitless search for a secret doorway or hidden room.

Routunious says, "This is useless. But, as long as we're awake anyway, let's check that room you said might be an armory. The one with the fire bugs."

The elf agrees that they may as well, and so they creep across the main chamber, careful not to wake the bear. Before entering, Elessaria peeks into the abandoned armory again and sees that the fire bugs have departed.

"Odd," she says, opening the door all the way and entering the empty room. They search everything and find nothing other than a hole in the corner of the room large enough to roll a canonball down. It was behind one of the rotting wooden racks, which is why Elessaria hadn't noticed it before.

She says, "Even if that is another way in and out for those bugs, it isn't going to do either of us any good."

Routunious agrees, "No, and I think now I'm tired enough again that I could sleep without thinking of the dreams I might have or being eaten by that bear."

4:00am

With Tick-a-Tick standing watch, they sleep soundly through the rest of the night.

7:00am
The pair wake up, fully rested, and in good spirits prepare breakfast. After eating, they clean up and pack their belongings, including their now inanimate companions.

8:00am
Routunious and Elessaria sneak around edge of main chamber to secret entrance with Tick-a-Tick behind them. The bear wasn't in the main chamber, but might have gone back into its own, more familiar portion of the cave entrance. Cautiously they move through the tunnel and outside. The bear is gone.

Elessaria stands at the edge of the cliff, thinking back over the events that have transpired over the past 24 hours. She considers the glowing green orb, the dwarven complex, and the dream.

"I can't help but feel we are missing something obvious," she says.

Routunious approaches and says, "You're frustrated that we've lost so much and found nothing to justify it."

She looks at him, then asks, "Can we examine the altar room one more time? Especially the altar itself. I just can't' help feeling we're missing something. Where did all the dwarves go? How could they fool the wizard we dreamt about into thinking the dwarves were there unless there was a secret escape route?"

Routunious shrugs, "We can look again, maybe we'll have better luck now that we are better rested."

They return to the altar room and again put Tick-a-Tick on the waterwheel to pump fresh air into the chamber.

10:00am
"Elessaria," Routunious finally says, "it's no use. There is nothing here...or if there is the dwarves have hidden it so well that only a dwarf could find it."

Elessaria's shoulders sag, "You're right. We should leave and find a dwarf to translate the runes."

"Don't worry. We'll get our friends back and we'll solve this puzzle. It just isn't time to do it now."

Only partially reassured, she leads the automaton and the uncharacteristically caring priest out of the dwarven complex and they start down the mountain trail. Looking back at the outpost from the road they realize how difficult it is to see the eyrie from below. The dwarves were exceedingly skillful in crafting their watch point. They travel without incident until they get to the ravine.

They are glad that Stago convinced Selina to leave the rope bridge up, or the gorge might have proven impassable to the remaining members of the company. They manage to get to the bottom without incident. On the way back to the inn they stop at Farmer Navil's home to tell him that they explored the entire mountain but found no sign of sheep, shepard or little boy.

He thanks them for their troubles, and implores them not to forget to keep an eye out for his son and shepard as they continue their travels.