Moving into the structure proper you keep your guard about you.
Passing beyond the archway with the broken door you find yourself in a larger communal chamber. From the looks of the broken furniture strewn around this was a general recreation and gathering area. There are three exits from the room, one to the left (which has a runic picture of a bed above the doorframe), one to the right (with a runic picture of crossed swords) and one leading further into the complex (with a runic picture of a miner's pick).
Glancing about the room you count another two dead orcs, but no dead dwarves.
Jaru casts light on his buckler as they pass into the darkness. Looking around the entry room, Jaru hypothesizes, " Perhaps these runes signify living quarters, the armory, and the mines. If any dwarves were to survive, I suppose they would have made it to the armory. Do you think we should start there?"
Setesh shrugs.
"Well, we will probably have to check all of them eventually, but the armory seems like a good place to start..."
Passing through the doorway of crossed swords you enter a corridor that is narrow for 30-40 feet before opening into a larger room. The chamber you enter has empty weapons racks on the walls, and a number of armor stands knocked over and damaged. One side of the chamber has thick straw targets that have roughly humanoid outlines painted on in black. A number of crossbow bolts litter the ground, both whole and broken.
At the end of the chamber is what looks like the remains of a barricade, though it is rent asunder and broken. It partially blocks the only other main egress from the room.
Again there are no dead dwarves, but you could five dead orcs in the chamber. Most were laid low by crossbow fire, though one near the barricade sports a nearly severed neck. The bodies have been stripped of any weapons and armor they sported.
Setesh shakes his head in dismay.
"It looks like this was no small battle. Still, at least the Dwarves appear to not have gone down without a fight!"
He then moves to leave the room by the only other visible exit...
Jaru nods and follows Setesh observing, "Either the dwarves did well against the orcs or they at least bothered to gather their dead."
Moving past the broken barricade, your senses are assaulted by the sodden odour of a charnel house. The room looks to have once been a infirmary of sorts, though the wooden beds have been upturned and pushed against the wall. The floor is strewn with broken glass and smeared with fluids and unguents that have come from the solitary cupboard.
Two dead dwarves lie just within the doorway, cut down with what appears to be axe-wounds. The more sobering sight is of the third dwarf corpse. Against the base of one of the upturned beds that is propped against the wall a female dwarf has been pinned by means of knives driven through her hands held high. She looks to have been beaten from the bruises around her face before being gutted and left to bleed out.
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Jaru grimaces and turns away from the carnage. "So much for either of my theories."
"It was a nice theory, but yeah, I don't think we will find any dwarves remaining. This pour soul was tortured before she died. They took their time..."
To distract herself from the scene, Noor pokes her sword through the broken glass, "Ho. Look at this. In their brutishness they overlooked some bottles unbroken."
Setesh nods to Noor.
"I am reluctantly forced to agree. From the amount of blood that has been spilled, as well as the placement and number of peri-mortem injuries, I concur that the Orcs took their time torturing this poor soul."
He then sighs.
"It does not look good, but we should not rule-out the possibility of survivors until we have searched everywhere."
When Noor draws his attention to the jars of unguent, Setesh moves over and attempts to identify them...
The three intact jars contain unguent of regeneration - one dose each jar. When smeared into an injury the unguent causes it to quickly heal.
Setesh looks up to the others once he identifies the jars.
"Shall we investigate the dormitory before we try the mine? I have a feeling that the latter will take longer to explore..."
He then moves back to the first room, and heads into the 'bedroom' chamber.
Tarik does his best to hold down his stomach as they enter the infirmary. "I think I will wait outside." Tarik swiftly leaves back the way the group entered, taking a few steps away from the site of such carnage.
As the group returns his way, he apologizes "I am sorry, but that is simply not something I am used to seeing. When I deal with the dead back in Nex, they are usually much farther along the path than that."
Passing back through the barracks and entry chamber, the party moves through the doorway that you believe leads to the living quarters. The corridor angles downwards slightly and extends for about thirty feet before a square corner.
Just around the corner you find another dead orc, sporting sword wounds, and there is a second slain orc a little further along. After the turn the corridor extends about twenty feet before it takes another turn.
Noor will take one of the jars and give it a shake. "For when Jaru gets left behind again," she says with a smile.
She pulls the knifes out of the wall, allowing the dwarf to slump to the floor, being careful to avoid any slop of innards during the move. "Nothing we can do at the moment be give it a little dignity, at least until we know this place is clear." She finds blankets in the debris and covers the three dwarves.
Setesh moves up to the corner, and cautiously peers around it...
Setesh sees another length of corridor that ends with open archways on both the left and right side. One more orc lies dead at the corner, and a motionless dwarf is slumped at the end of the corridor. The shape of the dwarf's helmet suggests that he will not be rising from his recumbent position.
Setesh sighs, and shakes his head.
"It looks like there is more carnage waiting for us up ahead..."
He then moves forward to inspect the two corpses, and whatever lies ahead through the arches...
Jaru follows closely, providing light and another pair of eyes.
The right branch leads to a small chamber where you can hear the sound of running water, while the left leads into a communal sleeping chamber. One more orc corpse lies near the entry, though there are also another two dead dwarves here as well. The male corpse is wearing leather armor, though the female corpse is not and looked to be defending herself when she was killed. Again all corpses have been stripped of most valuables.
Counting the number of bunk-beds against the number of dwarf corpses seen thus far you think that about four dwarves are unaccounted for thus far.
There is a mural running along one wall with dwarven runes upon it.
Coming closer you can hear some breathing and sniffles.
Approaching the point where the strange runes are located, you notice what is within the Perception spoiler above
Tarik mutters a small prayer to Pharasma to guide their souls. He seems rather downcast, an emotion out of place in the normally upbeat man.
"Did they even have a chance? I guess they must have had something like that, otherwise we would not see so many dead orcs."
"Aye. Looks like the Orcs paid a high price. Likely left them weakened after such an assault." There is a glint in her eyes and corners of mouth stretch up in a half smile.
Jaru reads over the runes. "This just appears to be a dwarven parable, but this rune here seems rather odd. It says sanctuary."
As Jaru pushes on the 'sanctuary' rune, there is a grinding of stone and a small secret door becomes apparent as a section of wall slides aside. A bolt-hole is visible, and you can now all clearly hear sobs and sniffles coming from it.
Setesh cautiously moves up to the bolt hole.
"Hello? My name is Setesh; my companions and I mean you no harm... Is there any way we can help you?"
A young voice trembling only slightly sounds from the bolt-hole "You are not orcs?"
Oh, no...
"No, we are definitely not Orcs. We came upon your home by accident, saw that Orcs had been about, and decided to try to render assistance to those who lived here. Tell me, what is your name?"
He then makes frantic hand gestures to the others, implying that they should move the two Dwarven corpses from the room before the occupant of the bolt-hole is coaxed out...
The voice is gradually strengthening in its response "I am Hodar, and I took refuge with my sister as the orc attacked...." his voice trails off and is breaking slightly as he continues "What of my kin?"
Noor picks up one of the corpses and carries it to the infirmary.
Well, that accounts for two of the missing Dwarves...
"Well, we have not searched the entire complex yet so I remain hopefully that we will find others, but I must warn you, it does not look good. Your kin did put up a terrific fight, from the looks of things, though... Is your sister okay?"
Jaru helps drag the other dwarf out after grabbing a couple blankets to cover the bodies.
Tarik assists Jaru with the removal of the bodies, desperate to give some action to himself, to avoid thinking about what has happened here.
In a resigned tone "Aye, from the sounds we heard I feared as much" you then hear some scraping from the bolt hole and two young dwarves emerge. The girl is very young - about the same as a human child of 5. The boy is older, but yet still early in his 'teenage' years.
They warily eye the party, eyes blinking to the affront of Jaru's light after so long in the dark. "I thank you, we were in the sanctuary for three days since they came and were starting to run low on food."
"You must tell me, how many dead."
Setesh considers his words carefully.
"We have encountered eight so far, but have as yet not fully explored this complex. How many of you were there in total?"
When the young Dwarf mentions there supply situation, Setesh pulls a simple clay mug from his belt, and hands it over.
"Here. Concentrate on the cup filling, and it will become full of cool, crystal clear water. I am afraid that I do not have any food on me, but we have other supplies back with our camels."
The teenage dwarf nods a thanks to Setesh and passes the cup to his sister. Counting out on his fingers as he mumbles names he comes to a realization "That is not all that dwelled here..." he thinks hard for a while "Have any of the dead been blackened by toil in the mines? I think Grundin and Thorgar were working the deep shafts on the day of the attack."
Jaru thinks, "No, I don't believe the miners were among the dead. Do you think the orc are still below as well?"
Hodar shrugs his shoulders "I would not think so, but I do not know for sure. The elders knew of the orc, but I was not party to any discussions held."
Jaru turns to the others. "If there's still the possibility of survivors in the mines, we should probably head down there soon."
"Well then, let's see if we can find them..."
Setesh will move to quickly check the room with running water, and then move back to the entrance to the mines (being careful to hide the Dwarven bodies as he goes, so as to not scar the 'younglings' too much)...
The room opposite the sleeping chambers is a washroom. The dwarves have tapped a natural spring to provide a channel of free-running water to assist with ablutions. There were no signs of any more dead there.
The younglings come with you as you proceed towards the mines. From the signs of tracks you don't think anyone has passed this way in at least three or four days. The tunnel downwards cuts back and forth as it winds downward.
After only a short descent there is a large chamber bedecked in fungus and mushrooms. Hodar explains that the majority of their diet is serviced from there. A cursory check of the room does not indicate any points of interest in the room.
Further descending into the mine, you come to a door in the side of the tunnel. Hodar states "This is where the miners come to rest so as not to need to return to the surface." His younger sister is continuing to cling close to him.
Setesh moves up to the door, and loudly addresses it:
"Grundin? Thorgar? Are you in there? My name is Setesh. My companions and I happened upon this mine accidentally, and decided to render whatever assistance we could. We have found Hodar and his sister, and have plenty of fresh water... I am going to open the door, now..."
Setesh then gingerly opens the door...
Setesh's call goes unanswered and as he opens the door there is no-one to greet him. The depot sports a table chairs and a couple of cot beds, but they are unoccupied. From the looks, no-one has set foot inside for at least a couple of days. The cupboards which presumably hold food and supplies have not been opened.
Tarik follows Setesh and the young dwarves, peering about in paranoid fashion.
Noor goes to the cupboard and looks for some food for the two young Dwarves. If she finds some, she will hand it out.
Noor finds some dried fungus that the younglings readily accept. Hodar ventures "They must still be in the workings?..." clearly confused that there is no clear sign of the dwarves in the rest stop.
"Very well. Let's see if we can find them..."
Setesh moves off to start to investigate 'The Workings'...
Noor says to the munching youths, "How deep might they be? We cannot leave our caravan under-guarded if the mine will take too long to search."
Hodar: "I heard that they had just sunk a new shaft, so it's most likely that they will be there" There is a map on the wall that indicates the shaft in question.
"Well, that narrows it down. Shall we?"
Setesh nods.
"Yes, let's go there, first."