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"I have fire, but not enough to do more then blacken a few." Gyrdwald moves to grab the magical weapons his spell detected.
Uk brings up the rear as you all back out of the cave!
Even Buku helps by picking up a few magic items!
As you all move further down the cave towards the exit, you begin to hear the sounds of battle as Rao and Bower engage the Drow!
The little goblin suddenly stumbles and falls to the ground. Buku covers his ears and starts screaming, "Ban Ditthi! Ban Ditthi! Cor'garresh, Ban Ditthi!"
"Rao! Bower!" Gyrdwald calls back down the passage, hoping his companions can make a fighting retreat. Seeing the goblin practicing a common goblin battle tactic, he grabs it by the scruff and pushes it onward. "Keep moving!"
The sounds of battle erupt from down the cavern as Rao and Bower engage the Driders!
The sounds of Dwarven weapons in use fades quickly and is replaced by an unearthly wailing of cursed creatures!
Buki screams as Gyrdwald pushes him forward!
"It begins! It begins! By the darkness, it begins!"
Bower looks for the goblin and tries to make a fully defensive retreat while fighting and making it back to the entrance.
As Uk, Tailwind, Craag, Gyrdwald and Buki make for the entrance, they are immediately overtaken by Bower and Rao, who run as if Lolth herself were closing on their heels!
"Ruuuuuun!"
Stubby Dwarven feet move faster then the eyes can see as you all stumble through the cave exit into the bright sunlit morning!
You all gaze into the cave and see what can only be the outline of a Drider staring at you hatefully from the darkness! It's glare promises death for all of you as it backs into the cave, and away from the hated sunlight once more.
You all sit, breathing heavily, staring at one another.
"What in the name of Moradin's white whiskers was that?!"
"The warz haz begunzes," the little goblin cries. "Buki waz put therez to guardzes. Buki knowz. The Masterz are comingzes. Theyz gonna kills youz then meezes. The Masterz with the black skinsez and earzez. Meanz theyz are. Snakez whipz and evil magicsez. Themz and theyz armiez, comings to rulez all the top worldzez. Hurczez diez and thenzez the humanz and thenzez Thaxsez. Dark, dark, the darknezz rizez!" The goblin places his face in his hands, and begins to whimper loudly.
Rao's eyebrow raises as he grips his Battle Axe angrily. "I think the little piece of Great Elk dung is talking about invasion! You saw the weapons! By Moradin, Bower and I saw the Driders! Thax is about to burn! What do we do?!" Rao screams in rage and panic looking to all of you for the answers.
"Craag is correct." Gyrdwald agrees, his eyes narrowed in search of pursuit. "We must hurry."
Looking down, he casts a spell to assess the magic they managed to take before their mad retreat.
"F!#! the Axe! Rao says as he settles into one of his moods. "Thax needs to be warned!"
"If what the goblin says is true, then our mission to find Brawn's Hammer is even more important. Returning to Thax takes us away from it." Gyrdwald's brow furrows with dark thoughts. "There isn't need for us all to return to Thax. I believe we must divide and pursue both tasks. Uk and Tailwind are the fastest. They would make it there faster without the rest of us slowing them down."
"And let you go off for all the fun!? It was Rao's idea, let him go! Take the runt with him!
Rao nods in agreement with Gurdwald's plan.
"If we don't get word home soon, Thax will be completely surprised by the Drow! We need you to ride ahead and warn them Uk! Bower and I can follow, with the Goblin!"
"@#$%^&*!, Uk leaps onto Tailwind, patting his trusty companion and says to the others. "Stay safe until then, I'll catch up soon as I warn our people.
"I'm going home to save Thax. You are free to go wherever you wish Craag. I'm not stupid enough anymore to try to sway you, but I have a feeling you will be needed!"
"Aye Craag, I'm of the same mind, however..."
Gyrdwald lets out a long exasperated breath.
"The quest is uncertain, the danger to Thax is not. Let us return, at least until we can better understand the threat."
Your group moves off back towards your homeland. The Quest for the Hammer set aside for what is perceived to be a situation of greater importance. Uk drives Tailwind forward, while the rest of the Ironfist Clan moves towards Thax.
"Two days non stop home, one night rest, and we can return at a forced march in less than 10 forthnights that it took us to get here originally." Bower suggests.
Uk and Tailwind ride hard on the first day covering the standard 24 miles! Uk pushes Tailwind into a forced march!
Uk gets 27 miles on the first day of hard riding! 148 miles remaining.
Uk and Tailwind ride hard on the second day covering the standard 24 miles! Uk continues to push Tailwind into a forced march!
Uk gets another 27 miles on the second day of hard riding! 121 miles remaining.
Uk and Tailwind ride hard on the third day covering the standard 24 miles! Uk continues to push Tailwind into a forced march!
Uk gets another 30 miles on the third day of hard riding! 91 miles remaining.
Uk and Tailwind ride hard on the fourth day covering the standard 24 miles! Uk continues to push Tailwind into a forced march!
Uk gets another 30 miles on the fourth day of hard riding! 61 miles remaining.
Uk and Tailwind ride hard on the fifth day covering the standard 24 miles! Uk continues to push Tailwind into a forced march!
Uk gets another 30 miles on the fifth day of hard riding! 31 miles remaining.
Uk and Tailwind ride hard on the sixth day covering the standard 24 miles! Uk continues to push Tailwind into a forced march!
Uk gets another 27 miles on the sixth day of hard riding! 4 miles remaining.
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Gyrdwald sets the trailing group of dwarves at a steady pace with 2 hours of forced marching.
Uk arrives at the gates of Ironfist Village in the early hours of the morning on the sixth day!
The gates to the Ironfist Clan open and you are greeted by the Clan guards who immediately tend to your fatigued Dire Wolf.
The guards call for the Watch Captain, understanding the importance of your quick return home. Serac Shieldhammer arrives on the scene. "Uk? What happened? Why are you back so soon?"
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Uk and Tailwind rode hard through the badlands, occasionally pausing to catch a breath and recover. At night, they slept in rock crevices and anything that would conceal their presence. Uk unwraped the pieces of arms he had bundled in an oil cloth and rummaged through it, flung off the mundane. Crap,...crap...more crap......HEY! What he thought was at first a sword, judging from its length, was a naginata blade - a very fine naginata blade.
Upon seeing Serac, Uk responds, "Hmmmpt dahh hoot rahhh! Uhharraa!"
"Impossible," Serac says matter of factually. "There is no way that an Army of Drow can be headed towards Thax. Just because you found a horde of weapons guarded by a goblin named Buku Buki, and 3 Driders, doesn't mean an entire army is now marching on Thax. Why, the idea that our scouts could have missed this is ridiculous, let alone thinking that they wouldn't or couldn't have reported an armies movement is preposterous. Have you stopped to consider that it was just a Drow Horde's stash you found, and not an Armies? Really Uk, have you been dipping into Rao's stash of Magic Mushrooms again or what?"
"KkcUuuf UoOOyY!"
"What?! You want me to take you before the King of Thax, Gora the 57th, so you can personally warn him of this imaginary threat, and convince him that Thax couldn't survive an onslaught of this magnitude, just so you can impress Princess Xitzi and court her for a future love match, thereby positioning yourself to be the next potential King of Thax, but mainly because you really are in love with her?! I'd have to put my honor on the line to bring you before him with this make believe fairy tale!" Serac shakes his head. "You said that the others are on their way and will corroborate your story. I can't wait to hear that. You've all been gone for two weeks and come back with a wild tale about a Drow Army. Chances are you all have been on a two week vacation through the wilderness playing the silly pretend we're Knights of Galadan games you all played when you were adolescents. Unbelievable." Serac pauses a moment to consider. "According to your description of the number of Drow weapons, we are looking at an Army numbering in the thousands potentially." He considers more, and shakes his head again. "I can't do it! I can't bring this before King Gora. He'd boil me in molten Mithril for this nonsense!
Serac looks you up and down. Seeing the pathetic, pleading, and strangely cute big eyed look on your face, he rolls his eyes in surrender and says, "Fine. Let's do this." The Paladin turns leading you to the interior of Thax.