See Also: Bardic Knowledge
It was after the sun had passed its zenith before phoenix_force left their campsite. After the night’s battle everyone was tired and needed a few extra hours of sleep and time to check their wounds. Cohen ranged over a mile out from camp following their attackers trail. It was clear to him that this group of raiders broke off from the main group they were tracking. How they knew that someone was on their trail he could only guess. Maybe they just sent them back just in case. Whatever the reason at least their numbers were less that before.
The rest of the day and into the early night they tracked their prey. The Stoneheart Mountains grew large to their eyes and in less than two weeks they would reach the foothills at this pace. The borderland has never been considered safe unless you are near the main road that passes through the dwarven hold. Given that they were over a weeks travel west of that road things could become rather dangerous. That night they made camp in a much more secure location and even spent an hour preparing basic defensive works.
In the morning Ridolf and Cohen journeyed on ahead to check the trail. It was not too long before they came back with news that the raiders had made a fairly large campsite just north only a few days ago. Phoenix Force quickly broke camp and made their way to the raider's campsite. After looking around they agreed the raiding party was comprised of 20 orc and at least 3 of those fierce horses that they breed. They were joined by six riders, each of the horses bearing either a man or a man’s weight. What they once thought was campfires with the bones of their dinner actually turned out to be magical fire explosions and the bones of either an orc or human.
A battle had took place here and there were no orc prints that left this area. In addition two of the mounts were empty when they returned the way they came. The only other prints were some leather shod prints that went west. Cohen, Tharen Starlight, and Gul followed these tracks while the others turned their attention to gather any further information from this battle.
Less than a hundred yards from the battle they come across a half-man sized stone that has been magically formed laying on the top of a small grassy hill. Gul manages to dispel the locking seal on the stone and Cohen levers it up and over unto its face. It was blocking a small vertical shaft that had been newly cut through the rock and earth of the hill. Barely big enough to squeeze a small man through, it was decided to lower Gul down. With just a small magical light hovering nearby, Gul descends into the stygian darkness.
After about 30 feet the hole gets wider until it is clear that Gul has descended into a natural cavern. The floor was slick with water and the smell of death hung in the air. In the center of the cavern were three stone cairns. Gul uncovered one of these and found a young man in simple brown robes who clearly died from a large gash in his head. He clutched an iron-headed mace to his chest, had a leather necklace adorned with a simple wooden disc about his neck, and his mouth was closed about a small metal ring set with a single stone. Upon the disc was carved a sun with a triangle contained within it, nothing Gul had ever seen before. It took him a bit of time to get the ring, but once he got it free and looked at it. It seemed a simple silver ring and the stone was nothing more valuable than a polished shard of obsidian. Never one to rob graves, Gul replaced the items and rebuilt the cairn.
Before he could return up the hole he heard something slithering along the ground. He sent his light spell dancing to all corners of the cave before he finally found the noise. It was shaped much like a snake or worm, but was black as the night sky and glistened from a slime that covered its body. Gul took to the rope, but the creature was faster and wrapped his body around the gnome’s leg. The creature was far to heavy for either Gul to climb up or those topside to pull up – they were barely hanging on stopping the rope from going down, along with Cohen who was tied to the end as the anchor.
Tharen could only see the flashing light and Gul's spells giving her brief glimpses of what was happening. She nocked and arrow looking for something to hit, but given the confusion she thought it wise to wait rather than take a chance and hitting Gul. Instead Tharen called to the others for help, but it would take them time to get here and she thought Gul did not have that much time. Throwing caution to the wind she grabbed the rope using her gloves and slid down towards Gul. She stopped just above him and turning her leg around the rope she hung upside down directly above him.
Together Tharen's knife and Gul's magic were enough to defeat the creature. When it took a mortal wound it collapsed back to the cave floor giving off a terrible stench. Gul kicked off his right boot tha the creature had wrapped itself around because most of the boot was gone. It was either eaten or dissolved by the creature. The others finally arrived and were able to pull Gul and Tharen up to safety. Given the new circumstances the decision was made to follow the newcomers who did battle with the orc raiders. Given the probable outcome of the battle anything the orcs possessed was not owned by these wizards.