The Fall of Durgis Rock V2.6

We rushed as fast as we could to aid Durgis Rock, but what we saw was heartbreaking. There were goblins and orcs every where, the main gate had been shattered, and there were three walking stone statues destroying everything and everyone within reach. We saw many dead and dying, but still heard heavy fighting in many places, hope was not lost yet. We heard a lot of noise coming from the Great Hall area, we hoped that many of the dwarves had moved there to make a stand. The elves said they could attack the horde in the open, but that someone needed to let the dwarves in the hall know that help was here. Croft and I volunteered to deliver that message.

I told Croft to follow me and stay close. I took him to a well hidden crack in the wall and disappeared. After a bit of disorientation, probably from the fairy dust, I led Croft toward the Great Hall. As we were traveling through the marmoset holes, we could hear battle erupting, the elves and the rest of our group must have launched their offensive. We slide our way through several twist and turns, until we were standing underneath a trap door. I was amazed how well Croft could move, almost as well as I. I will keep an eye on him and his buttons. Stealthily we opened the door and scouted around. We saw a single orc picking through what he thought was loot. Together we snuck up behind him and cut him down in a flurry of quick knife cuts, again Croft showed great skill. At this point my blood was boiling I needed to do more than just kill this orc, I wanted to humiliate it. I kicked it over, grabbed it scrotum and sliced it off, I wish he was still alive. I emptied out its contents on its bleeding body, I plan to make a small pouch which I will keep my trophies in it, or maybe I will just toss it away.

We made our way out of the small room into the Great Hall, we heard orc voices coming from the Hall of Heroes, we made our way to the front doors and opened them wide. At our feet was the old silly dwarf, Snurry cut and mangled to the point that I only recognized him because of his over sized leather helmet covering his face. We look out through the rock and I saw Riane casting fire everywhere, orcs and goblins were screaming and running around in total chaos. Devil Horn, Lorn, Wendell, and Duncan came charging toward us. Croft and I motioned for them to be quiet and come this way. We led them toward the Hall of Heroes, where we had heard the orcs. We shut the doors to the battle outside and headed toward the orcs and hoped it wasn’t too late. As we approached the noise we could all take cover with trappings of the hall. We saw four orcs tearing the Hall of Heroes apart. There was about a dozen dead dwarves laying all over hacked up, there was two to three times as many orcs laying dead as well. The remaining orcs were throwing down the books and urinating on them, cutting up the painting and destroying the beautiful dwarven sculptures. What they wanted they were putting in a pile, but mostly they were destroying things out of hatred and ignorance. Croft noticed their weapons and shields were leaned up against a column and he said he wanted to sneak in and move their weapons before we do anything else. I thought it was crazy, but he said, “What’s the worst that can happen they see me, you all charge in and save me.” He said that with a huge smile on his face. Amazingly he just walked right in, moved all their weapons that he could barely lift, smiling all the way. He motioned for us to attack, Devil Horn charged in with his huge axe screaming at the orcs. They looked stunned for about a half a second, they reached for their weapons that weren’t there. Croft laughed, took out his knife and went to work. After about thirty seconds there were three dead orcs and one that was knocked out. We all had taken some hits, but it would have been much worse had it not been for that crazy gnome. We tie up the remaining orc, we plan to question it later, but right now we have to find Wooden. In the pile of dead dwarves we hear a faint hoarse mumble, it’s the Dor’Thain. The Big Guy moves a few bodies both orc and dwarf to get a better look at our leader. He is trying to move, but it looks hopeless. There are six javelins sticking through him in various places, green foam is spewing from his mouth as he coughs up black blood sporadically. Devil Horn bends down and does his best to save his life. Wooden grabs him and thrust a silver tube into his hand, and says to him, “Swear you will personally place this into the Witch Queen’s hands.” Devil Horn takes an oath that he will, with that oath the Dor’Thain of Durgis Rock breathed no more. Duncan and Devil Horn both scream at the top of their lungs for revenge.

Lorn helps up tend to our wounds as fast as we can so we can join with the few remaining dwarves and drive back the invaders. I check on the knots to make sure the orc is secure and we head back into the fray. What we find is devastating, that battle is over, but the price was high, too high. Most of the inhabitants of the Rock, were dead or dying. We begin the grim task of looking for the people we know and hoping they were okay. Most of the males who could fight were now dead. We see the old and the females tending the wounded and ritually decapitated the fallen of Durgis. I find Baylah smashed against the a stone wall, with a stone construct not far away, no longer animated with arrows driven through its body. It looks like he was beaten into the wall like a nail, he lay broken and crumpled. The snow elf who I hoped would be my mentor was no more, I would honor the best I could. I collected his weapons and claimed them as my own. The fighting knives would taste orc blood again, and I would learn to use his bow. The quiver was empty, but I was sure I could fill it again before the day was out. His magnificent cloak was shredded beyond repair, but I still took it as if it was just made. I also relieved him of his armor, it was of an unknown leather and colored red and white. I am not sure what I will do with it, but I would not let his memory fade away. I said my last good byes and cut off his head, I did not want to face him in battle as a walking undead. As I went to find my companions I saw Herg among the dead, I thought to myself I won’t be making those five scabbards for him after all. It all saddened me and reminded me why I was here. This was the second time in my short life that I had two homes completely destroyed.

I found my friends inside the Great Hall talking. They said that the other elves were also dead, but that their heroic fighting had saved a lot of lives today. We decided to wake up the orc and question him, Croft had received the small black rock from Raine and had figured out how to make it work. He thought he could wake up the orc that way by placing it on his head and making it get hot, unfortunately it go to hot and cooked what was left of the orc’s brain. Duncan came in and said the Rock was preparing to leave and head to Silvervein. He said to gather what we could carry and help take care of the dead, Durgis Rock is no more.

The Next Day V2.5

We woke up, had a light breakfast and began to prepare for the march back to Durgis Rock. Croft chattered freely with everyone, there is just something shifty about his demeanor. As we were preparing to leave, we could hear a strange noise, everything was difficult to hear because of the rushing sound made by the Falls. We looked out and saw about a dozen small gangly creatures heading our way herding a moving stone statue. It was a terrifying site. The group immediately took up arms and made hasty battle plans.

Baylah stepped outside the doorway and almost completely disappeared in plain sight, I followed him the best I could. There was something about his cloak that made him blend in so well, like magic. He headed straight toward the bridge where some of the goblins were managing to get ahead of the moving rock that looked stuck on the bridge. Baylah took out two of the monsters with out breaking stride and just vanished into thin air. I searched in vain for him and suddenly realized I was alone and staring at a giant animated statue and more goblins than I could handle. As I struggled to find Baylah, several arrows flew over my head and took out several of the creepy things heading toward me, I look back and saw Eiram shooting arrows as fast as he could. Before I could turn back, as unbelievable as it sounds lighting shot from Riane’s hands and hit the statue, which even more unbelievable didn’t do anything, other than make three of the goblins seem a bit more nervous and hesitate. With there hesitation, came their disaster, the bridge gave way and the stone monster fell through, it was so large you could still see it from the waist up and it was trying to crawl back on to the bridge. I knew I had to act and act fast, I wasn’t sure how those three goblins were making the statue move, but I knew I had to stop them. I ran and jumped over the statue and landing right in the middle of the remaining goblins on the bridge. There numbers were a lot less now, arrows were flying every where some hitting goblins, others smashing off the giant. I saw several darts fly by and land safely in the water doing absolutely nothing.

Baylah reappeared and began cutting down more of the offending monsters. I also started beating my way through their ranks with my atharak. I heard the Big Guy running toward the bridge chopping the remaining few down like kindling. It was amazing to watch the elves just decimate the goblin war party. Baylah and I took down the three goblins that were concentrating on the animated statue and it just stopped moving half in the water and half slumped over the bridge. They were wearing shinny necklaces and I confiscated two of them for my collection. I tried to ask Baylah how he could hide so well, seemed even better than me and nobody can hide better than me. He either didn’t understand or ignored me. I grabbed one of the corners from his cloak. He spun around and grabbed it out of my hands and motioned for me to stop it. I just giggled, I knew now it was the cloak, I want one. The rest of what they had was pretty much junk. We left the bodies where they had fallen and hurried off as quickly as we could toward Durgis Rock before more came. This was a mistake we would pay for later.

We gathered up our things and set out on a fast paced hike back through the hills, with Duncan leading the way. It is so funny to watch the gnomes try to walk fast. They look like chickens walking in a strong wind, you are just waiting for them to fall over at any second. We had been on the trail for almost two days when I heard an all too familiar sound. I heard orc war horns faintly carried on the winds. I let everyone know what I had heard and told them to be on the look out. Not long after that we spot a dark shadow coming toward us on the trail. It looks like an orc, but we aren’t sure. Taking no chances Croft and I scout ahead while the rest wait in the cover of the trees. It was agreed if it was an orc we would try to capture it and talk to it. I had no intentions to talk to an orc, I guess that is why then sent Croft. As we got closer we realized it was a wounded orc crawling down the path. It was barely moving. Croft said he was going in closer, I was preparing my knife to slit its throat, when in my amazement, Croft did what I was thinking. We hurried back to where everyone was waiting, Croft said matter of fact that it was an orc, but it had died before we got there. He looked at me and I didn’t say a word. Maybe he isn’t so bad after all, but I still don’t trust him.

We all moved forward, some wanted to examine the orc, me I was so full of hate and fury that I wanted to sit it on fire. All my memories, fears and trauma hit me like a thunder clap, I was just stunned and was going through the motions. When Devil Horn seen the body he noticed lots of scars up and down the orcs arms and said they were kill marks. This meant according to the Big Guy, this was a veteran warrior with many kills to his name. I thought good, now he is dead. Someone suggested we camp and I was all for that, my head was spinning with horrible memories. Duncan wanted to get back to Durgis as quick as possible, because he was convinced it was under attack. We had been traveling for a long time and some of us were tired. He said it didn’t matter he had to get there as quick as possible and help his clan. He headed up the trail on his own. We talked a little bit and were confused on what to do. I was no help at all. We knew it would be better to fight rested, if we even needed to fight. But every moment mattered for the people back at the Rock. The elves offered us another choice. Riane said we could take this magical dust that would allow us to continue for another full day and night as if we were fully rested, but the down side is we would have to rest for two days after. We agreed to take the dust. We immediately were full of energy and couldn’t sleep even if we wanted to. My mind was on revenge and I was ready to kill me some orcs. We quickly caught up to Duncan who was glad and proud to see us. He said I knew you would come and we headed up the path as quick we could. As we got closer to Durgis Rock we could hear sounds of battle, see smoke and we knew that Duncan was right.