Morgrim's greeting is met with stony silence.



"Curse that name!" the dwarf spits back. "The Silverstream Clan is banished from the halls. You will find none of their traitorous kind here! You best be on your way. There is no shelter here for the lot of you!"

The dwarf sentinel has been conversing with the party through an arrowslit located near what looks to be the second level of the outpost. The dwarf's face is visible through the slit, but little else.

Arnan came to a halt as soon as they were challenged by the sentry, figuring that Dalgura or Morgrim -- or both -- should be the ones to respond. Soon enough Morgrim did indeed speak up, only to be met by some unexpected news.

"That's . . . that's a surprise," Arnan muttered to his companions, in response to the news about the entire Silverstream clan being banned.

"I am very curious to hear the reason for such an unexpected turn of events."

Dal stepped forward a bit after Morgrim made his introduction.

"We are Ironhammer's not Silverstream.  Why are they banned?  Since we are not them, why can we not find shelter here?  Do you have injured that need healing?  If so then perhaps we can help with that in exchange for shelter."

"There's no Ironhammers here and we're taking in no homeless dwarves. Find shelter elsewhere!" he spits back.

"Lord Hammerstone's orders!" another voice chimes from somewhere out of view.

The dwarf visible in the arrowslit calls back, "Silverstream refused to protect our treasures and sought to hold back the clan from pursuing the mountain's wealth!"

"We have no need of your services! Go away!" the dwarf shouts.

"So much for all that great dwarven hospitality," Kira stated and looked at Dal and Grim with an apologetic half-smile.  There was certainly something afoot here but she left any further discussions for the two dwarves, figuring her puny little self would just make things worse.

"Guess he doesn't like you two very much," Thane remarked with some bemusement.  "I thought dwarves were all one big happy family?  Guess not," he said a little darkly, the darkly aimed at the guard and not at Dal and Grim.

With a sigh and a shake of his head, he stepped forward.  "Look, I know you're on duty and you've got orders and all that typical military chain of command bow to the king sort of stuff, but we're no threat to you just standing here talking.  So listen a minute to what we have to say," he pursued the conversation in a clear and commanding voice.

"You say Helda's not here.  Fine, I'll accept that you banished her.  We'd like to know where she went off to.  We've traveled with her in the past and are concerned for her safety.  Word of dwarven zombies roaming the lands up here has spread into the ten towns, and that's why we've come up this way.  Just getting here we had to put down a bunch zombies, dwarven zombies that is, heading southwards from these parts.  Them zombies had to come from somewhere.  So we're also rightly concerned about the state of things here with you and your clansmen.  Now, you sure everything's all nice and ship-shape with you folks?"

"Now hang on just a moment," Morgrim said with a flash of anger over the treatment of his sister. "That's no proper way for a dwarf to greet his kinfolk! This lass is a cleric of Sharindlar, so unless ye care to call down the Lady's displeasure I'd think good and hard about your next words, and more specifically, your tone of voice. I don't know Lord Hammerstone from a pile of rocks but I can't believe Helda Silverstream is what ye say of her."

"I would like to request an audience with the Lord of the Valley!"

The dwarf sentry says he has no knowledge of Helda Silverstream's whereabouts, or if she ever made it to the Dwarven Valley for that matter. What he does know is he is understrict orders of the Master of the Halls, none other than Baerick Hammerstone, to not allow any outsiders inside the valley.

"Spies are afoot, be they dwarf or not, especially Ten-Towners! There's human among your group. Spies, you are! You lust after the Black Ice like all the rest. You'll get none of it!"

The sentinel says he cannot grant you access to the valley, but is willing to send a message to the Master of the Hall, Baerick Hammerstone.

In reply to DM Shard (msg # 76):

Dal crossed her arms as she held on to her holy symbol.  She wasn't doing it to cast a spell but more for comfort.  She snorted and stared at the dwarf who was refusing them entrance.

"Some Dwarves are nice and some aren't.  One thing is certain though, once a Dwarves mind is made up, good luck in changing it.  Ok, I can understand that you can't let us stay but can we at least come out of this weather while you send word to The Master of the Hall?"

Morgrim glanced at his sister and then to the guardsman. His expression suggested that the dwarf had better acquiesce to Dalgura's eminently reasonable request if he knew what was good for him.

In reply to Morgrim Ironhammer (msg # 78):

It wasn't easy trying to persuade a stubborn Dwarf but Dalgura tried her best.  She smiled at the man and turned her big eyes (most people thought them big anyway) on the man and looked at him pleadingly.  ~Please Sharindlar, we need to get out of this weather.~ Dalgura thought as she waited to hear if the guard would let them in.


08:05, Today: Dalgura Ironhammer rolled 12 using 2d20 with rolls of 3,9.  persuasion (Advantage).

The dwarf sentinel steels his resolve, clenches his jaw and lowers bushy eyebrows to the point they nearly obscure his eyes.

"Strict orders," he calls back. "None are to be admitted. That includes unknown dwarves, be it cold or not. You should have thought of that before you trudged up the road with a storm on."

He pauses a moment, "Relying on the kindness or charity of strangers is a sure way to end up on the wrong side of it!" he admonishes.

The sentintel advises taking shelter against the wall and perhaps building a fire while they wait Baerick Hammerstone's reply. "Or turn back," he puts in unsympathetically. "Your dwarf is more like than not dead."
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:33, Tue 12 Sept 2017.

In reply to DM Shard (msg # 80):

"Shame on you, Dwarf, and on this Baerick Hammerstone," Arnan growled up at the sentry.

"Time was, nothing short of an Orc would be turned away when Auril reigned supreme. But I see that greed now outweighs the traditional hospitality that led nearly all to welcome travelers and offer them respite from the Winter's snow and freezing winds."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:37, Tue 12 Sept 2017.

"I think their women must have gone on strike and pissed in their ale," Kira said as she trudged over by the wall and considered trying to dig down a bit for a wind break but waited for Dal and Grim's decision on the matter.  "If you guys want to head on back, I'm fine with that too."

Arnan's rebuke does little to change the stubborn dwarf sentinel's mind. He dismisses the comment with the flush of his mailed gauntlet and a low growl, "Begone with the lot of you!"

Several subdued dwarven voices echo within the warmth of the gatehouse, apparently they took some degree of offense at the rebuke. Their chatter soon subsides. The same sentintel continues to watch the party from behind the protection of the arrowslit.

The outpost itself consists of a sturdy stone structure to one side of the road. An arch runs over the road, connected on the other side by a solid column of carved rock. There is no gate or portcullis beneath the arch, though it looks like one may have stood at one time.

"I think this black ice has made their hearts as cold as the weather," Thane surmised about the dwarven guards while settling up against the wall to get protection from wind.

"Where do you think Helda would have gone?  What's the nearest shelter from here?" he asked everyone.  "I'm willing to help set up camp if we want to wait on his high muckety hammerself to give us an answer, but I'm more for trekking after Helda, honestly."

Arnan knows the closest settlements to Dwarven Valley are as follows:

Termalaine, located about 4 miles west of the valley, on the east shores of Maer Dualdon. Arnan, Kira, and Thane passed through this small village when traveling to the Elk Tribe camp.

Caer-Dineval, located about 8 miles east of the valley, on the west shores of Lac Dinneshere. This is a small town of 200 to 300 souls living in houses clustered against a small castle atop a rocky hill.

Bryn Shander, located about 10 miles southwest of the valley.

There are offshoot trails leading to both Termalaine and Caer-Dineval and Arnan is familiar with the location of both, but these might be more dangerous as neither is protected from the harsh winds the way the Dwarven Valley road is. If anything, the trail to Termalaine would be more dangerous as the wind funnels through Bremen's Run along the west slope of Kelvin's Cairn. The trail to Caer-Dineval is in the shelter of the mountain and likely to be more protected from the buffeting wind.

Morgirm glared at the truculent gate guard and then hitched his fingers behind his belt.

"Stuff it. I'll no' let some uppity blow-hard tell me what's what. Come on, Dal. Lets show 'em what Ironhammers are made of."

Morgrim resumed his trudging walk, plotting a path that would take him past the gate house and daring the occupants to try to stop him.

Thane shook his head and cursed under his breath.  He didn't like the direction this was going, at all.  "Keep that up Morgrim, you'll be walking alone.  Or at least without me," he hissed loudly enough for the druid to hear, but hopefully not so loud that the sentry would hear it too.

"I'm with Thane on this," Arnan said quietly.

"We need to speak with Helda Silverstream and find out what's going on, and it seems clear that we won't find her in this valley."

"I suggest that we rest in the shelter of the wall for a short while, whilst we regain our wind and warm up a little. Then we ought to set out in search of Mistress Silverstream."

"They're certainly not gonna want people like us going in," Kira said conversationally, her voice not carrying up to the tower.  "Of course the way they're acting, they could have killed Helda and those with her," she added as she started using her foot to shift about some snow.  She was too used to people turning on each other and if the black ice was causing greed to rise, she wouldn't put it past them to kill off even kin.

Morgrim paused and turned to look up at Thane. "Oh? Ye know that zombies are spilling out of this valley, we've done fought the poor sods and ye buried them in the snow, and some arse with his helmet screwed on too tight tells ye to bugger off and away we go? What happens when the yetis say 'thanks but no thanks, we'll just eat these here villagers'? We don't stand up to just frothing orcs and thundering giants. Just 'cause he's a dwarf doesn't mean hes on the straight and narrow. We've got our share of bad ingots too, I'll tell ye that right now."

"And you, Arnan," Morgrim continued, turning towards the huntsman next. "We took the most direct route here. Helda left before the storm. She knows these roads. Where do ye suppose she ended up? Targos?"

"I hate to say it, but Kira is right. If we don't find Helda in this valley its more than likely because she's already dead. And one of these bastards did it."

Kira paused in her kicking around of the snow, looking at Morgrim for a long moment as she chewed on her bottom lip with a worried frown.  "I just thought of something," she said with an anxious look.  "The zombies are coming from here ... where the black ice is apparently being mined.  What if the black ice is somehow making them crazy, maybe even poisoning them until they die and turn into zombies?"

"Then that sounds like the sort of thing we really ought to investigate, don't it?" Morgrim said levelly.

"We have a saying in Luskan.  Not my ship, not my fight," Thane replied evenly.  "The way I see it, you're forcing them other dwarves to make a choice to either let you walk by, or to fight you.  If it comes to fightin', I ain't helpin' you.  I've no truck with them, potential bad ingots or not.  I'm a military man.  Regulations and such are just what they are.  I say we hole up and get an answer from the big high muckety beardface fellow.  I've not seen enough to warrant attacking these folks just 'cause they decided to follow their orders and deny us entry and thereby pretty much have to try to stop you.  And they have a nice advantage from behind their stone walls and arrow slits."