24 Sommerzeit
There was an ork attack in the night but we heard them coming and had the advantage of a defensible position. We killed at least a dozen, maybe more. The rest retreated back along the narrow road, unwilling to give their lives for the greater glory of their warlord.
Having no particular desire to hang around and see if the works could find a way around our position, we moved along the cleft. There were signs of dwarven handcraft all around us, a bit of rough ground leveled, a stone wall here, an archway there. Most of it long since gone to ruin. Emma found a dead dwarf in a rusted mail shirt, equally long gone. Probably a runner by the looks of the scroll case (and a bag of gems, high in value but low in weight) he was carrying. Must have hidden on a ledge and never gotten down alive. The scroll was legible but in dwarven runes, which none of us can read.
In the early morning, we came out of the gorge and into the northern end of a mountain valley. We followed the hoof marks and came to a ledge by a waterfall - a waterfall where the river flowed out of a gap in the cliff face. One horse had fallen off the cliff into the pool below but other than that we could find no trace of the Prince's party. The horses had certainly not gone into the river nor into the cliff.
The hidden dwarf place
Finding the water level to fluctuate we sent in Ulfberth with a rope (he's the only one who can swim) during "low tide," then the rest of us used the guide rope to make our way upriver. It was a tight fit even during low water. Inside we found a small dwarf hold. More like an outpost or castle really.
Many were the mysteries contained within: A chamber sealed by magic we couldn't access (might have to come back). An undead dwarf that was nothing like the walking dead of the Reikswald - he spoke Reikspiel, warned us of danger, and was not aggressive in any way (in hindsight I think maybe he was a ghost, not one of the walking dead, that sensed our good intentions).
Speaking of beastmen: as we were leaving a group entered the outpost. There was a battle, a vicious one in the gloom. Those we did not kill threw themselves into the river and were swept away. Even beastmen fear certain death, it seems. I wonder what the Red God thinks of cowardice?
We played some with the levers and chains and managed to raise a hitherto submerged bridge. The horse could now cross the wild waterfall and continue along the cliff face. Old horse tracks were clearly visible on the other side. We were back on track.
25 Sommerzeit
In the morning, we entered the nameless dwarf-hold. Long hours we spent in the dark with nothing but torches for company. An utter ruin it was, long since abandoned and bearing all the signs of a fortress fallen to storm. Had orks overrun the dwarf defenders long eons past? Seemed like it.
We picked up some odds and ends and brought them with us. No great treasures like we had found in the waterfall fort. Some old books; perhaps they will be worth something. In the great hall of the ancestors - which seemed a lot like a temple to me - we found a great statue clasping a warhammer. Something, a gem or ornament perhaps, had sat in a niche inside the head of the hammer. Gone, of course. Had Prince Hergard taken it? Or orks, long ago?
We exited the hold through a side entrance high on the mountainside. In the afternoon sun, we could make out a tower in the distance, near a snaking silvery river. So we settled down for another night under open skies. Seemed a better option than resting inside the tomb of the Kaer.
26 Sommerzeit
We followed a narrow, overgrown trail into the valley below. Riders had come this way. How many we couldn't quite tell. Ten, maybe be more, maybe less. Down in the valley, the trail split into two more or less equally-sized tracks. One band - our dead guys - had gone back north. The other band - presumably the group with the Prince - had continued south. So south it was (also the risk of orks seemed much less along the southern route).
We made it to the river without incident and crossed over to the tower. It wasn't too different from Jügren's tower, built perhaps by the same peoples, but appeared uninhabited save flocks of birds, ravens, crows, and other kinds. We passed it by and pressed on.
Later in the day we entered woodlands and were set upon by a minotaur. We put it down with steel and lead. Had it tried harder to kill us and spent less time trying to abduct Emma it might have been more of a threat.
Following the horse tracks, we were attacked by a trio of minotaurs. It could have gotten ugly, but the brutes charged across a wide-open plain and we cut them down with guns and bows. I've heard stories about the prowess of minotaurs, and their unnatural toughness, but they didn't seem so tough to me.
Within their lair, we found Prince von Tasseninck. Incredibly, he was still alive (his companions, not so much). A little worse for wear, but alive and sound of limb (he was a little unsettled, but rest and schnapps should bring him about).
We also found the missing gem from the dwarfhold - Karak Kulgan the Prince named it. A ruby, larger than any I've seen before, shaped like a heart by cunning dwarf hands. Worth a fortune, easily. Mine for the taking. Yet the hairs on Ulfberth's arms...standing up like the bristles on a pig. Something ain't right about that gem.
27 Sommerzeit
We left the valley behind and started climbing into the southern mountains. We don't know the way home but turning north again is no option at all: there be orks. We see them clearly now, many miles away, unaware of our location. Be we're not waiting for them to catch our scent!
28 Sommerzeit
On the 28th (or thereabouts, timekeeping isn't a priority in the mountains) we came down from the mountains and into hill lands. There we met a group of strigany (GM note: gypsies) who welcomed us into their came. They were extremely hospitable and friendly - could easily have slain us all and take our treasures - so I invited them to come to the von Liberungen lands. They said it was a long trip - weeks at the very least - but they would make the trek. Strange that, since we had only traveled for a few days. We spent the night with the strigany, blew off some steam, all of us. Even the Prince seemed to relax and after some of the goblin brew, he was ready to get back into the saddle, so to speak.
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