They sat at a table in the inn's common room and debated their next step while they waited for their lunches to arrive. The promise of hot food was perhaps more appealing to Larsik that arguing with Raifex, and he had little to add.
"I just don't see the scrolls being useful," Seraphina said. "We should sell them rather than hang on to them."
"There wouldn't be anyone around here to buy them," Raifex countered. "More to the point, Kazir told us that the orcs were only able to take the mine because the dwarves who controlled it had to leave. Their troubles might be related to our troubles, and these scrolls could be the valuables we need to buy our way to somebody in a position of power."
"I don't think dwarves do things like that."
"We'll call it a gesture of good will then, if you don't want to think of it as a bribe. Either way, returning the scrolls to them, scrolls which are of no use to us either way, can't hurt anything, especially when we're going to be asking them for a favor."
Seraphina's brow furrowed. "What favor?"
"We're going to be asking for help with the investigation. If we're lucky, they'll have the answers and we can wrap this whole thing up nice and easy. If not, maybe they can at least point us in the right direction."
They'd sold most of the equipment in town, though Raifex had kept one of the bows for himself. It was too fine to be orc-made, and he assumed they'd looted the lot of them off some unfortunate travelers. Kazir's weapons were still safely stowed away. They were too distinct and recognizable, and they didn't want the townsfolk to associate them with the ranger's death.
Their lunch arrived just then, delaying any further discussion. They sat silent while they ate, each keeping their own thoughts. When they were done, Larsik started the conversation back up. "He's right. We didn't learn anything useful here. All we did was clear out a mine and take out a troublesome tribe of orcs. We need to move on."
"Do either of you know how to get to these dwarves?" Seraphina asked.
"Kazir said they were the 'dwarves of Irinom.' I'm sure someone will be able to point us in the right direction," Raifex said. He flagged Malduke with his hand, and the innkeeper walked over.
"What can I get you?" he asked pleasantly.
"Maps," Raifex said. "The dwarves that controlled the mine, the Irinom clan, we want to talk to them, and we need to know how to find them."
Malduke frowned thoughtfully for a second. "There's a dwarf who lives in town, does work as a cooper. They call him Rudder. Don't ask me why. I think he was originally from Irinom. You should ask him."
"Thanks," Larsik told the man. He turned to the table and asked, "Shall we then?"
"I'll talk to the dwarf," Raifex volunteered. "You two gather supplies for the trip."
"I can help with the foodstuffs," Malduke interjected. "Just tell me how many day's worth you need, and I'll put it together."
"I want to get my chain shirt mended from that arrow," Seraphina said. "Two of the links are broken now. It shouldn't take long to fix."
"Guess I'll just laze about then," Larsik grinned.
"Do something productive," Seraphina scolded as she slapped his knee.
"Fine, fine! I'll apprise our employer of what we've done so far and see about getting some warmer clothes for us if we're going to be heading deeper into the mountains."
Seraphina and Larsik stood at the edge of town, the former wearing her freshly mended chain shirt, and the latter with a pair of fur lined cloaks draped over his arm and a third draped across his shoulders. Raifex joined them, a scowl on his face. "Bastard charged me ten gold pieces for the information," he grumbled.
"Sounds like you got swindled," Seraphina said.
Raifex glared at her, and both she and Larsik burst out laughing. "It's not like it came out of our pockets anyway," Larsik pointed out.
"That's not the point."
"Whatever. I had Malduke make up a week's worth of food for us, which only cost me a single gold coin," Larsik commented. He smirked when Raifex shot him a dirty look. "Will that be long enough?"
"Yes, it shouldn't take us even half that time to reach the Irinom Stronghold."
"Great," Seraphina said. "Let's get going then."
"We got a message from Malduke," Balv said.
"Oh?" Daedric asked.
"Yes. They're heading farther north into the mountains. Larsik himself wrote the note to tell you their plans."
Daedric laughed. "Well, that was certainly nice of him. It does make paying Malduke to spy on them a bit redundant though."
"Indeed. Oh, before I forget, the steward is looking for you. I believe it was something about a missing serving woman." Balv's eyes shot down a hacked apart body at Daedric's feet. "I'd guess he means her."
Daedric shrugged and grabbed a towel off a nearby table. "Probably," he said as he wiped blood off his hands. "I'm almost done with this part of the ritual anyway. Two more sacrifices should do it. I'll tell him that staffing problems are his concern, and not to bother me with runaway scullery maids."
Daedric tossed the bloody towel aside and strode across the chamber. "Best head him off before he starts snooping. Make sure no one sees you disposing of the body."
"Sir," Balv said, "You've got blood on your boots still."
Daedric stopped and looked down. "Damn it all," he grumbled. "I only brought the one towel with me too." It had landed in a pool of blood and was rapidly soaking through, making it useless. He scanned the room for something to clean his boots with. His eyes lit up on an old tapestry on the far wall. With a few quick strides, he was next to it and lifted his boot up to the corner of the tapestry. He wiped both boots off quickly, then regarded the mess.
"I'm sure no one will recognize the stains once the rest of the room is scoured," he remarked. "Very well, I'm off."
The wind whipped around them, tugging at the cloaks they held close to their bodies. They stood, backs against the mountain, and stared down at the little troop far below them on the trails. Magic sharpened one's vision, and the individual details were easily discernable, though the travelers far below them would have seen only little dark blips against the snow if they'd bothered to look up.
"These are the ones?" The speaker was a woman, tall and willowy, her movements quick and precise as she viewed the travelers.
The other was silent, and only a nod shook the hood of his cloak. He ran a finger across the side of his face, tracing the edge of the freshly scarred tissue. With a snarl, he glared down at the three black specs. Her magic didn't extend to him, but he could easily imagine each of their faces.
"They might, perhaps, be useful to us," the woman continued, ticking a long, polished nail against her lips as she thought. "If not, we can always kill them later."
The man scowled, but didn't say anything. His companion regarded him for a second as if waiting for him to comment, then shrugged. "Come on, we're late already, and for all his uses, Boghnar has the patience of a child."
The woman began the words to a spell, and the man reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder. She finished chanting, and they both disappeared.
Seraphina snuggled deep into the folds of her fur lined cloak. "Are we almost there?" she asked, her voice muffled. "It's freezing out here."
Larsik seemed to be having an even worse time of it, but he'd long since ceased complaining and focused merely on holding his cloak as close to his body as possible. Raifex glanced over at the sorcerer occasionally, but didn't say anything about it.
"Soon," he told Seraphina. "If we're not lost."
Larsik looked up in alarm, causing Raifex to laugh. "No, we're not lost," he assured the other man.
"Good," Larsik said. His lips were cracked and his skin was tinged a light blue. He'd been shivering uncontrollably for several hours, and only the promise of reaching the Irinom Stronghold soon had kept him going. They'd been woefully unprepared for the journey, and underestimated how much colder it would be higher up in the mountains.
They were moving down now though, following a wide trail that shot straight north and dipped lower with every step. Larsik was hopeful that, if nothing else, dropping altitude would warm them. So far, that hadn't happened either.
"What's that?" Seraphina asked.
Larsik's attention snapped from his own condition to the trail. "Where?" he asked.
"There, against the silhouette of the mountain."
"I don't see it."
Raifex pointed up. "There. Two straight lines, too straight to be natural. I'd guess some sort of watch tower. I'd say we're about there."
"That's the best news I've had in two days," Larsik said, relief plainly evident in his tone.
Half an hour after that, they came to a set of gates fitted between two mountain walls. The walls were carved and manned by a contingent of dwarven guards, and one of them yelled out from the wall as the group approached it. "State your business."
"Travelers from the south," Raifex called back up. "Here to meet with the Irinom clan about the invasion of monsters coming out of the mountains."
There was some brief discussion up on the walls, and the gates swung open. "Thank the Gods," Larsik muttered as they walked through the open gates.
