-1Armin quickly closed with the half-orc and drew his axe across his body, aiming to put a quick end to the fight by freeing the orc of the burden of its intestines. He was denied however as the large creature showed a bit of dexterity, jumping back out of the range of the axe. He also was able to deflect Toren's maul with his spiked club. Both dwarves quickly stepped back and readied their weapons as they eyed their opponent. Malchion smirked.
"A couple of dwarves." He sneered. "It seems we will be needing new, and better minions next time."
"And a new giant." Retorted Toren.
"And Gnolls." Added Armin. "Not that it matters. Yer the only one left, and thats gonna change real quick like."
"There is more here than you know, dwarf." Grinned the half-orc as he began moving to his right.
"Ye mean that overgrowd lizard?" Armin shot back with a mocking grin "Couple o me pals are carvin' her up now."
The half-orc blinked, his guard dropping for just a moment. That was what the dwarves were counting on as they simultaneously charged towards him. Malchion was quick to recover, however and managed to raise his club in time to block Armin's axe. Enaged with the red-bearded dwarf, he was unable to block Toren's maul as it connected with the orc's kidney. Malchion howled in pain as he reeled from the blow. He lifted a leg and kicked out at Armin, pushing him back. As Armin stumbled back, the orc spun and attacked Toren, bringing his spiked club up. Toren managed to get the hilt of his maul around to soften some of the attack, but still was pushed back a few steps.
The half-orc grinned evilly as the dwarves took a moment to re-examine his potential. "More than you can handle? Come on then. You defeated my army, and my creatures, surely you can defeat me?"
Armin shrugged and charged forward, Toren starting a moment later, hefting his maul up and around, spinning his body to give the weapon more momentum. Armin moved straight towards Malchion, bellowing out a battle cry. He twisted to duck under the club of the half-orc and brought his weapon up under his club arm. The red-bearded dwarf angled his axe blade to glance off Malchion's elbow. As he brought his axe up, he twisted the bottom of the axe handle, pulling out a small cone shaped dagger, which he jammed into the armpit of Malchion. He was not fast enough to avoid the club as the orc brought it down on Armin's head, dropping him quickly to the ground.
Ignoring the small blade in his side, he turned to face Toren and was rewarded by a maul to the chest. The force of the impact pushed Malchion back, but did not drop him. Toren maintained his momentum, spinning once more to bring his maul around. Machion was quicker, however, and thrust his club into Toren's midsection. The bald dwarf grunted, and stumbled back, dropping his maul and falling backwards.
Malchion grinned and turned to face Armin, who was just beginning to stand. He had lost his axe, but did not draw another from his collection. Instead, he simply smirked and pointed at the small blade stuck in the orc's side. Malchion, confused, looked down and examined the weapon. It was ticking. Before he could grasp the blade, there was an audible click. Malchion blinked. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a thin dribble of blood. He coughed once, then fell to his knees. Weakly, he tried to grab Armin, then collapsed, eyes staring up at the ceiling of the great cavern, seeing nothing.
Toren used his maul as a crutch to haul himself to his feet and hobble over to Armin and the dead orc. Armin reached down and pulled the dagger from the body. A long needle was sticking out from the end of the cone shaped dagger. He twisted the base of the blade, and the needle snapped back into the weapon with another click. He grinned at Toren.
"I know this gnome..." He chuckled, to which the bald dwarf could only chuckle, shaking his head.
The two turned to see what had happened to their companions. Seeing them crowding around a door, Armin and Toren collected themselves and made their way towards the others.
"What ye got?" Armin asked.
"Yer not gonna believe this," Replied Haldis. "These guys musta been doin' this fer years."
She motioned at the contents of the room. There were stacked with boxes, a few open revealing gems and other trinkets. Leaning against the walls were enormous paintings, some depicting great battles, others were portraits of dandies and other ridiculously rich humans.
"Check the other rooms, but be quick. We gotta check on th' loons." Armin instructed.
The dwarves fanned out, quickly looking into each of the other seven rooms. Each room was the same, containing boxes packed full of random valuable items and extravagant paintings, save for the last room, which contained nothing but a large rolled up tapestry. It was too large to look at in the room, so Haldis and Strom carried it out into the main area and unrolled it. The others gathered around the tapestry.
"Its a castle." Toren commented."
"Aye, but an ugly one." Added Wil with a snicker.
The scene was anything but cheery. Bleak dark craggy mountains dominated the panoramic view. Dark ominous clouds covered the tops of the highest mountains, and bright white lightning illuminated the rocky peaks and valleys. About a third of the way from the top a castle was nestled into the rocks. It was ancient in design, with hundreds of arrow loops and dark window openings. A dark and winding path snaked its way up through the mountains towards massive main doors.
Haldis shuddered. "Spooky"
Armin nodded. "Aye. Leave it fer now, and lets go get the loons."
The other dwarves nodded in agreement and marched their way back to the dragon's chamber. The cheese door was no longer blocking the entrance. They walked in on a scene far different than when they left. The dragon carcass was skinned, completely. The skin was cut into large squares and neatly stacked by the skull. The meat was completely gone, but the skeleton was seemingly untouched. Kendrac poked his head out from inside the apparently empty skull, and burped. Fastened to the pie plates on either side of his head was one of the dragon's horns. He had cut the horn in half, and affixed one part to the right pan, and the other side to the other pan, creating the image of a horn through his head.
"Scooz." He giggled, which brought giggling from Rom, who was nowhere to be seen. "Klerk and Rum been buzy!"
"Buzz Buzz!" Again from Rom, wherever he was.
"Dare I ask?" Armin began?
Before anyone could respond, the dragon's hoard shifted, and Rom burst out from the pile.
"Look! I'm a dragon!" He giggled. "Roar!"
The others just shook their head.
"Klerk gots presents!" Kendrac said, shuffling over with a large pack. "Stuff with magics!"
He dropped the bag on the floor and reached in, rummaging around. After a moment, he pulled out a large warhammer, glistening with gems and with runes carved along the shaft. He handed it to Wil with a grin.
"Roar Hammer!"
Wil blinked. "pardon? ye mean war hammer?"
Kendrac shook his head vigorously, the pans and horn flopping about, thumping against his ears. The weight of the horn was enough to make the little dwarf nearly lose his balance.
"Dragon's voice plus big hammer makes Roar Hammer!" He giggled.
Wil groaned, but took the hammer, shaking her head. Rom tumbled down the pile of coins to join the group.
"Me next! Rom gives next!" He yelled, grabbing the bag from Kendrac. He reached into the bag and pulled out an amulet, made from a claw. He handed it to Strom. "Makes dwarf axes sharp!"
Strom quirked a brow, but took the amulet and put it over his head. As soon as it touched his armor, it flashed, and fused to his breastplate. He blinked. So did Kendrac. He peered at it a moment, then shrugged.
"Why do I got a bad feelin' all of a sudden?" Worry was apparent in Strom's voice.
Kendrac whistled happily as he scrounged around in the bag, pulling out a shield made from a large scale of the dragon. He handed it to Haldis. She took the shield with some obvious trepidation.
"Whats it do?" She asked warily."
Kendrac blinked, and folded his arms across his chest in an apparent huff. "Shield from RED dragon scale." He said, tapping his foot impatiently.
Haldis frowned, looking at the shield, and then back to Kendrac. "So...it protects me from fire?"
Kendrac blinked, frowning a bit. "From? err...Right!" He grinned and quickly turned to Toren, handing him a ring, that seemed to be made from muscle, though it was hard to the touch, and cold. Toren carefully took the ring, examining it.
"Makes baldy strong!" Rom said, making a muscle with his arm, snickering.
Kendrac nodded. "Say da magic word and baldy-locks gets super duper stong!"
Toren shrugged and put the ring on his finger. "What's the magic word?"
Kendrac and Rom both blinked and looked at each other for a moment, before looking back at Toren sheepishly.
"ummm..." They both intoned. "We forgets." started Kendrac. "But we think hard, and tell you soon!" Finished Rom.
Toren sighed and looked at Armin, who could only shrug.
Rom then poked Armin. "You last. Best for last."
Armin grimaced. "I was afraid of that."
Kendrac grinned. "Armin loaded with sharp pointy smashy things," He said, motioning to the plethora of weapons the big dwarf carried on his body. "We make magic bands. hold weapons in special place." Kendrac handed the gold bracers to Armin and flopped down on the ground.
Armin took the bracers and tucked them away. "I'll put them on later." He looked at the others. "Now, we needs to clear this place out of any other bandits and see if there are any more prisoners. Once we're done with that, we can load up the wagons with whatever we can find and head back to town. Try not to kill em all though. Mebbe we should find a prisoner or two ta take back, yes?"