Pax finally listened to reason (and Grizzle and me), that our best course of action would be to go through the mountain instead of trying to go over it, where we would have no cover from the dragon.

 

Dunk had returned and he had brought Jerro and Fingers with him.  They had discovered that Coran and the teenage girl, Neeve Keene (who called herself Nine-Fingers) were part of another adventuring group who were also seeking the Crown of Shadows.  This could certainly pose a problem.

 

With our new ranger escorts (Lesha took point and Leeza gave cover), we set off up the narrow mountain trail.  The trail was so narrow in fact that we were forced to form a single file line.  Fingers lost his footing and tumbled down the mountain.  We threw down some rope and he climbed back up.  I became concerned when I noticed that Fingers was looking at Paladin curiously and I realized that he wanted to use the dog as a mount.  To his credit, Paladin didn’t seem interested in this new employment.

 

We found the entrance to a cave that was covered over with some kind of animal skins and went inside.  It didn’t take long to figure out that this (it seemed up until quite recently) had been an orc outpost.  As we went from chamber to chamber we came upon several infestations of spiders.  At Grizzle direction, Jerro dispatched them with his trusty fireballs.  Along the way, we were also able to rescue several orcs from the spiders’ clutches but they didn’t stick around to thank us.

 

I caught Fingers trying to commandeer Paladin again, but this time the dog disappeared then reappeared when the little thief tried to climb on his back.  Paladin can teleport!

 

Perhaps I’m not the one to talk since I’m the reason Lloth is on the warpath, but now Grizzle has angered Gruumsh, the main Orc Deity by carving the symbol of Kord into the altar and the orcs’ forge.

 

Finally, we found an artifact in one of the chambers that can only be employed by the Elf Queen and is crucial to the success of our mission.  We have sent Dunk and Lesha and Leeza  to get it to the Queen but not before Pax put several blessings on the old dwarf.  If they are unable to convey  the object to the Queen, our mission is doomed.