Consequences

In this recap we see what happens when capable heroes choose inaction over altruism. (Yay, Neutrality!)

The companions (the two elves that is, as Patch is now dead) leave the MacBrady tomb. On the way out Cor'Nal casts a spell that guarantees no other souls will accidentally come across this sacred place of rest. It also guarantees that any simpleton already keen to its existence won't have a clue at how to bypass the near fortress the druid created.

Once that business is finished they set about about leaving the Olde Snoam Mine for good and returning, at least momentarily, to Whitewall Camp where and Loomis and friends await. They also must deal with dragging the stiffening corpse of former companion Patch to said camp, and to an awaiting funeral pyre. Briefly they discuss delivering his body to his ancestral home of Thorak but after careful consideration, and without coming up with a suitable excuse for killing him, decide it best to burn him here and leave it at that.

Upon returning to Whitewall they find Loomis is unsuccessful in the task he'd been charged with, that is, to find someone willing to make, or to buy the requisite materials required to turn the uncovered trailer into a small covered wagon. Seems there is no one around but the innkeeper, and a large, mostly empty warehouse. The PC's break in to the warehouse and decide it suitable for stabling the horses. The innkeeper has already been paid for the hitching and caring of the livestock but the PC's feel the weather make this a more suitable environment for their acquired steeds.

After buying enough wood to burn the remains of their little compatriot from the eccentric (but far more competent than Loomis) innkeeper they travel North to the outskirts of the camp (as per barbarian custom) to set up the pyre. While they burn the time, and Patch away Ryan MacBrady rides up on his horse, right on schedule. He asks them what the barbecue is about and after they explain to him the circumstances of the pyre he comments on how he thinks he may have made a mistake in joining with the elves, as bad luck seems to befall those who travel with them.

After they pay their final respects they return to Whitewall Camp. Where there they remain for nearly a week as a severe blizzard snows them in. To while the time away Ademar learns of a gambling game called "Dancing Dice". A simple yet slightly addicting cash game. He loses all of his copper and some silver to the innkeeper. MacBrady plays for a while as well but his luck is worse than Ademar's and he decides to quit. Ademar soon does the same.

When the snow finally lets up, the group starts to pack the wagons and get set to head south. To anywhere but here. But not before hearing of an out-of-the-way town near the foothills of Snowsquall Peaks, about thirty miles southeast of the Olde Snoam Mine. The innkeeper says its real enough and that Fengis used to route there on occasion. Ryan MacBrady tells them he's heard the same rumors but believes the place to be a bandit fairy tale. Rubbish, in other words, likely a story made up by Fengis to lend credence to the threats he sometimes made about gangsters he was in league with. In order to keep small-time criminals and orcs from ambushing his wagons and stealing his goods. Though the innkeeper disagrees with MacBrady, he can't refute his claim as he hasn't seen the place himself. It's on a road that leads past nothing, he explains, and dead ends at the town itself. Rumour is that its walled off at the western approach by a fifteen foot high oak fence and surrounded by impassable, steep and craggy mountain rock, seated within a massive corrie.

Ademar thinks it sounds better than the road back north. Cor'Nal agrees but thinks heading to Goodale is the prudent thing to do. That is, until he realizes its over a hundred miles away. He thinks checking out "mystery mountain town" might be a good idea after all, at least at first. Once they all agree they notice a wounded man on horseback arrive outside the inn. He is covered in blood and slumps off the horse into a snowbank. He is barely conscious, but speaks of an orc invasion of Snoam Schlabach. He then passes out. They lift the fallen barbarian into the inn and lay him beside the fire. Cor'Nal casts a spell that heals him enough to speak. He tells them that Snoam-Schlabach has been destroyed. He says that Tonguescum and his horde attacked under the cover of the blizzard. He said that they wiped out the already war-torn village with ruthless efficiency, killing everyone who resisted and taking away those who didn't. The barbarian can't speak to the fate of the MacBrady family when Ryan asks. Unsatisfied with this answer he leaves the inn and mounts his horse as the two elves trail behind him. He expects them to follow him to Snoam Schlabach to see with their own eyes the devastation of his home and the fate of his father. When they refuse he dismisses them for cowards. Cor'Nal states that essentially what's done is done and they cannot help the town now. Ryan argues that even if the town is gone and his family is dead that he must avenge them, or at least die trying. Cor'Nal dismisses this as suicide as it would require attacking Tonguescum's camp, head-on. (An idea he was fully in support of only a little over a week ago.) Besides, Cor'Nal says to the horror of everyone within earshot, we warned those in power about a likely orc invasion and we were ignored. Ademar stays quiet, (seemingly believing that Cor'Nal doesn't need any help putting his foot in his mouth) but his silent indifference proves to Ryan that he too has forsaken the town. This infuriates him and as he turns his horse to Snoam-Schlabach he spits at their feet and through gritted teeth, quietly tells them "I hope that someday, you both find something worth fighting for." Cor'Nal is unfazed but Ademar seems strangely affected by his words.

Before he rides away Cor'Nal raises a hand to halt him. He reaches a compromise with Ryan. Telling him that he'll scout the area himself, and if he finds any trace of living MacBrady's, he'll return and help him out. If not, Ryan's on his own. Reluctantly, Ryan agrees.

Cor'Nal turns himself into a hawk and he flies to Snoam Schlabach. There he finds the town in ruin. There are fires everywhere and most buildings have been leveled or turned to ash. A small orc party, likely AWOL looters, roam the town. Cor'Nal, as a hawk flies over them undetected, and while circling overhead he unleashes a steady stream of lightning and quickly dispatches the dirty half-dozen.

After that, he swoops into the MacBrady home. The place is a burned out mess but he finds nary a MacBrady, living or dead. He then flies toward Homebound Inn to check on the well-being of Magda Dervish. Sadly, he finds her bloated corpse behind her bar, face down with three bolts in her back. He decides that he has seen enough and flies to Tonguescum's camp. He perches upon a high pine and overlooks the orc village. A walled-off section on the eastern side of the camp protecting three small stone domiciles and a single large one reveal to Cor'Nal what he can safely assume to be Tonguescum's compound. The largest of the four buildings he believes to be where the chieftain lays his head.

A plan begins to form in his druid mind. Again nature holds the key, literally, in this case.