Of babysitting shithead uppity dicks and baffling failure against new Foes: Chapter Seven in the continuing saga of the Ruckus Crew

So our adventure begins and ends with babysitting. After clearing the orcs from the farm, we accompanied the Sheriff back to town. Fonzie is a dick, though I did cajole him into giving us some pointers on riding horses; I found out I can be sore in new and unusual ways after a day on the horse. (We did note that we would have been paid equally if he was dead or alive, and honestly I am absolutely ambivalent on that score. I wouldn't off him, but the number of tears I would have shed to find him dead is zero.)
 
Upon our return, we discovered the White Dragon returned to wreak more havoc on Attabrah's property; she used the safe room to escape, and I am proud of this party and the work we did to ensure she was secure -- but I grow increasingly concerned about her safety. I am glad a couple of the brave townsfolk have come out to stay with her and offer some degree of added protection.
 
In town, Harbin and Fonzie did their secret noble handshake and sneered down their noses at us but in the end we got paid and that ameliorated the white hot rage of listening to them snicker at us standing like a bunch of fools on the front porch. To this day, that asshole hasn't even invited us into his house. (Also, I was warmed by the care and compassion they had for all the dead commoners that are increasingly piling around them as they joked around together.) Honestly, were it not for the fact that I have come to care deeply about Attabrah, I'd say fuck this town and fuck Harbin and fuck all the classist pricks that run it and fuck the Wester Conglomerage and their greasy ties to the bankers and thieves that pull their strings. Maybe I need to lead another insurrection. Shit, let's get Baric to lead the town. He'd be good at it. I'll do the rabble-rousing. I'm good at that.
 
There were two jobs on the board, one to babysit another shithead noble and deliver him to a gold mine, and one to examine and clear out an ancient Dwarven fortress as a potential refuge for the town. We chose both, though Harbin said we should really just do one. We chose babysitting again, but we did take the second job off the board anyway. (Also worth noting, the job that was previously up regarding some Gnomen magic item that might help fight off the dragon is off the board, and apparently he gave that to another group of adventurers. I'd be curious to see how that panned out.)
 
At any rate, we traded one asshat for another, dropped off Fonzie and took the job to deliver one Don Juan to a local gold mine, where he was going to take over as overseer/slave driver/whatever. He was awfully full of himself and we had to listen to him drone on and on about his grand adventures but when it came time to take action, he crumbled like every other noble we've run into. I'm surprised he didn't tie himself up for them.
 
We did catch sight of an orc party on our first night out, and as best as I can tell, they have been using this path for the past month or so. I made careful note of its location, and to Baric's point, maybe someday soon we might follow that path and take the fight to them. The next morning, we also found 6 dead orcs on the trail, all apparently frozen to death. Apparently the dragon is indiscriminate in its taste for destruction.
 
We found the entrance to the mine, and were greeted by a couple of humaniods which clearly were not the party Don Juan was expecting. We argued for a bit about the language of the job and in my mind, we executed to the letter of the job -- "Deliver Asshat To Mine." But it looked like we weren't going to get paid unless we also secured the mine. I am guessing that Harbin knew we'd run into this and is probably why he was laughing at us on the porch. Fucker.
 
Anyway. After some posturing and non-negotiations, thank the gods Ozzie decided he wasn't having any of this bullshit, and went into one of his deadly blind rages and started hacking at the interlopers in the mine. The party followed suit, and by all appearances, we were hacking and stabbing and shooting with great success. Except for the fact that it was utterly ineffective. One of them simply pulled an arrow I shot through its heart and kept going. Giant gashes the dwarves were dealing started healing themselves. Baric was the only one who was effective with his light magic and a new trick I had not seen before with some magic summoned weapon.
 
Nevertheless, it was clear we were outmatched and I am guessing if the fight continued, would have been outnumbered. We beat a successful retreat; the beasts were unwilling to come into the light of day, and that probably saved us. Or at least, saved the slower members of the party. As it stands, I think we should double-pace it the fuck out of here and hide our tracks as best we can so we don't get attacked at night. Then we gotta figure out what the hell we can do with these things. If Baric is the only one capable of damage, I'm not convinced we have what it would take to beat them. We've got some thinking to do.