OF Dwarves and Underground Evil Temples and Slimes

Killed my first slime. It was not a particularly satisfying kill. Maybe more panic and chaos than the usual quiet sneaking and hunting I am used to. Though maybe this is just the tables being turned -- they are doing the sneaking and hunting and, as it turns out, I strongly prefer to be on the other side of that equation. Also, they are sort of gross and, well, slimy. Also, acidic as an angry dwarf's tongue. I felt badly for the damage done to some of the party's weapons. (For the record, I also felt badly for the damage done to some of the party's parts.) I cannot tell if they have intelligence as such (the slimes, not the party members), but they sure as hell have sneaky instinct. If I didn't despise them, I think I might admire them (again, referring to the slimes, not the party members.)
 
Also new and worth noting: fighting in hallways is harrowing, and also definitely not my preference, though it proved effective. (There was some grumbling about me shooting arrows in a hallway, which I suppose I get? That said, nobody seemed to mind the heavy weapons being swung about in close quarters, which, quite frankly, was way more frightening to me than a well-aimed shot, but what the hell do I know?)
 
Our dwarf was a champ up in front, btw. Same for the cleric. I was somewhere between impressed and incredulous with our other ranger diving into the fray and -- I swear I am not making this up -- stabbing the fucking thing with her bagpipes. Maybe that's normal? But still worth noting: I think she's capable of literally anything -- there was a look in her eyes that told of a lack of reason and restraint. Dangerous and scary and sort of awesome and definitely not something I would want to be on the wrong side of.
 
But I get ahead of myself. The trip started with another errand for Harbin the Seldom Seen. He had posted a request to warn some dwarven miners of the potential threat of the White Dragon, and inasmuch as our resolute dwarf Ozzie had just come from the hills, he was the perfect leader to bring us back to the hills. We set out on a North Southwest Northerly path with the Dwarf setting a decent, if noisy, pace. Even noting that he had just come from that direction, I was impressed with the absolute precision with which he brought us to the dwarven mine. I had always heard that dwarves were pretty useless with direction out of doors, and either that is untrue, or Ozzie is an exception. Or maybe we got lucky. Whichever, it was a quiet and pleasant journey and it felt good to be in the woods.
 
We arrived at the mine (the name of which is "The Mines of the Dwarves" (which, as you'll see later was a seemingly obvious name but also super inaccurate)) and were met by two dwarves, Bedazzle and Norbus. Bedazzle was the most talkative of the two, though I would hardly call him garrulous. Nevertheless, we delivered the message, with Baric handling the business end of things with an aplomb I am coming to expect of him and appreciate.
 
Meanwhile, apparently Ozzie knew these two clowns and was sent by them (or another party we don't know about) to see Attabra about getting some potions for this lot of dwarves. Inasmuch as that sounded like a previous agreement, I didn't object to his handing a potion over to them. That said, I didn't mention the second potion I had in my pack, which I suspect our party may need more than these dwarves. (Who, by the way, appear to be more casual campers than cave explorers. Literally, there was one room past their indoor campground that they had explored. One. Room. How long have they been there? They hadn't even noticed the secret doors. Of which there were many to find. They are either really stupid or really useless at mining/exploring. Or there's a deeper plot that I haven't uncovered as yet.)
 
Speaking of which. Apparently when they say "Mines of the Dwarves" really it's more of an "Excavation of the Dwarves," or perhaps even more accurately, "Excavation of an Evil Temple of the Dwarves by the Dwarves," or more accurately still, "Plundering of an Evil Temple of the Dwarves by a Party the Dwarves Aren't Even Willing to Pay to Clear the Fucking Way for Them." That party would be us, dear reader, in case you were wondering.
 
I thought it would be reasonable to ask for some promise of recompense to clear the temple for them. They thought it would be reasonable to give us fuck all and still have the temerity to ask us to clear it anyway. I feel like we are being given the shaft here (a mining pun!) but the party seemed ready to leap in nevertheless. I don't blame the cleric, who maybe is a little blinded by religion and The Inherent Goodness of People and all that rot, but I was surprised that the other two didn't raise a bigger stink. Especially the dwarf --what I know of Dwarves is that their hearts are guided somewhat by avarice; again, either that's a myth, or Ozzie is an exception to the rule. Or Ozzie is in on the cut with his friends and has a deal with them outside of the party. Which I really don't want to think is true, but it's a goddamn head-scratcher at the moment.
 
Mines and caves and Secret Evil Underground Dwarven Temples are definitely not my natural habitat, btw, but I think I'm able to transfer some of my sneaking and observation skills to the enterprise. I'm glad I found the trick to opening the secret doors with a lever at least. The "Bash The Stone Door Until It Crumbles" method was mighty but damnably, painfully loud, and not my favorite way of approaching things. If anyone (or thing) wasn't aware we were coming for a visit, I suspect they are now.
 
All that aside, I think we are forming as a party pretty well, and we seem to be developing a good sense of party order and roles. We're getting better in battles, and assuming we don't get ourselves killed, I like to think that we're going to be a pretty formidable group. And, all misgivings aside, I think I like this sorry, rag-tag, slightly unbalanced lot of folk. It sure the hell is an adventure.
 
P.S. I must remember to ask the party about the Falcon Hunting Lodge, btw. I can't recall but I thought it was up this way? Near Norwegian Wood or something like that. I can't read whatever I scribbled down and probably I need to be better about paying attention to that sort of detail. Maybe I have the location confused, but if it's close, I'm wondering if it might be wise to just pop in and ask around a bit, let the dust settle in the Evil Temple, let the dwarves mumble over their dwindling food and fight their own goddamn slime for a bit, and see if maybe they think our services might be worth paying for if/when we come back. At the very least they can pay expenses and damages. We're gonna need a rack of weapons we can dispose of if we keep encountering those fucking slimes.
 
That said, I think I recall someone saying that the lodge was frequented by nobles, so I may have to watch my back there and maybe go under a different name. I'm pretty far from home, but I don't know what sort of circles that lot runs in, and I'm far from popular with the jackass humans running the town outside our forest. Anyway. Sour grapes and all that, but I've learned to be paranoid for a damn good reason.