Of Reckless Abandon, Reckless Endangerment, and some Very Fine Days in the Forests and Mountains

After clearing the first and second wave of the rat-men, we quickly took stock of our position. Me, down to 13 silvered arrows after recovering a few in the anteroom; Baric, down to a couple of spells, and Dash and Ozzie looking pretty battered. We talked briefly about a safe retreat, a rest, and a return the next day to finish the job.
 
Cooler heads did not prevail. Dash and Ozzie rushed off into battle again, and quickly found themselves surrounded by 5 more of the rat-men. Dear Reader, I must admit my first thought was how we would manage to beat a safe retreat while pulling a unconscious bloody dwarf out with us, and was running through some dark scenarios about negotiating for the safe return of the (hopefully) alive bodies of the dwarves if things went really badly.
 
To my great relief (and partial astonishment) we prevailed -- the dwarves were resolute and held their line while bashing at their foes, Baric did his flaming sword/light bombs/gongs of doom/healing thing, and I managed to deal damage from a distance. Which is my favorite way of dealing damage.
 
We pressed on, feeling somewhat lucky to survive, and thankfully there wasn't one more den of the rat-men. What we *did* find was a handful of dwarves, holed up in a back room that also had an escape to the surface. They were in rough shape; apparently dwarven miners are not good hunters. We fed them, and they more or less confirmed that the number of rat-men we killed roughly matched the number they were aware of, and felt like we would be safe enough exploring the rest of the compound.
 
They failed to tell us about the GIANT TENTACLE WORM THING, but that's probably a common oversight. It seemed to have some sort of acidic properties to it, and I collected some interesting bits in the vials Attabrah gave me. We directly asked the miners if they wanted to claim the mine and run it themselves but they clearly didn't have a leader among them and none of them really seemed capable of grasping the thought. So be it.
 
We decided to hoof it quickly back to town to collect DJ and get the reward for clearing the mine, when we ran into... DJ. In company of another party. Who were intent on collecting the reward for this particular quest.
 
Turns out, Westor sent them to deliver DJ to the mine and collect the reward. The party was led by an affable cleric named Solomon; it was good that he was a decent sort because I was feeling pretty triggery about the whole bullshit affair and I was seeing through a red haze. Neither Harbin nor DJ warned the party about the rat-men or the fact that they were impervious to normal weapons. My opinion of Harbin keeps sinking, and I swear to god I would love to overthrow the whole goddamned classist bullshit system and toss him and the whole Westor cabal to the curb. In the meantime, I guess I'll keep running errands for him and learn more about the conglomerate.
 
Solomon agreed to split the reward, which was really, really decent of him and I will have to take the time to find him in town and swap some tales over a few drinks. And, to Baric's point, we nominally saved the miners -- and, very likely -- the Solomon party. So, I'll take it, but it doesn't erase my growing distaste for Harbin.
 
Having closed out the mine, we turned our attention once again to Axeholm and marched through the forests and into the lowlands for several glorious days. The woods felt friendly, and it felt good to just put some miles under our feet. We do our best to avoid the ever-increasing orc trails that defile the land, and to the best of our ability attempt to travel lightly. We leave little trace, find a safe space well off trail to have our cold camp, fletch arrows, cast a goodberry spell, and clean up each morning.
 
I led the team up a river valley between the peaks, while Ozzie scouted for signs of mountains that might match our notion of what could be considered the Twin Sisters. We scrambled up to a saddle in a ridge where we caught our first glimpse of the Twin Peaks, and Ozzie felt pretty confident in identifying them as such. From there it was a matter of searching for a likely spot for the remains of Axeholm: it would have to have access for a road for trade, but would also have to be tucked into an easily defensible position -- I would imagine beneath a cliff, or at the food of a cirque would be the ideal location. Evidence of water would also be key, making a cirque the most likely scenario.
 
We climbed up an opposing ridge to get a more open view of the land, and after several days and false starts (avoiding several encounters with giant tigers (which I really would like to hunt if times were different)) we spotted a very promising position. As we neared, we felt increasingly confident that this was Axeholm, but also ran across (and avoided) a group of large orc-like creatures. I was initially for hunting them down: better to face them when we know they are there than to have them come up behind us when we aren't prepared, but in this case, cooler heads *did* prevail and we let them pass.
 
I am anxious -- in both senses of the term -- to explore the keep.