Targos
The dwarf flexes his arms stretching to see how much he has atrophied in the ice. Happy with the results he checks his armor straps and equipmet.
"I do believe meself ready for adventure again. It’s been far too long."
Idly talking to himself, thinking out loud, he mumbles
"Prolly don’t want a crazy dwerf around."
Al puts a hand on Ras's small shoulder. "Will you come help me with Erevain?"
She adjusts her snowy cloak as she prepares to leave. "Everyone is a little crazy, Reòthadh." Her voice is quiet and small. "What I don't want is a dead dwarf on my conscience." She exits the inn and heads toward the warehouse.
"How are you doing, Ras?" Al asks after a bit of walking.
When Al asks for help with Erevain, Ras nods, relieved. This was something he could do. Al's next question makes him uncomfortable.
"I am..." he pauses briefly, "as well as can be expected." That didn't really answer her question. He tries again. "I am much better after talking with Aeri. My mind was in a dark place, a bad place. A scary place. But Aeri has reminded me of why I am with this group. It was wrong of me to be so self-centered." Ras flushes as he realizes that he has been rambling. Has he ever spoken to Al this much? She always seemed so intimidating before. Maybe they were true comrades now. Or maybe it was the lack of tusks.
"I am concerned for this group. We keep losing members." He swallows, trying not to think too hard about that. "And now Zen too. I even... sometimes..." he pauses again, trying to sort his thoughts. "In some ways it feels like we are losing Ug. And maybe even you." He doesn't make eye contact. "Not physically, of course, but this has been hard on all of us. I was... gone myself for a while."
He sneaks a peek at Al and puts his little hand in hers. "Thank you for your wisdom and your friendship. We would not have made it this far without you."
Having reached Erevain's petrified body, Ras lets go of Al's hand and performs the spell again.
Ras casts Greater Restoration on Erevain
"We're all lost, aren't we?" she does say after a moment. "I've been working so hard to keep us alive, but there are things worse than death..." She feels her too-small teeth with her tongue, stomach flip-flopping at the sensation of wrongness. "Like Zenithral. I pray..." Al fumbles at the unfamiliar speech. "I pray to Torm he isn't trapped forever in that place..."
Alalla starts as Ras grabs her hand, then looks down with a warm smile. She still covers it with her free hand, despite her lack of tusks. Maybe because of it, now. "Thank you, Ras. The same is true for you. I'm glad you're doing better."
She clears her throat as Ras steps up to restore Erevain, and rubs a tear from her eye.
"Turns out its hard to sleep when your husband is a statue in a warehouse, so I got a lot of preparation done for the Cagebreakers. I need you to look it over if you don't mind."
Alalla rubs her forehead with a sigh. She's avoiding what's most pressing. "We've lost Zenithral," she says bluntly. "While I was pulling you out and falling asleep, Zenithral went after something he saw inside. From what the others say, when he fell asleep he tumbled partway through the door, and then it closed. The woman that was inside, presumably, pulled him the rest of the way through in time for him to not get cut in half, but he's gone." Alalla scowls at the place where the door had stood. "Gone forever, likely. We don't have time to try and get back to that plane, if it's even possible with Pomab dead. The fool should have listened to me," she finishes with a thump of her glaive. Her voice is hard and irritated, but Erevain knows enough to hear the sorrow behind it.
The elf's head drops sadly as Alalla recounts the loss of Zenithral. "You were right. We should have left the door alone. There may be hope for him yet. We all know that he is clever. If anyone can find their way out of there, it will be him." Erevain nods determinedly. "Besides, I saw the woman there. She was drow, but certainly did not behave as one. She seemed afraid, and that is an emotion the dark elf females never reveal to their foes." He puts a finger to his lip. "And we may find ways to contact him. The sending stones apparently work across the planes, or else why keep a case of them locked up in that place? Perhaps there is other magic that we can use."
Alalla and Erevain see to providing the new tribe of Cagebreakers with instructions to aid Targos in its recovery, and then head east towards the mountains to meet up with Keggruk, Chaide, and the rest of the orcs loyal to Alalla.
With little else to prepare, Vincent and Reòthadh head out to track down some of the shattered army remnants. Morrugh, hoping to sway more orcs to the Cagebreakers, accompanies them and attempts to negotiate with the handful of groups they find. Surprisingly, more than half of the orcs found decide to join Alalla's new tribe. And those who do not... Vincent and Reòthadh easily put them down, each using a mix of weapons and magic. In the end, another two scores of orcs are brought back to Targos.
Meanwhile, Ug catches up on his rest. At times the horned barbarian sleeps restfully, and at others he tosses and turns as nightmares plague his dreams. Dragons, giants, drow, and Mama...
When all is ready the group meets outside of town, where Aerihykloarara takes her true form just as the sun begins to sink below the horizon somewhere beyond the Sea of Moving Ice to the west. With some ropes woven among the dragon's spikes to keep the companions secure, they are able to sleep through the night on the way to Kuldahar.