The heat was sweltering in Volkans forge as we entered. Theothania was working the anvil and pounding out heated rods wrapped in a heavy winter coat. Some obscure punishment for leaving the safety of the city it seems. But as he left at one point and threw himself in the horse trough, I could see he wasn’t in any danger, just discomfort. Not my own teaching style, but effective enough in it’s own way.
Calliope naturally stepped into conversation with Volkan and some dwarves arguing. Volkan was encouraging the dwarf leaders to put up a reward for us to liberate the Mithril Forge, under the hanging metal skeleton of another contraption that looked like he was trying to make fly. In the end, Calliope negotiated an agreement between the clan heads and we swore an Oath to cement the relationship.
We took the shorter, but more arduous mountain path out of Estoria. As we crested one rise, we were attacked by some territorial Griffins. It seems we were not their only intended victims however, as they had been feasting on a soldier from Mytros. A letter on his remains seems to suggest that we had been invited to an audience. A shame we couldn’t have been here earlier, he might have been able to survive handing over the message. I took a few of their stiff flight feathers for Volkan, to perhaps aid in his problem.
We began some descent from the high path and it soon opened up to the Arkalon falls. The sight of so much water pouring over was majestic and humbling. But before we could make camp, we heard the familiar rumble of hooves of a centaur patrol.
Fortunately, this tribe seemed much less inclined to hostility and didn’t spring to attack. They had lost some of their patrols to creatures who lived behind the falls. They were intelligent foes, utilising stealth to make their strike, but we were warned that they exuded a foul stench. We outlined that their territory was where we were planning to head into and their pack leader offered us a silver horn. If we rescued any of his patrols, we were to blow the horn at the top of the falls and they would come back to retrieve them.
We settled down to rest. Tomorrow we begin our descent.