With Silaqui, Nova Amaril, Lorenzo and Thalai Horncaver standing over the corpse of Glindryss, the severity of their injuries - and the gravity of their situation - starts to sink in.
Making their way down the mountain, they encounter Venyra, who leads the party to a nearby campfire, where they find Hieronymos Davenbreed and Siegfried.
Davenbreed expressed his desire to aid the party:
Greetings, my fellow adventurers. Let me explain the situation.
One. That dragon head is currently one of the most valuable items in the entire country.
Two. Korosk took his time to reach this mountain, and he did not arrive here alone. We estimate he has about 50 to 100 men with him. That might seem like a lot, but obtaining that head will pay for that whole ordeal, and then some.
Three. The Davenbreed name used to stand for absolute nobility within the adventurer profession. Those days are long gone, and its name all but forgotten. I've lived with that shame my entire life. But as forgotten as the name might be, I will not besmirch it by standing by in the face of this injustice. I will stand by you, and I will not have Korosk take that head. If you choose to fight, my blade, and the weapons of my fellow campers here, are yours. The fight will be hard. It will be gruelling. Not all of us might live. But by my name, I will not stand for this.
My suggestion, if I may, is that we kill them all, and let the gods sort them out.
-Hieronymos Davenbreed
Wounds were patched and plans were made:
We have a few options, though in fact we have none.Taking position in the pass, the Raven Shield went to war: the Battle of Dragon Head Pass was about to begin.
As you may have noticed, we are currently on a plateau of sorts. We're surrounded by steep mountain walls and crevices on almost all sides, requiring perilous climbs, which would be dangerous under the best of circumstances. Fleeing seems off the table.
This plateau, meanwhile, is quite big, but lacks any features that would allow fortification and ambush, and we are too outnumbered for any asymmetrical guerilla warfare. Staying here and letting them come to us is not an option.
That leaves moving forward and meeting our enemy head-on. Dangerous, yes, except for one particular feature - a relatively narrow pass, near where the snow stops and the grass begins. If we move our swiftly, we might be able to take up position there and create a bottleneck. If we're anywhere out in the open, either before or after that pass, the odds of being surrounded and them using their numbers against us becomes far too great.
-Hieronymos Davenbreed
After a brutal struggle, The Raven Shield emerged victorious, and was now free to return to Heaton.