Ale Trouble, third and last part
((Meant to post this earlier, had not got around to do it yet))
Dhordur walked down to the fire by the stairs. There he met up with Zabad Thorlaen, master of Trade of Zigilgund and Hlifa, the outpost cook. They all greeted each others and then they were standing by the fire. Thorlean told them that were awaiting some visitors that probably would be arriving that day. Dhordur was told to tell the guards to be ready for it. He walked off down the stairs and met up with one of the guards, the more grumpy one. He had became a bit less grumpy since Dhordur and Thorlaen had been away and managed to get hold of some mead but now the mead was almost gone as well. He just gave a nod to Dhordur as he got the news and then went off again. Dhordur sighed and walked further down the stairs where he stopped and talked with the two other guards stationed there. After he was done Thorlaen had came down the stairs as well.
[Dhordur]] started to ask Thorlean about who was expected, but before he was able to end his question the visitors was visible down the stairs and a bit farther on on the road leading there. Dhordur could barely make them out at first but they had a large cart with something looking a bit like kegs. Dhordur along with Thorlaen walked down the stairs and met up with them on the road. When they met them Dhordur saw clearly who they were, it was Hilfar, the master of Trade in Othrikar with his father Ullfar. Thorlaen and Dhordur greeted them with a smile on their lips as now it was clear that it was a shipment of kegs, ale in other words, their current ale trouble would be over. After they had greeted each others Hlifa arrived down there as well, greeting them with a smile on her lips as well.
After a small chat did Hlifa shout for the guards by the gate and they ran down, as soon as they saw the kegs they cheered. Then they were told to get the kegs up the stairs and they gladly did it. The others walked up the stairs to the fire, where the visitors had time to warm up and get a decent meal in their stomachs along with some of the ale they had with them. There they chatted about Zigilgund, about the trouble they have had there since they arrived, about the mine they now had taken back again, about the hot springs they were planning to re-take soon enough and about the Lossoth. Hilfar wondered if they had enough of Zigilgund and wanted to head off and back to warmer lands, bot none of the three Dwarves said yes, they all wanted to stay there and keep the outpost running, nothing had lowered their morale enough to crack them.
They kept eating their food and drinking their ale until Hilfar and Ullfar wanted a tour of Zigilgund. They all got up and walked over to a edge where they could see the wall of the Mines from a bit off. They were standing there for several moments and talked even more about Zigilgund. Hilfar and Ullfar admired the view they had of the sky and the sight of the mine. They came to talk about the other visitors they had a few weeks back before that helped them to re-claim the mine. Hilfar knew about them as he had encountered them before, but did not say much about them. He only said that they had stirred up some trouble in the North Downs when they passed through it and that he thought it was strange that they went up to these frozen lands.
After a few more moments standing there in silence they wanted their tour to the Hot Springs or at least as close they could get. Thorlaen asked Dhordur if it was safe enough and he nodded and told them that they could not stay for too long there if so. So they got ready, and started to walk down the stairs. Once they were out of Zigilgund they started to head north and then north west. After a bit of walk they arrived close to the hot springs, they could sense the warmth as they walked closer and closer, they could also smell some horrible stench coming from the springs as well. They stayed close enough to see enough but still far away so the worms would not notice them as easy. Hilfar and Ullfar admired the view again but they did not admire the stench.
They could barely make out some old Dwarven works standing along the springs. They talked a while about it and Ullfar proposed that they could use fire to hunt the worms out or slay them with it. But some were against it as it could blow all of the springs up along with Zigilgund. They kept talking until Hilfar and Ullfar was tired and needed a rest after their journey there. They all went back to the outpost and them both head of to some beds. Thorlaen went to his office, Hlifa went to her kitchen and Dhordur went off to his office to keep planning the attack on the hot springs...
The End
