Episode XXVII – A Waiting Game: 17th to 24th Halane, 720TR
Upon questioning Ruindael, the companions realise that there are probably only a few Khuzdul left after the bloody battle of the previous night, and that time is on their side now. They decide to wait out their foes, whose callous cruelty and perfidious manslaughter of their comrades and kin has roused their ire. They vow to see the 'Dark Elves' done to death!
Thorim organizes a 'watch party' to camp out on the plateau above the hold, and leaves Ulfar and Sigmar with the bulk of the men to see to the task of repairing the battered Ologi.
The days pass uneventfully. Thorim and Ruindael spend much time together, and the older man slowly begins to regain his spirit. When Thorim gifts him a sword the old Viking is moved to tears, and swears that he will put the blade to good use in Thorims service, delighting in the promise of revenge on his tormentors.
Six days pass, as the companions repair their ship and allow wounds to knit. On the morn of the seventh day, when Vermundr and Telen join Thorim and Ruindael at the plateau camp, the mage explains a ruse he has thought up to test the Khuzdul's defences. As the three Vikings look on in wonder, he crafts his art into a cunning illusion of the khuzdul woman, stumbling thru the orchard which lies before the hidden hold. His art is so cunningly wrought that Thorim’s first reaction is that the woman must have escaped.
The three Vikings prepare themselves for any response to the ruse by securing their stout rope to a stump, and are delighted to hear a shout from below. One of the dwarves is spotted sprinting towards the illusory woman and the trap is sprung.
As Vermundr puts an arrow through the exposed Khuzdul’s neck, Thorim and Ruindael risk their lives with a precipitous decent of the cliff face. Sarajin smiles on their bravery and Thorim reaches the foot of the cliff just in time to wedge his sword in the rapidly closing stone gate of the hold. The blade shatters, but the hilt holds the door. Ruindael arrives moments latter and adds his weight to Thorims attempt to force the gate open as Vermundr begins his descent. As the desperate contest of strength goes on, crossbow bolts strike the rock face around the bold Vikings, and only when Vermundr joins the contest does the gate finally give.
Tumbling into the doorway, a desperate melee of fists and daggers ensues. The Khuzdul holding the gate is overpowered and butchered, and the three Vikings, their battle fury in full flower, tear through the artfully constructed stone hold, liberating several 'thralls' and slaughtering the Khuzdul wounded and defender alike.
The victory won, our heroes turn to looting the hold and seeing to their wounds...