"You will release me, right now, or, I swear upon the graves of my family, you will never have the chance to sire children, Summit Scum!" The ranger was impossibly strong, lashing outwards at the nearest target with enough strength to tear the blanket along several seams. That the nearest target was Tayos, who had curled into a ball to protect his now-violated groin, made no matter to the woman, who punched the monk hard enough to crack bone.

Less than a second later, Deathbane silently reached out with his immense hands, solidly pinning the blinded woman's arms to her sides, using only his bulk to prevent any further assaults upon anyone else in the Den. He chuckled quietly as the woman writhed, but it only furthered her agitation, forcing his hand. Losing all pretense of amusement, he spoke. "Hold it girl. We're not dwarves, much less Summit."

The ranger's struggles slowed, then ceased altogether as she raised one hand, rubbing at her eyes. Wiping away the blood that had obscured her sight, she looked at Deathbane, who had removed his helmet only a few seconds before. The sight of the aged warrior's face, despite the scars, creases, wrinkles, and layer of greying stubble, was oddly reassuring to the ranger, as she relaxed completely, sighing in relief.

Deathbane smiled tightly, releasing his hold on the woman's arms, then looked at Tayos, who was still gasping for air. "You okay? That was some hit."

Tayos' response was very high-pitched, sounding much like a pre-pubescent child. "Yeah. I'll be okay."

The unfortunate monk then returned to his original task; that of preventing any further abuse upon his crotch by curling up and moaning in pain. The other woman, having quietly observed everything that had happened, was currently doing her absolute best to avoid cracking up and laughing until it hurt.

Deathbane also relaxed slightly, considering the rather obvious amusement factor of a grown man rolling around, curled up into a ball, and moaning every once in a while. "So, now that you're awake, and I'm pretty sure that no hostile forces will come crawling down our throats any time lately, why don't we tell each other our names? It'd be a sight better than 'hey you'."

The ranger nodded, slowly flexing her arm, and wincing as the muscle bound up, tightening spastically. "Ow. Yeah, sure. Name's Selena. Call me whatever you want to."

Deathbane nodded, chuckling quietly. "I'm known as The Deathbane. The guy you socked in the pooch is Tayos, though I think 'Squeaky' would work as well."

The other woman couldn't hold it in any longer after that comment, and collapsed into a fit of giggles. She recovered shortly, straightening up slightly. "Sorry; I'm of the Tamori family. My siblings call me Terra, though my foes have called me Terrashaker."

Deathbane nodded, absorbing the name for future reference. Selena also nodded, though she was rather subdued in her actions. "So, now that we know each other's names, shall we create a plan to get the hell out of here? I have no intention of dying in this hole."

"I agree, but the WarCamp has shut its gates for the night, so that option's out." Deathbane started ticking point off on his fingers. "We don't want to head North; I think you put the entire Furnace on high alert with whatever you did. East is out; there's nothing out there except barren wasteland created by the Summit. Tayos and I passed through there on our way to the WarCamp. Nothing but angry dwarves and imps over there."

Selena nodded, frowning. "That leaves West; into the Snake's Dance. We're likely going to have to cut through some trolls on the way there as well. And my arm is not strong enough to use my bow with any effectiveness."

Deathbane grinned. "Yeah; which is why you put an arrow right through a fully armoured dwarf."

Selena grinned oddly. "It's all in the wrist. Torque a bowstring enough, and you can punch through anything at the cost of accuracy. When someone's five feet away, you just need to aim right at them. Anyhow, we're generally agreed on having to enter the Snake's Dance, yes?"

Everyone else, excepting Tayos, nodded. For his part, Tayos slowly stood up, still shaking slightly, and walked over to the entrance of the den. Poking his head out into the open air for a moment, he quickly retreated back into the den, covered in snow. "We're not likely to go anywhere in this weather. It's blowing snow so heavily that we'd be lucky to see more than five feet out."

"Good. Then the damn dwarves won't see us." Terra stood up, swinging her hammer in an easy arc as she punctuated her comment.

"Yeah, but do you really want to run into a troll, literally? I'd prefer to keep all my body parts in one piece, thank you." Tayos grinned weakly, looking out at the thick snowflakes that were being shoved around by the wind.

Selena also nodded. "Yeah, we should stay here for at least a few minutes; I guess that it will take some time for the storm to subside enough for us to get out of here without running the risk of losing sight of each other."

Deathbane pulled a piece of jerky out of his belt pouch, and, breaking it in half, he offered some to the others. Tayos declined, as did Terra. Both knew what aged Dolyak jerky tasted like, and they had no intention of sullying their mouths with that foul taste again. Selena simply grabbed the offered piece, and tilting her head back slightly, she swallowed the chunk of dried and salted meat whole. Looking at the others, she shrugged. "You learn all sorts of tricks to keep from tasting something."

Less than a minute later, the snow seemed to slow down, clearing out enough for visibility to be pushing nearly fifty feet. Tayos stood up, trying to see through the snow and darkness, but without much success. Frustrated, he stepped out into the open, ignoring the pelting snowflakes for a minute. "I'm going to take a look around. Maybe I can scout around for a bit."

Terra also stood up, hunching over slightly to avoid knocking her head against the rocky ceiling of the den. "I'm going with him. He might need help finding his way back here, especially in this weather."

Deathbane nodded, then looked over at the young ranger he had saved. She was calmly staring out at the blizzard, the expression on her face betraying nothing of her inner thoughts. Deathbane only nodded once when she looked at him, then turned away, allowing her to her thoughts.

Outside, Tayos and Terra were about a hundred feet away from the den, but standing close together, trying to see anything through the flying snow. However, it was not sight, or hearing that alerted the two; it was touch. A slow, rhythmic rumbling through the ground the two stood on was unnerving, and, in short order, Tayos grimaced; he knew of the sounds that were trying to vibrate up his spine into his brains. Frowning, he looked over at Terra, who was about five feet away from him.

Gesturing for quiet, he beckoned her over so she could hear without having to raise his voice. Terra did so, her grip on the haft of her massive hammer tightening slightly. "You feel that rumbling?"

"Yeah. What is it? Drums?"

Tayos nodded. "Yeah. Dwarven War Drums. I last heard them in Thunderhead Keep, right before a Summit assault tried to take apart some of my friends. The ground shook there, too."

Terra nodded, a frown growing as she looked towards the North. "Hmm. I guess we won't have much time then. We're either going to have to brave this blizzard and run the risk of being ambushed by trolls, or we wait and get attacked by a few hundred short, angry men."

Tayos grimaced, shielding his eyes as he peered through the snow. "Yeah. I'd rather run the risk of trolls; at least they don't remove your arms and legs, then send you back to the War Camp."

"They'd just eat you. C'mon. Let's go and tell your friend what we've found out." Terra turned back, following the nearly-invisible path the two had created, hoping to get back to the meagre shelter of the den before the wind picked up again.