No Dwarf Left Behind

We finally caught up with Borka, but Barricade was nowhere to be found. Instead, she and her cronies were all riding flying mounts. No wonder they were able to make such good time. She didn't seem to be in a mood to fight, and tried to sell us information about where they had taken Barricade. We weren't in a mood to parley, knowing her reputation, and we sent Borrow in to scout.

Borrow seemed to have gotten into a bit of trouble while scouting the caves, and we had to go rushing in without much preparation time. We were intercepted by a pair of blue-hued giants. They stood twice as tall as us, and didn't seem happy to see us. Fortunately, the narrow cave entrance played in our favor, and they were only able to attack us one at a time. It was a hard fight, but we took care of them and continued forward.

Borrow said that he wasn't able to find Barricade, so we had Obegard discern the direction to Barricade's belongings. He cast a spell of invisibility on himself, and he whisked himself over to Barricade magically. After a few tense moments he returned with Barricade at his side, and told us to get running. We high-tailed it outside of the cave, with Obegard casting a web to slow down our pursuers. Obegard cast a spell of flying on myself, and I carried Barricade toward our horses. However, the giants weren't far behind us, and I saw them throw a pair of boulders that sent Obegard tumbling down. I turned around and saw that Borrow had poured a potion of invisibility into Obegard's mouth and drank one himself. I kept moving and eventually, I felt Borrow take hold, and I picked him up and flew back to our horses whilst dodging dozens of boulders flying at us. (Actually, given that I'm not very agile, dozens of boulders slammed into me, but my full plate was able to protect me from harm)

After we were a safe distance away, I healed Obegard back to his feet and we headed to the Dwarven settlement. On the way, we encountered Borka again, and she seemed quite surprised that we had rescued Barricade. Undoubted not wanting to draw our wrath for long, she returned Borrow's small magical shortsword. I guess she didn't really have much use for it either. We reached New Goldenaxe without further incident. There, the Dwarven commander informed us that a new Dwarven Stronghold was to be built back at the Dwarven temple in the mountains. As people who helped to clear our the temple and rescue Barricade we were awarded with a keep inside the stronghold, in order to further Human-Dwarf relations.

I was intrigued by the prospect. With charge of a small temple of Albercht, I could perhaps start anew, away from the prejudiced elders, and create a new arm of the Church that's more tolerant and free of corruption.