The hills spread out around Chance, barren and lifeless. Once more they had crossed the stream and clambered up to the top of them, to search out for the mysterious source of the blight afflicting the hills; nothing could be readily seen though.

“Where is a quest marker when you need one?” Chance muttered, though his deep voice carried enough that he was still overheard.

“A what, master?” Yrip asked.

“It is something that shows the way to find what you are looking for, rather than just wandering around blindly searching for it.” He was used to them leading him to places where someone needed to be shot, or blown up. It wasn't so easy without them.

That is kind of how reality works, Shags reminded him.

Chance nodded glumly. It didn’t help that he wasn’t enjoying the hills. The tightness of his chest had returned upon entering the hills, among the dead trees. The sooner he got it fixed, the sooner it would go away.

Shags sniffed around the area, loping along silently on padded feet.

Anything? Chance asked of him.

Nothing lives here. Whatever is causing it, it isn’t being done by a living being.

Chance grunted. On setting out, he had hoped that Shags could sniff out the source of the problem for them. They were back to square one again, which meant doing it the hard way, tramping around the whole area and searching. With the parchment listing his Perception at 0, he wasn't exactly going to be good at it. The other two were better suited to it.

But what if they weren’t with him? How would a dwarf druid go about it if they were alone? Despite all his many and varied misgivings, he was meant to be one, and to act like one. He couldn’t see a use for any of his powers or skills in this situation, and all he had to go one was the sense of discomfort that lay upon him; a sense that got stronger the further they had advanced into it.

Maybe that was the key. Maybe the closer that they got to the source of the blight, the more acute the discomfort got. If he could use that, perhaps they could track it down.

“All right,” Chance said. “Follow me. I may have an idea.”

He stomped off again, weaving an apparently random path across the hilltops, trying as best as he could to ascertain the level of his discomfort, to judge whether it was getting weaker or stronger, to hone in on the source. It was not always an accurate way to judge things, more a gut feeling, and at times it felt as if he was walking around in circles, or going off at tangents.

Still, the slowly spiralled inwards, narrowing down the region that they were after, until they stood atop one hill looking into a dell that was sheltered in among the hills.

The dead trees were especially thick down in it, a field of white and grey skeletons clustered thick and lifeless. Chance’s breathing was almost coming in gasps by that stage, and so they stopped, to give him some time to recover. He leant against a large boulder, taking some weight off his feet. A drink would not have gone amiss, but they had no means of yet to carry water. Not that it had been an issue previously, as they were always close to the stream when they needed to drink. First thing he was going to do was to fix that.

“Miserably looking place,” Chance commented, looking down over the dell. There even appeared to be traces of mist linger among the dead trees.

It does lack a certain cheerfulness, yes.

Chance sighed. “Let's get on with this.” The bleakness of the sight was becoming too much and he as feeling worse simply looking at it. He stood back up and headed down the slop into the dell, picking his way with care as there were plenty of loose stones and soil upon the ground. The soil had been stripped away in parts, carrying with it trees, sweeping them down to end up as tumbled piles of dead trees, rocks and dirt.

Upon reaching the bottom without incident, Shags prowled off ahead, among the dead trees, sniffing around, seeking out any sign of danger or trouble. It was deathly still, and quiet, down in the dell, with traces of mist curling across the ground despite the sun above. All in all it was a disquieting experience, a lingering sense of dread resting on it. Chance could hear his heart pounding in his ears and he gripped very tightly to his spear. The whole thing had sounded like an experience when he first started but now he was beginning to wonder if he was wrong, if he should turn back. He might look like a tough dwarf druid but he wasn’t - he was still a kid, a singer in a rock band and not some warrior. He could get hurt.

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“Master,” Yrip said quietly, walking very close by to Chance, his voice low, “Look, in the trees.”

Chance’s melancholic thought were broken by the kobold’s words and he looked up to see what Yrip was talking about. Bones hung from the branches of some of the trees, long bones that twisted and swung on ropes. They looked far too much like human bones. It didn’t do anything to help improve his mood.

“I think we are in the right place,” he said.

But the source still remains hidden.

“Right, so let keep looking, Somewhere in here must be our answer.”

They crept onwards, even Chance trying his best to keep any noise he made to a minimum, despite not being built or skilled at it. The silence around them, the growing mists, all had a grim sense of foreboding to it. Ever tighter did Chance grip his spear, hoping that he didn’t actually have to use it yet. He was meant to have some basic skill with it but he haven’t even had a chance to practise with it, to see what he could do beyond just poking in the general direction of any enemy.

A ping went off in his head, almost making him jump so loud did it seem in the silence, setting his heart to racing faster.

Power unlocked:

Stonesense

Affinity; Earth

Race required: Dwarf

What in the blue blazes was Stonesense? Something had triggered it, but he could tell what. There was a nagging sensation that nearby was the thing that had caused it but nothing could be readily seen. He took out the parchment where it was tucked into his belt, and consulted it, searching up the details on Stonesense.

Power: Stonesense

Race: Dwarf

Passive

Required affinity: Earth

Such is the dwarves close connection to the earth that they can detect the difference between worked and natural stone, even subconsciously, receiving a +3 bonus to perception for the check. They also count as one rank higher for using Appraise [Stonework].

A power that was only available to dwarves; that was a new one. So what he was looking for was worked stone, and somewhere near at hand. He started to look around, peering through the trees and gathering mists. There, a patch of ground that was not natural; it looked as if it had been shaped.

He hurried over to it, seeing that it was a large area that had been cleared away and worked, the smooth smoothed down. The Craghand in him told him that there had been a building there once, and this was all that remained of it.

“Look around,” he told the others.

Shags padded off alone, though Yrip still stuck close by to Chance as they explored the area around.

Over here. The mindspeech came from Shags almost as soon as he had left them. Following the sense of Shags, Chance made his way over to where the large wolf was standing, beside some fallen stones. No, not stones; stonework. It looked to have been part of the building at some point, a few chunks of worked stone. The remnants of dead moss clung to it, dry and lifeless.

Chance looked upon them, his stonesense still pinging away. It wasn't being triggered by the stonework before him; another source nearby was trying to get his attention.

“We are missing something,” he told the others. “Keep looking.”

They set out again, circling the region and before long came upon what they sought. Another cleared patch of ground, another worked expanse of stone. This one was different though, for set in the centre of it was a cunning worked stone hatch, all but invisible to the casual eye. It was dwarf work too, the messages told Chance.

They gathered around the hatch, gazing upon it. Chance’s heart was far pounding now and his chest constricting tight, whether from the discovery or the unease he couldn’t be sure.

“I think we have found it.” He knelt down beside it, running his hands over the surface. Even up close it was hard to see that it existed. At one of the corners there was a small gap, barely enough to squeeze a couple of fingers in. It was enough though, and he found that he could hook his fingers in place and pull.

The hatch came away easier than he expected. He had feared that it would be jammed tight, or even bolted from below but nether eventuate. Pulling the hatch free, he set it aside, revealing a set of steps leading down into the dark, into what looked like a tunnel.

Chance hefted ready his spear. Despite his fears and misgivings, he was going to have to go in, to dwarf up. “Right, time to see what we are dealing with here.”