Elvenshore: 01 - The Dwarves of Elvenshore by Clark Graham

of their strength and the direction that they were headed.  Then he climbed down the tree to ass ess the damage. 
    The reports started coming in.  None of the spiders that were at the south end escaped.  They were all killed.  The east and west killed almost all.  The ones that got away were able to escape to the north.  Fifty-six dwarves and two men were bitten. Not all were hard bitten because the spiders seemed to be hungrier than they were angry. One dwarf was hit by a wayward arrow in the shoulder but should recover.
    Hemlot came up to Sarchise.  “We thought they had passed over us because they were no longer wa lking, but when we came out there were so many that they were standing there.  We came out into the middle of them. They pounced on us and it was all we could do to defend ourselves. I was able to get many warriors from different groups together but could not stop the spiders from coming and going.”
    “The battle is over, we won.  We know where the enemy has retreated. Our losses are small. You did your best, no one is upset at you.’ Sarchise said.
    “Thank you Sir,” replied Hemlot.
    “I want to follow the spiders and engage them again, while they are still running.  I don’t know what to do with the wounded.” Sarchise said.
    “Send them back to High Mountain in the wagons from the baggage train.” Hemlot commented.
    The baggage was unloaded out of the carts and the wounded were put in them.  Fifty dwarves and two men were sent with the wounded back to High Mountain. Sarchise left three of his scouts and fifty more dwarves, under a dwarf commander named Lare , at the encampment by the watchtower. The rest moved out in pursuit of the spiders with what provisions they could carry.
    At first following the spiders was easy.  They left a wide trail, many of them still bleeding from wounds, with drops of black blood.  Some were overcome and died during their retreat, their black bodies left where they fell.  Then it started to rain.  It was a punishing rain that obscured footprints and washed away blood.  They followed the path as well as they could, ever y once in a while coming across yet another dead spider.  Soon they came into thick woods and lost the trail. At this point Sarchise ordered them to set up a camp and put up shelters.  They worked till sundown setting up a roof over their heads.  It leaked but it was far better than getting rained on directly.
    No fires were allowed, even if they were all of the wood was soaking wet.  The wet and cold dwarves settled down to a meal of dried meat, which did not improve their humor.

 
Old Enemies
     
    After a cold night on the ground and another cold breakfast, the dwarves got up and started searching for the spider ’ s trail. Using the night ’ s camping spot as a central location, Sarchise sent out patrols in every direction. The patrols hacked their way through thickets and underbrush, as the forest had become very dense at this point. Two hours later, the patrols began arriving back.  One patrol reported coming across a lair.
    “We were just on the outside of it, it looked fairly large and there were egg sacks hanging.” Came the report.
    Sarchise waited until all the patrols had arrived back before he set out to find and attack the lair.  It was difficult to keep the noise down when approaching the lair.  A dwarf warrior never understands the need for stealth.  On nearing the lair he spread out his warriors in all directions and surrounded it.  As the y rushed in they found only wounded spiders guarding it, the others seemed to be out looking for food.  A few arrows later, all of the spiders were dead.
    Sarchise looked around and saw that on the floor of the lair were a massive amount of bones and horns.  The bones were of deer, bear, gremlins and Minotaur. It was very upsetting to see that gremlin bones were there, so far from the mountains. There were also fifteen egg sacks. They cut them down to look inside.