Picking herself off the ground to squat at the edge of the bush, Ishtar silently brushed the soil from her chin with a thoughtful expression. Looking at the large statue she pondered aloud, "A sentry for who? What are these used for?"

She kept a watchful eye on the hill as she rested her bow across her thighs.

Picking himself up off the floor too, Merlothrien had studied the sentry.
"Hmmm how fascinating, I've heard of these sentries but have never actually seen one of them, They seem to be similar to Watchers used by Sauron to prevent access or exit from certain places. I've heard they normally raise some kind of alarm if breached by unauthorised passers by. Dunedain have been known to use them to seal access to areas."

I would also like to state that I'm also glad that you did take the right choice Ondoher and give the other amulet to Horace, I meant not to offend your sensibilities and your beliefs I was merely stating an opinion, if it did indeed cause offence then I apologise for it here and now and hope you can forgive me. but I would also like to express relief at you giving the amulet to Horace merely from the "your own safety" point of view, as I said earlier we have no idea what these things are really capable of or indeed who they're in contact with and who knows what two of those amulets would have done to you if you had been wearing them.....
My suggestion is that we proceed with caution and would anyone think it would be bad If I attached this amulet somewhere a bit less incapacitating should it decide to go drilling again?"

Feral rose to a crouch, the sound of metal scraping sheathes could be heard as he drew his two Falchions.

"Impressive," he muttered looking at the stairs, the statue and the changes around him. "Think the scout should head forwards slowly using cover. Any other archers should cover him. We can then advance slowly forwards. Beware though, the noise of that piece of magic will have awoken even the most sleepy of creatures."

Feral turned, watching the stairway intently looking for signs of movement.

Horace pulled himself to his feet, slowly. "Well my plan involved us moving up under cover along the ridge until we reached the summit near the cave. It would seem our path as been chosen for us. Mr Ondoher? Do we take the stairs, now?"

Ondoher considered what had happened. He held his amulet in his hand and considered it, seemingly unhappy with being half strangled by the thing.

"Well, it seems that our shadow dwarven friends came from an old dwarven hold. I do not know how the amulets we wear performed the trick of revealing this entrance into the hills, but I think that it will not be guarded. Nevertheless we should be cautious."

"I will move to see if the coast is clear. Feral it seems is going with me. If some of you could ready your bows in case it is a trap I think that would be a good idea."

Elenugeth moved up from the rear of the party. " It does indeed seem as if the way forward is clear. To be guarded as such is surely a clear indication that this is certainly the way forward. What worries me though is that what ever happened back there affected our medallions not us. Why would it seek to prevent those who wear these from passing, surely I would expect the opposite to be true. We were disabled, if we were not wearing the medallions we would have been fine. I do not want to imagine what would happen if we has been ambushed at that point. I wish we could speak to the dwarf again and ask about this, he is obviously watching us." Elenugeth pulled out his medallion and stared into it. "Can you hear me Master Dwarf, some answers would be nice"

No answer came.

"As for scouting in advance, I will join you, if it is an ambush one going alone isn't a good idea". Elenugeth grinned characteristically again, "so while you lot wait here I'm going to stretch my legs"

Ondoher nodded at the elf seemingly happy enough with the elf's words, then turned to the matter at hand..

"It seems to me that the amulets we bear only work in darkness or in the earth, and that is where they had to go in order to open the path ahead. That they were around our necks at the time does not appear to be something their makers took into consideration when creating them."

"The fact that only those equipped with amulets could open this passage and reveal these stairs leads me to believe that we have a greater chance of achieving surprise than were we to approach more directly."

"I suggest we make full use of that likely opportunity while it exists."

Ondoher nodded to Elenugeth.. "..let's go."

Horace watched as the taller people debated and then piped up in a reedy voice, "Mr Ondoher, I think I should go first, I have a way of staying hidden and I'm much quieter than you...um..armored warriors of legend!" he seemed to be about to say something else but caught himself in time, "And I have been up there before and know the way."

As he looked up the staircase, "Well it didn't look like this before but I believe I can go ahead and report back in order that we are not surprised!"

He finished with a flourish but then ruined it with his final comment, "At least if you understand what I was trying to say, that is, um...."

Tawl drew his sword and looked warily at the ascending staircase "I think I'll guard from the rear as we ascend, like last time as the order worked well........well almost!" He then stepped back and to one side to let the others pass by, watching the surroundings carefully.

Covered by bows, Horace and Elenugeth made a quick, but silent, dash for the statue. The hobbit took up a position by one foot and the elf at the other. They remained still, listening and watching with their own bows at the ready.

After a few moments Elenugeth nodded at Ondoher as Horace began to climb the narrow stone steps.

When the scout joined the burglar, Ondoher jogged across just as silently but a little slower. It seemed he knew how to dull the sound of platemail.

The Dunadan watched them ascend until the steps wound around the back of the monolith taking them from his sight. He followed after them.

Feral was next to break from the wood, clinking a bit as he swaggered across straight to the stairs but the noise was quickly carried away by the cold wind.

Urthgar looked wary of the stairs, they led into the earth and reminded him of a tomb.

Gruffly he mumbled "Why must these short ones hide from the light?"

Not too sure who was to go next Merly, Ishtar, Urthgar, Karl and Rav all emerged from their hiding place. All ran across with little sound.

Urthgar started to head along the stair, staying near the bulk of the party as before - he was nervous, and kept Karl close to him.

Finally Tieger and Tawl bounded across, both not making a single jingle. Tawl at the rear, they began their trudge up the Dwarf's leg.

On the trek up, occasionally the party would stop as either Horace or Elenugeth would call a halt to listen intently before waving them on again.

Despite their best efforts both Feral and Ondoher found the dwarven steps hard going, their large armoured feet too long for each narrow step. They were forced to climb up sideways with the wind buffeting them as they struggled onwards. They were glad of the long halt as Elenugeth and Horace reached the top and scouted ahead.

After what seemed like an age to the rain pelted members of the company still outside Horace reappeared at the summit and waved them up.

(GM: Sorry, but the MM roll was a fumble!) Ondoher, maybe underestimating how treacherous the stone was, toppled sideways as one of his feet slid out from underneath him. He almost regained his balance but was slammed by a gust of wind throwing him from the walkway, 160 foot above the rocks below.

Feral with a cry rushed up the remaining stairs, himself falling over at the top and sliding out along the walkway. He looked down to see the Dunadan hanging by one rapidly slipping hand. The Corsair threw out his own hand and grabbed the other warrior's gauntlet. The veins in Feral's head and neck bulged as he applied all the strength he could muster. Ondoher winced as the metal around the glove began to distort in the vice like grip. Elenugeth hastily joined the Corsair to grab Ondoher's other grasping hand while Horace kept an eye on the cave entrance in the mountain, knowing his strength would be of little use. Grunting, Feral moved his other hand down the Dunadan's arm, trying to lift him up. (GM: Heh, and now conversely an open ended roll!) Amazingly, the plate clad man began to rise. Urthgar was next up, having negotiated the catwalk with ease, the muscled Beorning quickly bent down and took hold of Ondoher under the arms. Working together the four were able to drag him back onto the walkway, all of them on their backs gasping for breath when Ondoher was safe.

Merlothrien looked past them to the markings etched into the slab they were laying upon. He remarked that they were Khuzdul(GM: Secret Dwarven language) but was unable to read it.

Anxious to get out of the wet and cold the party carefully made their way across the runed pathway and into the rock shelter.

The roughly circular cavern was over 60ft in diameter. It smelt dank, with a faint whiff of urine. The remains of a several day old camp fire were beside the entrance. The dark parts of the cave melted away as the amulet's strange vision returned to their wearer. There looked to be no exits from the room.

As Tieger entered, he nodded to himself then pointed to the back wall indicating the search should begin there.

The rock wall looked as it should with no tell tale cracks to indicate a hidden door. Deciding to risk it, the party began to tap the wall to see if that would uncover anything. Indeed it did, Horace yelped as his hand disappeared into a wall. Merlothrien assured the hobbit that it was only an illusion.

Horace poked his head through the wall and a strange thing happened. A vision of what Horace could see hovered in the corner of everyone's eye. If they concentrated this vision could replace their own but could be dispelled back to the corner or away entirely. It could be summoned again if the pendant wearer concentrated on Horace. Concentrating on others brought up their sight.

Horace could see a 50 odd foot, well constructed, low passageway that led in a straight line to another room. The far side of the unlit room was beyond the Arkhand's gifted sight but a blood stained slab could just be made out.

The necklaces briefly flared before their hue changed to a darker blue. Thin black veins now ran through the amulet.

"That's much better, I have diverted his gaze for now." Declared Khand's voice in each of their heads. "It seems the longer you wear the Arkhand gems the more it reveals and the stronger it becomes. My apologies for your rough treatment outside. The Arkhand recognised the sentry and wished to attune it to our purpose. As Lord Ondoher surmised, for that to happen the necklaces had to be out of light and underground. The only gift that will work above ground is to mask its true weight. It witheld that ability."

"Now, Elenugeth, I may talk with you. You asked why would the Arkhand seek to prevent those who wear the necklaces from passing the sentry? Your expectations were on the mark. For now, none of the Underlord's minions may pass the sentry but you may go freely. However, his power is increasing so that will not always be the case." He paused for a moment, "Maybe there are other questions?"