Rather than do a head on fight, I realize that a flanking manuver would be much more suitable, and go a short walk around the room, which I assumed to have bandits inside. Strangely, the axeman followed suit, and was not wounded in any visible way, but the lasher was no where in sight.
When I reached the other side, I was greeted by several kobolds, some swordsman and others bowmen. I quickly retreat back though the door and let the axeman take the hits, who manages to hackoff a few body parts before being punctured in several vital areas, and simply crawled away from the fight, refusing to follow me to battle.
Grimancing, I begin to play a game of peek a boo, using the wall between me and the bowman to hack at them and then run away before they can get a clear shot. Repeating this several times, I manage to kill one bowman and had the named bowman, who turned out to be the killer of the Uggi dwarf by his bragging before the battle, down on he ground, and began hacking and slashing at the cripple, the occasional bolts that I blocked revealing there was another bowman close by.
After the leader bled to death, I charged towards the lone bowman, who I could see had a visible expression of panic before I removed his head from his body wit a clean swipe.
When he battle was over, I returned to the door that I had origionally encountered to see the corpse of the human lasher, who managed to kill a kobold swordsman before being turned into a human pincushion. I gave him my regards, then began to shift through the kobold's corpses.
After a little bit of tinkering, I managed to fuse an iron shield with my steel shield, giving me an extra layer of protection until I found proper body armour. I then noticed the the axeman limp himself over to me, continuing to follow me to the death, despite several flashes of unconcousness. A true companion.
I walked out the catacombs, content to tell of my victory, when I noticed a kobold swordsman lying on the ground, his leg broken likely from a brawl with the axeman, who, sadly, had been unable to climb the stairs. I couldn't give the axeman Armok's mercy without a misunderstanding with the nation which he was from, so I was forced to leave him to die.
As for the kobold, it only took a little bit of limb removal for him to die.
I look back at the corpse of the dwarf known as Uggi, and I suddenly noticed something tucked in his shirt. I picked it up, and it turned out to be a note, an invitation, actually. The note was just like the one I had, an announcement of the pilgramage all able-bodied dwarves were to take on the journey to the Fortress location at the edge of known land. I look back at the corpse with newfound porpose. This dwarf had worked his last months of life to reach the settlement, and by armok, he would reach the settlement, whether he knew he had done so or not.
And so, I began to drag Uggi's corpse with me in my journey to the dwarven settlement.
=END=