The party has suffered several attacks at the hands of small groups of goblins. The players are going to be frustrated with the fact that protecting the dwarves is much harder than simply protecting themselves. So its time to make things even harder.
2 days go by with no attacks. The dwarves are little help to the party, besides “Regner” most are completely despondent and do not expect to survive. Regner will try to motivate his people, possibly with a song or dwarven tale. He may ask one of the players, a bard in particular, if they have any stories of adventure that would lift the spirits of his people.
Note: This would be a good way time to emphasize the dwarves sorry plight and build sympathy for them amongst the players. Play out and describe the miserable state they are in, have some of the dwarves attempt to help the players with menial task, and the smaller children may crave a hero or perhaps just need someone to hold them. Any dwarven PCs get all this in TRIPLICATE, now back to our story.
2 days have gone by without any attacks. The party comes to an area of very rough terrain, some climbing will have to be done. The dwarves(weakened from their poor existence) are going to have problems climbing up the steep and rough mountain sides. Regner will inform the party that going around will take them at least 1 week out of their way. It is possible for the characters to use levitation or fly spells to make the going easier. Smart players will scout out the climb with a flying character first. Sure enough near the top of this mountainside is a group of 6 goblins who have set up rocks so that they may cause an avalanche to fall on the party.
Note: a flying character may spot the goblins ahead of time, in which case they will trigger the rock slide immediately, or an errant fireball may also do the job for them.
In any case if the landslide occurs, the players will have 3 rounds to figure out a way to protect themselves and the dwarves before it hits. Any dwarves caught in the rock slide are likely killed. Party members will take 4d10 points of damage, Reflex DC 15 for 1/2 damage (2E Paralyzation save).
Players who make no do not scout ahead or make no efforts to protect the dwarves will lose most if not all of them here. If you wish to be merciful you can have a few survive by blind luck.
