Dusting yourself off you rise to your feet and reach down to help Talus to his.

"Was that the whole thing?" you ask half afraid of the answer.

"You betcha. Pretty neat huh? Uhh...If you don't mind my asking were you sent here to find me?"

Grasping his forearm and greeting him in northern fashion you say, "I am Barak Moonshadow of the Kodiak Bear Clan. I come from the Frozen Steppes very far to the north of here. I'm here on a greuwlarm, a search for myself. I am bonded to and guided by my spirit totem, the Kodiak Bear. Together we serve the Great Mother to maintain the Natural Order."

"Wow that sounds pretty interesting," Talus says shaking dirt out of his hair, "So you're a shaman, right? I think I've got just the thing for you, but first things first. Let's go see if there's anything left."

With that he trots up to the top of the rise, which is several feet lower than it used to be. Following Talus to the top you look down on a massive crater centered around where a large stack of crates used to be. Large boulders have been cracked open like cheap clay mugs; smoke rises from smoldering clumps of grass at the edge of the crater. Noting the smoke you both move around to extinguish the smoldering clumps of grass to prevent a much larger fire from spreading.

"Whew! That's thirsty work. Do you happen to have anything to drink in that pack of yours? It looks as if all my supplies have been destroyed."

"I'll gladly offer you a drink of water if you'll tell me what could cause such destruction."

After a few swallows from your waterskin Talus hands it back to you and says, "I'd be glad to but let's get out of this hole, it stinks down here. Well, since you weren't sent to find me I guess I can tell you the whole story. They put me in charge of moving a shipment of Draken Stone, that's what caused the explosion, to the eastern border." At this point he gets a sheepish grin and continues, "It's a long trip and I got lost, if you can believe that, what with the roads and all. Anyway, I got bored leading those dumb mules all over the place and not getting anywhere so I thought I'd conduct a little experiment."

Suddenly, Talus falls to the ground. "Oh no! It's got me! Ahh...help! Oh, it's just my pack and hey there's all my other stuff. Must've gotten thrown here by the explosion." He begins picking up his belongings which include a pack bulging at the seams, which he casually slings on his back, a walking stick and several curious looking objects resembling clubs?

Interested, you point to the clubs and ask, "What manner of weapon are those?"

"Oh these? They're Draken Hurlers, or drakes for the small ones and long drakes for the big one. A group of gnomes found this stuff a few years ago and learned that it was really explosive when exposed to flame." Rubbing his chin thoughtfully he says, "I think they're all still alive. Anyway, they named it Draken Stone." Pulling out one of the smaller ones he goes on, "Let me show how these things work. First you put a small amount of the draken stone in this tube and then you put a hurl, that's this little ball, in front of the stone and then you point the drake at your target and pull this trigger here." When he does this a loud crack comes from the drake causing you to jump and the rock he was aiming at shatters. "Oh, sorry about that. I should have warned you about the noise. Here give it a try," and he hands you the drake.

After a few tries you get the hang of the weapon. It is remarkably simple and easy to use. This one is a little small for your hands but Talus reassures you that they can make bigger versions.

"Well. Anyway, back to what I was talking about earlier. Have you heard about what is going on with the halflings in Hessia?"

Shaking your head you tell him, "No. You are the first person I've seen or talked to in this area. So I don't have any idea of what your are talking about."

"They're in big trouble with the walking dead and all that stuff. We've been helping out where we can but most of the time we just stop the dead from getting into our lands. It gets harder and harder to stop them every time because there is just so many of them." Stopping to look up at you he asks, "Don't shamans fight against this kind of thing?"

"By the Great Mother, you are right," you bellow raising yourself to your full height, "We battle against those that would upset the Natural Order. My powers are dedicated to fighting the enemies of the Great Mother and these unnatural monsters are the vilest of her foes. We must go there at once and join the battle."

Waving his hands in the air in an attempt to calm you down Talus says "Whoa there. Hang on a sec, that's clear on the other side of Gnomish. It's going to take us at least a couple of months to get there. We should stop at my village first and see if anybody else is going that way. Safety in numbers and all that. Okay?"

Nodding your head you agree, "Yes. It would be wise to go with allies to aid us in our quest. Which way does your village lie?"

Pointing vaguely southwest, "Hellenfield is a couple of days that way...I think. Come on let's go. Hey and on the way I can teach you a few things about this area, languages and other stuff."