The trip until Birakath was uneventful.
After a night of rest in one of the towns in the caves below, the four started climbing the mountains.
The ascension wasn't especially hard: as said in the letter, the settlers took precaution in regularly building close outposts, and securing paths between them.
"If my father could see this..." whispered sadly Carrios.
"Come on, Carrios, have faith!" said Cletus to try and remotivate him. "Maybe he's still alive! These dog men may have saved him and the original settlers!"
"Or killed them."
"NOT helping, Vathek!"
"I'm just being realistic! We know nothing of these beings!"
"True, but I doubt they killed the original settlers," commented Coelho. "Remember that they helped to protect the current ones."
"See?!"
"Look, Cletus, I thank you, but I don't want to hold on a fake hope. If they were still alive, they'd have came back."
No one found anything to say, and the ascension started again with a grim silence.

After a few days, they finally reached the last outpost, the one the settlers and the Red Claw were currently in.
They barged in, escaping the snowstorm that was threatening.
"Fuck, I'm cold!" barked Cletus. "No wonder this place stayed unexplored so long!"
The other threes were fully agreeing with him, and zeroed towards the biggest fireplace of the outpost to warm their bodies.
Once this need was satisfied, they finally looked around them, and saw that everyone was staring at them amusedly. The settlers, the mercenaries...
And at least a dozen of the famous dog men.
They were of very various builds, and all clothed in animal hides that were still very artfully designed as true clothes, and finely crafted and forged weapons.
It surprised Coelho. How could they build the level of knowledge necessary for such precise items, isolated like they were in that cold, lost place?
"Sir?" asked an troll to Carrios.
"Ah, hello, Rondar," said the merchant, recognizing the leader of the Red Claw. "So... what happened exactly? After what you said in the letter?"
"Well, we tried and follow the Gnolls..."
"Gnolls?"
"That's us," said wrily one of the dog men.
Another surprise: they talked perfectly the language of the four nations. Again, how?
"So, we tried and follow, but uselessly, they were too fast. So we went back to build the outpost. And two days later, they're the ones who come here."
"It's all of them?" asked Coelho.
"No, we're much more numerous," replied another Gnoll. "The others stayed in our cave."
"So, they come in peace, all that, they help, we bond, and there."
"Er... Did you ask them... about the previous settlers?"
"Actually, yes. Recently, in fact. And..."
He interrupted in surprise, for one Gnoll was suddenly starting to sniff Carrios.
Well, not so suddenly, he was already smelling the ambiant air for a few moments with an weirded out expression.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" exclaimed indignantly the merchant.
He didn't dare to complain, yell or something like that, for that dog man was almost as huge as Cletus, even though his greying hair showed he wasn't all that young, and the scar over his right eye didn't seem reassuring.
Eventually, he stopped sniffing, and looked at the human with the face of someone who suddenly holds on to an unexpected hope, but is scared of the disappointment.
"Ca... Carrios?" he finally stammered.
"How do you know my name?! I didn't say it and no one called me!"
The huge smile that brutally appeared on the Gnoll's face almost teared it apart.
"CARRIOS!!"
And before the interested could react, he found himself prisoner of a spine-cracking hug.
"Oh Anima, finally I see you again! Oh my, you've grown so much! I heard about how you took over so well, I'm so proud of you! I..."
"AUGH!! WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT?!" yelped the poor crushing victim. "What the hell are you babbling about?! And stop hugging me so hard, I must still have one rib intact!"
"Oh, sorry, sorry! But you don't... I'm stupid, of course you don't recognize me, I wasn't like that last time."
"Last time?! But what do you mean, damnit?!"
"Well, as I was going to say before getting interrupted, we asked the Gnolls if they knew anything about what happened to the previous settlers," coughed Rondar.
Cletus, Coelho and Vathek gasped, for they already understood.
"Turns out... The Gnolls ARE the previous settlers."
Carrios gaped at the troll. Then at the gnoll, who was still holding him tight with that overjoyed smile.
And the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.
"DAD?!"

Art by  SpiderDaSquirrel
Carrios and Rokk © me