A gambit

You quickly view your surroundings to get a sense of what all's gone wrong and what you still have. The wind had completely blown over the tent, though the amount of rain it's been subjected to, it may not have been much aid anyways. Your clothes are soaked to the core, and your haversack doesn't have much hope of dry alternatives. Your concern raises to panic, as you look to the Queen. She's asleep but involuntarily shivering, faring even worse than you are. You remove the blanket from her, and quickly try to get her to rise.

"Queen Vercion!" You nearly shout, startling her awake "We have to move, find some place to get dry. She's conscious but sluggish, struggling to get to her feet. You help her, and quickly straddle her on your back to carry. You silently wish you had taken your trusty horse up, but you internally recognize you couldn't have taken her up such mountainous terrain. You look at your surroundings, taking a deep breath, and make a quick judgement call, deciding to head further up the mountain; hopefully towards the dwarves, rather than heading back down.

"Michael" She says quietly, her voice delirious "What are you doing?"

"We'll come back for the gear, Your Majesty. Right now, our best bet for survival is to find these dwarves." You quickly begin to worry, knowing the reputation of how rarely they leave their holds, and what may happen if you don't find them soon. As you make your way up the mountain, you're able to find an area where the ascent is slightly easier. It appears to have been a path at some point, likely carved by the ingenious residents of the area, but centuries of weather and atrophy from lack of use still make it somewhat of a challenge.

"Damn these dwarves" you growl angrily to yourself "I hope they mine their way to the Nine Hells". They had forsaken your ancestors, as well as the Crown, intimidated into a cowardly neutral stance when the Intransican Empire invaded. Since than, the dwarves have kept to themselves, their once lengthy trade lines cut off. As you dwell on your grudge, growing more tired, more angry, and more cold, you notice the chattering and shivering of the Queen is slowing down, ratcheting up your anxiety even higher

"Stay with me, your Majesty" you call out, making a small hop to jostle her and keep her conscious "If you go to sleep now, you may not wake back up. Song a song, tell me a story, just stay with me, My Queen."

"I'm not a Queen"she muttered, causing you to worry of her doubts, what followed would be so full of delirium that you worried if this was somehow worse "I'm an Empress. Lord and Mistress of all My kingdom is beyond all that is known, my reign stretches beyond time itself! the gods themselves are my subjects! May non stand in my way, for all those who dare will be blotted from this world,. It will be as though they were never even bord!" her tirade ends with a feverish giggle. You dread what may come next, but you lack something better. If this is what it takes to keep her going, so be it. You'll deal with the repercussions later.

"Yes of course, Empress" you say with a grunt, struggling to keep going "anything you desire, oh Princess of the Planes" she replied with another giggle, sounding like a small child. If only she weight as little as one, you thought

"Michael" she begins slowly "I'm cold, and tired. Tell me a story, please"

"Gladly, Your Majesty" you say, even as you have to stop moving to regain your breath and rest "I need you stay with me, so you tell me a story, at least until we find these dwarves, and than I'll tell you a grand tale"

"Dwarves?" She asked

"Yes, milady" your response is filled with **** enthusiasm "Stout, hearty, raucous dwarves. With warm fires and dry clothes if we can be so lucky. Maybe even some food"
You turn around a blind corner of the mountain path, to reveal it cut off by an immense boulder, either the product of an avalanche, or placed there by the locals. With no visible way around and exhausted, you put the princess down on the ground, where she instinctively curls up to try and preserve some body heat

"Gods!" you shout out into the air, your loud voice echoing against the harsh mountainside "This can't be where this all ends! Where are they!?" Unwilling to have this be the final note in your adventure, you try to make a solitary climb. One foot above another, you slowly climb up to the top of a crag, off from the path

"Dwarves!" You yell with all the strength you still have, feeling immediate strain in your throat "The Queen of the Diamond City wishes to have a word with your Lord and Master!" There's no response, predictably, beyond the cawing of a singular crow.

"Figures" you let out, feeling more defeated than you ever have. Not taking full precaution on your way back down, the rain gets advantage of you, and you slip, falling several feet to the ground, and black out immediately on the ground.