It is a well known fact that deep under the lawful town of Kragcrown there exists a most profitable mine.
What is less well known is the fact this mine is also in fact the most cruel and deadly prison in the land. Slaves, criminals, and every other type of despot populate this cutthroat society.
The wardens of Kragcrack prison, for that is it's true name, a hard, ruthless beings who take great pleasure in tormenting the unfortunates that work and dwell there. Whip and lash, rack and noose, sword and mace are applied liberally to any who steps even a toe nail out of line
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As bad as things are in Kragcrack, most of its residents would gladly receive the affections of the wardens over the visitations of the spiders...
Monstrous, hungry, and poisonous they are: always hungry...then of course, so are their Drow keepers.
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You all wake in your cell today as yesterday. Your ragged clothing is dirty, reeks, and is starting to have a greasy quality. As usual, 3 quick raps on the door in the ceiling signal that breakfast is forthcoming.
A steaming gruel of questionable origin free-falls to the dirt floor of the cell where, today like yesterday, you lap as much as you can before the dirt absorbs it.
An hour later the rope ladder drops into your midst and, once again, you are bidden to climb. At the top, Bolger the Duergar jailor routinely inspects your spell suppression collars and, once satisfied, hands out the pickaxes.
"Today you go down G tunnel.", says Bolger, "The normal crew down der wen' an' got ate yesterday. That's the 11th in a fortnight. Hahahahaha! Get on you maggots!"
He gives you a good lash each as you pass for encouragement.
You walk in silence to the mouth of tunnel G where the dark dwarf foreman flashes a dirty, malicious, yellow smile at you. After a few minutes of walking, you're sure that you've surpassed earshot of the foreman and are free to talk. You are apparently supposed to extend the tunnel to an indefinite length: just dig.
Today like the day before the goblin shutters at the thought of manual labor. He knew he had to work or die, so for the time he pretended to work. Krunk, Ahbajea keep your heads up, today is the day we get out of here! I think? With a extremely large smile, he looks around looking for someone that might actually be freed by the removal of the spell suppression bracers. Hey Mr. Kitty, Bud bud I've got an idea. How about me and my boys free you, then you do some magie like things and were free! Do we have ourselves a deal! He continued to smile for a second longer knowing that either he or one of the the tall greens could probably get the demon out.
Dungeoneering knowledge check -
Local knowledge check -
Geography knowledge check -
General information checks trying to figure out the circumstances of outside the prison, as well as the general condition and depth of the mine.
Woota ponders the current situation. I might just have my lackies just pound a few guards into rumble, BUT the easiest way is not always the best. "I THINK I've got it, a master plan!"
You are unsure of the depth of the prison being that you never experienced the journey down here. However, judging by the heat, you'd assume that you are over a mile underground.
The mine is still functional and quite profitable. Silver, coal, and diamonds fall abundantly from the walls where to docile prisoners work. The foreman are quick to gather up the valuables.
Your cell block is more for the miscreants. You lot get to dig new tunnels and break through granite obstacles.
HRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...... The goblin ends his awkward pause a few long moments later. "Alright boys follow me, and you as well as paws. We need to," Woota raised his fingers to establish quotations, "Talk, to the guard.
Woota turned back down the tunnel looking for the nearest guard. Pausing for a moment to make sure his talls were close by.
"The warden wanted us to come up and help him out with a special project. Were you not paying attention to his orders that he sent to you? I'm sure he'll be very angry that you've gone and beaten the muscle that he was DEPENDING ON. I believe you've just gone and pissed off the warden. Let's not doing anything else rash to upset him, ok?"
The dark dwarf squints at you a moment before relaxing. In a sheepish tone he asks, "What'd them orders say exactly? I didn't lose mine of course! I...uh...just want to make sure...uh...y'all 're tellin' the truth."
He coils his whip and hangs it on its belt hook.
"Sorry Orc." He adds as an after thought.
"Ridiculous, just ridiculous.' The goblin rushes over to help his downed friend. The goblin spends a second or two wiping down Ahbejea's clothes. "You really hurt him bad, the wardens gonna be pissed at you! Which is ironic because the Warden was talking abut a promotion."
Woota grin is at this point an easy foot wide, I wonder if this is actually working! HAHA take that violence. Why use a fist when you have a brain as big as mine. I am soooooo smart and cool and funny. Now how do I convince him that both Smooches and Ahbajea are actually healers! But I really am awesome, people should treat me better. The goblin stands for a long moment after thinking about himself, and of course grinning.
"Foreman! We were recruited by the warden to fight off the swarm of spiders at the entrance to the mine. The warden didn't want to endanger his own important men, so he's having us risk our lives for you to fight off the spiders. He wanted to keep it quiet so that the other miners won't start a riot. That's why we needed the orc to be at full strength."
Gromgard gasped in shock. "Do you think the warden would walk down here and hand us our HEAVY equipment? That was the order that he sent to YOU. I thought you said you got his orders? Or did you lose them? Oh, he'll be so upset with you and he'll probably make you fight the spiders yourself! You don't want that do you?"