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"Exploring the mine seems like the most straight-forward approach. While simple, the lack of complexity makes it the most appealing.
However, if they are assembling a Sky Key-scale artifact and we have the last remaining piece to make it work, that could be an issue, as we'd essentially be bringing it to them.
On the other side of the coin though, if they are smuggling pieces of the device into Dustpawn for whatever reason, then we're moving another piece into position for these people.
I'd like to know a little bit more, maybe rally some local support or at least get the town aware of the possibility of danger. Just leaving them at the whim of who knows what doesn't sit very well with me, and if we go haring off after the mines and *don't* make it out, we can't very well Report, can we?
Aside from which, there is also the prospect of acquiring more scrolls and such in town should we need them. We already know these individuals are casually -- no offense, Leera -- tossing around very expensive Curses on folks, so being prepared a bit better for that would be ideal.
That all being said, I'll follow the lead of the party, because we have to Cooperate on this or it's going to become a hot steaming mess.
How do we want to Learn today?"
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Kiku cant help but narrow her eyes at Leeara when she mentions her age. She waits until she has a quiet moment with Leeara and whispers to her.
"You don't have to lie to us about your age, Leeara. If you go through the training, it takes several years to do field work anyways."
She makes sure Leeara is looking at her, then smiles, her voice returning to its normal volume.
"I am certain a young girl as bright as you would have no trouble making her way as a Pathfinder."
Kiku then shifts her attention back to the matter at-hand.
"Grigorii is canny as always. I would not wish to make you spend another evening here, Leeara, if you would be more comfortable at home, however. Also, we do not want to let those villains have their run of the town for longer than necessary."
Lee blushes a bit, looking a bit shame-faced under Kiku’s disapproval. “Sorry. I just want to travel and do the kind of exploration and rescue missions you guys do.”
Lee nods at the plan, considering it. “I camp out here all the time. I can camp another night. Can I at least make you guys a meal before you go? I’ll just go get some supplies and...” She stops, horrified, in the supply cave, in front of the two bodies of the cultists, her hands shaking and her face draining of color.
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"If you truly want to join the Pathfinders, you must know that you will face worse than this." Grigorii says softly as he walks over to put a reassuring hand on Leeara's shoulder. "These men were here to kill you, and you defended yourself. Even if you were under the effects of their rotten curse. You've learned what it is like to lose control. Should it happen again, you will be ready to fight off the effects and remain yourself."
“I savaged them.” Lee leans into Grigorii. “I didn’t just kill them. I tore them apart.” Then she looks up with wide eyes. “Do you ever get used to this? The killing?”
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Wei gets a thousand-yard stare for a moment or two as Leera attempts to struggle with the ramifications of her primal curse-inspired death vagrancy.
"All challenges in life are presented to one to help one grow. By adapting and understanding and learning from them do we expand our wisdom. It is not an easy path to find, nor is the Way always clear, but everyone's path is different.
That you've had this revelation now, before you got really started is a good thing. Better now than on a mission where you're forced into a choice you'd rather not make, but have no choice.
Remember that all things have the chance to try it again in time, and that by denying them a chance in this life they may have a chance in another. Carry the lesson with you, and grow from it."
Wei Ji shakes his head a bit. "My first expedition with the Society we were forced into a similar circumstance. It marks a soul, and remembering is painful but necessary."
“Okay.” She nods, takes a deep breath, and then calms her trembling hands. "Can you get them out of here?"
Then she sets to her meal preparations: starting a fire, chopping ingredients and cooking up savory sourdough flapjacks with a filling made from wild onions, herbs, nuts, beans, birds eggs and some tubers. Some of the herbs she uses are peppery. Others taste faintly of lemon. While she fries it up in a cast iron pan, she says, “You should know the two guys who own the Nesher Mine, Garth and Hub, are a little eccentric and crotchety. Pretty territorial, too.”
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"Do you have any spare burlap lying about? I'd rather not sacrifice blankets to do this, but will if I have to."
Wei is going to suggest tying the bodies up in burlap and weighting them slightly with rocks so they don't float and tossing the bodies in the river -- only because the party doesn't seem to have the time and means to dispose of the dead individuals in a better fashion...
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"Dumping them in the river is probably best. If left here, they could attract scavengers. With some heavy rocks, we could take care of the problem. And you Lee, have been very brave. I've got a decent reputation with some of the higher ups in the Society. I'll be sure to put a good word in with them about you helping my team here."
The smells of the meal she’s cooking fills the cavern. It smells really good, especially to those who skipped lunch this morning.
Lee looks around, and swallows. “Um, I guess you can use the canvasses I’ve got on the walls.”
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Grigorii rolls his eyes at Shel as he pulls a mess kit from his haversack. "Pathfinders come prepared. You never know where your next meal is going to come from!"
Grigorii takes Leeara out to the waters edge and sits with her, their feet dipping into the current. He pulls his lyre out from his haversack and tunes it patiently before singing soft, but clear into the evening's air
Look at Lee
You may think you see
Who she really is
But you may never know her
Every day
It's as if I play my part
So you see
If you wear a mask
You can fool the world
But you cannot fool your heart
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
When will her reflection show
Who she is inside?
We are now
In a world where we
Have to guard our hearts
And what we believe in
But somehow
You can show the world
What's inside your heart
And be loved for who you are
Who is that man I see
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection
Someone I don't know?
Must I insist that I'm
Civilized for all time?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
There's a heart that must be
Free to find
That burns with a need to know
The reason why
When will we all reveal
What we think, how we feel?
Must there be a secret we
Are forced to hide?
I won't be told that I'm
Someone else for all time
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
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"We're not going to destroy your art. You might need to put it in a museum when this is all done. I'll use a blanket or two instead, figure it out the rest of the way... never had to carry extra burlap before, learn something new every day."
Wei will work on dealing with the bodies unless there are objections, then come back for dinner with thankful noises.
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Kiku frowns as she listens to the discussion on killing. Several minutes after the conversation apparently ended, she speaks up. "Killing does get easier for some people. They trade themselves away piece-by-piece, bartering their hearts, their souls, and their dreams for victories. They think they can win anything if they merely give up enough. But we all lose someday. What do you think happens to someone who loses when they had already traded away everything for victory? I have seen it, the emptiness of their anger as they fall silent for the final time."
"Please, always hold onto as much of yourself as possible. Faith, honor--" her voice gets very quiet, her gaze turning inward "--foolish dreams--" she returns her eyes to Leeara, managing a smile "--or even something as simple as the feeling of cooking a nice meal for people you care about. Your heart may bleed, but at least you will always know it's still alive."
She laughs, an exhausted exhale following.
"I apologize for being so serious. You can tell I was rereading Vildeis's holy texts."
She walks up to Wei Ji, tapping him on the shoulder as he moves to take the bodies.
"Um, before we move the bodies, I would like to perhaps try something. There is a spell I used before, Grave Words, that may provide us with some help."
She looks at each of the bodies, taking a deep breath as she steels herself for whatever madness they might spew.
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Harsk turns to Kiku.
"That's fine with we. Anymore information we can learn will surely help us."
Harsk mentions to Lee.
"No...the killing doesn't come easy. Sometimes it's a matter of your life. Other times it's the life of your friends or family. I've hunted giants and other creatures for many years. I don't like it. But sometimes you have to defend yourself and your clans people. And don't worry about crotchety! I know a thing or two about that!"
Kiku touches a hand to one of the dead cultists and the man starts babbling in a horrible-sounding language that is half-screech.
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Grigorii attempts a mending on Leeara's bed. He gives the cot an appraising look, "When we have reached the bottom of this mess, I will come back and make whole your bed here. We will set this to rights."
"I prefer the dead speak through song and legend, but this might help. Could anyone understand that?"
Look at Lee
She could almost pass for a pathfinder
Or a baker’s daughter
Can it be
She is here to play some part?
Now you see
That if she were truly to be herself
She would warm this party's hearts
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me
Why is her reflection
Someone she won't show
Somehow she cannot hide
Who she is, though she tried
When will her reflection show
Who she is with pride
Leeara's eyes go wide. "That's the screeching language they spoke back in the mine. I've never heard anything like it before."
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When Kiku touches the other dead cultist, he screeches, “លាមក ! ទទួល នាងពី ខ្ញុំ! ”
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The tengu winces at the second painful-to-listen to screeching. "Ugh, it's worse than gears grinding! Second time doesn't help any!"
"In addition, the Master of Masters has seen fit to give me such insight as well today, should I need to call up on in. Given the last mission I was on I'd prefer to hang onto the option as long as possible as well."
With more questions raised than answered, you ponder the mystery of the screeching corpses for only a little while before you realize it's time to move on if you're going to make it to the mines tonight. You wrap the bodies in the blankets, weigh them down with stones, and toss them into the river.
Before you go, Lee hugs all of you, especially Grigorii and Kiku. “Thank you for the song, and helping me, and for trying to fix my bed. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Buoyed up by excellent home cooking, you follow Lee’s map traveling for a couple hours through some very pretty hill country covered in prairie grasses. The whole area is peppered with old mining roads and occasional caves. The Nesher Mine is located about 13 miles southwest of Dustpawn, though only ten miles east of Leeara’s hideaway. You arrive there about an hour before sunset. The mine itself is relatively unimpressive from the outside—merely a cave opening at the base of a hill that’s been widened and braced with timbers. A weathered, hand-painted sign with faded red lettering proudly proclaims, “NESHER MINES.”
The cave beyond is relatively shallow, extending only 15 feet underground before it ends. A hole in the center of the cave allows access to the mine proper—a wooden lift operated by a hand-cranked winch mounted on the platform, allowing an easy descent to the mine below.
It appears to be untrapped. Though the lift mechanism is old, it looks sturdy enough to send one person down at a time. Perhaps two, if they’re both small and light.
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Yojimbo floats over towards Shel at the mention of tracks. He stops and looks over her shoulder, a rather simple task given the height difference.
He nods sagely. Glances to Shel, then back at the tracks, then to Kiku, then back to the tracks.
"She is correct."
He floats back to Kiku's side, folding his arms once more.
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Even though the fallen individuals are not members of his faith, after Kiku is done with her efforts for the slain Wei is exceptionally respectful of the dead, almost formal as he puts together their improvised burial shrouds.
The tengu is quiet for a significant time after the disposal of the fallen. Master of masters, thank you for the lesson, that we might all grow from it.
"Hold on. I've seen something like this before, but it slipped my mind to prepare for it. Oil. If we don't prepare the device properly, it will be very loud and squeaky, or worse."
So, who'll be first into the mine?
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Wei Ji thinks that the creaky lift will make more noise than an orcish marching band. To counteract that, you would need to improve its performance with a knowledge engineering, disable device or other applicable skill. Yes, oil would help.
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Wei will put a cautioning hand out to Harsk.
"Hold up a second, let me oil that sucker. Got some handy? Anyone?"
The tengu will eagerly point out the points where the thing will make enough noise to raise the dead to Shel, since she was very capable in the hideout, and then he gives Grigorii a glance, for the possibility of inspirational tunes...
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Disable Device with Heroism
"Yep, good call. I think I might be better to ride down in it, Harsk, no offense meant of course, but the weight um, distribution might be a bit better with me in the saddle. And it just so happens I have just the thing," she says as she produces a regular flask of oil. "Three of them, in fact. Always be prepared, right, Grigori?!" She oils the appropriate places and hops in the basket.
Shel gets up in the mechanism, cheerfully oiling the gears and winches, tightening some bolts, adjusting others to smooth the descent. She makes the cantankerous lift far more quiet, though she cannot remove all the creakiness. Some remains from the sheer age of the wooden boards used to build it.
Considering how light Shel is, there'd be room for her and one other person. If you rode down with Harsk, you two would both want to give me acrobatics checks to keep the balance right as you descended. The weight disparity between you two is extreme unless you're sitting on him somehow.
Are you both going down?
If you're both going, roll those acrobatic checks!
While not the trained acrobat that Shel is, Harsk is graceful enough to stick to his side and let Shel do the tough work of balancing the bucket for their two disparate weights. The bucket swings a bit, but does not thud heavily into the side of the wall as the two of them descend into the mine.
Shel and Harsk descend in the bucket, swaying and creaking gently. Twenty feet below, they hit the floor of the cavern. The shaft above you offers enough light to see by. To the north a winding tunnel leads deeper underground. Numerous pickaxes, shovels, buckets, sledges, and other mining gear sit near the walls. Here and there, remnants of the dismantled tracks lean against walls.
If you call up and down the shaft, it will be loud. Are the rest of you descending?
The whole party makes it down the shaft. As Shel and Harsk scout ahead down the tunnel, they discover that the tunnel branches in two directions. One direction leads to a widening cavern to the left, the other down a longer passage to the right that turns in the distance.
Which way do you choose to go?