"Shall we have a spot of tea before we move on?" Bill states as he conjures a cup of tea in front of everyone and a saucer of milk for Whitestripe.
Aiuda looks a bit uncomfortable with the dainties of tea but says, "Sure. Thank you, Bill."
"I'm ready as well."
You can drink Whitestripe, it's ok for you
Said Sven to his friend before taking the offer from Bill.
Grou !
Slurp, slurp, slurp
Whitestripe drank the milk with delectation.
After feeling as if you have increase in power, the party retrieves the missing parts from the pit traps and returns to the winch.
"Anyone have thoughts? Machines will be the death of us..." Bill asks in general.
Aiuda adapts to the environment and takes the pieces in hand to see what she can do.
Aiuda easily places the four pieces, restoring the winch to working order.
Grûkh signals his companions that he's ready to come down!
I'm ready and Whitestripe too !
Said Sven
Graou !
Confirmed Whitestripe
Aiuda renews her see invisibility and pass without trace before heading down. She keeps her bow in hand.
The party readies then operates the winch and descends to the lower mine. The long, sloping tunnel connecting the northern and southern halves of the mines terminates at a sturdy wooden barricade. Searching the apparent dead end, you find a catch, that when pressed, opens the false wall of the barricade.
Moving through the barricade, you see tunnels heading off to the north, west, and south.
"Let's go to the west!" Bill states from his relaxed position floating behind the group.
The west it is ! said Sven with a smile, waiting for Grûck to take the lead.
Heading west, the party sees tunnels leading off to the north and south. The tunnel eventually dead ends with chambers to the southwest, west, and stairs leading down, to the northwest.
Sven began to look for tracks and hidden passages.
Sven sees no hidden passages, but notes myriad sets of tracks; small ones such as halflings, medium ones such as humans, and large ones such as ogres....
Strange...
Sven showed his comrades the tracks of so many different kind of people.
"Let's follow those!" Aiuda whispers, leading the way to the northwest.
Following Auida, the party follows the stairs down and enters a carved chamber. Sleeping rolls, ragged tents, and scattered tools cover the
floor space of this earthen chamber. Carved stairs exit upward
to the south and downward to the north. About ten humans and five halfings mill about. They look worn out and show sign of abuse, like slaves. The people keep their heads down and ignore the party.
Sven looked at the slaves, trying to know if he could let them here without endanger their health.
We must find their captors and stop their torments. he said to his comrades before asking one of the slaves
Were are your master ? How many are they ?
Sven finds the slave in fair shape, none on death's door.
As Sven begins to strike up conversation with the slaves, a middle-aged halfling, showing signs of mutations, approaches the party. He bows and says. "I'm a guessin' you's ain't workin' for the Skullsplitta'?"
You're guessing right. I'm Sven, follower of Erastil.
"No we are not. And I am Aiuda Drowbane, a member of the elven order of the Lantern Bearers. We've come to show you to the light."
The halfing motions the party to take seat, leading to a firepit in northwestern side of the cavern and offers you some recently brewed purplish mushroom tea. Taking a drink, he watches the party over the rim, then says. "So, if you ain't workin' for the Splitta', and you ain't slaves, watcha doing here."
"There have been clockworks malfunctioning back in town-Brass Guardians. The serial numbers all traced back to this mine. Then when we get here we find a disheartening lack of dwarves and an uncomfortable number of gugs and other monstrosities. Clearly something has gone wrong here and we've come to right it."
"Tell us what you know and I can aid you in leaving this infernal place." Bill offers to the halfling.
"Well, hell! We'd all love to be rid of this gods be damned place!" The halflinf sits and takes a long pull from the mushroom tea. "Name's Shyar by the by. What I can tell ye is this, that evil two headed son of marsh giant, Skullsplitta, he runs the show around here. Him and his orge lackeys. They make us slave mine a green mineral called eidite. Can't tell ya what its fer. The Skullspitta usually can be found to the east, wehere the crusher is. To the northwest, the leader of this merry band, Metruni, oversee the work. She's a real dandy. A tiefling gal with a faith in some demon lord, Haagenti, I think. She keeps company with some oversized spider lookin' creature."
He sets his cup down and regards the party for a long moment. "If you be serious about freein' us, I'd suggest you lot create a diversion, see. Ya, a diversion. When you distracting the Splitta', we can make a break fer it. We'll run to the east and take the ore lifts out. How's about that?"
Nice to meet you Shyar.
Are you sure you don't want us to get rid of all these evil fellows first before freeing you ? We also can give you a little something of their treasury to begin a new life somewhere else.
Said Sven
"Two-headed you say? I'm guessing Skullslitta's a giantkin then?"
"We could help you escape and I don't think your plan is a bad one. But what if this Metruni comes up on you before you can escape?"
Shyar shrugs. "I 'spose you got a point. What would yer plan be?"
Who's the one the most able to attack you if we begin to attack your guards ?
Asked Sven
"Speak up!" Bill chastises the oddly quiet creature.
Shyar shakes himself from his reverie, at Bill's comment. "Hmmm, it'd prolly be Splitta's lackeys, them ogres.
So, I suggest we begin by going to see the Splitta's lackeys before "talking" to the Ogres ?
"That's sounds like a plan to me, Sven. Let's hope it all works out as we intend."
Erastil looked upon me, he count on me to defend this community, we can't fail.
So who is this Splitta you talk about? A half-elf adorned in full plate armor asks the party. I understand that you could use some assistance from an able-bodied adventurer. I hope I will not disappoint.
Aiuda turns in surprise to the newcomer. "Oh! Greetings. I am Aiuda Drowbane, a hunter and scout of the Deep. I heard that we were getting reinforcements after Grukh had that mental breakdown and had to be left behind. Well met. We are about to begin an assault on some of the foul forces that have taken control of this mine and the miners, forcing them to dig for some green mineral called eidite. We don't quite know what they are doing with it yet."
Without rhyme or reason, perhaps due to the strange magiks of the Mana Wastes, suddenly you find your oread companion gone, and a half elf standing in his place. The halfling blinks a few times, shakes his head, muttering, then answers the question. "Splitta is the leader of the ogres. He's a big two-headed bully!" Looking at everyone, he asks. "So what's the plan? Are we waitin' whiles you go spread death and destruction?"
A little confused at the switching, Sven stay speachless for a while before answering to the hafling.
Y... Yes. stay put while we deal with this Splitta.
Umm, wait... what just happened? Zelkin seems a bit confused concerning the change in guides.
"Hmm... Are you the same person as before or did you just trans-position with the oread fellow?" Bill asks, intrigued by a new wrinkle in his life's study.
The halfling jerks his thumbs toward the east. "If your a goin' after Splitta, ya need ta go back down the stairs and toward the center of the mine. He's usually near the ore crusher."
Still a little confused, Sven looked at the half-elf and said
Sorry, I'm Sven Marsh, follower of Erastil and this is my friend Whitestripe. And you are ?