At the mention of possible Ogres, Ranek draws on his arcane bond and conjures forth the arcane armor he'd worn previously (guessing mage armor from the last fight against the horses has worn off). He held his wand of shielding at the ready.
Peering over the edge, Barra mutters "How did they get down there before?" before pulling a neat coil of rope out of his pack and looking for something to rig it to. Once that's done, he'll toss his lit torch down before beginning the climb. "You were expecting me to what, hold it between my teeth?"
Ari follows Barra over to the edge and looks down. She mutters a few words and four balls of light appear in front of her. She lowers the lights down into the hole as far as she can.
She says to Barra, "Take your time descending. I'll have an arrow notched on my bow should you need covering fire. Please be careful. We know other creatures have passed through here recently. There's a very good chance some of them are still here."
As Barra made to clinb down, Marcus put his hand on his shoulder and said quietly, "Barra it might be better if I go down first, in case there's a reception party below."
The decent wasn't so bad, even despite wearing bulky armor, so much so that Marcus found he was able to keep an eye out as he descended.
Aldon carefully makes his way down, taking the time he needs not to slip, after all, as on of the group in the middle his fall will dislodge those below him!
Hakon slings his shield over his shoulders and starts down.
Thurvek follows the human paladin down the rope.
With the others heading down the rope, Ranek follows behind, carefully.
Shrugging, Barra steps to the side before climbing down himself. If someone else wanted to be first unto the breach, far be it for him to argue.
Bolkvar sighed. Leave it to humans to mess up something as simple as a mine entrance. He contemplated fixing it himself, but decided against tiring himself out unnecessarily. He joined the others in climbing down.
The company descended without great difficulty. The walls were smooth, especially further down, but the winters and water had done their work and provided many cracks and gaps to aid the rope. In due course, they came to the shaft's bottom. There stood a tangle of wrecked that looked to have once been a wooden frame, some sort of winch, and a platform nearly large enough to fill the shaft above. The wood was rotted, the rope a frayed memory, and the whole of it submerged in about a foot of water that remembered winter better than Auril Frostmaiden's teat.
The shaft opened into rough chamber about half again as wide, with nothing further save a green sheet of copper that spanned the mouth of what looked to be a tunnel from side to side.
”Can’t imagine human younglings going down here willingly. Dangerous enough climb an’ nay light. ‘Course they may have been taken.”
Once everyone got down the shaft safely, Thurvek begins to examine the shaft floor for any tracks..or blood.
Ari looks around the chamber, sending her dancing lights forward to allow her to see what her human eyes would otherwise be blind to.
Like Thurvek, she looks for tracks or any other sign of who or what might have been there or might still be there. She also looks to see if she notices anyone or anything lurking in the shadows.
Once down Ranek steps to the side to allow others to descend, pulling out his sword and the wand of shield. He scans the area around them, wary of ambush.
Dropping down into the water, Barra lets out a startled "Gah! That's cold!" and scrambles out and onto the wooden wreck. Precariously, he steps from wreckage to wreckage while he recovers his torch and moves into the next room.
"So... behind this thing, then?" He asks once everyone's down, giving the copper sheet an idle kick.
Aldon stands out of the way allowing those more competent do what they are skilled at doing.
He does though look around for perhaps some hidden way. Perception
Dropping down into the water, Barra lets out a startled "Gah! That's cold!" and scrambles out and onto the wooden wreck. Precariously, he steps from wreckage to wreckage while he recovers his torch and moves into the next room.
"So... behind this thing, then?" He asks once everyone's down, giving the copper sheet an idle kick.
The sheet gave a dull thud out in repayment for Barra's kick. Examining it further, the company found that it had been pried back at some point, but then bent almost into normal shape on one side. It looked as thought something large and strong simply manhandled the barrier out of the way, then put it back with some care.
Should we try and force it open?
Bolkvar looked at the damage closely. Whatever did this was large. It was strong. It was smart enough to put it back carefully, even if it was on the orders of something else. He looked to see if he could see the residue of an outsider. Or the markings of a beast, such as a troll or ogre. Or even the fragments that would have been left behind by an undead construct...
Ari keeps her bow at the ready as she examines the sheet. She also keeps her dancing lights active, lest something sneak up on them in the dark.
She glances over at Bolkvar and says, "Could some of your magic help us get access? I think we have to search beyond the sheet. We would be failing in our duty otherwise."
Ranek joins Bolkvar in looking at copper plate, to see if the two could combine their knowledge to determine what did it. After all, there were intelligent magical beasts, aberrations, and humanoids that could also have done this.
"It may come to that Hackon, Ariyana is correct we need to check." replied Marcus. Of course it seemed prudent to sweep for any enchantments that might be present first, so Marcus hummed a chant that would attune his senses...
Bolkvar and Ranek put their heads together and consulted the signs left about the copper plate. Upon due consideration, both believed that the work of bending it was done by hand. That meant something large and powerful, probably giant-kin. They suspect trolls or ogres, but there was a chance that some sort of demon from the ghoul hold of Hellgate Keep did the work. If such a being had come so far from the Keep, it meant nothing good.
Marcus found no sleeping Art about the area.
"This may be an obvious question, but... Why is there a massive copper plate down here? Is this... normal, for tapped-out mines? To stop things from living down here?"
”Well, y’see...”
”Well, y’see...” [dice=K-Dungeoneering]1d20+11
Boklvar doesn't think this is normal at all. An old mine might have its entrance collapsed or buried, but sealing it up this way is unusual. He believes that whoever did it probably wanted to be sure in a way that a simple dead fall or much moved earth and gravel wouldn't allow.
Marcus glanced at Bolkvar, he wasn't surprised at all to hear this was unusual. "I guess we'll have to try and pry our way in." he told the others. He tried to get a hold of the metal sheet where it had been bent before, but it was slick with condensation and he lost his grip and fell painfully on the floor.
"Heh I guess I'd better do this properly." remarked Marcus wryly, "Torm the True, the Hand of Righteousness, we beseech your blessing as we strive to pass this barrier in hope of rescuing the lost children."
This time, Marcus took his gauntlets off and replaced them with some leather gloves, the better to grip the metal with. He managed to wiggle his fingers under the bit where the sheet had been bent before. He then starts to heave, putting his whole body weight behind it. When that didn't work, he put his feet on the wall has he pushed his face turning beet red and his veins seeming ready to pop. "NNNNuuugh! A hand please." he cried through gritted teeth as he strained with all his might.
Thurvek offers his might to the task.
Ari puts her bow over her shoulder and steps up beside Marcus and Thurvek to offer a hand.
Bolkvar went to assist, but failed to get a good grasp given all of the helping hands (that is his excuse and he is sticking to it).
Aldon observes, physical strength is not his "strong" suit.
Knowing his strength lay in mind, not body, Ranek keeps an eye out and waits for the others to open the grate - plus, there was only room for so many in front of it.
The company got together and hauled on the copper plate with all their might. It slowly yielded to their ministrations, showing beyond a short corridor leading into a larger cavern with walls of reddish stone. Blue-green slime dripped off short stalactites onto the floor. Large beetles scuttled across the floor, retreating from their light. Aged picks, wheelbarrows, and other mining equipment lie rotting about the walls.
"Hmm." Thurvek grunted. "This doesn't seem right. Why leave perfectly good mining equipment to rot..unless they had to leave quickly everything behind."
The cleric growled, "This is not good at all."
Ari pulls out her bow once more and notches an arrow. If there were enemies in the mine, they might be lurking nearby beyond the metal sheet.
At Thurvek's words, Ari says, "They may not have left the equipment willingly. Whatever large creature or creatures came through here could have easily scared away the miners... or worse.
"Stay vigilant, everyone. Who knows what lurks in the darkest reaches of this mine?"
Ari wills her dancing lights forward as far as they can go to see if there is another exit to the larger cavern.
"Indeed! Lets see if there are any tracks on this side. There's no way kids managed to open that plate by themselves, but the worry is they were taken by something brutishly strong." added Marcus.
Aided by Ariyana's lights Marcus searched for tracks.
Hakon peers into the darkness, waiting for threats to strike.
At the far end of the square chamber, Ariyana found a rough opening that carried on. Marcus found a trail leading in that direction, or rather two trails. The first had large, bare prints with clawed toes. The second were a smaller group, physically and in numbers, who looked to be the size of grown humans. The larger tracks both came and went, but the smaller only entered.
Peering about, Hakon found the remains of several rat nests of a much larger size than usual and a copper statuette of a coiled dragon.
Just rat nests... large rat nests, and the a copper statue of a dragon. Nothing else.
Ari glances over at the statuette Hakon pointed at. She studies it for a moment to see if it looks familiar.
Then she looks back at the far end of the chamber and says, "There's a rough opening that carries on. If there's nothing else in this chamber, we should keep moving."
Ranek casts a spell to detect magical auras, looking about for any signs. ”Unless the trail splits, I suspect we go that way.” He indicates the opening Ariyana illuminated.
Marcus pointed out the various tracks, "Look at these boot marks, a group of adults entered but did not leave. The Silver Slayers perhaps? These other footprints with the clawed toes go in both directions, something bestial lives inside here..."
Cautiously Marcus explored the opening Ariyana found, trying to follow the human bootprints.
”Let’s follow the humanoid tracks. Solve one mystery, at least.”