It was hard enough to tell the difference between a dwarf foot and a human foot, especially through shoes. Even for an experienced ranger, it was a difficult task. Ungor spent a long time looking at the ground.
Eventually, he determined that there was one set of tracks which was older than the others. It came from the footpath that led to the Keep, perhaps the only feet that had made that footpath. Here and there the druid could see the occasional mark that matched it in the garden. None of the tracks seemed recent, though exactly how long ago they were made was impossible to say.
The other tracks had been made over several days. They led back towards the wooden houses in the West, though many also went to the Keep. Ungor moved closer to the houses.
He heard voices from inside. Two humans came opened the door to one and walked out, talking to one another idly. You could see more inside, and the yellow flicker of candlelight, before they shut the door.
"That rain out there looks cold. Perhaps we could use that fence wood, have us a fire." The speaker was tall, and wore mail over a faded wool tunic. He carried a sword at his belt.
"I mislike the thought of letting those wandering corpses in here with us. The blood pact may protect us from them, but that is no reason to let the dead onto our very doorsteps. Besides, they would ruin the garden." The second man had a spell component pouch at his hip. He wore robes of green and black that shimmered as he walked.
"Bah." The first man spat at his own feet. "A tender heart, Chanton, but this is no place for those. Not after what we've seen Damien do."
Both men shivered at the name.
"Come now, leave the thought, there's wood in the greenhouse if you must have a fire. But the smart ones, with the frosty magic and the pale eyes, and the invisible ones that stalk beneath the moon, they'll notice smoke. They must know someone's in the castle, though why old King Justin hasn't ordered them to burn these houses and us inside, I'll never know. If I'd heard he was alive before the High Priestess started that ritual, I never would have let her cut me." Chenton's robes twinkled as he fingered a scar on his face, just below his left eye. The other man had the same mark. "And fetch my crossbow from inside. After I shoot that bird, I'll cook it with magic and the last of the lemons."
The armored man with the sword walked back inside.
Ungor will try to maintain a poker face for a bird at hearing he might get shot at, but won't hang around much longer. And fly back to his friends to report all that he has seen.
A tiny bird lands on Torvi's head because the shoulder seemed to be
too sloped to safely land. "Friends, I found the entrance to the keep and some signs of King Justin. Unfortunately, there are some sort of human talking about High Priestesses and rituals and blood magic in that courtyard outside the Keep where I suspect the King is hold up. Sadly, no extra insight of how to get there, only knowledge of what awaits us once we are there."
"Any easy ways to get to the entrance? Barring that, my proposal was to hit the mines, before you turned into a bird."
Karti doesn't like what Ungor has to tell them. Not one bit. Pyrsa's legacy is twisted enough as is, and it definitely doesn't need another layer of cultism and blood magic to stain its history further. He tries to empty his mind of the implications of their presence, for now, and instead focus on the task at hand. "We ought to bring some chalk if we decide to hit the mines. We can take it slow, and map out what's what so that we can make a hasty retreat if we have to. Whatever the cultists are up to, it's apparently taking them such a long time that they need to grow their own food within the walls of the castle."
"Chalk, or a well defined method of scratch marks in the walls maybe?"
The group returned underground, leaving the darkening sky behind them.
Karti found the needed equipment to restore function to the elevator shaft in the Mine Control Room closet. Unsure what hot drownstone was, the dwarf found a sealed case and snapped open the brass locks on the outside. It was packed with a strange, spongy substance that felt cool to the touch. Indentations in this substance created space for orbs of dark, black rock.
They were hot, and though they sucked in light, they emanated a mystical energy which could be felt but not seen. Karti picked one up with a pair of tongs and carried it down to the elevator shaft.
The party followed, through a hallway of living rock. The walls were sweating a noisome water. At the end of the tunnel, a large shaft opened up before you.
You had come to a circular room with smooth, perfectly round walls. The floor was flat, smooth stone. Four large, metal gears sat at the edge of the floor, evenly spaced. Karti found a stone pedestal on one side, with a metal grate and two levers. Opening the grate, he began the process of replacing the hot drownstone that would power the elevator.
As the hot drownstone snapped into place, the levers in the elevator shifted slightly, sliding into their proper places. There was no sound, but Karti was confident the machinery would run.
You had to return to the mine control room again to disengage the elevator's brakes. You could hear the sound of gears turning below, and then silence once again.
The party returned to the elevator, which was now suspended not by brakes, but by magic.
"Ok Karti, do you have that thing figured out?"
"Um, I could use some help with this. Not gonna lie," Karti says as he uses the tongs to get the hot drownstone to where it needs to go. "This is trickier than I thought it would be. The first time's the charm, right?"
Once the drownstone is in place and the brakes are released - accompanied by a rumbling noise that could have awoken whatever creatures and things reside in the halls below - Karti shows the others how to operate the elevator using the lever. "So, to the first floor?"
"I'm no miner, do we count down, or up?"
Kart pulled down on the left lever. While holding it down, he moved the right lever down until it rested next to a rune denoting the first floor. He felt a click as it slid into place. Then the floor gave way beneath you.
It was a strange feeling, almost like a weight had been lifted from your shoulders.
The four gears at the edges of the circular floor turned. You could see that grooves had been cut into the walls on either side. The gears fit them perfectly. Something in the center of the floor glowed red, and the air grew warm. Whatever waters had dripped up above were nowhere to be seen here. You were inside a shaft that sank down deep into the earth, its walls smooth as polished onyx. They moved very swiftly by you, and then suddenly one of them opened up. A large, blue rune had been painted atop this opening. You had reached the first floor.
The tunnel that opened before you had a deep tench in the middle ot it, whose bottom was flat and perfectly level with the elevator floor. An iron cart sat inside this trough, ready to be rolled straight into the elevator while heavily laden. To either side of this deep trough were elevated walkways. Each of these had a set of steep stairs facing the elevator. As you clambered atop one, you saw that there were three more iron carts behind the first.
As there was only one way forward, you began walking quickly. Up ahead, the cart-trough forked after a wide circular roundabout. Following the left path, you realized that it led to a large, empty space with four more iron carts. This space could be used to divert empty carts so they wouldn't get in the way of full ones on the way to the elevator. Returning to the roundabout, you continued on the right path.
Before long, you began to pass openings on either side. Following them, you saw that they led to areas rich with ore. Miners would scratch out the ore with pickaxes and load it into wheelbarrows that were found near the mouth of each such opening. They would wheel these back and dump them straight into the larger stone carts in the main hallway. These carts would be hauled back to the elevator. There were many such areas, some of them quite long and expansive. None had much of great interest.
Continuing on, you reached the end of the first floor. A door opened up to your right, light spilling out from inside. It led to a large tool room. Ten everburning torches shone from one wall, the light making you squint after long darkness. There was an anvil and a few tools for making minor repairs. One wall held a row of pickaxes and other mining implements. Another door led to a small, long room with cubbies cut into the far wall. They were empty. A few had grafitti scratched into them. "If you steal my stuff, may you lose all toes by years end." "After forty years cutting stone, I will rest."
Across the hallway was another room. It had two rows of tables and benches, with a few stone beds lining one wall. On one wall was a spigot. Turning it, you found that a clear, cold water came sprinkling out, draining into a channel along the wall. Another doorway at the back of this room led to a privy. There was a large chamber beneath it with a service door. It would have needed to be emptied every so often, a delightful task for some unfortunate dwarf.
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Karti visibly relaxes when it becomes apparent that the mine does not pose any immediate danger to the group. Walking around these ancient halls, their walls the result of centuries of Dwarven diligence fills him with pride and joy. "I'm sure ye wouldn't understand, but this here, this mine, it fills me with a sense of happiness that's hard to quantify. Like the first warmth of summer, it nourishes my soul."
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Torvi has been scanning all of the rooms, looking for any evil, or residual evil anyways. She turned to the others "is there anything magical detecting down here?"
Finally, she went over to the trickle of water. She ran her hands under it, enjoying the coolness against her skin. She splashed a bit on her face, and wiped away some grime, and finally she scooped up a handful and took a sip...
Not hearing any announcements of magical auras in the aura, and she not being aware of anything evil, she turns to her companion, "let's go Karti move the knob, or push the lever, whatever is needed to get us headed to the next level!"
Torvi found the water cool and refreshing, clean and clear as a blue sky in spring. There was no evil here.
The group returned to the elevator and descended. It made no noise save the turning of gears. Within a few moments, the second level came into view.
There was once again only a single tunnel, though this time it was far smaller. Natural rock could be seen in places, though here and there it had been smoothed out. There was no sign of a trench for large carts, this tunnel was scarcely wide enough for two wheelbarrows to pass by.
There was a room just inside the tunnel. Entering it, you found another tool room, much like the one above, though smaller. It had three everburning torches. There were also five masks, fitted to cover the mouth, nose, and eyes and block out harmfull gasses. They had space to hold a large supply of air crystals, more than could normally fit in one's mouth. You found only one set of crystals, however. They were larger than the ones you could find out in the wider world, probably custom made somewhere inside Pyrsa, and would last five minutes.
Outside the tunnel went uphill for a time before rounding a crest. On the other side, the air smelled of brimstone. Then the tunnel abruptly ended in a wall of stone. After a moment, you realized that you were looking at the locked pivot room.
On your left, a small room held a mechanism similar to the one found in the elevator. It would need to be repowered before you could operate the pivot room.
Karti shakes his head at Torvi and again shows her how the blasted elevator works. "Down we go."
---
The sight of the masks instills Karti with a sense of confidence. Whatever challenges this mine will throw at them, they now have the tools to deal with them. That is if the darned mask will fit Ungor. "I'm sure we can jury-rig one of these here masks to fit Ungor when he shifts ... but that still leaves us with only one set of air crystals. Now, I happen to have brought a set of my own with me, but that still doesn't solve the issue that we'll need at least four. And we'll need some drownstone so we can pivot this darn, eh, pivot."
"And we'll need a whole bunch of air crystals!"
Torvi's words are answered by a grimace. "Y'know, the ones I crafted myself cost me around twenty-five pieces of gold or so. They last maybe a minute once you start chewing on them, so ... yeah. We ought to treat them as the precious resource they are."
"So yours are inferior to the ones here then?"
Karti led the group back upstairs to the Mine Control Room, clicking open the drownstone case once more. There were three orbs of hot drownstone left.
Torvi pondered the possibility of lugging around the other two, after Karti used one. The case they were inside seemed important, but it was quite large and bulky.
Now that you had cleared out this area of the underground, it was easy to move back and forth between different places. Before a few minutes had gone by, Karti was installing the drownstone needed to power the second floor pivot room.
The group followed Karti back to the Mine Control Room. Karti found the pivot room controls for the second floor and turned them to the position marked "Safety." There was a second set of pivot room controls, marked with simple numbers 1 and 2.
The group then went back down to the second floor. This time, the tunnel continued a little farther. Although the pivot room was not secret, its rock was cut so as to continue smoothly from the tunnel. There was a small crack an inch wide between the floor of the tunnel and the floor of the pivot room, but that was all.
The group moved into the pivot room. The air was foul smelling, but safe to breathe. It led off to the right. There was a small doorway at the edge of the pivot room, sealed to the floor and walls to prevent air from getting in. It was unlocked.
On the other side was a large room with an arched ceiling. You could feel a faint current of air, there must have been a vent somewhere in here. On one wall stood a cabinet. There were ten potions hung on a rack marked "healing, light." Another five hung below, marked "healing, strong." Another two hung below these, marked "restoration." Beside the restoration potions were ten more sets of air crystals. Like the ones you had found earlier, these would last a full five minutes.
Beside this cabinet was a chest. Inside you found two hundred platinum pieces, neatly ordered on metal threads.
The room also had mundane medical supplies arrayed on a workbench across from the door. There were stretchers lain beside them, ready to carry any injured dwarves away to safety.
Karti pulls a 'not bad' face as he inspects the various potions. He leaves the potions be for now, as plundering this room somehow feels sacrilegious. Said feeling is contested when the party opens the chest and soaks in the view of two hundred neatly ordered platinum pieces. "I must say that I never quite expected to find all this. We should take what we need, the crystals and the restoration potions, and leave the rest behind. Hmm, maybe we can put one of the stretchers in the elevator. Could come in handy ..."
So we're looking at:
10 CLW
5 CMW? (CSW? CCW?)
2 Restoration
10 5m air crystals
Is the mundane medical supplies equivalent to say a Healer's Kit, for a +2, or something?
Oddly enough, for these particular items, as they don't appear tied to a specific house or person, but are tied to the keep/nation overall, I don't think Torvi is opposed to taking it all, since our purpose in using it is to the betterment of the dwarven people.
When Karti talks about the mask issue, Atash chirps up. "Wouldn't...fit me anyways...I have a way...to deal with it...I can hold my breath...much longer than any of you."
Atash is already gathering the potions into his magical haversack with Karti mentions not taking it. He stops, looking wide eyed back (with just a subtle hint of annoyance), but continues plundering when Torvi nods her permission.
Karti goes about trying on the various masks to see if they're still in working condition. He sets aside the ones that are still in working condition.
"Aye Karti, that's why you're in charge! How may I be of assistance?"
The masks fit Torvi and Karti well, and Atash could hold his breath. These three would probably be safe despite any noxious gasses they might encounter. Ungor, however, was still in bird form, and no mask would fit him.
"Hmmm, perhaps the bird will fit inside one of our masks?"
Ungor quietly listens and watches the dwarves move through the tunnels, discussing their plans. once the decision to mask up is made, he ponders whether his tiny form would indeed fit inside the masks.
"I could stay here and wait for your 5 mins of exploration to be completed." Ungor notices Torvi immediate furring of her brow as he is still perched on her head. "I take it that is a NO we are not splitting the party." But I was allowed to go fly off and scout by myself. oh well.
Upon hearing the rest of the group asking to maintain unity, Ungor hops down to the ground and returns to human form. And a few seconds later, his changes his hands into the claws of a bear. "What?! you didn't think I would give up partially being a bear." and grins. "Ready, for my own mask of air."
With the party properly outfitted, they returned once more to the Mine Control Room to adjust the Pivot room on floor 2. This time, they set it to the ore position. It had been a long time since you returned underground, and the day might be growing old on the surface. But down below, you continued to work.
As you made your way back to the Pivot Room, you found that the air had grown fouler than it had been before. The group donned masks, save Atash, who began to hold his breath. As you reached the pivot room, you crunched your air crystals and began to breath in the air they released.
The first twenty feet of the mine was smooth cut stone, past that it became twisting and cavernous. There were three branching paths, two of which you could see branched again. The group went left. Atash felt a sting in his eyes.
There was ore here. The dull red of copper, and the glint of crystalline gemstones. The group continued, choosing the left path each time.
As you moved forward, you heard someone cry out for help below. "I'm trapped. Please, my air is running low. You must help!" It sounded far away.
Hearing someone is in trouble, Ungor bounds forward to help whomever is trapped.
Ungor moved quickly for a big man. The others stood still for a moment, watching him as he left them behind.
Deciding not to split up at any cost, the rest of the party soon followed. The voice came from forward and to the left. Down a sharp drop that nearly made you fall, and then past a narrow hallway, nearly a squeeze. When the others caught up, they saw Ungor standing still before a pile of rubble. The cave here had collapsed.
It was hard to tell with these things, but the signs were here. After this tunnel had collapsed, miners had come and dug out the front portion of it. That had probably been many years ago.
Karti frowns when he sees the collapsed cave. Whoever, or whatever, is asking for their help cannot be a normal living thing. Not here, not after so long. But these thoughts, like many things in life, came too late. And with the masks that they're wearing plus Ungor being decisively faster than him, there's no way Karti can warn the druid to not mess with the rubble.
Ungor arrives on scene and quickly tries to discern the situation
"Ummm, excuse me, but blindly running off to save the helpless is supposed to be my plan, and you guys are supposed to have a plan B to save me, right?" She catches up and asks, "how may I assist?"
Ungor began to dig at the rubble. The stones were heavier than they looked, but with Torvi’s help he was able to begin making headway.
Karti, who remained clearheaded, began to wonder how much more air the group had. It was difficult to gauge. The group had been walking for at least a minute, maybe more, and then Ungor had come racing down here. The entrance must be some distance back now.
Karti claps his hands as if to say 'chop chop'. Unlike the others, he doesn't trust this situation one bit and prepares himself for the worst by shifting a vial of holy water to his alchemical bandoleer.
Torvi will attempt to detect evil while digging. No reason to dig up an imprisoned lich here!
Torvi immediately detected the presence of evil. Ungor continued digging for a moment. Torvi continued to concentrate on the aura. There was a single moderate aura.
"Hey, umm, whatever is down here is evil, I can sense it. Do we really want to uncover it?"
"what do you mean evil? is the evil what is hurting the person trapped or are you saying this is a ruse?' Ungor will stop digging but look perplexed at Torvi waiting for an answer.
Atash takes out his notebook and scribbled on it quickly.
I can try to squeeze through the rocks and take a look before we free it? He offers up to the others.
"I can't say which it is, but it looks like Atash has a plan."
Atash squeezed his way into the pile of rubble. Thought it was densely packed, the ratfolk had a knack for fitting through the smallest of cracks. He made his way forward a few feet, the others counting their breaths while they waited. After twenty breaths, Atash emerged holding a discarded breathing mask. One of the eye lenses was shattered, the other whole.
The mask was giving off an Evil aura.
"Uhhh?....that's a mask...not a person needing rescue/"
Karti draws the symbol of Torag in the air to fend off evil spirits. Whatever this thing is, it isn't good. No mask is supposed to talk, let alone draw people to their doom! "It's time to head back. Now."