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Always ready. Arush smiles contentedly. All this is much more than what fate had in store for her. Traveling around the world, exploits, helping people... Flying ship! Various other miracles that she has seen and that she will only see in the future. What else is needed. Arush breathes deeply and feels happy and hopeful.
As your journey approaches its end, the weather turns nasty. Fearing for his vessel (and having only been paid to take you one way), the airship’s pilot drops you off and quickly departs to the south, headed for the safety of Martel’s airship docks. The turbulent winds sweeping through the Karggat Hills are causing no shortage of havoc on the airship above as it makes its ascent away from the rocky landscape south toward Martel. However, on the ground in front of the mine shaft, the wind fades to a strong breeze. The pitchblack tunnel descending into the abandoned Karggat Mine howls sporadically, thanks to the Mana Wastes’ unpredictable air currents, and the gunmetal-gray clouds above indicate a tempestuous storm in the making.
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Slash moves to stand beside Arush, also looking around for trouble. He glances down into the mine shaft looking for a way down.
(Ex) Whenever you come within 10' of a trap, the GM secretly rolls for you to find it. Trapfinding +6 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
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Ranalus casts Magic Vestment on his armor and buckler, duration 12 hours.
Any problems with spellcasting?
If there are not, he then continues with Life Bubble on the party, at 4 hours duration per PC.
Then he will cast Freedom of Movement on himself, duration 120 minutes.
He will join in with Arush and Slash, looking for anything unusual or alarming.
What is the angle of the mine shaft? Is descending just difficult terrain, or a Climb check, or Fly/Feather Fall?
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After several hours of "fishing" with the old man, Arcturus hears the call to prepare for landing.
He thanks the old man for the company and thoughtful conversation.
"Perhaps we will meet again, friend."
Arcturus says as he shakes the man's hand.
"Well, boy! I caught something good today! A good time with a new friend. Rare to come along somethin' like that nowadays."
The old man leans in.
"Did you catch anything good, boy?"
The old man says with a big grin as he taps a pointed finger in Arcturus' chest.
"The same. A pleasant time with a new friend."
Arcturus smiles.
"Possibly more. You gave me a lot to think about. I must be careful down there in those mines. I hope to live to see you again."
Arcturus says with a worried look at first, but then offers a warm smile.
"Don't you be a-worryin', laddy! We'll cross paths a-gain, fer sure! Just be careful down there, ya hear? Listen to yer friends an' keep yer wits about ye."
The old man squints his one good eye in sincerity at Arcturus.
Arcturus turns to leave, but suddenly thinks of turning to ask the old man's name. They spent hours together after all, yet, he never learned his name. With a shrug, he shakes his head and bids farewell, hoping to sometime cross paths with the old pirate again.
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Still in deep thought, and wondering why he's here, Arcturus gathers his gear from his bunk as the airship prepares to land. His moments in thought are quickly lost as his stomach suddenly churns along with the turbulence of the airship descending. The clouds rise fast as the ground gets closer.
"Ohhh, Sweet Shelyn..."
In severe discomfort, he holds his belly as he makes a run to the rail on the top deck of the ship.
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Arcturus' legs stop shaking now that he's back on solid ground. He holds a hand above his eyes to keep out the wind and dust as he stares into the gaping entryway to the mines. He then turns torward his companions as he hears the casting of spells.
"Those are some interesting spells, Ranalus."
He takes a deep breath of the fresh air created by the life bubble.
"Very interesting, indeed."
He says with a raised eyebrow.
"It's been quite some time since I've gone on an adventure. Over three years now, in fact. I'll need to pay attention to how you perform your prayers so that I may ask Shelyn to grant me those blessings."
He reaches into his pack and pulls out a slender, two foot long iron rod.
"I just got this. It allows me to extend the duration of a few minor spells each day."
He waves the rod of lesser extend spell.
"I wonder if I should try it when increasing my movement with longstrider, or with barkskin."
He slides the rod back into his pack.
"Maybe later, once we get down into that mine."
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Thank you for the life bubble, Ranalus! - Arush evaluates the spell with a practiced eye, smiles and nods benevolently. Do I understand correctly that you will be the one who will try to go in the first line? I'm more useful in ranged combat, but I'm willing to take some of your wounds on myself. If you agree, then I will have one request in return... tell me interesting stories about your God later. I've heard some scraps, but I've never met anyone who prays to him personally. - Arush continues to smile openly and her eyes express sincere curiosity and interest. Of course, any observer at least once slips the thought that no one in the world causes as much trust as scammers, and this horned-tailed-winged tiefling is so similar to the devil's spawn rubbing into trust... But to plunge into such suspicions or not is already an internal choice of each person.
Entering the mine with proper care, you do not notice any traps or signs of the presence of anyone else.
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"Huh. I don't think I have any spells to enhance myself that will last for most of the day. I will wait until we know danger is imminent."
Arcturus watches as his companions cast spells from wands on themselves and Slash curses under his breath as a spell fails to go off.
"If you need any assistance, Slash, I am more than happy to help."
The dank walls of this dark mine drip with condensation. Mine cart tracks from the tunnel entrance continue to the north. A wooden sign promises lower levels in the tracks’ direction. To the east, several abandoned mine carts lie strewn around the dirt, some tipped over. In an alcove to the west stands a sizable but nondescript shrine half-buried in loose stone, a heavy sheet of black soot covering the steps leading up to its weathered altar. To the south of the shrine stands a rickety wooden door.
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His eyes glowing a pale red as they adjust to the darkness inside the mine entry, Arcturus raises an eyebrow as the shrine comes into view. He carefully walks across the rock-strewn floor towards it to check it out.
"Interesting. A shrine. Most likely dedicated to a deity of miners and laborers. A dwarven deity, perhaps?"
He glances at Rogar as he makes his way to the shrine. He stops to take a look at the flimsy wooden door before continuing on to the shrine.
The shrine seems to be rather ecumenical. It contains little altars or niches for various popular good or civilization-friendly deities.
The door appears safe of traps, as does the area around it.
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Arcturus kneels in front of the shrine and looks at all of the icons and statuettes of various religions. His eyes light up when he finds a dusty trinket of a bird handmade out of multicolored feathers. He gently dusts it off and stands the little symbol against a small stone so that it's in the center of the altar. Closing his eyes, he offers a short prayer to Shelyn for the goodwill and safety for him and his companions.
He then stands and turns to see Ranalus opening the small wooden door.
"I bet that's a small storage room of mining equipment. There might be useful items in there. Rope and lantern oil might come in handy while we're down here."
He moves closer to peer inside over his companions' shoulders.
The furniture in these sizable living quarters has mostly rotted, but the thick wool curtain in the western corner and the furry beast hide taking up most of the floor remain in better condition. A flat portion of the northwestern wall appears to have served as a writing surface, and it bears numerous names as well as dates.
Carefully searching the room, you notice that the rug is a dire bear pelt, but it has unnerving pustules on it. The only other thing of note is a tiny golden image of Brigh.
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"Huh. Not a storage room, but, living quarters."
Arky shrugs as he steps into the room to take a look around.
"Makes sense if there were guards stationed here to protect the entrance."
He notices the strange pustules on the bear pelt and grimaces in disgust.
"Ugh. Careful." he warns.
"Don't get too close. They might be contagious."
Ignoring his own words of caution, he leans in for a closer look to try to determine what they are.
Arcturus can tell these pustules are from some sort of mutation due to radiation or environmental exposure, not disease.
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Slash shies away from the bear pelt. He fears few humanoid foes but seems shaken by the idea of tiny foes he cannot see attacking him while he cannot defend himself. If/when Arcturus explains that disease is not the cause of the pustules he seems relieved.
He is unused to having someone better than him at noticing threats but happy about the idea so he moves up to support Fendel in case a threat is revealed.
Over to the side, you see an area ending in rubble. Pots and vases are strewn about in front of the collapsed wall of this dead end, and the remnants of dead flowers droop down the sides of the containers. Several mining picks lean against the crumbled stone to the east.
Rogar is able to tell at a glance that this tunnel was purposely collapsed.
(red arrow points to the collapsed rubble)
The yellow doughnut represents a trap, set up as a tripwire that will make a heavy boulder fall on the heads of whoever is near when it is triggered.
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"Good show, Slash!"
Arky bellows as he gives the half-orc a hearty slap on the back in congratulations.
"If we triggered that wire, there's no telling how badly we could have been killed. I would've hated to have 'Rocks Fell, Everyone Died!' as our epitaph on The Wall of Names!"
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Arky looks down in wonder at the tracks under his feet.
"It sure is incredible that they move carts along on these tracks to make it easier to haul ore in and out. I wonder if anyone has ever considered powering the carts with air elementals. Or steam mephits."
"I wonder..."
He kneels and runs his hand along the surface of the smooth rail and thinks hard for a moment.
"I bet if someone made tracks like these a lot bigger to support much larger carts, and powered them with contained air elementals, a lot of people and supplies could be moved quickly from city to city. Much faster than horse pulled wagons, probably."
"But I digress... Let's move on."
Arush sees that the passage slants downwards a bit in the distance, so she is unable to see more from her current position.
The trap appears completely disarmed.