Part Two - On to the Mine

“It’s those damn miners” moaned Ouzo [Darryl], “they’ve totally set us up, the bastards”

The wagons were destroyed and there was nothing we could do there, so we continued on along the track and up further into the foothills of the Oble Ranges. Only one more night left, hopefully.

Fortunately, the rest of day passed uneventfully and about an hour before dark we arrived at the most welcome and heavily fortified overnight campsite where we set up for the night.

“If I was attacking this camp, I would strike down from that hillside there” pointed out Gillard [Kevin], “you would be under cover from those trees most of the way in, have the high ground, and the advantage of surprise.”

Tu [Shane] agreed and it was decided that we would set our watches away from the camp, on that hillside, and in those trees. Hoping that any attackers would be at least as smart us!

During the third watch, sometime a few hours before First Light, Debbie [Steven], Ouzo [Darryl] and Scuttle [Chris] were carefully secreted on the hillside watching out for anything strange. The rest of us slumbered quietly on down in the campsite, until Oliver [Jeff] suddenly awoke with a racing heart and icy chills. His cursed magical dagger was sucking the heat from his body and vibrating vigorously in its sheath. The vibrations were intensifying by the second!

[This is the small dagger that was recovered from the locked chest in the Coultard’s hidden room, off their cellar. The room was discovered while recovering Gillard [Kevin] from the spider’s web. To cut a longish story short, the dagger magically appeared in a sheath at Oliver’s [Jeff] waist, and he hasn’t been able to get rid of it since. Whenever he leaves it somewhere it soon appears back in the sheath at his waist. A magical Identify spell purchased from the Toluene Mages Guild has revealed that it is a Bowlin Knife, used for some form of sacrificial ceremony, and related somehow to the Undead. Apparently, it may actually attract Undead, although Oliver [Jeff] feels that if only he knew a bit more about it, he may actually be able to control Undead creatures]

Quickly waking the rest of the sleeping party Oliver [Jeff] explained what he was feeling.

“Aye” confirmed Gillard [Kevin], “I feel a similar chill prickling in me thumbs!”

“Stinkin eeevil” whispered Myrtle [Andrew] and cast a Light spell up into the top of one of the taller trees on the side of the camp towards the hill.

Ouzo [Darryl] and Scuttle [Chris] from their positions up on the hillside saw four strange creatures creeping through the scrub towards the campsite. Mostly naked with pale grey skin and long pink tongues, they were scuttling quickly towards the camp from the right flank, but out of sight of everyone there and only able to be spotted from up on the hillside.

Debbie [Steven] didn’t notice them as she was staring wistfully up at the stars.

But Ouzo [Darryl] and Scuttle [Chris] immediately drew their bows and let fly two shafts that hissed through the air and caught two of the creatures by surprise. Ouzo’s [Darryl] arrow took the leading creature through the thigh, spinning it around and knocking it down temporarily. [This was an excellent critical hit, rolling a 20 followed by a 19, bypassing all armour, inflicting +1 damage, and injuring the creature such that it would be at -1 for all remaining combat rolls. Five points of damage inflicted]. Scuttle’s [Chris] arrow clipped the third creature in the arm [rolls 2 damage, but -1 for armour, so only 1 point of damage inflicted]

The creatures all stopped and turned as one, then started running up the hill towards Ouzo [Darryl] and Scuttle [Chris] who quickly grab Debbie [Steven] and bolted down the hill, hoping to get into the camp before the creatures cut them off. They managed to skirt slightly left away from the charging creatures and with the advantage of hurtling downhill they all leapt the rough stone wall and got into the camp with the creatures close on their heels.

A mighty battle ensued, initially using missile weapons as the creatures rushed up the small rise towards the wall. Before the creatures crested the wall Oliver [Jeff] got off two Magic Missiles, Ouzo [Darryl] let fly two more arrows killing his target, Scuttle [Chris] got off two arrows, one of which hit, and Myrtle [Andrew] flung a sling bullet, doing 1 point of damage to one of the creatures.

Tu [Shane] managed to hit one of  the creature’s legs, right in the kneecap and knock it to the ground. [This was another critical hit, rolling a 20 followed by a 11 (a hit), inflicting +1 damage, and injuring the creature such that it would be at -4 for all remaining combat rolls. Four points of damage inflicted].

Even Debbie [Steven] had finally noticed our predicament (after being dragged down the hillside and into the camp by Tu [Shane] and Scuttle [Chris] with lots of encouragement and frantic yelling) and managed to draw her bow and get off a killing shot. As in, her shot took down the same creature that already had two of Ouzo’s [Darryl] arrows in its head and appeared to be falling anyway.

Oliver’s [Jeff] cursed magical dagger was fair thrumming by this stage, and most of the party could hear its high-pitched whining over the noise of their battle cries, and the slaves’ whimpering cries of fear and trepidation.

The three remaining creatures easily sprung over the wall and launched themselves straight at Oliver [Jeff], who was backing away and waving the dagger in front of himself. Fortunately for him Tu [Shane] engaged one of the creatures, Debbie [Steven] boldly took on another, and Gillard [Kevin] bravely launched herself in front of the last. And given that Gillard [Kevin] was at most half its height, it was brave indeed!

Scuttle [Chris] and Ouzo [Darryl] both faded into the background and were sneaking behind the creatures to launch surprise “backstab” attacks as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Since the creatures were slightly unbalanced after jumping over the wall, our fighters fortunately got the first swings in. Tu [Shane] had tossed his bow and drawn his long sword but was unable to hit. Debbie [Steven] flailed at her creature’s head and also missed. Gillard thrust her magical short sword directly into her opponent’s groin. [This is the Armour Piercing magical short sword that was also recovered from the locked chest in the Coultard’s hidden room off their cellar. The magic caused all rolled damage to be delivered straight to the target, avoiding all normal armour reductions.] She dealt a maximum six points of damage, and even though the creature had suffered previous hits from both Myrtle’s [Andrew] sling and Oliver’s [Jeff] Magic Missile the creature didn’t go down.

Then they all hit back, swinging their sharp and lethal looking claws at our three intrepid warriors.

Debbie’s [Steven] opponent hacked right through her chain mail armour and cut a large gash across her chest. [5 damage – 3 armour points leaving2 inflicted damage] But she staunchly “resisted” the paralyzing effect of the wound and battled on. [So, damage inflicted by a Ghoul requires a saving through to be made against poison, to resist being paralyzed by the effects of the nasty bacteria (or similar) that breed under their hideously long and sharped fingernails]

As the creature’s claw cut through Debbie’s [Steven] skin, a bright purple flash pulsed in Oliver’s [Jeff] dagger’s pommel, slid up its curved blade and collected at the tip, then launched itself slowly off the tip like a water drop falling from a leaf. The purple flash floated off in a straight trajectory from the tip of the dagger for about one yard, then popped and faded from sight. Not that anyone except for Oliver [Jeff] actually noticed!

Gillard’s [Kevin] opponent, troubled by Gillard's short stature, struck her on the helmet causing an ear‑piercing screech as the claw skittered across the top of the helmet, scratching a groove but inflicting no actual damage.

Tu’s [Shane] creature swung at his face, but he dexterously dodged to the side, and it narrowly missed.

Just as our combatants were about to engage with the creatures again, a piercing scream echoed out from the camp.  Oliver [Jeff] was bleeding profusely from a wound to his left palm. His shocked expression displayed his total surprise at the wound, and the blood dripping off the cursed dagger in his right hand was evidence of some form of terrible self-inflicted injury.

[Oliver [Jeff] had been receiving odd feelings and impressions over the past few days regarding the dagger and its potential powers. He feels that the dagger has chosen him for some great work, perhaps some cleansing of Undead or similar. As this current fight developed and the Undead creatures were attacking, he felt for sure that if only he could carry out the correct form of sacrifice, he would be able to control the Undead creatures and save the party.]

“Maybe its just a small blood sacrifice” Oliver [Jeff] had surmised, and promptly sliced his left palm with the thrumming dagger, anticipating an infusion of power sufficient to control these Undead creatures. Alas, all he received was a much nastier wound than he thought he had made, extreme pain, and a tingling numbing sensation that was slowly propagating from his wound and up his arm. [3 points of damage inflicted, from the tiny small slice]

“Owwww …..” screamed Oliver [Jeff].

“Nope” he mumbled to himself, “and that’s way too much blood”.

But everyone was way too preoccupied to help.

Debbie’s [Steven] strike swung past her target’s shoulder without even hitting, and its return strike skittered across her armour without inflicting any more damage.

Gillard [Kevin] expertly sliced at his Undead opponent, and it tumbled back from his engagement, and fell to the ground, never to rise again.

Tu [Shane] was flailing wildly with his Long Sword, but obviously telegraphing his moves to the creature which easily avoided his swings.

Fortunately, Ouzo [Darryl] appeared behind Tu’s opponent and thrust his dagger into the back of its neck causing it to crumple at their feet.

“Just like that!” Ouzo [Darryl] yelled triumphantly.

Scuttle [Chris] also suddenly appeared, right behind Gillard’s opponent, and tried to stab it in the back as it fell backwards towards him, already dead. He totally missed, and was quite lucky not to be crushed into the ground under its collapsing body.

“It’s OK … I got it” he tentatively stated, as he ducked and stumbled back out of its way.

The swirling melee continued, with claws and swords swinging wildly in all directions, clangs and screeches ringing out from both sides until finally Scuttle [Chris] successfully backstabbed one and bought it down, and Debbie [Steven] dropped the final one in the next round.

“Ha, no worries” declared Tu [Shane], “and only Debbie [Steven] with any injuries, and pathetically minor at that!”

The successful combatants turned triumphantly back towards the rest, only to notice Oliver [Jeff] slumped on the ground, pale as a ghost, bleeding profusely from his blackening hand, and moaning fitfully.

“Little help here …” he groaned.

Myrtle [Andrew] tendered to him and soon had him stabilised. [Cure Light Wounds, and binding of the actual cut]

“Holy VINGT-ET-UN Oliver” she exclaimed, “what has happened here? Your left forearm is black and swollen right up to your elbow! And how did you get this wound on your hand?”

“Ummmmm … weeeeelll … it’s a long storey” he replied sheepishly, “It seemed sensible at the time”

Myrtle [Andrew] poked and prodded the blacked arm and asked Oliver [Jeff] lots of questions.

“Oh well, it’s not getting any worse at least” she finally confirmed.

After ensuring the Undead creatures were well and truly dead and that everyone else was safe and sound, Myrtle [Andrew] and Oliver [Jeff] spent some time to re-memorise their spells before Light and then we prepared to move on.

Tu [Shane] checked around for tracks to see where the Undead had come from, but he had no success. He couldn’t even find our tracks, let alone anything else’s!

After a nervous breakfast we hitched up the horses to the slave wagon and moved on. It was a fine and sunny day, no clouds to be seen, with just a light breeze blowing. Some hours later, around mid-morning, Oliver [Jeff] noticed that keeping his arm in the sun caused the blackness to retreat somewhat.

“Thank REAL for that” he muttered.

A few hours later we arrived in front of a heavily barricaded encampment with a sturdy timber gate closed across the track in front of us. A heavily bearded Dwarven head appeared over the top of the fence and yelled down to us.

“You made it” he stated, “Ha, I told them”

The gates clattered and banged as they swung open. Once we had entered, they clattered and banged shut again behind us with a heavy thunk as we looked around to see where we had actually arrived to.

This was definitely the gold mine! Stocky timber structures were scatted around inside the wooden perimeter stockade including an office building, some dormitories, and a combined kitchen/mess complex. In the centre of the compound two iron cages were suspended over a vertical shaft, with some mechanical devices connected to cables. Obviously, this was the mine access down to the workings below.

A Captain Marion (human female) came bustling out of the office building to welcome us and give us the run down and status of their operations. They had been on site for about eight months and have sunk their mine shaft about 30 yards down into the hill. There they had dug a series of three drifts out from a central chamber located at the bottom of the cage elevator and were part way along a fourth. No significant gold to date, but they had four professional miners on site as part of a total compliment of around forty people, including about twenty guards, service and administration personal, and slaves. We were the first slave transport that had arrived in four weeks, with the last two groups having been ambushed back were we had found the destroyed wagons, with all personal just missing.

“Orcs” she stated, “We have found their arrows! Like those ones” she said, pointing to the small collection of rough arrows we had collected from the various encounter locations on our trip.

“Ha, Orcs” boasted Tu [Shane], “this is all that remains of the Orcs we saw”.

Tu's mental image of the defeated Orcs

And he threw down the collection of old arrows we had picked up around the Owl Bear carcass.

“And here is all that is left of the monstrous Owl Bear we also saw on the way here” he continued, flashing his collection of polished claws and beak.

The guards standing around all looked suitably impressed and let out the expected ohhs are ahhs, but Captain Marion just raised an eyebrow and continued on to tell us that no mining had been going on for about two weeks, as they had encountered “something” down at the end of the newest drift.

“All our workers that went down the new drift have been torn apart and killed” she exclaimed, “Perhaps you mighty warriors might be willing to help us out in the mine?”

“But for now, settle yourselves in. You women can stay in my quarters at the back of the office building, and you men can dump your stuff in the main barracks. And drop those slaves over there in the big cage.”

We did just that, we transferred the slaves into the holding cage, dropped our gear into the barracks, and tried to relax for the rest of the day. Oliver [Jeff] stayed outside with his arm in the sun, monitoring the slow retreat of its peculiar blackness. And by the end of the day the darkness had actually retreated right back to his wrist. Tu [Shane] regaled the guards (those that would listen anyway) with his fanciful exploits with Orcs and Owl Bears. Debbie [Steven] played her flute, oblivious to all those other guards who weren’t listening to Tu, and who were all staring wistfully at her. Ouzo [Darryl] and Scuttle [Chris] explored the camp and cautiously peered down into the dark cold mineshaft.

“Torn apart?” whispered Scuttle [Chris].

“You’ll not catch me going down there!” stated Ouzo.

In the morning  offered three gems (“about 800gp” said Ouzo [Darryl] after running his professional eye over them) and one of the slaves (“Our choice from their slave crew” confirmed Captain Marion) to clear out the troublesome new drift.

“We’ll do it” Myrtle [Andrew] confirmed confidently.

“Bugger” whispered Ouzo [Darryl]

“Bugger” muttered Tu [Shane], “I hope it isn’t a fricken Owl Bear”

“Bugger. Of course, I’ve got the only magic weapon” noted Gillard [Kevin]

“Buuuuggerrrrrr” sung Debbie [Steven] quietly, considering some rhyming couplet with drift, rift, start, and apart all thrown in.

“Bugger” exclaimed Oliver [Jeff] who had noticed that his arm was black again, and slightly further up past the elbow than the day before!

So, after a hearty breakfast, we were all lowered down the mineshaft in the two cages. Thirty yards down to the large chamber, where they clambered out of the cages and peered around at the four dark entrances to the drifts. It was a silent as a tomb, with just the creaking of the winches overhead and the repetitive plops  of water dripping from one of the drifts and echoing loudly within the chamber.

The new drift was obvious, it was the only one that had fresh tracks leading into it, but none coming out! The tunnel was a good six feet wide, so we approached two abreast. Gillard [Kevin] and Tu [Shane] took the advance rank, Scuttle [Chris] and Debbie [Steven] right behind them, with Ouzo [Darryl] and Myrtle [Andrew] just behind, and Oliver [Jeff] in the rear.

After about sixty yards of hesitant advance Tu [Shane] reported from the front that they could see bodies about five meters ahead.

“Yup” he whispered, “ripped apart!”

Suddenly a low rumbling growl echoed down the drift from somewhere ahead.

Tu [Shane] and Gillard [Keven] heard gaps and running footsteps from behind them as everyone else took off in a rapid tactical withdrawal. Tu [Shane] grabbed the body with one hand and he and Gillard [Kevin] tactfully withdrew also!

As we were clattering back up the mineshaft to the daylight, we all looked down at the body that Tu [Shane] had recovered. It was a real mess. Most of the torso was there but hacked and slashed by some form of large claw, with limbs and the head totally missing.

“Looks like a fricken Owl Bear problem indeed” stated Tu [Shane]

We reported back to Captain Marion that we had recovered one body for her and would now like to explore the surrounding area to see if there might be some alternative entrance into the mine.

“So we can resolve you monster issue, and be sure it doesn’t reoccur” explained Myrtle [Andrew]

Exploration of the terrain surrounding the mining camp revealed a number of small caves that could possibly lead into the mine system area, but one larger cave with a small stream burbling out from it that appeared to be a very definite possibility.

“Ha”, exclaimed Tu [Shane], “the back door!”