Through the crafting of a simple bridge, Ariza and Liadan provided us a straightforward means across the pit. The tunnel beyond ran due west, with two intersections leading north and south. Upon crossing the small chasm, we were set upon by two foul spiders that scuttled from the northern and southern passages in which they made their lairs. Despite Ariza grabbing her dagger accidentally by the blade and cutting her own hand, we pressed our advantage – hacking and shooting the monsters and brushing aside their onslaughts. Before long however, a venomous bite found me weakened and weakening, and after a misfire left his gun undependable, a saddened Rem’e traded his favored instrument for a staff. The women continued the brave assault with bolt and dagger, and Ariza felled the first with a deep stab to an arachnoid eye. The remaining spider, already steaming from Liadan’s magic, charged upon her, but she deftly doged and slew it with her dagger.
As the effects of my poisoning began to recede, I discovered Rem’e hurling ammunition at five approaching undead: skeletons of dwarven stature roused by the first echoing gunshots in the stony western tunnel. Bearing down on us with picks and hammers, the skeletons did us harm, while Rem’e and Ariza’s attacks did little against them. Still shaken from my poisoning, I could channel the energy of Sarenrae only weakly. But we soon rallied, and Ariza destroyed one with flaming hands, Liadan disintegrated another with missiles of magic, Rem’e crushed the next with his staff, the Dawnflower’s light issued more powerfully to fell the fourth, and Liadan’s quarterstaff sent the last back to true death in a clatter of bones.
Exhausted, we returned to camp to rest, bathe, and repair our weapons. While Liadan assisted Ariza in the search for a staff of passing quality among what trees and sticks could be found about the camp, Rem’e allowed me to watch the repair of his gun and the preparation of ammunition. A fine, well-dressed fellow is Rem’e, as meticulous with his appearance as he is with his weapon.
We ventured back into the western tunnel the following day to discover a chamber to the south that served as simple foundry with a smelting pit and ore ready to be processed. To the north, Ariza and Rem’e scouted a bunk room used by the industrious dwarves that once mined these tunnels. But motioning us over they were dismayed: despite the lightness of our feet, we elves cannot match the halfling and gnome at stealth, and I – unwittingly striking sword to shield – drew the attention of two walking dwarven corpses that were idling at the eastern side of the room.
The zombies surged forward, and despite blows from Liadan and even a flare from Rem’e’s weapon, they hammered at Rem’e where he fell badly bloodied. As I reached forth to heal my friend, Ariza stepped into the fray, and Liadan burned the nearest corpse, filling the chamber with the foul stench of smouldering putrescence. Undeterred, the zombies charged at Liadan who crumpled to the ground overwhelmed. In this moment of desperation, the fearlessness of Ariza’s dagger shone with a brilliance worthy of the Dawnflower, and the gnome tore through the body of one zombie only to dispatch the next as it bore down hard upon me.
Immediately I set to work pouring all the healing energy I could muster onto the wounds of my friends. Five times I called forth the Healing Flame, and five times I was answered – if weakly. And when all my energy was spent and the party appeared stable, I collapsed in a nearby bunk to rest.
The others searched the room, a once comfortable home to the miners who were clearly caught unaware, dinner preparations now in ruin on their plates. Ariza set to work on an iron box at the foot of a bunk and effortlessly picked its lock to discover much treasure. Within were neat stacks of two-hundred fifty Hahn empire minted coins of silver, a pile of gold nuggets worth two-hundred gold, and an item that roused me from my bunk in interest: a bone scroll tube containing divine spells honoring the great dwarven god Torag. Within were the scrolls to Make Whole, Shatter, and Cure Light Wounds.
We all then rested in the bunk room, taking turns at watch, after which Ariza, Rem’e, and Liadan had the ingenuity to gather poison from the dead arachnids for use on bolts and pitted bullets. To my surprise, they managed to collect enough ichor from the revolting beasts to serve as many as three weapons. (I was not interested in getting any closer, having felt the effects of their venom already.)
Fully rested, and after my restorative oblations to the Healing Flame, we followed the cart tracks westward. Entering a large chamber and nexus for the mine carts – two of which remained in this room – Ariza saw evidence of the skeletons that attacked us, and her perceptive eye discovered a silver belt of good quality buried in the dust among the tools and debris scattered throughout the room.
Noting that the rails advanced no further west but continued north and south, we took note of a short western passage containing a tight fissure opening further west. Surmising that the cause of the troubles may have come from that direction, Ariza suggested we investigate the northern and southern passages first.
Thus we ventured north, but after the misplaced step of Liaden induced a wince from the halfling and gnome, Rem’e and Ariza bid us stay put and once again scouted the northern passage on lighter feet. Revealed before them was a mining pit now filled with the pulverized remains of dwarven bones whose owners were fortunate enough to remain dead. Stooped along the northern wall sat three diminutive examples of the creature we defeated in the eastern passage: elementals of earth.
Ariza and Rem’e beckoned us forward and attacked the creatures in hopes of catching them by surprise. On our arrival, Rem’e had already blown a huge chunk from the body of one, and Ariza’s light feet took full advantage of another as she landed a fearsome blow on its surprised head. Seeking to press our advantage, I blessed my companions in the shining light of the Dawnflower, and Liaden cast her arcane darts against one damaged foe which Rem’e reduced to dust with another blast from his gun. Invigorated, I smashed the middle creature with my mace, and Liaden grasped the same with a hand enveloped in energy, and the body exploded into a heap of rubble. Our fortune turned as Ariza, catching her staff on the ground in full swing, tripped and fell near the final enemy, allowing its rocky fists to land on her in painful blows. Liaden and I ran to her aid, but our attacks did little to drive it back, as we struck with mace and staff, deflecting the counterblows as best we could. But this action afforded Ariza the chance to withdraw, and Rem’e stepped forward, pistol loaded, and dispatched the creature in a shower of rock.
Finding little in the chamber other than tool markings, long dead dwarves, and bits of ore, we made our way to the southern passage. Approaching the southern end of the tunnel, we encountered an unfamiliar odor radiating from a dark shaft descending deeper into the rock before us. Ariza recoiled, agitated by a nauseating off-smell of death, and so we withdrew, unready to descend.
Returning to the nexus, Liaden examined the western passage to ensure it was sound, and Ariza explored the fissure that proceeded into its wall. What she reported engrossed me: a chamber of very different make containing a sarcophagus, an urn with lid blasted from its top, frescos across the walls, and four human zombies standing at attention. This was no dwarven delve – and carried by curiosity I looked in to find what I had only read of in my masters’ books: an ancient crypt honoring the goddess Urgathoa – the deity of undeath, disease, and indulgence. The entombed resident was clearly a person of great excess, depicted in archaic hieroglyphs as cruel overlord and hedonist. The methods of worship displayed in the paint showed dismaying practices that predated the Hahn Empire – all of which filled me with such dread and wonder, that my attention was only broken when I saw all four guards staring directly at me from the tomb.
I explained what I knew of the chamber to the party and proceeded to cleans the room with the power of Sarenrae, sentencing the dessicated guards to true death while Rem’e helpfully assisted the last to its final rest with his gun.
Believing it safe to enter, we explored the crypt and found a horrid carving on the sarcophagus lid depicting a humanoid in stages of undeath, its visage frozen in a ghastly rictus. Runes on the stone surface warned, “Those who dare disturb this noble tomb will join its master in undeath.”
Weak magic emanated from within the sarcophagus, sensed by Liadan who found a door in the southern wall, now fully packed with rock, leading us to wonder if the tomb was sealed to keep others out or the tomb’s occupant in. The urn in the center of the room contained a black, powdery residue that the alchemist’s eye of Rem’e recognized as poisonous – and which Liadan gathered into a small vial for later testing using her mage hand.
We withdrew to the bunk room where we made a small meal and rested and then returned to the tomb. Preparing ourselves for what might be inside the sarcophagus, Liadan and I slid back the stone lid to reveal a wooden coffin. Within was a horribly disfigured corpse fitted by an ugly golden mask inlaid with silver and gold and ornamented with garnets. An amulet on the corpse’s chest and a ring on its finger poured forth a soft abjuration magic, and its hands held alternating rings of silver and gold. We carefully removed the mask to reveal the deformed skull of the occupant, mouth distorted and temple misshapen – but the thing that lay before us remained unmoving, and we easily took the treasures from its casket.
Though we must descend into the mine’s further depths to uncover this mystery more fully, it is now clear that the unfortunate miners unearthed things that should have remained buried. Even so, this experience has honed our skills, and we are learning well to depend on each other.
Rhun ab Elad, Emissary of the Dawnflower