04. Smolder Mines - Part I

Following Mirabel Kovac's plea to Bal'Aur and the rest of the adventures to help find out what happened to her father at the nearby Smolder Mines, they set off.
Smolder Mines was approximately twelve miles north-west along a marked path. The day was sunny and clear, the air still clean from the recent rain. Familiar people waved and called out greetings as to the adventurers as they treked forward. Soon the homes gave way to farm land, bearing crops and then grains, cereals and pastures, with the occasional overlooking farmstead or cottage. Some miles later and the land became mostly fit for pastures. By a great lone oak, a small herds of livestock grazed in its shadow.
Soon the road has deteriorated to that of a path made by the constant passing of carts and working farmers. A roughly made wooden sign post indicated a further path towards Smolder Mine.
Here the path was a bush track and they followed the intermittent tracker’s markings on rocks, seeing that the Godsrange Mountains now loomed. A bit more that four hours later they came across a giant hole in the ground, some 20 feet deep. It appeared that there was a shallow part of a cave which collapsed some time ago, giving easy access for miners to its spoils.
As they entered the cave mine, it quickly become pitch black and Gilles mumbles some words and his mace illuminates their path forward, even if someone made their way in the dark easily due to their keener eyesight. A cold damp smell emanated from deeper in the cave.
Further along, the cave it appeared to descend and slowly narrow but then they come across the first of mortal-made work, where the stone and rock has been cut or blasted to allow further access. Timber frames helped support the shallow ceiling, with signs of old and replacement parts.
Eberond's keen eyes found a villager's shoe, and it could have been the fathers. If so, it indicated that he was in a great rush to escape the mine.

What's That?

The shaft led a substantial cavern, requiring a climb down the ladder to its floor. The cavern branched off it a narrow hole and opposite a mortal made mine shaft deepened the works. The adventurers were about to head down teh natural tunnel, when Eberond notices strangle spider like creatures on the ceiling. The Palladin decided to pick up a rock and thro it at one, and the spider like creatures suddenly became active. They were were tiny and hideous, with a strange eel like head appendage coming from their furry bodies and eight legs. the quickly crawled and jumped down and attacked the heroes. for the most part, the creatures were easily fended off and destroyed, especially when Surina uttered her dragonborn breath of fire. The bites from the strange creatures were similar to those that Mirabel's father had received on his leg. the half orc took one of the dead creatures in his pouch.
Following the encounter, they headed down the natural tunnel, descending further. They heard a strange series of grunts and squeals echoing from beyond, sounding like a speech but in a language totally unknown and even alien. the noise of a pick toiling against the rock could also be heard. The group then reached an even larger cavern, illuminated by a underground lake that glowed for some strange reason, light reflecting from deep within.
Reflected by the greenish light, they saw a naked dwarf tiredly smashing his pick against the rocks, but what was more interesting was a creature, the height of a child yet quite wider and resembling a much larger version of the spider like creatures from the other cavern. It seemed to been fiddling with a heavy cloth bag for some strange reason, and the heroes carefully tip toed forward, trying to get a jump of the hideous monster. An accident slip and the creature turned around, uttering something in frustration. More of the smaller creatures also appeared and combat was in earnest. It motioned to the dwarf, who stopped working a started to advance against the heroes, seemingly under some kind of dark influence.
Surina's heavy armour and Bal'Aur's skill with sword and shield managed to fend off the worst of the creatures attacks and they pushed their advance. The half -orc called out to the others not to harm the dwarf. Unfortunately Eberond impaled the naked dwarf with one sword and slashed his throat with another. As the last of the creatures was destroyed, including the larger one, Gilles ran to fallen dwarf. Unfortunately his clerical healing powers could not stir the dwarf for his was already dead. Eberond apologised, excusing his actions as a crazed battle fever.
Surina called to the others, for another dwarf was here, lying unconscious. Gilles prayed over this dwarf, who awoke. They managed to recover the dwarf to some level, and the tired dwarf introduced himself as Manning Hillview. He was a miner from Hyem Vidar, but possibly a few weeks ago he encoutered the strange creatures and was put under their influence, for they could control minds. he remembers only brief moments, but he was enclaved to mine for them. He wasn't fed and could only drink from the brackish water from the lake. He was too weak to work now and was left to wither and die in this corner of the cavern, were it not for the adventurers. Manning enquired about his friend, Skongrat Ironbraid. The adventurers replied that unfortunately his friend was dead, omitting to tell him about Eberond's actions.

Run For Yours Lives!

The dwarf struggled to get up and motioned to them, telling them that they needed to get away, lest the big creature arrives. The adventures told him it was already defeated but Manning shook his head gravelly. there was a bigger one and it could arrive at any moment. The adventurers took heed and helped Manning towards the exit of the mine.
When the reached the first cavern, they heard a commotion in the lake cavern, and the dwarf screamed to the adventurers to run for their lives.
They clambered up the ladder as fast as they could, whilst Surina and Bal'Aur kept an eye out for the creature, which shortly appeared. Indeed, it was bigger than the prior creatures. Due to its hunched nature, the creature was not tall but still, it was evident it was far deadlier. Eberond and Gilles provided cover with their bolts and holy powers, and managed to slow the creature as they started to run down the last mine shaft before the exit.
The creature spoke into their minds, claiming how pathetic they were and that they were only fit to be its slave. The escape was tense, time seeming to stretch on, as if the tunnel was suddenly miles long.
The heroes took chances to try and rip apart the timber support frames, hoping a cave in could kill or at least stop the creature's chase. The creature could scramble on any surface, wall or ceiling, ducking and weaving to avoid the sporadic ranged attacks from the heroes. Manning would slip and fall from time to time, for he was extremely weary. Adventurers helped him up and managed to clear the mine shaft. Bal'Aur managed to pry one of the supports successfully, and the creature's own weight suddenly caused a shifting in the cave. The ceiling collapsed and dust shot throughout the mine.
The heroes turned around the face the entrance, waiting to see if the creature would emerge but after some time, everything remained still.
A careful investigation found that the creature had escaped, leaving only one if it's crushed limbs behind. They decided to take Manning back to Hyem Vidar, recover and then set out in the morning to defeat it.

Date
Sune 3rd, 5249 AC
Locations
Junstol Smolder Mine, north of Junstol