The date is Sunday, 25th June
In the bowels of some long-forgotten
dwarven industrial cavern.
In the south of the room is a waterwheel powered by water from an aqueduct. Nearby are various intermeshed wheels connected by teeth, besides these is a great heavy chain disappearing down a passage to the southwest and then there is a great leaver set vertically.
A passage descends very steeply. Down the centre are two deep parallel grooves on the floor. On the west side are very narrow 2' wide stairs.
Part-way down is a minecart filled with coal attached to the chain with its wheels in the grooves.
A little further on the tunnel emerges into a large dark cavern which has clearly been excavated. The roof is low and uneven, halflings and dwarves can pass freely, but larger creatures have to stoop. Here and there stout wooden beams support the ceiling. Odd piles of rubble lie everywhere. From somewhere, the soft chittering of voices can be heard.
As we cautiously venture further in, the chittering diminishes - have they detected us? Just then - the ceiling collapses!
Chi is cut off from the rest of us. He gets swarmed by strange creatures, like miniature goblins. We try to find another way around it. Chi very nimbly dodges past his foes but quickly realises he is at a dead end. He finds a narrow alcove to mount a stand. Meanwhile,
Tinnan starts digging at the rock fall.
We can't find another way around it.
Tinnan keeps digging.
Chi fights a growing swarm, more of the creatures emerge from tiny tunnels. They catch him in a net and knock him out. Meanwhile, the rest of us keep on digging.
Chi comes around. All his stuff has been robbed and the creatures have vanished. The digging continues and takes about half an hour to open up the crawlspace to get through. We get Chi out with no further sign of the creatures.
Carved out of the coal walls are figures of dwarves, perhaps the very dwarves who delved into these mines. A plinth at their feet is covered in rivulets of wax.
Continue exploring the mine tunnels. Encounter a strange creature that looks like a dark cloud. It says "
Meth's home - go away" Despite the initial unfriendliness we manage to speak with it. It describes the creatures we encountered as
Mites and warned us they like to steal things and hide them in their burrows. We discuss the trade of one of our unwanted magic items for a diamond. Depart on friendly terms. Continue exploring.
The centre of this chamber contains the crumbled remains of a stone statue, the stone base is intact with a column of bashed rock standing upon it. About it on the floor are many fragments, some of which appear worked and carved, and others seem to have runes. We realise they have some dwarven writing on them, we puzzle them back together though can't read the writing.. We also find a hollow in the statue plinth with a magic helm and a magic scroll.
Find some derelict wagons and some cisterns next to an underground stream. Go to cross the stream on a bridge when a swarm of mites emerges and attacks. Battle is joined. We knock several out. The rest scarper. We then negotiate some of Chi's stuff back.
Continue on. Hear a sound like blacksmith's bellows. See something strange floating among stalactites ahead. A very strange creature like nothing we have ever seen before. It talks telepathically to
Tinnan. It tells us that the dwarves who lived here were evil. It also describes many deeper caverns and passages connecting to the Underdark. It warns us of great dangers down there. It also mentions the dwarf sorcerer that
Ebenezer Stouttoes had told us about.
