New World IC, Group 1

[Starbuck_II]

Did the creator of the zombie know he was torturing this thing, or was this zombie too dumb to know how to exit the building?
Tyr said looking at the carnage.

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Perception - (1d20+6)[22]

[Kon Lesh]

"It might just be both. Zombie's just follow orders and the Svirfneblins that we have seen don't seem to care much about them." Mika takes a step around the zombie corpse and helps to search the area. Mika places a light spell on a stick of wood, not for her benefit but for the others.

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perception check (1d20+3)[19]

[Bhaakon]

Jon uses his torch to light a couple of lanterns that managed to escape the general chaos that upended everything else in the building and gets to searching. Tyr and Mika make for a small side-chamber, finding a office/private bedroom more or less intact. A ledger open on a small folding desk mentions fifteen names and their share of a haul adding up to about 500 gold pieces, a count supported by the number of bunks in the building. A small, but surprisingly weighty strong box sits undisturbed under the bed in the private room.

[Kon Lesh]

"Mmmm, looks like a group lived here. At least 15 people more if they were only keeping track of workers and not managers or owners. And there is a chest in here as well. Well...more like a safe to be honest. Do you guys want to take a look at that while I look through this for anything important?" Mika says as she continues to flip through the ledger.

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Mika is going to be looking for 3 things in the ledger.
1. Any mention of Svirfneblins, undead, skraelings, or hostilities.
2. Any mention of Nordham or Henderthane
3. Any maps, drawings, or descriptions of saltpeter mines.

Here is a perception check. If you want something else to be rolled then I will give the roll over to you. (1d20+3)[12]

[Lost Demiurge]

While the others explore inside, Genevieve keeps watch outside, minding the horses and looking around for trouble.

Besides, the dead guy in the shack was depressing.

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Perception! I has it! (1d20+6)[21]

[Bhaakon]

Mika skims through the ledger, but it's not terribly compelling stuff. Lists of inventory, debits for replacing broken tools and eaten food, records of the shifts logged by each of the workers, and a running count of the weight of gold mined and processed. She does notice that "Third Strike" is written in large letters on the cover and spine of the book. There's no mention of svirfneblin, or anything at all beyond the dry accounting of the mine's business.

As the others move about the main room, they see that the back of the building butts directly against the cliff. A wide set of double doors set into the stone hangs open, revealing a pitch black shaft dug into solid stone.

Outside, Genevieve sees nothing out of the ordinary.

[stack]

Jon looks at the safe box. "Probably best to just take that back to town, give it to whoever owns it. Our guide probably can handle that, though if its too heavy we can send for it when we return. If that's all in here, let's take a look in the mine itself. Mika, if you would put that magic light on my scattergun?"

Illuminated (I presume) he heads to the mine entrance.

[Bhaakon]

A simple cantrip from Mika sets the blunderbuss glowing like a torch, and Jon edges into the shaft. The metal frames of lanterns hang on the walls every ten paces, their glass globes smashed into shards that crunch under foot as the paladin walks forward through the snaking mine. Jon stops about fifty paces in, the magical light from his blunderbuss revealing an odd sight ahead: the rough, hand-worked stone of the floor becomes glassy smooth and rippling ahead, as if it were turned to mud, flowed outward, and then frozen in place. A branch off the right can be seen at the very edge of the light ahead.

[stack]

Jon gestures the others forward. "Mika, this look like magic to you? The rock looks...melted."

He inches forward far enough to bee able to see a bit down the branch in the tunnel.

[Lost Demiurge]

As the group starts heading into the mine, Genevieve frowns at the lack of sound from inside.

Moving in from outside the shack, she catches up to them quickly. "Easy now. If we have deep gnomes, this will probably go back a ways. Be prepared for a long journey..."

[Kon Lesh]

After going through the ledger, she will place it in here bag and then go with the rest of the group. Mika will take a look at the...mud for a second. Only when she can tell that it doesn't look dangerous does she feel it.

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Arcana check (1d20+9)[28]

[Starbuck_II]

Guh, magic I really hope we won't be walking into a trap...
Tyr said walking cautiously.

[Bhaakon]

Mika's hand brushes the obviously artificial rock formation, and she recalls lessons about spells that can change solid stone into a muddy slurry, and mud back into solid stone.

[Kon Lesh]

"It does look like magic. There are spells that can change solid rock to mud and back. Mmmm....Sadly I can't tell how old this is, but I am willing to bet that the Svirfneblins did this. If we head down then we might find out more about why they are aggressive. We should go down shouldn't we?" You can tell that Mika is against the idea while thinking that this way might provide answers.

[Starbuck_II]

Agreed. But maybe we should all draw our weapon just in case. Even for a trap one should be prepared.
Tyr said with his musket loaded and held in one hand while his revolver is held in other. This way he could use whichever was more convenient.

[stack]

"Right, let's go. Keep your eyes open." Jon resumes taking point, blunderbuss ready. "Main passage or branch? I say we go left until we can't, unless someone found a map of this place."

[ZeltArruin]

"I think we'd be best with guns front and back, which leaves me somewhere in the middle, I suppose," Huril said, drawing his sword and following after Jon.

((sorry about not posting very much, things have been crazy lately))

[Kon Lesh]

"Alright. I don't have a better idea so lets go to the left" Mika will follow behind Huril hoping beyond hope that we don't find anything but knows that it is almost a guarantee that we will.

[Bhaakon]

You walk up to the fork and see that the left side is a continuation of the mine, with the side obviously worked by tools and broken lanterns hung every few paces. You quickly discover that it only continues another hundred yards or so into the hillside, terminating in a white quartz streak speckled with gold flakes, the vein of ore the miners had been following.

That path a dead end, you return to the fork, seeing that the right passage is smooth and unworked, but not at all natural. About 50' feet in, it becomes a much more normal looking cavern chamber, with uneven sides and mineral deposits left by dripping water. Many of the small, more fragile stalagmites have been broken off and crushed under careless feet, clearly a large number of creature passed through here. There's an exit on the opposite side of the chamber, leading farther away from the mine entrance and downward.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Down we go." Whispers Genevieve, her drawn pepperbox softly glowing with the light spell she had cast on it earlier.

[stack]

"Onward and downward. Anyone know what they mined here?"

[Kon Lesh]

"When I skimmed the ledger it only talked about gold. But there might be less valuable metals down here which the miners just skipped over. Also, if anyone sees anything that looks like saltpeter please tell me. I don't want it to interact with any of my spells." Mika continues to follow with the rest of the group.

[Bhaakon]

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If you don't mind, please make a list of the group's light sources. If you need it, there are lanterns and an ample supply of oil back in the building, but I just need to know who is carrying what type of illumination.

[stack]

Jon nods to acknowledge Mika's statement, proceeding on.

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Mika's light spell on his gun, keeping his hands free.

[Starbuck_II]

Tyr remarks, Agreed, that might be bad.

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Tyr will take a lantern and oil, but he is keeping it in his backpack unlit since he can see okay with allies.

[Bhaakon]

In addition to your light sources, the deputy snagged a lantern for himself and a few hours worth of oil, though he's refrained from lighting it while there are magical light sources available.

You clamber through the crack on the other side of the chamber and head deeper in. It's not easy hiking on the uneven floor, but you think you make fair progress. The signs of the zombie horde's passage are obvious: bloody scuffs on the stone, broken mineral formations, and even a rotted-off digit found stuck in a small crack.

You follow the trail for two hours, an accomplishment made even easier by the lack of human-sized side tunnels, when you round a corner to find yourself in a gallery of sorts. The space opens up before you, stretching farther than your light or Mika's eyes can pierce the darkness. The gentle babble of sluggishly flowing water echoes from your right.

[stack]

Jon holds his light high, eyes straining. "A large space. Natural? I suppose we must spread out to see its limits, though We ought stay within sight of each other. I'll keep to the left wall."

[Kon Lesh]

"I guess I will go to the right then." Mika will walk along the wall making sure that the path is safe as she walks.

[Bhaakon]

Jon head a left and Mika right, tracing the wall of the cavern. The floor is uneven, littered with rock fallen from above and stalagmites. They each walk about fifty paces. Jon sees nothing but bare stone, Mika finds her path blocked by a pool of standing water, fed by a trickle seeping through a fault in the wall.

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Perception rolls

[Lost Demiurge]

Genevieve heads down the middle, cautiously keeping an eye on her footing, keeping pace with the people to either side.

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Perception! (1d20+7)[8]