Hi everybody,
Exploring Kal-Arath - Episode 7
Seeking Answers In The Darkness
Mal-Shui (PC) - Str = 1, Tou = 2, Agi = 1, Int = -1, Pre = 1. Fate Point =1.
Male Human. Age = 24. Brown eyes and hair, 6'1" tall.
Personality: Friendly, Moody, Hp = 7 out of 7. Xp=1.
Equipment
Longsword, (Att +1, Dam +1), Staff, Dagger. Leather Armour, after being cleaned and adjusted.
15 days' rations in a sack.Tarnak Berries R=1 (Sc=3), Waterskin. Tinder and flint.
Rough blue tunic, an animal fur cloak. Terradon Tooth necklace with Tribal Totem carving.
Burvin's Journal. Eggshell cooking bowl. 2 Torches unlit, 1 just lit.
In pouch - Gold Coins = 1. Silver Coins = 13.
Threads
1) Scaleel or Goritan Village Member, 2) Wizard - Jis-Kel, 3) Khainar Yak Folk,
4) Burvin Charank 5) Ref Sodrav, Tan Muen and Cazen Goorte.
Yamil-Torl - Str = 1, Tou = 1, Agi = -1, Int = 2, Presence = 1.Fate Point =1.
Male Human. Age =34. Green eyes, Black hair. 5'11" tall.
Personality: Independent, Opinionated.
Goal: Wants to visit the jungle. Hp. = 4 out of 6. Xp = 1
.
Equipment
Sling, Staff, Club, (Att+0, Damage d6/disadvantage).Rough clothes. Bronze helmet.
Hand Axe. Dagger. Silver Coins in pouch = 17. ! sack.
Rations = 7 in a sack, including Burvins supplies. Tarnak Berries/ 1 Ration.
Sword and Shield.
Day Four - Weather - Heavy rain.
Mal and Yamil both slept in the entrance passage to the mine, as it had been raining all night and seemed likely to continue for most of the day, on and off. They cooked breakfast in the vent room so that the smoke would be sucked away easily.
Mal asked Yamil, "Are you ready to see what other dangers lurk in here?"
"Now that I have eaten, yes," he replied.
Mal had cleaned the armour from the skeleton and adjusted the straps to provide proper protection, and Yamil had cleaned the shield to try to remove old bloodstains, but they would not wash off. It was relatively new; it did not have the sigil of its former owner, but it did have a brand on the inside. The circle and dying bird motif again.
They walked to the second junction, and instead of turning left towards where the skeleton had been killed, Mal turned right towards the entrance.
"I have been wondering what was down the first opening on the right. I don't want any nasty surprises coming up behind us, so we can check them as we go. I know it is not always unavoidable, but I want to be as safe as we can be, now that we know that there are dangers in here for sure."
"I, too, have had uneasy dreams about what this old mine contains," Yamil confirmed.
They came to the first junction and turned sharply left around the corner, heading roughly east.
The rough passage continued forward for about fifteen feet and then turned to the right by 45 degrees, went forward six feet and then expanded into a roughly square room 15 feet square.
One glance revealed a tool storage area for the miners; they had made wooden shelves and racking for wooden beams. A hammer for crushing the rock and a crude cart for moving the rock to the outside. Three picks were in the corner, with the staves upright, off the damp floor.
Foot-long metal chiseels were laid on a shelf. Their tips were blunted and worn. In a box, there was a patch of mould and some pips, along with a few white and orange chips of rock with yellow specks glinting in them. A wide circular pan was next to two helmets with scratches on the top.
Mal tried them on, all too loose again.
"I could put one of those sacks in for padding, now that we have washed them."
"Try it."
With a bit of prodding, Mal got the helmet to fit snugly on his head. He tested it with a few shakes, and it remained firm.
"That will do for now. I can trim the bits at the back later."
"No, leave them in place, they are a bit more protection for you. You could actually add another sack in there with wet sand as extra protection for your neck. It may only last for one blow, but that might save you."
There was another exit at the far corner of the room, going in roughly the same direction, following an ore vein in the roof. It carried on for about four feet and then vanished into a hole. Suspended above the hole was a stout log with a rope dangling from it. There was no tension on the rope, so they pulled it up. It had been cut or snapped by something at about the fifteen-foot length."Well, we are not getting down there in a hurry."
They toss a lit torch stub down into the darkness. It flared for about 65 feet and illuminated parts of the shaft until it hit the floor with a shower of sparks and then died.
"No, good or bad, whatever is down there is going to be staying down there for a bit longer yet. Let's wedge a few beams in front of it so we don't accidentally join it."
"Good idea".
Once that was done, they turned their attention to a blank area of the wall, where a wooden frame mounted a goatskin with a drawn picture of the mine tunnels. "That will come in handy." Yamil smiled. "Look, there is a second entrance and more chambers deeper in."
"We thought there might be one around here somewhere, but if we are here, that shaft behind us is not on the chart."
"It might have been the last thing they dug."
"Or there is another map that covers that bit, and they took it with them."
"And they never made it back."
"For whatever reason. They could have just left it there, or taken it with them when they went."
"The refugee cultists might have taken it, or someone else entirely. Another mystery, if it exists at all."
"Mal suggested, "Let's concentrate on what we can discover on this level. We have been through the back door oval storage room, the first junction, with a dead end to the left and this tool room on the right."
He continued, "The second junction with the stone in has the vent shaft to the left and is connected to another junction room on the right, with a connection to the skeleton room north and the main entrance going east and joining another room and then the entrance."
"With just one more room above the skeleton room and whatever it was it was protecting."
"Which seemed very important to them that it stays that way and be left undisturbed. Let's do the easy bits first."
"Yes, I am getting quite used to this quiet life, now that I don't have to boss everyone all day and night, and I want to get some more of it while I can," confirmed Yamil.
They grabbed a couple of spare torches and made their way to the second junction, and turned right for about 20 feet and then a man-made space opened up again into a larger oval with two fat pillars of rock holding up the mountain. Scattered against the walls were 11 human-sized beds, and two tables to serve their meals on.
(? Anything nesting here ? D6 5 Yes).
Just then, a small colony of bats descended from the ceiling, startling them. The smoke from the torch must have disturbed them. They flew at waist height around them for a few seconds and then silently headed into the gloom, towards the exit and out along the passage.
"They gave me a bit of a shock. Now we know where the exit is," stated Mal. "Are we going coin hunting again?", looking at the row of beds along both sides of the walls.
"Yes, but not just yet. Let's confirm what we think we know first, and then check if anything was left by the cultists afterwards. Look out for any tripwires or more dancing bones. The skeleton does prove that they had at least one wizard amongst their number, possibly more. Wizards and shamans give me the shudders; you never know what they are thinking or planning from one day to the next," he grumbled.
"You cannot leave the camp because of an omen, or the signs in the sky mean this or that. The goat's liver is too red, so we need to kill an enemy."
Yamil shook his head, "It was so annoying, because they were usually right. Even when they got something wrong, they explained it as evil spirits in the area causing trouble for us."
They followed the bats' direction, seeing the expected opening in the north wall between the two crudely carved pillars, as the chamber bends to the right again before narrowing to the other exit.
(D6? Check for traps = 5 Yes)
As they got closer, they could see above the exit, a hollow had been carved into the roof with a net of rocks suspended in it, with a braided rope coming down the side of the opening and across to a stone, with a covering of dust and pebbles to conceal it.
"It's a pressure stone to trigger a rockfall. simple, but effective. If we had been coming the other way, it could have been deadly, "explained Mal, as he looked closer, "Those two small stones would be wedged underneath the stone to render it harmless in everyday use. It would deter most other folk from coming in any further. There may be something in the next room, too."
Yamil looked over the deadly trap that had been made by the refugees with a nasty outlook, "These cultists seem to be very possessive of what they did or left in this place; Either it met their needs or they were forced into using what they found up here, they certainly like their privacy."
"They are prepared to kill to keep it secret, as we know to our cost. They must have left something of interest to them in here."
"Yes, but it might be down that deep, dark, hole which we found, so don't get thinking of vast riches just yet. It might be somewhere to carve statues to their deity from, to them, this sacred mountain, which would have absolutely no worth to anyone else."
There were thick planks inside the entrance area that were worn and scratched at the top and bottom, for about nine inches, that were bound together.
"That's odd", mentioned Yamil.
They examined the entrance passageway carefully. It was wider than the others, Roughly seven feet wide. It might have been the original width, or enlarged by the cultists efforts. The torch fluttered more in the breeze coming down the tunnel.
Not wanting to risk that his safety pebbles would stay intact, Mal jumped over the pressure trap and into the tunnel. He cecked the walls and floor to check for tampering,
(D6? Check for traps = 4 Yes, but "There might be others.)
He noticed that one part of the tunnel seemed rather flatter and even compared to the other sections that they had passed through. He lightly brushed away the gravel to reveal matting of some kind. "Yamil, I think I have found a pit trap here. That could be what the boards are for."
He started checking how wide the matting went. "It goes almost to the edge and six feet forward. If you were coming the other way, you would have to get someone to cross just using rock foot and handholds, then put the boards in place. Would the boards take someones weight, or have they been weakened too?"
"I will try them between two cots."
"Be careful in case the cots have tripwires too."
(D6? Check for traps =1 No, And - "Nothing else is trapped".)
The boards held.
Yamil announced, They are strong enough to hold me without bending, so you should be fine."
"Are you saying I am skinny?" challenged Mal.
"No, that I am plumper than I should be."
"Rubbish, thats muscles you have under there, not fat."
"No, I was keen, lean and mean in my youth, but those days are long gone. Too many gazelle around the fire recently."
(D6? Check for traps = 2 No)
He passed the boards to Mal, who realised when he had placed them on the edge of the pit, that was a loose end of a rope tied to the bottom. He flipped the boards cumsily the right way up, slotted them into the notch that had been carved on the lip and then lowered them into place with the rope. He realised now that one of the stones jutting out of the wall could have toe rope looped over it to give better leverage when lifting it back up again.
"I am going to go across using the rock wall and just use the boards as a safety device." announced Mel.
"Is that wise?"
"It should be safe enough, so long as I test the holds before I use them."
He puts the half burned torch carefully on the ground, lights another and tosses it over to the other side of the pit on the left side of the tunnel, so he would lot land on it if had to make a leap for the edge. Testing each grip, he starts across the rockface.
(?D Do all of the holds stay stable D6 ?????????? Find out next time !)
End of Episode 7
No change in stats from the top.
Mine map to be added to here.
Regards all,
Ivor Cogdell