Session 2

The party's wagon driver, Wolter, collects himself as George the dog recovers. They shortly get under way and the rest of the drive through the forest passes without incident, until they stop to make camp for the night. A half a day's drive outside of Eastrock, they are settling in for the evening when a half-elf dressed in a chain shirt emerges from the brush. He introduces himself as a cleric and awkwardly invites himself to accompany the party on their mission, and they do not reject him.

After a good four hours of riding out of the woods and up into the steppes of the Fang, the party - now consisting of five members - arrives at Eastrock, where Wolter informs them that they could make it to the mine by nightfall if they pushed ahead, but he'd be just as happy spending the night in town. The party decides to take the rest of the day off and conduct a little bit of business, as Wolter again treats them to a night in the inn.

By midmorning the next day, the party has reached the point where the rough, rutted dirt road to the mine diverts from the main path of the highway. As they work their way up the steep hill, they find the way blocked by an abandoned wagon. They notice some tracks and clear signs that something has been dragged from underneath the wagon into the brush beside the path. Aromil climbs a tree, and from his vantage point he is able to see that the tracks lead to a point about ten yards into the woods where some bones have been deposited. Kegburn and Garret hike off of the path to investigate and find a human skeleton that has been licked clean and chewed up a little bit. Keg conjectures it was probably wolves, and takes a scrap of the clothing that was left on the body before they return to the rest of the party and push the abandoned wagon off of the path.

As the mine itself is only about three miles uphill, the party decides to walk the rest of the way and leave Wolter where he is, in case there is any danger ahead. After an hour of hiking, the party arrives at a place where the trees thin and the path leads between two large basalt boulders into a clearing. At the edge of the clearing atop a ledge over the sprawling evergreen forest that covers this part of the Fang, the party sees two wood buildings set beside each other. The first is two stories tall and built without windows, while the second is only one floor.

The door to the first building has been broken open. Aromil, the cleric and Kegburn step inside to investigate - in the darkness they can see that the building is a sort of storehouse, replete with many crates and barrels, as well as the smashed remains of many like containers. On the second floor, they find a desk and a pair of keys, but mostly the rest of the contents are mundane and of little interest. The dragonborn paladin kicks in the door to the second building, after the cleric takes a quick peek through the windows and confirms that there is nothing dangerous waiting for them on the inside. This building is a sort of poorly appointed dormitory - there is a table on each end of the room and a hearth towards the center, around which are lain about a dozen bedrolls. Keg roots around and finds nothing of interest - only pouches stashed inside the bedrolls containing personal effects, presumably belonging to the miners who reside here. Keg then began stacking the bedrolls next to a wall, planning to start a fire to burn down both the buildings. The paladin took notice and mentioned that their employer might not pay us as well if he found out we burned down his buildings. Grudgingly Kegburn was convinced and the fire was not lit.

After a quick check of their equipment and a minute to prepare themselves for what might lie ahead, the party uses a key and unlocks the door to the mine. The entrance opens into a tunnel about fifty feet long, where they find a pulley in a shaft and a winding, downward leading path. The paladin begins manipulating the ropes of the pulley and raises a wooden platform from the dark depths below, which they ride to the bottom. There, they find the mine's office and recover one of Icano's ledgers from within the drawers of the desk.

Another, larger passageway leads deeper down into the cave. They follow it past the openings of several galleries, until they come across the bodies of a dozen dead men, slashed and hacked by swords. The chamber narrows quickly into freshest gallery, which leads into a tight crevice that makes a sharp turn and prevents the party from seeing what lies ahead. Aromil volunteers to scout ahead and attempts to sneak through the crevice. Unfortunately, as he squeezes out the other side, he catches the attention of a goblin standing guard.

Aromil attempts to greet the little bat-faced creature with a cordial 'Hello', but the goblin is not interested in exchanging pleasantries. He shrieks 'Intruder!' and lunges at Aromil, delivering a light wound. Aromil responds in kind and slays the goblin with a single, fierce strike. He gives the rest of the party the all-clear and they take turns sliding through the crevice. Around the corner, they locate a very poorly worked chamber, which Kegburn explains must have been carved out by goblins. They glance in and find nothing noteworthy, but Kegburn points out that the goblins were mining the very same seam of adamantite as the miners.

A smooth, short tunnel opposite of the goblin's gallery opens onto a ledge above a sinkhole. The ledge follows the circular edge of the sinkhole, sloping downward until it arrives at a large cavernous opening and levels off. Three goblins stand speaking quietly amongst themselves on the ledge in front of the great opening. The ledge continues around the circumference of the sinkhole, 120 degrees, until it is intersected by a steep earthen path that leads away from the sinkhole. Another 120 degrees around, the ledge narrows and ends at a small tunnel of clearly worked earth from which a pair of broken, brass pipes emerge.

A few of the party members take aim at the goblins and attempt to attack them from afar. Only Keg's thrown hammer meets its target, and even then it only delivers a glancing blow to the goblin. The goblins return fire with their wicked little bows, catching the dragonborn paladin and Keg, as they rush up the ledge around the sinkhole. The party charges into the fray and fires back. A fierce combat is conducted and the paladin and Aromil are respectively incapacitated or nearly so before the tide of battle turns and the party emerges victorious by a narrow margin.

After a quick minute of tending to their wounded, the party decides to investigate the earthen ramp, which they discover leads to a stone door. Once again, Keg's expertise in dungeon delving comes in handy and he identifies it as being of dwarven construction. The half-elf cleric and the dragonborn paladin are unable to find the footing necessary to climb up the ramp, but the rest of the party does. Aromil bounds past his clumsier peers and arrives at the door beside Garret and Keg, where he sets to work trying to find a way to open it. At last, he makes an attempt using the crowbar and manages to crack the door open a couple inches.

Peering inside, the party sees a large room, about sixty by twenty feet, a typical dwarven living space. In the darkness, the traditional dwarven hearth-oven is casting an angry orange glow. The party sees that it has been converted into a crude forge, which is being worked by a trio of goblins who are busy smelting adamantite ore and casting it into weapons.