TheSequelReturns
Faithful Crusader
~ Dust End - Mine Operations Office ~
- Noon -
They had their assignments. Yenn, with a backup in Windrush, would lead the main group into the mine. Grace and Tikaani would investigate the man who had stumbled out of the mine two days prior, to see if he knew anything about what might have happened. And anyone left would help prepare the surface site for the arrival of what was potentially an entire dig crew, twenty-something strong.
"If there are no objections, then we'll depart immediately." Yenn said. She was fully prepared to answer any objections as well. She'd worked at this mine for so long and been a part of so much of its day to day operations that she was practically Thaddeus' second in command in all but title.
"Please, do whatever you can to find out what happened down there." Thaddeus looked worried. It had been a while since Yenn had seen him like this. The last time was when he had sunk a small fortune into a new dig shaft only to hit bedrock and turn up empty handed. A chance discovery of a silver vein had saved the his coffers then. Would luck be on his side this time?
A small bag of supplies was handed out to anyone who wanted them. It wasn't much. A candle, some matches, a flask of water, and some dried fruit. But it would help. The trip by foot to the new dig site was several miles through cramped, sometimes sloped tunnels. Once that was done, Yenn led the group down into the main shaft of the mine.
- Dust End Mine -
The main entrance into the mine was a huge opening more than twenty feet tall at the middle. It sat in the side of the stark, granite stone of the mountain like a giant mouth waiting to swallow them whole. Nine separate railways ran side by side through the mouth of the cave, most going to the processing center or a storage area for the carts. A few ran off towards the junk piles. Each had more than enough room between them for a group of miners to walk double-file.
Less than a few meters inside, the tunnel started to change drastically. Huge columns of stone sprang up here and there to support the roof. Some of them blocked the foot paths and had walkways or tunnels for the railways carved through them. In other places, more of the wooden scaffolding was set up to aid in bracing the stone ceiling which seemed to press in closer and closer with every step the group took into the mines. In only a few minutes of travel, the once wide and open cave had narrowed to a mere ten feet high and the wide expanse had begun to close in tighter as the mine shafts branched off and their rails went with them.
Yenn led the group towards a shaft close to the eastern side of the entrance cavern. The light seemed to die only a few steps in and Yenn held up a hand. She mumbled a few familiar words and a small wisp of blue light appeared above her palm. She eased her hand forward, like she were giving a gentle push, and the wisp began to slowly drift down the tunnel at a pace that was easy to keep up with.
It was a ghost light. Any novice caster could probably conjure one without any trouble, though getting it to float away on its own was a neat trick that took a more practiced hand. Plus, using this would help conserve candles, though those in the back of the line might still need a light of their own. The tunnels were dark. And not dark like the night or like a shadowy alleyway. This was total darkness. Not even a hint of light could penetrate the mountain of stone above them and there was a limit to how far the light would shine through the cavern entrance. That limit happened to be the second turn down the new tunnel.
They moved on guided by Yenn's ghost light deeper and deeper into the mine. A few times, Yenn had to recall the light as it tried to drift off down the wrong path. The path kept branching every so often. Sometimes the path ended in a fork with two clear directions. Other times it opened up into a larger room with several paths leading out. A few times, they would pass a small dark tunnel set into the side of the rock so subtly, you'd almost miss it if you weren't looking. Every time the light shone down one of those tunnels, it faded into the darkness before revealing anything but empty tunnel.
"We're almost to the new dig." Yenn said. She took a drink from her flask. The group was now several miles into the side of the mountain, and a unknown distance beneath the surface. "It's just around the next bend."
Yenn didn't mention the uneasy feeling she'd had for a while now. The uncanny sensation that something was watching them from those dark side tunnels, from the cracks in the ceiling where the water slowly dripped, from the space just ahead or behind them right past the spot where the light vanished. She chalked that up to her nerves and pushed onward.
The group rounded the next corner and came face to face with the new dig. It was a large, open space, much like any of the others they had passed on the way down. Tools, supplies, and other signs of the workers lay scattered about, but none of them were anywhere to be seen. Most concerning though, were the chunks of rock that lay scattered around the entrance of the dig site. Some were clustered around the entrance, as if they had been piled there before but since moved, with the rest in haphazard piles off to either side.
"What in the world..." Yenn walked over and ran a finger across the rock. "There's hardly any dust. This was done recently. But, if the cave in is clear, where are the miners?" There hadn't been any sign of the rescue team on the way down either. Yenn bit her lip as worry started to set in.
A few quiet moments passed as the group looked across the room.
"Are you real?" a quiet voice called from somewhere in the darkness.
Yenn waved her hand and her ghost light shot across the room towards the sound, but the light revealed nothing. "Are you one of the miners?"
"...Yenn?" Something shifted in a crevice in the rock. At first, Yenn wasn't quiet sure waht she was seeing. Until the blurry shape continued to move and resolved itself into the skeletal, dust covered figure of a geist. A geist she knew.
"Parmos?" Yenn's curiosity quickly melted into concern. "Is that you? Are you okay?"
"Don't come any closer." he said. The geist called Parmos stopped short of exiting the crevice, wagering only to stick his hand and head free of the rock. "You shouldn't have come here. They won't let you leave. They won't let any of us leave."
"The others are alive then?" Yenn said, her eyes scanning the room constantly. Parmos' only response was to turn and look deeper into the mine.
Beyond the edges of the light, in the dark shadows at the back of the room, the tunnels were as silent as death.
---
~ Dust End - Healer's Apothecary ~
Like the rest of Dust End, the local Apothecary was in a building that had not at all been originally built for that purpose. What had started as a trading stand had gone through several brief lifetimes before winding up as the residence of the one and only local healer, an elderly human woman named Krista, but who most of the town folks referred to affectionately as "Gran". Supposedly, she learned her craft from the sprites and practiced healing the way the fairy folk had for ages. That is to say, with herbs, plants, spells, and a bit of alchemy.
Her Apothecary reflected this. The place was overgrown from head to two with more plants that you could count. Flowers of all shades and sizes, herbs and vines and grasses and shrubs, all were present. Spread about in the midst of the plants were the remains of a water pump that somehow still functioned, a few totems and rune stones and other mama-infused trinkets, and a single sign that read "Aid" in both the common tongue as well as a few older scripts.
As Grace, Serra, and Tikaani entered the clinic, they were greeting by the strong scent of fresh bread, the subtle bubbling of a kettle not yet ready to boil, and a kindly old voice that called out to them, "Welcome welcome. Take a seat and I'll be right with you." The only place to sit was a small bench against the wall.
The healer emerged from another room a few moments later with a plate of still-steaming biscuits and honey. "You're just in time for biscuits." Krista said as she sat the food down on a small side table. "What can I do for you?" she said, leaning in to get a better look at the three of them.
- Noon -
They had their assignments. Yenn, with a backup in Windrush, would lead the main group into the mine. Grace and Tikaani would investigate the man who had stumbled out of the mine two days prior, to see if he knew anything about what might have happened. And anyone left would help prepare the surface site for the arrival of what was potentially an entire dig crew, twenty-something strong.
"If there are no objections, then we'll depart immediately." Yenn said. She was fully prepared to answer any objections as well. She'd worked at this mine for so long and been a part of so much of its day to day operations that she was practically Thaddeus' second in command in all but title.
"Please, do whatever you can to find out what happened down there." Thaddeus looked worried. It had been a while since Yenn had seen him like this. The last time was when he had sunk a small fortune into a new dig shaft only to hit bedrock and turn up empty handed. A chance discovery of a silver vein had saved the his coffers then. Would luck be on his side this time?
A small bag of supplies was handed out to anyone who wanted them. It wasn't much. A candle, some matches, a flask of water, and some dried fruit. But it would help. The trip by foot to the new dig site was several miles through cramped, sometimes sloped tunnels. Once that was done, Yenn led the group down into the main shaft of the mine.
- Dust End Mine -
The main entrance into the mine was a huge opening more than twenty feet tall at the middle. It sat in the side of the stark, granite stone of the mountain like a giant mouth waiting to swallow them whole. Nine separate railways ran side by side through the mouth of the cave, most going to the processing center or a storage area for the carts. A few ran off towards the junk piles. Each had more than enough room between them for a group of miners to walk double-file.
Less than a few meters inside, the tunnel started to change drastically. Huge columns of stone sprang up here and there to support the roof. Some of them blocked the foot paths and had walkways or tunnels for the railways carved through them. In other places, more of the wooden scaffolding was set up to aid in bracing the stone ceiling which seemed to press in closer and closer with every step the group took into the mines. In only a few minutes of travel, the once wide and open cave had narrowed to a mere ten feet high and the wide expanse had begun to close in tighter as the mine shafts branched off and their rails went with them.
Yenn led the group towards a shaft close to the eastern side of the entrance cavern. The light seemed to die only a few steps in and Yenn held up a hand. She mumbled a few familiar words and a small wisp of blue light appeared above her palm. She eased her hand forward, like she were giving a gentle push, and the wisp began to slowly drift down the tunnel at a pace that was easy to keep up with.
It was a ghost light. Any novice caster could probably conjure one without any trouble, though getting it to float away on its own was a neat trick that took a more practiced hand. Plus, using this would help conserve candles, though those in the back of the line might still need a light of their own. The tunnels were dark. And not dark like the night or like a shadowy alleyway. This was total darkness. Not even a hint of light could penetrate the mountain of stone above them and there was a limit to how far the light would shine through the cavern entrance. That limit happened to be the second turn down the new tunnel.
They moved on guided by Yenn's ghost light deeper and deeper into the mine. A few times, Yenn had to recall the light as it tried to drift off down the wrong path. The path kept branching every so often. Sometimes the path ended in a fork with two clear directions. Other times it opened up into a larger room with several paths leading out. A few times, they would pass a small dark tunnel set into the side of the rock so subtly, you'd almost miss it if you weren't looking. Every time the light shone down one of those tunnels, it faded into the darkness before revealing anything but empty tunnel.
"We're almost to the new dig." Yenn said. She took a drink from her flask. The group was now several miles into the side of the mountain, and a unknown distance beneath the surface. "It's just around the next bend."
Yenn didn't mention the uneasy feeling she'd had for a while now. The uncanny sensation that something was watching them from those dark side tunnels, from the cracks in the ceiling where the water slowly dripped, from the space just ahead or behind them right past the spot where the light vanished. She chalked that up to her nerves and pushed onward.
The group rounded the next corner and came face to face with the new dig. It was a large, open space, much like any of the others they had passed on the way down. Tools, supplies, and other signs of the workers lay scattered about, but none of them were anywhere to be seen. Most concerning though, were the chunks of rock that lay scattered around the entrance of the dig site. Some were clustered around the entrance, as if they had been piled there before but since moved, with the rest in haphazard piles off to either side.
"What in the world..." Yenn walked over and ran a finger across the rock. "There's hardly any dust. This was done recently. But, if the cave in is clear, where are the miners?" There hadn't been any sign of the rescue team on the way down either. Yenn bit her lip as worry started to set in.
A few quiet moments passed as the group looked across the room.
"Are you real?" a quiet voice called from somewhere in the darkness.
Yenn waved her hand and her ghost light shot across the room towards the sound, but the light revealed nothing. "Are you one of the miners?"
"...Yenn?" Something shifted in a crevice in the rock. At first, Yenn wasn't quiet sure waht she was seeing. Until the blurry shape continued to move and resolved itself into the skeletal, dust covered figure of a geist. A geist she knew.
"Parmos?" Yenn's curiosity quickly melted into concern. "Is that you? Are you okay?"
"Don't come any closer." he said. The geist called Parmos stopped short of exiting the crevice, wagering only to stick his hand and head free of the rock. "You shouldn't have come here. They won't let you leave. They won't let any of us leave."
"The others are alive then?" Yenn said, her eyes scanning the room constantly. Parmos' only response was to turn and look deeper into the mine.
Beyond the edges of the light, in the dark shadows at the back of the room, the tunnels were as silent as death.
---
~ Dust End - Healer's Apothecary ~
Like the rest of Dust End, the local Apothecary was in a building that had not at all been originally built for that purpose. What had started as a trading stand had gone through several brief lifetimes before winding up as the residence of the one and only local healer, an elderly human woman named Krista, but who most of the town folks referred to affectionately as "Gran". Supposedly, she learned her craft from the sprites and practiced healing the way the fairy folk had for ages. That is to say, with herbs, plants, spells, and a bit of alchemy.
Her Apothecary reflected this. The place was overgrown from head to two with more plants that you could count. Flowers of all shades and sizes, herbs and vines and grasses and shrubs, all were present. Spread about in the midst of the plants were the remains of a water pump that somehow still functioned, a few totems and rune stones and other mama-infused trinkets, and a single sign that read "Aid" in both the common tongue as well as a few older scripts.
As Grace, Serra, and Tikaani entered the clinic, they were greeting by the strong scent of fresh bread, the subtle bubbling of a kettle not yet ready to boil, and a kindly old voice that called out to them, "Welcome welcome. Take a seat and I'll be right with you." The only place to sit was a small bench against the wall.
The healer emerged from another room a few moments later with a plate of still-steaming biscuits and honey. "You're just in time for biscuits." Krista said as she sat the food down on a small side table. "What can I do for you?" she said, leaning in to get a better look at the three of them.
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