The Colony - Turn 46 - Dug Dug

The party takes a cautious approach at the Silverstream Mine.


Start Date: August 19, early afternoon
Start Status: It wasn't a rock...
Start Location: Silverstream Mine

Adventuring: Rennard, Jinx, Brigg, Smoke, Zenobe
At the Tulip: Adrienne, Mendel, Hagan, Xon, Aaron

The Turn

After watching the mine and outbuildings from the edge of the clearing for 15 minutes or so, the party moves forward, examining the area as they advance. The clearing itself is unremarkable. A mix of scraggly weeds, churned and packed dirt, gravel and rock dust covers the ground. The only thing left at the mercenary campsite is a battered iron tripod and a tipped-over pot half-full of rotting stew.

The two buildings prove to be quite sturdy. Their walls are made of thick wooden planks nailed to fat oak timbers driven into the earth. The barracks is L-shaped with sleeping/living quarters for 20 in the long leg and a kitchen and supply room in the short leg. In addition to the door leading out the front, there's a second in back that leads to an outhouse in the woods, and a third exiting the kitchen that leads into a small garden that's been pretty well cleaned out by the local wildlife. There are several narrow windows fitted with wooden shutters, and the plank floor in the place is laid over a bed of packed earth and crushed rock.

The workshop/barn is similarly constructed, except the floor in the main area is just crushed rock and packed earth, no planks. There are big sliding doors in the wall opposite the first pair and an interior door allows passage to the single-story office area, which also has a normal-sized exterior door.

The main work area is divided in two. On one side, animal stalls, likely for donkeys used to haul ore from the mine, stand empty and over them a loft holds a few sacks of grain and a pile of loose hay. The other side is an open work area, obviously used to crush ore. A few old leather sacks full of rocks are piled against the wall,

The office area is divided into four rooms, an actual office that hasn't been used in years, living quarters (perhaps for the site foreman), also long abandoned, a locked room with a heavy-duty iron door and a storage area.

From the looks of things, the miners were using the barracks. There are some basic personal items scattered around and food and dirty dishes in the kitchen. There are also some hand tools, picks and shovels, piled near the front door next to a wheelbarrow.

The work area hasn't seen much use. The grain and hay in the loft are moldy and rotting and the heavy hammers used to crush ore are covered in a thick layer of dust. There's no sign that anyone used the office, although footprints indicate several people walked through the room and poked around the shelves and drawers of the desk.

Searching the buildings takes some time and turns up little of value. A few handfuls of copper and silver in the barracks and a dusty, water-damaged ledger that records the amount of ore pulled from the mine for the year 1015. There are plenty of tools available, picks, shovels, sledgehammers, and wheelbarrows.

The mine entrance itself is a rough-cut opening about 15 feet wide. Timbers support the ceiling in the crude passages cut through rock and earth and rubble and loose dirt cover the floor. There are plenty of booted footprints here, leading both into and out of the tunnel. With some work, the group could construct a barricade from the rubble around the clearing that would close off part of the entrance, but it would take more than the hour the party planned on spending.

With evening coming on, the group retreats to the barracks and sets up camp [there's no real advantage to either building, but the big sliding doors are not as solid as the smaller openings of the barracks, and, well, beds]. They establish a watch and settle in for the night.

It is close to midnight and Smoke is on watch when the mine creatures come forth. They look like miners and it's easy to see why the mercenaries weren't alarmed by their initial appearance. They trickle out of the mine in groups of two or three, and wander around the area, paying no particular attention to their surroundings. Most wear rugged clothing you'd expect to see on a miner, but a few have on tattered wine-colored cloaks and clutch swords. Others wear rags that hang in tatters and their flesh is covered in large discolored patches. As Smoke turns to wake the others oh so quietly, something catches her eye. One of the miners has gotten close to the window and something is growing from the side of his head, a cluster of green crystals.

End Date: August 18, late night
End Status: It was a rock miner!
End Location: Silverstream Mine