Whispering secrets

29th December 5000

The morning started early for the group. Yesnarel got up first and went looking for his friends, hoping to have company for breakfast. Walking past Rameldin's door, he merely shrugged, letting her locked inside, he was in no hurry to see her. So, he woke the knight up instead and seeing that Erleothir was already getting ready, he invited himself in his room, to discuss some issues in private. The moment didn't last long however, a knock at the door interrupted them. It was Draug, their new acquaintance. He was oblivious to the silence his presence created and started talking, asking about the rest of the group. The two friends quickly realized this could be put to their advantage : he could be sent to "free" Rameldin and explain the night before.

What the men didn't know, was that Rameldin hadn't been waiting for them to get up. She had heard Yesnarel when he knocked on her door previously and had unceremoniously asked him to leave her alone. After that, she quickly got dressed and walked to the door, planning on opening it discreetly to sneak out. She was surprised to find the door locked. Looking around, she quickly found the key at her feet and resumed her exit, this time clearly upset at her fellow companions. Not bothering to check on them, she went downstairs and sat at an empty table, facing the stairs to be sure not to miss them. At that point, it was reasonable to doubt of their willingness to keep her in the group.

The knocks on her door were left unanswered and Draug quickly got back to the guys who were surprised to find the young woman already seated and widely waving to them: correction, to Erleothir. Yesnarel only got a dark glare that mysteriously and quickly soften until Rameldin was almost purring. Her interest however was all over the new comer, that young knight, in full armour showing a great load of confidence. She pressed him with questions, disgusted if not jealous, Erleothir left them and walked to the buffet, followed by Yesnarel. When they came back, Rameldin naturally help herself with their food and went on talking and talking.

Gustavius, finally arriving to the inn after trying his best to clean his place and make an inventory of missing items. Upon seeing the scene, he couldn't help but smile, and share the pain of the two older. He joined the group and ordered some beer which Erleothir promptly refused. Now wasn't the time to play anymore, they had a little expedition to prepare.

Rameldin, who wasn't aware of their new business, immediately found a dozen questions to ask the dwarf, while on their way to the administrative quarter. She managed to be so annoying that Erleothir, following his instinct of sacrifice ( or call it sense of duty ), offered to take her for a walk in the shopping area. Gustavius wasn't really keen on splitting the group but the girl was insisting and, after making sure the two would stay in the shopping area so that a courier could find them if needed, the group left them turn toward the stores.

It was easy and quick for Gustavius to find the proper office where to request access to the old mine. Finding a map proved to be a little more difficult; they were sent to another office in order to talk to an old sage who used to play in the now abandoned area when he was a child. The whole group was surprised by his age and his long white beard. Hadn't he been so short, he could have been really impressive. They exchanged a few words and gathered precious information about the mine and its design, and the potential foes that could be found. They almost got in troubles when, bidding their farewell, Rameldin added a "Grand-Pa". She didn't mean to disrespect him, it was more a way for her to express the feeling of confidence and wisdom he conveyed. Rameldin still had to learn a lot about dwarves and their lifestyle.

The group didn't waste any more time and started in direction of the old mine. At the entrance they were given as many torches as they wanted, being a girl, Rameldin could only carry two and gave the rest to the guys. After another little discussion between the members : how long would the exploration last ? In which order should they walk ? Is the mine really safe ? What are they looking for exactly ? Did they all need to go ?
More sighs and finally they were in, Draugh broke an old wooden fence that was blocking their path and they crossed in a cloud of spiderwebs.

The passage was surprisingly high and of decent width, they could at least walk at ease. However, walking at ease and progressing are clearly two different things for the company. At the first crossroad, about two minutes away from the entrance, the conversation started again : the path was opening on the right, should they go together and check this unmarked track or should they stick to the main road as described on the map ? But if they were looking for something, shouldn't they explore what is not written ? Since the rest had been explored already ....
The conversation was animated but in the end useless. They all followed the unmarked track which lead them to a dead end. Coming back on the main road, they also reached a dead end. Gustavius' face showed his puzzlement.

" there must be something we missed ... a door, a path ... " he mumbled holding his torch along the wall checking the wall for imperfections or a hint of some sort. The other imitated him, Draugh was pounding on the stone, testing their echo, Rameldin was caressing the stone, feeling for a niche, Yesnarel was sensing whatever he could find, oh, a soft wind coming from the right ! All their efforts combined and it's the newcomer who opened a secret door. All turned to the new entrance, Draugh was obviously pretty proud of his discovery. But of course, before they set foot on the new path, they had to discuss a little bit more. This time the concern was about getting lost, they wanted to make sure they would find their way back since the map was now rendered useless.
Rameldin had an idea but not many people ready to listen her out. Erleothir came to her rescue.

" you have tissue we could use to mark our way ?"

Rameldin produced a long piece of cloth, uncut and started cutting ribbons with the help of the knight. The idea was to tie those ribbons to the wall asperities so as to remember where they came from. However, they realized that the mine was a one way road anyway and that the tissue carefully selected in Shotia in hope to make a nice dress had been cut for nothing. They all engaged in the entrance and set to explore the lower levels.

They arrived in a circular room which had three rooms on the side, each room holding an anvil and a hammer. No exit. It looked like they would have to solve a little puzzle to move further. That one was easy : nodding in understanding, Gustavius, Erleothir and the yound Draugh Othar each entered a chamber. On the count of three given by Yesnarel, they hit the anvil and following a loud “clang” the walls started to tremble, Rameldin came closer to Yesnarel and they retreated in the entrance door. The floor disappeared gradually and they could now see stairs of stone, leading to some underground level. Once all movement was finished, they made their way down. Rather confident.

In the second level, a second quiz awaited them. Erleothir was amazingly fast at resolving it…only to find another puzzle. That one was about triangles and more triangles… in the end, Gustavius managed to satisfy whoever placed the puzzles there and the room configuration changed again. Another circle appeared and a ladder on its side was leading the way always a little deeper in the mine. How would they come out?

In that level, on a sort of altar were several statues and some raw material. The adventurers were not used to so much thinking, and, let’s face it, not all of them had the patience required in those situations. In the small room, chaos started, all were thinking aloud, none were afraid to touch the items, experimenting several solutions. It’s Yesnarel and Erleothir who finally solved the riddle. Rameldin had long give up and all noticed that she was the kind of person to get bored pretty quickly.

Now that the final test had been passed with success, the room morphed for a last time: the ground opened and on a half height pillar sat a blue triangle. All reacted to the view, Draugh and Rameldin might have been the most curious: they had never seen such a thing before.
Fearless, as usual, the company didn’t waste time deciding what to do, of course they would collect the item and climb back up, mission completed. They should have learned by now that things rarely were that easy. So, when Leo grabbed the triangle from its resting place, problem started. Namely, the ceiling started to fall down on them. Seeing the speed at which it was falling they had little time to think: Erleothir could only take one other person under his shield, Yesnarel wasn’t sure his magic could built a shield strong and big enough for the rest of them. What should they do then? When panic was about to win them over, luck (or was it destiny?) took the form of a little block on the wall and saved them. The ceiling stopped for a few extra seconds, just long enough for them to jump under cover of the previous platform. Once the ceiling was completely down and turned into a floor, they walked out of their cover and Gustavius reversed the mechanism of the ancient trap, thus transporting the complete company on the highest floor again like on a lift platform and back to fresh air, exhausted.

On their way back to the city the youngest were excited by the discovery, Gustavius, showing little emotions was at best satisfied. The knight looked worried and the mage impatient to study the artifact for the moment in possession of the dwarf.

They pushed the door of the inn open, now was time to rest.