The day the mining company men had arrived you had been called into the owners tent, the owner, Overseer and leading men of the main work group were there and you appeared to be the topic of discussion. They were objecting to you being hired since according to their contract they should be filling all the skilled labor positions They were also trying to bring your abilities and experience into question.


You arrived as the overseer had just vouched for your knowledge and stated that you had the backing of a second guild overseer so even if they weren't happy about it that your skills and experience were accepted as fully capable for what you had been hired to do. As you entered the owner paused the discussion and called you over, then asked if the overseers description or your work with the small logging team had been accurate. You relay what had happened again and the owner seemed very pleased. The mining group however didn't and stated that even if you were good at the job, the owner was breaching the contract to give you a position over one of their men.


The owner clearly tired of the discussion by this point started casually questioning the work group leader.


"When exactly does our contract state that your group would arrive and begin construction?"


The man was smart enough to see were this was going to lead so carefully answered "One week ago today sir."


"So considering that I paid a hefty deposit to your company in advance, how much money have I lost and how far behind is my mine's construction due to your lateness?"


"The mine is almost a week behind sir, but the company will of course refund any loss of wages due to our late arrival. We were forced to wait while our supplies and gear was prepared for us."


"Never the less a full week is a pretty serious loss of coin and time for me and could easily be considered a breach of contract by your company, one that would enable me to cancel it for a full refund of deposit and hire someone else correct?"


The man, now clearly sweating looked like he was trying to find a way out but could only answer "That could be technically correct sir".


"So considering that point; can you really argue that it is outside my remit, that during the week you were not present and my mine was not being constructed that I hired a single skilled worker to aid in my mines initial opening?"


"No sir we wont object further"


"Perfect, now that this is settled don't worry because he hasn't stolen any of your men's jobs. I'll hire him as an assistant to my overseer so that wont be a problem will it?"


Obviously relieved that he didn't have a man out of a job he readily agreed and left the tent.


The owner and overseer finally turn to you and ask "well now that the work group is happy and you have suddenly been promoted you have a nice choice ahead of you. You did a good job with your decision about the struts so I'd be happy for you to oversee the logging operation, but most of your experience lies underground and putting the struts in place, which job do you want?"

You think that overseeing the mines supports being put in will be the best use of your abilities

You know you did good work with the loggers but they will be receiving experienced men soon and your experience lies underground, The Overseer seems happy that he will be able to just concentrate on the tunnels themselves and the many minor jobs he does around the camp leaving the supports to you.


Your given eight men to supervise so you split them into two teams, one to prepare the site while the other brings in and lays the supports, then both teams ensure its bearing the weight of the tunnel well before moving on, and you of course give the final check over yourself. Having caught a weak piece of wood early on you also check all the supports delivered to you before approving them for use to make sure there are no accidents caused due to your oversight.


You get on with your workers and everything goes smoothly and efficiently under your guidance, the Overseer and Owner seem very pleased with your work and just get weekly progress reports to supplement anything you talk to the Overseer about during the day. As the weeks pass you carry on working as before and as the tunnels deepens and sprout side shafts following smaller seams. You're given eight more men, so once you divide them like the first team you have two groups working simultaneously under you. After a few more weeks the Overseer mentions that a very promising seam has been found but that it initially runs through some very weak and fragmented rock. After a brief inspection you agree that its worth digging out and that after an initial tunnel with temporary supports is in place your men can permanently shore it up.


On the day its due to finish and your men are expected to start putting in the permanent supports you head to the tunnel to inspect the job. The unskilled workers have done well and had no cave-ins, and although weak and unprofessional the temporary supports are holding out well. your about to head back and ready your men as you can see the workers digging out the last loose rock when you feel a slight thump and a tremor running through the rock. You immediately think of the loggers and run out of the mine onto the hill above. You see not far off a tree on the ground with men cutting the last side branches off ready to be slid over to the logging camp, and two larger oaks behind in the process of being felled.


You see what is happening in an instant, the trees they are felling are almost right on top of the weak tunnel and if the biggest oak they are chopping at falls, the temporary struts will snap like twigs causing a huge cave-in. You start sprinting towards the men, shouting and waving your arms to get their attention. The men are too far away so have no Idea what you are shouting but luckily you are such an odd sight as you wave your arms while running and tumbling over the uneven ground that they just all stop to stare at you until you get close enough to pant out an explanation. As soon as they hear the word cave-in they send runners to get their supervisor and the Overseer. They both run into the tunnel to assess its position and immediately agree with you, if you had been 2 minutes later the workers finishing the tunnel would have been crushed to death.

You that evening you called in for dinner with the Owner and Overseer

You tidy yourself up as best you can before heading into the Owners stone house but you only own two sets of outfits, and both of them working leathers so theres only so much you can do. Your very relieved when the Overseer meets you to take you into the dining room in his normal working gear too.


Your taken into a small but nice room lit by a log fire and see the owner and a pretty young girl sitting at the table with food being brought in from the kitchen. The girl looks about your age and is reading a book but she puts it away as you enter. The Owner waves you and the Overseer to some seats across the table from the two of them and introduces his daughter to you, Her name is Shia and you start trying to work out if she is indeed your age when the Owner asks you to explain about the tunnel.


You relay all the information as best you can with the Overseer occasionally adding information you didn't know or had missed. At the end the Owner thinks for a minute before starting to speak.


"I took a bit of a risk hiring you, but it seems to me now, that apart from doing an excellent job, you have just saved my mine from a cave-in and most importantly saved the lives of the two workers inside. Would you agree this is a fair assessment"


You try to mumble something humble but he cuts you off and presses you for a yes/no answer.


"Then yes sir I'd agree with it." you finally reply


"Good, then from now on you are officially on my books as the assistant overseer and your contract has been upgraded to increase your pay in-line with your new position. There is also a job in my personal mining company for you as an overseer on future projects if you want it." you glance at the Overseer sitting beside you who just smiles. The owner continues "yes it was his idea and I agreed wholeheartedly with it."


You thank him profusely before matters at the table turn to the food now being laced before you. You haven't eaten so well in years so concentrate mostly on the food before joining back into the dinner conversation. Your told that the Overseer is also a family friend so he joins the owner and his daughter for a meal once a week and that your now expected along too.


Still dazed from all the good news you head back into the mine a very happy man.

You completing the mine

You spend the rest of your time in the mine enjoying your new position and especially enjoying your time eating with the owners daughter once a week, she seems to also enjoy your company during the meals. You haven't made any moves yet to spend time alone with her but you think you'll have plenty of time to do that once the job is over if you join her fathers company. The rest of your time there passes without incident so as the final week approaches you feel a pretty good sense of achievement considering how well you did and your future prospects.


As you enter the final week you're called back into the Owners house and he say he has some options for you. You've gotten on well with him and he feels he can trust you so he is considering changing his plans and taking you back to the city a few days early. On the trip you would meet some other members of his company and some of his friends from other companies that work, not only in your city, but in neighboring cities and kingdoms too. He implies that there is a little more than he is letting on but he refuses to say anymore until you've made your choice.


He tells you that your other options are to stay out the week and head back with the other workers, he knows of two groups, one that is rushing back to the city on payday and the other is staying a few extra days then taking a leisurely route home. He wont judge you either way and the job with his company is always open to you, but if you don't come now you'll have to wait till the spring to contact him again as he is heading off to oversee another job of his soon.

You join him for the early trip back, it sounds interesting and a trip all the way back to the city in a carriage with his daughter sounds too good to pass up

Having agreed to travel back to the city with the Owner you have to get your affairs in order, you assign supervisors to your work groups and try to do a quick final check over some wood, but you've got your men working well enough to finish the job without you now. The Overseer will be taking over from you to make sure the completion and transition from construction to full production goes smoothly, he will even have use of the owners house whenever he isn't visiting the mine.


Having said your goodbyes you join the Owner and his daughter in their small carriage and set off back to the city. A second wagon with a few guards goes ahead of you to make sure you have no trouble with bandits as your also carrying one of the first silver shipments from the mine. The trip is significantly faster with horses pulling you at a brisk trot the whole way but it still takes a couple of days and that leaves plenty of time for talking with the owner and his daughter. To her about herself, and to him about this secret he wouldn't tell you before.


You find out that he has holdings and mines not just in the lands around the city in which you grew up but in many other places too. Your home city is really a small kingdom in itself, ruling many small villages around it and a stretch of coastline long enough for several small fishing villages and ports. There are many such city states and kingdoms in the surrounding lands and yours is just above average size for the area, however your city is large and old so your kingdom has a much higher population than many others.


The guilds of course know this and trade in the main cities of all the kingdoms but your king has never really spread the information widely- you of course knew of other places but they were always spoken of as far off  and hard to get too, not borders merely a couple of weeks away by horse from the city center.


The reason he told you all this was that recently there had been a lot of tension with your nearest neighbor Carn. You had heard rumors about it, that they had been causing minor trouble over trade and fishing, small regional things that you hadn't paid much mind to, but you were now told it wasn't as simple as that. His contacts in Carn and other cities had been providing very different reports than your own rulers, your city being much larger than Carn was the one causing the problems, making demands after signing treaties and encroaching on their land. He was convinced that your King didn't know what was really happening as he had always seemed like an honest man, but many of the kingdoms decisions, and most importantly, military decisions were taken by his advisors, who were not known for being honest men.


Your given time to think over this as you finally see the city approach. As you draw near the first roadside farms your given another choice.


"Well now that you know the reality of the situation you need to decide. I know you might not believe me, you might even think I'm being treasonous in my allegations but that is why I'm offering you this chance. This farm is well under half a days walk from the City, you've had a good lunch not long ago and you have been paid very well for your work so if you want to you can leave here and walk back to the city with no strings attached. Or you can stay and we will head to the meeting."

You decide you really dont want to be mixed up with treason and he has already paid you your wages, enough for well over a years good living, you get out.

You tell him that your grateful for all that he has done but that he is right and a lot of what he says is dangerous so you'll be hopping out now. He looks like it wasn't what he had hoped for but he just tells you that its you choice and holds the door open for you. You have a last look at his daughter who looks a little sad but you hadn't really gotten to know her yet and with over a years good money you tell yourself that your sure to meet another pretty girl in the city.


Still thinking about whether your lying to yourself concerning pretty girls in the city and if you made the right choice or not the door closes behind you and the owner calls goodbye.


You turn and wave and are just saying thank you again when you feel several punches in the back, looking down as your propelled forward you briefly have time to see at least three crossbow bolts sticking out from your chest before you land. You hear the owners daughter crying and the owner telling her that he had no choice, you could have betrayed them all and gotten thousands killed if you had talked. You think that you wish you had stayed in the carriage, you think that you wish you had talked to his daughter more.


Things quickly turn black and your stop thinking anything at all.