Chapter 1 - Down in the Deep

Jinxy Shadespring slunk forwards, her back pressed against the rocky wall of the passageway, its cold presence reassuring her in an odd sort of way. The Gnome ran her hand along the smooth-hewn tunnel wall, unmarred by pick or other tools. Sure, Gnomes might start their excavations with a blast; but after that the excavation rigs took over. No crude digging by hands, here. In fact, going by the perfect curvature of the wall, Jinxy guessed that this particular passage had been dug out by one of the newer fully automated rigs.

It had been months since she’d been this far into the Deep Levels. It hadn’t been necessary. The campaign against the troggs had been a long one. *What was it now, anyway? Four years? Five?* And in all that time the mines and excavations down in the Deep Levels had never needed more than a cursory patrol. Even the troggs never seemed to venture this far down. Until today.

Jinxy pulled the handheld scanner from her belt once more. She was getting closer to the source of the vibration readings. *Look on the bright side, Jinx, if there are Troggs down here there’ll be plenty of time to collapse the tunnels and seal ‘em in*. She thumbed the buzzbox at her belt briefly. *Of course, they’d have to seal you in with ‘em*.

The Gnome wasn’t worried, though. She had her own theories about the troggs, and in her mind it was no coincidence that they’d attacked the Central Levels first, bustling with machinery as they were. Whatever was going on down here, she didn’t think it was likely to be them.

She glanced around, her head-mounted flashlight following her movements. Other than the soft scrape of her leather boots the tunnel was silent – the machinery here long-since deactivated. Her lamp flickered, and she muttered a curse. *I swear Coltron, if I end up alone in the dark down here because you switched shifts with your buddy, I will Cog-damn end you…*

Closer…closer...she silenced the scanner’s soft beep, just in case, and the move almost ended her. With a gasp, she tumbled backwards onto the damp stone floor as her foot found only empty space before her. The hole was maybe eight feet across, and in the torch-flecked darkness was almost invisible. Curling her fingers over the edge, the Gnome gingerly peered over the edge. Nothing. Less than nothing. The sort of inky blackness, in fact, that seemed as if it was waiting to swallow you up, body and soul.

Twiddling dials on the little scanner, she took a few readings of the gaping abyss. Perfectly circular. And the vibrations seemed to be emanating from deep within, to boot. *Well, guess that solves that one*. What could have restarted one of the excavation rigs after so long, she had no idea. *And it’s not like I can climb down and ask it*. If she had to guess from the readings, she’d say the rig had drilled down another three to four hundred feet. She wasn’t sure the Tinker’s Guard even had a rope left that was that long. If they did, she damn well didn’t have it with her.

“Nope. Just nope.” Whatever had happened, she was pretty sure it couldn’t pose any danger to Gnomeregan. *Probably just a glitch.* By the time she’d reached the entrance to the tunnel, her flickering torch was off more than it was on. With a disgruntled huff she pulled a small blowtorch from her pack and etched a brief warning symbol into the rock, just in case. Its fuel canister expended, she returned the tool to her pack.

Jinxy checked her map one last time, just to be sure. *About an hour to the nearest Guard post, assuming I don’t run into any company along the way.* Tucking the map away at her belt, she had barely begun to move when her lamp failed completely.

“Well…nuts.”