The Mines of Melora

The Priest Queen Magdylan of the Melora Province requests your presence at the capitol Gracetop on the 4th of Gaiya on the Nunday. The province is interested in hiring your services as an adventurer, as well as the services of 5 other distinguished adventurers, 2 of which you are already in the company of. The details of the job, arrangements of your pay, and the providing of any tools or equipment you may need will be discussed in a 3 day period between the 4th and the 7th of Gaiya, during which you will be provided food, shelter and entertainment. If you have not made an appearance after the 3 day window you will be presumed dead or disinterested and the job will be carried out without you.

- the Province of Melora

You set off on your mounts to the west, passing through forests and vast grassy planes towards the city of Gracetop. a short while into your journey in a large open plane 4 figures and 2 caravans block your path, 2 fighting each other and 2 watching. one of the figures is on the ground, being beaten by a shirtless, bulky human. one of the people standing by has his hands on his head looking intensely irritated and distressed, while the other watches with a pleased look on his face.

the man on the floor is knocked out by a final blow by the other fighter, and the distressed onlooker reaches into his pocket and brings out a small sack "henry you blooming idiot you've just cost me 2 gold" and hands the pleased onlooker 2 gold coins. the distressed man then lifts the unconscious body onto a caravan then rides off. "pleasure doing business with you" the pleased man calls, then pats the bulky man on the back

"My good friend here big Rollo is a travelling boxer you see, i am Tibald, his manager, and together we like to make our living on the road, fighting for money. those two gentlemen wanted a chance to win some gold but just simply weren't good enough" big Rollo grunts in agreement

Tibald will try and arrange a fight between big Rollo and one of the party. he has 80 gold, and must be persuaded to go above 50. he will only allow a 1v1.

2 hours into your journey you can begin to see a large shape on the horizon, and its not much longer until the shape begins to extend from one side of your view to another. after another hour or two of travel you reach the bottom of the natural formation that they call 'the flats', and cant help but be blown away by the absolute scale. it reaches around 500 metres into the sky, before coming to a sudden stop and going inward so far you can barely see the top of the second incline, which extends up another 500 metres or so. At the foot of the first slope, 2 towering statues of priest like figures stand beside a steep staircase carved into the sharp incline of the mountain. around the foot of the stairway is a small settlement containing a few buildings, a tavern, and a stable.

"sorry lads, cant take horses or whatever that thing is up the climb. they dont do too well on steep inclines, and weve had many a foolish man perish on the way up or down. well keep them down here in the stable free of cost and keep them all well fed until you get back free of charge, somebody at the top can rent you a horse to take to the next climb for about a silver"

you begin your long trek up the first flight of stairs, dragging yourself along for about an hour until you finally make it to the top, where another similar settlement awaits you. DC 8 con save or 1 level of exhaustion (dc 13 for second climb).

### THE CITY

at the top of the stairs, a large city surrounded by towering stone walls reveals itself. a massive structure rises above from the middle of the city, sort of a mixture between a castle and a temple, with clean white brick and red tiled roofs, and you figure this must be Skrohn Gracetop. farmland spreads out from around the city, and a path splits towards the gate and away towards the next stairway which you can see in the distance.

a guard will stop them at the gate "would you 3 please follow me". he will take them to a section of the temple, tells them to wait outside, before entering the building for a while before emerging with a man in expensive green robes "ah, wonderful, you're here. we were all worried you wouldn't be able to make it, please, come in, weve some things to discuss". inside is a room with a long table laid with a white cloth, the man sits at the head of the table.

"about 5 days ago Mother Anastina travelled down into our catacombs to deliver wine, gifts and offerings to our late patron saint Meloras tomb, taking with her 4 guards. The catacombs has 2 floors, the bottom floor is where Meloras tomb is, and it is heavily protected with highly dangerous traps to deter looters and bandits. Anastina was the only one that knew how to safely bypass these traps, and while the guards waited above for her to deliver the gifts to the tomb, they heard her scream from below about intruders and for their help, before a sound they describe as a blade slashing through flesh. We have guards stationed at the entrance and nothing has gone in or out since the incident. We pray she is still alive, but we fear for the worst. We need you to somehow get past the traps to the tomb and find out who or what is down there, and how they got there, and kill them. We would also like for our Anastina to be returned to the temple, even if they are a lifeless body.

joining you in the catacombs are three other adventurers, like you they are very distinguished in the adventurers guild, but have already been through this talk so theyll likely be found roaming the city. They go by Jean-Marie Arden, a Yesllynn Colborn and a Geirdof Kovak, . Tomorrow at first light we will all meet up here before heading out, you can meet them then. but for now, a down payment of 150 gold each, and a sum of 350 gold will be delivered to you each upon the completion of the job. that means not just finding out whatever is down there, but completely getting rid of it. that is all"

#### Jean Marie (Arden)

A human standing around 6,5, he wears a cowl over his head which covers a half plate helmet, which matches the armour around his chest and legs. on his back is a large strange looking great sword.

*"i wasn't going to take this job but the wife says i need to get out of the house more, plus it cant hurt to gain some favour with whatever gods this province worships"*

*"i dont do too much adventuring these days. my crew were all slaughtered several years back. by an ambush of terrorists we were trying to track down, can you believe it? cornered and shot down by the cowards with crossbows, didnt even have a fighting chance, i barely escaped, what a joke"*

#### Yesllynn (Colborn)

A human woman, with long brown hair and a rag covering the left side of her face, just about concealing what you make out to be scars from a burn. she wields both a spear and a mace.

*"aren't you the three that got out the news about the fighting ring underneath Tunstead? you should see the place now, when news got out that the king had been turning a blind eye to something that made his people fight each other to death for the entertainment of nobles, most went apeshit. started revolting, storming the palace. When soldiers came to escort the king to a prison wagon, they didnt even make it out of the palace gates before being mobbed, and the king was beaten to death. no bother, heard he was going to be executed anyway."*

"Adventuring's not too bad, pays great, and as long as you stay composed and dont panic when you run into danger, you should return home with your head on your shoulders."

#### Geirdof (Kovak)

A short figure, with a halberd on their side, a fur coat with extends down onto the floor, and a helmet featuring a red plume on its top, and on the front an expertly sculpted metal face, which seems to be a perfect fit on the figure.

*"I come from Moldhur in Goskja Solovat up north. i heard this area has a lot of problems with forest creatures and bandits so i came down for work*

*"beautiful place, if you avoid all the Orc warbands. If you ever visit you must see our mines. Some say a few of the mines are older than most elves."*

#### THE DAY

 2
 3
 4
 5
Yesllynn "its a pattern, watch, and theres a path which is available for a few moments." DC 8 investigation to detect the pattern
once players detect the pattern, they made a dex check.
* 0-5: 2d10 and you fall to the ground, make another dex check for how much damage you take scrambling to exit. starts at 4d10, each 5 above 0 is 1 less d10
* 5-10 1d10, dc12 acrobatics or fall to the ground
* 10-15 1d10
* 15-20 you make it without taking damage

 6
 7
in the water the body of an elderly woman wearing religious robes is floating, clouding the water red with blood, several arrows stick out of her front.
pressure plates are scattered onto the floor, upon being pressed,
"you hear a mechanism sound beneath you and travel through the walls up to the ceiling, causing sections above to latch open, releasing thick black oil all along the hallway, drenching each of you and floating atop the surface, dragon head statues begin to lower from ceiling hatches, the air around its mouth shimmering as embers begin drifting from it, not enough to ignite the oil, yet"
 8
each adventurer can either dash or move normally on their turn, and can hold their breathe from the smoke for a total amount of rounds equal to 1 + con mod. when you are not holding your breathe you take 6 poison damage from smoke.

The smoke funnels away into various ventilation holes in the corridor at the end of the room. You all walk through the corridor and into the largest room you've seen. the walls stretch high as well as long, and large looming statues of robed figures are placed along the walls. at the end of the room, a large stone gate has been destroyed, revealing inside what you assume to be Meloras tomb. in the centre of the room is a stone sarcophagus, carved to show a younger melora lying down in peace, and around her are empty urns and chests, taken by the looters. you also notice on the left side of the room a large hole has been crudely dug through the wall, revealing a small cramped tunnel winding down below.

as the 6 of you crouch through the jagged tunnel, the sounds of metal striking stone can start to be heard. as you approach the end of the winding tunnel, you hear something speak "REMEMBER THE AGREEMENT. NOBODY SAYS NUFFINK ABOUT OUR LITTLE SIDE JOB, IF ANY OF THE HIGHER UPS FIND OUT THEYLL SURELY TAKE A MASSIVE CUT OF OUR LOOT THE GREEDY BASTARDS, NOW GET A MOVE ON, ONLY A VIEW VEINS LEFT AND WERE DONE"

""looks sir, intruders came from the tunnel" "i told you they were gonna send adventurers we should have sealed the tunnel sooner"

There is a large group of goblins, about 20 in size, all mining in a large cave opening veins of black coal, which is stored in stacks of crates in the corner. What seems to be the boss of the group walks around with a large sack nearly the size of him on his back, a sack with various valuables nearly overflowing from the top, and an ancient looking crown on his head. cave tunnels to the right and left stretch out into the darkness, and the back of the cave, the opposite side to where you entered, has no wall, instead opening up to a massive gorge, about 700m in length and god knows how deep. two pairs of ropes are suspended alongside each from one side to another, with crude wooden handcars on each pair for travel.

8 goblins and boss will go for the players, the remaining goblins will fight other adventurers. in the middle of combat a goblin will sprint over from the other battle screaming, and wielding a wooden barrel, with a lit fuse protruding from the top, and black powder sifting through the cracks "EAT THIS YOU HALF WITS" Geirdof screams "GET BACK". the thing looks just about ready to blow

(place keg 1 tile away from nearest player to entrance)

players roll a dex check. every 5 above 0 they can advance 2 tiles. at the end they take damage accordingly

the sounds of combat are drowned out in an instant by a piercing bang, which is soon in turn drowned out by silence. you feel yourself getting lifted of the ground and tossed away, feeling shards of rock slicing through you like rain, and the vibration of a thunderous rumbling beneath you. at the site of the explosion the roof has collapsed, completely sealing the way into the tunnel, and goblins close to the explosion are smeared across the cave, shredded by the blast. deafness for 1 round of combat. goblins are still trying to get off the ground in the round and are prone.

you feel the sounds around you slowly start fading back into your ears, and you notice excited screeches howls and snarls coming from the tunnels to either side of you.

#### Gorge

goblins and boss will try to flee on handcars. after the round. "SCRAM, LEAVE EM TO DIE THE BUGBEAR WILL SORT EM OUT." you hear scuffling sounds of movement, clanking metal, and cruel laughing coming towards you from the side tunnels, and to the left the silhouette of a massive hulking figure about 9 feet tall begins to reveal itself. Yesllynn "We must flee this is not a fight worth fighting"

the first goblins are furiously shoving the handcar lever up and down, not achieving much as it slowly crawls along the rope. DC 5 dex to jump on.

for about 5 rounds goblins will attack players. party can operate lever, and at the end of the round advance d4 tiles per person operating the lever to a maximum of two. if nobody operates the cart goes back d6 tiles. the enemies go forward d8 tiles each round.

at around 5 rounds in Yesllynn will gasp in fear and point to a group of goblins sawing the rope with daggers to the side they came from.

dc 10 dex to catch rope, on a fail party can attempt to grab for dc14 dex. arrows will be flying from the other side. for each member roll a d20, if it beats their ac they take 1d8 damage and must roll a dc12 con save or slip off of the rope, making a dc12 dex check to grab back on. each round the party rolls a d4 plus their strength mod and climb that much tiles up the rope. they are all around 15 tiles away from the cliff edge

"arrows continue to fly by as you heave yourself up over the cliff edge. in front of you the cave stretches forward, illuminated by torches on the walls and scattered with crates, barrels and wooden supports."

"as you run a crude sounding horn blares behind you, causing excited and disturbed shrieks and snarls deeper down through the path, not too close, but not far either. as you keep running forward and the guttural sounds of the goblins come closer, you soon turn a corner to a haphazard wooden bridge, over a skinny but steep ravine twisting downwards into darkness"

12 goblins will encounter them if they dont go down the ravine.

#### ravine

you slide down the steep rocky surface, down the middle, and into the darkness, falling through the air for a couple seconds before plummeting into a body of water. for mostly everybody its pitch black, but thokk and Darby, you can see you've landed in in a large cavern, the majority of which consists of a lake which you've landed in, with large rock formations protruding out.

the cavern is about 100 metres in length, with stone spires scattered about supporting the high ceiling, about 7 metres up

a creature is in the cavern with them, a creature crawls out from behind one of the rocks, arms grasping for the ground and dragging itself, along. *"i hear, i count, 1, 2 3, 4 ,5 6 7! sounds bigger than goblins, maybe hobgoblins. they do ought to patch that hole, ahaaha"* the creature drags himself to the edge of the island. dark visions can see its looks like a goblin, but it looks like both of its legs have been removed, and its face is horribly mangled, its eyes covered by deformed flesh

"they used, to call me by Blind Gugli, they did. you can call me blind Gugli"

"i fell down with 2 other goblins. trapped down here in the goblin hole for lots of sleeps and lots of days. they tried to leave, both of them, one went left into the tunnels to the tool workshop and died quick, just one shout and he was gone. one went right to the tunnels to the slaughterhouse and died more slowly. his screams made many rough sleeps they did. Gugli stayed and Gugli lives so that's what you will do"

"he has no clue of where he is? is he new? fell down the goblin hole in his first week how unfortunate! you are in the Mogdul mines, set up by our opulent king Kekdaaz. "

the Mines of Mogdul