A Miner Problem

* The party is hired by **Baron Torth**, the local warlord ruling over the **Maharev** region of **former-Qadira**, to check in on the nearby village of Sandstone.
	+ The Maharev region is the area between the **Maharev River** to the west, the **Meraz River** to the east, and the **Zho Mountains** to the north. Its southern third is largely rocky desert, while its northern two-thirds are thick jungle.
	+ Baron Torth rules from **Isfahel**, a well-defended city that sits at the intersection of the Meras and Maharev rivers.
	+ **Sandstone** is a village of nearly 300 people, located about 150 miles east of Isfahel along the Meraz River, at the bend just before the river turns north. Sandstone is of significance because it is responsible for the most productive gold mine in the region.

* The party's task, specifically, is to ensure that Sandstone is prepared for a major trade caravan that will be passing through the Maharev soon, and that there are no issues with the gold mine production.

* The party arrives at Sandstone and is welcomed cautiously by the Village Elder, **Athek**, and his wife **Ava**, who oversee Sandstone's day-to-day affairs on behalf of the Baron.
	+ They have overseen Sandstone since long before the Baron's arrival in the Maharev, and are well-accustomed to catering to the will of local warlords. They use the leverage provided to them by the gold mine to guarantee the safety of Sandstone's people.
	+ The party is provided with free room and board at the **Cutting Edge Inn, Tavern, and Blacksmith**, an all-inclusive 'Adventurer's Stop' that seems to see very few actual adventurers in a town this small.

* The party finds that Athek and Ava are handling preparations for the trade caravan quite well, and that there appears to be no problem there.
* However,  Athek and Ava alert them that a villager who works at the gold mine, named **Darius**, was brought back from the gold mine after being beaten so savagely that he will likely never walk again. Athek asks the party to look into what happened.
* Darius is being guarded at his house by the **Dervishes**, two twin brothers from Korvosa who traveled to Sandstone after the Disavowment and have made their living protecting it ever since.
	+ Their names are **Quel** and **Vil**, and they *do not* like Baron Torth. By extension, they do not like the party, who are his agents in the town.

* Darius, when confronted on the issue, says that the Half-Orc foremen of the mine, a wife and husband named **Maddy** and **Thaddy**, are responsible for his injuries.
* The party informs Athek of this, and he expresses his doubts. Maddy and Thaddy are notorious for beating the miners when they think they need to, but he insists that they've never left anyone so injured that they can't keep mining, let alone left someone permanently crippled.
* The party decides to talk to Maddy and Thaddy about it, to get their side of the story. They go to the Cutting Edge to plan how to confront them; shortly after they arrive, Thaddy comes in for an afternoon drink.
* Thaddy is a tremendous asshole. He demands his drink from the bartender, doesn't pay for it afterward, and ignores everyone else in the room, including the party when they try to get his attention.
* Ultimately, the tavern's doorman, a Dwarf called **Durgen**, tries to insist that Thaddy stay and talk. Thaddy tells him to piss off, kicks him through the tavern's door when he doesn't step aside, and attempts to storm off.
* The party is able to subdue him, with some difficulty. Thaddy is very strong, but not strong enough to win a 1v5 fight. Durgen was winded but not injured by the encounter, and thanks the party, but says that Thaddy is not normally this recalcitrant.

* The party is unable to convince Thaddy to talk about them regarding Darius's injuries, and he neither confirms nor denies the accusation that he or his wife caused them. The party is still suspicious of things, and returns to Darius to ask some follow-up questions.
* Darius eventually reveals that Maddy and Thaddy were not the real culprits. Instead, he was injured by a faction of smugglers who have been operating out of the gold mine for the past several weeks. They told him that if he snitched on them, they'd come back to finish the job.
	+ The leader of this gang of smugglers is a local named **Lucius**.
* The party apologizes to Thaddy, and travels with him and Athek to his home a few miles outside of Sandstone (about halfway to the gold mine), where he and his wife live alone and away from the village.

* With some persuading, the party get Maddy and Thaddy to reluctantly give them a chance to handle Lucius and his thugs before *they* do it themselves. They are clear in their intent to make a brutal example of the smugglers, but Athek insists that the Baron would want them brought back to Isfahel alive, and asks the party to try to capture them instead.

* The party travels to the mine and finds Lucius with his gang. After confronting him, a short battle ensues which leaves most of the smugglers dead. Lucius and a couple of his subordinates are taken alive. The party turns the over to Athek, impressing him, and win the grudging appreciation of Maddy and Thaddy.