19/05/2020 - Subterranean Slinking and Bridge Blunders

## **TL;DR**

* In the outskirts of the slum they came across a halfling dead body branded ‘traitor’, found to have been killed by the resistance
* They traveled up the mountain road, spoke to a few guards who let them pass, and snuck past a group at the mine entrance
* Navigated the dark tunnels and came upon a broken bridge
* Everyone crossed without issue with the exception of Belami who tumbled into the gap but was rescued successfully

## **Halfling-2187**

Led by their new guide Belami, the group made their way back to the outskirts of the slum. Just before they reached the very edge something caught their attention. A dense cluster of halflings were all gathered around looking down at something. Scribbulus  immediately peered into their midst. There, he was greeted by the sight of the body of a young halfling male with the word ‘traitor’ branded into him. Recoiling in horror he backed away while others looked in. A few minutes of Tamsin  and Scribbulus  listening in to the halfling chatter surrounding them revealed that the male, Pialo, had almost certainly been killed by the resistance movement. Probably for giving up some information about them to the ATC .

Moving with ever greater haste and purpose, the group set off for the mountains. Belami put to them all that they had yet to decide whether to take a direct route through the mines themselves, which involved a degree of subterfuge, or the mountain paths, which meant braving the elements. Kunai  and Tamsin  made the case that the party’s presence was still considered very much legitimate by the ATC , and Khrom  pointed out that the weather was only getting worse - into the mines it was to be.

## **Roadside Refutations**

The path became slowly more rugged as it wound its way upwards into ever steeper terrain. Kelda was first to react to the sound of approaching voices, guttural and deep in tone, indicative of the local ATC  guards. She relayed this information and Scribbulus  and Belami nimbly dived into the low but dense shrubs by the roadside. This wasn’t a moment too soon as a set of 4 mounted guards rounded the next corner. Upon sighting the motley group, the guards moved into a canter. The leader, whose genetics appeared to be mixed but predominantly dwarven, called out “What are you doing here?!”. “We’re goin’ up the mountain…”, replied Tamsin  drily. After a brief but tense exchange, she drew forth the horse papers that displayed Horden’s seal. The guard snatched it away and scrutinised it, his eyes narrowing as they flitted over the details. After a moment he reluctantly gave in. “Gah, what do I care? Stay out of the mines, obviously!”. As the guards trotted onwards, Kunai  discreetly sidled up to the shrubbery and whispered “You can come out now”. Scribbulus  burst forth fabulously while Belami crept back to the road.

Possibly prompted by another interaction with unpleasant guards, they passed the time by further exploring the philosophical debates common since landing on Cypropa . “I think they might just be evil…”, Kelda said of the ATC  guards. “In my line of work, evil is a difficult perspective”, retorted Kunai , and Tamsin  nodded in agreement. “From my point of view, evil is difficult to define! Everybody has bad days from time to time”. Khrom , however, did not buy into the shades-of-grey argument. “Most people consider slavery to be evil”. Nonetheless, Tamsin  stuck by her more nuanced view. “There are very few evil people in my experience”. The debate continued back and forth, some members of the group with stronger opinions gravitating towards the centre while others took the opportunity to wander outwards, appreciate the mountain scenery, and daydream.

## **Mine Infiltration**

All debate was cut off when Belami suddenly held up her hand. “Ok, we’re 5-10 minutes from the base of the mine, and from here on in we have to be careful”. In preparation for the sneaking Gimble  and Khrom  doffed their clanking heavy armour, Kunai  and Tamsin  drew forth their hoods to shadow their faces, and Scribbulus  sent Wilbur back a little way along the path to wait for their return. The last leg of the journey was completed in silence and, as they approached a bridge over a narrow gorge, the entrance of the mine came into view in the distance. Before the black maw of the mine lay a couple of large buildings and 5 guards cheerfully absorbed in a game of dice. As they contemplated the next steps a shroud of darkness spread forth with Scribbulus  at the centre, partially obscuring everyone in range and deadening the sounds of their footfalls.

After several minutes of intense debate about how best to pass the guards without causing a ruckus, a route was planned. Taking no chances, Elyan  turned Khrom  invisible with a touch as they crept forwards together across the bridge. Everyone crossed and quickly darted to the right, keeping as much vegetation between them and the guards as possible. Ash  winced as his foot landed heavily on a twig, but was relieved when the sound of its snap was mostly muffled by the magical aura. Once behind the building to that side, there was a straight run to the mine across a clearing. Tamsin  got everyone ready to dash for it as she prepared a distraction. A sound of booming doom, like the chime of midnight in hell, rang out from the bridge they had just crossed. The guard’s heads turned abruptly as they were jolted from their game. “What the fuck was that?!”, one blurted out in shock. “…What you doin boys? Get over there!!”, the most senior of the bunch demanded brusquely. While four of them cautiously made their way to the bridge, the sergeant took the opportunity to have a cheeky look at the dice under their cups and the group made a run for the entrance.

The darkness was heavy and immediate for those without any darkvision capability. Tamsin  soon grasped Blagden’s  hand for extra guidance, and Scribbulus  joined the little procession on the other side. For those able to see, the tunnel was clearly old and well-established. Thick wooden buttresses lined the walls every 10ft or so, and water dripped from the ceiling to create a permanent feeling of damp mustiness. Soon, Tamsin  tired of seeing nothing and lit the end of her staff. Blagden  and Kunai  took point to scout ahead, noticing that the tunnel appeared to open out ahead. Belami informed them of another choice to be made; one route  required some climbing, whilst the other involved a ‘jump'. Almost unanimously the jump was opted for.

In the half-light, Khrom  felt a wriggling at his belt. He plucked Terrence from his belt and cupped him in one broad hand. The partially-grown troll had begun to twitch slightly and its eyes were showing some signs of movement, though it was not yet conscious. To be more closely connected to the little one’s developments, Khrom  used some rope to fashion a papoose-like contraption to hold it on his chest.

The increasingly cramped tunnels spiralled upwards to yet another open space that led out into 4 branching corridors. There, for the first time, the sounds of an active mining operation began to grow to more than a whisper. Listening intently while everyone held their breath, Kelda was able to determine that two of the tunnels rang with the clinking of pickaxes, one more sounded the passage of mine carts along creaking tracks, and the final one was the source of angry shouting. After a short debate in which Khrom  declared he’d like to investigate the shouting but "would probably get outvoted”, they opted for the carts, reasoning that this would lead outwards. Very shortly along this tunnel the first cart very slowly came into view. Without sight of its driver, its passage was steady and almost melancholy. When the driver became visible, the scene was only more sombre; the halfling pushing the cart appeared as dejected as any the group had yet come across. “Hello!”, Scribbulus  greeted, with just a murmured response. “What’s the shouting?”, Khrom  asked him. “You should not be here”, the miner muttered to them all. Feeling utterly powerless to help, the group could only watch as he trudged onwards, eyes glazed over.

## **Belami vs The Bridge**

After a short stroll down the tunnel without any more encounters, Belami suddenly took a sharp turn. “This is where we have to jump”, she declared bluntly as the chamber opened out into a sizeable cavern. A long narrow bridge stretched away before them, a spurious pathway over the seemingly bottomless pit, its promise of safety broken in two by a 15ft gap in the centre. To some imaginings, the jagged edges of the two bridge sections yawned wide like the jaws of a hungry titan of the depths. “No offence Khrom  but I don’t fancy walking on that bridge with you”, Elyan  interjected. Being both athletic and light, Gimble  took a short but powerful run up and leapt across, landing on the far side with poise. Another lengthy discussion ensued regarding those unable to simply leap.

At long last Khrom  drew forth his hempen rope and passed it to Scribbulus , now in sloth form. He swung his way between the support ropes without issue, with Kelda’s nimble arachnid form darting alongside, and gave the rope to Gimble  on the other side. With two anchors in place, Kunai  mounted the rope, set his eyes on the far side and steadily began his traverse. Only a single minor wobble interrupted an otherwise faultless demonstration of dexterity and he was soon feeling (but not looking) pleased with himself on the far side. Elyan , Ash  and Tamsin  then all swung across in sequence and Tamsin  lit up Ash’s  baggy trousers to aid him. He got slightly too carried away with swinging his new found jazzy threads around and nearly slipped just before making a final leap to the far side. “Well that was close, I hope we don’t have to come back this way!”, Ash  exclaimed, somewhat breathlessly. “Oh…we do”, Belami replied guiltily from afar.

Then she stepped up. As a young halfling, she was both extremely light and very nimble. Halfway across the gap itself, the luck characteristic of her people seemingly completely abandoned her and her small hand slipped from the coarse rope. Khrom  saw this happen and lurched forwards but was still too late. In shock, everyone watched as the small figure plummeted into the darkness. Ratty immediately scampered off down the bridge’s supports to investigate and Scribbulus  limbered forwards in sloth form, hyper aware of his pledge to look after the girl. Tamsin  cast light over the edge of the crumbled structure and revealed that her luck had not abandoned her at all. The fortunate halfling lay prone and unconscious on a part of the support structure about 25ft below. Elyan  set about healing some of her wounds, bringing her back to consciousness with a start. By this point Scribbulus  swung down to her, transformed back to his normal form and yelled up for a rope into which he tied Belami. Together, they were pulled back up. “Safe, you said…”, Elyan  trailed off with an eyebrow raised. “It was last time I came across!”, Belami protested weakly.

Meanwhile, Khrom  tentatively placed a weighty foot onto the first planks of the bridge, eliciting a hearty creak. Opting for speed over care, he erupted into action. The bridge had not had such treatment for years and and it protested with squeaks and groans as Khrom  thundered his bulk across it. But it held. Upon reaching the chasm his momentum easily carried him across and over to where the others waited.

## **Into the Un-Snow-n**

Having regained some strength, Belami guided them rapidly along a straight back and towards a growing source of light. Once in sight, the light was dazzling to their dark-accustomed eyes and as they emerged everyone squinted to see. As the shapes resolved themselves, it was clear that they’d made it into the mountains. Snow was only lightly falling but the wind was whipping this up into a frenzy that drove into their faces and turned the cold into needles. Vision was heavily obscured but the white spray blustered in great swirls against the mountains surrounding them. They set off once more and after 20 minutes of trudging through the snow and driving winds, they arrived at a slight depression. There lay the remnants of a camp, a few tents that had been partially buried by snowdrifts and a few scattered possessions.