Working in the Old Mine
From Aput's journal
Year of the Eagle

Ophiuchus, 6 Scorpius: We spent several days recovering from our sojourn into the depths. While Zotis & Yullock worked on Zik, the casters in our group focused their efforts on the tomes recovered from that odd library. I spent time sketching a low-level ward against evil foes into my spellbook.
Our first goal for the return to the depths was excavating the area sealed off by the wormlings. The Ixian explorers brought several tools well-suited for this task (& they obviously no longer needed them), so we collected an assortment of picks, shovels, & other tools to aid our dig. Back to the depths we went.
Our efforts led to our discovery of several chambers. One - home to numerous spiders & a handful of husks – worm-men who’d fallen prey. Another - a webbed room, home to a brood of newly hatched spiders. The spiders barely taxed our skills & we claimed a small mix of ancient coins for our efforts. Their tiny bites still itch from being engulfed by the swarm.
We had one more unexplored path – to the east beyond the room with the luminescent fungi. After a bend to the northeast, we entered the largest cavern we’d found thus far – the path continued perhaps 5 paces before turning sharply northwest & exiting the chamber in that direction. The path was a raised walkway through an underground pool, completed with blind pale fish. Several exits lurked at the edge of our lights – one leading southeast, the other to the east. Zotis skulked away to explore them both.
He quickly returned from the southern passage, telling us of a precipitous drop to another chamber (we’d explore it later). Still, his entrance into the eastern tunnel disturbed some bats (we thought), but soon discovered that they were more akin to giant flying bloodsuckers. Fortunately, we brought arrows & dealt with them before they could close on our ranks.
Finding nothing in the lair to the northeast, our scouts (Tonrar & Zotis) moved to explore what lay beyond the drop. We later learned that after they set a rope to descend, they were attacked by a pale-scaled lizardfolk who’d hidden along the wall. Its ambush failed, leaving the scouts to nurse some wounds & explore the lower cavern.
Meanwhile, some of the fallen bugs floated along with the current & disappeared into the southern wall. The opening was wide enough that I noticed a sharp descent into darkness. By a strange coincidence, my boreal pact granted me a glowing ice blade & gave me some ability to breathe water. I handed my rope to Zik after tying it around me & moved to explore the tunnel. It curved back to the west into the lower chamber where our scouts searched. We discovered little in the cavern – just a few coins (mostly copper) and the realization that the attacker’s corpse reeked of a particularly pungent odor. Eye-watering. I collected the head for later identification – I suspect I’ll need to burn the oilcloth used to wrap it. None of our scaled allies could name it, but the three agreed – “That’s not one of our people.”
One passage remained, leading past the glowing blue fungi room. We heard faint sounds further ahead – metal ringing on stone. Cautiously we advanced down the sloped passage, around one corner, then into a room whose sole feature was a massive sinkhole. The sounds rose from there. Peering into the pit we saw faint reflections of our lights reflected off metal tracks. What lay below?
It was an old mine. Complete with skeletal miners. We dropped into a large space – a collection point with tracks heading north & west. The skulkers headed north, to see how many miners continued to toil well beyond their lives while the rest of us scouted along the rails to the west. Both groups ended up fighting – skeletal miners to the north & worm-men to the west. Tonrar handled most of the skeletons with a bolt of lightning – a secret that I’d like to learn at some point. The wormlings managed a few solid blows but ultimately fell to our blades. A brief search of both areas revealed some valuables – close to 20 small pieces of obsidian set aside near the miners & a small cache of jeweled ornaments – tiger-eye bronze earrings, an ivory medallion, copper bracers inlaid with turquoise, a gem-studded electrum anklet, a gold locket & an ivory comb & brush set.
We paused here to compare notes & to decide which way to head next – several options lay before us as we explored deeper into the mine. Decisions, decisions.