A secret mine

Lamashan 22, 4711

On a beautiful fall day, Gerald decides to visit Shadowborn Manor and his sister Daryle, whom he has not seen for a while. This will give him the opportunity to take a good look at his sister's new property.

The Cooper twins explore the ruined manor and do some minor work on the kitchen. In the evening, they partake of a quick meal. That's when Daryle notices two goblins lurking at the edge of her property. The twins track them to an old stone well located among the ruins of a farm house about a mile and a half south of the manor. The first goblin climbs the wall around the well and disappears inside. Daryle quickly draws an arrow and slays the second goblin, but unfortunately he drops down into the well as well. Daryle pears down the well, and notices that there are sturdy iron rings leading downwards.

Daryle decides to climb down, and after a long hundred feet she reaches the bottom. She immediately moves over and tells Gerald to come down. The bottom of the well does not have any water and is filled with debris and the dead body of a goblin. Gerald casts light on Daryle's bow, and then lights his own lantern.

The other goblin is nowhere to be seen, but a hole in the well wall indicates that there is a path beyond. This path has been carved by water over eons, and, if the area wasn't in a dry spell there most likely would be water here. The Coopers track the surviving goblin through the natural caves and after a few hundred feet reach a junction between the natural cave and a man-made tunnel. The water that sweats over the walls is orange and bubbly, indicating that the area is rich in iron, and in fact the hallway itself is part of a mine, with timber supports. Daryle examines the wood and notices that it is about 75 to 150 years old. The tunnel plainly followed a vein here, then ended before the miners pierced into the natural cave.

Exploration of the tunnel reveals several glyphs in the timber. Evidently carved by goblins, they seem to provide crude directions. The footprints on the wet grounds indicate that there are at least a dozen goblins regularly threading here.

Gerald almost falls victim to a gelatinous cube, but is saved through quick thinking and a magical ring. They come upon a large cave where eleven goblins are chain-ganged and mine the iron ore while two bugbears oversee the work while cruelly abusing the goblins. The Coopers quickly dispatch the two slave drivers and tell the goblins to keep mining. There are large wagon tracks on the ground leading away from the cave.

The Coopers follow the tracks. They cross several lateral tunnels where other chain gangs are operating, as well as several dead ends. Then they come upon a large room with a set of chains leading a chain of buckets upwards through the ceiling. In the room are several goblins in chains, as well as their two bugbear overseers. But there are also six other goblins wearing weapons and armors. Daryle notices that the chief goblin has two crescent moons carved on his cheeks. A member of the Dark Blood tribe!

The iron ore mined by the goblins is loaded in containers that are linked to a rotating chain. The containers lift up through a hole in the ceiling, while other containers come down from the other side and are then replenished. Daryle and Gerald attack the group, but the battle turns south and first Gerald then Daryle succumb to the assault....


Lamashan 23, 4711

Gerald is the first to wake up, and he finds himself completely hogtied in a dark room with light barely coming in from the crack under the door. Next to him is Daryle, currently unconscious and also completely immobilized. There are two heavily armed bugbears in the room near the door, keeping an eye on the prisoners. When they notice Gerald is awake, one of them knocks on the door. A few moments later, a goblin taller than the others steps in. It's Greenhide!

Greenhide appears pleased to see Gerald. The goblin chief reveals to him that he and his sister will be "guests" for a week, until after the assault on Fort Inevitable he plans to lead in seven days. He further gloats to Gerald that he will first attack all of the villages around the town, then lay the town to waste afterwards. He tells Gerald to enjoy their goblin hospitality, and that he would be freed in seven days. Laughing evilly, Greenhide walks out, leaving the two guards behind.

Daryle wakes up, and after she takes stock of the situation she notices Gerald sweet talking the guards, trying to convince them to rise against the goblins. While he does so, she also spots a loose stone in the wall. Struggling, she manages to shake her ropes off, then she crawls over to the wall and begins removing the stones. Behind them is a small tunnel. She enters the tunnel then relays the stones again, blocking the path.

Meanwhile, Gerald keeps talking to the guard, and eventually they appear to be convinced, and they walk out the door, leaving the sorcerer alone. Gerald notices that he's now by himself, his sister having disappeared.

Daryle comes out on a ledge about twenty feet from the floor of the cave. It is a large space with fourteen wagons fully loaded with iron ore. Greehide comes down a set of stairs, then boards one of the wagons. The convoy, also accompanied by about fifty goblins, heads out. Daryle decides to follow them and comes out of the underground about four miles from her house. Following the trail, she arrives at an intersection. Right will take her to Fort Inevitable. Left, to Shadowborn Manor. And straight leads to the Emerald Spire. She decides to turn right to go warn the Hellknights.

Gerald manages to escape from the prison cell. After dispatching a few goblins, he searches the office for his gear but does not find it. He climbs the stairs down and spots twelve more empty wagons. He entertains the idea of hiding in one of them, but then decides that he is likely to be crushed by the ire as the wagon is loaded. He manages to escape the mine as well.

At the crossroads he takes a right and returns to Shadowborn Manor and raids his sister's supply of healing potions before racing back to Fort Inevitable.

Daryle is the first one to arrive in Fort Inevitable. She is taken immediately to see the Lady Commander and begins telling her her recent tale of woes. Greenhide is preparing an army, she tells the Lady Commander. He will attack the town soon. He's got goblins and bugbears. "I'm not a weak warrior and they took me down," she says, adding "The town needs to be prepared for this, they are coming." When questioned as to how many goblins Greenhide might have, Daryle tells her she saw about 100 or so, as well as ten or twelve wagons, with more that weren't done loading, four left, filled with iron ore to forge weapons.

Gerald is reunited with his sister in the Lady Commander's office, and he fills in some of the holes in the story. He reports that Greenhide is massing a force of goblins and bugbears as well as other monsters, possibly including demons. Greehide told Gerald that he would hit Dimsdale in seven days. "They know the strategic weaknesses of each outlying town, so they plan on hitting there before they come here to settle a score with the Hellknights and the Lady Commander herself," says Gerald. He quickly adds that Greenhide has his familiar at the moment and he planned to eat her for dinner. The sorcerer wants a small contingent of Hellknights as well as Coopers to retrieve the turtle, with the possibility of causing a rebellion and dealing with Greenhide once and for all.

The Lady Commander is not interested in a turtle rescue mission, however. Gerald tries to sweeten the pot by telling her about the secret mining site with dozens of enslaved goblins who could, given the right motivation, rise up and fight on the Coopers' side. She decides to take no action against the mine at this time, but she sends out messengers to all outlying farms and villages, and she immediately dispatches squads to reinforce each village's garrison. The Lady Commander and 900 of her best troops will rush out in the morning to assault the Emerald Spire. She appoints Roscoe local commander to take control of Fort Inevitable when the Hellknight army heads out in the morning.