Firemonth 13th, 6:35 AM. We discussed the trip down to the depths of Furnace Hollow. Due to the Phazonire, our magic and items were not an option, so for now we were entrusting them to Almara, Martin, and Ebbit. We took 2 of the lizardbirds inside a cage, stripped down to just what we needed, and then boarded the elevator, giving Almara the ok to lower us. It was 7:13 and Ebbit Urban began his repulsion song, filling the air with his voice and the strums of his lute, forcing the few skinks who had arrived to look around to fall back. 10 hours. That was our window.
She lowered us down, the cage rattling as it brought us deeper and deeper under the ground. There was a side shaft with some supplies in about 150’ down but the bottom of the main shaft was at the 200’ mark. The air was still but still fresh-ish this close to the main shaft. Passage primarily went east, but we took a mine cart already here and proceeded to move it down the track. After some time walking we came to a vertical shaft that went down from here. Testing led us to believe it was a good 100’ down.
We kept on eastward, coming to a diagonal shaft, heading up and west and down and east, mine tracks there. There was a bridge we could put in place to get the cart on the diagonal but we pressed on east for now. The cave opened up to a living area, sleeping for 12, a natural cave down here. We looked around, grabbed some rawhide gloves, and kept on east. Eventually we arrived at an air shaft, 4’ diameter, heading up and down.
Talked about what to do and a few of us had the advantage of Wilhelm’s spider climb. Going up ,some rungs along the way, there was a mesh grate here. A knock spell from Shim forced it open and we were in the air pump house. 2 stories tall, a central shaft, bellows fan system, usually donkey/mule driven – but no animal now. Could get some fresh air down there but someone would have to turn the bellow shaft. Shim summoned a gnoll and had the burly hyena-man grab one of the spokes and start to turn. The bellows filled and spun, driving the sails open, and the spiral forced the fresh air into the shaft and down into the mine. This was kept up until the spell expired and the gnoll dispelled.
We closed the grate and went back down to the rest of the party, fresher air in the mine for now. It was about 9:15 Am. We headed back through the cave to the diagonal shaft where Nate climbed up the 45’ slope using the rail ties as hold. Up and up and up he went till he cave to the top. There was a winch system up here and cables to help guide and raise and lower a mine cart through the diagonal shaft. He unspooled a length of the cable and came back down, letting the group know what was there and what we learned.
We were not going to hook up the cart to the winch, but instead used our own rope to extend the winch space lower down. The phazonire and the golem had to be lower. So we figured, lets go lower. It was a bit after 10:15 when we started using the shaft to go lower. Level at 275’. Level at 300’, Level @ 325’. As they were going lower there was another level at 375’ but the air was growing thick and tasted weird, light was dulling, lantern spitting. The decision was to head back up as the air this low was most likely tainted and not safe. We went back up to the 325’ level and everyone made their way eventually to here.
It was after 11 at this time and we headed east again. There was a shaft going up and down from here and kept on going east until we came past the air shaft and eventually to a vertical shaft going up and down. We figured it was 25’ tops. So again, 2 of us went down and the group then all started heading west again on 2 levels. The lower level did spot some purple light ahead and Shim was getting ill, tongue swelling up. Phazonire. Got it. There were signs the orcs had been mining here, some cart, raw ore, and even a pulley system with buckets. We went back to the air shaft, had the group rope us back to the 325’ level and we went wet to the other vertical shaft we had passed where Shim and Connal climbed down again to the 350 area and came upon the phazonire from the other side.
There was the golem, 9’ tall, clay, big. Shim went closer and tried to say the words but he was pretty close to the poisonous mage sapping stone, and his words were not clear enough to start it. So he tried again. And again. And again. Each time he was getting weaker, skin turning red, thoughts dulling. Eventually he got lucky and the golem awoke, and through it, we could hear Doggar Skullbeat – 25 miles away in Staz, excited that we did it. The golem went and gathered the phazonire, taking it to the vault room and sealing it within the lead lined chamber. Once done, we all gathered together and followed the golem and Doggar to the main vault.
Once here we took what coins we could with Doggar’s approval, as well as what strange mining equipment (hammers, helm, claws, shovels, etc) we could. There was also some 30 lbs of fizzstone here that we took as well. The golem then under Doggar’s control led us back to the main shaft where it shuffled one person at a time back up to the 200’ level. Captain Asher fired off a zone of sweet air, making the place much easier for us to navigate. At the elevator shaft we called to Almara and had to wait briefly for her to get us back up to the surface. Time now, 3:30 PM.
The area up here was a mess. Scores of lizardmen were held back at the 100’ area, a few had managed to make their saves and get through. Martin of Camber was down to 9 crossbow bolts. Almara was somewhat wounded, covered in blood and still standing, Ebbit was also sporting some wounds, hands bleeding from playing for almost 8 hours so far. The mine house was covered in bolts and broken boards from countless attacks. And razordons, kroxigors, saurials, and all types of lizard creatures were anxious to get in and kill us.
We showed the items to Ebbit who’s knowledge of legendary items was almost encyclopedic. Claws of digger, maul of the titans, Rod of passage, helm of teleportation. Each needed a manastone to power it, of which we looked through our belongings and we had a total of 11. Not everything was unlimited in power – most things would operate once, or were geared for use for a mining group. The helm would teleport a group up to 500’ away without error as long as hands were joined. Everything was good, but we needed to get gone and soon.
Plus we had 30# of fizzstone. And with the mine shaft here, maybe we could come up with a plan to detonate it, scare and kill some lizardmen, and teleport safely away. Beginnings of a plan, but time was not on our side. Firemonth the 13th, 3:51 PM
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