Mine Collapse and Rescue
Date: March 1, 719 GY
Location: Amasia, Vonor
Outcome: Mining team rescued; Forewoman Olarina lost and presumed dead.
Amasia is a mining town in the western reaches of Vonor, part of the Pillars of Zeris mountain range. For three hundred years, workers have cut copper, tin, and granite from the roots of these mountains and buried their dead in the upper tunnels. When production began to fall off in 717, there was widespread concern that the mine was nearing its end. Senator Menirios Cyrilla (Amasia’s representative, as well as a leading landowner in the area) ordered changes to local laws that would allow for more exploratory digging to find new veins of useful metals in the area, and offered exceptional bonuses for useful discoveries.
Cyrilla’s bounties succeeded too well, as miners and treasure-seekers from western and central Vonor, and even some from other nations, streamed into the area. Their numbers far exceeded the volunteer guards of Amasia. Up to this point, the town had never needed more than [a part-time guard captain] and [six part-time duty watch]. They were overwhelmed within two months. Word was slow to reach Cyrilla, who was sitting in session in Elagria, so the senator failed to take steps to mitigate the increasing disorder. It’s far from clear that revoking the bounty would have led to any positive outcome, even at this early stage.
By July of 718, taverns and alchemical assayers had become the two leading businesses of Amasia. The taverns were hotbeds of conflict between professional mining outfits and adventurers, the latter relying mainly on Earth Channelers and necromancers for mineral dowsing magic (unreliable at the best of times). [Any number of PCs can be part of the mining outfits or the adventuring teams.]
In the early going, the teams found nothing of great mineral worth, but they discovered many old camps and secret strongholds of long-ago dissident groups that had made their home in this remote area. Some of these drew full delve teams and proved to have extensive traps and other defensive works. Some of those who would eventually go to Vigil had their first experiences of dangerous delves here, including groups like Par-myri’s Crows, the Five Furies, and the Vlosyrós Cabal. (If you are part of this event, you may receive a small amount of additional information on these NPC adventuring groups. The adventuring groups are likely to appear in the course of the campaign.)
In time, an [Earth Channeler] discovered a new vein of copper in a remote branch of the mine, and the mining crews got to work. Forewoman Olarina was the chief overseer of the dig, and was present when [one of the miners] felt the dirt start to give way beneath them. Narrowly avoiding catastrophe, they widened the hole and lowered lamps, revealing a deep cavern. In addition to a rich copper vein, they found worked stone, disused tools… and desiccated remains. A [Physicker] was called in to study the body; finding no clear cause of death, they ruled it “death by misadventure,” which for some reason did nothing to quiet the rumors of foul magic afoot.
This led in short order to still greater tensions in Amasia. On one side, Forewoman Olarina set a guard on the breach into the chamber, letting no one in. She insisted on strict rules about how the mining teams, the Senator, and other townsfolk of Amasia would divide the wealth of the dig. On the other, the adventurers wanted permission to explore, but saw that they were getting cut out of the bargain (having, in the Forewoman’s view, contributed nothing to the success). The Senator saw that the adventurers needed to get bought off, or a large number of heavily armed, reckless troublemakers would recklessly make trouble right here.
In secret, Olarina armed a sturdy team of [miners - must have Craft: Miner and proficiency with a blunt weapon] with patchwork armor, hammers, and other adventuring gear, and sent them to explore the chamber. For all their expertise in mining, this team lacked the instinct for danger, the fool’s luck, that keeps delvers alive. Several were gravely wounded by traps and odd magical phenomena, and Olarina was forced to call a team of [seven adventurers] to rescue the crew. Olarina accompanied them in.
As they entered, a pall of darkness descended over the chamber, dispelling several magical lights that they carried, and that had been placed around the room. Only a few lanterns provided feeble light, but what they revealed were grasping, skeletal hands emerging and the cracking of worked stone slabs. As the team conjured more lights and lit lanterns, they struggled to fend off undead from every direction.
A shield-wall guarded the evacuation of the injured miners, and they discovered a concealed doorway, blocked with mortared stone, that emanated necromantic power. Defacing its glyphs weakened the undead, but a greater power stirred and the ceiling began to shudder and crack. [A Medium] shuddered as power washed over them, and their eyes were solid black for a moment. “Behold, behold! The dead shall march, blood shall speak, souls shall fester! These are the three heralds of the power that is rising, the Champion of the Xiphos!” Then a terror and a silence came upon the Medium, but their eyes were once again their own.
The cracks in the ceiling became a cave-in and the skeletons were crushed to powder. Olarina and [another character] were cut off on the far side of the chamber. The rest of the miners and adventurers made their desperate escape.
When the cave-in stopped, the mining teams poured all of their effort into clearing the chamber and finding Olarina and the other trapped person. The [other character] spent 36 hours trapped in total darkness but was uninjured when the miners dug them out. No sign of Olarina was found, but the trapped person said that she survived the cave-in and had spoken with them for the first twelve hours.
In the aftermath of these events, Amasia’s wealth (well, mainly the Cyrilla family’s wealth) and stature grew. Mining teams eventually began to work the new vein, and scholars studied what they could of the now badly damaged chamber.