Part One: The End of the Road

[Griffith]

You have followed the old, rutted, overgrown trail up into the narrow canyon.

At the end of the road there is a ramp that goes up 30' to a rectangular doorway in the canyon wall. The doorway is 20' tall and 10' wide. The ramp is made of rock and mud. The floor of the canyon is strewn with small boulders and piles of mine tailings, weeds, and dead leaves.

Off to the right, is a battered and slightly leaning stone statue of a dwarf. The face of the dwarf is turned upright looking to the top of Mount Khunmar.


The wind is cold and biting. It is beginning to snow lightly.

It is midday when you reach the mines.


you are at x

[Pulpatoon]

Coat of Nine-Hides drops to all fours and inspects the area for tracks and other signs of recent activity.

[coil23]

Boo squints at the statue before moving closer to examine it. He is curious about the details and if there is an inscription at the base. As he gets closer he ponders this ragged crew. Nothing but a common enemy could have brought such as these together. The cold bites but at least the wind helps carry away the stench of that girl and her hides.

Tun happily searches through the mud for pretty rocks. Ooh! There's one that looks like beaver potty. He sniffs it to be sure. No- rock. He gathers some to put in his satchel to throw later. In his captivating geological survey he still keeps an eye on Boo, always making sure he knows where the little one is. Friend.

[Pulpatoon]

Brother Dumphey leans on his mace, wishing it were his broom. He stares off in janitorial reverie until he notices Tun's search for rocks. The Brother is too intimidated to approach the huge half-ogre, but watches in envious interest.

[Griffith]

Though the ground is rocky and weedy and beginning to be covered by snow, Coat of Nine-Hides easily locates animal tracks. There are two kinds of tracks.

The first set of tracks were made by rats. These aren’t ordinary rats, but much, much larger; perhaps the size of a large dog.

The second set of tracks were made by humanoids of some sort. These humanoids are small; some are bare-footed, some wear shoes or boots.
There are many more rat tracks than humanoid tracks. And they are much more recent. Coat of Nine-Hides can detect a strong smell of rodent musk throughout the area. Following the tracks she discovers a small 3’ diameter hole/passageway in the wall of the canyon at B. This hole was hidden by rubble and weeds. Following the tracks west they come to a dead-end at the canyon wall behind the statue at C. It seems there should be a door or opening there --the rat tracks seem to come and go here-- but Coat of Nine-Hides is unable to find a door.

The humanoid tracks go up the ramp.

Boo finds no inscriptions on the statue. It is carved from stone and well-made. It is weather beaten and looks like someone long ago tried to scratch away the facial features. Otherwise it appears ordinary.

Boo, already near the statue, is also unable to find a door in the canyon wall.

[ybn1197]

Huxley approaches the statue and kneels before it. Though not one to follow the dwarven deities, he does understand and respect their part in the cosmic structure and gives due reverence to them before beginning their trek into the mines.

Gebhart notes the actions of Coat of Nine-Hides and nods approvingly. He also takes note of Tun and Brother Dumphey. In his mind, they were accomplishing as much as Huxley... nothing. At least Boo was examining the statue, not prostrating in front of it or playing with rocks. Coming to the conclusion that Boo and Coat of Nine-Hides were the most productive members of the group (and Boo smelled better) he made his way towards the statue and examined it as well. Huxley may have a heart of gold but investigation was not his forte.

[Pulpatoon]

Coat of Nine-Hides scuffs at the rock wall behind the statue with hands and feet. "There's a door here, but it's hidden. You probably need to do something to ol' Stone-whiskers, here. Something that a rat could do."

Dropping to all fours and doing her best giant rat impression, she inspects the statue for any signs of rats interacting with the statue: musk marks, scratches, nibbles, etc. Any fiddly bits on the statue get fiddled with.

[coil23]

At Coat of Nine-Hides comment Tun offers helpfully: pee on it.

Boo nods appreciatively at the cleric's respect before the dwarven statue. He considers himself kin to the under the mountain folk and gives a nod of respect to the statue to pay his own respects without being caught doing so by the others. Not that it will save us is his morose punctuation to this thought.
The gnome takes a long look in all directions to make sure nothing is coming up on them and then contributes his own investigative skills to trying to find some lever or mechanism to open the door under the statue. We could always just go in the large front entrance. And I wonder if it would be better or worse if we tried to plug that rat hole entrance over there before we go underground.

How comfortably could the gnome traverse that rat burrow on the left? Would he walk normally, walk stooped over, or be on all fours? And could he reasonably fight if need be while in the burrow tunnel?

[Pulpatoon]

pee on it.

Coat of Nine-Hides gives the statue an investigatory sniff, checking for rat pee.

We could always just go in the large front entrance.

Nine-Hides chews her lip. "It just sticks in my craw, when something's hidden or closed off."

[MajorRoy]

Évariste dismounts and raises his collar against the biting wind. He's tense and follows Carouge around, his crossbow loaded and at the ready. "Do you think he's here, love?" he says silently to her.

Carouge doesn't answer but also searches behind the statue for any hidden door. Then she follows the humanoid tracks and tries to discern their numbers and any intent that can be deduced.

Both are apprehensive towards the rest of the group, though united in a common cause they may be, trust still has to be earned.

[Pulpatoon]

Coat of Nine-Hides responds, even though Évariste was not addressing her: "Nigh? I don't pick up his spore. The tracks belong to rats and... hmm, goblins, I expect. This could be fool's errand."

She says this with a voice thick with disinterest, but her eyes remain keenly fixed on the probable location of the hidden door.

Brother Dumphey wanders over to see what everyone is looking at. Not quite getting what is so special about this piece of stone, he begins idly tapping his mace against it.

Nine-Hides perks up. "Dumphey, keep doing that. Now move a bit to the left. No, left is towards me. Now up a bit... and now down a bit. Keep it up." She listens closely for a hollow sound.

[Griffith]

Boo takes a long look in all directions to make sure nothing is coming up on them. He sees nothing but the falling snow and hears nothing but the icy wind whistling through the canyon. He helps the others looking for the door, but is unsuccessful.

Coat of Nine-Hides is also unsuccesful in finding a door. She sniffs the statue but notices nothing unusual. Ths smell of rat pee is all over the canyon floor.

Carouge is also unable to find the door.

Gebhart does not find anything unusual about the statue. But while he is near the statue, he does notice an irregularly shaped stone protruding from the wall of the canyon just above where everyone else is searching for a door. This stone is shaped like a crescent moon --not likely to have been formed naturally-- and smoother on its surface than other stones in the canyon wall. Could this be a lever or "button" to open the sought after door?

Brother Dumphey follows Coat of Nine-Hides directions and taps his mace against the wall of the canyon. It does sound hollow in the place where there should be a door. As he is tapping, Dumphey just happens to notice the same oddly shaped stone that Gebhart notices at just about the same time.

[coil23]

Boo watches carefully as the others search underneath the statue. Meanwhile, Tun has decided on the needed course of action. He squats down and carefully stacks rocks in front of the burrow hole (B) in order to close off the entrance.

[Pulpatoon]

Brother Dumphey calls excitedly to Tun: "Look at the rock I found! It's a moon!"

He tries to to pry the rock loose with his fingers.

[Pulpatoon]

Coat of Nine-Hides, assuming that the brain trust will eventually try pressing the stone, wanders over to Boo. She watches him quietly for a moment, and then, on impulse, sticks her head as close to the as-yet-unblocked portion of the rat-hole and lets out a resounding cat's cry:

In the feline language: "I'M A TIGER! AND I'M HUNTING RATS AND GOBLINS! I'LL STAY OUT HERE ALL DAY WAITING TO SPRING ON THEM!"

She sits back on her haunches, looking very pleased with her mischief.

[ybn1197]

"Don't try to pry it loose!" Gebhart says to Brother Dumphey. "You're as thick headed as the other one," he says sneering. "It most likely is a button and therefore needs to be depressed, and not in the manner you most assuredly are accustomed to, in order to open the door." Gebhart goes ahead and presses down on the stone.

Huxley, disturbed from his reverie with the statue, looks up and tries to follow what Gebhart is doing.

[Pulpatoon]

Brother Dumphey looks stung by Gebhart's tone, although he only followed part of what was said. "A button? Buttons are even better than rocks. The abbot has brass buttons on his vestments!" He looks even more eager to pry the moon-piece out, but reluctantly makes way for Gebhart to have a try at pressing it.

[coil23]

Tun, wide-eyed with wonder, abandons his rock project and lopes over to see the moon rock. He peers around the others, increasingly disappointed as no moon seems apparent. Can I press it?

Boo nearly jumps out of his skin at the beast-child's sudden yowling. He awkwardly turns his startle into a stretch to recover some dignity. Maybe we should get out of the cold, he offers to no one in particular, his eyes never leaving the now officially unpredictable and worrisome yowler.

[Griffith]

Gebhart goes ahead and presses down on the stone. There is a rumbling within the canyon wall as ancient, Dwarven-made gears and cogs begin turning. A stone slab slides sideways finally revealing a doorway in the canyon wall (C). There is a steep set of stairs leading underground. There is a strong smell of rodent musk wafting up out of the passageway. You don't have to be a beast-master to realize that down there somewhere are rats. There is no sound and only darkness to see.

Coat of Nine-Hides cries out and sits back on her haunches. Tun begins to lope over to the moon stone, but only gets a few steps when both he and Coat of Nine-Hides hear from the rat-hole (B) the sound of something scurrying and chittering moving quickly towards them. They will have only a few seconds to prepare before whatever is in there emerges from the hole!

[Pulpatoon]

Coat of Nine-Hides leaps up on the base of the statue, where she'll have the advantage of higher ground, she sets her spear against the expected on-rush of rats and calls out a warning to the rest of the party: "Hide or fight! Something's coming!"

The wild child suffers a flicker of abashedness—who could have foreseen that her impulsive action might have consequences? "Something that isn't scared of tigers."