Greetings all. This chapter got away from me a bit so the Mines will end up in two parts. Please bear with me.
Sunnysoul, thank you for the excellent feedback. I do plan on going back and tightening up the earlier chapters when I get the time. This is the first time I have tried to write anything like this so I am definitely learning as I go. so thank you for reading and for the feedback. I really to appreciate it.
Chapter 22 – Into the mines – Day 54
"So to recap, after killing about two dozen guards on the upper level of the mine we still have to fight our way through three more levels of this awful place, fight a dangerous wizard, recover a key, flood the mines and then make it to the surface before we all drown?"
"Imoen, I am impressed. You listening skills have really improved. I thought you were not even listening when Ajantis and I were talking to Pilar. Although you did fail to mention the part where we need to find Rill and free all the slaves on the second level of the mine."
"Details, details. I got the gist of it. Besides, to be fair, I was really just staring at Ajantis and happened to overhear the conversation while I was undressing him with my eyes."
"Wow, just wow."
Jeral chuckled to himself and moved ahead of Imoen as the group descended to the second level of the mines. The stairs ended in a small entry chamber with hallways in the center of the northern and southern walls. The room held a small table, four chairs and a weapons rack. It was clearly a guard post but for some reason it was unoccupied.
"We need a way to find our way down to the third level. This level is supposed to be crawling with guards and black talon mercenaries if Pilar is to be believed but we still need to get through this level somehow. We were fortunate to catch the guards on the upper level unprepared and in small groups. I suspect the guards down here will be well prepared for our arrival. My time in the Order gave we experience in large scale combat, these small skirmishes are a new experience for me so I am not sure how best to proceed."
Ajantis warily watched the northern hallway while Minsc eyed the southern one.
"Ajantis, you do have a point. I guess it is time for a little scouting. Dynaheir, can you make me invisible again?"
"But of course Jeral, that spell is one I learned as a child. The casting of it is simplicity itself."
"Well that may be true but I am having the hardest time learning it."
Jeral started to make a neat pile of equipment on the ground, removing anything that could make noise and reveal his position. He first laid down his bow and quiver. He then pulled off his chain mail armor and the padded under tunic. He also laid his enchanted buckler on the ground and took off his leather boots. Down to his dark brown breeches and a green long sleeve tunic Jeral nodded to the mage as he drew his short sword and laid his sword belt on the ground.
"Ok Dynaheir, whenever you are ready."
The mage mumbled a few words under her breath and wiggled her fingers at Jeral and he winked out of site.
"My thanks; you do make it look easy. I am going to take a look around. If you have to move please do not leave my armor or long bow here as I am pretty attached to them." With those last words Jeral moved quietly off down the southern corridor. As he passed a wall mounted torch the slightest shadow was visible in the strong light, but once he moved more than a few feet away from the torch the faint shadow faded.
"Imoen, he moves very quietly. Where did he learn to move like that?" Smiling proudly Imoen puffed up her chest and turned towards the mage.
"I taught him. Gorion would not let him learn how to be a thief, he absolutely forbade it. So I taught him whatever I could from my lessons with Winthrop. When he gets something he just gets it, he can be a very quick study. He is good with his hands so he can do card tricks and a few other things the type of which Ajantis would not approve. He is rubbish with locks and traps for he has no mechanical aptitude at all. And he cannot climb a wall without a rope, but he can move pretty quietly when he wants to."
"Ahem. I feel I must interject. My lady, please do not take this the wrong way but how could he possibly have learned to move quietly from studying with you? It is apparent to all that you cannot move silently. You seem to favor impractical footwear and clearly lack the discipline and patience needed for stealth despite your considerable agility."
Imoen's face reddened as she turned to rest her gaze on Ajantis. She replied through gritted teeth as her right boot tapped angrily on the stone floor.
"I will have you know this is very practical footwear. These are well made leather boots; they repel water, and are a lovely shade of purple. They have a firm sole so they wear well and a metal cap on the toes for use as a weapon. They also only have a two inch heel which makes them the most practical footwear that I own. If your feet were not in armored green booties I would show you exactly what I can do with the heels of my boots."
Imoen turned away with a flip of her pink hair and strode noisily to the other side of the room to stand watch next to Minsc, tapping her foot angrily.
Imoen heard her own footfalls echoing in the darkness and hung her head. After composing herself she turned back to Ajantis and the others.
Smiling weakly she continued, "Ajantis, Jeral did not learn his movement from me. He actually learned it from dance lessons. It was one of many things we learned while at Candlekeep. Jeral is incredibly agile and has excellent balance. When he wants to do so he can move almost as quietly as a master thief. So while I may have provided some pointers he did learn it largely on his own."
Ajantis bowed his head and smiled at Imoen. "I apologize for any offence taken. I will not speak of your shoes again." Imoen just laughed and stuck her tongue out at the paladin as the four waited for Jeral to return.
After waiting for the better part of an hour a soft whistle cut through the tense silence.
"And here I am."
Jeral slammed his palm against the stone wall and he popped back into sight. Jeral pulled two full quivers of arrows off his shoulder and handed one to Imoen.
"Here you go sis, there is a well stocked armory on this level so I took the liberty of getting both of us arrows since we were almost out." Imoen inspected the arrows and finding that they met her approval she transferred them to her own quiver.
"So Jeral, where are the guards on this level?"
"It looks like they have all pulled back to a guard room on the far side of the level. There is a large cell that houses a few hundred slaves, mostly women and children. It is completely unguarded. Since I cannot find a way down to the next level and could not see any guards I assume they are guarding the only stairs down. The hallway is magically trapped so I could not take a closer look."
"Magically trapped Jeral? How can you be sure about that?"
"There are runes etched on the floor, looks like a pair of lightening traps but I am not sure. I figured you would know better than me." Jeral methodically put his armor and equipment back on and readied himself. Jeral patted Minsc on the shoulder and lead the way.
"Ok, follow me; it looks clear until we get to the guard room and the magical runes I found. Once we deal with the guards we can return for the slaves and let them out."
Jeral led off with Ajantis and Minsc flowing him closely. Dynaheir and Imoen trailed behind the three as they wended through the second level of the mine. After walking for about a quarter hour Jeral halted at a hallway junction. The way ahead ended at a dark stone wall fifty feet ahead. The well lit passageway to the right turned sharply to the left after approximately ten feet. The faint sounds of people talking echoed faintly down the hall. Jeral edged to the corner and quickly peeked around the corner. He knelt down and motioned for Dynaheir to come closer. He motioned to the floor.
"See those runes?" Jeral whispered to the mage as he pointed at a couple of spots on the hallway floor. Dynaheir bent down and rested her hands on Jeral's shoulders. Squinting she stared intently for a couple minutes. Jeral was almost ready to ask if she fell asleep before she stirred and walked back to stand next to Minsc. Jeral followed her and started at her quizzically.
"Jeral, explain to me exactly what you see on the floor over there?"
"There are two long lines of glowing runes and I could read the word lightening in the runes so I suspected that it was a lightening trap. Am I wrong?"
"Far from it Jeral, you are exactly right. There are two sets of lightening runes across the floor exactly where you indicated. The question I have is how did you ever manage to see them?"
"What do you mean? The runes were there, I saw them, and you saw them."
Dynaheir pursed her lips together and wrinkled her brow in concern. "Jeral, only the strongest of mages can detect magical runes for they are specifically designed to withstand observation of any form. Your arcane skills are rudimentary at best, I could cast stronger spells that you when I was ten years old. Yes somehow you can detect magical energies like an arch mage."
"I don't understand Dynaheir, you saw the runes."
"You are correct. I did see the runes but only because you told me exactly where to look and only after a couple minutes of intense concentration. With your limited abilities you should have walked right into that trap and been incinerated."
"Well I guess I got lucky. Can you dispel them?" Dynaheir snorted quietly in response.
"Absolutely no chance. I can dispel some simple enchantments but runes like this are from a level of magic beyond my skills."
"So that means we likely have a significant number of guards, potentially with the assistance of a skilled mage. Excellent." Jeral shrugged his shoulders in surrender and looked over to Ajantis and Imoen.
"Ok, any ideas how we can get through this? We need to get past this trap without getting killed and still be ready to fight against whoever is down the hall and around the corner." Ajantis shook his head and clenched and unclenched his hand on the pommel of his enchanted long sword. Jeral trained his eyes on Imoen and was startled to see her grinning from ear to ear.
"I have a plan, back in a few minutes. Dynaheir we will need your haste spell shortly."
With a twinkle in her eye she grabbed Minsc by the hand and headed back down the corridor. Ajantis, Dynaheir and Jeral exchanged looks as the pair walked out of site.
After about a quarter of an hour Imoen skipped back into sight with Minsc following closely behind her. The large man was carrying corpses of guards on each massive shoulder. Despite the morbid scene Minsc seemed quite untroubled as he trailed Imoen and stopped in front of Jeral and Dynaheir.
Ajantis inhaled sharply and glared at Imoen. "My lady, why did you make Minsc defile those bodies?"
Imoen winked at the paladin and smiled innocently. "He just picked them up. As for defiling them, well you have not seen anything yet good looking." The smile left her face as Imoen started directing actions of the others. "Minsc is going to trigger the traps with those bodies, I will scream and hopefully at least a few of the guards will come to finish me off. Once they come around the corner we take them out and then figure it out from there."
Ajantis looked concerned but nodded grimly as he drew his sword. "Very well milady. I suppose that plan is as good as any other." Jeral notched an arrow and stepped back, motioning Dynaheir and Imoen to stand behind him.
"Im, are you sure the bodies will trigger the runes?"
"Well that explains why your spell casting is so weak Jeral. You were not paying attention to Gorion during all of our courses on the theory of magic."
"Hey! I listened," Jeral replied defensively, "well most of the time anyway."
"Well if you had listened you would know that enchanted runes can respond to any sort of movement when cast by all save the most senior mages. So unless this mage is as powerful as Gorion the corpses should fool the spell and trigger the runes."
"Imoen, I must say I am impressed. You will make an excellent mage and it would be my honor to train you." Imoen beamed ear to ear as she flashed Dynaheir a quick smile. She then pointed at Minsc and told him to toss the bodies around the corner. Minsc grabbed each corpse in a meaty hand and easily tossed them around the corner and then stepped back quickly and drew the Spider's Bane from the scabbard on his back. The corpses landed wetly on the floor and triggered the runes. A pair of lightning bolts blasted out from the floor and bounced back and forth in the corridor about a half dozen times before petering out. As the first bolt struck the far wall Imoen screamed in terror and called out for help. Minsc walked backwards a half dozen steps and stood ready next to Ajantis.
"You two! Check for survivors!"
A woman's commanding voice echoed from around the corner. A pair of guards came around the corner, swords drawn. They were clad in leather armor topped with a black tunic trimmed in red, the same livery as the guards on the upper level of the mine. They cried out an alarm and charged Ajantis and Minsc. Swords clashed loudly as the guards closed with Ajantis and Minsc and met them blade for blade. The two lightly armored guards had little chance against two well trained plate clad swordsmen and quickly fell to the mine floor, dead from their wounds.
Expecting more guards the group stood tensed and ready watching the corner, ready for anything.
Instead of more guards a woman's laugh echoed down the hallway.
"No more fodder for you fools. If you want to continue you heroic quest you need to get through me for the only stairs down to the next level in here." The voice was dripping with scorn as the female voice mocked the party. The sound of furniture scraping across the floor and tables being turned over accompanied her taunts. Clearly she and her colleagues were preparing for an attack.
Dynaheir smiled and started preparing a spell. "Come closer all of you." After a few seconds a familiar tingling sensation flowed through Jeral's body as Dynaheir's haste spell took effect. Dynaheir took a deep cleansing breath and started casting a second spell. Her hands started rubbing one another as if she was cold and a small ball of flame soon sprang into existence. Jeral laid his bow down on the floor and drew his short sword. Looking around he smiled at Imoen and patted Minsc on the back.
"Ok once the fireball explodes we will charge in and kill everyone there. Imoen, hang back and cover us with your bow."
Everyone stood tense and ready as they all paused to watch Dynaheir. After creating an apple sized ball of fire she opened her hands and extended her arms away from her body. The burning orb hung in the air for a second as if unsure where to go. Dynaheir clenched and unclenched her hands and sweat started to bead on her face as she focused on her spell. The ball waiver and shook as if it was fighting to resist her control. It finally started to move down the hall, it hit the wall and then slid to the right into the room. After a few seconds it exploded in a huge eruption of heat and fire. A wave of flame rolled down the hallway and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Ajantis yelled, "Forward to smite our enemies, for Helm smiles upon us this day!"
Minsc bellowed "Go for the eyes Boo!" and the two plate clad warriors charged into the guard room.
Well nothing I can say can top those two, I need to work on my heroic monologues. Jeral took a deep breath and charged into the guard room.
As he rounded the corner he quickly took in the scene before him. Dynaheir's fireball had burst in the center of the guard room. A pair of long tables were sideways on the floor serving as protective walls for the room's defenders. Close to a dozen guards were strewn across the roomcharred to death. A dark haired attractive woman stood behind the right hand table patting out the flames on her scarlet mage robes. She was flanked by four guards clad in scale mail and red tunics. All four of them showed damage from the fiery blast but they were still very much in the fight. Ajantis and Minsc spread out and ran towards each end of the table. The four guards turned in pairs to face off against the two warriors.
The fastest path between two points is a straight line, Jeral smiled as he recounted one of Gorion's most regularly repeated expressions from math lessons back in Candlekeep. The smile faded as Jeral realized he would never see his father again and that he would never again roll his eyes at one of Gorion's interesting but long winded lessons. Jeral raced across the room, placed his left hand arm on the table and hopped over the table stabbing out at the mage as he did so. Her eyes widened as his bladed closed in on her. Before he could run her through the heart she extended her right hand and fanned her fingers.
A jet of rainbow colors flared out and filled his vision. Pain wracked his body and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as any hope of resisting the spell faded from view. The enchanted short sword fell out of his lifeless fingers as his limp body crashed at her feet and his head slammed into the cold stone floor.
"JERAL!"
Imoen screamed her brother's name and launched an arrow at the mage. Totally focused on the man lying defenseless at her feet the red robed mage was completely unprepared for Imoen's assault. The arrow buried deep in her breast, burying itself to the fletching. She locked eyes with Imoen as the pain of the attack registered in her brain. The pain caused her to shudder and she started coughing up blood as her legs weakened.
"Die bitch."
Imoen carefully aimed in, loosed, and her second arrow buried itself in the woman's chest, mere inches from the first shaft. The second arrow pierced the woman's heart and she dropped like a stone to lie on top of Jeral. Imoen drew another arrow and scanned right. Minsc had just dropped his second opponent and stood ready as he scanned the room for additional threats. The Spider's Bane was covered in blood but Minsc seemed unhurt, his grinning almost childlike visage making a striking contrast to the carnage surrounding him. Imoen tracked her gaze to the left and noticed that the second guard opposing Ajantis dropped his sword and started begging for his life. Ajantis commanded the man to lie on the ground and promised that he would not be harmed. Ajantis then tore his tunics into strips, bound the man's hands behind his back and gagged him. Ajantis then sat him upright in the corner and commanded him to be still.
Imoen hopped over the table and roughly pushed the mage's bloody corpse off Jeral.
"Minsc, find me some water." The ranger quickly did a circuit of the room and returned with two full water skins. Imoen emptied the first onto Jeral's head and chest. She lifted his head to rest it in her lap.
"It does not look like any of the blood is his."
"Boo says that Jeral lives, he is just sleeping right now."
Imoen knew it was ridiculous but somehow she knew that Jeral was ok if the hamster said he was. Slumping back against the wall she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"Well that was exciting."
On the far side of the room Imoen noticed a heavily barred door on the right side of the wall while a wide set of stairs heading down were on the left side of the wall. Ajantis stood watch at the top of the stairs, the tip of his long sword resting on the ground as he stood relaxed, yet wary.
"Minsc, where is Dynaheir?" The ranger looked around the room and quickly strode back the way they had entered. Seconds later he returned with Dynaheir cradled in his arms.
Imoen leapt to her feet, dropping Jeral's head to the floor as she did so.
"Dynaheir, are you injured?"
"Not at all Imoen, merely tired, so very tired. Casting my version of the ball of fire takes quite a bit out of me, particularly after casting the haste spell immediately before hand."
"Can you continue?"
"I will be fine, just let me rest briefly and I will recover."
Minsc picked up a chair from the floor, dusted it off with his hand and set it in the center of the room. He placed Dynaheir gently into it and stood behind her with his arms crossed across his massive chest.
Looking around at the group Imoen realized that until Jeral was back on his feet she would need to take charge.
"Right, I am going to search this room. Minsc please watch the way we came since Ajantis is already watching the stairs and our prisoner. Dynaheir you just rest. We will need both you and Jeral before we continue." Imoen started humming to herself as she started to search the room. She directed Minsc to straighten up the table and chairs and salvaged what food and water she could from the mess on the floor. She started stacking the loot onto the table. Shortly there was a heavy coin pouch, two dozen enchanted arrows, and two potion bottles.
Finished with her work Imoen picked up a small block of cheese and walked over to the locked and barred door.
"Well this has to be the prison that Pilar mentioned that houses Rill. Too bad none of these folks had a key. Guess I need to do it the hard way"
Imoen unrolled her lock picks on the ground and selected a pair that she thought suitable for the lock in front of her. Brows knitted in concentration she worked the picks back and forth for a couple minutes until there was a small click.
"Ok, that should do it. Minsc, can you please unbar the door?"
Minsc walked over and hefted the large iron bar from the door as if it weighed no more than a small stick. He carefully laid it down in the corner and then grabbed the door pull and heaved the door open. Groaning on hinges badly in need of oil the door slowly swung open. The smell of rot and human waste wafted out of the prison and forced everyone to fight down a wave of nausea.
"Wow that is not pleasant." Imoen quickly wrapped a scarf around her mouth and nose and entered the prison with Minsc close behind her. A dozen small cells lined the walls on each side of a central hallway. As Imoen and Minsc walked down the hall they saw corpses chained to the wall in the first few cells on each side. Whatever transgressions that landed them in these dark cells cost them their lives.
"Those poor men. Will we find anyone alive in here or did the guards kill all of them?" Imoen wailed in despair and leaned heavily on the large ranger. Minsc placed one large mailed arm around her as they continued walking further down the prison hallway.
"This be your lucky day lass, and mine as well for here be two survivors."
Imoen slipped free of Minsc and raced down the hall searching for the voice she just heard. She skidded to a stop before a cell door and quickly picked the simple lock and pulled open the door. Inside stood the tallest, skinniest dwarf she had ever seen. His ribs and hip bones were prominently visible; clearly this member of the thickly built dwarven race had been poorly fed for some time. Standing over four and a half feet tall he was half a head taller than most of his kind. His reddish beard and hair were dirty, matted, and streaked with grey. The dwarf was naked save for a pair of tattered breeches held in place with a frayed piece of twine.
He walked towards Imoen on unsteady legs, 'introductions can wait my good lady, please free Rill, his cell is next to mine. His life matters far more than my worthless hide." Nodding quickly Imoen turned on her heel and opened the next cell door. The smell of infection and rot drove her to her knees as she ripped her scarf away from her face as she retched up her breakfast from so many hours earlier. A man lay flat on his back in the middle of the cell. Clad in only the briefest of loin cloths his body was a mass of burns, bruises and pus filled wounds. His left foot was facing an unnatural direction and the white of his shattered shin bone was clearly visible sticking out from the skin of his emaciated leg. At the opening of the door he rolled his head to the side, that simple effort seemed to take all the strength that remained in his body as he shuddered from the exertion.
"By Moradin's forge, they have tortured Rill far more than I imagined. You! Long limbs. Find me water! Ale or wine as well" The dwarf sat down and placed his hands on the broken limb. Imoen watched transfixed as the bone slowly mended and slid back into the man's leg with fresh pink skin as the only evidence of the prior trauma. The dwarf bowed his head again and placed his hands on Rill's scar covered chest. Color seemed to return to the man's body as many of the wounds slowly closed in from of Imoen's eyes. The dwarf watched the color slowly return to the man's face and grunted once as he slowly got to his feet.
"Right, he is out of danger now. Pardon my poor manners. Let us get some fresh air and do introductions proper like. Wiping his gore filled hands on his breeches he walked out of the cell with Imoen close behind. As he entered the guard room Minsc presented him with a water skin and a jug of ale. Smiling broadly the dwarf took the jug and lifted it to his lips. Gulping greedily he emptied the jug, ale streaming down his beard. Once the jug was empty he handed it back to Minsc and belched loudly as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Ahhhhhhhhh, I needed that. Nothing like a good jug of dwarven stout to fix what ails ya. Only a few of those jugs remain. Moradin has smiled upon me this day. Please give a little water to Rill while I chat with the lass here." Minsc trotted off to provide water to the injured man.
The dwarf placed his hands on his hips and slowly took in the scene before him. Apparently pleased by what he saw he smiled and clapped his hands together.
"Right, so to introductions. I am Yeslick, last of the Silverhammer clan and follower of the great forger. I thank you for my freedom; I am not sure how much longer I would have lasted. Consider me in your debt." He bowed deeply to Imoen, and then repeated the motion to, Dynaheir and Ajantis.
When he locked eyes on Ajantis he smiled and walked over with an outreached hand.
"Ahhhh a follower of the balanced one. It is an honor to meet another man of faith even if they are not fortunate enough to be a follower of Moradin." Yeslick's smile showed the last comment was delivered largely in jest to Ajantis took no offense.
Ajantis beamed and eagerly shook hands. "The honor is mine Yeslick Silverhammer."
A low groan came from the ground in one corner. Yeslick whirled around, fists raised, fire in his eyes, ready for anything until a gauntleted hand settled on his shoulder.
"Stand easy master dwarf. That is Jeral, one of our companions; he was injured in the fighting."
"He is not just one of your companions. He is your leader and he lies injured." Yeslick quickly moved to stand beside Jeral and he helped the bard to his feet. He gently steered the unsteady man into a chair and spent a few minutes checking him for injuries. When he touched the back of Jeral's head his hand came away slick with blood. He quickly ran his hands over Jeral's skull and roughly pried his eye lids open to watch Jeral's eyes focus.
"Ah, tis but a scratch Jeral. Your skull is intact; it may hurt a bit but no real damage done."
Jeral blinked his eyes and struggled to focus. Seeing Imoen and Minsc he relaxed and allowed himself a wry smile.
"Only damage done is to my pride. And pardon my directness but who are you and how do you know my name?"
Before the dwarf could form a response Ajantis jumped in with a question of his own, "and what makes you think he is our leader?"
"Slow down, you humans are always in such a rush. I suppose that is due to your short life span. I will answer Jeral first good paladin. My name, as I told your companions, is Yeslick. I am the last of the clan Silverhammer. For weeks the guards have spoken of little else but the great archer Jeral and his brave companions. I first heard mention of your name when you escaped the night of the death of the great mage Gorion. At the time the guards were taking bets on how long you would survive alone in the wild. At some point they stopped betting against you. Your every victory has caused great anger here in the mines and in Baldur's Gate. Any guard who says your name aloud will earn twenty lashes, should a slave utter your name the penalty is death. The Iron Throne fears you and wants you dead. Not sure what they have to fear but I suspect there is more to you than meets the eye. Nothing personal laddie but Dwarven children wield swords like yours. Our men and women folk wield war hammers or battle axes."
"As to your question noble paladin, Jeral is clearly the leader for it is his quest. He is central to whatever future the fates hold for this land. From what I have heard from the guards and the mages who command them his heritage makes him a threat."
Yeslick whirled around to face Jeral and dropped to a knee. "Jeral of Candlekeep, I swear in the very mines of my forefathers to aid you in your quest. I will see you succeed and I will have my revenge. This I swear by Moradin's beard!"
Jeral stood up and smiled down at the dwarf.
"Arise noble dwarf. I welcome your assistance as we are always in the need of worthy companions. However, I must ask what skills do you have to aid us in our quest?"
Smiling Yeslick stood and puffed out his broad yet bony chest. "Give me a good war hammer and shield and I can lay waste to my enemies with some small skill. But my real gift is as a healer."
"I have rarely heard of any dwarves with such skill." Dynaheir spoke matter of factly as a professor speaks to a wayward student.
"Ahh that is true enough. My gifts are rare for one of my kind. And that is the only reason I yet live. For five years I have remained caged in this prison, only kept alive to provide treatment for the guards when they were injured or ill."
"Hold on. They let you rest unhindered when you could pray to your God?"
"Aye they did Jeral. I prayed every night to Moradin for guidance and the ability to heal."
"Why did you not pray for the power to escape? From what I have read there are many powerful diving magics that could allow you to flee."
"Aye there are. Only two problems. First, I was told if I escaped they would kill 50 slaves in my absence, all women and children. And second, I gave my word that I would not use my divine powers to escape. That was a condition of my imprisonment. And a dwarf will never break his word. Least not one of my clan. Please excuse me while I check on Rill. Yeslick took the water skin from Minsc, grabbed a wheel of cheese of the table and walked back into the prison hallway."
"Ok, so can someone catch me up please?"
"Sure Jeral. That is easy. After Dynaheir hasted us and launched her little surprise into the room we all charged in. Minsc and Ajantis were battling the remaining guards while you took a heroic leap over the table heading towards the lady mage. She knocked you out with a spell…."
"I just saw a jet of colors and then everything went black."
"Probably a prismatic spray Jeral."
"Hey, you two, stop interrupting. So where was I? Ok so our intrepid leader was down on the ground. Ajantis and Minsc were busy and Dynaheir was exhausted from casting her spells. So that left it up to me. I took out the mage and then rescued the two surviving prisoners."
Jeral looked at the two arrows buried in the woman's chest and smiled at Imoen. "Nice shooting."
Imoen blushed and looked down at her purple boots. "Thanks but it was nothing. At such close range I could hardly miss." Then she looked up with a twinkle in her eyes. "Imagine how well I could shoot with those enchanted bracers of yours."
"Yeah that's not gonna happen sis. Nice try though. Right. We have rested long enough. Ajantis, what do you suggest we do next?"
"We must ready ourselves for another fight and descend to the third level of this mine. To reach the master of the mines we must continue onwards."
"If you go down those steps you will die." The party turned and saw the emaciated scarred man leaning heavily on Yeslick. He looked terrible but the fire in his eyes showed he was no longer close to death. "There are over 100 guards down below, commanded by an Ogre Magi. You have no chance. None."
"How can you possibly know that?" Ajantis challenged.
"I have worked in these mines for 3 years. I have some skill with metal so I worked the forge making weapons and armor for the guards. The guards you have met already are the fodder, designed to control the emaciated and unarmed slaves. The men and creatures below are the elite fighters who serve as raiders to capture more slaves. By now they know that you are here and they will be waiting for you. Ask Bartic there if you do not believe me." Rill pointed to the bound guard in the corner. "That one has worked her for about a year, and is nicer than most of the guards. He will confirm everything I told you."
"We must stop the master of the mines and this is the only way down there."
"There is another way. To go down we must first go up."
"How could you possibly know that good dwarf?"
"That is easy master Jeral. Years ago these were the mines of my kin, these were the Silverhammer mines. I was born here, I was raised her, my clan died here. There is a way. I will show you the way and we both may get our vengeance."