With a couple of hits Gorm breaks the lock and the chest is opened, to reveal a pile of silver and gold pieces. It seems that the pay of the miners were here, waiting to be distributed among them before they abandoned the mine. 

     "How much silver do we need?" Gorm asks, blinking at the coins she found.  "Perhaps we do not need to mine at all..."  She really has no head for how weapons are made, just how to use them.

Logan:

Calling back softly to the others as he keeps watch, Logan says, "Are we ready to move on?  I have noticed something unusual about the chain used to keep the mine shut.  You should look at it, Doctor A., maybe it has some magical properties or something..."

Dr A examines the chain - if Arcana +5 modifier or +3 for investigation - 10 and discovers absolutely nothing

Actually rolled a ‘3’ before cheat banner came up

Logan:

Assuming the others are ready to move on, Logan moves carefully to the entrance to the mine, then checks to see if he can squeeze past the chain and into the mine proper.

Athletics:  12

If he is successful, Logan pulls out a torch from his pack and lights it.

(If the portcullis has bars too close together to squeeze through, he will instead try and look for a way to loosen the chain and open the portcullis)

Logan tries it but he can't squeeze between the bars of the porticullis, and he tries to shaken the chain that seems to be sturdy and still strong. Perhaps if he hits it with enough strength he could break the chain or the lock. 

Grabbing it to inspect it, he notices that, inscribed into the lock there are some small dwarvish runes inscribed on it.

     Gorm is ready to move on but she is indeed curious how much Silver is needed to silver the weapons to help the people… the stash of coins is nice of course but if it’s enough silver to do what they need done then why even bother with the mines?

The elf replies to Gorm question and explains thar unfortunately they cannot use the coins as a source of silver for the process to create te coin mix the silver with other metals, so they still need some ingots or ore form the mines. 

     "So your silver is not really silver?  How odd... Well our paths lie into the caverns then..." With that, Gorm is ready to go.

While Dr A can’t speak Dwarvish is there a chance he recognises some or all of the runes 24 (OOC used +5 history modifier)

Logan:

"Though I might be able to break the chain or the lock, I am reluctant to do so.  Given the dwarves' reluctance to tell us anything about this mine, the broken regular chain in the out building, and the runes on the sturdy chain, I can't help but wonder if this barrier was made to keep something IN--something strong enough to break through a regular chain," says Logan with some concern.  He waits patiently for Doctor A. to investigate the chain.

     "What could be so troublesome that it would keep dwarves out of a mine?" Gorm wonders aloud.  "It would be interesting to encounter such a creature..."

Dr. A isn’t sure but he can recognize some of the tunes as the ones used for “durability “ and “strength “ it seems that the dwarves certainly wanted this to endure. The elf examines it too and adds that some are for protection against the elements, that could explain why it is in better  condition than the rest.

Logan thinks that perhaps he and Gorm can lift the porticullis and leave it hanging off the side where the chain is. If they do it right it could even be put back in place… but the time and rust will eventually took its toll and it will fall. 

     "The quicker started the sooner finished," Gorm says with a nod and steps up to the portcullis.  She spends some time examining the structure and attempts to picture in her mind the best way to lift and move it so as not to damage it and then looks to Logan for his readiness.  

     "We should set it back in place once we are inside," she says to nobody in particular.  "It would slow down our retreat but would ensure anything that slipped by us did not exit unnoticed."

Logan:

”Well-said, Gorm.  Let’s do this,” says Logan, following Gorm’s lead and setting his feet and hands where she directs.  He then lifts carefully in tandem with her.

((Logan or Gorm give me an athletics check with advantage due the assistance of the other please))

((Logan’s got a slight edge and I usually roll like crap so I’ll leave to him…))

Logan Athletics:  10

Quote from Scott_R_Simmons >>

Logan Athletics:  10

(That was a first-class Jinx, Gorm.  Let's shift our grip and try again)

Athletics:  16