Don-Jon stops and turns back. When he sees your indication, he shrugs but nods in agreement. Barthrum looks around but cannot see anything significant. Barthrum does notice, about 30' from the orcs, behind a small bush, there's a body of a wolf pierced by a spear.
Barthrum stealths around without seeing any enemies and, just in case they're hiding from him, he hides well enough that nothing seems to jump at him. Don-Jon follows and is surprisingly stealthy as well, staying very low while advancing.
When you reach the wolf, you see a dead wolf, pierced by a spear. The bush near him has long and narrow leaves. The furthest the bush reaches from the ground is about two feet, but it is wide and covers some ground.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Seeing that nothing has yet jumped out at them Thenmer decides to walk up and see if he can work out what has happened here. He has a good look at the orc bodies to see what killed them.
(I don't really know if it should be a perception or medicine check but they are equally poor so I will just roll once and apply as appropriate 3 )
Barthrum approaches the Orcs' bodies with the blood-tipped spear while Thenmer comes close and examines them. Don-Jon comes closer and examines them as well, and looks at Thenmer with a worried look that says: 'Are you thinking what I am thinking?' Dolgrim (which, until he posts otherwise, is now following close to Thenmer) can, with a glance, tell that the spear Barthrum is holding is Orc-made. It doesn't have any engravings or teeth tied to it as Orcen weapons often do, but the unrefined craftsmanship is apparent to his knowing eye. Thenmer can't spot any wounds or breaks but does notice red, swelled places which he can identify as cold burns. If he tries touching any of them, he can feel they are unnaturally cold, almost frozen. Clearly, extreme cold killed them, one which could not be natural in these low hills.
When he sees the dead orcs, Dolgrim pokes them a few times with his hammer, making sure they are indeed dead. Few less of those to worry about. When the others start search the nearby bushes, he stands back and keeps watching the road, knowing that his prowling skills aren't really something to talk about.
Barthrum says, "I wonder what they were doing here." He will quickly check if the orcs had any papers or anything obviously valuable on them and then be ready to continue the journey.
As Barthrum begins to search the bodies, he also feels how extremely cold they are. Especially anything metallic that is on them.
The weapons and armour all seem to have been used a lot and are not in a good condition. Perhaps one could fix them, but they're too large for the dwarves anyway. There seems to be some Orcish coins on them too, but that probably won't be accepted anywhere you'll be going soon. Could be smelt for the metal, though.
3x Torn Hide armour.
2x Damaged Brestplate armour.
1x Damaged Half-Plate armour.
4x Battleaxe, damaged.
1x Battleaxe, sharpened.
1x Greataxe, damaged.
4x Javelins, damaged.
2x Javelins, good condition (includes the one that hit the wolf).
You continue your journy uneventfully. The winds die out near noon but resume blowing as they did as the evening falls. The sun already begins to set when you reach your destination.
Hidden among bushes, a tunnel burrows into the foot of a soaring, snow-capped mountain. Above the mouth of the tunnel is a wooden plank with the words “Mountain’s Toe” carved into it in Common. Don-Jon Raskin approaches the entrance and shouts inside: "Caylenn! Caylenn Sung! It's me, Don-Jon, the organization should have sent you a letter! Come out!"
A minute passes and so does another, and a few more, but no answer comes from within. "Strange," he says, "what could possibly take so long? I know you've completed your obligation by bringing me here but, if it's not too much to ask, would you come inside with me? Maybe something happened to them. Either way, you could sleep the night here and leave tomorrow.
Barthrum says, "How about you let me go first. I can see in darkness and spent my whole life in tunnels. Literally. Who are we looking for? Who would Caylenn be and how many and which kinds of other would there be?"
"I've never met them myself as I've not gone inside this mine, but there should be fifteen workers here, some of them Dwarves and the others Humans. Other than them, Caylenn is the overseer of this mine. He's a Half-Elf - I did meet him the last time I was here." Don-Jon seems worried. Indeed, it was strange that no answer came for this long.
Oh, by Moradin, more undeground. Says Dolgrim visibly iritated. Fine lets find tehm, but lets maek it quick, I don't want to stay in that place for too long. It never went well when we were underground.
You enter the mine, which is dark at the beginning. The tunnel leads you to the left and, after a few feet, you pass by a thin - not more than a strand of hair in width but still, you notice it - a vein of gold ore that runs through the rocky wall. The tunnel then reaches another turn and you begin to see dim light flickering on the tunnel's walls, though it gets brighter as the tunnel continues on. You pass under a wooden beam that supports the ceiling and suddenly you find yourself in front of two humanoid creatures that look like females but... what are they exactly? Both figures stand tall - as a normal human woman would - but grey fur covers their skin. They wear leather boots and common, dark clothes, with a belt that holds a hand crossbow on one side and a scabbard with a shortsword on the other. Their hands are large but their palms and long fingers look pink, and at the end of each finger is a long, dark claw. Most peculiar, however, is their head, which doesn't even remotely resemble that of a human. Instead, it has two triangular, animal-like ears and very small dark eyes. Their face isn't flat like a Human's, but rather pointy and ends with a pink nose. Lastly, as one of them opens their mouth to speak, you can see yellow, large teeth inside. "Welcome to the Mountain's Toe goldmine!" She announces in Common. "We weren't expecting any visitors, but we are not bad hosts. Would you like to meet the mine's overseer - Zeleen Varnaster? Don't worry, she won't bite you, most likely."
Barthrum looks back at Thenmer and gives him a slight nod to try to engage them in conversation. He himself will try to assess the surroundings to determine if there are reinforcements around and if there would be any tactical advantage to be gained.
Thenmer tries to gather his wits, the weight of rock above him still on his mind he remembered they had called out to Caylenn so there was no point claiming ignorance but still honey catches more flies than vinegar. He smiles.
“I’ve been in the mining business a while myself. I was looking for Caylenn to see if we could talk business. Has something happened to him that you have a new overseer?”
He watches her reaction, trying to get a feel for what he is dealing with here.
(Will do rolls for persuasion and insight if appropriate, would do them now but I can’t see how on the mobile version)
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Don-Jon stops and turns back. When he sees your indication, he shrugs but nods in agreement. Barthrum looks around but cannot see anything significant. Barthrum does notice, about 30' from the orcs, behind a small bush, there's a body of a wolf pierced by a spear.
Varielky
Barthrum points out the wolf and whispers, "This seems suspicious, lets be on our guard."
He takes lead and tries to quietly head on the side of the road/clearing towards the corpse of the wolf. (stealth check: 20)
Don-Jon's Stealth: 16
Barthrum stealths around without seeing any enemies and, just in case they're hiding from him, he hides well enough that nothing seems to jump at him. Don-Jon follows and is surprisingly stealthy as well, staying very low while advancing.
When you reach the wolf, you see a dead wolf, pierced by a spear. The bush near him has long and narrow leaves. The furthest the bush reaches from the ground is about two feet, but it is wide and covers some ground.
Varielky
Barthrum tries to understand what transpired here before stepping closer. (5 +4 for insight or +1 for survival) (oh it doesn't matter)
He steps into the open, pulls the spear out of the wolf and then carefully approaches the orc corpses to look them over.
Seeing that nothing has yet jumped out at them Thenmer decides to walk up and see if he can work out what has happened here. He has a good look at the orc bodies to see what killed them.
(I don't really know if it should be a perception or medicine check but they are equally poor so I will just roll once and apply as appropriate 3 )
Barthrum approaches the Orcs' bodies with the blood-tipped spear while Thenmer comes close and examines them. Don-Jon comes closer and examines them as well, and looks at Thenmer with a worried look that says: 'Are you thinking what I am thinking?' Dolgrim (which, until he posts otherwise, is now following close to Thenmer) can, with a glance, tell that the spear Barthrum is holding is Orc-made. It doesn't have any engravings or teeth tied to it as Orcen weapons often do, but the unrefined craftsmanship is apparent to his knowing eye.
Thenmer can't spot any wounds or breaks but does notice red, swelled places which he can identify as cold burns. If he tries touching any of them, he can feel they are unnaturally cold, almost frozen. Clearly, extreme cold killed them, one which could not be natural in these low hills.
Varielky
"I think they were killed by some magical spell of cold or some creature of magical cold"
Thenmer looks nervously up at the sky
"Maybe best not to wait around here too long in case something comes back, whatever it was that did this"
When he sees the dead orcs, Dolgrim pokes them a few times with his hammer, making sure they are indeed dead. Few less of those to worry about. When the others start search the nearby bushes, he stands back and keeps watching the road, knowing that his prowling skills aren't really something to talk about.
Barthrum says, "I wonder what they were doing here." He will quickly check if the orcs had any papers or anything obviously valuable on them and then be ready to continue the journey.
As Barthrum begins to search the bodies, he also feels how extremely cold they are. Especially anything metallic that is on them.
The weapons and armour all seem to have been used a lot and are not in a good condition. Perhaps one could fix them, but they're too large for the dwarves anyway. There seems to be some Orcish coins on them too, but that probably won't be accepted anywhere you'll be going soon. Could be smelt for the metal, though.
3x Torn Hide armour.
2x Damaged Brestplate armour.
1x Damaged Half-Plate armour.
4x Battleaxe, damaged.
1x Battleaxe, sharpened.
1x Greataxe, damaged.
4x Javelins, damaged.
2x Javelins, good condition (includes the one that hit the wolf).
Varielky
Barthrum wipes the wolf blood off the javelin and puts it away together with the other good one.
"We should continue moving. This has been weird."
You continue your journy uneventfully. The winds die out near noon but resume blowing as they did as the evening falls. The sun already begins to set when you reach your destination.
Hidden among bushes, a tunnel burrows into the foot of a soaring, snow-capped mountain. Above the mouth of the tunnel is a wooden plank with the words “Mountain’s Toe” carved into it in Common. Don-Jon Raskin approaches the entrance and shouts inside: "Caylenn! Caylenn Sung! It's me, Don-Jon, the organization should have sent you a letter! Come out!"
A minute passes and so does another, and a few more, but no answer comes from within. "Strange," he says, "what could possibly take so long? I know you've completed your obligation by bringing me here but, if it's not too much to ask, would you come inside with me? Maybe something happened to them. Either way, you could sleep the night here and leave tomorrow.
Varielky
Barthrum says, "How about you let me go first. I can see in darkness and spent my whole life in tunnels. Literally. Who are we looking for? Who would Caylenn be and how many and which kinds of other would there be?"
Thenmer hesitates. He knows mines inside out but even looking at that rocky ceiling seems to freeze his blood in his veins.
"Uh, we can hang around a while to be here to help Don-Jon"
He stands near the entrance to the mine, close but not going any closer
"I've never met them myself as I've not gone inside this mine, but there should be fifteen workers here, some of them Dwarves and the others Humans. Other than them, Caylenn is the overseer of this mine. He's a Half-Elf - I did meet him the last time I was here." Don-Jon seems worried. Indeed, it was strange that no answer came for this long.
Varielky
Oh, by Moradin, more undeground. Says Dolgrim visibly iritated. Fine lets find tehm, but lets maek it quick, I don't want to stay in that place for too long. It never went well when we were underground.
Barthrum marches in and starts looking for signs of recent activity. Light sources, sounds, tracks, bodies, etc. (survival check: 9)
You enter the mine, which is dark at the beginning. The tunnel leads you to the left and, after a few feet, you pass by a thin - not more than a strand of hair in width but still, you notice it - a vein of gold ore that runs through the rocky wall. The tunnel then reaches another turn and you begin to see dim light flickering on the tunnel's walls, though it gets brighter as the tunnel continues on.
You pass under a wooden beam that supports the ceiling and suddenly you find yourself in front of two humanoid creatures that look like females but... what are they exactly? Both figures stand tall - as a normal human woman would - but grey fur covers their skin. They wear leather boots and common, dark clothes, with a belt that holds a hand crossbow on one side and a scabbard with a shortsword on the other. Their hands are large but their palms and long fingers look pink, and at the end of each finger is a long, dark claw. Most peculiar, however, is their head, which doesn't even remotely resemble that of a human. Instead, it has two triangular, animal-like ears and very small dark eyes. Their face isn't flat like a Human's, but rather pointy and ends with a pink nose. Lastly, as one of them opens their mouth to speak, you can see yellow, large teeth inside. "Welcome to the Mountain's Toe goldmine!" She announces in Common. "We weren't expecting any visitors, but we are not bad hosts. Would you like to meet the mine's overseer - Zeleen Varnaster? Don't worry, she won't bite you, most likely."
Varielky
Barthrum looks back at Thenmer and gives him a slight nod to try to engage them in conversation. He himself will try to assess the surroundings to determine if there are reinforcements around and if there would be any tactical advantage to be gained.
Thenmer tries to gather his wits, the weight of rock above him still on his mind he remembered they had called out to Caylenn so there was no point claiming ignorance but still honey catches more flies than vinegar. He smiles.
“I’ve been in the mining business a while myself. I was looking for Caylenn to see if we could talk business. Has something happened to him that you have a new overseer?”
He watches her reaction, trying to get a feel for what he is dealing with here.
(Will do rolls for persuasion and insight if appropriate, would do them now but I can’t see how on the mobile version)