Kidnapped: Pieces of the puzzle (Chapter 2)

[homeskillet]

****The Seven Dwarfs****
"Sorry, I have misled you," Aiko admits," We are here in search of a missing child and by the town of Garrotten we need to search your Dwarfen Property for her."

[sfliegel]

***The Signal***

Firebug moved closer to Halfhelm and spoke with a hushed tone, "Actually, Master Halfhelm, we are assisting Lord Kursaville with another matter. I would also ask for your assistance with it, if I may impose. Would there be somewhere that we might speak, a little more privately?"

[Game Master]

****The Seven Dwarfs****

The lead dwarf frowned at Aiko. It was obvious he didn't like being lied to. "You got permission from Halfhelm?"

"Ahh.."

"Didn't think so. Tell you what friends. We ain't hiding no girl. If you can get in." The dwarf pointed over his shoulder at the mine entrance. "You can look around all you want. Otherwise come back in the morning with a letter from Halfhelm." The dwarfs began to descend down the trail, chuckling as they went.

[Game Master]

***The Signal***

"This be as private as it gets in the day time. No one will stumble in here for another hour. What be on your mind lad?"

[homeskillet]

****The Seven Dwarfs****
Stone gave the head dwarf a smile and began a the slow motions of a comat kata. Moving his arms in a circular motion, breathing slow and rythmic, Stone invokes the stone slab to become mud.

[Game Master]

****The Seven Dwarfs****

At first nothing seemed to happen. Most of the dwarves continued on their way back to Garrotten but three, including the tall fellow watched Aiko's dance like kata. Within seconds the bottom, center section of the massive stone slab began to appear wet and moist. soon it was bubbling slowly and chunks were melting away into mud.

Aiko knew a simple one time casting of the spell would barely make a mark on a stone that large. However if he continued his kata he could disolve about sixty pounds of rock every fifteen seconds or so. He continued on and on making the hole larger and larger. 60, 120, 180 pounds of rock and still he continued. He began to sweat as the spell drained him a little at a time.

"Stop! Stop! By the Prince of the Undermountains stop!" The tall dwarf screamed. Aiko continued to cast his spell over and over.

"Will you hold your end of the bargain and let us search for the girl then?" Mason asked defiantly.

"Yes, yes, I'll take you myself. Just stop him before he breaches the stone!" The dwarf seemed frantic now.

Mason touched Aiko's shoulder and he stopped his kata. Stone faced the dwarf and bowed low.

[homeskillet]

****The Seven Dwarfs****
"Thank you for your Cooperation," Stone replied and followed the dwarf to wherever he was leading them.

[sfliegel]

***The Signal***

Still in a hushed voice Firebug continued, "Master Halfhelm, a young girl, Nilla D'encre has gone missing. We are investigating her disappearance. We found some items among her possessions and based on these and some additional clues, I have reason to believe that she is being held in a cave in the area. Would there be anywhere else that these rocks might have come from?"

Siff added, "Master Halfhelm, purhaps our timing is lacking but we have some other concerned citizens aiding in our search and we believe that they are heading toward your mine."

Lord Kursaville continued, "Master Halfhelm, any assistance you can provide to our investigation would truely be appreciated."

[Game Master]

***The Signal***

Halfhelm scratches his beard in thought. "I'll write you a note to get past my mines supervisor. He can be a brute when it comes to the privacy of my mine. I'll be honest though. You will be hard pressed to get this to your fellows before dark. Best thing is for them to go in the morning I suppose. Search every inch if you wish. Its quite extensive of a mine. Its been going for a few decades now." Halfhelm wrote a letter and sealed it with his crest. "There you are."

Kursaville spoke up. "Firebug we must be going if we are to talk to both Jhessil and be back in time for moonhaven."

"I really must get back to work myself. Oh and as far as caves, there are none that I know of. If you really think she's hidden up in those hills she could be in my mine. Its easy to slip in during the day I should think while the miners are deep in its bowels.

[Game Master]

****The Seven Dwarfs****

"Rex head to Garrotten and tell him what is going on. Brashen and I shall...accompany our guests into the mine in search of this, girl they have lost." The tall fellow commanded.

"Yes Porthen. I'll hurry." Rex ran down the hill as fast as his dwarven legs could go.

"Now, follow me. My name is Porthen. I'm the mine supervisor and you WILL follow any instructions I give you within the mine. Is that clear?" Not really witing for a response Porthen walked back to the large stone that he was seen at earlier when the mine closed. He reached under his beard while bending over. Suddenlt he stood up straight as if startled. "Wha..where?" He exclaimed with confusion in his voice.

"Uhmm, Sorry. Would this help? You must have droped it." Sull stepped forward and handed Porthen what looked like an oddly shaped key.

"Who ARE you people?" Porthen said angrily while snatching the key from Sull.

[homeskillet]

" We are very concerned citizens who protect children," Stone answers, " I hope you never need our services. We intend to search your mine until we find this girl. We believe she is underground. If you really don't think she is here then direct us to any caves you have found near by and we will go there, but for now my friend, Porthen, we need all of the help you can give and again I am sorry for my earlier con, it was quite flimsy and very unbecoming of me." Stone and brothers follow Porthen inside. " Is it safe for me to light my lamp, Porthen?" Stone asks.

[Game Master]

***The Mine***

Porthen talks while inserting the key directly into the bolder. "Lamps and torch light are fine. there are no combustible gasses in here. "The canary still lives. As human miners like to say." There is a rumble and the stone door lifts back away from the portal. The way inside is now clear. Porthen and Brashen lead the small group inside. Twenty feet inside the mouth of the mine it opens up into a large cavern.

"There are no caves in these hills, only this mine. If you really think she is underground then...I guess she could be here." Porthen continued.

Before the group the cavern is filled with piles of mining tools, crates of supplies, rope, a few small piles of iron ore and mining carts. Dozens of them. Some look new while others are in different states of repair. There appear to be 3 tunnels leading off from the main cavern as well as two large wooden devices that can not be identified. Lucky for the group the Supervisor seems willing to act as a tour guide.

"Over there, farthest to the left is a dwarven Elevator (one of the odd devices). While it is decades old we try and keep it in good condition although it has not been used in years. It leads to Mine #1. It played out over two decades ago and no one goes down there any more. It has many collapsed tunnels and is very dangerous. Next to it is the tunnel entrance to Mine #2. It is relatively small. It never produced any ore and was abandoned. We use it as storage for Iron ore now. We were in there just two days ago. The next tunnel to the right and that second elevator are mines #3 and #4 respectively. They are the most extensive mines but the ore is slow to yield and hard to get to. We mine them only when #5 is not producing. Usually every 3 months or so. We last mined in #3 last month. We have not been in mine # 4 in over half a year. Last is mine #5. Its that tunnel there to the extreme right. It is the mother load. It has vast pockets of iron ore and its easy to extract. We mine in there most of the time. Occasionally when a certain vain plays out I will send five of my men to mine either 3 or 4 while two of us look for a new deposit in #5. It never takes long. I can assure you there is no human girl wandering around in #5. I warn you. Mines 3 and 4 will take days or even weeks to search fully with the few people we have here. Splitting up may become necessary. Where would you like to begin?"

[sfliegel]

Lord Kursaville, Firebug and Siff thank Halfhelm for his assistance as well as his permission to search his mine. They then turn and file out of his shop, making a beeline to have a quick chat with Jhessil.

Siff walked along side Firebug, "We should have thought of speaking with Halfhelm before Stone and his group left for the mine. I hope they're not having trouble gaining access to search the mine."

Firebug nodded in agreement, "You're right of course, however, I felt it best to keep some seperation between our new friends and Halfhelm. Basically, the less each knows about the other right now the better."

[homeskillet]

****The Mine****
Stone produces his beautifully crafted lantern, checks the oil( it's good) and lights it. This display is very deliberate, and almost too vain, since he likes showing of his owl lantern." The girl disappeared two nights ago from her home." Stone declares, more thinking out loud than anything else," There was no view of forced entry nor escape, but she did vanish. We found orange colored limestone in her room and she told her friend that she thought it was gold. One of I disagreeociates, who is not here, had a vision the girl was underground and you say Porthen that this must be it. So Porthen, what mine could a 7 year old human girl get herself inside of without you noticing? Is it possible that there are other entrances to these mines by other ways?

[Game Master]

Siff just shrugs. Jhessils is just up the rad and the group get there in no time. They enter the shop to find it has over 7 patrons inside.

"Welcome to my shop my friends. What could I interest you in?" An older halfling says politly, walking toward them.