A Brief Account of the Activities of the Party in the Year 640LB, Between the Day of the Cat and the Day of the Weasel, the Second Week of 10th Month.
In our second session, the fledgling group of adventurers set about finding work, gathering information, and gambling and arm wrestling in the city of Colony Co. Town 2. In addition, they flirted a bit, drank, negotiated, evaded a few nasty traps (one or two of which they might not even know they narrowly avoided) argued over several moral niceties, as well as began exploring a recently discovered ancient underground complex in the rural southern region of Eime Island called County Cash, where the Brass Rail ends.
After a relaxing and reflective evening in the small Anslem's Inn, the party contracted with the local hirelings' union, Hirelings United, to be joined by two men-at-arms, Elbert and a man who called himself simply "Bone". In addition, the party sponsored a courier to return on their behalf to Aleine and retrieve Davy's blank parchment from Simi the magic user. With a retinue of three hirelings (including the usually quiet and always forgettable Boyyd who had made the trip on the Barbarossa), our party of opportunists spent a second evening in town performing a clandestine job on behalf of the Lord Mayor of Colony Co. Town 2, one Newbold Philo: to secure a large golden bowl on route to the Lord Govenor house in Aleine. During what for others might have been just a routine burglary, our team of vagabonds continued to practice their strategy of "cut-throat realism", executing all possible witnesses among the three soldier/teamsters and female magic user who portered their coveted freight (killing two in their magically-induced sleep, it should be noted).
Under the cover of darkness, the team traded the golden bowl and received the second half of their 500gp payment from Lord Mayor Philo and then immediately returned to their assignment to secure the Boundless Buckle mine for Grimsby and his partners. Although the rest of the trip was largely without event, two native born settlers - Dick Maggoty and Smutty Booth - greeted the arrival of the adventurers with fantastic news: within the mine itself they had found a potential opening into a larger, long-forgotten complex. After little negotiation, the party took it upon themselves to further explore the new discovery of Maggoty and Booth and within a short period found itself face-to-face with some nasty creatures, including 4ft dia. giant spiders and small yet quick climbing Tunnel Prawns.
Their early explorations of this structure within the Boundless Buckle mine has revealed few unambiguous details -- some stones mounted in the wall which seem magically prepared to give off a soft light for eternity; a slogan writ large across the wall of an entry room in an archaic version of Common that read "A Light to Guide Your Way Out of the Eternal Darkness, Dear Sister"; a cloth bag filled with stone mason tools (themselves clearly valuable as historical relics); one door sealed in a thick paste of wax and a second door surrounded at the base by a heavy covering of melted wax; and twin rock columns aligning a door, wrapped in what is coming quickly to be familiar Eime brass, which bend and contort to mimic the faces of those who approach, always bearing a somber and morose continence.
It was during this initial exploration of the mine complex that our party first experienced the pall of death within its own ranks - with Boyyd and Elbert being quick dispatched by a surprisingly accurate and sharp-clawed Tunnel Prawn. For many adventuring parties, the first time death strikes their collective morale dips precipitously. And this is especially true on the Island of Eime, where the thought of untold, easy wealth blinds many an adventurer to the ever-present prospect of death until, as is usually the case, it is too late.
Whether or not the death of two companions so early in their exploration of this new locale will have any real effect on our team and their resolve to further explore the underground complex remains to be seen.. The dm humbly submits that, if past experience is any guide to the future, the chance that "The Eight" retreats rather than plunges forward in pursuit of the potential riches contained within this small mountain in the Agora Hills is highly, highly unlikely.
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