Mine, mine, all mine

Posted on 15 Jan 2021 @ 12:07am by Mage Kalian Winter & Warrior Martin Josceran & Warrior Rhiannon Cadash & Rogue Elinowy Ursulas

2,913 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Lore's Labour's Lost
Location: Carta Mining Camp
Timeline: Cloudreach 17th - late afternoon

OOC: After 'An ill-fated meeting'

Despite the clear sky overhead, the sun was getting lower on the horizon and shadows cast the wagon in low light as it bumped and shook along the narrow road through dense forest. Kalian observed that trees and underbrush had recently been cut back to widen the trail enough to accommodate the wagon, but the fallen trees and branches had been left along the roadside. Woodcutters would have gathered it to sell, or at least to remove the threat of fire come late summer.

The forest trees thinned a bit, and the horse pulling the wagon perked up and moved faster, though the qunari at the reins hadn't urged it. A light breeze carried the scent of the ocean, along with the welcoming smell of woodsmoke and the less pleasant smell of a latrine somewhere. They must be nearing the camp.

Kalian leaned slightly out of the wagon to get a better look at the camp as they approached. It appeared to be on a bluff, maybe cliffs overlooking the sea. Rocky outcroppings forming a natural barrier around most of the camp. He saw only four buildings - one of them a guardhouse, and a forge. At first he saw only half-a-dozen humans and dwarves, heavily armed and armored guarding the camp's open side. Some of them were holding crossbows.

The qunari brought the wagon to a lurching stop, and a man Kalian guessed to be a worker by his clothing and lack of weapons, came forward for the horse. The only other workers seemed to be at the forge. Where were all the missing people?

Roxa stood on the wagon seat and looked down at the young sailor and the three gullible additions to her workforce. "New recruits get a tour of the surface camp when they arrive. Rhiannon Cadash, second in command of the Night's Kiss, would you like to join the brief tour before we adjourn to my office for that drink and negotiation? You may bring two of your retinue with you, the other two may wait here with your horses."

Rhiannon paid attention to her surroundings as the group approached. The armored guards, the four buildings and the lack of workers. Once at the camp a worker came up to take the wagon. As everyone was climbing down Roxa offered to have Rhi and two of her guards come on the tour with the new recruits. "I could use a good walk about."

Kalian scrambled out of the wagon, and offered a hand to assist Elinowy climbing down.

Taking Kalian's hand Elinowy stepped down from the wagon. Not her most comfortable trip, but it felt good to be out and moving. She stretched her arms over her head, which only made her overly tall stature seem even larger. Her red hair whipped around her head as she worked the discomfort of the ride out of her body. She proceeded to look around to access the mining camp.

Martin slid off the cart after Sister Elinowy and stretched his spine. It had been a bumpy ride, and longer than he would have liked. While still close to Jader, they were still far enough that no help would be forthcoming anytime soon. He'd swapped patrols around so that he wouldn't be expected at the station before tomorrow, and after that... well. Hopefully the situation would be resolved by then.

Still, as he looked around the camp he was getting an increasingly ill feeling in the pit of his stomach. This operation looked much bigger than he'd assumed. Half-a-dozen guards, that he could see - probably more in the building that looked like a barrack. This meant that Roxa must have a well-organized supply route to bring enough food for her people, without being spotted.

"This way," Roxa gestured for them to follow her. Although she'd claimed the tour to be for Martin, Kalian and Elinowy's benefit, her attention was all on Rhiannon. "We have our own blacksmith, as you can see."

The smith was, unsurprisingly, a dwarf. What did look surprising was the fact that his beard was trimmed short - barely more than a stubble - and the large tattoo on one of his cheeks. Martin remembered that tattoos had meanings in dwarven society, but he had no idea what this one in particular stood for, especially as it was half-covered in soot. The smith was fanning his fire with a bellows, muscles bulging with effort. Each gust of air made the coals glow brighter and small puffs of soot marked a black ring around the fire.

Martin glanced around, noting that while there was a couple of daggers there, the bulk of the smith's work seemed to be on tools. Shovels, pickaxes, hammers and chisels, rather crudely made but serviceable. What truly set him on edge though was the chains and cuffs. Uh-oh. Not looking good.

Kalian caught Martin's gaze, exchanging a worried look. He'd seen the chains and cuffs too.

"We are mostly self-sufficient," Roxa was saying, "we recycle the iron of broken tools to make new ones. It keeps costs down - and it's more discreet."

Rhi paid close attention to what she could see and what she heard. When they came upon the blacksmith she felt a small yearning to go and pick up a hammer and join him. She immediately noticed the tattoo and knew he was or at least pretended to be castless. "It is always better to be as self sufficient as you can be. Better for the bottom line."

"This," Roxa continued as she walked on, "is the guardhouse. Our guards take turns to sleep and eat there."

The guardhouse looked big enough to host maybe a dozen bunk beds, and Martin wondered if the other guards were sleeping or if the house was just bigger than necessary. He fervently hoped it was the latter.

"And my office is right there. It's simple, but comfortable enough." Roxa was showing a building a little bit more elaborate than the others. At least it looked like the wooden planks making up the walls were better fitted on the frames, and it looked less drafty than the guardhouse. The whole set-up looked fairly recent, some sap still oozing from some of the planks used to build the camp.

"And, huh, that building ?" Martin asked, pointing at the fourth one.

"That ?" Roxa's smile was a bit toothy. "That's the resthouse for our workers. Doubles up as an infirmary."

"And... where are the workers ?" Martin tried to sound eager.

Roxa's smile widened, and it was a disturbing sight. "Gangue will show you while I speak with Rhiannon. If you would ?" She gestured at Rhiannon to follow.

When the tour came to an end, Rhi glanced at the three new workers after she had seen Roxa's smile. What ever this operation was, it didn't seem to bode well for the three. Rhi gave a nod and a wink to Elinowy, Korbyn and Martin. As they moved to follow Gangue.

Turning to Roxa, Rhi inclined her head. "Efficient, small, you have any trouble with the workers?" she asked as she followed Roxa.

"Nothing serious," replied Roxa evasively, sizing Rhiannon up. She probably had a conscience, but Roxa could work with such inconveniences. She led the other dwarf to her office. "It's hard work, as I warn all new recruits. Humans and elves just lack stone sense and natural dwarven stamina, and we get the occasional human that never did a hard day's work in their life. Most adjust, but a few resign and leave." Roxa flashed that toothy grin. Yeah, a few chose to leave, but they didn't get far.

"Ah. Here we are," said Roxa, opening the door to the only truly well-built building. She regarded Rhiannon's guards. "I'd prefer your escort wait outside, but bring them in if you must."

Rhi had noticed the building that Roxa pointed out as hers. It had looked like it was made better than te others, yet when she walked it she found it quite pleasant. At least for wheat the camp was like. She had motioned for her two guards to stand outside by the door.

The front room they entered was furnished with dwarf-sized furniture, a cleared desk, book shelves devoid of books but holding a stack of advertising flyers, two or three ledgers, dirty plates and tankards, and a random assortment of low quality daggers and swords. Matching cushions on the wooden chairs, a colorful rug made of fabric scraps, curtains on the windows, and a small family portrait of a middle-aged dwarven couple and their young daughter who was not Roxa, gave the room a homy feel incongruous with the dwarven woman running the operation.

Roxa took the chair behind the desk and gestured for Rhiannon to take a seat on the other side. "Where shall we begin – drinking or negotiating?"

Rhiannon had grabbed the bottle of spirits from her saddle pack before she had entered the dwelling. When she did she took in the surroundings. Dwarven furniture and the picture. Which she found interesting, seeing how the little girl was not Roxa. Rhi moved to the desk, put the bottle of spirits on it and then took a chair. "Very cozy here. Your operation is small though I can see the potential it has. As long as the overhead stays relatively low." She container which held the spirits also held two glasses, which Rhi took out and placed on the desk. "Negotiating and drinking are definitely two very different things." She poured half a glass into the small glasses each. "That being said, a drink to the possibilities first. Then we discuss what it is that we can do for each other."

Roxa gave Rhiannon a somewhat toothy, insincere smile. "I can drink to that. Stone and salt !" She lifted her glass and, though she made a big show of it, only allowed a few drops to pass her lips.

Rhi lifted her glass, "Blood and stone." she finished the toast. She downed the glass and set it upside down on the table. Rhi felt the nice slow cool burn run down her throat. She had been drinking this since she was old enough to

"On to business, then. I've shown you the operation, and told you what the shipment would be."

She hadn't specified what it was they were mining. The hired help didn't need to know. Not that Roxa was foolish enough to imagine Rhiannon wouldn't look the moment her back was turned.

"Naturally I'm counting on your... discretion. The destination of the first shipment will be Kirkwall, though that may change for future shipments. So, tell me... what kind of fee are we talking about ?"

Rhi listened quietly as Roxa went into just a little more detail than she had before. Not much though, which was fine with Rhi. She suspected that Roxa knew enough that the crates would be inspected by her and her mother before the destination was reached.
"Well, our normal fee would be 500 gold plus 150 silver per crate." Rhi smiled. "What I can offer is 300 gold plus 125 silver per crate. Special offer." Rhi smiled.

"Ah." Roxa hid her displeasure behind a small sip of her drink. The price was extortionate. Of course there was a discretion fee, but this Rhiannon really was trying to milk it for all it was worth. No matter, she'd have to talk her into something a little bit more reasonable. Roxa always found compelling arguments, one way or the other. "That is slightly above what I was expecting. It's only a few crates, so you can carry other shipments as well to make the journey worth your while." She settled into what promised to be a long bargain.

---

"This way," Gangue grunted to Kalian, Martin and Elinowy.

Elinowy joined her companions in following the Qunari. The camp appeared to have modest facilities, for a small operation. She wondered as to what they were mining ad what the expected output should be. There was no large ore processing facilities, so it seemed likely they were producing precious metals. Her mind moved through potential logistics to operate such an undertaking.

Kalian wished he could talk with Martin and Elinowy in private about what they'd learned so far, and how they were going to escape. "Excuse me, sir?" Kalian addressed the metal-skinned giant who was leading them toward the north side of camp. Roxa had called him Gangue and although he didn't know much of the dwarven language, Kalian was pretty sure that was some kind of insult. "Do new recruits ever arrive and change their mind about joining? What happens then?"

Gangue stopped walking and turned his full attention on the darker-skinned human. His mouth spread into a terrifying grin and his hand caressed the pommel of his enormous sword. "You want to quit?"

"Nope." Kalian raised his hands in surrender, or supplication. "No, sir, not me."

The smile dropped from Gangue's face and something like a disappointed growl rumbled in his chest. The qunari continued to lead and soon they stood at the edge of a rocky ravine.

Kalian looked over the edge and thought of a cake with a thin slice cut out of it. The rock face of the other side of the ravine was a long stone's throw away. He could see an opening to the ocean to his right, a stream flowing along the ravine floor, and where the ravine closed like the center of the cake to his left. A wooden platform rigged with some kind of pully system rested in a dock at the top-level to their left. Far below around the platform dock at the ravine-floor level, stood three heavily armed guards. There were no other people in sight.

"The workers are down there. In the mine," said Gangue.

The sick feeling in Martin's stomach had begun spreading to the rest of his abdomen. This operation was even bigger than he'd feared, and the earlier interlude between Kalian and Gangue made it clear that "quitting" this new job wasn't an option. In fact, at this point they were really prisoners operating under the guise of freedom.

"Go on." Gangue pointed to a wooden platform that was suspended by a crane over the ravine, close enough to the edge that they could easily step on it. An elaborate system of pulleys allowed it to be lowered or lifted, according to what was needed. "On there."

The Qunari said his words like each one cost him, or as if he had only a finite amount of them and was saving them up for later, but his expression and the impatient snap of his fingers were eloquent enough. Martin hesitated; there was no telling if they would even get an opportunity to come back to the surface. Once they were down there... the image of being buried alive - literally - certainly sprang to mind. On the other hand they were unarmed, and Gangue looked like he knew how to handle that two-hander. Even so, it may be a chance they had to take. Martin tensed.

"Go on, if you want to get paid," Gangue said, clearly annoyed now.

Kalian dragged his gaze away from the edge and back to his companions, Elinowy and Martin. The sister appeared… serene as usual. The guardsman looked worried, and Kalian couldn't blame him. In spite of the intimidating qunari, so far they hadn't seen clear evidence that people were being forced to work against their will. To someone like Rhiannon, on the surface – literally – it probably looked like a legitimate mining operation. Kalian, Martin, and Elinowy wouldn't know for certain until they either talked to workers or went down to the mine and saw for themselves. Kalian nodded reassurance to Martin as he stepped onto the platform, confident he could escape as a bird and bring back rescue. They'd get through this.

For a long second, heavy with tension, Martin hesitated but he trusted Kalian; he relaxed his stance. "Sorry," he said to Gangue. "I'm... afraid of heights." It was only half a lie; he certainly didn't feel confident about the lift's ability to bear all of their weights combined. But the moment had passed and the opportunity was gone, so he stepped forward onto the platform, and waited for his companions to join him.

Elinowy made her way as instructed onto the at best rickety platform. She had no great love of pain or dying, but she placed herself into the will of the Maker, certain that he had purpose to any potential suffering she may be called to endure. All the same, she started to lightly sing from the sacred verses as the platform began its decent into the abyss. As death was not immediately forthcoming, she looked down at the mine floor. IN the mix of torch light and lanterns she made out shadowy workers, making their way slowly about their tasks. As they lowered the sound of whips and jeers of labor taskmasters was apparent. It was quite obvious the mine was trying to make up for lack of worker enthusiasm through intimidation and fear. These were not the most efficient means to run such an enterprise, but it did save on costs in the short run.

With all three of them standing on the platform, Gangue moved to the lift controls. The lift descended into the ravine, to the mine.

 

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