[open] they call it a mine

[infinitewatch]

WHO: Captain Lance and any intrepid souls that wish to come along
WHAT: the mine's still being weird, let's deal with it
WHEN: mid-March
WHERE: The Northcliff Mine
NOTES: potential for spooky scaries

Left largely unexplored for obvious reasons after the avalanche, the mine has mostly returned to normal and its miners have come back to work. It had been so early in the morning that none had been present when the cave-in (or whatever it was) occurred, and all are accounted for: however, there are reports of voices from the depths, calling for help.
Several cursory investigations by the miners themselves have yielded no results, and now many are refusing to go back into the tunnels until the issue is resolved.

Captain Lance, growing tired of the reports, has decided to form an exploration party to uncover whomever is trapped. It's late morning when he traipses grimly to the mine's entrance, holding a torch in one hand and the pommel of his sword in the other.
He's of the mind they should've blocked the damn thing off years ago, but livelihoods are at stake.

[Tagging order will be round robin, but we may skip over anyone inactive for more than 48 hours unless requested otherwise.]

Comments

[ethelmar]

The mines are the livelihoods of the miners, and the lifeblood of the village itself. If the company closes and leaves the area, Magistrate Emery Ward is unsure what other merchant he can coax and cajole in to take its place. (He made a better soldier than public figure, in his opinion.)

His footsteps on the cobblestone and snow announce his presence so that he won't take the Captain unawares, and should Lance glance at him, he gets a brief nod for his trouble. "Who else are we expecting?" he asks. That's greeting enough, probably.

[infinitewatch]

Lance turns when he hears footsteps, and already looks like he'd rather wash his hands of the whole thing.
"Anyone able-bodied," he says quietly, "who can help dig or lift stones, if need be." He's not looking forward to this, but clearly trying to steel himself against any nerves about it. What must be done, must be done.

[macaw]

There aren't any birds with him, this time; they're ill-suited for underground. There's just Deron, his long coat and gloves, coming up with his own torch and shovel - and, at his belt, his sword, and at his back, his shield. Both Emery and Lance are given a quiet nod in greeting; the blessing of age and not having anyone too fancy about means Deron doesn't need to do much more than that.

Instead, he grimaces, casting his torch over the entrance. 'Calls for help'. Damned if they didn't look into it, that was for sure, but possibly damned if they did, too.

"Had a couple of the young ones who wanted to volunteer take up spots in the village tonight, Captain," he says after a moment. "They were asking about helping, but-" I didn't want them to die "-told 'em we might need people alert to get the healers, or carry people through the snow."

And if it all went terribly, they could sound the alarm.

[ethelmar]

As if on cue, there comes from deep within the mines a muffled cry, as though deep within the earth, someone is weeping.

Undaunted, Emery stares into the darkness without speaking for a weighted moment, fingers flexing against the hilt of his sword. "Better for us to see to this quickly," he says and steps towards the mines' entrance.

[deerpaths]

The entrance to the mine being more exposed than both town streets and any given forest path, it's actually possible to catch Niabi's approach before she joins the group. She's got a stout stave in hand for both testing and leveraging rocks and a hearty looking pair of leather work gloves tucked into her belt but is otherwise lightly dressed, especially for the lingering chill of mountain winter. It's not an oddity; appropriately dressed has always seemed to mean something different to her.

She plants feet and staff next to Lance, and eyes the mine with frank distrust. Shakes her head slightly at the cry.

"Not ours." It's said confidently enough. And direly. She'd be happily surprised to find some folk that had somehow missed the Captain's count, but she trusts him too well and has seen too much over the years to believe it.

[macaw]

Niabi is given a nod from Deron; as much as he doesn't want a whole crew of people coming in to possibly be attacked by whatever's in the mine, she's a good sort. Solid, and the birds like her, and if she weren't so in love with the forest Deron might've actually decided to propose just to get everyone else from talking about how the two of them were so very sad and alone and unmarried.

He hadn't proposed after she'd returned Lance to them, at least; that would've been embarrassing.

"Say your prayers, everyone; we're going to need them." That said, he follows Emery, scowling at the dark.

[infinitewatch]

Warily watching as others approach, Lance seems to settle ever so slightly at the sight of Niabi. He gives her a small nod of greeting that, to anyone else, probably looks furtive and awkward-- but it's friendly, in its way.

Then the magistrate starts going in, but they can hardly let him take the lead, so Lance dips ahead to light the way with his torch, sharp eyes scanning the tunnel ahead of them. There's little to see in this first passage: tools leftover from the day workers, a cart, the usual items one would expect to be associated with the ins and outs of a functioning mine.

Another cry comes from deeper within, and as the party proceeds forward, they begin to leave the well-trod areas behind.

[ethelmar]

It is cramped, close quarters the deeper they descend, the air close and unexpectedly warm. Emery glances at Lance's torch as he leads the way, and chooses (for the moment) to associate the creeping rise in temperature with its heat, and the absence of brisk winter wind.

Then comes that cry--

"You said all the miners were accounted for?" This question to Lance; it isn't accusatory, but careful, cautious. If that sound doesn't come from one of the miners, then who is its source?

MOD TAG

[northcliffpass]

To different ears, the cry will take on different qualities; a wounded soldier, a child's yelp, the keening of a wounded animal--always just diffuse and muted enough to make the listener question their own senses.

[deerpaths]

To Niabi it sounds like the terror of a trapped fawn, separated from its mother. Nothing at all like a human voice, and she looks with sharp question at Emery. An old soldier, he's heard enough to know the difference between the scared cries of man and beast.

But maybe she's just used to hearing the latter. It's not as if she spends time with men.

"Not ours," she repeats with a small shake of her head, eyes alert for movement in the shifting darkness at the edge of the torchlight. "Something else." Not someone. Something. But she continues on without hesitation. If she's wrong and it's someone to be saved, then they need to save them. If she's right and it's something to be dealt with, better they do it than put the miners in danger. Or the town entire, if it gets loose on its own.

[macaw]

Honestly, fuck this. The cries that he can hear aren't possible - he knows, because the last time he heard them, he was killing the person crying at her request.

Deron raises his torch a bit higher. "Niabi," he starts, scowling even as he says it. "Okay to take my shovel for a moment?"

He wants to draw his sword. As much as he doesn't want to bog her down, he's also pretty sure that Niabi could break the kneecap of whatever is down here with a well-aimed shovel swing.

[infinitewatch]

As the cry sounds anew, Lance pauses to close his eyes, riding out the accompanying feeling with every ounce of meditative reason he can gather. A sickly baby has no business being in the mine-- and even if she were, even if she'd somehow survived, she'd be...
Well. Not a baby.

"It's--" he stammers, stepping forward again, "--it's not natural." He eyes Deron drawing his sword, but doesn't stop him.

[ethelmar]

A cry for mercy, for surrender. That is what Emery hears; the voice of a dying boy on the killing fields.

"It's--it's not natural," the Captain stammers.

"No. No, it's not." Emery takes a breath and steadies himself, then musters courage enough to turn his gaze down the dark, narrow chasm to their left. Echoes of the cry still reverberate down into the blackness.

"There," he says nodding into the depths. "That's where it's coming from." Whatever it is. Then, taking note of Deron reaching for his sword, "We should seal it off. A cursory search for survivors, and then block off that part of the tunnel. If the owner has something to say about it, he can say it to me."

(He isn't a constable anymore, nor a soldier, but the office of the magistrate carries a different kind of authority. If anyone gives Deron, Lance, or even Niabi trouble about the choice, he can intercede on their behalf.)

[deerpaths]

The offered shovel is taken without comment. Granted, she has both hands full now, but there's nothing stopping her from tossing staff or shovel down should there be some kind of altercation. It's close enough quarters that the shovel might actually make for a better weapon.

If Niabi had her druthers, they'd collapse the whole damn mine. If something came from further into the mountains, some kind of passage knocked open by the slide, what's to say the next one wouldn't bring more unwelcome visitors of this ilk. Or something nastier. The owner was a fool to court that danger for money, and worse than that to do it with other men's lives. But it's not her decision, so instead she raises her eyebrows at sealing it off.

"How?"

[macaw]

We should seal it off does not, in Deron's mind, means put your sword away. He draws it, the torchlight reflecting off the blade.

"It'll depend on what the avalanche knocked loose, I'd imagine," he huffs, looking around the dark. "If we can't seal it tonight, we're going to have to come back. And I don't really fancy that idea."

[infinitewatch]

Stepping stolidly forward, Lance shines his light as far down the passageway as he dares, jaw clenched and eyes steely. Whatever's down there, pursuing or dispatching it will be a far different experience from how he deals with criminals. At least they're human; they can reason, and feel.

"Wood, until we can wall it up more permanently," he decides, "we can use the miners' supply for now. And replenish it tomorrow." There are always support beams and boards around from expansions in which they weren't all used, and sit waiting for the next one.

[ethelmar]

Emery nods in agreement with Lance. "Whatever we do tonight is only a temporary solution to a larger problem." Given his grimace, the way his eyes seem to linger on some far distance, he doesn't have the right answer yet--not one that doesn't result in asphyxiating the village of its only viable export.

Lance is already illuminating the way ahead. "We look for wood to wall it up for now. Tomorrow, stone and mortar, if we can." Brick, mortar, and a compelling story to tell the rest of the village that doesn't involve whatever the truth happens to be.

He looks to Lance again, nodding once. "Captain," he says. Lead on.