Session 41: Trouble in the Mine
General Summary
Retroactively, as Tamugar and Rome weren't part of the previous session, Rome left the party on Day 35 of The Panther, choosing to remain in Eld Tereth for now with her parents and oldest brother. Rome wrote a letter to a contact of hers in Dun Girimbor, Pan, telling him the party was coming his way. Tamugar also received a fortune from Saurivess on day 36: "Your homeland needs you. There are eyes watching in the dark. Your home is under threat, and only one who is fleet of foot can help vanquish the evil". The party's tram ride to Dun Girimbor passed without incident. Emerging from the tram, Pan, a young elf in a brightly-coloured vest, was watching the party, but they weren't sure who to look for, so they made their way to the Crystal Gardens and met with Councilor Bael Donaz in his council chambers. Bael told the party about the disease that was affecting the town and which originated from the mine. It caused the infected to develop a fixation on one of their interests, which consumed them fairly rapidly until the point that they could do nothing else but act on that fixation, dying as their body overheated from exhaustion. In the fastest cases, they guessed it took less than a day. The disease could be healed with a Lesser Restoration spell, but some had died, and the disease had started to make its way around the city, before the healers identified it and started curing it. They haven't yet figured out how the disease spreads, but have it contained, with miners being quarantined for a day upon return from the mines. The city has also been sending members of the Wardens of the Caverns into the mines with each crew. Bael approved the party to investigate the mines and put an end to the source of the disease. Outside the chambers, the party met Pan, who was waiting for them and offered to guide them around the city. They first talked to a healer who had been infected, finding out a little more about the disease, and then entered the mines, talking to Foreman Noldrum in his office. Pan tried to pass out Balo Blackiron's business cards to the foreman, who seemed uninterested in them and in having a benefit concert. Noldrum told the party he believed the disease originated from the two deepest mine shafts, and he directed the party to them, saying it was two days journey to the most recent excavations. The party entered the mines, passing a mining crew on their way out who suggested that the disease might originate from a side tunnel at the end of the main shaft, where they'd broken through a wall into a chamber high above an underground lake. Later, the party passed another group of miners and wardens in a sleeping alcove, choosing to sleep themselves at the entrance to one of the side tunnels.
