Into the Mines has started at Outside Arx - Crownlands near Bastion - The Dusklight Collier.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Ainsley before departing.

So the time has come to explore the Dusklight Collier. The group would have stayed at Dusklight the evening before in the towns modest inn. And then in the morning headed out with plenty of daylight ahead of them for exploring the surrounding area. Ainsley, once there, has set up a little commander's station, and is now busy talking with one of the locals about something.

A glance is given to the entrance of the mine and he asks of those who have come with, "So, uh... Who wants to go in first? I'm going over some maps of the area, to see if there's any place we could set up a camp if we start having miners work."

Yes, that does mean Ainsley won't be going into the mine.

In her leathers, her crimson hair bound back with a pair of vicious looking pins, a backpack on her back, Monique rolls her shoulders in a shrug. "I'll go. Wouldn't be the first time I charged headlong into a cave with no idea what awaited me. Not even the first time in the last month." That's how Minxes roll.

Aiden had come along for the trip with Ainsley, for one, because hey, they're brothers and Aiden supports Ainsley when he can... and two, he was the First Seeker of the Society of Explorers, so of course he was here. He checked over the maps too and tried to listen in on the locals conversation, though at the head of the mine, he lifted his brow, asking to Ainsley, "Are we expecting trouble? If otherwise, we need a few lights." He did have a belt lantern on, which he goes about lighting now. He doesn't look as if he's nervous at all, taking a step forward, looking in, "If there's a Cocktrice or Wendigo... I'd suggest we leave, but..." He shrugs, "What are the chances of that?"

"Nonsense!" Kenna chirps as they get to the caves. "Unless Ainsley," Kenna's getting a little lax with her titles lately, "has something he isn't telling us, it's just a possible source of new ores. At worst there'll be spiders or some such." Not that Kenna isn't being smart and keeping Quill on her hip even as she ties back her hair so that it stays out of the face. "

Aiden side glances at Kenna, smirking to her, "Yes, you're completely right... abandoned mines wouldn't have a viable reason for them being abandoned..." He winks at her, "Luckily, it'll just be spiders." He was totally being facetious with Kenna, a playful smirk rising on his lips.

Ainsley glances up from the maps and says, "I don't believe there's anything monstrous in there, no." A little shake of his head is given and he says, "I would be going in immediately if there were!"

...there is, however, a couple of the locals-- guides of sorts --who are off to the side talking in a hush whisper to themselves. Occasionally casting suspicious looks to the mines.

Meanwhile, the wind picks up and the entrance to the mine whistles in it. A low quiet wail. The old lanterns on the outside of it rattle in the wind.

Jordan has volunteered for this, and as such, he's in his full knightly gear. Let's hope by the Gods he doesn't need to swing from a rope or something, because that stuff is heavy. That also means he's carrying his small arsenal of weapons, mace in hand and held along with the shield as he dismounts from the horse and joins the others in exploring the mines.

"If there's minerals down there, useable ones, I should be able to tell you." Josephine is lightly armored, pants and tunic instead of lycene silks. Even a shortsword at her hip. Just in case of spiders. "Was it active before? If so, do we have a history of what they managed to get from it before in the manner of minerals?" All that salted hair is tucked nearly into pinned braids.

Jordan checked charm + etiquette at difficulty 15, rolling 1 lower.

Aiden quips toward Ainsley, "If you're wrong brother, you get to deal with the Duchess." He reaches out and claps his brother on the arm, making sure his belt lantern is properly ignited before looking back toward the suspicious looks being cast at the minds. "Spiders hmmm..." He is about to ask something but Josephine gets to it first and he seconds her question with a healthy nod and then slides his hands to his sides, elbows out, patiently waiting to go spelunking, because as an explorer, these things happen all the time! Maybe.

Hoisting her backpack and her lantern, patting the dagger at her belt, Monique glances back to Aiden and Kenna. "Dire spiders?" she suggests with a low chuckle, before turning to the locals. "Any ghost stories to give us the spooks before we go in?" the Greenmarcher asks with a dimpling, disarming grin.

Kenna flicks her hands, "Positive outlook there Aiden~" Kenna says almost sing-song before heading towards the cave itself, whistling quietly to herself. Something has caught her eye and she ducks down beside the old lanterns and fishes around in them before she comes back up with a piece of metal. Rubbing it on the edge of her shirt she gets rid of some rust. "... what is with //keys// lately? Keys without //doors//." That get's muttered to herself before she pops up to her feet. "Heya! There's a locked door somewhere in there!" The key is held up between her fingers and waved. "Or it's to a //completely// unrelated place and my pile of mysterious keys can grow by one."

*flicks her hair

Aiden glances over to Kenna, "How many caves have you gone into lately?" He smirks quietly, though when she returns producing a key, he tilts his head to the side, "Interesting. Does it have any markings on it or is it completely rusted away?"

"No." says Ainsley to Aiden gravely. "If I'm wrong I get to deal with the Duchess, Mother, Father, and Silas." Then his attention turns back to the maps. Though he looks up toward Josephine to favor her a broad smile. "I'm very grateful for your expertise, Mistress."

The key Kenna holds up looks too small to be to a door. More like to a chest or something else.

The locals look up toward Monique and Jordan. They edge a little bit closer to the lady than the knight. One of them, a younger one, laughs and says, "There's an old story about this. It was called the Mine of Smothered Love. Something about lovers dying down here."

The locals look at each other and then back to Monique, "You're not in love with anyone in your party, are you?"

Monique checked composure at difficulty 15, rolling 8 lower.

Kenna checked charm + manipulation at difficulty 15, rolling 5 lower.

Jordan is likely very intimidating a sight considering how many weapons he's keeping on display and the fact he's fully armored. So, try as he might to pull those people into conversation, it won't go smoothly. Plus, Monique's far prettier and knows how to ask nicely. He doesn't have that privilege. Instead, he nods to what is said, as if making mental notes, nevertheless. "I'm free from smothering, at least," he quips, cheerfully.

Monique visibly flinches, pales though she ducks her head down to cover whatever expression claims her face. "No." There's a pause. "No one in my party. I guess I'm safe, then. The one I love is miles away. Is there any tales in particular? Any warnings you might give us?"

"I mean, it looks small. So maybe not a door, that would //also// not be a first." Kenna's talking to herself more than anyone else. SUPER NICELY she turns to the locals. "So, we're good so long as we're not lovers huh? Guess you're free for //sure// Aiden~"

"I am glad to be of assistance to Grayson. I don't often get to visit mines directly. Just get to play with the byproducts of them." She's stepping toward the mouth of the mine though, hand coming to rest on the wall. The mine of smothered love gets a raised brow but then a faint shake of her head and waits to start, remaining fairly silent.

Aiden cannot help but chortle a little at Ainsley's response and wisely keeps his mouth shut in time to hear the response from the locals. The bit about lovers dying down in the mine has him flicker a look toward the said entrance, then back to the locals, "Possible specters. Good. That'll make it more interesting." He side glances to Kenna, "Keep it on you. You might find some sort of treasure. Or map to one. Or maybe it was a key to a bird cage." He starts to amble toward the mine, nodding, "Silas did want to come along, but I think he had other work, luckily for both of us. Smothering doesn't sound too pleasant."

The youth shrugs his shoulders a moment and says, "Should be! I used to play around in it as a kid, but not too far. Not further than the light reaches. I thought I saw someone in it once, though. So I stopped." The young man grabs a lantern and starts to fill it up, so he can hand it off to which ever brave adventurer is first to go in.

Aiden takes the lantern from the young man, nodding to the youth, "It could have been someone sheltering in the mine. Thanks for the light-" and he plods along, waving to Kenna, "Come on Kenna. I expect your eyes up front. I swear, you've a gaze like a hawk."

Aiden checked perception + investigation at difficulty 15, rolling 45 higher.

"Thank you," Monique replies to the locals, recovering her smile for them and only them. "If we don't return, tell my family... well, nevermind. They've got the statue now. Thank you," she repeats again, and then plods along after Aiden and Kenna and Josephine.

"Done." Kenna takes Aiden's direction and sticks the key in her breast pocket with a pat. She's at Aiden's side the moment he sets forward, the first step //almost// a skip. It's just enough to get her to Aiden's side to take up a lamp from a local with a wink. "I'm glad we've got someone here who knows something about metals," Kenna says as an aside to Josephine. "Honestly, my family is more agriculture - I probably wouldn't know quality if it hit me in the face."

Kenna checked perception + investigation at difficulty 15, rolling 41 higher.

Monique checked perception + investigation at difficulty 15, rolling 24 higher.

Josephine checked perception + investigation at difficulty 15, rolling 0 higher.

Monique checked dexterity + stealth at difficulty 15, rolling 42 higher.

The descent into the mines is pleasant enough. These were well maintained at some point. The entryway is quite wide, easy for everyone to fit in and walk in twos or even threes. The nature light filters in pretty far, for there is openings in the ceiling a good twenty to twenty-five meters in. And then the light starts to dim...

Wind whistles from deep within somewhere. A shrill wailing sound blowing through the tunnels around the spelunkers.

Ahead in the darkness is that... a person?

Jordan checked perception + survival at difficulty 15, rolling 22 higher.

"Ours is one with a long standing history of working with metals. Jeweler, going far back." Josephine speaks quietly with Kenna, keeps her voice low, trying to keep an eye on footing. Then to the walls. Others might see a person, but Josephine's heading for a wall, lifting her lantern. "Iron." She reaches out to touch it the wall and a vein of it. "Plenty of iron. At least up here there can be some considerable gain to mine." She's frowning though, something drawing her attention, closing her eyes. "Not the only thing down her." Tap tap tap goes Josephine's finger as if trying to summon up something but shaking her head.

Aiden lifts his hand up to bring a slow hault to the group, indicating with a lifted lantern the remains ahead, "Sadly, the locals were right. It appears that someone has died here, by a cave in..." He starts to consider the structure of the mine around them, squinting, "We should reinforce the mine before we proceed much further. There's no telling if another collapse could happen." He flashes the light on the remains again, "A priority might be to remove the remains and see them to proper rites." He looks back to Josephine, nodding at her deduction of the minerals down here.

"Oh damn," Kenna says, almost like she saying it to Josephine, except that her eyes are squinting into the darkness. She quickens her pace to lean over what looks like some rocks tumbled about a skeleton. "Poor sucker probably should have brought a miner with him..." Kenna glances upwards at the beams above, lifting her lantern to check the wood like she would know ANYTHING about what's up there. (haha, she wouldn't, who's she kidding.)

"There's a rope ahead. Behind a stalagmite," Jordan points out, while listening to Josephine as she does her thing with metals. He nods to her words, apparently making note of that in case he needs to write a report, and then continues to walk alongside the rest of the group. "Yeah, we don't have any carpenters, do we? Might want to add some reinforcement to the beams if we're afraid of another cave-in."

Monique moves quietly through the tunnels, and where before she was eager and bright, now she is withdrawn and thoughtful. So withdrawn, in fact, the doesn't see the stalagmite until she's walking smack into it, and bouncing off of it, onto her backside. There's a startled, somewhat stifled cry from the redhead as she comes back to the here and now, an invective of shav leaving her lips thoughtlessly, followed by, in Arvani, "There's a hole here." And she sidles to its edge, peering down and in. "Deep and big enough to fit a body."

Josephine checked perception + smithing at difficulty 15, rolling 33 higher.

Aiden turns back toward the stifled cry, hoisting up his lantern back toward where Monique was, "You alright back there?" Checking in, as his gaze wanders to the hole discovered and the rope on the stalagmite. A moment later he asks, "Are we considering going down that hole... with the rope?" Because it sounds like he might be game! Though he does send a runner up (because they totally had one or two additional people with them, like miners, right?) to report a body discovered and an ask for some timber to shore up the ceiling, "Right and let Ainsley know. There's bound to be a local missing a family member that might step forward... Even if it was a long time ago."

Reaching out Kenna touches the bones of the dead guy once before standing up. Resolutely she turns to hear Monique talking about a hole. Instantly, "YES." Kenna is //all// for the going down the hole with the rope. "How big is it? If it's tight I volunteer." Upside to being the smallest person in the mine at the moment.

The runner gives a nod to Aiden and turns about and runs back up the pathway. Meanwhile now that Aiden and Kenna have pointed it out... that body? Well it's a skeleton. The clothing looks _incredibly old_. So. Old.

There's a body? Josephine isn't big on bodies and so she's cautious to not look directly at the body. She's not here to tend to poor souls. "The mine is fine. We'll be fine. You'll find it's quite stable. Whatever has happened though, it was purposeful. The rocks and the like." But that gives pause, looking to that hole. A forefinger taps against her though. "I'll go down first if you like."

Jordan just looks at Kenna sidelong as she volunteers, expression shifting through various phases of amusement all at once before asking, "Anybody bring rope? I suggest not using that one, because the corpse looks like it's seen a few years already." He looks at Josephine for a long time after her words though. "Do you think they were trying to keep something /in/, then?"

Kenna checked intellect + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 12 higher.

Aiden checked intellect + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 46 higher.

Monique checked intellect + etiquette at difficulty 20, rolling 3 higher.

Aiden smirks at Jordan, "The First Seeker has... come prepared, luckily!" Aiden nods toward one of the other helpers brought along, the pack mule, "This fellow, Ulhin, right here has been carrying some of our gear. Rope enough to go down into a bottomless pit..." he sounds facetious again but willing at least, to put on a brave face. Jordan's conclusion has him thoughtful, "That is possible, with the information we have." A look to Josephine if she notices anything else odd about the rocks.

Aiden finally moves back toward the skeleton once Ulhin passes off the rope to whoever wants it - Kenna, Josephine, Jordan! One of them can have it. He kneels down by the skeleton and reaches out to look at the tatters of cloth remaining upon the sorry victim, "We aren't... going to find any family members alive. This is generations old. The style is ... well, very dated. I'd say well before my grandfather's time - or maybe when he was a young man. A hundred years, give or take."

"I //suppose// we could put a lantern down first." Kenna says this absently. It's not nearly as fun as going down a hole. She looks back at the body, this time her eyes catching on some cloth caught between the bones and rock. "He/She wasn't naked when she died at least." A touch doesn't do good things for the fabric. At Kenna's brief touch some of the remaining fabric crumbles. "Oops. Did anyone ask our friendly locals when this mine was last used?" Oh, rope. Kenna's gonna take the rope~

Aiden finally moves back toward the skeleton once Ulhin passes off the rope to whoever wants it - Kenna, Josephine, Jordan! One of them can have it. He kneels down by the skeleton and reaches out to look at the tatters of cloth remaining upon the sorry victim, "We aren't... going to find any family members alive, well if we do, they'll be old themselves. What this person was wearing, is... generations old. The style is ... well, very dated. I'd say well before my grandfather's time - or maybe when he was a young man. A hundred years, give or take." <re with fixes>

Josephine's at that hole, the woman in her fifties picking up rocks, looking around, letting those burn flecked hands press here and there and even reaching into that hole before reaching out for the rope. "It wasn't to keep something in. There's something deeper in though, not Iron. The iron has such a solidness to it, I'm used to it. There's something I've never come across down there and I assure you, I have come across a great deal in my years. Someone's been trying to get in though. This was widened by human means, but the original hole was natural."'

"Silks," Monique comments, because she can pick those out from miles away. She's had years and years of experience, robbing them. She's picked herself up now, drawing closer to the body. Is she really going to case it? Yes. Yes, she is. Pockets, wrist bones, neck bones, nothing is safe from her dextrous fingers.

Unfortunately, some of the body is under the rubble. Aiden looks over toward Monique with a lifted brow, watching her quick fingers and... double checking his own pockets.

Jordan squints as Monique continues her pick-pocketing thing, but looks pensive at Josephine's words again, the assessment prompting him to muse, "Diamondplate?" Obviously a mine won't have alaricite - how the hell does one come across alaricite, anyway - but maybe diamondplate...

"Darker." Josephine answers Jordan. "Much darker. Stone..." A pause as she closes her eyes. "Stone."

Monique rises from the body, looking disappointed, but that could just be for show. It doesn't seem like she came up with anything, anyway. She approaches the hole. "Well? Shall I?"

Jordan checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 30, rolling 18 higher.

Kenna passes the rope over to Josephine (let's be honest, she just looks more //competent//.) "Darker stone good, or nah?"

"Alright, give me that rope. Darker, you said. What's a dark metal? Or is it a gemstone?" Jordan squints at Josephine, and finally takes the length of rope for himself, securing it with the aid of the assistants and then he hoists himself down, slowly. "Just make sure to keep it steady."

Aiden watches Monique, blinking at her and... is that a confused pout? Nawh, just shadows really. He pops up and follows Monique, whispering something to her.

"I don't know. I can't see it. I just... it's beyond that hole, that's all I know." There's a charming laugh. "It only sings to me. The mine nearly bellows with boisterous song. But whatever it is, it's more subtle but not... " There's a shake of her head. "I'll go down after whomever goes. But it's a stone, not a metal. I'll know it when I see it, or we get closer."

Jordan checked perception at difficulty 30, rolling 25 lower.

Jordan checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 19 lower.

From below there's the echo sound of something snapping.

From below there's the echoy* sound of something snapping.

"Fuck," Jordan mutters to himself, which ends up echoing to the chamber above. He's trying to get himself away from whatever he just crunched, drawing his alaricite sword since, well, it seems like such a great idea now. "Mind the skeleton, safe to come down nevertheless."

Monique checked dexterity + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 36 higher.

Aiden seems a bit confounded before he catches up to where the brave spelunkers have gotten off to. He puts his hands on his hips and looks toward the rope and Jordan going down. What catches his attention is Josephine's mention about hearing the rocks singing, murmuring, "That's fascinating. How does it work exactly? Does it help you figure out how to cut a stone, persay?" He inquires while... the rest of them are figuring out what's down below. Maybe he'll go down, eventually.

"Well. That's not ominous." Kenna remarks as she leans over the hole. "Aiden, can your guys get us back up if we all go down?" Nice sweet charming look back at the nice NPCs.

Kenna checked dexterity + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 1 higher.

Monique checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 13 higher.

Aiden checked dexterity + survival at difficulty 30, rolling 8 higher.

"More...they dictate how and what they wish to be." There's a flick of her finger to her chestpiece. "The Iridescite was -very- unhappy as an ingot." And then she's heading down with the others.

Monique murmurs something quietly back to Aiden, before stepping up to the rope. "Coming down," the Minx calls out and gives Jordan maybe five seconds to clear the area before wrapping the fibers around her wrist and sliding down, wriggling to get through the small hole.

Five seconds? That's not fast enough! But barely, Jordan does manage to step aside and whirls the blade in a circle while he waits for the others to come down. He doesn't like the sight of skeletons plus what could be a grotto. That always leads to things like duckbears, wolfbeavers, manbearpigs.

Kenna checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 35 higher.

Whatever Monique murmurs back to him, is nodded too. Kenna's call for him however, has Aiden wavinga hand back at the helpers, "That's what they're here for. Paid to ensure we don't get stuck in an abandoned mine filled with innocent spiders!" He waits for the others to get down the rope, while he goes to speak with the helpers and notify them of the plan. Once it is his turn to go down - after Kenna and Josephine, after the others have gone before him, ladies first as it were, he will wind his way down the rope and not as easily well done as the others. At the end of the rope he'll tentatively ensure he doesn't step on any skeletons before he gets off the rope.

CCRACK. "Oops. Sorry man, or woman. Whichever you were." Kenna just adds to the desecration of dead people down there when it's her turn to go down. Letting go of the rope she'll leave off the rope and step into the darkness with her lantern held high. "Never thought about metal as having... feelings before."

Aiden checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 25 higher.

Josephine checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 20 lower.

Down into the hole they all gone eventually... to find that it's a seemingly natural cavern below, a good forty meters down. It's large enough to fit them all but not much more. Noticeably there are multiple passage ways heading out from the cavern.

There's another skeleton down here, of course. This one has some rope about its hips... and well it's ribcage is pretty damned crushed at this point. Poor skeleton! This one is wearing leathers, but with a single silk embellishment on jerkin in a pale, pale lavender color.

Down one of the passage ways something glitters in the wall..

Poking the skeleton with his blade, Jordan asks, "Anyone recognize any kind of group that had lavender as its color?" Simple question, right? But he pulls back, looking to Josephine on guidance as to what the glittery thing might happen to be. "If you've got a spare torch, Your Highness, might be good to toss it there, in case it's a death trap. You know, 'go to the shiny thing, get yourself killed' kind of deal."

Jordan wields Wayfarer, an alaricite arming sword.

Last to drop down, Aiden looks over the skeleton he avoids stepping on, because he's quite aware of the spiritual world you know! He kneels down, with his own lantern and pours the light over the remains. The lavender shade has him shake his head, "It looks feminine in design. It could be, this was the... lover?" He looks back up from the hole, then shines the light into the cavern as a whole, illuminating the choice in passages. The shiny glittery one which grabs Jordan's attention is not what holds Aiden's. Instead, he points toward a passage opposite the glittering one, "I think there's something there-" and with a shake of his head to Jordan he answers as he heads to inspect, "I only have laterns and I believe if I toss them, they'll shatter." Which would be a bad thing. Latern is lifted up to shine down the passage opposite the glittering one, and hey... a boot! He cautiously picks it up. What sort of boot is it? What is the size... hmmm.

"Oh. OH! OH!" She knows exactly where to turn her attention too and while Jordan may be cautious, Josephine is not the cautious type and is already striding for that tunnel with that glimmer. "Schorl. I think... No, Schorl. I haven't seen this since... Oh, no, oh." She's lost in a litle world of her own, nearly vibrating with the find. "Tourmaline. All black, solid. It's... it's nothing like the others that are clear, maybe with imprefections rutilation but no, schorl. How are you you beauty...." And she's humming.

Kenna's walking forward when something under her foot causes her to stumble. She catches herself on a wall. Leaning down she picks something up and holds it to her light. "Hey, Josephine? What kind of metals rust? I know iron and steel, right? Do people make rings out that stuff?" Even as she says it she'll bring the ring she's found over to Josephine to take a gander at. It looks like a rusty as fuck signet ring.

Monique chuckles at Jordan's quip, but the redhead crosses to the left, plucking at something she's seen behind a rock in that direction. It's a bit of paper and she takes her time in freeing it and examining the thing.

"Bronze rusts, too. Silver darkens. I only know those two because once someone showed me aged bronze and silver rings. One was greenish and the other was dark grey. Go figure," Jordan quips, while watching Josephine as she approaches the glittery thing. "Tourmaline is black? Sure that isn't onyx or something?" He pauses at that, before paying more attention towards where Aiden points. He'll wait until a decision is made, either way.

"Hmm?" Josephine is enraputed by the tunnel. The ring though. "Rusts? Iron. Steel may pit if not kept proper, but iron itself will rust." She takes that ring in hand, holding it close. "Someone trying to be better than they were." Josephine frowns. "Chip of emerald. Iron and a very ill... quality steel." Shes hakes her head, turning it over and over in her hand. "Most certainly steel and a very poor quality of gold. Then emerald right there..." Tiniest chip. Tourmaline though. "Not Onyx. Onyx growls somewhat. That is Schorl."

Aiden slips further into the tunnel he was investigating and comes across a second skeleton. He kneels there and sorts through the remains of this person, looking for anything to identify the remains with. What he finds is a piece of paper that he delicately unfolds to still read what's upon it. Folding it back up, he ensures it won't crumble upon reading or while in transit. He sighs as he comes back to the cavern where the others are, "That... is probably Sofia," he nods to the skeleton at the foot of the hole, "A man named Jaden is back over there. He likely died from trauma related to a broken leg, left untreated well..." He frowns, "There was someone named Colin in the letter, that the author, Jaden writes to his beloved Emily about. A warning that the author didn't listen to about Colin. A sad end, for these people, whatever happened." He glances around, "Anyone else find anything of use?" A look to Josephine as he catches some of the details about the ring. Then he offers Jordan the latern the young miner up top gave him, "If you will, Sir Jordan? I will follow."

"Sofia was a bitch," Monique replies, bitterly, carefully tucking the piece of paper she got into her pack, enfolded in a swatch of soft silk. And as she did with the first corpse, she'll check over the second.

Aiden stops and looks over at Monique, "Why... do you say that?"

"Well. That sucks. If it's poor quality then this probably wasn't a super high up silk." Kenna takes back the ring and tucks it into her pocket right next to the key she found earlier. Maybe she can return it to a... great great grandchild. A blink at Monique. "Oh?"

"What exactly do you mean with ill quality?" Jordan asks of Josephine. "That it's flimsy, or that it's evil? Since you're saying things like onyx growling." When Aiden gives him what he presumes to be a command, he takes the lantern, and leads the way. "Still want an answer to that, Mistress! About the steel."

Aiden walks over to Kenna and murmurs something to her.

"Seems like the owner of the mine was courting her, and she was taking his gifts and his secrets and pining away for someone else," Monique replies, with a low growl, rising from the corpse. "Got what was coming to her, if that's the case."

"Do we have an owner's name?" Aiden asks toward Monique, "Wouldn't happen to be Colin would it?"

A spider skitters out in front of Jordan. The wall is lined with dark, opaque stones. Black but not overly sinister ... except that black stones are sinister! ...what is more sinister is the number of bodies down this passage way.

Two ... three...

Five ...

Eight...

Kenna raises an eyebrow at what Aiden says in that undertone to her, then nods once in understanding. She's got half an ear on Monique's answer and the other half looking ahead, "Oh dddaaammnnn." Hi bodies.

"Ill quality, poor quality." The ring passed back to Kenna. "very little money, so they spent hte most on a chip of diamond and went cheap with the rest." Josephine is already by the mouth of that glittering tunnel and now that she's not needed to identify rings, hands trailing alone the entrace to that tunnel of Schorl. 'oh yes. I promise you...." She taps on particular outcropping at the mouth of the tunnel. "I promise, You'll be baguette cut" A glance to the bodies. "Did she have... many lovers?"

A hard line forms on Aiden's mouth, noting, "Whatever killed them, it did so long ago. Perhaps it was ill air?" He looks to Josephin, suddenly approaching her and also murmuring quietly, a question.

There's a shake of her head to whatever it is that Aiden asks, murmured back.

"Didn't say, on either count," Monique answers both Aiden and Jospehine the same, her eyes straying to the bodies. With a quick motion, the diamondplate pins slide free of her crimson hair, allowing it to spill like a red river over her shoulders. Precautions. The sharp tips gleam in the lantern light, reflect off the bright beacon of her hair.

Aiden looks over to Josephine, an intrigued look on his face, before he stops as well when she stops. A look of concern before he does ask to Jordan who has the latern and is leading the way through the number of skeletons, "Sir Jordan, was the rope cut up above?"

"Chryosparse. There's iron, Chryosparse and Schorl. I know what I'll be asking for come the new year. A couple buckets of everything down here... Do you think they'd mind if I took that piece of Schorl? It really is begging."

Aiden turns to Josephine, "As a Prince of Grayson, I authorize you to take a piece. For quality control-" there's a slight grin on his face, "Only a prince for a day or two longer right? Might as well make the best of it!" He moves on though, seeing that Josephine was okay.

Jordan looks at the skeletons, and the spider that skitters across from him. He illuminates the corpses, though, letting Monique have her pickpocketing way with those if she wants. "No, it didn't look torn up. It looked old. Worn," he explains, to Aiden. He squints at the stone-lined wall. "Too bad we don't have a pickaxe, huh? I'd love to get a sample from this."

Monique wields 'Honor' The Minx's Diamondplate Hairpins.

Aiden mutters to Jordan, "Well there goes that theory-" he will start to take a look at the skeletons as well, looking for signs of death upon their remains.

Kenna picks through the skeletons, careful not to step on them. "If anyone sees a chest or something small, or with a lock, let me know?" Kenna sweeps the light from side to side to see what she can find. Don't mind her just wandering from the group now. All the dead happened FOREVER ago.

Monique wrinkles her nose at the mention of Aiden's upcoming nuptials, but the Greenmarcher doesn't say anything, and instead continues along down the passageway, eyes peeled, sweeping the shining walls. Mmm, shiny.

Aiden checked perception + medicine at difficulty 15, rolling 23 higher.

Well! When authorized! Josephine's getting out a rock hammer from a bag and sets about to tending to that nice chunk of Schorl. "But, whether it be a necklace, or a tiara or something." So much it could be. "It will be a productive mine. Wont' need too much re-enforcing right away but, should none the less. Grayson is quite lucky."

"Oh, tiara. Jospehine, if you remember, I want to talk to you about a tiara for Deilah." Nothing like business when surrounded with bodies.

Jordan checked perception + smithing at difficulty 15, rolling 6 higher.

"Did you?" Success. One fat column of schorl. middle and forefinger stroke it in a fashion that perhaps speaks to some intimacy that only a jweler has with their materials. "We can discuss it on the ride back, there's Chryosparse I want to see further in if we ca spare the moment?"

Kenna checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 15 higher.

Aiden checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 11 higher.

"Yeah, that's very pretty," Jordan admits after a longer look to the mineral deposits, continuing to lead and light the way.

Jordan has rolled a critical success!
Jordan checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 15 higher.

Josephine checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 10 lower.

There is actually one skeleton that is dressed in silks that are slightly more fancy than everyone else. Draped over a ... rock?

"You have the key, right?" Jordan illuminates Kenna as he half-turns. "Come with me, if you would, my Lady." And then he's leading the way to the skeleton with the fine drapery, sort of... nudging the silk-wearing skeleton aside to reveal a little lockbox.

Kenna checked dexterity + athletics at difficulty 15, rolling 20 higher.

Monique checked perception + investigation at difficulty 30, rolling 24 higher.

Aiden smirks back at Josephine as she doesn't wait very long to get at it, noting outloud, "I'm certain my brother will be very pleased with the discovery... If only the caverns didn't have winds that sounded like an old ghost." But then he lowers down and settles by some of the bodies, starting to do an inspection to look for signs of death as they go through the pathway. He looks up, blinks at the ceiling of the tunnel, then continues to sift through the bones that remain. Squatting, he comes to a conclusion after he flips the last piece of cloth back over one of the bodies, "Almost every one of these bodies have broken bones, crushed skulls... arms and legs broken as if they fell from some great height..." He points up, "But as you see, there's a ceiling here." He looks down the passageway, "They might have all fallen from somewhere else and dragged themselves here together, but it doesn't add up..."

"Certainly the ones with the crushed skulls wouldn't... leave from where they fell..." Aiden notes. Ominously.

"ooooh." Kenna abandons whatever she was about to do and is back at Jordan's side in a thrice, somehow NOT stepping on any skeletons along the way. She reaches out to take the box from Jordan and cuddles it in her hand even as she fishes for the key in her pocket. Key, box, YES VICTORY THEY FIT. "Hey!" Just general calling out and attention getting.

"The air, passing over the hole in the rock. Once they widen that hole to get down here, it'll likely dissipate." Josephine states to assure Aiden. It's like a magpie bird, in a room full of shiny things. Josephine's moving here, touching this, touching that. Like a god damned teenager. "Yes, yes, 'll make sure you're pear shaped. I swear it."

Rogue, a black falcon arrives, delivering a message to Ainsley before departing.

Aiden doesn't conclude more than that about the bodies, when Kenna calls the attention of the group. A look to Josephine has him consider her words, "Good. I'm glad to hear no one will be in danger of smothering." He moves over toward Kenna, looking over the fancy corpse and the box in Kenna's hands. "You found your mystery box," he looks around the tunnel, then back, "Open it?" Because it's begging to be opened!

Oh, that thing is getting OPENED. Right now. Zero waiting happening. (Kenna)

Inside the box there is a bunch of rusty? A pile of _very old_ coins. And a leather bound journal with string that looks like it's just about to fall off. And then there's a a couple of spiders. And a few pieces of rusted iron... a black stone, and a marbled green stone."

Ainsley drops Extremely Old Journal of Colin Wentley, Owner of the Dusklight Mines.

Kenna checked composure at difficulty 15, rolling 8 higher.

Kenna picks up Extremely Old Journal of Colin Wentley, Owner of the Dusklight Mines.

Kenna drops Extremely Old Journal of Colin Wentley, Owner of the Dusklight Mines.

"Coins.... Monique?" Kenna passes the super old coins to the woman, she probably would know the best. The stones, "And these," they get passed to Josephine if he'll take them but Kenna's going to keep the book and read aloud the words for EVERYONE to be able to hear. When she's done, "Well. If Ainsley wants to open this mine up again I suggest he gets his foreman regular mental checks."

"Kenna," Aiden softly inquires while she passes out the coins and the stones, "Would you mind if I take that as official evidence, in regards to the mine and present it to my brother, so that he in turn can present it to the King. It will be the King's decision, if not the Voices after all, to get this mine operational." In other words, political evidence of Bastion stays with Grayson! But he's polite about it at least, not saying anything in regards to all that looting going on. Yet.

Monique likes coins. She accepts the coins because they're coins and who would turn down coins! And she listens to the reading, settling down by a skeleton dressed in rich silks to do it. "I feel for you, Colin," she tells the skeleton in an amiable aside. "She sounds like she was up to no good." No one knows no good better than Monique, right?

"Sounds like Sofia really wanted to take the mine over, though. How many do you reckon she seduced? I mean, he wasn't exactly a bastion of sanity at the end there but it sounds like he decided to cave them all in." Jordan sheathes his sword, shaking his head.

"I can write up a study of the mine as well, so that you can present the continued viability of the mine Prince Grayson." Josephine takes the stones only long enough to look at the before proffering them to Aiden.

"Oh? Yeah, of course." Kenna closes the book carefully and is about to hand it over when, "Wait, this too." She digs out the rusty ring from a pocket and puts it in the box, THEN she finishes handing it back to Aiden.

Monique doesn't offer up the coins, stubbornly.

Kenna lets Aiden fight that one. >.>

Aiden looks to the stones in Josephine's hand as she offers them, "You know best about stones and I assume you can present them to my brother and describe to him what they are, where they came from, and well, if they offer any value - such as contributions or funds to be converted into use to get the mine operational." He glances back to Monique, with a hint of strong command in his voice, "You're a guest of Bastion and House Grayson. I recommend you present Prince Ainsley with your findings as well."

"So how big is this village? Was it supposed to be a barony that didn't go through or something?" Jordan muses, looking around to the mines. "I can only hope it profits and I get a decent cut. Gods, I hate spiders. Look at that. Skittering things. So many webs."

"A thousand silver, no more than that in my hand at this moment. The value is... within the walls." Josephine assures him. "But I can include that in a report."

"They're old, and only worth maybe 1,500 silver," Monique tells Aiden, without rising to the bait of his commanding tone. She pats the skeleton beside her with a friendly nudge. "Don't worry. I'll make sure they're spent wisely." It's a deliberate tease in Aiden's direction.

Ainsley picks up Extremely Old Journal of Colin Wentley, Owner of the Dusklight Mines.

Aiden nods to Josephine, "Thank you. Your help has been quite invaluable. I'm sure you can find a comfortable compensation with my brother for your services. I'll be looking forward to reading your report and including my own details in it." At that, he notes to Monique, "I'd advise you consider donating those funds back to the mine, otherwise it would look like theft."