Talif's journal, day 1, part 1

I began my journey walking north along the road on the eastern shores of the great Lake Harnell. The road was dusty and foot trampled. The terrain was sparse and dry rolling hills, full of scrub grasses, bushes and little else. I had a rough map of the landscape, showing the rough path of the road and the locations of the few towns in this country (I counted 8 total on the map.) Since I had nothing else to do, I was making my way north toward Wahr; this was the nearest town, perched on the northeastern edge of the lake, and it seemed to be about a day and a half's walk, judging from my progress along the curve of the lake so far.

Around midmorning I spotted the remains of an old signpost on the right side of the road. I searched around and found the original sign and was able to make out the faint words "Old Mine." I worked the sign back onto its post how it might have originally been and found the general direction it seemed to have pointed. Although there was no path leading me east, there was a sort of dip in the land that may as well have been one, so I decided to follow it.

I walked eastward for nearly an hour, all the time seeing nothing but a small herbivorous creature, studying me curiously from a hilltop. Eventually I came to a dusty square object. Upon observation I realized that it was a wooden box, overturned on its side and broken in places. In the box were a couple of large rocks, each about a span in diameter. The rocks were dusty and rather unremarkable, but this was the only sign of human construction that I'd seen yet.

I decided to make my way to the top of the nearest rise, so that I might remark the layout of the country around me and perhaps find something else noteworthy. I took about ten steps eastward and was all of a sudden greeted by a sickening crack. The ground underneath me quickly gave way and I went with it. A desperate grasp saved me from a steep drop, but my staff clattered down below. I pulled myself back to the surface and surveyed the scene.

This was apparently some sort of man-made shaft that had been covered over with boards. Over the years, dust had so covered the opening that it now appeared invisible. I peered down the hole and found nothing but darkness. I found a nearby rock, imbued it with magical light and dropped it down the shaft.

About 50 feet below, the rock found the bottom, where the light glinted off of the metal of my staff. Rotten beams supported the squarish sides of the shaft all of the way down. I surveyed the beams near the surface and tested their strength with my hands. I found one that seemed to be sturdy enough to support my weight, so I pulled the rope out of my pack and tied one end around the beam. I dropped the rest of the rope down into the shaft and rappelled along the beams and rocky outcroppings to the bottom.

Once down, I grabbed my staff and transfered the magical light source to the orb at the end of my staff. There were some sort of vehicle tracks along the ground in both directions. I followed them about 20 paces west only to find that they ended abruptly in stone debris that completely filled the tunnel. This appeared to be the scene of a cave in.

I then followed the tracks and the tunnel eastward. This was definitely some sort of mine shaft; the walls were unnaturally carved in even proportions about the height of a man and there were more support beams spaced evenly along the shaft. I walked for nearly 100 feet when the shaft finally opened up into a natural cavern. I could see ahead of me where the tracks ended abruptly; there were two carts here with more of the same rocks.

As I stepped into this cave with my glowing staff, I heard the rustling of some creatures above my head. I looked upwards, but could find no sign of a ceiling. I began to chart my way along the sides of the large cavern to get a feel for its size. It seemed to slope up to the north and downwards to the southeast. Along the north wall I found obvious signs of mining. There were rocks of various sizes, including some ground to a fine powder. I decided to test the properties of a tiny portion of powder by putting it to flame. To my amazement it flared in a brilliant flash of light. I tried the same with a rock, and it had a somewhat explosive reaction, breaking into smaller chunks. This strange rock had some powerful properties, and I guessed that the empire would try to harness this as a weapon in order to subdue their enemies.

I filled my pack with a good portion of the powder and some of the smaller rocks, then made my way up along the cavern slope. I finally glimpsed a few stalactites, so I cast light upon them. The cave ceiling was covered in small, winged creatures that were somewhat disturbed by the sudden illumination. I continued along the wall east to find an alcove leading to a steep ledge. I had left my rope at the entrance, so I could go no further. I assumed that above this ledge there was a natural cave tunnel that lead to the surface, since the creatures would have to leave the cave somehow in order to forage.

I examined the rest of the cavern and found nothing else of interest, so I made my way back to the opening shaft and climbed up. I covered my tracks and made my way back west to the main road.