As day became night, several miners emerged from the Black Cave, weary from an arduous workday. They shed their clothing at the bank of a nearby river, one after the other submerging themselves while a few took solace under the roaring waterfall; the cascading waters cleansing their bodies. Gareth and Lucan soon gathered them for a fantastic meal set around fires strewn about their camp.

Rami's head turned as he overheard one miner speaking with an Egerian guard about searching the forest for an item, but became distracted by Lucan’s hand on his shoulder. When he turned, Lucan nodded in approval. The old warrior stood suddenly and called the groups to attention as he prepared to share his prepared speech. Raising his bottle, Lucan began.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to offer a few words on what we accomplished today and give my thanks. I know you can't fill your stomach with gratitude so I'll make this brief and let you go back to your meals. First, I’d like to give recognition to our Lord Mayor Sir Edward Byron, for providing this opportunity, and a most generous down payment.”

Sir Byron raised his glass and grinned from ear to ear as the workers applauded loudly.

“I know it's difficult, but it’s a worthy investment in the future,” Lucan continued. “Our future. With such a significant resource, we’ll have a great many eyes upon us, and will be known throughout all of Avernus!”

With a hurrah, the workers hooted and cheered, clinking their bottles and singing happily for a job well done. Several of them fell over each other and continued the merriment. Noticing Gareth nearby, Lucan approached him.

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Oh for sure,” he said as he rubbed his stomach. “I’ve got to give the capital its props! if this is the quality of their regular meals, then I’m looking forward to when Genesis reaches the same level!!”

“This is what it looks like when things finally turn around.”

“It’s a shame Roland’s not here to join in the success,” Gareth laughed as he shook his bottle to see the remainder. “Maybe we’re better off, he would have done half the work and ate half the food.”

“He made his decision and now will have to abide by the outcome. Regrettably, it may or may not include Silas suggesting a renegotiation of his position on the council.”

“Right.”

After a sip of his drink, the young adventurer’s brown eyes shined with contemplation.

“Hey, have you noticed something different?”

“Different how?” responded Lucan, setting down his bottle.

“Haven’t we been coming across a lot of Fractured lately? Not just for the Hunting Party, but here too.

“I haven’t really thought about it. The Egerians have been handling the security, after all.”

“Right, but counting the past weeks while we hunted, and since we’ve been on this job, the numbers seem to be going up. Do you think it has anything to do with what we’re collecting? Or this cave even.”

“Don’t tell me the elders got to you too?”

“Ah, not at all,” he responded quickly. “I only want to be on the safe side, considering all options. You know this stuff better than I do, so I wanted to hear what you thought about it, is all.”

With a sharp exhale, Lucan took a moment to consider his thoughts.

“I can’t say one way or another, but no matter how many we come across, they have it under control. You can rest easy.”

"… I guess you’re right.”

~X~

A lone miner slipped out from the group and returned to the cave, lighting a spare torch and entering. Within, he searched desperately through the chambers for some item of importance, until another miner appeared and caught him by surprise.

“Hey, Bill!”

“Whoa! Don’t sneak up on me man!”

“S-sorry, I have the stuff you asked for!”

“I get it, now keep quiet,” Bill responded in a hushed voice.

The two miners ventured deeper, going first through the chambers they worked in, then squeezing underneath a large rock to get to a cavern untouched by the expedition. They continued on as the darkness gave way to the soft glow of the torches, taking a short break at the leader's behest.

“Alright then.”

The lead miner pulled out an old, dirty map, looking it over as he eyed the chambers.

“If we stick to the map and the clues in my grandpa’s journal, we should make it to the chamber with the glowing mineral deposits.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is it?”

“Honestly I don’t really know, but when Grandpa was able to sell what little he had, he knew its worth.”

Bill removed a ring from one of his pockets and ran his fingers slowly upon its sapphire. He gently opened it, split into two sides, and from within showed his counterpart a small, luminescent crystal. His friend stared in awe.

“That’s awesome! Are they like little nuggets or something?”

“Don, Don, Don,” Bill chuckled, “Imagine this is a grain of sand, and we’re about to share a beach.”

“That’s crazy! Your grandpa sure was lucky to find it.”

“Yeah. He had some wild theories, some about it being a legendary lost treasure trove or something. The biggest takeaway is that if we get enough, we’ll be set.”

“Hopefully it’s not hard to get to it… By the way, you think all the Fractured are gone now?”

“They should be. I’m sure the Egerians did their jobs right, or we wouldn’t have gotten through the day.”

The miners trudged on, making their way through a narrow cavern, that appeared artificially cut. They stopped walking when they met what appeared to be a dead end. Don looked upwards at the cave wall, and after a moment of realization, tapped Bill on the shoulder to get his attention.

“Is that important?” he said, pointing at a faint blue glow above them.

“It is! Just like in his journals! We’re almost there!” He hugged and shook his friend, then squinted while holding his chin. “But how to get there?”

They looked about the chamber until they came across small fragmentary pieces of the blue crystal, and artificial indents in one of the walls.

“Of course!”

“What do you mean?”

“He scratched hand and footholds until his tools broke, so he had to leave,” responded Bill, running his hands over the wall. “When he finally replaced his equipment and planned to go back, the Fractured were already living in the cave, so he never got the chance.”

“That’s serious work. Must’ve taken him a while to get them all done.”

“You can say that again. The tenacity of a madman.”

Using their modern instruments, the two miners made their way up the wall, adding to the cracks. They tied ropes to a large boulder at the top and jumped down the other side to reach what appeared to be a large crystal in the cave wall that looked similar to the piece he had. Several veins ran through the surrounding rock face, pulsing in a bright turquoise color.

“Gramps, I finally found it.”

They began chipping away at the rock face to gather as much as they could of the precious mineral. One hard swing into the wall cracked a portion of it that ran through the adjacent chamber, causing a side of it to slide off with a loud boom. Blue light followed the crack all through the cave floor. Bill looked over cautiously to investigate.

“What’s wrong?”

Shushing him, Bill put his hand up as he turned his head, listening. “What exactly…”

Stopping mid-sentence, his expression changed entirely as he heard guttural screeches in the distance, reverberating on the cave walls. Grabbing as many crystals as he could, he packed the pack quickly.

“We should run, right now. RUN!!!!”

In the distant side of the adjacent chamber pale, several bodies move about in the darkness, briefly illuminated by the pale light, and heading in the direction of the two miners.

Clambering over the high wall to quickly reach the other side, Bill quickly slid down his rope with Don right after him. He descended too quickly and as he landed, rolled one of his ankles. He yelled in pain for help, and almost hesitating, Bill helped him to his feet, but grabbed his torch and took off once more, with Don hobbling behind as fast as he can.

They made their way back to the low rock hole under which they squeezed through. Bill pushed through first, inadvertently blocking Don with his bag. He only just made it through and instead of assisting his comrade, grabbed his gear bag as something from the other end pulled the screaming Miner back through the hole.

The fleeing treasure hunter ran quickly for the exit, but in his haste, tripped and stumbled on loose rocks. In the torch's fading light the creatures made themselves known, catching him as he crawled for the entrance, and dragging him into the cave. His screams filled the space, accompanied by rapid sounds of tearing and roars mixed in. As his voice faded, there came an abrupt silence. At the mouth of the cave, a humanoid arm appeared, stretching from the shadows. Following it was the lengthy misshapen head of a ferocious-looking Fractured. It passed the placed barriers and basked in the moonlight as its eyelids opened slowly, revealing bright blue eyes that shone ominously.

~End of Chapter~

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