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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1207481" data-attributes="member: 1210">Rolling Rocks on AdventurersAs they’re ascending, Ed’s sobs suddenly give way to a strangled shriek.  She looks around, a panicky light in her eyes.  “Who said that?” she cries.  Our heroes reassure her that nobody was talking, but she insists, “I heard something!”  Her tears flow freely again, blowing away in the vicious wind.  The party stops for a few moments, straining their ears.  Nothing.  A bit further up the mountainside, where cold wind lashes at our heroes, they spot a ledge some distance up above.  Brother He motions for the group to stop, cocking his head as if listening.  “Do you hear something?”A few moments pass in nervous silence.  Then Trinia jumps.  “Dark!  What was that?”  Apprehension fills them.  They’re all hearing voices, but... but maybe not the same voice?“I’m scared,” Ed cries.  Thelonious and Trinia study the shadows.  It’s early afternoon; they can reach the ledge shortly.  “Perhaps someone should scout,” Brother He offers, following the direction of their gazes as they scan the ledge again.And soon, He and Sandy are scaling the face of the mountain, heading up for the ledge.  The path seems to end somewhere near it; perhaps something lives up there?  And then there’s a loud rumbling noise.  Sandy glances up and his jaw falls open.  “Look out!” he cries.A large, roundish rock is rolling and bouncing down the face of the mountain at him.Sandy cringes, pulling himself as flat against the mountain as he can.  The rock hits a small outcropping several feet above him and bounces over and past him, missing by inches.  He shouts in fear, then glances up again.  More rocks! he thinks wildly as two more start bouncing downhill at him.  “Goblins!” cries Brother He, and he starts pulling himself further up the mountain.  A rock as big as his chest smashes by him, pulverizing a few mountainside weeds as it crashes inexorably downward.  Sandy follows his lead, but then a rock finally lands home, smashing Brother He badly in the head.  He reels, barely maintaining his grip on the cliff side, and thinks grimly, We cannot achieve victory like this.  He starts heading back down, ignoring the pounding in his head.  Again, Sandy follows his lead, descending towards the rest of the party.  They can hear the goblins hooting victoriously up above.  Rocks continue to rain around them, and both of them keep hearing the whispered voices, murmuring madness in their heads.  They both escape further damage from the rocks and reach the rest of the group safely.  “We can’t make it up there,” Sandy says grimly.  “Maybe if we had a powerful wizard to lob a fireball at them or something.”“Let’s keep going around the mountain and see if we can find another way up,” suggests Dogfish, so the party agrees.  They go back down the dangerous climb they’ve already ascended, moving slowly and carefully, tears springing from Ed’s face as they pass the death place of her unfortunate twin brother.  Once the group gets down far enough- below the part of the mountain that looks carved against ascent- the going is much easier.  They begin moving laterally, circling around the skirt of the mountain.“The local mines,” Federico points out as a guarded cave entrance comes into view. “Maybe there’s a secret entrance or something in there,” suggests Trinia.  “Let’s see if they’ll let us in.”The party approaches the mine entrance and strikes up a conversation with the guards.  They are denied at every turn, though the guards are reasonable and nice enough; but they simply aren’t allowed in the mines.  Everything’s fine; there are no missing children in there; the adventurers who are after the kids aren’t in there.  Go away.“What if the dragon had a secret exit out of the mines?” suggests Ed. “Bah, the dragon’s mines have been abandoned for nigh on fifty years,” scoffs one of the guards.  “These are the town’s mines, dug after the ol’ dragon was killed.  And even if they were the same mines, you’re unauthorized.  You can’t go in.”“Who could authorize us?” asks Ed.“Well, the owner, of course- Lucius Krekket.  But he’s a busy man, gots a business to run, and why he’d let you in I don’t know.”The band of halflings (and their allies) heads off.  “Perhaps we can find the old mine, entrance,” Brother He says.  “Let’s keep moving around the mountain...”Next Time: The old mines!</blockquote>

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