Thanks to the setting, every time Hoal sees a pair of glasses he wonders if it is Ye Old Enchanted Item Reading Glasses (And Arcana detect checks out of habit). 98 times out of 100 they are just nearsighted people.  "Countless Dwarves are outdoors, yet this is not questioned.  What sort of sabotage has been put to use so far, and is there any sort you would expect that has not been?"

Emerald answers, "Being an elf in a mine counts as unusual. And as this city is predominantly human, even being a dwarf in this mine is unusual. Neither is unheard of, but they are unusual." she then looks at Hoal. "As for what has happened so far, a few clearly planned cave-ins, destruction of equipment, and thefts have been among the things done so far."

"I'll do my best to keep an eye out," Lucky answers with a bow, "I don't suppose current maps are readily available?"

  "Hmm, either they desire to be subtle or they do not have the means to directly shut down the mine as of yet."   You call Rocks Fall Everyone Dies subtle?  Well, compared to 'the mine exploded' it would be.

  Darkvision and ability to give the finger to fifteen solid feet of rock blocking his path if needed may come in handy sooner rather than later.  "All this for something only so far expected to be valuable.  But, worse has been done for less."

  I don't suppose an entire mine full of glowing crystals pings any magical sensitivity?

Emerald says, "As needed as defense HERE is, I am looking for volunteers to go with me on a more out-of-town mission. I have a theory concerning the minerals, and I was hoping to take a team of skilled people with me. And by skilled, I mean skilled with weapons like yourselves."

"Gladly.  I'm much more suited to the outdoors."

Lucky follows Emerald's lead.

  She wants you for your body, not your mind Hoal.  That's okay though because he has an 18 base for both.

  "Of course, though I would be interested to hear what this theory is before we end up in potential combat."

Emerald smiles up at Hoal. He's asking questions! Most don't take her too seriously about that. "About 2,000 years back, there was a kingdom called Kontay that was built with two levels; one above ground, the other below. According to legend, they created powerful crystals. The theory goes: these glowing rocks we are mining were created by that ancient civilization. If this is true, then I can unlock a new means of defending Gallotros."

"Interesting," Lucky says, "I think it would be wise to speak as little as possible on this lest some saboteurs overhear and your plan is thwarted."

  Well, that's one way to shoot down Hoal's asking for Emerald to be a little more specific in a reasonable and logical manner Lucky.  "Unless of course just as these remain from Kontay, the sabaturs are related to why such things were not good enough to keep Kontay in existence."

"All things come to an end." Emerald points out to Hoal. "No artifact or relic has kept any one kingdom or civilization immune to the ravages of time and war, so the fall of Kontay is no measure of how useful the rocks are or not. And even then, it is unknown when the civilization fell or if it was related to these rocks. Even the idea these rocks have anything to do with Kontay is pure theory. So until we know more, which is the point of this mission, I can't really draw conclusions about anything."

She looks up at Lucky. "I will likely wind up followed anyway. And I have yet to tell you where I'm going or what it is exactly I'll be doing. That much, will remain my secret till we get there."

"We are in agreement, then," Lucky concludes, "Good."

He keeps an arrow nocked and watches carefully for hostiles as the group travels.

  Talking to the Voidsoul about the inevitable loss of all things, go figure.  "One could wonder if there would be any significance, if after so long Gallotros's survival of such things with no grand relics finally succumbs shortly after discovering some."

  It's happened to Bunny planets before, depending on the timeline at least.

It's then that a huge beam of light blasts Emerald back! "Yip!" Some odd stone statues can be seen walking towards the group, shooting beams of light from their mouths.

"Indeed," Lucky answers before the mouth laser robots show up!  He fires back, his arrow expertly aimed at the most likely weak point he can find.  Like a joint between the head and neck.

  Hoal sees that shoot first ask questions later is, as so frequently it is, the course of action.  They started it after all.  He advances upon the statues, blade hurled forth (always convenient when they come back) in the meantime at the farthest statue and ready to do the whole 'After the fact revenge' teleport stabs should they assault someone again.

Emerald sits up, combing her fingers through her hair and groaning. She heads for combat and unsheathes a sword of her own; a scimitar. She holds the hilt up so she can stare down the blade. She sings out an "ah", sustaining the note before the blade glows as it vibrates with sound. She stops singing, but the blade continues singing. With a slice, Emerald manages to take the leg off one of the statues.

Lucky's arrow wedges into the neck of the statue he aimed at. Hoal's sword does some damage to the statue he attacked, but when the statue tries attacking Lucky, Hoal is able to finish it off!

There seems to be only 5 of these things and 3 are already completely nonfunctional.

If at first you succeed... uh... don't try?  No that's just dumb.  Lucky goes for another neck shot, doing his best to provide cover for Emerald... while still staying safely to the side of her that isn't swinging a vibro-blade of doom.

"Good to see you weren't too badly hurt," he says.

  Hoal busies himself with 360 sword flip-outs available since level 1 (hopefully these weren't some of those Force DMG resisting Golems) now that he's by the remaining statues.  "Would it be the fact she was the closest target, or something more that lead these to attack her first?"

  Could be either, could even be both.

Emerald says, "I don't know." as she ducks under a stone golem swinging a fist at her. She cuts upward and slices it in two. Lucky misses, but Hoal finishes the last one.

Emerald looks around at the stone remains. "That was... surprisingly easy."

Lucky stares in shock that he missed.  After his brain reboots, he regains his serious face and answers, "Perhaps the one who sent them didn't expect Emerald to have two capable allies.  5 against just her could have been quite unpleasant."

  Hoal's player is going to pretend Lucky shot the large statue targets.  Not that Lucky learned the downside of having a higher imitative order (That being, when you are up first weakening targets, it's the slower PC's who finish things off.  Good thing this isn't a 'killshot Exp Only' system).

  "Most constructs I have encounter thus far have tended to be more durable than this."  Maybe they were a bunch of Minions?  That or fight scenes just go faster when you don't have to roll to whittle down 300+ HP per target using only one or two dice of damage.

Missing happens.

Emerald says, "I would have to be pretty stupid to go alone." she grins, rubbing behind her head. "Well let's check them in case there are clues..."

A quick check later and Emerald surmises these were sentinels of Kontay. Just as she finishes studying the stone golems, they vanish into nothing.

"I would speculate that time has made them frail if not for how likely it is they were created with magic," Lucky says, "And I have yet to hear of anything magical deteriorating over time.  But then, their vanishing a few minutes after defeat is rather strange too."

  "It seems the civilization of Kontay is not quite as gone as we might like in these circumstances, if their constructs are assaulting us."

  Good news Archeology team!  The ancient civilization is alive! Yaaaay!
  Also, they are trying to kill us.  ...