Artemis rubs his chin thinking on the words Garath spoke. "Listen, I want the danger removed thats the bottom line. My mining operation must continue with out danger to my men. With that said, you can try diplomacy if you desire I would welcome any lucrative arrangement you could work out. I will pay you if the danger is removed permenantly, weather by negotiating there retreat or there destruction," he says at length.


I can arrange for you to speak to the foreman to gather anymore information you might need.

Gibius nods.

"You mentioned you'd pay for provisioning?"

At least we are moving. It was exasperating to have someone on the party that would me just trying to change what was being done every time they had to do something. Who knows what scheme he is playing. On the other hand if he wanted to do all the job then he will let him do it to his holly deserts.

"I would like to talk with him."

He let the gnome elaborate. The least angry he got his host, the better for him. His kind asnt that welcome in some places.

"I'll need rations enough to take me to the mine, and about three days more after that. If you could supply me with some magical weaponry, a wand or some such, then things would go all the faster ... Provided others have basic equipment- rope and lights and so on -  we will do quite nicely I think."

"You know thats a little unconsiderate of you." She wasnt one to stand down, specialy of it affected her. "And of you are just going to beg for money then do it some other way." She rarely was angrt, but having all the equipment would leave the others to be ill equiped.

Garath nods, satisfied that his soon-to-be team-members were heading in the right direction - seeking information from the mine's foreman, and discussing the composition and allocation of the necessary equipment.  Having made his point to Artemis, and opened the door to at least the possibility of a non-bloody solution to this task, the academician is content to let the others take the lead for now.

After dinner you depart to your various residences...

Artemis' Warehouse
Sunday, the sixth of Mirtul
Sunny, 56 F
8:45 AM

Artemis supply's you with all that you need for the trip from the stores at one of his warehouses. He also gifts you with various items of power or quality. Each of you signs a scroll agreeing to fulfill the terms of your verbal agreements.

At the warehouse his foreman is there ready to answer any questions that you have.



Please give me a list of any party items you might be taking with you, also please update all of your character sheets with any mundane items you needed. Each of you gets 30 gp to spend* at his warehouse on items or you can pool it for group fund to purchase the equipment you need

*Your not actually receiving money. I'm using as a guide as to how much he is willing to give for supplies.

As you all are packing various items up a man exits a small room off to the side of the warehouse. Hes of typical Lantanese stock, cooper colored hair and skin the color of parchment.

"So Art says you want to ask me some questions. he says to you.

Garath is hefting a silk rope against a hemp one when the man approaches, trying to determine whether the weight difference justifies the difference in price.  He puts both coils down and turns to look at the newcomer.  "A good day to you, sir.  I take it you are the mine's foreman?  I am Garath Darkstar."

"Yeah I'm the mine foreman," the man says as he throws some equipment up on a crate.

Gix just watches and lets Garath ask the questions.

Kratos wonders what to ask that could give him an idea of what could help.

If Garath is a little non-plussed by the foreman's pointed refusal to provide his name, the academician hides it well.  "Your employer has asked us to deal with the creatures that attacked the mine.  We are trying to get information about them that could help us do so quickly and effectively.  What can you tell us about the mine, and the creatures?  We'll go into more specific details later, but first, if you could tell us about the context - what your mining activities consisted of, whether you were opening tunnels into new areas, how and where you first learned of the creatures, what their initial reactions were, your own counter-measures, and so forth - that would give us a framework with which to start."

The forman scratches his beard a bit confused by Garath but says.

"Well, its a basic hard rock mining outfit 'cept for Art's fancy machines. We had cut about a 500 ft shaft. Ya see,the priests of Gond Art hired had summoned up some ely-mentals and had them looking around for copper or gold or maybe some iron. Well they found a rich vein of copper bout 600 ft down.  So Art gave the go head and we fired up his new miner.

Now as I said we reached 500 ft an these giant ant mounds started appearing round about the mine. We didn't think much of em but had our resident cleric look em over.

Well he was the first to die, the ant men came out all round us and started killing my men and drove us off.

We tried going back with some spears and pistols but it was like they couldn't be hurt, we would do some damage then they would just heal back up. Finally after losing  three more men I had us retreat and we haven't been back since.

Gix was suddenly very attentive to the foreman's words.

"What are the machines like?"

"And what do we need to watch for?. If they were damaged what could happen?" He want to be sure the people here wherent going to just throw them to the lions.

Inspecting the place was more interesting to Marina at the moment, she would let the others do what they did best, while she waited for her turn. This is boring.. She pused her inspection of a wood piece when she spoted a couple of children running down the street. For a moent she wished she was that age again.

The foreman looks at Gix."The machine? What does that have to do with it?"

"I dont follow you, I told you they are ant creatures, that walk and act similar to men. Watch out for them, they can tear you apart fast. Some of em use weapons but most just tear you apart with their jaws"

There is a slight gust of wind as if a door was suddenly open, then shut. But no sound is heard. Moments later a man appears at your side, wearing expensive-looking dark clothes and his face covered under a large hooded cloak. A longbow hangs across his shoulders and strapped to his hip is a rapier.

Master Garath, I finally catch up with you! He says in a rather sinister voice. Then there's a bright laugh as he strides forward to greet the academician. You were gone so quickly I barely had the time to visit the families before having to start tracking you across the continent! I understand there is some kind of insect problem we need to deal with here?

The youth's face lights in a warm smile as he recognizes his erstwhile adventuring companion from Phlan.  Stepping forward to meet the dark-clothed man partway, he clasps forearms with the new arrival.

"Good to see you here, Master Quinlan!" he replies, chuckling.  "I take it Sir Artemis has invited you to join our little group?  It looks like our foray will be a little deeper than a wellshaft this time.  From what we could glean, the Svalkvor mine has been beset by formians, and it is up to us to clear the mine."

The newcomer pulls back the hood of his cloak, revealing the dark skin and white hair of a... Drow? A closer look reveals the physical features of a human ancestry, and his hazel eyes definitely sets him apart from the Drow.

Formians? I have never encountered those before. Up north they'd probably just be roasted as snack by trolls or ogres...
Do we know *why* they are causing trouble?

"It would be a rare ogre who could take a formian for food and live.  They are hardy, tenacious and fearless, and often aggressive.  I fear the Svalkvor mine may have disturbed a hive of them."

The academician gestures at the foreman.  "Sir Artemis' foreman was just filling us in on some of the details of the initial encounter with the formians."

Leaning against the nearest wall Gareth watched his namesake conduct yet another long winded interview. It seemed no matter what the station of the person the Academic was more than capable of talking down to them. Needless to say he hardly ever got useful information out of anyone.

Well foreman, how many men you have with you when these things attacked and how many of them did you see? The fighter looked around the room, Seems to me we should get some numbers 'fore we start counting anything like how to get the machine or diplomatic talk.

Garath is about to introduce the half-drow to the group when the warrior, Smith, turns and addresses the foreman.  The academician stares, shocked that the brawny man chose to utterly ignore the new arrival's presence.  That is no way to behave toward someone who could be saving your life in a few hours, he thinks, irritated by the insult to his friend.  Realizing that he was staring, he catches himself and shakes his head slightly, turning his gaze elsewhere.  Smith might not recognize good manners if they came up and shook his hand, but Garath was brought up to better standards.

"That one is Gareth, Gareth Smith," he mentions to Quinlan in a low voice, determined to make the introductions even if perforce one-sided.  He points a thumb up at his chest.  "Garath," he enunciates carefully.  An oblique gesture at the human warrior.  "Gareth," he emphasizes the difference in pronunciation.  His lips twitch slightly.  "I don't think you'll confuse one for the other."  Quickly, the youth points out the rest of the group and indicates their names to the newcomer in hushed tones.

Gareth... Master Gix... Kratos... My Lady...
Quinlan repeats the names of the adventurers and bows at each in turn as they are presented to him. I'm Quinlan Fairfellow, of the Dales

He then turns his attention to the foreman, seemingly fully devoted to the task ahead.