I come to, and the feeling of being watched still remains, despite the mind flayer having been dispatched by Momen and Tittlin while I was stunned. While discussing the possibilities of what remains outside, we hear a knock at the door. I rip open the door and come face to face with a gang of ogres, looking somewhat dazed. One tries to push its way into the room, but I gently stop it and ask it if I can help it. It simply replies “no” and looks around the room. I push it a bit further out of the room and shut the door, consulting with the party. We decide to let them in and scoot around them as they enter, although the ogre calling itself “Grog” turns around and points towards Momen’s bag of holding saying that he needs “that brain”.
We bicker briefly before it snatches the mind flayer corpse from the bag, unceremoniously bashes it against the wall, and its brain gets plopped into a jar with a green brine that another ogre is carrying. It then begins walking off to the south, and we follow at a distance. A couple hours pass and we end up at a clearly abandoned mine shaft called “Bouldergard Zinc Mine”, where we see it take an elevator deep into the shaft. We wait for it to reach the bottom, and then call the elevator back up to take it down ourselves. Momen waltzes right up to a door with “Warden’s Office” written on it, and before I can even follow them in, Tittlin skewers a grimlock in the corner of the room with an arrow. We find what seems to be the warden’s key, some fancy Gloves of Missile Snaring, and a ledger sitting open on the desk. Mostly zinc in the ledger, as expected, but towards the end of the entries it lists “unusual stone” as exiting the mine.
We approach a fork in the tunnel with ogres and cart tracks to the left and an unilluminated path to the right. Upon inspecting the right tunnel, there seems to be something large and heavy that has been dragged through it. We stealthily follow the tunnel, and after rounding a few corners in the darkness see a purple dragon in a lit area further down. It doesn’t seem to see us but is coming in our direction, and we quickly slip into a store room using the warden’s key. There is a strange amount of javelins stored here, and Momen finds and takes some TNT while Tittlin slips out of the room to sneakily follow the dragon. Tittlin reports back and indicates that the dragon’s eyes are milky white and thus appears to be blind. Its scales are a dull purple, and its horns appears to be made of gemstone, but are hovering off its head telekinetically. We wait for it to pass and continue exploring. We come to a door labelled “kitchen” and quietly peek in, and see a mind flayer through a serving window devouring sausages and other meats. We debate as to why it hasn’t seemed to notice us despite our feeling of being watched, and on cue it seems to perk up, turn in our direction, and shriek. I effortlessly vault through the window and slash at the mind flayer, encountering two ogres in what appears to be a dining hall.
The mind flayer steps back and I feel a familiar blast to the face, suddenly becoming confused and unable to move. I feel the dull sensation of being grabbed and shoved as the room blurs around me. I snap out of it as an arrow embeds itself in the head of an ogre which promptly collapses next to me. I slash at an ogre as it passes by and cut it down before it can do any harm to Momen or Tittlin.
Tittlin rummages through the dead mind flayer’s pockets and finds a glowing golden card, which he hands to Momen for inspection. We find several maps on a table outlining the schematics for the mine, and Momen takes a copy. Tittlin wandered off somewhere, but Momen and I decide to head through the north door to deal with the last ogre anyways. I casually open the door and come face to face with yet another mind flayer, who appears to have been waiting for us. It points at me and tries to wiggle into my mind, but I manage to resist thanks to my unusually superior intellect. I skirt behind it, attacking it with shifty, and it fires a mind blast at Momen and I which I also manage to resist. Upon seeing both of us intact, it vanishes. We regroup with Tittlin and walk past the dead ogre which he has pinned to the wall, moving towards a sign pointing to the “Central Mine”. We come across some unusual mechanisms which appear to be designed to seal off one tunnel in the event of toxic gas, and decide to proceed down the other route, quickly dispatching the grimlocks down the hall from afar.
Further down the tunnel, a stone golem blocks the entire path. Once again turning to a side door labelled “Dormitory”, encountering and once again cutting down several grimlocks. We find a sketchbook with a tattoo design for the Mark of the Pufferfish along with some purple ink. Walking up to the stone golem, Momen says “hello” in dwarvish. It replies “please present your pass” and Momen fishes out the golden glowing card. It moves aside and we stroll past it, resting by an elevator leading deeper into the mine. Tittlin says he wants to check out the other tunnel, and quickly comes running back saying that there’s a mind flayer and several ogres that he doesn’t want to deal with.
!!! SHORTENED !!!
As I regain consciousness, I’m still aware of being watched, despite the mind flayer’s demise at Momen’s and Tittlin’s hands. Suddenly, we’re interrupted by a knock at the door, which reveals a group of ogres, looking dazed. One of them, Grog, demands we hand over the mind flayer’s brain, which he snatches from Momen’s bag of holding. We decide to follow Grog as he leads us to the Bouldergard Zinc Mine.
We arrive at an abandoned mine shaft and take the elevator down to the bottom, where we find a door labeled “Warden’s Office.” Tittlin promptly skewers a grimlock with an arrow, revealing the warden’s key, Gloves of Missile Snaring, and a ledger detailing zinc production. The entries mention “unusual stone” at the end, piquing our interest.
We come across a fork in the tunnel, with ogres and cart tracks to the left and a dark path to the right. We follow the latter, discovering that something heavy has been dragged through it. Further down, we find a purple dragon, its eyes milky white, moving towards us. We slip into a storage room using the warden’s key, where Momen finds TNT and Tittlin reports back on the dragon’s movements.
We continue exploring, entering a kitchen where a mind flayer is devouring sausages through a serving window. It suddenly notices us and shrieks. I vault through the window and attack it, but soon find myself disoriented after being blasted by its telepathic powers. Momen and Tittlin intervene, taking down the ogres and grimlocks.
We then discover a glowing golden card in the mind flayer’s pocket, which Momen examines. We also find maps outlining the mine’s schematics, with Momen taking a copy. Tittlin wanders off, but we decide to head north through the door to deal with the remaining ogre.
However, instead of an ogre, we find another mind flayer waiting for us, trying to wiggle into my mind. I resist its attempts and attack it, along with Momen, but it vanishes after failing to affect us.
We regroup with Tittlin, who has pinned a dead ogre to the wall, and move towards the “Central Mine.” We come across mechanisms designed to seal off tunnels in case of toxic gas and decide to proceed down another route, dispatching grimlocks along the way.
Further down, we encounter a stone golem blocking our path. Momen says hello in dwarvish, and it responds by asking for our pass. Momen produces the golden glowing card, and the golem moves aside. We rest near an elevator leading deeper into the mine before Tittlin runs back to warn us about a mind flayer and ogres ahead.
Overall, we’ve made significant progress in exploring the mine, uncovering its secrets, and dispatching various threats. However, it’s clear that there are still more challenges and mysteries waiting for us ahead.