Oathday, Desnus 12, 4722 (night)

Ragnolin Dourstone has been operating his mine in Diamond Lake for longer than anyone can remember, and is arguably one of the more successful mine owners in town. It should be said, however, that this financial performance comes largely from abysmal working conditions and low pay, which keeps his overhead down and boosts his bottom line. And if that doesn’t paint a rosy enough picture of the man, rumor has it that he was run out of the Sky Citadel of Janderhoff after he intentionally caused a mine collapse as a way of quelling a labor dispute.

Surprisingly, Abadar’s church does not have a lot of advice for sneaking into a mine, even one run by the esteemed citizen that is Dourstone, and even if said mine happens to be a front for a world-ending triad of cultists. So, if you’re reading this and are faced with this same problem, this is how you go about it.

First, spend the morning casually casing out the mine entrance. This was mostly Sera’s department, but if you don’t have a Sera, anyone who is good at casing a mine without being seen will do. What you are looking for are answers to questions like:

• “How many entrances does it have?” (One. And before you make a smart remark here, some mines have more than one entrance. I live in a mining town. Please don’t argue with me.)
• “How is it guarded?” (The area around the entrance is enclosed by a wall, and guards are stationed at sentry positions by the main entrance, and more guards patrol the interior. Rotations occur at regular intervals. Note: To answer this question properly, it helps to have someone like myself, who has trained with soldiers and understands guard duty. If I am not available though, there’s always Sera, whose skill set is geared towards avoiding guards, which is almost as good.)
• “What is the general activity level?” (Miners work at all hours, and most of the activity coming in and out is shift changes for employees.)

Second, feel around for hints of any rumors of a cult down below said mine. Note that this tends to be situational, so adjust your feelers as needed. In our case, there were no such rumors, which suggests that Dourstone has so far managed to keep this secret of his pretty darned secret.

Third, identify a person or people that you can bribe to gain access to said mine. Note: If you are a representative of the Church of Abadar, you may want to reframe this as, “To whom can we offer our services as subcontractors, using an unusual financial arrangement where the subcontractor pays the primary?” The answer to this question, by the way, turned out to be “Just about anyone who works in the mine”, because this is Diamond Lake, and while most of the mine owners are horrible people who exploit their workers, Dourstone has raised it to an art form.

As such, it did not take long to find a group of copper miners who were happy enough to get a well-paid vacation day, provided that said payment was enough to offset their risk. As it turns out, my civics training did cover actuarial matters, and assessing the financial impact of personal risk is something I am comfortable doing. We named a figure, they negotiated, we accepted, and then we had a plan.

We meet up with them tomorrow, just before their shift starts at noon. Most of the crew gets a day off, and we get to wear their mining gear (they also get some new gear in case we are down there longer than their shift). The work crew lead will bring us in like he’s not sneaking strangers into a mine, and then he and his second will ensure we have a minute or so of privacy to get to the other shaft.

“The foreman says it’s for accessing another vein,” their crew leader explained. “It’s blocked off for now, and no one is allowed near it.”

That sounds exactly like what we’re looking for.

As to how they address the issue that some of the crew isn’t working because they aren’t really there? Not my problem.