---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Act 2: Half way mark----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The [i]tick-tick-tick[/i] of the scribe tapping his inkwell was all that could be heard in the hall. Ryuun Hisari ran a callused hand through his auburn hair and gave an irritated glace at the scribe, who gave a nervous glace back at him before clearing his pen and readying himself to write. As if on queue a man opened the oaken door at the far end of the hall. A broad shouldered dwarf stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. He crossed the hall at a measured pace, looking forward all the while, before stopping at the foot of the stairs that lead up to Ryuun's chair. 
 "What is it, Thul-tak." Ryuun said. His voice was deep and weary, as if he'd done this dozens of times before. 
 "I require that you draft some of the new blood into the mines. We need fresh bodies. The boys are exhausted." Thul-Tak coughed deeply and wiped what looked like coal dust from his otherwise brown beard. 
 Ryuun looked at him intently, eyes gleaming gold down at the dwarf before him. "The new blood are to be assigned to their roles before tomorrow's sunrise." Ryuun said. "Although I doubt any of them will be accompanying you." Thul-Tak [i]hmph[/i]ed at that. 
 "We can't keep this up, Ryuun." Thul-Tak's previously tightened fists eased. Ryuun shot a look at the scribe, who made wide-eyes back at him before picking up his parchment and quill and making a hasty retreat. The left-hand servant's door shut with a quiet [i]clack[/i]. 
 "It's too deep. The heat is as likely to kill us as the skarves now. The Ancients used magic far beyond our understanding, there's no way we can reach it." Thul-Tak's voice was low to keep prying ears at bay. 

 "I am working on that. For now, make what progress you can without endangering the men overly much. They don't know we're on to them yet, Thul, Let's keep it that way." 

 The brown haired dwarf nodded his had solemnly and turned toward the oaken doors. "Anything we do is like to result in somebody dying, Ryuun." He coughed again. 

"Then stay put, but I only want to see your crew when you should be topside, or when somebody makes a supply run. We have to do this delicately or more people will die." 

"Aye, M'lord." Thul-Tak said. "Not too much of us, see you in a moon's turn." With that he left the hall and closed the big doors. The silence was deafening. Ryuun sighed before picking himself up off his chair and exiting through the entrance on his right, to his personal tower. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Begin Act 2, Part 2----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------