[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pBRHKv_Pqk]Mood Music[/url]

It has been a long summer in Redwain, and for the people of Har Hend this has meant harder living than usual. What few crops that could ordinarily survive the great waste have all withered in the preternatural heat. Giant sand storms have raged for months. Worst of all, with wild prey populations dwindling, creatures from below the sands have begun attacking human villages.

If there could be said to be an upside, it's that there's been no shortage of work for mercenaries like you. For the past month you've been stationed in the western waste as part of a small garrison protecting one of Baron Hend's thorium mines. While ostensibly your outfit is there to fight off the ever-increasing monster raids, you've heard rumors the Baron fears an attack by the other Houses. The war in Redwain has been cold a long time now, but over the years a number of dubious disasters have befallen your nation during times of such vulnerability. Of course, no links to rival Houses were ever proven, and this is the only reason those events never reignited the conflict.

Now, with lines of communication cut off by the storm, and the sand creatures providing a plausible scapegoat, the stage is set for Har Hend's enemies to make a move.

These thoughts weigh on you as you maintain vigil atop the garrison's walls. The torches in the quarry to the south have been out for hours, the miners all having retreated to their bunker for the night. Full dark seems to heighten the howl of the wind around you, and the stars are hidden by the swirling sand. Uneasily, you reckon any approaching forces would be invisible until they were practically at your gate.

Your only companion on this watch is a man you met two days ago in the mine. When a tunnel wall collapsed, spilling a hive of cave worms onto 20 hapless workers, the two of you held the creatures off by yourselves while the miners escaped. Upon hearing accounts of how finely you both fought, Commander Dundach insisted you each serve your next watch together, that you might better aquaint yourselves in service of future missions.

However, three hours into the shift neither of you has spoken more than a handful of words.
Perhaps it's time to humor your commander.

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[b]Escape from the Cave Worms:[/b]

You were assigned detail along one of the deeper, fresher thorium veins. This is always a hazardous position, as it's the job with the highest risk of cave-ins...and always the first to encounter any native inhabitants.

After a whole morning clearing out a new chamber, one of the workmen's pickaxes struck all the way through the wall. Within seconds the fracture blossomed across the entire surface of the vein, and the rock crumbled away like glass from a shattered mirror, filling the air with choking dust. When the rumble of crashing stones subsided, all was silent. A momentary wave of relief washed over you. The collapse would not spread.

Then came screams.

The lantern beams of twenty terrified miners swiveled about wildly in the dark, and everywhere they shined had appeared a squirming mass of rock maggots each the size of a small dog. Hundreds more began to pour out of the colony tunnels exposed by the miners' axes. You can still hear the sickening wet plops as they hit the floor.

Instantly you sprung into action. Slicing through piles of the worms' soft, plump bodies, you made your way to the rubble, where several miners were trapped up to their waists. The worms were agitated now. All over your armor you could feel the frenzied gnashing of mandibles meant to eat stone. In that moment it seemed sure you'd be overwhelmed, but then there was your new partner, deftly slashing the creatures from your body.

It took both of you pulling with all your strength to free the last miner, and by then the cavern was near filled with blind, hungry mouths. Carrying the man between you, you pressed through the pulsing swarm. Only by following the panicked shouts of the miners you were able to find the exit.

For five heroic minutes, you held back the surging tide of pale flesh while the miners placed charges, and sealed the opening. This dig would go no further.

Afterward, the men whose lives you saved took up a collection to thank you for your efforts. They were not rich men, but they managed to gather 100G for each of you.