A Complete Survey of the Natural Treasures of Summerleaf and Silverfall, Volume 2

Volume 2 - The Mines of SilverFall

Being Extracts from a Complete Survey of the Natural Treasures of Summerleaf and SilverFall

Commissioned by the T'Nanshi Army

Written by Elvithrar Rydralla

Exploration by Elvithrar, Durlag, Hu'uruun, Anirion, Artimodoros, Enverex, Cshiiri Ren and Kyrian Cirrul.

Caution should be exercised at all times in the mines of SilverFall. There are many hostile creatures present who would like nothing more than to snack on a mining or heavily encumbered Elf.

The SilverFall Iron mines are found in a clearing below Silverfall. Access is via a very long ladder to the ground.

There are two caves below, which I will designate the Iron Mines, and the Old Mines.

The Iron Mines appear to have been recently opened. Large seams of iron ore are visible in most areas of these mines, allowing for the relatively safe extraction of ore. The uppermost level of the mines is infested with vermin of various sorts, which were little more of an annoyance to our party, but which have clearly devoured some of those who went before us.

After surveying the upper level of the mine, we found a passage leading deeper into the earth.

The second level contained two wonders: A large underground lake, and huge walking fungi! These creatures appeared friendly, however it proved impossible to communicate with them using any language known to those present. I commend the task to a Sage of some experience, as these creatures presumably know much of the underground passages and conditions.

Our Dwarven friend was excited to find several glittering seams of minerals in the area, samples of which he took for later analysis.

A further passage into the depths was located, and our party descended once more.

This deeper cave had several bodies of water. We were almost immediately attacked by foul green giant humanoid creatures which emerged from these waters.

These creatures are very dangerous - we were sore pressed at several times to repel them and escape intact. We found a great variation in size and abilities of the creatures, so explorers wishing to follow our path should beware indeed.

As we defeated each group, we found further glittering seams of precious metals, which once again we took samples of.

Be wary, if you intend to mine this ore, as foul creatures attack suddenly and without warning, emerging from the pools in great numbers.

In addition to the mineral resources, to our surprise, several several patches of rare fungi were found, which may be of interest to those who experiment in alchemy.

At this point our party was unable to find any way to descend further into the mines. We instead returned to the surface and prepared ourselves for the other caves in the area.

The second cave, which we called the Old Mines, were infested with a huge number of insects of all sizes.

These creatures ranged in size from those small enough to fit onto your hand, to ones larger than a small building. Deposits of what we believed to be a metal ore were found within. See the Appendices for a full analysis of this and the other diverse ore samples we returned.

Our party descended via a narrow tunnel, and found further caves below. Judging from the echos, a large area of caves extends for some distance. However, we were set upon by even fiercer examples of the vermin, which proved nearly to be our undoing, and we were forced to flee.

A few days after being repelled, I returned with some stout companions and we managed to penetrate deeper into the lower level. We found no further paths down, but a great variety of insects attacked us at practically every move.

On a still later trip, I observed that the large insects on the upper level have either been exterminated, or moved deeper into the caves. I would recommend caution be exercised while within these caves.