In his searches, Mosholu had discovered three storage sheds on the far eastern side of Westpit. The night after the Sluice-Off, the party made an investigation of them. Seika stayed off at the foothills to the south, meditating at first, then following the party from a distance, watching them and the activity around them.
The sheds contained only equipment for the miners and a shed full of meat, most of which went into the terrible stew served at the cantina. The entrails went in a sack that was delivered to the back of the stronghold every morning. Mosholu noticed this during his brief stint on the lines.
The next day they went back to their places in the pits. Angry Pipe got a message through the pit-to-pit communication that goes on in the salt mines that someone wanted to meet with him. He, Linear and Seika went surreptitiously to a pit on the east side of the mines where two oily-looking humans were digging away.
They introduced themselves as Gerner and Black Guppy. Gerner continued to hack at the salt and keep watch while Black Guppy did all the talking. He explained that he had heard they were involved in all this talk of revolt. He expressed sympathy with their cause, but intimated that their concerns were more practical. He and Gerner had been planning to take the bank out and felt that the growing restlessness in the camp could make for an exellent opportunity. Angry Pipe said he would come back later to discuss details. Seika said that she didn't want to have anything to do with these two criminals, that assisting them would be lowering themselves.
Back in the camp, a new miner had arrived that was causing some stir. He was a poorly-dressed fellow with a big moustache and a big gut. He was extremely genial, expressing great friendship and camaraderie with everyone. Mosholu, at breakfast that morning had heard some of the night shift miners talking about him.
Angry Pipe met with Black Guppy again and they discussed how they could work together. Black Guppy asked for some help with the guards. In exchange, he would help increase enthusiasm for the revolt by throwing out a bag of coppers to the miners, thus increasing the chaos. Angry Pipe promised nothing but said he was interested in negotiating some kind of deal.
That night, our adventurers' camp wasn't as popular as the previous nights. There was another campfire on the other side of the miners' camp. It burned a little brighter and the laughter was a little louder. Seika went over to investigate and found the new miner laughing and singing with a bunch of the miners. He was clearly generous with his bottle. When Seika stepped into the light, the chubby one welcomed her (though in the camp she had retained her male appearance). He introduced himself as Kelestriel, "a lifetime salter" who had come over from Eastpit. "Had some debt troubles there, but they're behind me now."
The next day was more work in the pits. That evening, Angry Pipe, Linear and Wat started throwing rocks at the guards. This became quite tense until the guards were lined up at the edge of the camp with crossbow bolts locked in place. Captain Huchar came out, trying to appease the crowd while also find the culprits. Shouts of "Two Hands, Two Coppers!" came out from the miners, as well as "Get out of the Miners' Camp!" and "No guards in the Miners' Camp!"
Just when things seemed about to explode, Kelestriel pushed his way to the front and said, "I was the one who threw the rocks." The guards looked about to take him out, when he held up a hand and asked to be heard out. Something about the timbre of his voice and the clarity of his eye contact held the guards weapon. The crowd became quiet and Kelestriel turned to address them.
"Yes there is discontent here," he began. He seemed to be supporting the miners, but as his address continued, some noticed that his words changed subtly. Why were the miners unhappy? Did they not have regular employment? Was there not steady food and shelter in Westpit? Did they not have protection from the crime in the city? Soon, his voice seemed to echo off all the rocks in the desert, his presence was so clear and calm, made so much sense. The miners began to feel strangely cowed and guilty by their behaviour.
But some didn't. Some felt an internal struggle going on in their mind. The weaker ones let it go. The stronger ones fought and soon some of them felt like they were coming out of a dream and there was a fat man telling them that they were living the good life. Heckles came out, snapping more men out of the reverie. Angry Pipe muttered some unruly comments and Wat followed suit. But it was too late. The crowd was mollified and went slowly back to their tents. The guards waited. Captain Huchar, recognizing that it was best to leave things alone, ordered his men back to their camp.
Seika had split from the group at this point and was hiding out in the mountains to the south, searching for the location of Black Guppy and Gerner.
Back at their camp, the party discussed urgently the problem of this newcomer. Linear suspected he was a spy for the man. Mosholu thought he might be El Wahafi himself. Either way, they needed to deal with him. They decided to sneak up on his tent late at night.
While they did this, they sent Garfer out around to the east to burn down the meat shed. They hoped that this would distract the guards, increase the unrest and then when food was short, really drive up the miners' discontent.
Seika found the two bank robbers tent in the western side of the Miners' Camp. She approached it and called to them. Black Guppy stuck his head out of the tent. Seika showed the more enticing parts of her figure, trying to lure him out. Suspicious and tired, Black Guppy went back into his tent. Seika went over there and entered the tent, whereupon Gerner punched her.
She retreated from the tent and started pulling out the pegs and wrapping the ropes around the tent. The two men scrambled out awkwardly. "Wait, wait wait!" cried out Black Guppy. Seika paused, her fist held back. "What's going on? Why are you attacking us?" Seika's response was FLURRY OF BLOWS.
Just before this battle had begun, Linear, Angry Pipe and Mosholu had surrounded Kelestriel's tent in the dark of night. Wat, nervous about a potential battle stayed just outside of attack range. Linear summoned a viper and threw it into the tent. There was a brief scuffle and the viper, now dead came flying out. Kelestriel came out of his tent and spoke magical word. Unreasoning fear gripped the adventurers' minds, but all suppressed it except for Mosholu who panicked and turned and ran.
The battle was on. Kelestriel proved himself tough, but eventually outnumbered. Wat's fear turned to anger when hit with a piercing missile from a wand and his spear combined with Angry Pipe's axes and Garfer's clubs did not allow Kelestriel to get another spell off, not even to escape.
This fight and Seika's attack on the robbers woke up a lot of the camp. They watched while this slight bald figure tore into Black Guppy and Gerner with bear hands, beating both of them to death. They also saw Kelestriel's head crushed by the rest of the party.
Wat had heard the commotion from the other tents and came over, still raging, just in time to see Seika take down Gerner.
Kelestrial meets a club, a handaxe and a mace
Things had gotten out of control. Linear expressed that they hadn't meant to kill Kelestriel, only get him out of the way. Now they had his dead body to contend with. Seika's surprise action also shocked the rest of the party, trying to understand her motivation. As it was, she had already started dragging their bodies into the hills, while other horrified miners watched.
The others took Kelestriel's body and wrapped it up. Some of the miners were sympathetic to the party and helped them. Other skulked back to their tents, cowed by the violence.
After some ideas about blaming the death of Kelestriel on Black Guppy and Gerner, they decided to take the body to the stronghold and feed it to that thing that had been snuffling in their. At the very least, his body would be in a mysterious location and puzzle the guards.
