Ahh, it has been a while since I last had such a dream - fortunately...

I was meeting up with Bear in California (no homo)
He picked me up from the airport in a red cabriolet sports car. He wore sunglasses and somehow looked like Jack Nicholson.

Because we all know Bear loves LA, he showed me around in LA. But not on the streets, we drove through a luxury hotel. Very slowly in walking pace. There was a ballroom with dining tables, i picked up strawberries in chocolate from out of the car. Everything looked extremely posh but there were no people. Suddenly Bear exited the car and quickly went up a narrow spiraling staircase. Though I frequently run up a lot of stairs, I had trouble keeping up. There were rose petals on the stairs. I tried to pick them up but they were glass shards and I almost cut myself. I told Bear that Alice told me to tell him that this was a typical host moment. Embarrassing.

I don't like stair dreams. They frequently lead to stairs getting steeper and steeper and ending up in ridiculously unsafe constructions from which I fall to my death. Here, at the end of the stairs, the path divided into 2  metal walkways like you find on roofs. There was a family, the only people anywhere, and I followed them climbing up a ladder. But Bear had gone the opposite way and I had to climb down from where I was again.
*Insert derogatory Alice comments*

You'll have to use your own powers of deduction and intuition.

I'm Kingir Grista of Triboar." He pats his body and finds a plate and hands it over. It shows he's a citizen of Triboar as a Scoutsman and Miner. "Pleasure to meet you all, sorry I'm still a little hazy, so you were hired by the Rockseekers to secure the mine from something strange and didn't know about the Cloaked Wolves? Frankly I don't know why they holed up in the mine, it's not the safest place without the map. I remember we had to avoid the mushroom people, there was a giant octopus here somewhere and surely you saw the sign about the land sharks. Nasty beasts seem to know where you are even in the black. I wouldn't be surprised if those bandits lost a few of their own to them."

Yulya remembers dwarves are generally honest and reliable but not the greatest talkers or socialites. Getting useful information from this man might be a challenge.

They are all dead. We did not meet a single living human inside the mine - aside from these girls. Nezzer sacrificed all the human bandits to reach this place...
Sir Kingir while I think of the Rockseekers dearly - Sir Gundren was our first questgiver - I must say I am more than bewildered. We were sent here not only by the Rockseekers but also in an official mission by the town of Phandalin. Are you acquainted with Sir Harbin Wester and Master Daran Edermath? Nobody gave us any information.'A few squatters, orcs maybe' - inside an ore mine...
To be frank, this is not so much of a mine but a dungeon filled with monsters of the highest rank where the barrier between different planes is greatly weakened. The mushroom people octopus  and land sharks were our least concern. Mormesk the lich, the Great Spectator - this is not a mine at all! It once was the location of the Forge of Spells. Right here next to us are its remains - as well as on the floor above. Are you acquainted with the Forge of Spells Sir Kingir? For we certainly are not. Nobody mentioned this to us! The monsters guarding it could have wiped out a Gold - probably even a Mithril ranked party with ease. Even without the presence of the Cloaked Wolves. And yet - we were sent here like fools. Only by the grace of the Gods did we manage to survive and resolve the issue...
Yulya shakes her head in disbelief.

"Have you ever been to Triboar? My sister runs the Stonehill Inn there.

I must say I have not, I lived as a hermit before becoming an adventurer. Do you by any chance know a druid named Alric of Triboar? He also worked for Nezzer and confronted us outside the mine. His last mistake.

"That Drow interrogated me, but at first he pretended that he was here working for Sildar. But when I questioned why a human had anything to do with the mine, let alone a drow, that's when he attacked me. He hit me with the sharp end of some kind of staff and I think it was poisoned."

The staff!
Yulya remembers Nezzer's staff. Where did it go? Did he teleport away with it? She snaps back
We found you bound and locked inside the priests quarters next to the throne room. Someone made sure you had no chance to escape. But luckily you were not turned into an undead like many of Nezzers subordinates.Do you have any idea why they went out of their way to secure your body like this? Nezzers own men were just left where they died.

"The lower entrance was suspected open about a month ago and that's when I was hired but I had to travel back to Triboar ahead of that to get gear since it's so cold this spring and Phandalin didn't have the supplies I wanted. Speaking of which, did you happen to find a pair of fir lined boots, a large coat and scarf? I had those on... but now I remember taking them off somewhere."

Yulya shakes her head.
We have ample clothing from the dead bandits. And plenty of miners outfit that should be your size.

Yulya pauses trying to make sense of all that but cannot.
I suggest you rest now Sir Kingir. We must leave for Phandalin as soon as possible. I do not want to get trapped inside here by reinforcements of the Cloaked Wolves. I strongly suggest you come with us instead of heading to Triboar on your own! We must now wait for these girls to recover. I have no idea what Nezzer did to them but I suspect they were the reason he - and the bandits - came here. Nezzer was not here for treasure. I think he wanted to exploit the mana concentration here. He did have some control over the remains of the Forge. But aside from that I have no idea about his motives.

Yulya Nya when will they wake up Nya? We must think about returning Nya! And everyone must be in good shape for that Nya! I'd like to move to the elevator as soon as possible Nya! We are 6 now Nya! Our supplies won't last forever Nya, especially with - picky eaters Nya!

Good thinking Cat! The elevator is probably the safest place. Let us move there and suspend ourselves where we cannot be reached until everyone has recovered. Then we will head up.

Unless anyone objects, the party moves everything and everyone onto th elevator and raises it to a secure position

[The mine is unnavigable without the map other than the small areas you can reasonably reach from the elevator. The heart of the mountain was not hidden though how M3gan Panther got to it without the elevator is a mystery. Obviously if the elevator was compromised, other than the path you used between certain levels, navigating the mine would be impossible without the map. It is also impossible to further mine it without the map unless you want to get lost and fall down a shaft to your death.]



"That Drow interrogated me, but at first he pretended that he was here working for Sildar. But when I questioned why a human had anything to do with the mine, let alone a drow, that's when he attacked me. He hit me with the sharp end of some kind of staff and I think it was poisoned."

"The Cloaked Wolves have been notorious on the Triboar trail, that's the reason we can't get supplies."

"The lower entrance was suspected open about a month ag.o and that's when I was hired but I had to travel back to Triboar ahead of that to get gear since it's so cold this spring and Phandalin didn't have the supplies I wanted. Speaking of which, did you happen to find a pair of fir lined boots, a large coat and scarf? I had those on... but now I remember taking them off somewhere." He doesn't know where he left them in the mine.

I apologize for the late introduction! I am Yulya- Peace Cleric of Eldath and leader of this party. These are my companions and friends - Cat the Tabaxi Barbarian and Alice the... Alice! We are adventurers of Neverwinter.
Yulya takes out her adventurers plate.

"Have you ever been to Triboar? My sister runs the Stonehill Inn there. I'm Kingir Grista of Triboar." He pats his body and finds a plate and hands it over. It shows he's a citizen of Triboar as a Scoutsman and Miner. "Pleasure to meet you all, sorry I'm still a little hazy, so you were hired by the Rockseekers to secure the mine from something strange and didn't know about the Cloaked Wolves? Frankly I don't know why they holed up in the mine, it's not the safest place without the map. I remember we had to avoid the mushroom people, there was a giant octopus here somewhere and surely you saw the sign about the land sharks. Nasty beasts seem to know where you are even in the black. I wouldn't be surprised if those bandits lost a few of their own to them."

He gladly accepts one of Cat's other offerings that doesn't smell of dog or human.

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>chicks are not available in your country
that would suck

Haha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yzg9Wh4afY&t=38s

I give Sherlock Dwarf the benefit of just having returned from the dead and being a dwarf in general, but he was a bit too eager to shift the blame away from the dwarves instead of telling about himself, or asking about us.