Battlemap
Keshdur Mine
The torch burns, but the green crystals keep the light for themselves.
Keshdur Mine lies beneath a mountain seam riddled with green crystals that consume light and distort magic. The mine is structurally sound, but its abandoned chambers are occupied by poisoned dead, warped cave life, and a presence that learned to imitate the voices of miners. Somewhere beyond the sealed workings lies a rune-ordained pickaxe needed to understand what poisoned the mountain.
The mine smells of wet iron, bitter minerals, and something sweetly rotten beneath the stone. Green crystals drink the torchlight, leaving corridors dim even when flames burn nearby, while distant picks strike by themselves and spells occasionally bend toward the nearest crystal. Every breath carries a faint metallic taste and a numbness at the lips.
☠ Threat
The mine is haunted by the Crystal Maw, a buried monstrosity that projects fragments of its awareness through every green vein. Its influence animates dead miners, mutates vermin, and causes magic to misfire or change targets. The entity cannot yet leave the mountain, but each spell cast near the deepest crystals feeds it enough energy to widen the sealed breach beneath room-4.
History
Keshdur was once a joint excavation between rival clans whose old mountain names have worn together into the word Keshdur. Master miner Shesh Boro led the final survey after rare green crystals were found in the lower seam. When the crystals began draining torchlight, twisting spells, and poisoning workers, Shesh sealed the back gallery, hid his rune-marked pickaxe among the rubble, and vanished while trying to learn what lived below.
Encounter Table
CRA crawling knot of dead mining gloves, finger bones, and crystal splinters that moves toward warm bodies.
A pale, many-eyed cave lizard whose eyes contain tiny trapped flames stolen from old lanterns.
A sluggish green ooze carrying fragments of helmets and pick heads inside its translucent body.
A headless miner corpse that follows the sound of conversation and points silently toward the deepest chamber.
Rumours & Whispers
A miner who returned from Keshdur claimed his shadow kept walking after he stopped.
The old crews buried a pickaxe that can cut through enchanted stone, but the dead will not let anyone touch it.
Green crystals from the mountain are said to steal fire from lamps and memories from spells.
The mine is safe if visitors wear a ring of poison resistance, though no one agrees who made the rings.
Some villagers hear a bell beneath the mountain whenever a storm passes overhead.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Sefu of the Upper Cut
A mountain surveyor wants the master miner's pickaxe recovered before a rival expedition reaches the corrupted cave. The party must cross the mine while wearing a ring of poison resistance and avoid damaging the crystal seams.
The surveyor's charter, 900 gold pieces, and a claim to any harmless mineral samples.
Quest giver: Sister Sheshai
A local temple has detected that healing and divination magic fail near the mine. The party is asked to determine whether the crystals can be cleansed or must be destroyed.
Four scrolls of protection from poison and a favor from the temple's senior diviner.
Quest giver: Togoro, a rescued hauler
Miners who disappeared weeks ago now call to travelers from behind locked doors. Their voices beg to be freed, but the sounds are being used by the Crystal Maw to draw living creatures toward its breach.
A miners' guild bounty and a crystal compass that points toward active magic.
Corridor Notes
Thin green crystal veins cross the walls like frozen roots. They absorb bright light and cast a weak afterglow whenever magic is used nearby.
Old warning marks show a miner wearing a ring and holding his breath. Several have been scratched over with newer symbols depicting an open eye.
Loose tools and helmets lie where they were dropped, though some shift position when no one is watching.
Patches of translucent slime cling beneath ledges, remaining motionless until a living creature passes.
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