((Geez, people, want to jump the gun a whole lot or what?  I was expecting a bit more conversation, and maybe waiting for the Mine Foreman or whatever, but it's OK, I'll cope.  And for future reference, I'll do the rolling, Misha, but in this case, it's immaterial, since there's no threat or time limit and the effect is a very simple one, so you can basically just keep trying until you get it.  So you've got your light, when it matters.  Now let me catch you up to the point where you walked yourselves...))<br/><br/>The Spiral ramp leads down below the level of the surface outside, and the crazy branching tunnels of the Warrens give way to the square, regular, orderly neighborhoods of the Mines.  Close to the surface, things are pretty much like the Warrens, except with a regular street plan, but as the Spiral winds downward, the levels become darker, less well-lit.  This is not to say they are less populated, but the greater proportion of the city's dwarves and other individuals blessed with darksight tend to live down here, and they don't need streetlights.  The areas just above the active mines are usually what passes for industrial areas, the smithies and ore smelters, and those areas are still operating, but much less busily than usual.  It's not for lack of raw materials; there was a backlog of ore and of raw metals sitting there.  But with the disappearances and the trouble with the City Guard, many workers didn't like to be that close to the mines.<br/><br/>At the foot of the Spiral was a loading and preparation area.  This was the foot of the Elevator, and the main engineering area for the Water Wheel.  The wide mine entrance, with the tracks for the mine carts, went off to one side; the maps showed the active mine shafts, and the lengthy ramp passages that went from level to level below this area.  There were effectively five more active levels, with further ones burrowing slowly all the time.  Normally, this place was busy with noise, hammering, shouting, rocks being shifted, but for the past week, it had been quieter, and the past few days it was veritably silent.  Without the motion and bodies of the miners, it was cold and dank, and water dripped off somewhere in the distance.  There were powerful gemlights illuminating this area, but only the occasional one deep inside the mines; additional lighting or darkvision was going to be necessary for detailed exploration.<br/><br/>As they walked in, a grey-bearded dwarf bustled out from a chamber just to the side of the Spiral.  "Who are... Oh, it's you folks!  Oh, a wizard and a Guard... you must be the special team the Council said they were sending.  You have the maps?  All right, then.  Here, take these whistles.  If you run into trouble, and you survive it, blow the whistle so we can come down and find you.  May take us a while, but we'll know you're still alive."  He waves cheerily as you three head into the mines.<br/><br/>((Technically a light source would be an Energetics effect, but since I hadn't made one up before, Misha's right and Spontaneous Generation ought to be able to handle it; you have to know Energetics, but it doesn't come into play in actually making the light?  We'll cope with it for now.  Misha seems to have it down, but for everyone else's benefit, the roll is 2D Procreatics, +1D amulet, +1D wand, +2 for the fast ritual: we'll take Misha's roll in this case, since it's a non-combat situation, and the result is 15.  Since it's just basically torchlight, not even any sort of attack, just illumination, I'm allowing a difficulty of 5.  Since it was so much above the difficulty, it's fairly bright, as a good-quality gemlight.))<br/><br/>((For Koh, for future reference, his Sneak of 6D plus the Cloak bonus of +3D = 9D, which roll: 5, 6, 2, 4, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6 = 37!  So bear that in mind for the future.))<br/><br/>((Return to your interplay!))