"Alright, let's tour the area. I would first like to visit the watchtower that was found and other structures that were found. Perhaps we can find some clues about what they were used for. " Theodore said to a man named Greg who was going to guide them around.
Greg was appointed to lead the survey of the mountain range. He was well known in town. 'A bit of a jack of all trades, but a reliable man.' barn had introduced the man. Greg used to be a lumberjack, became a hunter and later had been a scavenger for the herbalist in the city.
With little options and few familiar faces familiar with the local surroundings, Theodore had wholeheartedly accepted Barn's proposal.
Greg quickly leads them away from the base camp, about twenty minutes north.
"There it is, the watchtower." Greg pointed at a small wooden structure a few tens of meter away. "Been used recently too. Some furs were stacked in a corner. Found a mug too." He introduced their findings.
"A bit further to the left, on that hill, there are some places where the grass has withered. It's likely they camped out there f'er a while. Found an ol' campfire too. Put it out and wiped out many traces. But we've gone through the ground around it, and the burn marks can be easily spotted if ya remove the top layer of soil." Greg explained. "Can't be too old. Less than a week I think."
"Alright. Humans were active in this area. That's for sure." Theodore nodded. "Any idea what they came to do or with how many they were?"
"Dunno, m' lord. Could be 'er f'er anything. The mountains haven't been promising and we haven't found any tools. Might be a few camping here, might be more working during the day. Can't be sure. It all depends on what they came to do 'ere. Best guess is that there were ten or so tents. Each would be good for four or five people. Fifty people at best?"
"Fifty people out here in north, near the mountain. That's pretty suspicious, don't you think?"
"Sure is. But we don't know what they came here for."Greg plainly stated.
After looking around for a bit the gang decided to move back and inspect the found tunnel. They moved back and were back in camp in twenty minutes. Greg then took them up a road, that meandered around the mountain, barely broad enough to have two people walk beside each other.
Everyone wondered how safe this road was, but everyone decided unanimously not to mention it.
The climb proceeded calm and quiet as everyone focused on putting their feet in well-supported places. Looking down, Theodore estimated the height to be a steep fall of roughly twenty meter to the ground. He refocused his mind in front of him, he'd rather not get distracted by the abyss and lose his footing.
A good fifteen minutes later they found the entrance to the tunnel. It was 6-7 feet wide, and ten feet in height. The tunnel was situated in a manner that it was hard to spot when looking from ground level. This fact also heightened Theodore's expectations. Nobody hides a man-made tunnel for nothing!
They entered and found the tunnel well lit. There were certain blue gems laying along the path that radiated a faint blue light. "Sapphire Lumen."Greg pointed. "They weren't here when we got 'ere. Put them here to lit the path for the inspection. They're pretty cheap and can be found in shallow rivers and river beddings." Greg explained, seeing Theodores puzzled looks.
"Do they light up all the time?" Theodore couldn't believe such a convenient thing existed.
"Nah m'lord, they die out every few hours. They recharge from on sunlight. But they're pretty convenient. All workers have a torch with them that they can light if the light die out. We've thought about it and put them 4 feet apart, and every other Lumen was laid down later. So only half of them die out at the same time." Greg said smiling.
"Clever." Theodore acknowledged. "Your idea?"
"Yes, m' lord." Greg scratched his head whilst looking a little embarrassed with the praise."
As they made their way down Wesley told them what to look for, with Greg adding in some of his own experiences. Only at the end of the tunnel did Wesley squat down and look at a particular part of the stone wall. He took a lumen close to him and shone on the wall to study it further.
He then smiled wryly "There's a chance there's an iron deposit deeper down m'lord. But traces are very faint. It might not be economical to dig down to follow the seam."
"How far do you think Wesley?"
"Can't be sure. Could be in ten to twenty feet. Could be sixty feet down. We can only know for sure if we follow the seam down to the deposit m' lord." Wesley stated.
"How sure are you?"
"Pretty sure I'd say m'lord. To find iron we look for dark shades of grey, brown or light red they indicate limonite, magnetite or other iron oxide bearing rocks. We put these rocks on a furnace and at a ton of air to it with the bellows. This way the impurities leave and we get wrought iron. I'm very familiar with the base substances m' lord. I'm pretty sure this seam contains traces of iron. The question is how far we're removed from the deposit."
"Alright, that's all I needed to know. I think I have a plan for excavating this place." Theodore smiled
'TNT BABY!'
They were then interrupted by a newcomer in the tunnel "M'lord we found something!" A man yelled enthusiastically as he quickly walked up to the party.