After a day of travel, Brone Heavyaxe finally reached the mouth of the Dawncliff mine. He had been tasked by a client, Erwin McDonald, from Rush Valley, to inspect the mine and to find a section of the mine that seems prosperous and plentiful, mainly untouched from civilization. Mr. McDonald had requested Brone simply because he's a dwarf and figured because of that factor, Brone would have the necessary skills to complete the task. Well, the employer wasn't wrong, for half the dwarf's kin have occupations dealing with mines.

Brone walked up to the mouth of the mine and touched the wall, feeling the stone, "Guide me through this place" he whispered to the Stone. For a moment, he felt a calm, then a slight warm breeze escaped the tunnels within as if the mine had yawned, "Sleep if ye must, I'm just visiting" he smiled as he walked in and made his way down the slope that descended into the first tunnel. For some time, Brone followed the minecart tracks that led the way, showing that others had already worked on this mineshaft for some time. The lanterns that hung from the walls and ceilings were out, though Brone didn't require them, like his kin, he had dwarven eyes that can pierce the darkness without any trouble.

The sound of his footfall and the rattling of his ringmail armor echoed within the tunnel, though when he had stopped at the first fork in the road, he could hear the distant sound of water droplets. He looked down both paths, each seeming already traversed, "Where to?" he asked as his hand felt the grey stone on the wall.

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The slight breeze that resembled the mine's yawn had returned again, this time coming from the right tunnel, so Brone followed that path, deeper into the mountainside. The bit of light that reached from the mouth of the mine could no longer touch the dwarf which didn't bother him; walking upon the stone and being within the belly of the mountain was comforting to him, ever since he was a child and was told the stories of his kin and the stone, for they were all children of the Stone, so they had this connection that felt everlasting. Every so often, Brone would find himself running his hand over the wall of the tunnels, sadly the tunnels weren't made to perfection, though they weren't bad, dwarven tunnels were more sturdier and reliant.

After half an hour of trekking in the dark, Brone had come across crevice that led to a separate tunnel. After inspecting it, he realized this separate tunnel was naturally made and the crevice was formed by possible shift in the earth, "Earthquake or collapsed tunnel" the dwarf speculated. As he was halfway climbing through the crevice, a sound echoed through the tunnels. Brone stopped to hear it clearly. It sounded like a series of knocks against wood; was something or someone knocking on the mineshaft timber planks holding up the tunnels? Whatever it was, the sound had stopped and it was too distant to pinpoint the origin. Either way, Brone continued his trek and began moving through the naturally made tunnel.

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The path through the natural tunnel was rough and uneven, there also no indication of any miners moving through said area, there were no lanterns, or mine timber. From what Brone had been told, the mine was discovered about a century ago, a few years before he was born. With that time frame, the crevice was probably made within the century, probably in the last few decades given mining work had slowed to a halt after a while.

After another half an hour, Brone finally reached a small cavern where one wall seem to look different than the stone around him. When he touched the wall, he realized it wasn't stone indeed, but crystal, though without light and proper equipment, he couldn't determine what kind of crystal it was other than it being a quartz of some type. This area wasn't touched and with the amount of crystal that was acting as a wall within the cavern, he would assume this would be enough for Mr. McDonald, so Brone began to head back.

After turning into a returning tunnel, another series of knocks echoed throughout the tunnels. The dwarf stopped to try and make out who could be making the noise and from where, but it was too difficult for him to pinpoint. Suddenly tremors were moving through the tunnel. Brone placed his hand against the wall to feel the vibration. After a moment, the tremors increased and he determined the source was coming from the series of tunnels ahead where he had originally came from. He knew too well what this could mean, so he turned about and ran back towards the cavern with the crystal wall.

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As the dwarf ran, making sure he avoided the jutting rocks that could be tripping hazards, he looked over his shoulder every so often until he began to see in the distance up the tunnel, part of the ceiling was collapsing, a cloud of dust and dirt chased after him. He stopped looking back and focused all his focus on running. Eventually he made it to the cavern, he threw himself into the large open space, knowing the ceiling was of tougher make than the tunnel.

Prone on the floor, Brone looked to the collapsing tunnel, the dust cloud exploded from the tunnel and enveloped the dwarf. The rumbling soon stopped and all that was heard was Brone's series of coughs. His coughing fit soon stopped as the dust cloud settled. The dwarf grunted in irritation as he saw the tunnel was completely blocked off, no longer existing. "Wonderful" his sarcasm was bitter on his tongue. He got up and patted the dirt from his pants before he inspected the other tunnels. Unfortunately, none of them seem to give any indication of usage, so he just picked a random tunnel and made his way through it, hoping it'll lead to the outside.

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Every so often, Brone would stop to observe the area, and listen out, however he wasn't exactly sure what he was trying to hear. The  mysterious knocking from earlier was very odd to him and he questioning whether or not said knocking was involved with the tunnel collapsing; the rhythm seemed intelligent, meaning if it was a person who had caused the collapse, the dwarf would have to be on his guard and be prepared to fight if needed.

Eventually the dwarf had began to ascend, and made sure to avoid tunnels that may go off in an opposing direction or might lead to a dead end. He was keeping a mental log of the tunnels he had visited and their relation to one another, a little trick his father and grandfather had taught him; traversing caverns and tunnels were a normal thing for dwarves and a necessary skill to have given their home are within the mountains.

The knocking had returned and Brone came to a stop to listen, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. After a few seconds, he realized it was relatively close by, further up the tunnel he was in, so he ran while having a hand on the handle of one of his axes and the other hand out in case he needed to catch himself from falling.

When he turned the corner, he could have sworn he spotted a small silhouette that had darted out of view, but when he looked further in, the tunnel had no diverging path, nowhere for anyone to vanish to. The only explanation would be that his eyes were playing tricks with him.

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The tunnels had diverged and turned, not only that, but the dwarf had been redirected because of collapse of the earlier tunnel, but despite it all, he was still keeping mental map of the known tunnels, including those he was discovering; he was grateful for all the cavern traversing his clan was involved with.

Something had moved and he had caught it in his peripheral sight; Brone quickly came to a halt and looked down a side tunnel. In the absolute silence, he couldn't hear anything and with his dwarven sight, he couldn't see anything down the dark tunnel. He began thinking if there was some kind of gas leak that might be seeping through the cracks of the rocks that might be causing him to hallucinate, but it didn't seem likely; he was trained to notice other signs of such situations. Whatever was causing these odd occurrences was either his own mind or there truly was some creature that was moving about in the dark that even a dwarf couldn't spot. Nevertheless, Brone couldn't stay still, he moved onward with his trek through the cave.

Eventually, he reached an upward slope and thankfully the ground was littered with rough stones which kept him from slipping. For a moment he wondered if those rocks were a natural occurrence, or if others before him had laid down that bedding of rock to make a passage. Another look around told Brone that no humans had passed through here given that there were no lantern or wooden structures. He then ran a hand on the stone wall on his right, the feel was too natural; he was sure no dwarf had passed through here as well, but it made him wonder if there was something else that had laid that bedding of rocks.

Time passed and Brone had eventually reached a tunnel that had a single old lantern; the oil was long gone and the dust had collected enough to completely cover the glass windows of the device. An old trail that no one treks anymore, but it meant he was on the right path. He moved on, now with a sense of direction. It wouldn't be long before he found a more used tunnel, then within an hour, he reached the main tunnel where the minecart tracks lay waiting. There were hints of color everywhere, meaning bits of light had reached him. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, but just as silence of the tunnel returned, a single pebble moved behind; he quickly turned about while drawing one of his axes. The blade of the axe moved through the air, emitting a metallic sound that rang within the tunnel. But there was nothing there.

"That's enough for me" is all Brone said before he turned back and quickly made his way out of the mine. The sun was rising in the horizon was a welcoming gesture to Heavyaxe. He gave a smile before he began making his way back to his client.

A day in travel passed when he met up with Mr. McDonald again. He reported the cavern of quartz that would be valuable and given it's depth, there should be much more in the general area. Erwin was excited and asked for map. Brone had sketched out the general direction from the main tunnel that led to the old abandon tunnel, then explained the twisting tunnels, but with the specifics, it should be simple to find the cavern of quartz. There was a moment the dwarf wondered if he should keep secret of the odd occurrence, but his heart told him he couldn't risk the safety of others just because he was afraid he would be seen as insane.

Brone spoke of the knocking sound and the odd movement from the corner of his eye. At first the story put Erwin on edge, but the dwarf explained that it seemed that whatever the occurrence was, it seem to have been looking out for him; for if it wasn't for the knocking, he would have trapped in the tunnels or crushed under the collapsing rocks. The two of them agreed to refer to the 'creature', if there truly was one, as the knocker, a possible friendly spirit. They could only hope.

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