Todd realized it would take him ages to search through the large labyrinth of tunnels and caverns that packed inside the iron mines. Iron was a highly sought after and he was certain that other miners would gladly spill their rumors for some of his ore.  

While the increase in Todd’s ore gathering requirement would surely cut into his profits, his new method of obtaining ore provided him with far greater yields than he had ever had before. It certainly was enough to spend on information gathered by other miners.

Todd made his way to the old man and collected his 20 mana orbs. After some experimentation he figured out that he could increase the ore he gained by drilling a small slit in the rock and sticking the explosives in the hole he had formed. Using this method, Todd was able to bring in 30 pounds of iron ore. He wasn’t quite sure if this newfound success was a result of his new method, luck, or a combination of both.

As the bells rang, Todd made his way back to the tents where he slept. He wished he had spent more time socializing with the other miners. Not sure who to ask, Todd loudly proclaimed if anyone had info on where they kept the goblins while holding up some ore notes. Some people gave Todd funny looks but most people minded their own business. Going insane was fairly common in the mines.

A few people came up to Todd. They were the type of people who you’d catch wearing tinfoil hats. Bulging and shifty eyes, hunched backs, and unkempt odors, didn’t give Todd a whole lot of confidence in the validity of their answers. The information he gathered from them was something and something was better than nothing, so Todd handed each person 0.2 pounds of ore for the info they’d given him.

Todd woke up the next morning more excited than he had been in a long time. Sure, he had plenty of problems he had to deal with, but he missed Gnar who he had slowly grown to like. He would never admit that to Gnar’s face though.

What he gathered from the rumors that were passed onto him was that there was a separate floor for the goblins to mine on. A few villagers were given the task to haul food with the guards down to the green cave dwellers, some eventually earning positions as extra guards. There were relatively few humans compared to the goblin hoard, so they needed extra help.

The sun hadn’t risen yet. His plan was to try and join the villagers that brought food down to the goblins, eventually working his way into becoming one of the villager guards. He hoped none of the guards on the goblin patrol were the same ones that worked for Worick. That would definitely end badly for Todd.

Inactivity in the early morning slowly shifted as people started getting ready for the day. Todd walked up to one of the guards who looked stressed and was frantically packing gear into a bag.

“Look, I was told that I’d need to help take supplies to some little green things,” Todd lied nonchalantly.

“Perfect. We’ve been a bit understaffed lately. I guess Tom’s complaints to the higher ups have finally gotten through to them. I’m Walker by the way,” said the oblivious guard who held his arm outstretched. Todd shook it.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Don’t worry about packing up any of the supplies today I’ve almost finished all of that. You can help push one of the carts of food about three tents over.”

Todd made his way over to the line of carts that sat next to the tent. A dozen tired people were leaned up against them, chatting and laughing with each other.

A stern looking man gave Todd a hostile glance. “Hey, who are you and what are you doing over here?”

Todd’s heart skipped a beat. He was sure he’d been caught. “Uhh, Walker said I was gonna push one of these carts.”

The group burst into a fit of laughter.

“Grugs just messin with yeah. It’s a rare treat to mess with a greeny,” explained a burly women sitting on a cart. She was missing a couple of teeth and Todd swore he saw some drool roll down the side of her mouth.

Todd let out a sigh of relief. He was told to push the cart filled with cuts of meat when it was time to head down into the mines. He followed the train of people pushing carts. Some of the guards helped push while others walked along the side of the caravan as they moved the goods down deeper and deeper.