The Ethgan'tor Mines

[Labyrinth]

Ethgan’tor Mining:

If someone bothered to wander this far down the dead-end street or was directed down here for the purpose of finding Ethgan’tor Mining then they’d find what they were looking for and probably wouldn’t be too impressed at all, suspicious perhaps but not impressed.. the Ethgan’tor mines were neither imposing or designed to stand out, they were however a collection of interconnecting oddities that seemed to have the net effect of being noticeable whether they wanted to be or not…provided anyone came near them.

For a start it wasn’t just a single building, it seemed to swarm over the buildings that occupied the end of the street on either side of it. Although the building that bore the sign of Ethgan’tor Mining was at the far end of the street it appeared connected to the two next to it, a huge marble wall blocking the gap where an alley might usually between the left side of the primary building and the Inn on the left side of the street, no path for horses, no-where to even stable one, merely a building with far too many open-air windows on the top floor to even resemble a tavern, even though the bottom floor had a pair of glass windows and the habitual sign and a door that emitted suitably tavern-like sounds whether it was open or closed.

In fact if one looked for long enough at those upper windows they might begin to see things against the blackness, faint movements or shadows of figures interacting…no noise though, never any noise that could be heard above the din that emitted from the tavern. It was the same kind of odd story from the other side of the street, a building that fulfilled it’s aim without really appearing to do it with more than half a heart, it’s sign with a well-painted black horse proclaimed it as a stable, built in Ethgan’tor cream marble like all the other buildings on the street. It had the habitual wide wooden sliding doors fronting it, separated by steady, blocky marble pillars and the required insubstantial gate to the side near to the Ethgan’tor Mining building to provide access to the rear but there things began to deviate.

The gate had a pillar supporting it on the side that wasn’t connected to the stable building, between that pillar and the Ethgan’tor Mining building was yet another double-story marble wall, shear and topped with ugly looking sharpened metal. The fence was certainly not an eyesore but it raised odd questions, especially when it appeared to also conceal the fact that beyond the wooden gate the path turned both right – behind the stables – and left behind the Ethgan’tor Mining building where an uncharacteristic metal gate stood a short way down, just in sight. It was as high as the marble fencing on either side of it, gray and metallic, guarded by two serious-looking Moriquendi.

The two Moriquendi raised yet another point…there were too many people around, by the Tavern several worked on apparently menial tasks and two guards stood outside the tavern in mercenary garb yet standing too straight and aware to be hired mercenaries, meanwhile yet another two were outside the door to Ethgan’tor Mining. The building itself was a two-story structure with a flat roof, two high marble pillars at either corner connecting to the fences that ran off to the adjacent buildings, all in creamy Ethgan’tor marble with pink veined highlights.

It had five windows in all, four rectangular ones split into a dozen panels of glass by marble rods at equidistant points on the four corners, meanwhile a small circular window sat above the two double doors that granted access to the building, one Moriquendi guard on each side of the semi-circular steps leading down to ground level. Each of the guards on the door was dressed neatly in black with upturned stiff collars, arms neatly at their sides, always looking ahead, weapons clearly visible on their persons.

The doors themselves were of heavy dark wood, upon approaching them any visitor was challenged, the leftmost of the two guards desisting his tactic of staring straight ahead to turn her neck towards the visitor…who’d already been observed by them on their way to the door, her voice was polite compared to her attitude, not gruff or sharp as one might expect in such ‘precise’ looking figures.

“Vedui, before you enter it’s my duty to inquire what your business is at the Ethgan’tor Mines and ask you to provide identification before you can proceed.”

She said, courteous but still direct, her eyes not staying still but skittering over the visitor’s form, presumably out of a belief that being examined by a woman wouldn’t be seen as insulting by a man while a woman would quite definitely feel insulted if the guard had been male.