That night, Mandredd and Gotrak are aproached by a dwarf who introduces himself as Haki Kazrikson, an engineer. He seeks heir aid in breaking a curse. He explains that, a few years ago, he and his friends had discovered a nearby abandoned dwarf mine. When they explored it, they found many riches, among them a statue. Since then, his fellow explorers have all met grisly fates. He believes the curse can be lifted by returning the statue to its place.
When the adventurers want to wake up their friends to join them, Haki says that is not a good idea. The mines have since been overrun by greenskins and the fewer on the expedition, the less chance they have of discovery. In fact he wouldn't even ask the mage along were it not that Mandred will be able to open the secret rear entrance. He shows them the statue of pure gold, which is a figurine with multiple arms. As Gotrak is overcome by gold fever, the two agree to help the dwarf.
ancient, forgotten mines.
The first thing they encounter are some goblins, which they dispatch quickly, followed by a deep mineshaft. A thick, rusty pulley system hangs in the middle but the mechanisms are so rusted they have become inoperable.
The heroes find a narrow ledge that leads out to a square notch in the left side of the shaft, cut just deep enough for a dwarf to climb down into the depths on the ladder that is bolted to its wall without being knocked off by the passing of the lift carriage.
The ladder is dwarf work, and though over two hundred years old, it was still strong and firmly fixed to the wall. They descend into the darkness. Mandred using his magic wand, casts some light. The shaft seems endless and after a while they find the elevator carriage, an open steel and wood cage hanging straight and true in the shaft as if it had only paused for a moment. Near the steel rings that the ropes are fastened to, the hawsers are frayed and thin, as if rats have been chewing on them. Inside the cage lies the mummified corpse of a dwarf.
Haki, who is first on the ladder, unslings his crossbow, loads a grappling hook bolt and cocks the weapon only slightly to shoot it at the cage, pulls it slowly closer, picks its lock and pilfers the corpse, finding a bag of gems. The two others look at this in astonishment and start to have serious doubts as to Haki's true occupation.
Mandred sends his light lower and his heart lurches as they spot a churning mass of hairless, dog-sized monstrosities, the light glinting off their jagged fangs and bulging black eyes, and the razor claws with which they are climbing the shaft’s rough-hewn walls.
The squigs (for that's what they are) are closing swiftly, much quicker than the explorers could have
climbed back up the ladder. They can hear their hungry mewlings, and make out the movement of their limbs in the darkness.
As the explorers draw their weapons and hang, one-handed, from the ladder, grimly awaiting their doom, Mandredd, for the first time, draws upon the winds of magic, channeling the most power he has ever done and unleashes a massive lighning storm after taking flight! The lightning cascades down the shaft, amplified by the confined space and hits the lumpy, misshapen blobs of hairless
flesh, all mouth and teeth, with spindly, taloned legs in full force. The Squigs that don't evaporate immediatly get fried, their scorched remains tumbling down into the dark.
Mandred laughs like a maniac while he gently floats to the bottom of the shaft.
Beyond the door is the room they were searching for, a large dais, filled with strange and deformed statues. One place is empty. Before they are able to replace the statue, an orc shaman comes into the room, hopping and turning and chanting strange things. Defeating him proves a bit more difficult but again the heroes succeed. However, when they finally replace the statue, the entire construction begins to shave and fall apart. A dark voice echoes through the halls, laughing gleefully: "Finally, I am awake, I have returned! Muahahahaaah! Thank you humans".
With passages and ceilings collapsing around them, the two have no other choice but to flee for their lives, without any riches. When they return to the top, they agree not to inform their companions about the demonic voice they heard.