TEXT: 39
  39
  PROlOGUE: EmPTY GRAvES
  As the Fated are traveling in the Northern Hills, 
  their journeys take them to the Contract Town of 
  Colmstock, which is built at the foot of a large crag. 
  The reasons for the Fated traveling to Colmstock 
  don’t especially matter to this adventure:  they might 
  be seeking work, following the trail of someone of 
  interest to them, or just looking for someplace to rest 
  on their way to another destination.
  Instead of a sleepy mining town, however, the Fated 
  find a site of horrors. As they approach the outskirts 
  of Colmstock, read the following text:
  As the Fated pass through the graveyard, if they take 
  the time to examine the grave markers, they will find 
  that all of the graves are recent and split into two 
  categories: many of them have the same date of 
  ChIp LIMEBURNER
  death, about a week ago. These graves consist of 
  just a marker and an undisturbed plot of ground, 
  and if any are exhumed, these graves are empty. 
  The other graves are also recent, with death dates 
  occurring within the past week. Unlike the other 
  grave markers, these ones are accompanied by the 
  unmistakable mounds of earth that indicate a bur-
  ied body. 
  SCENE 1: GhOST TOWN
  Passing into Colmstock, the Fated find a veritable 
  ghost town. Hardly anything moves save for the 
  scurrying of wildlife and the occasional shutter 
  creaking on its hinges from a blowing breeze. Many 
  of the houses bear evidence of a struggle – broken 
  windows and shattered doors – but the damage is 
  not so severe as to suggest a wholesale invasion of 
  the town. No buildings are burned down or collapsed, 
  and there are no signs of defacement or looting. It’s 
  more as if a profusion of small but violent struggles 
  was carried out individually at each address.
  After the Fated have had a chance to look around a 
  bit, they can make TN 8 Notice Challenges. Those 
  who succeed catch a glimpse of sudden movement 
  in one of the windows of the boarded up saloon. With 
  a Margin of Success, the character is able to make 
  out a frightened face peering down at them before it 
  disappears.
  WORkED TO DEATH
  A ONE-ShOT ADvENTURE FOR ThROUGH ThE BREACh 
  At a distance, you can see a cluster of black 
  specks nestled among the rocky hills. As 
  you draw closer, the dark specks grow more 
  discernable, first as vague shapes dotting the 
  dull landscape, then as the distinct silhouettes 
  of buildings. When you’re almost upon the 
  town, though, you can make out a second, 
  more troubled group of smaller specks: a 
  ring of hastily fashioned grave markers that 
  encircle the town. Standing tall amongst the 
  markers is a sign that reads “Colmstock, pop. 
  112,” but a sinking feeling in your gut tells you 
  that the sign is woefully out of date.
  
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  ThE SALOON
  As the Fated approach the saloon, a man’s voice 
  calls out to them from inside. Read the following text: 
  The entrance of the saloon has been barricaded 
  behind an overturned table that has been nailed 
  in place. Breaking it down isn’t too difficult, only 
  requiring a TN 8 Athletics Challenge, but if the Fated 
  claim to be friendly or helpful, the townsfolk will pull 
  out the nails and allow them to enter the saloon. The 
  interior of the saloon is filled with broken furniture 
  and terrified townsfolk.
  If the Fated ask what happened to town, Sheriff 
  Dixon, the man who spoke to them through the door, 
  will explain the situation. Read the following text:
  At this point, Sheriff Dixon asks one of the townsfolk 
  to get him a drink, then, upon remembering his 
  manners, he asks the Fated if they would like one as 
  well. Once he’s thrown two glasses of whiskey down 
  his throat, he continues his story. 
  If the Fated seem capable of handling themselves, 
  Sheriff Dixon asks them to help Colmstock. There 
  are explosives in the mine that they might be able 
  to use to collapse the shaft, but even if they had 
  the explosives, they’re still worried about the trapped 
  miners; they haven’t seen some of the missing 
  workers among the ranks of the dead, and if there’s 
  even a chance that they are still alive, Dixon doesn’t 
  feel right about condemning them to death.
  If the Fated can enter the mine, find the dynamite, 
  and learn the fate of the trapped miners, then the 
  survivors of Colmstock can do what must be done 
  and get on with their lives.
  There are only three other people in the saloon with 
  Sheriff Dixon. 
  Maria Ansell: This middle-aged woman is the wife of 
  one of the initially trapped miners. She’s sitting by 
  herself in the corner, and although she is not crying, 
  her eyes are red and sunken. She rocks back and 
  forth ever so slightly in her chair, her arms wrapped 
  low around herself for comfort more than anything.
  “Please, strangers! Don’t harm us. We’re simple 
  folk with nothing of value. We have recently 
  been set upon by great hardship, so please find 
  it in your heart to have mercy.”
  “Those miners, I don’t know what infernal 
  conjuring got to ‘em. Might have been the 
  Soulstones or just something in the ground 
  itself went bad. Either way, they came 
  shambling out of that hole, all crooked-like, 
  grabbin’ at folks. The way they moved just 
  wasn’t natural. Just wasn’t right.”
  Sheriff Dixon shakes his head. “The miners 
  didn’t chase us out of the mine, and we were 
  grateful for it. They just stayed underground, 
  doing god-knows-what, but that night – and 
  every night since – they come out like ants 
  from a nest, lookin’ to kill. They tear down doors 
  and smash windows, and anyone they find they 
  either kill or drag, kickin’ and screamin’, down 
  into the mine. 
  Sheriff Dixon is not an especially tall man, 
  but between his stocky build and the way 
  he carries himself, he seems to fill the room. 
  His terrified expression looks foreign to his 
  face, and it makes you uneasy to be around 
  him. “I’ve never seen anything like this unholy 
  catastrophe,” he explains. “About a week and 
  a half ago, life was carrying on as normal, 
  when late in the afternoon there was a great 
  commotion down at the mine. One of the 
  workers ran back to town, hollerin’ about a 
  tunnel collapse and that all hands were needed 
  to free the trapped miners.”
  “’Course, we all dropped what we was doing 
  and ran to help. It was nearly two days of 
  back-breaking, brow-sweating work, with hardly 
  a sign from those trapped. Most of us feared 
  the worst, but we persevered in the faint hope 
  we could save ‘em.” He sighs. “Finally hit an 
  air pocket and heard some groans, figured the 
  miners must be weak from two days of no food 
  or water. Poor Albert was the first one to slip 
  through the narrow passage we’d opened. His 
  screams will haunt me to the day I die.”
  
  4141
  If the Fated speak with her, read the following text:
  Henry Haiscott: Henry is a haggard man in his forties, 
  wearing an outfit of heavy burlap and denim. Though 
  he cradles a beer in his hand, his gaze remains 
  absent-mindedly aimed at his reflection on the back 
  wall. He wasn’t on duty when the mine collapsed, and 
  survivor’s guilt is eating him up inside. 
  If the Fated speak with him, read the following text:
  If the Fated ask Henry about the mines, he explains 
  that it’s built on top of – or below, depending upon 
  your perspective – a mining system that dates back 
  to the days of the first Breach. Most of the upper 
  level tunnels have been completely mined out and 
  are somewhat unstable, but the M&SU’s operations 
  have mostly focused on the bottom level of the 
  mine, which produces Soulstones at a good rate.
  Henry can give the Fated some rough directions 
  through the mine which lowers the TN of the 
  Searching the Mine Ongoing Challenge by -1, but 
  only if the Fated reach the bottom of the mine shaft 
  and don’t have to travel down a side tunnel.
  Maxwell Evans: Maxwell is a timid boy of about 
  twelve who has taken shelter under one of the 
  tables. He peers cautiously out at the Fated from 
  beneath both the table and a tangle of dirty-blond 
  hair. With a TN 9 Bewitch Challenge, the Fated can 
  coax him out of his hiding place and get him to talk 
  about the incident.
  If the Fated convince him to talk, read the following 
  text:
  Marie’s voice is soft, and it cracks as she 
  speaks. “I cried myself to sleep every night 
  while they were trying to rescue those trapped 
  miners. My husband was one of them, and 
  I was certain I’d never see him again. I was 
  wrong, but it was so much worse when I did. 
  He was all bent and broken, and his face was 
  different, as if it had been crushed. He came at 
  me, slow and stumbling, but his arms stretched 
  out as if to embrace me. I panicked and shot 
  him with the rifle he used to go hunting with. I 
  didn’t wait around to see what it did to him, I 
  just… I just ran to the neighbors. Since then, 
  it’s been a constant flight from one house to 
  the next, and now… now we’re in the saloon. I 
  suppose this is where we’ll die…”
  “Some of them folk were my closest buddies. 
  Like brothers, we were. I was out on the front 
  lines hauling boulders to get them boys outta 
  there, and I was one of the first to seen what 
  happened to ‘em. Second maybe only to Albert. 
  Poor man probably didn’t get a good look at 
  ‘em until it was too late. Men I knew as well 
  as any came of that hellhole pale as ash, their 
  limbs all wonky.”
  Henry takes a moment to take a long drink 
  from his beer. “First one I encountered was 
  Mitch. He grabbed my wrist, not the same-side 
  one, but reaching across, like he wanted to 
  shake my hand. Then he tried to pull me into 
  a hug. It was all I could do to shove him off 
  and make a break for it. Somewhere along the 
  way, I dropped the pickaxe I’d been using, but 
  it’s just as well. If I’d been pressed to use it, I 
  don’t think I coulda driven that axe through my 
  buddy’s head, undead or not.”
  “Dad worked down in the mines.” Maxwell’s 
  voice is soft and bears the unmistakable 
  hints of lingering grief. “Mom said an accident 
  happened and Dad wouldn’t be coming home 
  for supper. She left a lot to help carry rocks 
  or something, cause Dad couldn’t no more, I 
  guess. Every night when she put me to bed, I 
  could hear her crying through the walls.”
  He bites his lip and closes his eyes as a 
  shudder passes through his small body. “Then 
  when we were eating supper, there was a 
  knock on the door. Mom answered it, and it 
  was Dad! Or something that looked like Dad. 
  He wrapped his arms around Mom and started 
  biting her face. I ran upstairs and hid under my 
  bed until Sheriff Dixon came and found me.”
  
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  SCENE 2: DESCENT
  In death, the miners have become Crooked Men. 
  They only come out at night, so the Fated have 
  a choice if they want to save Colmstock. During 
  the day, the elevator leading down into the mine 
  is unlikely to be in use, but once they reach the 
  bottom, they will have to deal with an entire mine 
  filled with Crooked Men. 
  Discarded tools, a great deal of rubble, and 
  small boulders clutter the area surrounding the 
  large, shack-like structure that serves as the 
  mine’s entrance.
  A group of dead, broken men are loitering 
  around the shack. They stand in small groups, 
  staring down into lunch pails or chewing on 
  handfuls of broken cigarettes. All of their limbs 
  are broken and twisted in unnatural directions, 
  making them almost painful to look at: your 
  eye naturally wants to turn away from their 
  disturbing silhouettes. 
  If they decide to make the descent at night, there will 
  be fewer Crooked Men in the mine, but there will be a 
  posse of Crooked Men loitering outside the elevator 
  shaft and individual undead roaming the streets in 
  an attempt to return to their homes. 
  Roaming Crooked Men can be dealt with 
  individually. There are a total of four of 
  them, and their stats can be found on 
  page 50. If the Fated allow them to move 
  unchecked in the town, they will eventually 
  find Colstock’s survivors and kill one of 
  them each day.
  If the Fated choose to approach the mine’s 
  entrance, it is either empty and unguarded (during 
  the day) or surrounded by a group of Crooked Men 
  twice the size of the Fated’s group (during the night). 
  When the Fated approach the mine’s entrance, read 
  the following text (and omit the second paragraph 
  during the day):
  If the Fated get into a battle with the Crooked Men, 
  half of them heft their pickaxes with their first AP and 
  advance toward the group, while the other half hang 
  back and use their Spread Decay actions to damage 
  the Fated and heal their fellow undead.
  Alternatively, the Fated can attempt to sneak past the 
  somewhat oblivious Crooked Men with a successful 
  TN 7 Stealth Challenge.
  
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  ThE ElEvATOR ShAfT
  Once the Fated have entered mine’s entrance, read 
  the following text: 
  If it is day, the elevator is at the bottom of the mine 
  and must be returned to the surface via the control 
  lever on the winch. If it is night, then the elevator 
  is already at the surface. The entire machine can 
  be rendered inoperable with a TN 9 Engineering 
  Challenge.
  At a glance, the Fated can see that the elevator’s car 
  is surrounded by mesh, and operation is controlled by 
  two simple levers: the one that controls ascending, 
  descending, and stopping, and the smaller lever that 
  is labeled “emergency brake.” There are plenty of 
  lanterns and fuel in the entrance 
  that the Fated can use to 
  provide illumination for their 
  mine investigations.
  As the Fated begin to descend in the elevator, read 
  the following text, adjusting as appropriate if they 
  failed to bring a light source:
  With this attack by a Crooked Man, the scene shifts 
  into Dramatic Time. The characters inside the 
  elevator can each attempt TN 7 Notice Challenges. 
  Anyone who fails is surprised and is considered to be 
  Slow on the first round of combat. Because of limited 
  space, characters cannot use Heavy Melee or Heavy 
  Guns weapons in the elevator. 
  If possible, the Crooked Man attempts to grab onto 
  a surprised character and pull them out of the 
  elevator and into the tunnel. This is generally 
  impossible, due to the size of the grilles on 
  the elevator’s doors, but it can still get a 
  grip on its target’s arm and pull it through 
  the grille. Treat the Crooked Man’s 
  attacks as if they have an AV of 5 (10). 
  It attempts to grab any surprised 
  characters 
  before 
  any 
  other 
  targets. This attack deals 
  0/1/2 damage, but more 
  importantly, the Crooked Man 
  yanks the character’s arm 
  into the tunnel, leaving their shoulder 
  pressed up against the grille. On their 
  turn, the character can attempt to 
  break free with a TN 11 Athletics 
  The interior of the shack is dominated by 
  an elevator and the mechanical equipment 
  intended to lower it down into the vertical 
  shaft. It’s a practical contraption, made mostly 
  from iron beams and mesh. A lever built into 
  the side of the machine allows the platform’s 
  movement to be controlled from the surface.
  The rest of the room is dominated by mining 
  tools and equipment, as well as a series of 
  battered lockers. Most of them are in poor 
  shape, and a few have burst open, spilling 
  dirty clothes out onto the cluttered floor.
  With only a little effort, you’re able to jerk the 
  heavy control lever into the “down” direction. Above 
  you, you hear the winch’s engine come to life, and 
  your view of the world slips out of sight as you 
  descend into the mine. Depth markers have been 
  painted onto the sides of the mine’s walls, and you 
  mark them as you pass: 50 feet, 100 feet, 150 feet. 
  Every so often, you catch glimpses of side tunnels 
  that snake off into the rocky earth. Wooden signs 
  mark these passages as closed, but some of them 
  have been toppled over or broken in half. 
  Somewhere around 300 feet, as you pass one of 
  these tunnels, a crooked figure lurches out of the 
  shadows toward you! It shoves its broken arms 
  through the grille door of the elevator, its jagged 
  fingers – some bent backwards against their 
  natural joints – clawing at the air in an attempt to 
  reach you.
  
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  Challenge. With a success, the character is able to 
  yank their arm back into the elevator as the Crooked 
  Man scrambles to grab it again.
  At the end of the round, if the Fated have not 
  destroyed the Crooked Man or stopped the elevator’s 
  descent, someone’s arm gets caught and breaks 
  the elevator. If the Crooked Man did not succeed in 
  grabbing someone, then read the following text:
  If the Crooked Man is holding someone’s arm at the 
  end of the round, read the following text:
  If the character who lost their arm was Undead or a 
  Construct, its absence will be an inconvenience. For 
  Living characters, it is a life-threatening wound. The 
  character suffers an Amputated Critical Effect for the 
  limb in question.
  FREEFALl
  With the elevator in freefall, the characters must 
  act quickly. If they pull the emergency brake, the 
  elevator comes to a sudden, screeching halt and 
  everyone inside the car suffers 1/2/3 damage as 
  they slam into the ceiling and then the floor in rapid 
  succession. This damage is increased by +1 for 
  each large, dangerous object in the elevator (such 
  as an unsheathed greatsword or an opened crate of 
  dangerous chemicals). If any of the characters are 
  carrying a lantern, they must flip a card from the top 
  of the Fate Deck: if it is a t or R, the lantern breaks 
  from the stop and covers everyone inside the car in 
  flaming oil, giving them Burning +1.
  If the Fated don’t think to pull the emergency brake, the 
  elevator comes to a similarly sudden stop at the bottom 
  of the elevator shaft. Everyone inside the elevator 
  suffers 10/12/14 damage, adjusted for dangerous 
  objects and broken lanterns as described above.
  If the Fated make it down to the bottom of the 
  mine without incident, a lever built into the 
  machinery there allows them to summon the 
  elevator from the surface and explains how 
  the Crooked Men managed to escape their 
  subterranean tomb. A TN 9 
  Engineering Challenge 
  can render the lever 
  inoperable.
  As the elevator continues its descent, the miner’s 
  arms become increasingly pinched between the 
  top of the elevator and the bottom of the tunnel 
  from which he stands. As the two planes grow 
  level with each other, the zombie is dragged 
  to his knees, then prone, and finally, with a 
  sickening crunch, his arms twist in even more 
  grotesque directions than they were already. 
  Refusing to give way, the twitching limbs prevent 
  the car from moving any further, and the elevator 
  can be heard groaning against the obstruction. 
  Out of nowhere, a coiling ping echoes through the 
  elevator shaft, followed by another, then another. 
  You have only a moment to register that the cable 
  supporting the elevator car has snapped before 
  the zombie’s arms are severed from its body and 
  the car plunges downward into the darkness.
  As the elevator continues its descent, 
  [CHARACTER]’s arm becomes increasingly pinched 
  between the top of the elevator and the bottom 
  of the tunnel. As the two planes grow level with 
  each other, [CHARACTER] is forced onto [HIS/HER] 
  tiptoes until finally, with a sickening crunch, [HIS/
  HER] arm twists in a grotesque direction as it’s 
  caught between the elevator and the tunnel. 
  Refusing to give way, [CHARACTER]’s arm prevents 
  the car from moving any further, and the elevator 
  can be heard groaning against the obstruction. 
  Out of nowhere, a coiling ping echoes through the 
  elevator shaft, followed by another, then another. 
  You have only a moment to register that the 
  cable supporting the elevator car has snapped 
  before [CHARACTER]’s arm is severed from [HIS/
  HER] body and the car plunges downward into the 
  darkness.
  
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  SCENE 3: HEIGH-HO, HEIGH HO
  Once the Fated have finished their ordeal with the 
  elevator – regardless of whether it crashed, ground 
  to a sudden halt, or came to a completely normal 
  stop at the bottom of the mine – they can navigate 
  their way through the maze of passageways in search 
  of kidnapped townsfolk (and the surface). The mine 
  is dark, and if the Fated do not have a light source 
  (most likely as a result of the elevator’s sudden stop), 
  then navigation will be difficult.
  Searching the mine is handled with an Ongoing 
  Challenge.
  SEARChING THE MINE 
  • Skills Allowed: Engineering, Track, Wilderness
  • Target Number: 9
  • Duration: 15 minutes
  • Success Requirement: 10
  • Failure Requirement: 2
   
  During this Ongoing Challenge, the Fated can use 
  Wilderness to navigate the tunnels of the mine, 
  Track to follow footprints to find and avoid high-
  traffic areas, and Engineering to get a general sense 
  of the mine’s layout and extrapolate from there. Any 
  characters that have mining backgrounds reduce 
  the TN of this Ongoing Challenge by -1.
  If the characters do not have an ample source of 
  light, they suffer - to all Challenges they make as 
  part of this Ongoing Challenge.
  If the Fated crashed the elevator against the bottom 
  of the mine shaft, the sudden noise has already 
  alerted the Crooked Men to their presence. The 
  Failure Requirement of this Ongoing Challenge is 
  reduced to 1.
  If the Fated hit the elevator’s emergency brakes, 
  then they will have to take a closed side tunnel 
  and try to follow it down to the main tunnel. This 
  increases the TN of this Ongoing Challenge by +2. 
  If the Fated succeed on this Ongoing Challenge, they 
  discover the trapped miners that survived the cave-
  in. See the “Buried Alive” section on page 48 for 
  more information. If the Fated suffer a catastrophic 
  failure, they walk right into a patrol of Crooked Men 
  in the middle of an unstable section of tunnel. See 
  the “Crooked End” section on page 48 for more 
  information.
  At the end of each Duration, the Fated encounter 
  one of the following events (in no specific order 
  beyond the Blockage event, which should always be 
  encountered first if the Fated found their way to the 
  bottom of the mine): 
  • Blockage: From the elevator, the tunnel 
  stretches down a wide, winding path that has 
  collapsed in on itself. The tunnel is choked with 
  heavy rocks and splintered support beams, and 
  dust trickles down from the ceiling with alarming 
  frequency. A small path has been cleared from 
  beneath the rubble, but there’s barely enough 
  room for a single person to pass through. 
  The Fated can attempt to squeeze through the 
  opening with Acrobatics Challenges (TN 6 + twice 
  the character’s Height + their Armor value). On 
  a success, the character manages to shimmy 
  their way through the opening without difficulty. A 
  character also makes it through on a failure, but 
  she suffers 1 damage from shifting rocks, and 
  the TN of any subsequent characters trying to fit 
  through the space permanently increases by +1. 
  If a character generates a Margin of Failure on 
  this Challenge, she knocks some load-bearing 
  rocks out of place and triggers a cave-in. See the 
  “Cave-in” callout box on page 46.
  
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  • The Foreman: The Fated come across the central 
  area of the current mine. Read the following text: 
  The Fated have stumbled across a rare occurrence 
  of large-scale discipline extending naturally into 
  undeath. What’s more shocking is that the foreman 
  still possesses the intellect to direct her workers in 
  order to keep operations running. 
  The Crooked Men are generally not that astute, 
  so TN 7 Stealth Challenges (with a - penalty, if 
  they have a light source) allow them to sneak past 
  the undead miners. If the Fated are present in the 
  morning or evening, they might even witness a shift 
  change. The foreman consults her pocket watch 
  and moves to a steam whistle that is mounted on 
  the wall. She pulls it, signaling the Crooked Men 
  to either set their pickaxes down and head to the 
  surface (if it is evening) or to come back and get 
  back to work (if it is morning). Such is the Crooked 
  Men’s connection to the whistle that they can 
  “hear” it being pulled even if they’re on the surface. 
  If the Fated decide to attack (or if they are spotted), 
  they will have to deal with the Foreman and either 
  two Crooked Man per Fated (if it is night and the 
  Crooked Men are “off duty”) or the Foreman and 
  four Crooked Men per Fated (if it is day and the 
  Crooked Men are “on duty”). The Crooked Men use 
  the Assist and Focus actions to increase their odds 
  of striking characters that prove to be resistant to 
  their initial attacks.
  Stats for the Foreman and the Crooked Men can be 
  found on pages 51 and 50, respectively.
  There are a total of 12 raw Soulstones of varying 
  Lade gathered up in the various carts and sifting 
  plates of the area. To find them, the Fated will 
  have to search the room, which requires a TN 
  12 Notice Challenge. Each success or margin of 
  success allows a character to discover one of the 
  Soulstones. The exact Lade of these Soulstones 
  is up to the Fatemaster to decide, though none 
  should have a Lade higher than 2.
  If the Fated investigate the foreman’s desk, they 
  can find her log book. It contains daily entries 
  of the mine’s activities, including quotes met, 
  any notable occurrences, personal reflections, 
  and rough sketches and diagrams of the mine’s 
  tunnels. Possession of the journal (and enough 
  light to read it) grants characters a + on their 
  Challenges made as part of the Searching the 
  Mine Ongoing Challenge. 
  As you follow the tunnel, it opens up onto a 
  narrow ledge about ten feet up the wall of an 
  expansive cavern. Judging from the tangled 
  system of cart rails, heavy machinery, and 
  shuffling zombies, you must be in the main 
  staging ground for the mine’s operation. The 
  undead miners aren’t just shuffling about, 
  however; they’re engaged in the jobs they must 
  have carried out in life. They push carts, haul 
  rocks, and even sift through piles of gravel with 
  glazed eyes, all in a vain attempt at finding 
  Soulstones. 
  At the center of the chamber, an undead woman 
  stands at an open-air desk stacked with papers. 
  Even at this distance, and especially in present 
  company, she exudes a singularly imposing air. 
  A Guild uniform suggests that she must be the 
  foreman, and even in death, her employees 
  periodically approach her, to which she responds 
  with actual words and gestures. Though just as 
  deformed as her peers, there is an unsettling self-
  awareness to how she carries herself.
  Cave-In
  In the event of a cave-in, every character in 
  the area must succeed on a TN 14 Evade 
  Challenge or suffer 3/4/5 damage and 
  become Prone. Regardless of success or 
  failure, every character present also gains 
  the following Condition: “Claustrophobia 
  +1: This character suffers -1 to her final 
  duel totals. For every 10 minutes a 
  character spends on the surface under the 
  sky (not indoors), reduce the value of this 
  Condition by 1.”
  Each Cave-In alters the layout of the tunnels 
  and increases the Success Requirement of 
  the Searching the Mine Ongoing Challenge 
  by +1.
  
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  The most relevant parts of the journal read as 
  follows (with days measured from the date of the 
  mine’s collapse for Fatemaster ease): 
  Day -1 
  “Sent a survey team down Tunnel 4-R to look 
  into the possible vein Arnie reported last week. 
  Soulstone present, but difficult to get a good 
  measurement of how much, so requested an 
  exploratory assay.”
  Day 0 
  “Vein was unstable. Tunnel collapsed, triggered 
  rolling cave-ins throughout the entire complex. 
  Split the survivors into three groups: one to 
  stabilize the tunnels as best we can to prevent 
  further collapse, one to work on freeing the 
  trapped assay expedition, and one to excavate the 
  passage back to the elevator. Unsure if elevator 
  shaft is still intact, but must keep up morale.”
  Day 1 
  “Rescue effort at east end of 4-R continues. 
  Attempts to establish contact with assay team 
  unsuccessful, but we opened small hole into an 
  air pocket and could hear groans. They’re perhaps 
  gravely injured but alive. Workers excavating 
  elevator tunnel have reported muffled voices on 
  other side of the rock. Very hopeful!”
  Day 2 
  “Disaster. All lost. The assay team died in the 
  collapse. Stones must have brought them back. 
  Should anyone read this account, know that 
  Melinda Tilbock died at her post, ever faithful to 
  her workers and the Guild.”
  Day 3 
  “It’s the Soulstone. As I bled out, my eye was 
  caught by the small Soulstone I had sitting on my 
  desk. Entranced by the way it glittered in the dim 
  light, I held it close to my face as I passed. But I 
  did not pass. New life flowed into me. I remember 
  my duty. The Guild will have its Soulstones.”
  Day 4+ 
  Further entries in the journal are largely 
  preoccupied with administrative matters and an 
  obsession with acquiring more Soulstones. As the 
  entries go on, the desire for Soulstones seems 
  to transcend survival and develops into a need to 
  acquire more for the Guild. She makes frequent 
  notes about ordering her miners to block off some 
  tunnels and open others, without any discernable 
  rhyme or reason as to why.
  • Weakened Tunnel: The tunnel ends in a wall of 
  stone that rises up ten yards before continuing 
  onward. There are small holes in the stone where 
  a steel ladder was once attached, but it has been 
  ripped away and is nowhere in sight. The Fated can 
  climb the wall with TN 10 Athletics Challenges; 
  each success allows a character to move a number 
  of yards equal to half her Walk Aspect, plus one 
  yard per Margin of Success. If a character fails this 
  check, she does not move, but if she generates 
  a Margin of Failure, she falls to the ground from 
  her current position and suffers falling damage 
  (if she falls at least 3 yards, she becomes Prone 
  and suffers 2/4/6 damage, +1 damage for each 2 
  yards fallen above 3, rounded down).
  • Mecha-Zombie: As the Fated are exploring 
  the tunnel, they encounter a Crooked Man in a 
  pneumatic exoskeleton. This man had donned the 
  exoskeleton to assist with the assay expedition, 
  and in death, he continues to use it to fulfill his 
  foreman’s orders. 
  Read the following text:
  The tunnel does not offer the Fated many places 
  to hide, and it is very unstable. The Fated can 
  attempt TN 7 Stealth Challenges to hide from the 
  Exo-Miner, but they suffer a - due to the spotlight 
  on the exoskeleton. If they are noticed, the Exo-
  Miner charges toward them at full speed. 
  During any sort of fighting in this tunnel, 
  whenever a character misses with an attack, 
  flip for damage without applying any positive 
  or negative modifiers. If the attack deals 4+ 
  damage, it strikes a weakened part of the cavern 
  and provides 1 Activation Requirement (+1 if 
  the attack also generated at least one B). If 4 
  A metallic whining sound accompanies heavy 
  footsteps that move down the tunnel. A bright, 
  electric light flashes over the walls of the mine, 
  heralding the approach of a dead man that has 
  been strapped into a battered steel exoskeleton. 
  The zombie’s crushed hands have been mangled 
  inside the machine’s framework, but somehow 
  it continues to control the machine, which is 
  stomping toward you with damnable certainty.
  
  48
  48
  or more Activation Requirements are generated 
  during this fight, a cave-in occurs at the end of the 
  current character’s turn. See the “Cave-In” callout 
  box on page 46 for more details.
  Stats for the Exo-Miner can be found on page 
  51. The exoskeleton is too battered to be of any 
  sort of use without some significant repairs; the 
  Crooked Man wearing it is only able to use it 
  because when the exoskeleton was damaged, 
  its arms and legs snapped inside of it. Just 
  getting the Crooked Man’s broken limbs out of the 
  machine is an accomplishment.
  • Soulstone Cache: The Fated can attempt TN 
  12 Notice Challenges (with a - penalty if they 
  don’t have a source of light). On a success, the 
  characters find a small vein of Soulstones running 
  along the wall. A TN 8 Athletics Challenge allows a 
  character to unearth one Lade 1 Soulstone, plus an 
  additional Soulstone for every Margin of Success.
  BURIED AlIvE
  If the Fated succeed at the Ongoing Challenge, they come 
  across the surviving miners. Read the following text:
  If the Fated have any knee-jerk reactions to the group, 
  they should be permitted to take them now. If they 
  manage not to open fire on the miners, the leader 
  of the group peers at them with surprise, wide eyes 
  before reaching toward them with an open hand. “I 
  suppose you folks are the rescue party?” he asks.
  The miners can recount their story to the Fated. 
  They were tasked with trying to shore up the tunnels 
  supports after the initial collapse. They’re not entirely 
  sure what happened after that; they heard that one 
  of the other teams had located some survivors from 
  the assay team, but then there were undead running 
  through the tunnels, collapsing them on the living and 
  attacking the townsfolk that had tried to rescue them.
  The miners have been lying low in the side passages 
  of the tunnel ever since and are dehydrated and very 
  hungry. They grabbed the dynamite in the hopes of 
  collapsing the tunnel to seal it off, but as of yet, they 
  have been unable to go through with the plan, as it 
  will mean their deaths as well. 
  Once the Fated have the miners and the dynamite 
  under their care, they can attempt to escape the 
  mine. See “Scene 4: Skedaddle” (pg. 49) for more 
  details.
  CROOkED END
  If the Fated suffer a catastrophic failure, they wander 
  down a tunnel that runs beneath a raised ridge 
  containing a surprisingly alert Crooked Man. Read 
  the following text:
  The falling rock triggers a cave-in. See the Cave-In 
  section on page 46. The Crooked Man that caused 
  the collapse remains 30 feet above the Fated on the 
  ledge and uses her Spread Decay action to attack 
  the characters below.
  Worse yet, the collapse has the unintended side 
  effect of crushing the trapped miners – and their 
  dynamite – beneath a few tons of rock. If the Fated 
  are willing to spend some time excavating the heap 
  of stone, every hour they spend allows them to make 
  You turn a blind corner and bump into a trio 
  of figures in mining coveralls. Their faces are 
  smudged with soot, their backs bowed in fatigue, 
  and nearly all of them draw labored breaths from 
  beneath their hard hats. A rail-thin woman in 
  the rear of the group is carrying a heavy crate 
  marked “T.N.T.”
  The tunnel ahead narrows until you’re unable to 
  walk down it more than one person at a time. 
  You’re a dozen feet down the tunnel when you 
  see movement up ahead: a trio of figures in dirty, 
  sweaty overalls and hard hats. A rail-thin woman 
  in the rear of the group is carrying a heavy crate 
  labeled “T.N.T.” 
  The man in the lead stares at you with wide eyes 
  before he breaks out into a grin. “Are you the 
  rescue party?”  
  Whatever response you might have given him 
  is cut off by a low moan that echoes down from 
  overhead. Looking up, you see a crushed face 
  staring down at you from an upper ledge. With 
  a gurgling groan, the undead miner raises her 
  pickaxe and brings it down into the ledge beneath 
  her, shattering the rock and sending an avalanche 
  of stone tumbling down toward you and the 
  surprised miners at the other end of the tunnel.
  
  49
  49
  a TN 12 Athletics Challenge. On a success, the 
  Fated unearth a random miner… who has become 
  a Crooked Man in death. The dynamite is still intact 
  and is still in the clutches of the female miner.
  SCENE 4: SkEDADDlE
  Once the Fated are ready to leave the mine, they 
  have two ways out. If the elevator is still intact, 
  they can return to the vertical shaft (encountering 
  the Blockage event again) and use the elevator to 
  escape to the surface. If they have the dynamite, a 
  TN 10 Explosives Challenge allows them to set the 
  fuse in such a way that they can easily escape the 
  mine before the explosion destroys it. 
  On a failure, the dynamite sputters out and fails to 
  ignite. If the Fated achieve a Margin of Failure on 
  this Challenge, however, the explosives detonate 
  prematurely and bring the entire mine down on the 
  Fated’s heads… which is not great for their long 
  term survival. Each character still in the mine suffers 
  4/6/8 damage ignoring Armor from the explosion, 
  followed by 12/14/16 damage from the mine’s 
  collapse. 
  Characters who survive the explosion and subsequent 
  collapse of the mine can still be dug out of the 
  debris by their friends on the surface. Each day, the 
  characters on the surface can attempt TN 13 Athletics 
  Challenges. On a success, one trapped character is 
  freed. On a failure, every trapped character suffers 2 
  damage, plus two damage per Margin of Failure as 
  the rocks shift above them. 
  If the elevator is ruined, then they will have to 
  climb the broken elevator cords and scaffolding to 
  escape… which is difficult, to say the least. 
  Each character attempting to climb out of the mine 
  shaft must attempt TN 10 Acrobatics or Athletics 
  Challenges. It takes ten successes for a character 
  to make it to the top of the shaft. If the elevator’s 
  emergency brake was thrown, then it is stuck halfway 
  up the vertical shaft and the Fated can start climbing 
  from there: they only need six successes to escape 
  the mine shaft.
  Upon succeeding at this Ongoing Challenge, the 
  character reaches the mine’s entrance on the 
  surface.
  If a character suffers a catastrophic failure on 
  this Ongoing Challenge, they slip and fall… with 
  catastrophic results. If the character is tied to one 
  or more other characters via a rope, one of those 
  characters must attempt an Athletics Challenge (TN 
  9 + twice the character’s Height – their own Height) 
  to catch the falling character. On a success, the 
  falling character is caught and can resume their 
  climb. On a failure, that catching character also falls, 
  and another character tied to the rope must attempt 
  to catch them. Each falling character beyond the first 
  increases the TN of this Athletics Challenge by +2.
  Characters that fall from the mine shaft suffer 5/7/9 
  damage, +2 damage per completed Acrobatics or 
  Athletics Challenge.
  If the characters have to climb out of the shaft, 
  there is no way to properly set up the dynamite that 
  does not also bring down the mine upon them as 
  described above. If a character chooses to remain 
  at the bottom of the mine shaft, though, they could 
  always sacrifice themselves to set up the explosives 
  and wait for everyone else to get clear. Talking any of 
  the trapped miners into doing this requires a TN 13 
  Convince Challenge.
  CONCLUSION
  Once the Fated have stepped out from the mouth of 
  the mine and back into the blazing sun, they will have 
  a number of moral dilemmas in front of them. The 
  first task is likely to return to the survivors huddled 
  in the saloon and inform them of the state of affairs.
  If the Fated failed to seal the mine, then they have 
  no choice but to tell the townsfolk that the mines 
  are overrun and that they must evacuate. Though 
  reluctant, they will pack their most essential 
  belongings onto a wagon and travel to Ridley (after 
  asking the Fated for an escort). If any of the rescued 
  miners survived the trip, there are thankful hugs all 
  around and many words of appreciation to the Fated.
  
  50
  50
  The M&SU will eventually send in a crew to survey 
  the mine and try to determine if it is salvageable. 
  If it wasn’t dynamited and the Foreman was killed, 
  normal mine operations eventually resume. If the 
  mine is intact but the Foreman survived, then the 
  situation grinds down to a standoff between the 
  Union and the undead miners.
  Of course, if the mine was dynamited, the Union 
  just writes Colmstock off as a lost cause and turns 
  their attention elsewhere. Periodic prospectors will 
  lay claim to the town in an attempt to excavate the 
  remains, which could make for an interesting future 
  adventure, especially if those prospectors hire the 
  Fated to help them clear it out.
  Crooked Man 
  Minion (5), Undead, Tormented
  Might
  3
  Grace
  -1
  Speed
  1
  Resilience
  2
  Charm
  -2
  Intellect
  -1
  Cunning
  0
  Tenacity
  3
  Defense
  4 (9)
  Walk
  5
  Height
  2
  Initiative
  3 (8)
  Willpower
  5 (10)
  Charge
  5
  Wounds
  7
  Skills: Athletics 3, Evade 2, Melee 3, Necromancy 3C,  
  Notice 2, Toughness 2.
  Bulletproof +2: Reduce all damage suffered by this character 
  from Ranged Combat attacks by +2, to a minimum of 1.
  Crooked: Ranged Combat attacks targeting this character 
  suffer -.
  Last Breath: When this model would be knocked 
  unsconscious or killed, it may discard a card to 
  immediately take a (1) AP Action before falling 
  unsconscious or dying.
  (1) Mining Pick (Melee) 
  AV: 5 (10)  ==========  Rg: y2  ======== Resist: Df 
  Target suffers 2/3/5 damage.
  r Crushing Strike: When damaging, the damage flip gains + 
  for each R in the final duel total.
  c Suffocate: After damaging, the target gains the 
  Suffocating Condition until this character is killed.
  (1) Spread Decay (Necromancy/Tenacity) 
  AV: 6c (11c) == TN: 11C === Rg: z10  == Resist: Wp 
  Target suffers 1/2B/3BB damage. Undead characters 
  affected by this attack instead heal 2 damage.
  c Epidemic: After succeeding, all characters damaged by 
  this attack gain the Poison +1 Condition a number of 
  times equal to the number of C in the final duel total.
  (2) Shafted (Athletics) 
  The ground in a five yard long cone, five yards wide at 
  the end, cracks open to reveal a pit (or the level below, 
  as appropriate). Characters standing in the affected area 
  must succeed at TN 11 Evade duels to leap aside and 
  move outside the area. On a failure, the character falls into 
  the pit, suffers 2/3/5 falling damage, and becomes Prone. 
  Characters may climb out of the pit with 2 AP and a TN 
  11 Athletics Challenge.
  
  5151
  The Foreman 
  Enforcer (7), Undead, Tormented
  Might
  1
  Grace
  2
  Speed
  1
  Resilience
  2
  Charm
  1
  Intellect
  0
  Cunning
  0
  Tenacity
  3
  Defense
  4 (11)
  Walk
  5
  Height
  2
  Initiative
  3 (10)
  Willpower
  5 (12)
  Charge
  5
  Wounds
  7
  Skills: Athletics 1, Evade 2, Leadership 2, Pugilism 1, 
  Necromancy 3C, Notice 2, Pistol 3, Toughness 2.
  Bulletproof +2: Reduce all damage suffered by this character 
  from Ranged Combat attacks by +2, to a minimum of 1.
  Crooked: Ranged Combat attacks targeting this character 
  suffer -.
  (1) Broken Hand (Pugilism) 
  AV: 2 (9)  ===========  Rg: y2  ======== Resist: Df 
  Target suffers 1/2/3 damage.
  (1) Peacebringer (Pistol) 
  AV: 5 (12)  ==========  Rg: z10  ======= Resist: Df 
  Target suffers 2/3/5 damage. Capacity 6, Reload 1. This 
  weapon gives its wielder + to Intimidate Challenges.
  r Unload: When damaging, if you have two or more bullets 
  remaining in your weapon, deal +2 damage to the target. 
  Your weapon is now empty.
  (1) Spread Decay (Necromancy/Tenacity) 
  AV: 6c (13c) == TN: 11C === Rg: z10  == Resist: Wp 
  Target suffers 1/2B/3BB damage. Undead characters 
  affected by this attack instead heal 2 damage.
  c Epidemic: After succeeding, all characters damaged by 
  this attack gain the Poison +1 Condition a number of 
  times equal to the number of C in the final duel total.
  (0) Foreman of the Dead (Leadership) 
  Target friendly Crooked Man within 10 yards immediately 
  performs a (1) Action.
  Exo-Miner 
  Enforcer (7), Construct, Undead, Tormented
  Might
  4
  Grace
  -1
  Speed
  0
  Resilience
  2
  Charm
  -2
  Intellect
  -1
  Cunning
  0
  Tenacity
  3
  Defense
  3 (10)
  Walk
  4
  Height
  3
  Initiative
  2 (9)
  Willpower
  5 (12)
  Charge
  4
  Wounds
  7
  Skills: Athletics 3, Engineering 2, Evade 2, Melee 3, Notice 2, 
  Pneumatic 2, Toughness 2.
  Armor +1: Reduce all damage suffered by this character by 
  +1, to a minimum of 1.
  Bulletproof +2: Reduce all damage suffered by this character 
  from Ranged Combat attacks by +2, to a minimum of 1.
  Last Breath: When this model would be knocked 
  unsconscious or killed, it may discard a card to 
  immediately take a (1) AP Action before falling 
  unsconscious or dying.
  (1) Pneumatic Claw (Pneumatic) 
  AV: 6 (13)  ==========  Rg: y3  ======== Resist: Df 
  Target suffers 2/3/4 damage.
  r Squeeze Tight: When damaging, the damage flip gains +.
  m Knockback: After damaging, push the target up to 5 yards 
  in any direction.
  (2) Oversized Pneumatic Drill (Pneumatic) 
  AV: 6 (14)  ==========  Rg: y2  ======== Resist: Df 
  Target suffers 4/5/7 damage. This weapon ignores Armor.
  (0) Vent Steam (Athletics) 
  Until the start of this character's next turn, the area within 
  a4 of this character is considered to be Ht 5 soft cover.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Through the Breach/Through the Breach - One Shot - Worked to Death (Chronicles #33).pdf