Play report (Spoiler alert)

I had an unexpected opportunity to run my own "The Mine, the treasure, and the beast" again: The players had a good start because they used their faked business cards and some useless documents to convince the guards that they were mine inspectors. Good thing that the only guard who can read that forgotten his glasses today.

Still, the guards wanted to be safe, and two left to inform Mr MacPeterson. The remaining guard was knocked out quickly. (The PCs benefited greatly from a positive moral check for the NPCs, who were way too friendly for this bunch of scums.)

The PCs made it through the mine rather quickly. They shot down the guard in the mine and manipulated the first ladder with soap to make it slippery. They also turned the first elevator to ensure that nobody could follow them easily. (The traps took down two McPeterson gang members later on.)

I run a couple of random encounters. As intended, the random events helped set up the mood. Yet, one PC was knocked down by a swarm of bats and fell into a mine shaft. The other PCs did try to rescue him by using the wrench. Sadly, two more PCs got hurt.

In the end, the PCs made it to the cave and, thus, to the treasure and the sleeping bear. The PCs opened fire at the sleeping beast. Luckily they could kill it before anybody got attacked by the bear. At this point, the evil spirit took control of one of the PCs. To my surprise, the players quickly understood that killing a victim of the evil spirit doesn't solve the problem. They also thought that the silver medallions offered protection from the evil spirit.

Still, one PC put a medallion on the evil spirit's victim. The spirit immediately turned to the next PC. Again, the group used non-lethal force to keep the evil spirit under control.

Having looted the treasure room, the group returned to the mine's entrance to find out that Peter MacPeterson and his gang were waiting for them outside.

Two players went back to climb up the fake well in the bear's cave. One player felt down but was lucky to survive without any significant damage. The two players then opened fire at the gang from the top of the hill and took down two gang members before going down themselves. The remaining three gang members stormed up the hill while Peter MacPeterson entered the mine. His magic shield made him a tough challenge. Yet, MacPeterson made a mistake and attacked the possessed scum, who turned against him. Thus, the "Witcher" became a victim of his occult trickery.

Finally, the group transferred the evil spirit into the old guard they had knocked down at the beginning. How? They ensured that all PCs had a medallion before putting on a medallion on the possessed. Thus, MacPeterson's guard became the nearest person without a medallion.

And thus, our heroes managed to escape the mine. Luckily, the GM had to prepare dinner at this point, and the three remaining gang members never returned. To conclude: The players survived the mine, killed the beast, and escaped with the treasure.

While "The Mine, the Beast, and the Treasure" is built around three encounters (getting into the mine, meeting the beast and the evil spirit, and getting out of the mine), it comes down to 3-4 hours of playtime. On my own "points to improve"-list: My Players haven't paid attention to the guards' house so far. I will try to emphasise it more when I run the adventure next time.