A Matter of Inheritance

[Wampyr]

A letter reaches you one day, your estranged uncle has passed, leaving his begrudging heirs vast debts and mounds of unwanted sundries. To you, he has left one thing; the deed to the Silver Silts Mine. But why? It ran dry long ago and no one has entered since that earthquake collapsed the main shaft. What reason could he have leaving you this single property?

[Tetrasodium]

A letter reaches you one day, your estranged uncle has passed, leaving his begrudging heirs vast debts and mounds of unwanted sundries. To you, he has left one thing; the deed to the Silver Silts Mine. But why? It ran dry long ago and no one has entered since that earthquake collapsed the main shaft. What reason could he have, leaving you this single property?

It did not actually run dry, a manifest zone to mabar (http://keith-baker.com/the-endless-night/) forms there sometimes & shadows walking out of the walls tends to be bad on the employment prospects of miners. Of course, the resulting mabar shards are valuable for their uses relating to necromancy & the like.... if you can mine them.

[Cespenar]

A letter reaches you one day, your estranged uncle has passed, leaving his begrudging heirs vast debts and mounds of unwanted sundries. To you, he has left one thing; the deed to the Silver Silts Mine. But why? It ran dry long ago and no one has entered since that earthquake collapsed the main shaft. What reason could he have leaving you this single property?

Either of the two:

1) Because it houses an ancient evil who needs to be contained?

2) Because it holds an invaluable artifact that he could trust nobody else with?

I mean, it's the classics.

[JackPhoenix]

He doesn't like you, and there are lot of debts linked with the deed. The creditors will meet with you in two days. And they may or may not be criminals/cultists/gnomes. Perhaps he even faked his death to get out of debts!

It's a trap. Your uncle is alive and well, but your enemies arranged the things. The mine is safety hazard, nobody would question if the new owner met a little "accident" while visiting.

He's a dwarf. So are you, obviously. Even if it's depleted, having your own mine is a big deal.

There's a tunnel to the local Underdark-equivalent in there. You're an adventurer. You should be able to figure what to do. Have fun!

[Tetrasodium]

He doesn't like you, and there are lot of debts linked with the deed. The creditors will meet with you in two days. And they may or may not be criminals/cultists/gnomes. Perhaps he even faked his death to get out of debts!

It's a trap. Your uncle is alive and well, but your enemies arranged the things. The mine is safety hazard, nobody would question if the new owner met a little "accident" while visiting.

He's a dwarf. So are you, obviously. Even if it's depleted, having your own mine is a big deal.

There's a tunnel to the local Underdark-equivalent in there. You're an adventurer. You should be able to figure what to do. Have fun!

Mwahaha, another good trap is "The mine charges the owner with the duties of protecting the nearby village(s), enforcing order in the region, collecting (maybe crushing) taxes for the lord, or any number of other things"

[saucerhead]

1 - Maybe your uncle is the cultist. His body is dying and he needs a blood relative for ritual that will see him remade and the mine is where he discovered his patron.

2 - Maybe the failed silver mine holds a different type of ore that your uncle was convinced would be incredibly valuable, but he just couldn't figure out what the stuff was good for. All his debts are from trying to make aluminum products in a low tech world.

3 - Maybe a Dwarven clan has been sabotaging his mine and business to force him to sell. Nothing actually evil is involved, just ruthless business practices. The nephew sells the mine, but it doesn't quite cover the debt so the Clan needs a few jobs done to settle things.

[Knaight]

The mine is genuinely exhausted. Of course, all "exhausted" really means is that it costs more to get the silver out than it's actually worth. Conventional processes of ore treatment just aren't worth it, and having to excavate from collapses just makes it worse.

You, however, are an adventurer. You have access to all sorts of magic, any number of allies, and various esoteric resources. You might just be able to do something with it - and it's not like it's of any value to the rest of the family.