Felix heads to the old building and the broken down rock to analyze the rock for trace elements of iron.

Fate point expenditure. There's enough trace iron to be worth it. Second fate point. There's enough trace gold to be worth it.

Felix doesn't need to subject the rocks to any tests to prove the presence of iron. He can see the streaks of rust from back here.

Clearly, Elene mining techniques are (or were, when this mine was being worked) very primitive; there's still quite a lot of iron left in the ore that they had already processed.

Nate carefully investigates the area...

Nate: Alertness: +4 Roll: +1 Total: +5
???: Stealth: +1 Roll: +4 Total: +5

Nathan sees the movement just in time to shout a warning. A moment later, a crossbow bolt flies in Arkady's direction!

Hidden sniper: Crossbow: +1 Roll: -1 Total: +0
Arkady: Athletics: +0 Roll: +1 Total: +1

Warned, the four Terrans dive aside, and the crossbow bolt goes wild.

There's at least one hidden sniper in the ruins of the smelting room.

(Later, closer investigation will show that the ore piled up outside the mine includes trace elements of gold as well. However, this later investigation will have to wait, because there is someone here who is shooting at you).

"Tackle him!" Felix and Theresa charge the crossbowmen and attempt to restrain him.

Moving up along with Felix and Theresa, Nate pulls the pin on a stun grenade and lobbs it into the ruins ahead of them.

Arkady readies his friend the sergeant and gets ready to provide covering fire if anyone else shows themselves.

Nathan throws a stun grenade ahead of him.

Nathan: Weapons: +3 Roll: +0 Total: +0
Hidden sniper: Athletics: +1 Roll: +2 Total: +3

The stun grenade flies into the ruins - and then flies out to the side, as if the hidden sniper had instinctively batted it aside. It goes off behind the ore pile, stunning no-one. (Unless there were more people hidden back there.)

Felix and Theresa rush in to restrain the sniper... and another crossbow bolt flies at them, from another direction. There's a second sniper inside the mine!

Second Sniper: Attack: +1 Roll: +0 Total: +1
Felix: Athletics: +1 Sidekick: +4 Roll: +0 Total: +5

Theresa's gasp is plenty of warning - with a forward roll, Felix avoids the bolt without losing any speed. Him and Theresa dive into the ruins...

Felix: Fists: +0 Theresa: +4 Roll: +2 Total: +6
Sniper: Athletics: +1 Roll: +1 Total: +2

...and a moment later they stand up again, each holding one arm of a rather dirty, ragged, freshly disarmed Elene man with an angry cast to his face, a bushy beard, a loud voice and, as he swiftly demonstrates, an extremely foul mouth.

Arkady discharges a few bullets to discourage the man in the mine from taking too close an interest in things outside the mine...

Arkady: Guns: +2 Roll: +3 Total: +5
Second sniper: Athletics: +1 Roll: +2 Total: +3

Arkady is pretty sure that he didn't actually injure anyone, but the cave sniper seems to be very quietly rethinking his strategy in there.

Sir Ulath strolls across the battlefield. "Surrender!" he calls out. "I am a Knight of the Church. Throw down your weapons and you will live!"

There's a moment of silence as the various snipers consider this offer. Then a crossbow is thrown out of the cave. A few moments later, a second ragged, bearded Elene is also thrown out of the cave. He stays where he landed, doing no more than groaning (which might be due to his having landed on rocks).

Felix pats the man down for any weapons he might have on his person. Once satisfied, he begins interrogating the man.

"Who are you, and why did you attack us?"

The ragged man's reply is filled with expletives and rude comments about Felix' mother, hypothetical sisters, and aunts; but, stripped of all the various cursing, the remainder of his reply comes down to "We were just defending ourselves!"

Felix finds a number of crossbow bolts and a dagger on the ragged man, which are easily removed.

The second ragged man, the one lying on the rocks in front of the cave, isn't going anywhere. Sir Ulath has enforced this by placing his foot (lightly) on the small of the man's back; the man's facial expression suggests that he really doesn't want that foot to rest heavily on his back.

"We've done nothing to warrant this aggression. You attacked us unprovoked."

Turning over to Sir Ulath, Felix asks "What's the punishment for this? Jail time?"

While he's talking, Felix produces some plastic zip ties and uses them to cuff the man's hands.

Arkady walks towards the adit, weapon ready but barrel pointed down. Calmly: "All right, people. You heard Sir Ulath. Please to be coming out peacefully."

"That rather depends on what they're doing, living in such a remote place. And with crossbows."

"Lamorkian make, if I'm not mistaken," opines Talen. "An out-of-the-way place like this? Expensive weapons, but poor clothing? I'm going to guess that we've stumbled on a local group of bandits. What do you lot do, beat up farmers for their sheep?"

The ruffian's reply is unprintable, perhaps partially due to his wrists being bound by plastic ties, but approximates to "Go away!"

Sounds from the adit suggest that the people in the mine have dropped all pretense at stealth and are rather hurrying further into the mine as fast as they can without a light source.

How Badly You Got Robbed #3: Possible wild beast lair? Bandit hideout?

Felix binds the bandit's legs.

"Well if we're going to reopen the mine we have to get rid of them. Shall we venture into the mine and deal with this pest problem?"

While he talks, Felix moves to examine the ore pile with a magnifying glass.

"Jackpot! There's gold in this!"

Felix grabs his gun and begins heading to the mine, strapping a flashlight to the end of the barrel.

"Pest control it is."

Nate scratches his chin.

"We could roust them out. Personally I'd rather hire them. Less messy all around, and we get a couple of miners who are capable of defending our investments, and their paycheck. Plus, they might be willing to tell us who gave them the crossbows. They didn't pay for these themselves, I can tell you that. If they did have this kind of money, they probably would have spent it on food, wine, and women, and possibly better clothing. Heck, if they had enough money to buy crossbows, they probably wouldn't be bandits."

Nate turns to the bound bandit and crouches down.

"Well, what do you think? Would hiring you and your buddies be a wise investment on our part? Or would we be better off turning you in to the local constabulary for any potential bounties?"

Inside the mine, Felix sees the detritus of long-term habitation - discarded chicken-bones, scraps of refuse, a couple of piles of rags that probably acted as beds.

And a tripwire. It's as if they weren't even trying to hide it.

Anyone inside the mine is well beyond the range of his torch, and the sounds fading into the distance suggest that they fully intend to stay as far beyond torch range as possible.

The bound bandit growls something angry and tries to spit at Nate. He yells what could be politely translated as "I take orders from no-one!"