The surface
The name of the Heretis Mines stems from a hero, Herethis, who fought and fell at a battle in the region at some point during the Calamity. The entry of the mines is a black sinkhole surrounded by four stone towers as well as large ropes and cables fastened around the hole. However during the quake that expanded the hole in 812 PD, some of the mining equipments and two stone towers have fallen into the pit, leaving only remnants of it at the surface. The sinkhole itself goes down for about a quarter mile and is about 150 to 200 feet in diameter.
Down the sinkhole
At the bottom of the sinkhole tunnel is a peanut-shaped chamber. There's a small tunnel that goes off of the chamber before closing a the end, a mine shaft that has then collapsed on the opposite side during the quake of 812 PD. At the center of the chamber, there's fallen barrels, chest pieces, parts of rods, cords, and ropes strewn about. There is also an ancient stone platform that rise up from the center of the chamber with a small recess in the stonework carved downward. Small carvings in Celestial can be seen on the platform. There are runes that read "gestation and protection of a seed, a guardian for the ages to come: Symphior ".
Era of Reclamation
Not long before 544 PD, a vein of platinum was discovered in the mines, which was at the time in Julous Dominion territory. It sparked a greedy lust for such a financial source and was eventually the final push for the Dwendalian Empire to break their agreements and conquer the Dominion with the Marrow War that started in 544 PD. Under the Empire's control, as vast mine has since expanded to extract the platinum. However, it is a challenge due to the mine's closeness to a population of ankhegs that infests the Cyrengreen Forest nearby. The Myriad has slowly inflitrated the operations of the mines in the 50 years prior to 835 PD and regularly hijack some of the platinum to fund their activities.
" The Mines of the Many " (1x98)
In 812 PD, Vox Machina agreed as a favor for Korshad Seddiki, the leader of the Myriad in Deastok, to enter the Herethis Mines and clear the place of a ancient and hostile entity in exchange for the Darrington family being allowed to keep, not all of their lands, but at least their mansion itself and enough wealth to live on. At the mines, Vox Machina saw several dead bodies near its mouth. Through Pike Trickfoot's Speak with Dead, they learned from one of the corpses that " skittering beasts " were awakened by " the smaller one " and with Keyleth's Commune with Nature learned that a long-dormant Planetar entity was recently awakened. The party decided to take a night's rest in the woods nearby. After some preparations, they ventured down the mine shaft. In the chamber, Vox Machina was able to defeat Symphior but ankhegs started to surround them. The party flew up and out of the mine, and once out, Pike used Earthquake to collapse the entrance of the mine and defeated the remaining ankhegs that managed to come to the surface.
