I remember Nashkel Mines from the last time I played, which would honestly be over a decade ago. I made it down through the maze of tunnels and tracks to the lowest level. There I found a mage just standing there, waiting for me to have him join my party. My party was full, at 6 characters. So I had to ask one of my fighter characters to leave in order to allow the mage to join. Then I proceeded to the next lair or tunnel and was attacked by whoever it is who is bringing kobolds into the mines. He apparently has something to do with the contaminated iron ore. In the process of fighting him, the mage whom I had just recruited was killed, and I was attacked by skeletons, kobolds, and possibly other kinds of monsters.
A lot of my characters were heavily wounded, but except for the mage, all very much still alive. I was somewhat glad the mage had died, because I really wanted my other character back. He is named Minsk I think, and he has a pet gerbil or something named Boo. I think he had an accident with a brain injury somewhere, and he talks to his pet gerbil. But I like the character. He is a good fighter.
As far as the story goes, I am on Chapter 3, and am not sure what I am supposed to do next. The mayor of Nashkel has provided me with a reward for clearing out the mines, but I don't know what is next. I have never gotten this far in the game before, and will have to look through my game journal or quest log or whatever to figure out what I need to do next.