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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 5, 2019 10:54:59 GMT -6
Fiera cringed as the creature jumped away, but then...it seemed to get used to her, leaning into the touch and pressing its head against her fingers. She couldn't help but smile at the sound of rocks tumbling in its throat. What a suitable noise for such a crystalline creature. It then came even closer, twining between her legs and rubbing up against her. It looked like the little creature was here to stay. She glanced over, and saw that it had been carrying two objects with her- a greenish gem and a golden ore. She picked them up, watching the drake. It didn't seem too upset, so she put them in the cart. Algol, on the other hand, seemed to loathe the creature's presence, hissing loudly. Fiera sighed. It looked like the two of them weren't going to get along, so she pulled her cart along, leading them out of the mines so she could bring the drake back home.
(Fiera puts the drake in her kennel.)
Fiera 20 (Level up!) Algol 12.0/12.0 [Post 40]
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Post by Renathan on Aug 5, 2019 15:07:59 GMT -6
Two stones lay close to the exit, to be found quite easily, and perhaps even picked up?
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 5, 2019 20:05:03 GMT -6
On her way back in, Fiera practically tripped over two gems right near the entrance. What good luck! One was a brilliant orange, with a bit of milky white on one end. The other was almost greyish, but with a surge of blue inside. Both were pretty well formed, too. Fiera suspected that they weren't actually raw gems from the caverns. They were quite smooth and free of any debris, along with being very shiny and clean. Instead, she was under the impression that they fell off of the cart of someone else on their way out. Still, she wasn't about to say anything. Chances are that person was long gone anyway, and they'd hardly notice the absence of just two gems. She tossed them up in the air a couple times, much to Algol's delight, before shoving them back in her pocket, shushing him conspiratorily. Nobody had to know but them.
Fiera 1 Algol 12.1/12.1 [Post 41]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 5, 2019 20:07:44 GMT -6
The trip back to the mines had been pretty uneventful, a pleasant walk under the summer sun. Now, she was making her way back to the tunnel she was working in before. She wondered if anyone had picked up on her presence there yet. That tunnel had been carefully hidden at first, but it had been uncovered for a couple days now- surely someone would have noticed. If not some random miner, than the 'owner' of the tunnel itself. As a result, her trek back to that tunnel was as nonchalant as possible, with a bit of whistling thrown in for an extra casual tone. She didn't need anyone questioning her on what she was doing down here, after all. Indeed, if anyone asked, she was just out for a stroll, looking for a new corner of the mines to carve out (quite literally) for herself. Who was going to rat her out anyway, Algol?
Fiera 2 Algol 12.2/12.2 [Post 42]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 5, 2019 20:11:13 GMT -6
Soon, she was picking herself through the same piles of rubble she had torn out from the entrance of the tunnel. She was getting close now, with only one last corner to round. She turned... and saw light projected on the far wall. That wasn't good. She crept a little closer, and heard an irritated grumbling coming from the tunnel. That DEFINITELY wasn't good. She tried to walk past the tunnel casually, as if she had nothing to do with it and was simply going to pass her fellow miner by. As she walked by however, Algol bouncing behind her, she cast a glance over her shoulder into the tunnel. The harsh artificial lights were on again, and she saw the battery pack sitting on the floor. Instead of being dead and silent however, it now had a bright green light on it, and was happily powering the lights once more.
Fiera 3 Algol 12.3/12.3 [Post 43]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 5, 2019 20:14:17 GMT -6
That definitely wasn't good. It meant that whoever had originally dug out this tunnel had come back, and replaced the battery pack. She couldn't imagine some random stranger doing it after all- that battery pack was pretty unique. That grumbling in there, then, was likely that very same person wondering who the heck uncovered their cave and started mining in it while they were gone. She couldn't see the person, however. The tunnel curved off about seven feet in, so she couldn't even get a silhouette cast against the wall. Still, she wasn't eager to stick around and find out, and picked up the pace, heading for elsewhere in the mines. Hopefully whoever it was wasn't too angry about it, and she could mine in peace. Who knows- maybe they'd leave the entrance open and she could sneak in again some other time, without having to use her flashlight. Wouldn't that be a laugh.
Fiera 4 Algol 12.4/12.4 [Post 44]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 5, 2019 20:17:47 GMT -6
Instead, Fiera decided to head for her own hidden tunnel. A while back, she had dug it out herself, and had broken into a larger cavern. Unfortunately, she hadn't had a flashlight at the time, so she was stuck with whatever light came in from the outside. Needless to say, she wasn't able to get much mining done in the dark, and was forced to retreat and find something else to do. That wasn't the case this time though- she was fully stocked and ready to go. She remembered the path perfectly, and soon she found herself stood in front of the entrance to her own secret tunnel. She smiled smugly. Unlike that other dude, her secret was still fully hidden! The pile of rubble she had placed to disguise her finding was still completely untouched, with each rock exactly how she left it. To the untrained eye, it looked like an unassuming cave in.
Fiera 5 Algol 13.0/13.0 [Post 45]
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Post by Renathan on Aug 5, 2019 20:38:25 GMT -6
A green mineral with black streaks; like snakeskin, right? Very pretty!
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 6:25:32 GMT -6
Her own tunnel was always rich with gems thankfully, so she knew it wouldn't be a loss to mine in her own area instead of the other tunnel. To that effect, even as she stopped in front of her hidden entrance, she spotted something shiny sitting amongst the rubble. She picked it out, and immediately scrambled to keep the whole pile from falling over. It didn't work in the slightest though, and soon her entrance was partially uncovered. Well. At least that's what she was going to do eventually anyway. She kicked a few rocks aside while examining her finding. It was partially covered in stone, but from what she could see, it was dull green interlaced with black. Some part of her brain noted its similarity to snakeskin- serpentine perhaps? Maybe that was too easy an identification, but it certainly seemed to fit. She happily put it in her minecart with her other findings.
Fiera 6 Algol 13.1/13.1 [Post 46]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 7:06:27 GMT -6
From there, she went to reveal the rest of the entrance to her secret hideout. Judging from the state of the rock pile in front of it when she walked up, it was likely untouched since she last left, and thus ripe for mining. She dug away at the rocks, carefully at first, but then with gusto, flinging rocks every which way. She was excited to finally see the room she had worked so hard to uncover- she had dug nearly ten feet access it. (And she needed to make that tunnel bigger, she thought. She was forced to crouch down awkwardly right now, and the entrance was only a couple feet wide, so she had to craw into it. Not the most dignified.) Algol 'helped' in his own way, pouncing on rocks that she had thrown backwards and jumping around Fiera's ankles. Finally, the entrance was open wide before her.
Fiera 7 Algol 13.2/13.2 [Post 47]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 7:27:27 GMT -6
She’d like to say that she strode into the tunnel with incredible confidence. Unfortunately, due to the constraints of the entrance Fiera had made, she had to awkwardly shimmy in, trying to push Algol out at the same time so they didn’t both get stuck in the entrance together. That was followed by her half rolling, half falling out of the entrance due to her misjudging how far down the floor was. “Well...” She groaned, pushing herself up. “At least no one saw that.” Then, Algol decided to jump down into her back, digging his claws in and pushing her back down. “...No one except for you.” She followed up from the floor. A bit of wrestling later, she was able to get Algol off of her, rolling him away. Then she stood up, brushing off the piles of dust that had managed to stick themselves to her clothing.
Fiera 8 Algol 13.3/13.3 [Post 48]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 7:32:43 GMT -6
She surveyed her surroundings and... couldn’t see anything. That was to be expected, that was the state the room had been in last time. It was brand new, so no lanterns had been set up. The only source of light was the faint glow of light from the entrance, which was dim in and of itself due to coming from all the way down the hall. Thankfully, Fiera had a solution to that now. She called Algol over to keep him from wandering, first of all. His bravery was commendable, but who knew what lurked in the dark. Then, she dug through her bag of equipment, looking for a new addition. The same organization that gave her her mine cart was giving out additional equipment with evidence of further mining. As a result, on her way back to the mines after dropping off her opal drake, she had managed to snag another item.
Fiera 8 Algol 13.4/13.4 [Post 49]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 7:39:03 GMT -6
She took it out now- the crystal torch. It was a long, staff-like object, with a lump of pale crystal at the top. Apparently it functioned by some magical means- or perhaps technology she just didn’t understand. Regardless, she had played around with it on the way here, and had a pretty good idea of its function now. She strode to the center of the room, and jammed it into a crack she spotted in the floor. It was a little crooked, but overall standing upright. Good enough. Then, she stroked the side, and a soft, luminous white light began to pour from the crystal on the top. As she stroked further up the side, the light grew brighter and brighter, creeping outward through the room. Algol chirped curiously, and Fiera couldn’t blame him. She held her hand over it- no heat. Fascinating. Finally, she backed up to survey the room.
Fiera 10 Algol 14.0/14.0 [Posf 50]
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Post by Jack on Aug 6, 2019 10:59:29 GMT -6
A tiny Gemmorn guards a single stone.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2019 20:34:54 GMT -6
Almost instantly, she noticed the elephant in the room. Or the critter, as it was. A little black creature, far smaller than anything else she had found here, was sitting across from her in the middle of the room, practically wrapped around a blue stone. It hissed at her and Algol lunged at it, snapping his jaws. "No!" Fiera said sharply, and he skidded to a halt, looking at her with irritation. Before he could renege on his actions, she ran forward, scooping the little creature up before walking to her mine cart with it. She popped it open, and placed the creature inside, breathing a sigh of relief. It hissed at her some more... but didn't seem like it particularly wanted to move, now that it was settled among far more gems than it started with. She placed its own gem in there with it, and it happily curled around it.
Fiera 11 Algol 14.1/14.1 [Post 51]
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