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Post by Nerius on Mar 3, 2023 19:35:26 GMT -6
[206] [Trip Four]
His last mining trip had gone in an unexpected direction. Nerius didn't often run into the denizens of the mines, and encountering a runic gargoyle of all things had been a shock. It had been remarkably friendly too, trading gems and even mining in collaboration. Ice hadn't been thrilled, but she'd had her own spot to excavate, and had grumpily tolerated it. They'd dug up a good deal of ore together, but the thing about ore was that it took up a lot of space, and it was heavy. Nerius had decided not to go further in with a backpack full of ore, and while it hadn't been a short trip, there hadn't been much in the way of exploration. Exploration was very much the goal this trip, though it might be more accurate to say he was looking for something specific. It wasn't the best lead Nerius had ever gotten, but according to some semi-reliable-ish sources, someone of an unspecified magical affinity had left a long abandoned hideout in the area.
(Nerius: 6/20) (Ice: Lv 60, 301/305 | Lyl 60, 301/305)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 3, 2023 20:24:20 GMT -6
[207]
The downside to such sketchy sources was they weren't always very specific. That was the case here, he had a general description of the area, and a crudely scribbled diagram of a major entrance shaft, with the correct (supposedly) branch marked. Nerius had managed to find the main entrance without too much difficulty, at least, though it had been very out of the way. Inconvenient, but what he expected from and old, unlocated, hideout.
There weren't any other people around, but the mine entrance didn't look totally abandoned. It had seen better days though, the lanterns were rusted, an overturned mine cart had been left abandoned, and rubble had started to pile up. Ice had given the piles a brief sniff, but the old piles of stone didn't hold her attention. Hardly a surprise, they looked to be from an old mining operation, so anything valuable would have been collected by the previous diggers.
(Nerius: 7/20) (Ice: Lv 60, 302/305 | Lyl 60, 302/305)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 3, 2023 20:39:11 GMT -6
[208]
The main entry was reasonably large, a thundergug could have fit through, and Nerius had to wonder why such a large area entry had been left to rot. Had there been a large ore vein that had run out? Or some sort of hazard that discouraged deeper mining? It would have been nice to know about the latter, but the information he had was very vague.
Nerius counted the branches on the diagram before stepping into the shaft, fifth down, on the left. Once inside, he could see that the branches were labeled with old, faded signs, almost illegible. But the diagram didn't list any of that, so he simply counted until he reached the correct branch. The marked branch looked completely unremarkable, but he supposed that was what you wanted with a secret hideout. He had to call Ice over, she'd been investigating the different shafts, and hadn't found anything particular exciting about that one.
(Nerius: 8/20) (Ice: Lv 60, 303/305 | Lyl 60, 303/305)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 3, 2023 20:47:14 GMT -6
[209]
She still wasn't any more interested in it, but hadn't found anything in the other branches, and came over without complaint. The gem dragon hadn't managed to investigate all of them, the main tunnel continued much farther than the diagram, which also wasn't to scale, suggested. But there was no point to marking all the unnecessary ones, they weren't his goal, or a way of locating it.
If he'd just been here for gems, Nerius would have let Ice search around more, and maybe pick a tunnel she liked, but he had a goal in mind, and entered the marked branch. It looked just as expected on the inside, the ceiling lower and width narrower than the main shaft, walls obviously carved by tools, and supported by aging timber. The wood still looked sturdy enough, just old, though cave ins were always a risk in the mines, carved shafts or not.
(Nerius: 9/20) (Ice: Lv 60, 304/305 | Lyl 60, 304/305
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Post by Nerius on Mar 3, 2023 21:06:26 GMT -6
[210]
Still, he'd be extra aware for hazards down here, Nerius was always cautious in the mines, and he still didn't know why the area had been abandoned. But so far, the tunnel wasn't especially hazardous, or remarkable at all, it simply looked like an old, unused tunnel. There was the occasional piece of fallen rock on the floor, and while there were mountings for lights, they didn't work. That would have been convenient, but he had a flashlight, at least, and was used to the full dark of natural caverns.
Ice didn't see anything notable about the tunnel either, though she was doing her usual search for gems. She hadn't found anything yet, Nerius wasn't surprised. The tunnel was made by people, and the original miners would have removed anything of worth long ago. It wasn't impossible she'd find something, but it'd likely be a familiar stash, not a natural formation.
(Nerius: 10/20) (Ice: Lv 61, 305/310 | Lyl 61, 305/310)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 4, 2023 18:36:24 GMT -6
[211]
The shaft stretched on ahead, the flashlight he had wasn't bright enough to reach to the end, wherever that might be, and the tunnel faded into darkness ahead. Nerius kept a close eye out for anything notable, be it hazards, or anything out of the ordinary. But so far, nothing. Just rough, picked clean walls, and old, but sturdy supports. Ice seemed to feel similar, there was only the mild general excitement of being in the mines. No thrill of a find, or threat of danger.
But if the hideout had been easy to find, it would have been so already. And there certainly wasn't anything about this particular tunnel to encourage exploration. The mining familiar wasn't detecting any scents, and the entrance didn't look any more interesting then the others. Nerius couldn't sense any magic, either, though with this much stone, he probably wouldn't be able to until he was much closer anyway.
(Nerius: 11/20) (Ice: Lv 61, 306/310 | Lyl 61, 306/310)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 4, 2023 19:05:17 GMT -6
[212]
The trip continued uneventfully for a significant distance, until the light of his flashlight caught on something odd. The light fell oddly, and the stone was suddenly much more rough. As Nerius carefully got closer, he could see the mine shaft suddenly opened into a much larger, natural looking, cavern. Ice chirped a warning, and as he neared the ragged hole, realized it opened into the side of the larger cavern.
Nerius cautiously looked down; the floor of the cavern was a good twenty feet down. It wasn't a sheer drop, and wouldn't be like climbing a cliff face, and was scalable. He could always levitate down, but he didn't want to waste the magic on it if it was something he could do himself. Before he started though, Nerius inspected the surrounding rock for any obvious instability. The last thing he wanted was for a rock supporting his weight to suddenly give way. (Nerius: 12/20) (Ice: Lv 61, 307/310 | Lyl 61, 307/310)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 4, 2023 19:17:45 GMT -6
[213]
Nothing looked loose, or about to break, though he had to wonder how the opening was created in the first place. The miners that made the shaft wouldn't have wanted to dig right in to the side of a cavern, and the entrance was much rougher than the tunnel approach had been. Had it been a collapse? Or maybe the tools they were using to dig had done more damage than expected to the thin wall. Or maybe someone had blown the hole later. Surely the miners would have marked such a dangerous tunnel at the entrance of the branch.
The last one was promising, but whatever the case, Nerius needed to get down into the cavern. Carefully, he begun his descent; Ice was still watching, as she could fly, and wouldn't need to climb down. It wasn't easy, but the sloped rock was rough enough that there were plenty of places to step down.
(Nerius: 13/20) (Ice: Lv 61, 308/310 | Lyl 61, 308/310)
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Post by Jack on Mar 4, 2023 19:18:18 GMT -6
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Post by Nerius on Mar 4, 2023 19:27:38 GMT -6
[214]
Sooner or later on one of these trips he was going to encounter a sheer cliff wall, and then he'd really be screwed. He wasn't useless at climbing in general, but scaling vertical walls was a bit above his ability. This was manageable though, and Nerius slowly picked his way down. Ice kept pace, fluttering downward to a new ledge every few feet. She wasn't alarmed at his climbing, she'd gotten used to him doing much worse. At least he wasn't bleeding this time.
It was slow going, but Nerius managed to make it down the slope without issue. Going back up would likely be more of a challenge, but that was an issue for the future. For now, he surveyed the cavern. Well, he was about to, when something poked at his hand, which was resting on the wall. Nerius pulled his hand away, and looking to the wall where it had been, saw an irritable looking grub.
(Nerius: 14/20) (Ice: Lv 61, 309/310 | Lyl 61, 309/310)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 4, 2023 19:36:15 GMT -6
[215]
Nerius wasn't sure how a grub could look irritable, but it did, and it had prodded him with its.. mandibles? Pincers? Whatever they were, they'd grabbed him enough to be an unpleasant surprise, but not enough to draw blood. Rude little thing.
Ice had noticed his sudden surprise and discomfort, and the grub, climbing over to hiss at the creature. She wouldn't eat it, it wasn't made of stone (though it did blend in to the rock quite well), but he did wonder if she'd attack it. Nerius wasn't exactly feeling charitable to it, but there was a market for little mines critters, even if he didn't understand why. So instead of letting the gem dragon attack, he grabbed the grub by it's squishy part, and dropped it into an empty compartment in his first aid kit. He still needed to replace the bandages.. and maybe get a decent carrier for all these little critters too.
(Nerius: 15/20) (Ice: Lv 62, 310/315 | Lyl 62, 310/315)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 5, 2023 20:15:53 GMT -6
[216]
Ill tempered grub taken care of, Nerius looked around the cavern. It was a mass of stalactites and stalagmites, dripping from the ceiling and walls, forming large pillars and creating an uneven floor. There were no large pools of water that he could see, but shallow pools were scattered around the cavern, and intermittent drips echoed throughout the chamber.
Nerius couldn't see the entire area with all the dripped minerals, but he could already see multiple openings were the cavern branched off into other tunnels. None of them stood out, at least from a distance, and neither the diagram or verbal information he'd been given implied which branch was correct. Ice had already started scouting out the area, but she wasn't looking for the same thing as he was. The mining familiar was looking for gems, not signs of a hideout. It would be up to him to search that out, though he wouldn't complain if she found something shiny in the mean time.
(Nerius: 16/20) (Ice: Lv 62, 311/315 | Lyl 62, 311/315)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 5, 2023 20:33:05 GMT -6
[217]
Nerius walked over to the closest opening, a tall but skinny crevice beside a large stalagmite pillar. Inspecting it, there wasn't any of obvious signs of passage or markings, but then, he wasn't a tracker. Still, if someone had etched a marking symbol into the rock for their own reference, he'd be able to notice that much. But the area looked untouched, at least to his untrained eye, and shining the flashlight down the tunnel didn't reveal anything of note either. While it might come to him having to explore deeper into the tunnels, he was examining the entrances first. He might have to go deeper, but he wanted to rule out anything obvious first.
Ice was still on her own hunt, sniffing around for anything shiny, while also doing her best to avoid the puddles. They weren't deep enough even for the gem dragon to drown in, but she hated the dampness just the same.
(Nerius: 17/20) (Ice: Lv 62, 312/315 | Lyl 62, 312/315)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 5, 2023 21:02:24 GMT -6
[218]
Nerius moved on to the next entrance, a low, wide hole with a few inches of water flooding the bottom. It sloped downward compared to the cavern, and water had pooled there, though it was no current. That entrance was also unmarked, and shining the flashlight inside revealed a tunnel filled with stalactites that quickly blocked visibility. It presumably continued, he just couldn't see anything.
Ice was having a bit better luck on her search, and had caught the scent of something. A quick dig through the (relatively) soft mineral deposits revealed a small vein of purple jade. The gem dragon set to excavating the chunk, before carrying the stone over to Nerius, avoiding any pools of water along the way.
"Oh, thank you," it may not have been what he was looking for, but he wasn't going to turn down a gem. He accepted the stone, stashing it away in his pack.
(Nerius: 18/20) (Ice: Lv 62, 313/315 | Lyl 62, 313/315)
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Post by Nerius on Mar 5, 2023 21:14:10 GMT -6
[219]
Gem accepted, Ice eyed the tunnel branch with disdain, it was just so.. watery. And Nerius had an unfortunate habit of going into water. But, as the tunnel didn't have any signs of being what he was looking for, Nerius had no plans on going down the soggy tunnel. Instead, he moved along to the next opening, picking his way over the uneven floor.
The next, an unpleasantly small but otherwise unremarkable opening, had no signs of passage, but the one after that had.. something. It was the fourth, clockwise from the tunnel he'd arrived in, and was squeezed between two massive stalagmites. More notably, it had a series of gashes in the stone roughly a foot from the floor. They weren't in any language or magical glyphs he'd ever seen, but it was some kind of mark, though it just as easily could have been made by a mining creature as by a person with tools. (Nerius: 19/20) (Ice: Lv 62, 314/315 | Lyl 62, 314/315)
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