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Post by Emery on Mar 29, 2024 13:43:09 GMT -6
It had taken some time, but Emery was finally feeling up to the task of taking on another quest. She had been doing a lot of difficult ones as of late. No simple gardening tasks, no helping bake cookies. As of late, her adventures had been rather, well... adventurous. She had Moxie to thank for it. He was by far her best trained pet by now, and his size and strength more than made up for her own... lack thereof. They made an excellent duo together, his strength for her intelligence. While each of her trips had been strenuous, they more than made up for it with the prizes they brought. The harder the quest, the more the quest points she got. Instead of doing a lot of short quests quickly that wore her out, Emery got a lot more time to rest and recuperate between each one with the beefier quests. Emery 1 Moxie 56.1/56.1 1 (Emery has not completed this quest before.)
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Post by Emery on Apr 1, 2024 14:18:41 GMT -6
Many of the items on the quest board had already been claimed, the corners torn to remove contact information. Emery wasn't surprised- the easiest quests were always the ones to go first. One was left up, however. It was neatly printed too, perfectly legible. Upon reading it, Emery quickly realized why it was still here- this was one heck of a quest. Going down into the mines was easy enough, but this quest giver wanted her to take an item back from a sarane. A black sarane presumably, if it was one that lived underground- with the huge clubbed tails that such beasts were known for. They were enormous, fearsome creatures and most would want to stay far, far away from them. But there was little left on the board for her to do, and she did have a battle ready pet. Emery sighed. It looked like she was doing this.
Emery 2 Moxie 56.2/56.2 2
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Post by Emery on Apr 1, 2024 14:35:15 GMT -6
Emery took the paper down off of the pinboard and walked off to the side, checking the details. Good rewards were attached to it- plenty of quest points. Some sort of reward in addition to whatever she could find in the mines... it was worth her time. The only issue was if she could pull it off or not. Well. She could always try... and then put the request back up on the board if it turned out to be more than she could handle. Surely they wouldn't mind waiting a few more days to get their equipment back if that was the case. In addition, there was another piece of paper stapled to the first one- she skimmed it briefly. It was a guide to where the sarane was. Not a map- those tended to get confusing when you were moving in three dimensions, but good enough directions to get her down there.
Emery 3 Moxie 56.3/56.3 3
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Post by Emery on Apr 1, 2024 14:40:59 GMT -6
From there, Emery collected her equipment. Her mining gear was all brand new, in excellent condition. Of course, she didn't do much mining herself- she normally left that to her pets and only did the bare basics herself. She wasn't very strong, so everything she did couldn't involve much physical labor. That was where Argos came in, her golem with his strong digging claws, or Moxie with his ability to haul heavy loads. She was more of a... supervisor. She would have to be the same this time as well. She definitely couldn't handle a black sarane herself- but luckily she didn't have to. Moxie was all hyped up and ready to go, waiting eagerly as Emery carefully packed up her things. That was the one thing he had in spades, if not intelligence- enthusiasm. She never had to worry about him getting bored or tired- he was always ready for another round.
Emery 4 Moxie 56.4/56.4 4
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Post by Emery on Apr 1, 2024 14:43:24 GMT -6
With the packing done, there was nothing else to do except leave. Emery made her way to the mines with trepidation, dreading the task to come ahead. She had an inkling of a plan and had gone through a couple of moves with Moxie before leaving the house to make sure, but she had no way of knowing if it would work. There was a very real chance that the sarane would just swallow her whole... and then promptly die from all of the batteries strapped onto her leaking into its stomach. Not a great way to go for either individual involved. Soon they had made their way to the mouth of the mines however, and Emery stared down into the gloom. "Are you ready, Moxie?" She said, feeling her own hesitation. Moxie responded only with walking forward into the dark, already used to the mines from a previous trip.
Emery 5 Moxie 57.0/57.0 5
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Post by Emery on Apr 1, 2024 14:56:14 GMT -6
Emery supposed that was her cue- she had no reason to dilly dally behind him. She had to be just as brave as her pet- or at least, smarter than him. After all, even if he didn't know it, Moxie was relying on her to keep him safe and on the right path. Emery and Moxie walked down into the tunnels, and miners on either side gave her polite nods. She wasn't here with a mine cart, which wasn't necessarily an odd sight, but they had no way of knowing that she wasn't here for the usual task. They probably felt like it was a pleasant day, but Emery felt like she was being walked to her execution. Perhaps she was making too much of this though- perhaps it wouldn't be that hard. Perhaps the sarane wasn't even as big as she was imagining, or she would find the nest unattended.
Emery 6 Moxie 57.1/57.1 6
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 9:42:22 GMT -6
Perhaps. Or perhaps it was going to be just as difficult as she was imagining. And yet, in for a penny, in for a pound- Emery refused to back down now. She had already come too far for her to turn around without at least trying to succeed. She could feel her legs getting tired- was she going to have all that spent energy be wasted? She pulled out the directions and began to follow them, turning left into a particular tunnel. She was going to have to trek through rather untouched locations in the mines for this. In some ways that was a good thing. It meant that they were less likely to have been picked clean. That meant she was more likely to find something valuable on her way to the nest- a few extra gems and trinkets for her trouble in addition to whatever the prize for retrieving the object from the sarane was.
Emery 7 Moxie 57.2/57.2 7
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 11:46:41 GMT -6
But there were downsides too. For one, in areas where people rarely went you were more likely to find some of the natural cave-dwelling fauna of the mines. In some cases they were harmless, but in the case of things like giant tunnel worms or, yes, sarane, they could be quite dangerous. Emery and Moxie had had some run ins with more threatening fauna before. The other issue was hazardous terrain. The untouched areas were entirely wild and constructed according to the whims of whatever water source that carved them out to start with, with no regard for human ergonomics. Miners entering an area would normally flatten it out a bit, but that wouldn't be the case here. Emery wasn't very athletic or acrobatic, so anything higher than a steep slope was difficult for her. Having to crawl or jump, or even lift her knees very high would prove to be near impossible for her.
Emery 8 Moxie 57.3/57.3 8
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 11:55:05 GMT -6
Moxie would be completely okay with any oddities in the terrain though, so as long as he was willing to wait for her, she was fine with figuring it out. The tunnels twisted and turned, but luckily the instructions Emery brought with her were well written. At no point did she feel like she was getting lost, though some of the gaps and tunnels were quite cramped and odd at times. The further she went though, the more she started noticing things. Sometimes there would be a string of lights up on the wall, but without a generator to power them. A spare scrap of paper left somewhere else. It definitely looked like a person had been down here, though Emery didn't see any sign of mining equipment. The walls were clean and untouched by any sort of tool she recognized, with the only human elements being superficial and easily removed ones.
Emery 9 Moxie 57.4/57.4 9
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 11:58:05 GMT -6
It looked like whoever had been down here had left in quite a hurry, too. The equipment she saw was scattered, with some things left behind knocked over or not packed up. A clanking noise sounded by Emery's right boot, and she looked down before bending over and picking up a thermos. It had been left open and was full of... incredibly rotten coffee, now spilled across the floor in a fuzzed over mess. Eugh. As she traced the spill with her headlamp however, she saw a small sheaf of papers half behind a rock, still clipped to a clipboard. She picked it up, paging through them while Moxie looked over her shoulder curiously. The handwriting on it was the same as on the quest board request. It was a data log for a seismological association. Ah, that explained it. Emery pieced it together from all the fallen equipment she had seen.
Emery 10 Moxie 58.0/58.0 10
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 12:02:28 GMT -6
Apparently someone had been doing a seismological survey down here, likely funded by the City itself. It was for the common good after all, keeping track of the mines and making sure they were stable- and tracking any potential earthquake risks. That was likely why they set up camp in an area with few miners then- they didn't want their readings to be affected by the vibrations from miners working. The people who had hired her were researchers then, and it looked like they had had to leave this area in a hurry. She wouldn't be surprised if that was because of the sarane. They were very territorial beasts, and if one set up shop here then it would clear out any intruders in its new territory in an instant. Male sarane weren't opposed to collecting shiny objects either, so while things like papers and thermoses could be left behind with little risk, something more expensive would be more sorely missed.
Emery 11 Moxie 58.1/58.1 11
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 12:20:49 GMT -6
That gave her the clue she needed, then. Chances are she would be looking for a piece of expensive seismological equipment, perhaps something shiny as well. Luckily, she knew how to handle such equipment and would be able to grab it quickly and go. And then the other point of contention... well, that would be the sarane, wouldn't it. She wasn't going to assume she'd get lucky and it wouldn't be there. It would also probably be quite dark, so it would instantly notice her due to her head lamp and flashlight. But perhaps she could use that to her advantage. She had more than one source of light, after all. Now all she needed to do was find the beast. She looked down at the instructions again- she was getting close to the end of them, which meant that she had to be getting close. There was no sign of the beast yet, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Emery 12 Moxie 58.2/58.2 12
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 12:25:48 GMT -6
She and Moxie squeezed through one last tunnel, the angles so cramped and awkward that she was concerned that Moxie wouldn't be able to fit through it. Luckily for them though, his leaves were nice and slippery and at last they were able to pull through. The tunnel opened up into a much wider cavern, the ceiling at least thirty feet high. The area was scattered with boulders that had fallen from the ceiling, and Emery recognized some more expensive equipment smashed beneath them. What a waste. Part of her wondered if perhaps they had been squished by one of the earthquakes they were measuring, but in her heart she knew that wasn't the case. There was only one kind of sarane that lived in caves like this, and that was black sarane. Possessing a massive, club-like tail, she wouldn't be surprised if its thrashing against the researchers was what caused this cave in.
Emery 13 Moxie 58.3/58.3 13
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 12:29:13 GMT -6
In that case, it was Emery's job to salvage whatever was left. She picked up a few smaller instruments here and there, but was ultimately keeping her eye out for the main prize- the sarane's nest. Finally she heard it- the distinct sound of a creature breathing. A very large creature breathing. Emery turned to bid Moxie to keep quiet, but there was no need. He was already hunkered down into a hunter's crouch, completely silent as he slipped through the gloom behind her. He had caught wise as to what was going on by now. She glanced around a boulder, tracing her headlamp carefully up the floor. Sure enough, it led to a pile of smaller pebbles, with a medium sized black box propped up on top of it... with an equally large black foot next to it, with a sarane's head carefully tucked up beside it. Emery quickly tucked her head back down.
Emery 14 Moxie 58.4/58.4 14
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 12:32:51 GMT -6
She had to be careful not to swing her light directly over the creature's face, or else she would undoubtedly instantly wake it up- and let it know where she was. She had to be careful about this. "Okay... let's try this." She said, setting her flashlight down. The idea was to turn it on, let the sarane wake up on its own, and then sneak around behind the nest and grab the equipment when it moved to investigate the flashlight. Then she would grab Moxie and make her way back to the surface on her head lamp alone. Easy. Ideally. She turned the flashlight on and set it on the ground, letting the light pour up the nest. Then she instantly started moving, not wanting to be anywhere near the beam when the sarane woke up. Sure enough as she moved she could hear it shifting, grumping in its sleep as the light disturbed it.
Emery 15 Moxie 59.0/59.0 15
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