Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Jul 26, 2019 4:18:23 GMT -6
Cleaning it up a little with the brush and chipping away some of the flowstone excess, she stood and returned to the buggy, putting it into the barrel for storage. A lump like that would need a fair bit of work before it was usable in any jewel-related capacity, but the more you had to work with, the better your wiggle room for error and correction. That sorted, she returned to her multi-layered hole.
While the initial first find was excitable it was still some time after that the second stone showed up on their scopes. Ras continued to pock-mark the shelf side he was one, but this time around it was the mammalian who noticed something darker showing through the semi-translucent layer of stalagmite flowstone. Initially, she assumed it to be a darker spot of rock, nearly dismissing it, but a second thought made her realize it was more red than the yellow-brown of the flowstone should be. Chipping her way closer to the area, the final chisel tap loosed a few flakes off of it to reveal a bright red stone, shining back with fiery orange tints.
Oh, Darky thoughts, blinking. She knew this stone probably better than any of the others.
(15) Darky: 15 Ras Dashen: 80 (0/5) / 80 (0/5)
|
|
|
Post by Renathan on Jul 26, 2019 5:00:59 GMT -6
Oh, two very nice finds are nearby within the stone; a full and bright amber, and a particularly vivid viridian! What luck!
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:43:26 GMT -6
A piece of superstition in her homelands, the carnelian was often dubbed the ‘warrior’s stone’, whether because it seemed to have bright yellow-red tint to it like the fire a warrior had in their heart or simply because it was red like blood was debatable. Whichever the case, the soldiers used to wear one or two talismans made out of carnelian and the tradition of such protective jewellery persisted in part to modern day as well. The belief that should a stone as such tarnish it would spell out the doom of the warrior bearing it made it an object of great reverence.
And some fear. It was because of this that the mammalian moved the stone to the cart far more gingerly than some others. One could almost think it was a fire crystal in place of a plain gemstone with the delicacy awarded, and the gargoyle even paused to watch her with tilted head as it was deposited, safely, into the barrel.
..Precious? he tentatively asked.
(16) Darky: 16 Ras Dashen: 80 (1/5) / 80 (1/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:43:54 GMT -6
It was an honest question, but there was the smallest bit of derision underlining it, making the mammalian pause to shoot the gargoyle a look, sending him back to work, before rolling her eyes. It was just superstition, and she hadn’t even made any carnelian amulets for herself so far, but.. When it came to things that could, quite literally, be life and death, as most warrior professions were, it paid to bait the spirits of the world onto your side as much as possible.
To preoccupy the gargoyle a little more, the sphinx walked up to one of the lumpy bumps of the stalagmite shelf and pointed for Ras to dig there. Searching normally sent the gargoyle into a bout of mostly looking and sensing, with what senses he had as a creature of the mountains as well, but digging only ever had one outcome.
Ras dove at the pointed spot and claws began to furiously rake into the lump until it was flat, then hollow and across the next couple of minutes it became ever and ever deeper as a full-on hole.
(17) Darky: 17 Ras Dashen: 80 (2/5) / 80 (2/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:44:25 GMT -6
There, that would have put the gargoyle under something to do for a while. It wasn’t that his comment had caused offense, far from it. Just.. Ras’ humour was difficult to read, in that for the most part he had none. In the rare instances where the gargoyle seemed to suddenly develop it were good indications he was growing a little bored but still had an abundance of energy left.
And unless directed, it could end up being spent on something far more difficult to fix later.
On her own part she returned to her series of chipped up ground on the shelf, picking up the shovel this time and taking a more broader look to Ras’ narrow focus. Darky walked up and down the shelf in very slow steps, shovel held loosely in one hand as she occasionally tapped it into the rock. Sometimes splinters of the rock flew up, other times the metal of the shovel blade scraped across it with little damage to either.
(18) Darky: 18 Ras Dashen: 80 (3/5) / 80 (3/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:45:41 GMT -6
Where it merely scrape it left pale skid marks across the surface, but places where it dug through were ringed in small rock pieces. It made for fairly easy mapping of what parts of the shelf were softer than others. For the hard parts she could come back with the pickaxe, if they still had the time for it, but for the soft, the shovel was able to make some shorter order of work than normal, a ‘prelude’ so to speak, to further study of those particular parts.
In truth she hadn’t expected anything to show up on such superficial stages of a more methodical approach, and for a longer while there wasn’t. She half anticipated Ras to come across something first, to be honest. Which is why when the shovel clattered into a softer spot of untouched stone and came loose with some flow-stone chunks, one piece almost pelted into her feet from the forceful hit and ended up clattered on the ground nearby, slowly spinning, the mammalian paused.
(19) Darky: 19 Ras Dashen: 80 (4/5) / 80 (4/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:46:07 GMT -6
All the stone was yellow or red or something in between, but this particular stone was especially yellow, to the point that when the flashlight’s beam hit it, it seemed to almost sparkle like gold. Gold was a rare commodity and no self-respecting miner would have left ore that valuable just sitting in a top layer of flowstone untouched for so long, so the mammalian knelt down and picked up the piece, dusting off the sides. Darker spots emerge from the yellow beneath and the feel of the rock under thumb was softer, almost like plastic. It was also light, far more than a stone should have been.
Ah, amber, Darky finally summarized and picked up the chisel to begin cleaning off the flowstone from around it. Despite how much they encountered it, the gargoyle wasn’t very fond of the amber stones. Most of these finds ended up with the sphinx’s side of the digging, which made her wonder just how many of them Ras had been overlooking over the years.
(20) Darky: 20 - (added) Ras Dashen: 81 (0/5) / 81 (0/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:46:37 GMT -6
Involuntarily it caused her to lean back and to the side, peeking behind a stalagmite to where the gargoyle continued to furiously demolish that particular spot of flowstone shelf as if it had personally offended him, but in a happy way. Ras was rarely considered ‘happy’, not of any fault of his living conditions, but more because a sense of nervous grumpiness was his modus operandi even before he ended up running into the mammalian down in the caverns all those years ago. Said modus operandi improved somewhat since then, but the general veneer of anything and everything potentially offending him was easier for him to keep than dealing with things that did, in fact, offend him.
So, for that time and moment he was doing what he was born to do, and that was good. Even if, the mammalian realized with sudden concern, he was specifically told to dig.. and told nothing about searching for stones.. An oversight on the mammalian’s part that they were far too into now to rectify.
(21) Darky: 21 Ras Dashen: 81 (1/5) / 81 (1/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:47:02 GMT -6
Well.. she might not be able to switch his mind’s tracks so easily by then, but she could still compensate in other ways. The sphinx finished cleaning up the amber and deposited it into the buggy, then picked up the chisel and brush and walked over to where the gargoyle was finding his way through the very earth itself. By then the hole had become deep enough that Ras was able to fit himself fully in it, though his pace had slowed which meant he likely hit a more tougher layer of rock by that point, lessening the pace at which debris rocks were thrown out of the hole.
Darky settled next to that particular pile, though more accurately it was a vaguely scattered area of loose rock, seeing as Ras liked to circle around in the hole to find a better angle or purchase whenever there was a tougher part. She collected the nearby pieces, brushing them together into a pile in front of her and sat down to start sorting through them.
(22) Darky: 22 Ras Dashen: 81 (2/5) / 81 (2/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:47:32 GMT -6
Between the buggy and the crystal torch providing ample ambient light, the mammalian was able to detach the flashlight from her helmet and place it upward into a crack nearby. It felt almost loathsome to do, considering it had been used as a headlight on the helmet for so long, but it helped her sort through the pieces that much faster (and with that much more accuracy as well).
Occasionally clattering of new dug up piece flung out from the hole, belting the surrounding area in sparse miniature meteors, but the mammalian was far enough to not be hit any. Instead, she began to pick up piece from her brushed up pile and hold them over the flashlight, letting it light up the inside. Flowstone was close to calcite in nature, it was opaque in parts, but with a milkiness which meant it was difficult to see through normally.
When the strong beam of the flashlight hit it just close enough, however, shadows and shapes began to show through the opaque parts inside the pieces.
(23) Darky: 23 Ras Dashen: 81 (3/5) / 81 (3/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:47:55 GMT -6
Most of it wasn’t anything all too important - darker, thicker layers of the flowstone itself, some flecks of debris or river run off that one got caught in things, smaller plain rock pieces or just refractory tricks of the light shining through. A few times the shadows seemed lumpier and larger, so the mammalian carefully chiselled the piece open to see what was inside, though mostly finding the same things she had suspected of seeing in the other stones.
At some point Ras seemed to finally break through what had held him at bay on that particular layer and a sudden THUD and scraping rock pulled the mammalian’s attentions towards the hole. The gargoyle had upended a large lumpy rock to the hole’s edge, then ducked back down to resume digging again. Darky craned a curious brow, then shuffled it closer to herself.
It was heavy.. a lot heavier than it should have been for the amount of rock it contained. She picked up the flashlight and pressed it into the side of the lump.
(24) Darky: 24 Ras Dashen: 81 (4/5) / 81 (4/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 22, 2019 5:48:23 GMT -6
The light beam showed a large dark shadow in the middle, something briefly refracting back, but most of it dark and dull. Oh, hello..
Putting the flashlight back down, the mammalian went to retrieve the mallet in addition to the chisel, positioned the stone on a more stable nook on the ground and began to gently tap into the sides, chipping off flowstone piece by piece. How Ras had managed to haul it up from the pit was a mystery, but when the chisel reached the first edge of the content the mammalian had to no longer wonder why the gargoyle had had so much trouble getting through it.
A bright dark green sheen was evident from the lump as the chips fell away close and closer to it, and it shone back with a brightness and had a coldness to the touch tht no gemstone did.
It was metal, a lump of green metal was stuck in this piece.
(25) Darky: 25 Ras Dashen: 82 (0/5) / 82 (0/5)
|
|
|
Post by Lethalia on Sept 22, 2019 6:23:44 GMT -6
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:39:16 GMT -6
She remembered this one - viridian - though to find it had been a rare enough sight before. All in all, ores in general had been a bit more of a rare occurrence in the past years, but then, where gemstones could come tumbling down from the higher layers of the mountain in streams and melt-water, ores tended to be stuck in sturdy veins in the mountain itself, not so easily dislodged. No wonder, then, that they would not be so easily found as simple pieces.
Darky cleaned up the piece as best she could, before taking it over to the buggy for depositing. Their haul so far had been a fair rich one, in no small part from Ras’ determined pouring through the rock layers of this cavern. Just went to show that even well-worn and well-dug areas could still produce a fair few surprises.
Tip-toeing over said pock-marked floor of the caverns, evidences of previous expeditions of other avid miners, the mammalian returned to their little hole through the earth.
(26) Darky: 26 Ras Dashen: 82 (1/5) / 82 (1/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:39:50 GMT -6
To Ras’ credit he wasn’t about to give up unless told to, and with the large metallic lump removed from his path, the digging deeper went smoother and with a bit more speed than previous. The hole was slowly growing deeper and deeper, eventually getting to the point where mostly just the gargoyle’s tail was still poking out from over the edge. The lumps of stone he unearthed during it turned out to be mostly just the same flowstone with no great surprises within. A few seemed hopeful, right up until the mammalian cracked them open with the chisel to realize those flecks of shadows were just plain pebbles.
Still, compared to the amount of earth they had shifted separately, combining their collective forces made for a much quicker progress, in both sorting the rocks as well as making them to be sorted. The flowstone was a nice, soft material to comb through, especially since every year, with snowy melt-waters coming down from the mountain, it would coat certain areas and caverns all anew, with new potential treasures to find.
(27) Darky: 27 Ras Dashen: 82 (2/5) / 82 (2/5)
|
|