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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:37:14 GMT -6
The mines were... REALLY hot today. Fiera could feel the sweat dripping down the back of her neck already as she walked down the path toward the main chamber, dragging her mine cart behind her. Also in her hand was a leash for her arcane rakai sarane, Victor. It had been quite some time since she had taken him out to “play”, and figured he had been getting antsy in the meantime. Had she known it was going to be this hot, she wouldn’t have brought him, but to her surprise he didn’t seem to be that bothered, despite his heavy scales and thick fur. Perhaps it was the line of flame going down his back- with a magical internal flame, external heat must not have had much of an effect on him. Unless he was faking and was actually quite hot but didn’t want Fiera to notice, keeping it together for the sake of personal pride. Fiera 6 Victor 38.1/40.1 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:37:58 GMT -6
That did sound a lot like Victor, if Fiera was being honest. He was an incredibly proud creature, and while most of the time he was powerful and dignified enough to truly earn that pride, it did mean that when he looked foolish, he REALLY looked foolish. Still, he looked as beautiful as a rakai sarane could as they finally pulled the mine cart into the center of the entryway. A few other miners milled around, their familiars and minebeasts sitting next to them obediently. Few of them even glanced Fiera’s way, engaged in their own conversations, stone counting, or mining. She didn’t really see the point of trying to mine in this room though- the whole point of it was that it was huge and stripmined, creating a central chamber. The actual mines were down the various tunnels that branched off of it in every direction, some staked out by individuals.
Fiera 7 Victor 38.2/40.2 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:38:14 GMT -6
Though… Fiera HAD found some goodies in this main chamber in the past, so she supposed they couldn’t be TOO foolish. There must have been a reason it was strip mined to start with, right? She didn’t want to dwell on it, though. She had gems to mine! She gave the people she passed by a few curt, respectful nods as she passed and just picked a random tunnel. Any of them should be as good as any of the others right? It started out nice and wide, and Fiera was able to stand up at her full height and comfortably pull the cart alongside her, with Victor standing at her other side. He sniffed the air curiously- it was likely staler the further they went down, but every so often you’d get a gust from somewhere else as the air pressure and wind currents changed between different sizes of tunnel.
Fiera 8 Victor 38.3/40.3 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:38:35 GMT -6
There probably wasn’t much interesting for him to smell all the way up here though. Just other miners and the no doubt unpleasant scents of them. As they got down further, he’d likely be able to smell the caves’ unique inhabitants, fresh flowing underground streams, and strange fungi. Fiera had only gotten down that deep a couple times (she usually got distracted by the stones she found), but it was always a beautiful sight when she could manage it. Maybe she’d be able to get down that far with Victor today! She usually didn’t bother trying when she had a fresh, untrained pet with her as there was a pretty big chance of them getting away from her and getting lost as a result. She had owned (and trained) Victor for a while though, and she liked to think he knew better than to wander off in a strange place.
Fiera 9 Victor 38.4/40.4 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:38:59 GMT -6
If she was sure that she could keep her pet next to her, then she might as well try and get down to the depths of the mines. After all, the further down she went, the less likely that anyone had already picked it clean and the more likely she could find something interesting. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought of it- gemstones, magic crystals, and fossils! She could do with any one of them right now, and even if she couldn’t make use of it, she was sure she could find someone who could and sell it to them. With that in mind she picked up the pace a little, hurrying Victor along behind her. This tunnel was long and winding, but pretty wide and artificial. It’d take a bit for them to find a fresh area in here- perhaps there was a branch of some sort nearby?
Fiera 10 Victor 39.0/41.0 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:39:19 GMT -6
Fiera kept her eyes peeled and her ears perked. Victor did too, though it was mainly from following her lead- there was no way he had any clue what he was supposed to be looking for. Fiera did though, and when she saw a depression in the wall up ahead, she rushed toward it, extra spring in her step. Sure enough, the miner that had carved out this tunnel had found a natural split in the tunnel wall leading into another part of the mines, but it was so narrow that it looked like they had never bothered trying to get into it. Fiera tried measuring up her mine cart against it and sure enough, there was no way it would ever fit. She even tried ramming it into the crevice a few times, but it wasn’t even close to the necessary skinniness needed. In fact, Fiera wasn’t even sure if Victor would fit, with his huge rack of antlers.
Fiera 11 Victor 39.1/41.1 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:39:48 GMT -6
Still, that wasn’t about to discourage her. She just needed to figure out how much to widen it by! … Unless it didn’t open up much past the entrance. Just ot make sure, Fiera stuck her arm in the gap, just a little bit wider than her own torso turned sideways. She felt along the walls and sure enough, about two feet in they opened up into a larger tunnel again. Perfect. She dropped the lead for the mine cart on the ground and quickly crouched down to tie Victor to the cart. She didn’t THINK he would wander off, but that was no reason to just assume he’d stay put. The more safety measures she made, the safer everything would be. “Okay, now stay there Victor!” She said cheerily. Victor just sighed briefly in response before flopping unceremoniously to the ground. Apparently he didn’t need to be told twice.
Fiera 12 Victor 39.2/41.2 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:40:03 GMT -6
Good! Fiera didn’t need him getting underfoot. With her cart and her rakai sarane sorted, she dropped her backpack too and went through her tools. The majority she pushed to the side. She hardly needed a shovel right now, or a brush. Instead she picked up her pickaxe, which had earned its keep a thousand times over by now. She hefted it over her shoulder easily and turned on her heel back toward the entrance of the slot tunnel again, ready to widen it. She lifted it over her head and brought it down, a clean and perfect first stroke. It came down and… bounced right off the rock again toward her awkwardly, the shock of the impact radiating down Fiera’s arms and up her shoulders, making her teeth rattle in her skull. “Oh, what the hell?” She hissed to herself, her long black tail puffing up from the unpleasant sensation.
Fiera 13 Victor 39.3/41.3 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:40:20 GMT -6
She checked her pickaxe first. It didn’t seem to be damaged, either from before the impact which would have been why it didn’t WORK, nor did it seemed cracked or bent from after the impact, which was a relief to her. Then she looked at the stone wall she had just tried taking a chunk out of. It was hardly even dented! Now that she was looking at it a little closer though, she realized it was covered in dozens of tiny scratches. What she had assumed was the natural texture of the rock was actually the efforts of whoever came here last. It looked like they hadn’t been lazy after all. Instead, it looked like they had actually worked at getting into this tunnel for quite some time and had only given up after what might have been hours of work, or perhaps hundreds of credits in beaten and broken tools.
Fiera 14 Victor 39.4/41.4 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2021 18:40:41 GMT -6
Fiera hummed thoughtfully, and turned her own pickaxe over in her hands. This rock was hard. REALLY hard. Enough to make another skilled miner just give up the ghost. But was she going to give up that easily? Perhaps it hadn’t been THAT difficult, and they just hadn’t had a lot of time to work on it. She glanced further down the tunnel. Would it be worth her while to give up now and just find a new tunnel as opposed to falling prey to the sunk cost fallacy? Or was it no pain no gain, and she shouldn’t just give up as soon as it got tough? Well… the humanish was a stubborn old bitch, so as it was she chose the latter. She flipped the pickaxe around in her hands again and got to work, slamming it against the wall once more, ignoring the almost painful shudder from it.
Fiera 15 Victor 40.0/42.0 10
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Post by Nadia on May 14, 2021 3:37:18 GMT -6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 14, 2021 18:33:35 GMT -6
Victor growled a bit at first, upset by the loud sound and sudden vibrations, but when it became clear that Fiera wasn’t about to stop, he simply huffed again and retreated to the far side of the mine cart to try and get a little bit more quiet. And Fiera was hardly going to stop any time soon, now that she was determined to get this to work. In fact, she was working much harder than she usually did, swinging the axe harder and faster than her usual pace allowed. This wall took nearly three times the effort to chip through after all, and even her best efforts only sent tiny flakes of rock spiraling to the ground. Still, the humanish grit her teeth and persevered, wailing on the wall with everything she had. And it… didn’t seem to be doing much, now that she looked at it for a second time.
Fiera 16 Victor 40.1/42.1 11
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 14, 2021 18:33:59 GMT -6
Sure, she had put a few divots in the rock, but she was hardly widening the entrance. In many ways though, that just made her even more mad. She hissed quietly to herself and went through her bag, looking for anything that could help. The brush definitely wouldn’t help, but… hm. Fiera pulled out a separately sealed bag full of nails (To keep herself from accidentally stabbing herself if she left them in there loose). Normally she didn’t need these at all. In fact, the only reason she brought them along was as a half-assed repair kit if her wooden mine cart ever broke and she needed to hastily slap it back together until she could get above ground again. That had never happened though, as her cart was quite sturdily built. In fact, she had almost forgotten she had this baggie of nails lying around in her backpack at all!
Fiera 17 Victor 40.2/42.2 12
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 15, 2021 3:52:49 GMT -6
But… it might come in handy. Didn’t stonecutters use big nails and a hammer to crack stone open? They’d hammer rows of metal stakes in and just keep pressing each of them in until the stress was enough to crack the stone open altogether. She might be able to do that! It was worth trying, at least. It wasn’t like her pickaxe was doing much. She gently set the other tool down and got her mallet out instead. It was a pretty trusty object. In fact, it was the first piece of mining equipment she had ever bought, though it proved to be pretty ineffectual on its own. Still, it was worth trying out in this context. She lined up the shiny nail, pointing it in the direction she needed it to go and holding it steady with her hand. There was a chance of hammering her own thumb here.
Fiera 18 Victor 40.3/42.3 13
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 15, 2021 4:06:58 GMT -6
Hopefully she didn’t have to worry about that too much though- she was wearing pretty thickly padded gloves. Even though they were graded for handing sharp rocks and rough surfaces, she was pretty sure they’d help protect her from snapping her nails off with a hammer too. With the nail held steady, she started tapping on it. Lightly at first, and then with harder blows once the tip of the nail went in. It was pretty difficult to do, but it was certainly easier than trying to use her pickaxe. With a nail, all of the force she was applying with the hammer was being transferred into that single sharp tip instead of being spread out over a larger area, making it easier to drive in than the comparatively bulky pickaxe. Soon, she was able to get the nail in nearly halfway deep, leaving part of it, including its head, sticking out.
Fiera 19 Victor 40.4/42.4 14
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