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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:47:35 GMT -6
It was enough to get Fiera excited however, and she picked up the pace with Victor trotting behind. She could already hear his nose going in tandem, just as she herself picked up the sound of the water. The more they walked, the wetter the floor got. It wasn’t enough for them to be splashing through puddles, but there was definitely a different texture to the walls and floor and a sensation of coolness that wasn’t present in the last room. It certainly wasn’t unpleasant though, considering how blazing hot the upper floors had been. She could do with a bit of chilliness. Victor seemed to agree, as a note of happiness winked in their connection every time he got to rest his paw pads on the cool, damp floor. Turns out, all those rough rocks could do a number on your feet when you weren’t a critter that wore shoes.
Fiera 10 Victor 70.0/72.0 85
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:48:03 GMT -6
Finally, the tunnel opened up into… another, slightly larger tunnel. Perhaps not that exciting, but Fiera was relieved to finally be able to stand upright again. Sure enough as well, a small babbling brook ran through the center of the tunnel. The stone here had darkened from a mid-toned brown to near black, making the light from Fiera’s headlamp and torch bounce off the walls in odd ways. The tunnel itself was about six feet wide and tall and roughly circular, though whether it was carved by an animal’s digging claws and teeth or by natural means, Fiera couldn’t really tell. It certainly didn’t appear manmade however, based on the shallow tract that had been carved in the floor by the water. After all, it wouldn’t be able to do that unless this tunnel was at least several decades old. Needless to say, Fiera highly doubted that, considering the age of The Labs City.
Fiera 11 Victor 70.1/72.1 86
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:48:18 GMT -6
Not to mention, if someone had discovered this tunnel prior to Fiera arriving in it, wouldn’t there be a lot more evidence of someone having mined it out? The idea was a little silly… but oh, the water! Just as Fiera and Victor had suspected, there was a small stream through the middle. It was only a couple inches wide and deep, but it was enough to make the whole tunnel smell nice and refreshing and put some much needed moisture in the air. Victor stepped over it and sniffed it a little before drinking from it. “Victor don’t-” Fiera tried to stop him, but it was too late. “...Drink that.” She finished lamely, letting her hand drop. There was always a chance that the water could have some poisonous rock dissolved in it, or perhaps some animal had dropped dead further upstream and put rotting corpse bits into the water.
Fiera 12 Victor 70.2/72.2 87
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:48:36 GMT -6
It was a bit of a moot point now though, considering how eagerly Victor was slurping it down. Fiera would just have to learn to deal with it. Trying to discourage her rakai sarane, she started walking downstream before he finished drinking, hoping to break him off early. Unfortunately, Victor took as long as he pleased to finish and ran to catch up with her. “...Welcome back.” The humanish said dryly as he pulled up next to her, licking the spare drops of dew from his chops. Fiera supposed she could have headed upstream instead of downstream, but… up stream meant uphill, which was a much less fun direction to walk in, especially for her already tired legs. Not to mention that meant potentially meeting back up with a populated sector of the tunnels again, which Fiera also didn’t want. She wanted her mining spots to be cool and pristine.
Fiera 13 Victor 70.3/72.3 88
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:51:06 GMT -6
After all, the fewer the people that had been poking around down here, the more likely Fiera would be to find some decent gems. Not that she saw too many promising spots around here. There were admittedly a couple of mushrooms growing here and there, but none that Fiera thought she could sell to Alura. She was a very sweet old woman, but very picky about her flora. If anything Fiera gave her was even slightly bruised, she'd get a lot of the price taken off. Fiera couldn't imagine what would happen if she brought in the entirely wrong species... ok, she could. She just wouldn't buy them and Fiera would be left with some sucky garbage mushrooms. Whoopee. Other than the mushrooms though, Fiera couldn't spot any of the telltale signs of ores or crystals lying just under the surface. The walls were, for the most part, completely blank.
Fiera 14 Victor 70.4/72.4 89
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 21, 2021 18:53:30 GMT -6
Perhaps there had once been crystals or chunks of ore around here and they had just been washed downstream back when this trickle was stronger? That was always an option, Fiera supposed. There were signs along the walls of the stream having been much bigger, divots that implied the carving mechanism of the waves at some point. Apparently this stream was once a much grander river. That meant that if Fiera wanted to find anything good though, she would just have to keep walking. Well, she was certainly grateful for the opportunity to rest her arms, and Victor was glad to finally have some cool ground to walk on instead of rough rocks. So for both of them, this was a pleasant little diversion instead of a long, grinding trek. In fact, this whole trip had been... more or less pleasant. Sure, Fiera had thrown a temper tantrum, but it was just the one!
Fiera 15 Victor 71.0/73.0 90
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Post by Nadia on May 22, 2021 9:19:34 GMT -6
There's some more ore for you.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 23, 2021 11:41:19 GMT -6
Yes, this stream was a nice little diversion, and Fiera had certainly found enough gems and fossils to make this trip worthwhile. But, she did still have time to build up her larder even more, so to speak. She glanced up at the walls- no signs of gems or ores. She considered making an exploratory hole in a section of the wall. Sometimes underground streams like this could deposit silt and sediment on the walls, covering the carved out spaces with a layer of what looked like otherwise uninteresting rock. And yet… Fiera couldn’t will herself to do it. These walls were just so pretty and otherwise untouched. As a great lover of beauty herself, Fiera couldn’t muster the willpower to break it up just to see if there were any goodies behind it she could grab. And for all she knew, there wasn’t any, and she would have ruined the tunnel’s good looks for nothing.
Fiera 16 Victor 71.1/73.1 91
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 23, 2021 11:41:35 GMT -6
She didn’t have to think about it for too long though, as she nearly tripped over a chunk of rock that had fallen off of the wall. Victor gave a small woof to alert her, but she had already accidentally kicked it several feet down the line. “Oh, uh, woops.” Fiera said, looking up to see where it had come from. As it turned out, the rock behind the wall was… the exact same as the rock that made up the parts of the wall that Fiera could see. Well that was an easily solved mystery. She hummed curiously as she picked up the fallen off chunk. There really was nothing but rock here; no shine of ores or different texture of fossils. The rock itself was a nice hue- deep black with what she was pretty sure was just a hint of a blue tone. But ultimately useless to her purposes.
Fiera 17 Victor 71.2/73.2 92
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 23, 2021 11:41:52 GMT -6
The humanish tossed the rock behind her again. Well, that sucked. Hopefully wherever this tunnel led would be more rich. Victor sniffed it briefly after it hit the ground, but otherwise was just as happy to move on as Fiera was. As Fiera quickly found however, wherever this tunnel was leading… wasn’t likely to give her a lot of gems. “Oh, you have to be kidding me.” She hissed to herself as the crystal torch lit up even more of the tunnel, revealing what was ahead. Instead of the relatively normal tunnel she was in, it was… a wide, yawning blackness. Once again, no floor was to be found up ahead of her as far as Fiera could see. “Ugh, what is it with this place and giving me all these damn cliffs? How am I supposed to get down any of these? You can’t exactly creatively think yourself down a fifty foot drop!”
Fiera 18 Victor 71.3/73.3 93
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 23, 2021 11:42:06 GMT -6
Or, well, she could creatively think HERSELF down the drop with a bit of rope, but certainly not her mine cart or her pet. They would be stuck here. Fiera sighed deeply. “Victor. Sit. Stay.” She said firmly, holding a hand out behind her. Victor didn’t actually know the “sit” command yet, but he could guess her meaning from her tone of voice and the psychic connection. She was not in a good mood now, and she did NOT want him following her. Fine by him- he leaned up against the mine cart gently, musing about how she got mad so easily. Fiera crept forward, getting ready to peek over the side and see if there was any way down… or if she was just stuck up here with Victor. Not that he was poor company, but she didn’t exactly come to the mines just to fart around with a dog.
Fiera 19 Victor 71.4/73.4 94
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 23, 2021 11:42:24 GMT -6
The tunnel absolutely terminated in a sharp dropoff. The water flowed past Fiera’s feet, flinging itself off of the rim of the tunnel into the dark unknowable gloom beyond. She perked her pointy black ears, trying to hear anything from beyond it… but she couldn’t even hear the splash of wherever it hit the ground again, instead only hearing where it rushed off. Bracing herself along the wall, she looked straight down and found that the stream turned into the world’s deadliest water slide. Instead of emptying into a massive room, the tunnel stayed the same size and shape and simply descended even deeper into the ground, terminating who knew where. There was no damn way Fiera could get down there- not without breaking her neck, at least. “...Guess this is a dead end then.” She huffed, resting a hand against her forehead and pressing her ears back against her head irritably.
Fiera 20 Victor 72.0/74.0 95
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 23, 2021 11:42:42 GMT -6
She marched back to her mine cart and flopped on the ground. She might as well mull over her options here, and take inventory. She flipped open the top of the cart, revealing her findings so far. Victor shoved his head in as well, seemingly also reminding himself of what they had found so far. Several gems, but none that she recognized as being overwhelmingly rare. A scute fossil- probably her best find so far- but she’d need more “basic” fossils to fill out a complete set, unfortunately. Perhaps she still had a couple of filled amber laying around at home that she could tack onto it and take to the museum. A marquis crystal- apparently those had some function in the fossil revival process too, though Fiera had yet to figure out what, exactly. A ton of lumps of metal ores too- Fiera was amazed she had found so many.
Fiera 1 Victor 72.1/74.1 96
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 23, 2021 11:51:50 GMT -6
Usually metal was pretty hard to find down here. The fact that it was duller and blended in with the rocks more than gems and crystals meant that it was easy to mistake for a regular rock, even if it sold for roughly the same as most crystals. Not to mention, the mines under the labs just… weren’t the most metal-rich. So the fact that she was able to find this much meant something good for this area, even if she wasn’t able to exploit it as much as she would have liked. Other than that, she wasn’t able to find much else on this trip. No creatures showed their faces around her, nor was she able to pick out any of the smaller denizens of the mines that were usually happy to ride along in her mine cart. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, however. Most of the things that lived down here were… gross.
Fiera 2 Victor 72.2/74.2 97
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 23, 2021 11:52:17 GMT -6
The less creepy-crawlies Fiera had to deal with, the better. So… despite the dead end, this mining haul was sufficient. Not the biggest and best she’d ever had, but certainly sufficient. “Alrighty then.” She said with a sigh, shutting the lid again. “Let’s get out of here, Victor.” She said, sending him visuals of the path back up and into the sunlight again. Victor wagged his tail- apparently this trip had dragged on him more than Fiera had intended. Maybe a rakai sarane wasn’t the best mining companion after all. While he had put up with Fiera’s shenanigans admirably, this whole adventure had been far too dirty, cramped, and hot for him to be comfortable with. His happiness shot up and through their telepathic connection as he was filled with joy at the thought of getting to leave. “Oh.” Fiera said with a chuckle. “Maybe I won’t bring you back here, then.”
Fiera 3 Victor 72.3/74.3 98
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