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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 7, 2022 11:48:48 GMT -6
"...Whatcha got for me, Snowdrop?" Fiera said rhetorically, staring into the darkness of the tunnel that Snowdrop had picked. She couldn't see, smell, or hear anything... but something down there clearly had caught Snowdrop's attention. She didn't seem scared either- her fur lay flat on her back and the tips of her tails flicked with interest. "Hm. I guess that decides it then." Fiera said, stepping past her pet into the dark. She flicked her head lamp on again as she pulled the mine cart behind her, with Snowdrop following close behind. The electric lights in the hall were powerful, but still not strong enough to pierce the darkness more than fifteen feet in, leaving Fiera to require her own source of light. She had seen people far less prepared than her enter the mines before, with naught but a hammer to their name. How they found anything of interest, she'd never know.
Fiera 6 Snowdrop 14.1/16.1 31
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 7, 2022 12:14:21 GMT -6
She had acquired a full set of mining equipment a long while back by this point, and took it just about everywhere she went. And now that she had it, she could access just about every part of the mines... so long as she was willing to bring her finds back to the mine cart. She couldn't bring that everywhere, that was for sure. People who worked down here were usually pretty good about leaving your stuff alone, however- a mine cart next to a chasm wasn't abandoned, it just meant that its owner was down in the chasm somewhere, probably happily working on wrenching out a gemstone. With any luck things wouldn't be so difficult for Fiera, but at least she knew it was an option if it came down to it. Besides, her cart was pretty secure- there was a heavy lock on it, and she was the only one with the key.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 7, 2022 12:17:11 GMT -6
They would have to steal the whole cart if they wanted its contents and at that point, well, Fiera wished them luck. For now though, the humanish was starting to realize why her pet had found this tunnel interesting. She could hear the distant sound of flowing water further down- a sound she knew quite well by this point. Perhaps Snowdrop wanted something to drink, and figured a nice cave stream would quench her thirst. Fiera couldn't blame her- despite the mines being dirty and dusty, the streams that flowed through it were often pure and clean, filtered by months of trickling down from the surface. But they had to be careful- the streams down here varied from the barest sheen of water over stone to deceptively deep streams cutting thin strips through the rock that would suck someone under as soon as they so much as touched the surface of the water.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 7, 2022 14:30:13 GMT -6
Needless to say, Fiera tightened her grip on Snowdrop's lead at the thought. As long as she checked any bodies of water they found out before Snowdrop drank from them however, they should be fine. The tunnel was starting to lead downwards now, instead of straight out. That made sense- water flowed wherever gravity lead. Soon though, the sound Fiera was hearing began to sound... a bit more than a trickle. Was the stream larger than she thought? Or was the cave up ahead just particularly echoey? She wasn't sure, but Snowdrop sure seemed excited about it, nearly dropping her rock out of excitement as she sped up and reached the end of her lead. "How about I hold on to that for a bit." Fiera said, holding her hand out to the young tailypo. Snowdrop looked at it for a moment before leaning forward and spitting the rock out into her palm.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 7, 2022 14:35:10 GMT -6
"...Delightful." Fiera said, trying not to think about how wet this rock was. She slipped it into her back pocket where it would probably stay put, and kept forging ahead. Snowdrop was even less distracted now however, and was straining at the lead more like a houluh than a tailypo. She was even chirping, clearly thrilled to be exploring. Fiera had to admit that her enthusiasm was invigorating her as well- who knew what they would find running around like this? Sure enough, the tunnel was also starting to get wider instead of smaller, which was usually the opposite of what happened as you got deeper in the mines. Had the person who originally made this tunnel stumbled upon a natural cave instead of mining out this tunnel on their own? It wasn't unlikely- the ground beneath the city was littered with stone tubes and underground lakes, all ripe for the picking.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 8, 2022 13:09:29 GMT -6
Sure enough, as Fiera entered the wider part of the cavern, she finally saw the source of the noise- a massive, rushing stream. In fact, it was really more accurate to call it a "river". Fiera raised her eyebrows as the lantern on her mine cart illuminated the rushing water. Even Snowdrop seemed a little put off. It was an angry, rushing river, splashing up against the small canyon it had dug out of the tunnel, practically roaring now that Fiera and her tailypo were so close. If Snowdrop was still looking for a sip of water, she would have to get it from one of the puddles it was splashing up, as the river itself was far too violent for any creature to get close. A quick glance gave one the impression that even amphibious and aquatic creatures would be battered against its walls and swept away without mercy.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 8, 2022 13:51:22 GMT -6
Snowdrop immediately turned to walk away, but Fiera tugged on her leash. "No, no! Come on, we're already here! We might as well check it out. We'll just be careful, that's all!" She said, trying to reason with the creature. Snowdrop couldn't understand common of course, but she seemed to realize she wasn't getting out of this that easily. Besides, she was still tied to a creature that weighed roughly the equivalent of eight tailypos Snowdrop's size and didn't seem to be galivanting straight into a freezing river at that VERY moment. So she would probably be fine, so long as Fiera didn't do anything stupid. Fiera crept a little closer just to get a better look, but there wasn't much to see. The river was cold, fast, and splashing everywhere, making the shoreline near it slick and wet despite being solid stone. She backed up a bit again- the last thing she wanted to do was slip and fall in.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 8, 2022 14:01:17 GMT -6
Besides, the look she got told her easily that there wasn't much to see on the other side. Instead of an opposite shore, there was just a sheer rock wall leading back up to the ceiling. Perhaps the rock was harder on that side, causing the water to turn and wear down this side instead. She couldn't see much downstreamstream- the narrow cliff that she and Snowdrop were standing on petered out about twenty feet down, leaving only rushing water. The humanish didn't see much point in heading down there- it wasn't safe enough to mine, and it wasn't like there would magically be more pathway once she got down there. So she looked upstream instead, and to her surprise she saw a narrow but walkable pathway leading upward. She would have to be careful, but for all she knew she could stumble across something nice- maybe even the source of the river.
Fiera 13 Snowdrop 15.3/17.3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 8, 2022 14:07:37 GMT -6
Still, she would have to be particularly careful. She could tell from the light of her headlamp glinting off of the floor ahead of them that this was going to be especially slippery. She glanced at the mine cart. She could TRY to bring it with her... but Fiera immediately had a thought flash through her head. The wheels stalling on the wet floor. The whole structure tilting to one side. He desperate attempt to grab it, only to stop when she realized she was falling with it, and then a splash, a burble, and her whole mine cart- and everything she stored within it- was gone forever. She cringed. Yeah, maybe it was best to leave it here. Fiera walked the cart over to a nearby rocky outcropping near the tunnel's exit and tied it to it before shoving it behind. She doubted anyone would take it, but it was better safe than sorry.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 8, 2022 14:10:43 GMT -6
"Come on then, Snowdrop!" Fiera said, tugging on the lead. Snowdrop glared at her, ears pressed to her head. "Oh come on, you'll be fine! You like water! You drink it all the time!" The humanish reasoned (with a creature that absolutely didn't understand what she was saying and didn't care). "Besides, I can't leave you with the mine cart. Well, maybe I could... but you're still small enough for something to snatch up!" She said. Snowdrop still refused, and even sat down... but from somewhere back down the tunnel, a massive roar went out. Fiera recognized it instantly- it was the sound of a hungry thundergug begging its owner for treats. She was pretty familiar with it, to say the least. Her own thundergug, Desert, made it all the time. Chances are someone had just brought a 'gug down here to help carry out a heavy load, and it was getting a little bored.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 8, 2022 14:47:20 GMT -6
So chances are that thundergug was bored and kind of hungry, but overall fine and not at all dangerous. But Snowdrop couldn't tell the difference, and immediately bolted over to Fiera, the fur on her back crackling to life as she tried to shove her head up of the humanish's pant leg. "Okay, that- that's enough Snowdrop, you're fine." She said, picking the tailypo up and holding her close to her chest. That seemed to calm the feline to a degree, so Fiera took the opportunity to start walking. Snowdrop didn't protest- the further away she could be from whatever it was that made that noise, the better. Fiera patted her comfortingly as they lost sight of the mine cart, the torch staff she was using as a walking cane lighting the way ahead of them. Using it as a third leg, Fiera's steps were nice and steady on the slick ground.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 8, 2022 14:51:30 GMT -6
The river was about three feet to her left by this point. The pathway she was walking on was quite narrow then, but thankfully not so narrow that she needed to slowly pick her way across it as opposed to walking normally. Snowdrop seemed to be scanning the ground anyway, and Fiera was sure that she would yell right in her ear if she noticed anything amiss. The tailypo actually wriggled out of her arms, crawling up her shoulder and slinging herself across the other side, looking almost like a fuzzy scarf as Fiera walked up the slight incline. It was uncomfortable at first as her claws dug into the cloth of her shirt, but once Snowdrop settled down Fiera was grateful for it. It certainly freed up her other hand. Fiera took that opportunity to rest it on the wall on her right, giving her an extra source of stability.
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Post by Silver on Jul 11, 2022 19:15:00 GMT -6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 18, 2022 14:47:36 GMT -6
Every so often, Fiera's headlamp would glint off of something on the pathway ahead of her. She'd squat down to pick it up (no leaning- that would disturb Snowdrop) and sure enough, she'd pull up a small gemstone of some sort. They were round and smooth, but came in a variety of colors. She had her theories for how they got here. She could imagine the river chewing away harder pieces of rock, revealing the gemstone inside. Eventually the gemstone would be teased out of where it was sitting and washed into the stream, slowly tumbled and smoothed by the waves. And eventually, when the river flooded, the currents would be violent enough to toss the gems onto the shoreline where Fiera eventually found them. Of course, there was always other options- she could never know for sure that that was the truth. But it certainly made the most sense to her right now.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 18, 2022 14:52:26 GMT -6
Still, a gem was a gem and the humanish was careful to pocket the ones she found as she went, letting Snowdrop sniff it each time. As she walked however, she noticed that the river was getting... smaller, perhaps? At first she wondered why, but then she saw it- a hole in the wall past the lip of the cliff, dumping more water into the main stream. That was it- she was passing by the tributaries that were feeding the main flow, and so the further up she got, the less water there would be. Still, there was a clear "main" river flowing by her that the others fed into. Maybe she would be able to find a central source of the water, instead of this stream tapering off into a little dinky hole in the wall somewhere. It had been a while since she had found an impressive locale down here.
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