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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 29, 2023 18:00:34 GMT -6
She raised the hammer, and gently brought it down on the end of the chisel... to no response. Had to hit it a bit harder. She huffed softly and raised it again for another strike. It went better that time, chipping off the bottom half of the rock- and revealing a much bigger gem than she thought. "Oh!" Fiera exclaimed softly, gently pulling off the remaining shards of stone with her gloved hands. What looked like a small fleck was actually about an inch wide and gently ovoid in appearance. It was iridescent with shades of red and orange sparkling across its body. Fiera was impressed to be sure, but what she wasn't sure about was what it actually was. Luckily for her, she had a gemstone identifying guide- very handy in cases like this. She leaned back towards her mine cart, rifling through it for the little booklet that had served her well so far.
Fiera 2 Krista 4.2/6.2 17
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 29, 2023 18:25:33 GMT -6
She pulled it out with a flourish and thumbed to the correct page, taking little notes of different aspects of the stone and comparing it to the identification guide. After a few quiet minutes, the humanish was reasonably sure what she was looking at was a sunstone. "Nice!" She muttered to herself- she could get a pretty penny for it at The Underground. Holding it closer to her face though, it felt... warm. Fiera frowned. Sunstone was just a descriptive name- they didn't actually have any magical abilities that made them warmer than the average gemstone, like fire elemental crystals. Perhaps her own hand had done it? She looked at her left hand- it was covered in a thick, protective glove. Surely the warmth from her hands wouldn't be able to seep through it. She took off the glove and pressed her bare, well manicured hand to the surface of the sunstone.
Fiera 3 Krista 4.3/6.3 18
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 29, 2023 18:30:58 GMT -6
Sure enough, it was definitely warm- near hot actually. Fiera had to take her hand away from it, shaking it slightly. She threw it into the mine cart, but now she was a little concerned. Why was it HOT? She put her hand against the wall of the cave- somehow, despite the cool air, the wall was warm. That meant a few things for Fiera, none of them good. Was there seriously a potential lava vein this close to the surface? She figured it could be possible- after all, this wasn't sedimentary stone she was digging around in, it was igneous, which meant it had been formed by lava to start with. This close to the surface it was supposed to be pretty old and long since cooled, but years of human activity down here in the mines (not to mention the presence and use of magic) meant that stranger things could have happened.
Fiera 4 Krista 4.4/6.4 19
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 29, 2023 18:36:50 GMT -6
If that was the case, then Fiera definitely needed to be careful. In fact, she should probably move on from this tunnel. But... she couldn't help but feel the wall around the spot she had been digging in as well, having a strange hunch about all this. Sure enough, the heat quickly faded around the spot, as if she had been digging in the only spot of heat in the tunnel. That was strange, right? Normally lava wouldn't "bulge into" a spot like that, its heat would be pretty well distributed... right? Fiera wasn't sure as she didn't know much about volcanology, but she figured it was worth considering. At least it made her feel a bit safer. Or perhaps... perhaps it was even an elemental crystal, hiding in the wall? There was a flaw in that theory though- normally elemental crystals were paired with a thrum of magic, a flutter in one's chest as it called out.
Fiera 5 Krista 5.0/7.0 20
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 29, 2023 20:02:55 GMT -6
There was no such magical humming in this case. Granted, it could be buried pretty deeply in the rock, but if that was the case wouldn't the stone have either a wider radius of heat or simply be cooler? It didn't quite add up, but either way Fiera had a choice- keep digging or stop. If she kept digging, she'd hit either lava or a very valuable crystal. If she left, she'd be safe but could lose out. Well. The choice was obvious. Fiera was never one to back down from anything, and she would probably fistfight lava if it came down to it. So she made the decision to continue. She scooped the sunstone into her mine cart, along with a few other glittery whatsits, and picked up her pickaxe again, ready to continue digging. Krista snuffled loudly and scooted backwards again, clearly not enjoying Fiera's decision to continue.
Fiera 6 Krista 5.1/7.1 21
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 11:40:34 GMT -6
Fiera returned to mining the wall with renewed vigor, sending further shards of stone clattering from the wall. She could always check them for gemstones later- first she wanted to see what that source of heat was. After a few more strikes, her pickaxe suddenly fell through the stone a lot faster than she thought it would, and the humanish jerked back with surprise. Fiera leaned down and peered into the hole she had made, her headlamp illuminating the small space. Sure enough, while the area she had carved out before had widened out into a bowl shape due to how the forces were distributed, her pickaxe had suddenly created a sharp edged hole straight through the rocky wall. She leaned in even closer with her headlamp, the dangers she had considered temporarily forgotten. As she leaned the light left and right, she saw glimmers of light reflected back at her from the hole.
Fiera 7 Krista 5.2/7.2 22
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 11:45:53 GMT -6
"Oh, a geode!" Fiera said, realizing what it was with delight. Ah, and she had already pounded a hole through it. Well... it wasn't like there was a way to tell what it was before she did that. Still, it would be quite the task to recover it without breaking it further- after all, she wanted to split it right through the middle for maximum effect (and value). Setting her pickaxe to the side again, Fiera got out her hammer and chisel once more. This would require a more gentle touch- and a lot more work if she wanted to carve around this round geode. Hopefully she wouldn't hit any theoretical lava in the process, but if anything was going to uncover that theoretical fire crystal, it would be this. Krista perked her ears up hopefully- Fiera was now using a different tool, perhaps it would be gentler on her ears?
Fiera 8 Krista 5.2/7.3 23
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 13:26:21 GMT -6
With a few taps of the chisel she was off, slowly carving the geode out of the wall. Unlike most gems, you WANTED a healthy layer of rock around these. It allowed them to look rough and unrefined on one side, but beautiful and full of shining gems on the other. Fiera quite enjoyed geodes, and this one would be no exception. Based on the color- or lack thereof- that she had seen inside it, she suspected that this one was a diamond geode, easily the most valuable out of all of them. That was the impression she got from the colorless crystals at least. She supposed it could also be made out of something like quartz, but the level of refraction from the light made her quite optimistic about her identification. She tapped away with a renewed vigor, slowly chiseling out a big lump of stone that she suspected would hold the rest of the geode.
Fiera 9 Krista 5.4/7.4 24
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 13:41:42 GMT -6
She could always chisel it down into a more manageable size later- it wasn't like it was too big to fit in her mine cart. After a few minutes though, Fiera finally heard a loud crack from the wall and stepped away. She nudged the geode with her foot a bit, and it finally toppled to the ground, the last of the connection to the wall breaking due to its own weight. To an outsider it just looked like an enormous rock, but Fiera knew what she had. She squatted down next to it and wrapped her arms around, carefully hefting up and into her open and waiting mine cart. She heard the suspension squeak angrily but otherwise she had no issues getting it in. "Perfect!" She said, clapping off her hands, and she stepped back towards the wall- only to hear a small splash at her feet. She looked down.
Fiera 10 Krista 6.0/8.0 25
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 21:17:45 GMT -6
The ground was now covered in a thin layer of water. She glanced up- sure enough, the hole she had just made in the wall was now gushing water. The wavering light coming from the lantern on her helmet made it clear that it was steaming as well. Krista snorted loudly and scrambled away from the growing puddle as Fiera scrambled to rectify her mistake. It wasn't lava or a fire crystal- it was a hot spring! Fiera could feel the heat from here- she wasn't liable to be burnt to death like she would have been if it WAS lava, but she could certainly get a nasty burn from the hot water if she wasn't careful. "Let me just... uh..." She said, glancing around for anything that would work. She grabbed a rock off the ground as well as a handkerchief out of her back pocket. Hopefully this would work.
Fiera 11 Krista 6.1/8.1 26
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 21:50:46 GMT -6
The handkerchief was just something she carried around in case something particularly nasty got in her eyes, but it looked like it was time for her and it to part ways. She quickly wrapped the rock in it and jammed it into the hole, using the end of her pickaxe to tap it in. It... didn't really stop the leaking, but it did reduce it to something more manageable than a gush. At the very least, it would make it a bit safer to walk through here again later. "Good enough, I guess..." She muttered, watching the water seep around the temporary cork. With that done, she knew she had to move on- it wasn't very safe here anymore, with potentially boiling water covering the floor. Fiera's boots were protecting her for now, but one wrong splash could end up burning her, not to mention what would happen if the water rose any higher.
Fiera 12 Krista 6.2/8.2 27
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 21:54:54 GMT -6
So she tugged Krista along, pushing the mine cart in front of her. Krista didn't need to be told twice, and happily trotted along behind Fiera. She was a creature build for and adapted to the cold, so the rising heat of the steam was undoubtedly uncomfortable for her. The path rose a bit upwards after that and so the steam followed them until it twisted back down. Heat rose and cold sank, so once they began making their way downwards once more, the heat and humidity weren't quite so choking anymore. Soon the mines were back to their regular level of dampness- which was to say, musty and uncomfortable but not anything beyond what Fiera and Krista could withstand. Of course, that meant that Fiera now had to go back to trying to find a good spot to mine in, which was more easily said than done. She sighed loudly.
Fiera 13 Krista 6.3/8.3 28
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 22:00:39 GMT -6
"I'm sick of finding places to mine." She moaned, dragging her hands down her face. She wanted pretty shiny things to take home with her (to make money off of) of course, but it was so dang boring sometimes. "Maybe we can just explore for a little longer?" She said, looking pleadingly at Krista for a moment, as if the glacier lamadidron was the one calling the shots here. Krista offered her only a single unemotional flick of her ear, but luckily that was all Fiera ever needed. "Yes, you're right! Why am I sitting here bothering with this scrappy tunnel when I could be looking for much richer grounds?" Fiera said, rubbing her chin as she gave a speech to pretty much no one. "Come on! I'm sure we can find something much better than all this." She said, tugging on Krista and pushing on the cart with a renewed vigor.
Fiera 14 Krista 6.4/8.4 29
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 22:04:09 GMT -6
She pushed the cart even further down the tunnel, traveling in relative silence with Krista, who seemed to be amiable to the trip for the most part by now. As time went on however the path got bumpier and bumpier and the mine cart had greater trouble with making its way over. It was clear that Fiera was starting to leave the better traveled areas of the mines and was making her way into previously uncharted territory. That was fine by her as it usually meant there were more riches to find, but it DID mean that she was going to have to put a bit more effort into moving her mine cart around- and perhaps would even need to abandon it for a while and move out on foot. For now though she wasn't quite willing to do that, and continued yanking it over various rocks while Krista waited patiently.
Fiera 15 Krista 7.0/9.0 30
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Dec 30, 2023 22:09:11 GMT -6
"C'mon, just a bit further..." She said, straining with effort to get the cart over increasingly large bumps in the path. After she finally crested one, the humanish stopped for a moment to get her breath back, weighing her options. She looked to either side, holding the crystal torch up to see a bit better. While the area she was in was wide and round with a couple paths only off in the distance, it looked like there was one path to the left that was rockier and led further down into the earth, and another that appeared smoother and led back up in the direction of the surface. Fiera's ear twitched as she weighed them both. The left path would probably be tougher to navigate and would likely be warmer, but might be richer in gems... but the path on the right would be easier to get the mine cart through and would be more comfortable for Krista.
Fiera 16 Krista 7.1/9.1 31
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