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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 9:52:10 GMT -6
Just like the tunnel before it, it didn't have a very high ceiling. If Fiera perked her ears up to full height and stood up straight she could probably brush the ceiling. The floor was a pale, chalky white, likely from years of water deposits drying onto it, fading roughly up to a medium brown towards the ceiling. Stalactites and stalagmites pierced the ceiling and ground, though it was easy enough to find paths between them to avoid skewering oneself. Fiera figured that she could even get the minecart between them without much effort. She did so carefully, still scanning the environment as she walked through the room. Mango did too to a degree, sniffing loudly from his position in the cart. "Smell anything interesting?" Fiera asked rhetorically, though he simply sneezed in response. She supposed he wouldn't know what counted as "unusual" down here anyway- everything in the mines was strange to him.
Fiera 11 Mango 10.1/12.1 11
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 10:06:06 GMT -6
Off to either side the cave stretched away, though she was pretty sure she could still see the sides in the faint gloom of the outer range of her torch, making the whole room about forty feet wide. It didn't seem to taper off gradually either, instead coming to a short stop at the wall, meaning she wouldn't have to bend over when she got to the end of the room. Hopefully there would be something of interest down here though- it would suck if she came down that slope just to meet a dead end. So far though she didn't see any interesting crystals or mineral outcroppings- just more spires of rock. Which, frankly, were a dime a dozen down here. She'd have an easier time selling water to a fish. But she was well trained by this point when it came to tracking down gems, so she was sure she'd be able to get something out of this.
Fiera 12 Mango 10.2/12.2 12
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 10:22:32 GMT -6
As she walked towards the back of the room, something of interest certainly did pop up- though it probably wasn't something she could profit off of, unfortunately. The wheels of the minecart crunched and jumped as they started rolling over little bits of rock, the tell tale sign that someone had been mining around here. Sure enough, the far wall came into view and it was abundantly clear that Fiera wasn't the first person here. A massive chunk had been taken out of the wall, with bits of debris frantically scattered around the room. Fiera let the lead of the mine cart drop for a moment, unable to roll it over some of the bigger chunks left in front of the hole. She quickly moved to kick them aside, making room for her own investigation of all of this. It looked like her theory was roughly correct- someone came down here for a reason.
Fiera 13 Mango 10.3/12.3 13
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 10:26:57 GMT -6
They had then beelined it right to the back of this cave and got to work, tearing out chunks of the wall without any regard for precision or attention to detail. It looked like they had been in quite a hurry. Fiera looked more closely at the back of the hole, but it was only blank stone- whatever they took, they took all of it. Then she looked at the rocks scattered on the ground. Some of them DID admittedly have a bit of a sparkle to them, and they felt... oddly warm? This cave was wet- the stalactites and stalagmites were evidence of that, water slowly dripping and building up into the shape of a spike off the ground. As a result, it was damp and cold. But these rocks were all completely dry and even borderline warm to the touch, as if they had been dropped here after sitting outside for a while.
Fiera 14 Mango 10.4/12.4 14
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 10:29:52 GMT -6
The sparkling effect was a bit odd too, and Fiera turned the stones this way and that under the light to try and get a better look. There was something familiar about it, but she couldn't quite figure it out. It was as if they affected her very pulse, making it move differently, almost as if it were... humming? Ah. AH. That was it. Fiera quickly got out her chisel and hammer and cracked the rock open. It broke easily, pieces crumbling off to the side, and the humanish looked inside, with Mango also peering at it curiously from his spot in the mine cart. Alas, no elemental crystal was held within, but it was uniformly sparkly throughout. Still, that only further supported Fiera's theory. She had guessed elemental crystals before, and it looked like she wasn't far off- it was just that she had arrived too late to get any herself.
Fiera 15 Mango 11.0/13.0 15
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 11:02:39 GMT -6
Therefore what she was holding appeared to be mere speckles of a fire elemental crystal suspended throughout the rock. It wasn't enough to actually be worth anything. Elemental crystals weren't generally used as-is. Instead, they were refined into nodes (Fiera shuddered briefly, remembering her own node creation event. It was only barely worth the effort.) or fixed into magical objects or sometimes even creatures to make the most of their power. A raw elemental crystal on its own was worth a lot for its potential, not for its actual capabilities. As a result, a bunch of little sand grain sized chunks of it in a rock were borderline worthless, even if they did make the rock shiny. They were also capable of warming it and drying the surrounding area, but anything more than that was out of their power. Fiera set it in the cart regardless, if just for her own personal interest.
Fiera 16 Mango 11.1/13.1 16
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 11:07:32 GMT -6
Overall though, it looked like she had missed the boat on this. Her initial hypothesis was likely correct- there was a big stash of fire elemental crystals here, or perhaps one enormous one, and whoever had dug this tunnel had happily harvested them all, leaving none for her. She placed her hand on the hole- there wasn't even a hint of that instinctual thrumming here, the kind she knew indicated the presence of a crystal. But even then, she knew that chances are whoever had dug down here to start with would have had the same instinct, and would have similarly been unable to sense anything. So perhaps... perhaps there WAS more, simply just out of reach of whoever had been looking for them. They got their prize, and didn't have the wherewithall to dig any deeper, perhaps wanting to carefully squirrel away their own findings first, leaving Fiera to take the rest.
Fiera 17 Mango 11.2/13.2 17
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 13:35:16 GMT -6
That was probably wishful thinking on her part, but she felt the need to try, at least. There wasn't much else to do down here, and she wasn't about to return to the surface empty handed. Luckily, the person before her had left her a fantastic starting point- the jagged wall was perfect for further work, and she didn't need to worry about disturbing the local environment because, well, it had already been disturbed. Meanwhile, Mango sniffed quietly at the rock Fiera had placed in the cart. It smelled... weird. Most of the rocks in here smelled like rocks, but this one had a tinge of something else to it. Something familiar. His mind wouldn't be able to place it, but he was likely detecting the latent magic in it, something that laid deep in him as well, though he was admittedly more generalized whereas the crystals were fire based.
Fiera 18 Mango 11.3/13.3 18
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 13:42:19 GMT -6
Still, it was an oddly familiar feeling, and the rock was nice and warm besides. After glancing at Fiera, who was busy readying some sort of tool, for approval or disapproval, he stood up. Then she stretched briefly and sat down next to the rock, curling up around it. Ah, yes. It was perfectly warm, just as he was expecting. Perfect as a pillow for a nap. He let his eyelids flutter shut. At that moment though, a loud clang rang out through the tunnels, and Mango lifted his head irritably. What was that? He'd never be able to sleep through that. To his displeasure however, it was Fiera, who had just started mining at the back of the hole in the wall. She was hammering away with her pickaxe, letting chunks of rock fall down as she looked for any extra veins of fire elemental crystal that she could get away with.
Fiera 19 Mango 11.4/13.4 19
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 13:45:35 GMT -6
Mango attempted to bleat his displeasure, but it fell on literally deaf ears- Fiera couldn't hear him past the clanging and echoes of her own pickaxe. Great. He huffed loudly (but not so loud that Fiera could hear him) and settled his head back down on the rock. If he couldn't get any sleep, at least he could relax. Fiera on the other hand, wasn't relaxing at all. Mining was hard work, and this time was no exception. This rock wasn't soft like sandstone, and instead seemed to be some sort of igneous material. That wasn't necessarily uncommon at this depth, but it wasn't easy to get through. She was quite glad that her pickaxe held up well to this sort of thing. She hadn't had to get it fixed in years by now, and any initial breakages were likely her fault due to not knowing how to take care of it at the time.
Fiera 20 Mango 12.0/14.0 20
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 13:54:33 GMT -6
That and she didn't know how to hold it. An object struck at the wrong angle could easily break apart no matter what it was, and the forces she was applying to the rocks were just as easily applicable to the pickaxe as well. Her grip was strong and her stance was steady by this point however, and Fiera only rarely had incidents where she was unable to get through a stone. While this rock was hard, it was at the very least flaky- a single good strike could take off a wide sheet of it, where it would break into smaller pieces on the ground. If she could make a single crack in it, she could then pry off larger pieces with very little effort because of how brittle it was. She wasn't about to complain- it was better than some of the rocks she had had to get through in the past.
Fiera 1 Mango 12.1/14.1 21
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 13:57:46 GMT -6
Fiera looked back at Mango briefly, making sure he was ok. Sure enough the repointe was still where she left him, curled up in the mine cart. Amusingly however, he was curled up around the singular rocks he had put in, as if defending it for her. "Good job, Mango!" She said with a laugh, but she had to admit his facial expression was unreadable. He didn't seem scared of her mining, but she couldn't work out how he felt either. Oh well- it couldn't be too bad, because he clearly wasn't moving to change his situation. So she continued to work. Soon, she managed to get into a good rhythm, the individual strikes fading away into nothing as she fell in step. Once she worked up a groove like this she could mine out quite a lot of rock in what felt like the blink of an eye, which was always nice.
Fiera 2 Mango 12.2/14.2 22
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 14:33:38 GMT -6
She kept an eye out but alas, none of what she was mining away at seemed to have any fire elemental crystals in them- or anything else, for that matter. No characteristic glints, colors, or sparkles. She would have to keep working. Luckily that wasn't too hard at the moment, as long as she breathed deeply and ignored the aching in her arms. After a few more minutes of that however, she finally felt a crunch under her pickaxe. Her ears and tail perked up, surprised at the sudden change of sound, and she couldn't help a smile creeping over her face. A change of pace was always good. What had she found this time? Perhaps she had broken open a geode? She peeked at the hole she had just made, but couldn't see anything past it but black. There was certainly no characteristic glimmer of crystal, that was for sure.
Fiera 3 Mango 12.3/14.3 23
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 15:15:56 GMT -6
Either way though, something had changed when she struck that spot. She'd find out what it was sooner or later. Even an air pocket could be an indicator of much bigger things. After all, where there were gaps in volcanic flows, that meant that there was the possibility of crystals growing in the open space as it cooled. The idea was exciting for obvious reasons- she had seen photographs of some massive crystalline plains underground, with brave explorers standing on top of crystals twice their size. Of course, those places had either been cleared out or turned into tourist traps by now, so Fiera liked the idea of discovering one herself. It could be any number of other things as well, but that was the first situation that came to mind. Either way there was only one way to find out, and Fiera swung her pickaxe with renewed vigor at the thought of it.
Fiera 4 Mango 12.4/14.4 24
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 6, 2024 15:21:07 GMT -6
Soon the rock was crunching even more quickly under her pickaxe, and it was clear that Fiera was breaking into bigger and bigger pockets of air. Each time after she broke into one, she stood back for a moment to let it air out, sometimes dragging bigger chunks out of the hole to air it out even faster. She knew full well that these underground air pockets could sometimes contain poisonous gasses, so for her own safety she had to give them a bit more time to vent out into the surrounding air. In the meantime, she checked in with Mango again. "How you doing back there, Mango?" She said, turning and giving him a pat on the head. He flicked his ear to acknowledge her presence, but otherwise didn't move. He didn't seem scared of the mines anymore necessarily, but that didn't mean he liked it either. "Well, good." Fiera said.
Fiera 5 Mango 13.0/15.0 25
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