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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2019 12:15:14 GMT -6
Fiera squeaked as the tunnel worm wrapped around her arm. Despite her fear however, it seemed quite harmless, sniffing curiously at her ears and hair. She forced herself to breathe out and relax, letting it explore her. Behind her, she heard the sound of movement. Ah, that was right, Viridia and the gem dragon were still here too. In the span of fifteen minutes, she had collected quite a menagerie of creatures. Unfortunately, none of them had training or protection, and she really wasn't sure she could handle them all at once. "Ok guys, let's... take a break here." She said, dragging Viridia away from the hole they had made. Thankfully, the gem dragon trotted alongside her obediently, still curious about her. Together, they travelled out of the cave and into the light, and Fiera managed to drop them off at the kennels before making her way back to the mines. She stood on the main floor of the mines, considering her options on where to go next.
FF: 10 Viridia: 14.0 Lv/ 14.0 Lo [Post 70]
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Post by Jack on Jul 19, 2019 12:19:41 GMT -6
A small wind whistled near the entrance of the mines as storm clouds began to gather in the sky. Better head in soon, you're going to get rained on!
[Nothing happens]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2019 15:58:16 GMT -6
Fiera's tail puffed up as a cold breeze swept up the back of her shirt. She peered outside, and the sky had gone dim, like someone had cranked down the brightness. Clouds scuttled in, but not the friendly puffy kind- more like a fog rolling across the sky. Ugh. Looked like it was going to start raining soon. She lashed her tail angrily. She hated getting caught out in the rain, but it would likely start pouring before she got home. So it was either get stuck in the rain, or try to ride it out inside the mines. Well, at least that gave her an extra motivator. The longer she could spend in here, the better. With any luck, by the chance she was out, she'd be able to walk home with the air smelling fresh and clean, with puddles for Viridia to play in, instead of rushing from shelter to shelter to avoid getting wet.
FF: 11 Viridia: 14.1 Lv/ 14.1 Lo [Post 71]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2019 19:06:57 GMT -6
She mulled over where to go next. She still didn't have a light source, unless you counted the weak light from her phone. That meant that her old tunnel was probably out... she had managed to break into a new area, but didn't really have any way of exploring it. Without a flashlight or tunnels lined with lanterns, she'd make it maybe ten to twenty feet in before she'd have to stop. Can't mine if you can't see, after all. Would it be worth checking it out again, or should she check out some other tunnel? ...Ugh. She might as well see what she had broken into. Maybe she could seal it off again, hide it so other people didn't plunder it first. That wasn't cheating, right? It was just... an efficient rearrangement of mining leftovers. She wasn't hiding a new area, she was organizing material from an old area. Easy!
FF: 12 Viridia: 14.2 Lv/ 14.2 Lo [Post 72]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2019 19:25:15 GMT -6
Fiera made her way back down the tunnel then, towards her last branch. Viridia followed behind patiently, still linked to Fiera with a loop of twine. She figured she should take that off at some point, but maybe after she had trained Viridia better. She didn't want her gem familiar getting lost after all, even if she had found another one. She traipsed down the now familiar halls, taking whacks at stalactites with her hammer as she went. She wasn't quite expecting to find anything doing that, but it was something to do and it passed the time, so why not. Finally, she reached the familiar tunnel- which was just SWIMMING with animals, apparently- and found the hole she had made in the wall. "Ready, Viridia?" She said. "Let's see what's down there..." She walked up to it and tried to fit through... but it wasn't quite wide enough. Dang it.
FF: 13 Viridia: 14.3 Lv/ 14.3 Lo [Post 73]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2019 19:50:58 GMT -6
Fiera supposed there was nothing to be done for it but to open it up a bit more. She dropped her bag on the ground heavily, and began digging through it. Viridia knew the drill by now, and curled up expectantly. Fiera took out her now trusty pick axe and began to work. Pieces flew off of the edges of the hole, and it steadily grew in size. She supposed that the more she was able to widen the hole, the further she'd be able to see. So far, the room beyond the hole looked pretty big, but level as well. She'd be able to hop in and out relatively easily. She couldn't quite see the back wall yet, but the floor seemed to be made of the same material as this tunnel. That was a good sign- she had had good luck with this material, and had found a couple of gemstones already.
FF: 14 Viridia: 14.4 Lv/ 14.4 Lo [Post 74]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2019 19:59:20 GMT -6
Finally, Fiera made a hole that was big enough for herself. Viridia sniffed around the scrap rocks, looking for gems, while Fiera poked her head into the new cave. "Hello!" She called. Her ears flicked as the echoes came back. Now she was no bat, but it certainly sounded pretty big. She hopped through, carefully, and stood in the beam of light cast by the lanterns in the tunnel. Viridia slithered in after her, the light glinting off her crystalline form. The ground was surprisingly smooth, despite not having been mined or walked on by anyone else before. Perhaps it was a cavern created by water instead of gas bubbles? Fiera ran her hands over it. Despite its smooth appearance, pieces crumbled off easily enough. If she had a light, it would be easy to mine here. As it was, she'd just have to look for gems here by hand.
FF: 15 Viridia: 15.0 Lv/ 15.0 Lo [Post 75]
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Post by Renathan on Jul 19, 2019 23:52:52 GMT -6
What a strange smokey stone, beautiful in its translucence.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 20, 2019 8:26:03 GMT -6
Running her hand across the ground, Fiera found something, a small rocky object. She lifted it up in awe. It was somewhat similar to her pink gemstone in shape and structure, but was a dark, smokey color and only semi translucent. It had that glossy glint that all jewels had, and it made her heart flutter. Another one for the bag! She rushed back up the tiny cliff, awkwardly dragging Viridia along behind her. What good luck! Quickly closing the distance between the hole and her things, she scrambled over to her bag to put it away with the rest of them. In a way though, this made her a little sad. She KNEW that this area was rich in gems, but she didn't have the equipment to actually take advantage of that. What a crying shame! She supposed it was best to hide her finding for now then, though.
FF: 16 Viridia: 15.1 Lv/ 15.1 Lo [Post 76]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 20, 2019 10:09:23 GMT -6
Fiera turned to Viridia, gently lifting the jade gem wyrm up the rest of the way, and set her back down safe on the tunnel floor. Didn't need her familiar getting caught in the hole, after all. From there though, she began to sort through her pile of rubble for pieces to help hide her discovery. With any luck, she'd be able to stack it up high enough that people would think that there was a cave in here, and not a new tunnel. Maybe she'd even be able to find something nice in the meantime. She picked up a large stone, one of the bigger chunks from opening the hole. She turned it over in her hands, and stuck it down at the base of the entrance into the round room. Easy enough. She turned over another, watching a small cave bug skitter away. Gross, but whatever. She placed that one as well, and nodded.
FF: 17 Viridia: 15.2 Lv/ 15.2 Lo [Post 77]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 20, 2019 10:20:41 GMT -6
Soon, she was stacking rocks like a champ, and had filled up nearly half of the hole. She glanced back, and saw Viridia staring at her. "Oh, don't give me that look." Fiera scoffed. "This isn't cheating! It's just... conserving resources for later! No one will mind! It's not as if I'm blocking off the whole tunnel, or putting a guard in front of it. Anyone could knock down this pile and find the room again! If anything, I'm just marking it for myself so I can find it again later!" Of course, Viridia didn't speak English, so that entire rant was for Fiera's benefit alone. She wasn't being a bad person, just a pragmatic one. That had always been Fiera's modus operandi. Everything she did had an excuse, every action of hers could be explained, every word had a second meaning. She had done a good enough job covering up her own guilt for it to work.
FF: 18 Viridia: 15.3 Lv/ 15.3 Lo [Post 78]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 20, 2019 10:23:13 GMT -6
Fiera had the entrance about seventy five percent covered now, and it was filling up fast. That was good of course, as she was starting to run out of rocks to block it with. She lifted another particularly large one, hoping it would mostly cover the gap. That way, she could fill in what was left with tiny rocks and be done with this already. Both she and Viridia were starting to get a little bored. As she lifted it though, dozens of cave bugs swarmed out from beneath it. Fiera shrieked, and leapt about three feet in the air. "Oh, gross! Gross gross gross!" Viridia leapt forward, catching a couple of them in her jaws and chewing them up. Fiera cringed at the sight. "Ok...I appreciate you protecting me. Or maybe you're just hungry. But that's also kind of equally gross, Viridia." The gem wyrm, of course, didn't care in the slightest.
FF: 19 Viridia: 15.4 Lv/ 15.4 Lo [Post 79]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 20, 2019 10:26:48 GMT -6
Fiera watched as the rest of the cave bugs scuttled off, a shiver still going up her spine. She guessed that the one she found earlier was just an individual that had strayed from the nest. Apparently, that slag pile was great shelter from the predators that lurked down here. Speaking of predators, she looked at Viridia again, still chewing on some of the bugs. Was she doing that because she actually ate bugs, or was gnawing on things just an instinct for her? Fiera was sure that she ate rocks, judging from how into it she seemed earlier. Additionally, that one gem dragon seemed interested in eating crystals too, so that must be her diet. She supposed that those bugs were just unlucky then- VERY unlucky, from the mess that Viridia was making of them. Still, as Viridia entertained herself, Fiera was able to finish off blocking the hole.
FF: 20 (Level up!) Viridia: 16.0 Lv/ 16.0 Lo [Post 80]
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Post by Renathan on Jul 20, 2019 10:39:41 GMT -6
Drip, drip, drip. Where was that infernal dripping coming from?
[Nothing happens]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 20, 2019 20:32:57 GMT -6
Drip, drip, drip... ugh. What an annoying noise. Fiera was glad that she had just finished blocking off the hole, she was DONE with this tunnel. Filled with bugs, impossible to progress in. And now had water in it somewhere. Pleasant. "Come on Viridia." She said. "We're getting out of here." With that, she turned heel and strode away from her hole. Viridia followed behind dutifully, close to Fiera's ankle. She went past the branch that led to the water filled tunnel, and even further until they reached the rock fall that marked this path to start with. Fiera scooted over the top, and Viridia was close behind, the pair of them skidding down the other side. She was about to keep going toward the front of the cave again when she had a realization. She had just walled up a hole to hide her own discovery... could this be...?
FF: 1 Viridia: 16.1 Lv/ 16.1 Lo [Post 81]
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