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Post by Ashe on Nov 14, 2019 21:51:01 GMT -6
As the trio worked - well, with Ashe and Brazin working, and Inyala 'working' at playing watchdog - Ashe became aware once more of how boring, how quiet, this could be. It was peaceful to a point, for a time, but Ashe found that occasionally he missed the people, the hustle and bustle of city life. Down here, you could also feel the pressure of the stone ceiling above you, being pulled downward by gravity, and only the science of stone and its own mass holding it together up there. Luckily most of it was hard stone, not like the gravel stuff Brazin had run into. At least that stuff crumbled easily for her to get through. She was making herself quite a cavern in there and could almost fit herself in there like a closet. Ashe paused in what he was doing to watch her. She glittered in the dim light, as if she was made out of crystal. Which, Ashe supposed, she might as well be, with that prismatic crystal embedded in her.
Something fell in the hailstorm of gravel, and Inyala was the first to notice. She alerted Ashe, who stooped to pick it up. It was a solid rock, which definitely stood out when everything else was tiny rocks broken up into even tinier rocks.
Inyala: 1 1/5 Brazin: 1 2/5 Ashe: 0 5/20
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Post by Ashe on Nov 14, 2019 22:09:46 GMT -6
The rock hit the ground, or rather the gravel mound, and rolled down to the packed down earth and stone that made up the floor. Ashe stooped to pick it up, and Inyala chattered eagerly, asking what it was and could she see. Ashe ran his hands over it, feeling that it was a rather smooth rounded rock, with no shine factor that he could see. But it felt a bit different - have you ever held a hollow chocolate shape and could tell it was hollow? Like that, only stone. It was an odd feeling, and filled Ashe was curiosity. What was inside? He quickly set the stone down and dropped to his knees, Inyala getting out of the way as Ashe reached for his pickaxe. He waited to make sure the little blue imp was clear, and he wasn't going to accidentally slip and hurt himself or the Gargoyle with her back turned, then he brought down the tip of the axe to kiss the rock, gently lining himself up. Then he raised it above his head and both let it drop, letting gravity do most of the work, and swinging it down, so he had enough force to really slam it into the rock. With a grinding crack, the rock split open. Eagerly, Ashe picked up the pieces, and Inyala scampered closer to look.
Inyala: 1 2/5 Brazin: 1 3/5 Ashe: 0 6/20
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Post by Ashe on Nov 14, 2019 22:22:29 GMT -6
Ashe held it up and let the light from his flashlight catch whatever it was inside. In this case, it was a sparkly yellow stone, or crystals, inside it. Just as he had suspected, it was a geode! Not just a regular gemstone, but a geode. Somehow, crystals that were shiny and breathtakingly beautiful formed inside the rocks, and if you cracked them open, you could see for yourself. Ashe would love to be able to shave these crystals out of the rock; Jinx was into crystal stones, said that they could help center her spirit and she could touch a certain kind to feel calm, carry a certain kind to bring her good fortune, and on and on. Ashe couldn't keep up, but he'd given her some shards he'd found, and she seemed happy enough with those. He wasn't quite sure what to do with a geode, though. Sell it, possibly. He showed it to Inyala, who inspected it with interest for a few minutes, then she turned away, signaling that she was done.
Brazin paused long enough to check and see what Ashe had found, then she continued with her job at hand. She tore at the gravel, shredding it. This stuff was easy to move, yet had a small yield compared to what she could be finding...
Inyala: 1 3/5 Brazin: 1 4/5 Ashe: 0 7/20
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Post by Ashe on Nov 14, 2019 22:31:17 GMT -6
Ashe picked up the good piece, the one with the most of the geode crystals inside. The other part was mostly crumbly rock, so he didn't feel too bad about leaving that behind. While he was searching around on the ground for pieces, he found another gem, a sort of army green color of a thing. He picked that up, too, and put both things into the crate for safe keeping. Brazin had gone back to work, and if Ashe was any judge, it looked like she had most of the gravel moved out of the way. Her claws were biting into actual rock now, and Ashe watched it crumble. The going was much more slowly than it had been, though Ashe felt it productive. He wasn't sure what Brazin had in mind. Suddenly, the three of them stiffened, all hearing the same thing at the same time. Something above has shifted, and now particles were raining down on them. Ashe stepped back, concerned about the rock above, especially above Brazin. Quickly, he called to Brazin. His voice was perhaps a little more stern and curt than he intended, but a sudden fear made it that way. Luckly, Brazin listened and moved back toward Ashe - just as the roof above her collapsed. It looked like gravel above had been shaken loose and fell down in blocks.
Inyala: 1 4/5 Brazin: 2 0/5 Ashe: 0 8/20
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Post by Renathan on Nov 14, 2019 22:32:35 GMT -6
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Post by Ashe on Jan 26, 2020 16:30:00 GMT -6
"Well, that's not good..." Ashe muttered, staring at the loose gravel in front of them. Thankfully, no one had been under there and none of his stuff had been damaged in the fall. But they had a lot of work to do if they wanted to continue in this direction... Ashe was starting to think he didn't want to. Maybe they could backtrack and find a different place to dig? But before he could leave, Brazin made a noise at him, one of her 'alert alert I found something' sounds. He looked at her and she was holding a stone that had broken free. He moved his head around so the light on his helmet could illuminate the stone, and he saw a bright flash of green. Aventurine maybe? He knew it wasn't emerald; it wasn't quite rich enough of a green for that. Regardless, that meant that there were interesting stone formations that had been where the gravel was, so maybe it would be worth exploring a little instead of running away from... He took the gem from Brazin, handing it to the wanting hands of Inyala for inspection. "I guess we could stay here a little longer and look around..." He said, walking carefully back to the pile of gravel, stone, rock - what a mess!
Inyala: 2 0/5 Brazin: 2 1/5 Ashe: 0 9/20
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Post by Ashe on Jan 26, 2020 16:40:03 GMT -6
"No, you stay on my shoulder," He said, feeling Inyala shifting as if she wanted to get down and start digging in the dirt and gravel herself. Ashe didn't know what he would do if she got hurt or crushed in this danger zone. It would be terrible enough if something happened to Brazin, but Inyala was the other half of his soul. Well, he would probably revive her at the temple and she would continue along with him, different but there. And Ashe, strangely, didn't want that kind of life for her. Or himself for that matter. So he definitely preferred that she just stay out of danger. She huffed, but obeyed, clinging to his shirt collar and keeping her balance as Ashe moved around, stooping and bending over. He and Brazin continued to search through the rubble, looking for anything that stood out in color or sheen, feeling for anything smooth or different. So far, he didn't find anything, but that didn't mean nothing was there. Slowly, he started shifting the pile, picking up some rocks and setting them to the side, or parting the seas with a sweep of his hand. Brazin was doing similar, and to be honest, Ashe trusted her thoroughness more than his own!
Inyala: 2 1/5 Brazin: 2 2/5 Ashe: 0 10/20
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Post by Ashe on Jan 26, 2020 16:49:32 GMT -6
Ashe was starting to think that the only thing they were going to find here was that green aventurine stone. They hadn't seen anything else in at least six or seven minutes, and he had a pretty decent 'searched' pile going on there. He sifted through more handfuls, and Brazin was doing the same, and nothing was coming of it. Inyala had finished looking at the stone and had handed it back to Ashe a short while ago, and he had put it away for safe keeping. Wouldn't want to lose the only spoils he'd found in a while! And now she was peering over his shoulder, trying to help spot something even if she couldn't dig on her own. Brazin continued to dig herself, pausing every so often to look through something in her hand. She glowed faintly, her shimmery pink stone like skin offering the barest of glows and reflections. Ashe wasn't sure if she could actually see or not... Her sockets had been empty when he'd gotten her, after all, and she had still been able to get around comfortably. He doubted she needed actual light.
Suddenly, Inyala let out a chirp, alerting Ashe to something shiny down below. He glanced at her, realized he couldn't see her face in the shadows, so he looked back down.
Inyala: 2 2/5 Brazin: 2 3/5 Ashe: 0 11/20
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Post by Ashe on Jan 26, 2020 17:25:31 GMT -6
Ashe caught sight of what Inyala had seen. There was a little flash of color, not much. It looked like a paler stone mixed in with the gravel, dusty but more obviously white than the dirty gray of the rest of the rocks around it. And there was a streak of color through the middle of it. He reached out and plucked it out of the middle of the pile, holding it up so Inyala could take a peep too. She took it from him and looked it over, giving it her full attention as she inspected it. Pleased with the (her) find, she handed it back over to Ashe. He pocketed it and got back to looking. After a few moments, he glanced back over at Brazin to see if she had found anything interesting, but based on the fact she hadn't made a noise and wasn't currently looking at anything, he doubted she had anything of interest. He took a deep sigh and started sifting through the last little pile of gravel he had. Well, even if there was nothing else of value to find, it was worth the digging to find these two stones. They weren't that valuable, Ashe thought, but any kind of interesting stone made digging worthwhile.
Inyala: 2 3/5 Brazin: 2 4/5 Ashe: 0 12/20
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Post by Ashe on Jan 26, 2020 17:53:13 GMT -6
They were just about done going through everything that they could reach when Ashe spotted something flash as he put a handful onto the pile he'd gone through. He paused, then slowly went back through that area, quickly locating the blue stone. If he wasn't super mistaken, it was a Lapis Lazulli stone! He smiled when he found it, turning it over in his hand. It was a decent chunk of the stone, too, and he quickly pocketed it to keep it safe. While they weren't the most valuable, Ashe thought they were quite lovely specimens. Brazin had watched him find the stone, and she seemed pleased that they had found something. It had become her life goal to find more gems, to find all the gems. A habit built from constancy over time.
This time, Ashe was for sure convinced that they were done here. He swept the stray stones into the piles, to recognize that they had all been sifted through in case they came back this way, then he stood up. That's when he realized that there was a hollow in the ceiling, made from the gravel caving in. It looked almost like there was a tunnel up there too... He stood on one of the piles of gravel and used his light to look around the space.
Inyala: 2 4/5 Brazin: 3 0/5 Ashe: 0 13/20
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Post by Renathan on Jan 26, 2020 18:27:56 GMT -6
A tiny lumplet of shimmering material could be found embedded in a stone nearby.
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Post by Ashe on Feb 6, 2020 20:58:05 GMT -6
Ashe really wanted to get up there and start exploring, but before he could, Brazin made a noise to get his attention. He turned, the light bouncing off the walls as he turned his head, helmet bobbing slightly, which caused the light to bounce even more. During this span of beams of light, Ashe caught a glimpse of something shiny. He held still, better to get a good look at it, and saw what Brazin was holding in her hands finally. It was a stone, but in the stone there was something a pale blue-green color. It was a crystal of some sort, though he didn't know the exact type. He'd have to check it out when he got back to the surface! But for now, he just took it to put into the crate he had with him. "Thanks, Braz! Keep up the good work. Inyala and I are going to check up there, alright?" He gestured to the crater the rock slide had made.
Without waiting for her to respond, Ashe and Inyala climbed their way up the loose rock and into the depression. Ashe found a place for them to perch comfortably, and set to work. He chose the opposite wall, just in case another cave in happened, then he and Inyala could still jump to safety.
Inyala: 3 0/5 Brazin: 3 1/5 Ashe: 0 14/20
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Post by Ashe on Feb 6, 2020 21:30:21 GMT -6
Ashe and Inyala got to work. The little Imp dug and picked at what she could, scaling the wall to try and work pieces free, or peering into crevices, attempting to find something that might please her master. As she worked, Ashe used his pickaxe to chip away at the wall as well. Thankfully, this chunk seemed to be a bit more solid than that other one had been. He tried to work fast, but not too fast. He didn't want to be up here the rest of the day, but he didn't want to let this chance go to waste.... So he kept up a steady rhythm, thunking the head of the axe into the rock, working it free, and letting it drop to the ground. Over and over again. It could get pretty boring, mining like this. He was content for the moment to be lost in his thoughts. It helped, too, having two different creatures making noises as well, so he didn't think it was just him down here.
Down below, Brazin kept at it. Was she ever bored? It was hard to tell. If she was, she had a heck of a lot more determination than boredom, because she didn't show any signs of stopping. Unless, of course, she ended up finding something.
Inyala: 3 1/5 Brazin: 3 2/5 Ashe: 0 15/20
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Post by Ashe on Feb 7, 2020 2:03:53 GMT -6
Dig, dig, dig, that's all they ever seemed to do. Everything was silent right now, except for three sets of digging noises going on. Ashe listened to the scraping sounds, listening for any difference, if anyone's claw or his own pick, hit anything that sounded different. He wasn't a professional, not yet, even despite the long hours he put in down here - but he hoped he'd be able to hear at least a little bit. Down below, there was a faint glow coming from Brazin as she worked; she seemed to glow if there was even just a trace amount of light in any room or tunnel. He supposed that was due to the magic in the crystal, rather than the color and sheen of her body. He still kind of regretted giving up such a rare gem, though he knew Brazin quite liked her powers of organization.
And then there was Inyala. He frowned, suddenly wondering why the heck he didn't bring torches down here. They might be a little better than just a single flashlight and one light attached to the cart. After all, he could jab a torch into a crevice and have ambient light too. And Inyala could use fire, she could light the torch if it went out. Why the hell had it taken him years to think of!
Inyala: 3 2/5 Brazin: 3 3/5 Ashe: 0 16/20
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Post by Ashe on Feb 7, 2020 2:08:41 GMT -6
"I swear, Y'la, next time I'm bringing some torches and we are going to light this place up. Anything that shines from here to the surface will be seen quickly and removed just as fast!" To punctuate his words, he brought his pickaxe down extra hard, and wiggled it free more aggressively. Inyala made a sound of agreement; she thought that would be pretty handy, having more light. She could see just fine in the darkness, but she knew her master struggled. He was a human; there was a reason he needed to keep creatures like herself and the gargoyle around to get anything accomplished. Fact of life, nothing to be ashamed of. Ashe might worry about it because he was power hungry... And truth be told, he was amassing quite the amount of nodes to add to his power... He was still just human, though.
Brazin may or may not have heard Ashe's words, but either way she didn't show it. She continued diligently to dig at the soft earth, dirt, and gravel. It trickled down around her in dusty trails, which she ignored, as she gouged the rock. On and on, nothing changing, nothing happening. But she was determined, and this was her job. She liked it.
Inyala: 3 3/5 Brazin: 3 4/5 Ashe: 0 17/20
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