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Post by Xentus on Sept 22, 2020 18:06:39 GMT -6
The path was lit by the crystal torch, leading them ever deeper within the ground. Xentus wasn't sure how deep the shaft went; figuring he'd need to press forward and find out for himself. The prospect of it wasn't as unnerving for him as it might be for others, but he did have some twinges of concern about cave-ins, flooding, and sinkholes.. In a previous venture down in a natural cave, he experienced a gas surge. Considering that these mines were abandoned by whatever corporation was operating them, there was a good chance that there was a reason for it. Ah, but why worry? The lure of treasures lurking beneath the facade of stone was enough to encourage him forward, if his wanderlust wasn't enough. The duo passed the wing that they explored yesterday, continuing down the hallway. It pointed them further downward, nothing of note emerging through the darkness just yet.
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Post by Xentus on Sept 22, 2020 18:13:19 GMT -6
Varus suddenly stopped. Xentus wouldn't have noticed the small stone being wasn't walking with him if it weren't for the sudden silence. Hmm? He turned around, looking at the gargoyle with a tilted head. Had it sensed something? The leopard backtracked to where the gargoyle stopped, tracking its hollowed eyes to a point in the wall that was absolutely unremarkable. He knew this had to be some kind of sign though. A creature of the earth knew it better than anyone else. And.. After sitting in silence for a moment, he could hear it. He could feel it. Pulses of magic, calling to him. Upon realizing this, his throat tightened, a growing anticipation welling in his mind. If not for Varus here, he would've missed this entirely.
"Varus can feel it, yes?", he gently asked the gargoyle as he set down his pack, "This one applauds your perceptiveness." A shovel was his tool of choice. The pulses he felt were weak, trapped beneath a deep layer of earth and rock.
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Post by Xentus on Sept 22, 2020 18:28:02 GMT -6
"Varus may aid in unearthing this presence, if he wishes", the leopard invited, "Xentus feels he might dig for a while." With that, the shovel head was shoved into the earth and plunged down with a foot - earth lifted, and then dumped. He didn't entirely enjoy using the shovel much, his paw pads were tough and leathery, but by no means impermeable. It was at times like these that he wished he wore shoes.. As uncomfortable as they were. He'd need to persevere through it if he wanted whatever was calling to him. Varus seemed satisfied in garnering the warden's attention, hollowed eyes watching the man as he worked on the soft dirt walls of the mine shaft. The tools humanoids used were useful, weren't they? How they could conquer whatever element they faced with their inventions. The gargoyle only had his clawed fingers. But they were plenty enough... It too, would dig.
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Post by Nadia on Sept 22, 2020 19:34:53 GMT -6
Is that gold? Not quite...
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Post by Xentus on Oct 1, 2020 13:27:23 GMT -6
The thrumming pulses of magic were faint, barely present if one was simply passing by. Even as he worked on shoveling the earth away from the wall, he could hardly feel it there. He.. Wasn't exactly sure just how he came to sense this feeling. Perhaps being around magical creatures like the purple wiurn rubbed off on him? That beast radiated magic so strongly.. When he first came to meet Kyrio, he didn't notice the arcane flow coming from the lizard. But as they spent some time together, that magical presence became ever more evident. The leopard mulled on thoughts of the arcane - something he didn't think to try to master by his own power. Channeling magic through an animal with the innate power for it seemed much easier. Ah, but that meant he would need to work with his magically attuned beasts more. A casual glance swept over to the gargoyle, who was busy scratching away at the earth.
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Post by Xentus on Oct 1, 2020 13:37:42 GMT -6
Those not attuned to the arcane were just as interesting though. The runic gargoyle here was a perfectly fine companion for something like roaming about an abandoned mine tunnel. A wiurn wouldn't suit all too well unless he were exploring some large cavern, after all. And with how he wanted to spend some time collecting precious stones and the like, he had no real interest in trying to teach that thing some manners. For now. Varus here would probably do well to learn something more.. Perhaps to dig on demand? Search for certain stones or gems? The gargoyle was intelligent, it had the capacity for complex tasks. Unlike those golems.. Ah, despite how much he enjoyed the company of the golems, they were a bit dull to try to teach anything. He'd spent a good couple of hours trying to teach Saturn how to pluck weeds.. Which was an enriching experience, but not one that he looked forward to repeating.
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Post by Xentus on Oct 1, 2020 13:42:58 GMT -6
Another shovel full was dumped to the side as the leopard wandered in his thoughts. The golems.. There was still some work to be done with them. But if his research was of any valid use, he was getting close to achieving one of his goals. To create the illusive glass and plant breed of golems. Neptune and Saturn were just about fully mature - they only needed a few more wees time before they were ready to fuse. As much as he hated the idea of losing both of them.. Unfortunately, he'd grown quite attached to them. Such was the consequence of naming them. A sigh escaped the leopard, warranting a glance from the hollowed eyes of the gargoyle. Varus tilted his head curiously, noticing that the warden seemed to be deep in thought. It watched the leopard aimlessly shovel out another hunk of dirt and stone to the growing pile behind them.
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Post by Xentus on Oct 1, 2020 13:50:42 GMT -6
It was hardly interesting to watch the mammalian man work. But.. It was growing more mindful of the warden and his habits. Out of curiosity more than fear, too. The gargoyle went back to digging, clawing out clumps of earth and occasionally pecking particularly tough stones out of its hole. Xentus shook his head, warding away the thought path of golems and the time it took to raise them. Oh what was better to think about while digging a hole anyway? There was that god awfully gigantic pliathor that he was nursing to health. Basantai, he called them. He wanted to go out somewhere secluded with the beast in order to train it. Grow it to be accustomed to people and perhaps to try to ride it. It didn't seem to do well in public places like the park. And he didn't want people gawking at the serpent. The river might suit, if he could find a means to keep it from the water.
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Post by Xentus on Oct 1, 2020 13:56:15 GMT -6
It was to thick with fur that it would likely get waterlogged and possibly be unable to escape the water, should it be too torrential. And there was the issue of getting to to the location in the first place. From a bit of research and whispers on the wind, he'd heard of a certain sales cart that might be able to provide some magical tools.. Something about the idea of a cart based sales merchant who had magical goods sounded off to him though. Ah, maybe one day he would. There were many a thing that kept him busy here in the city.
In the middle of his thought-wandering, the shovel suddenly seemed to miss. With a blink, the leopard was snapped back to the task at hand. His eyes fell upon a hole. And not the hole that he or Varus were digging. He'd unearthed a hidden pocket within the wall, the treasure hoard of some underground beast. With hope.
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Post by Nadia on Oct 1, 2020 14:51:33 GMT -6
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Post by Xentus on Oct 11, 2020 16:02:26 GMT -6
He'd come across a couple of these in his times underground before. Little treasure troves for him to plunder. From his general research, it turned that these little pockets of deposited gems were actually food stashes for tunneling wyrms, drakes, and dragons. Knowing that, he did feel a little bad about plundering such little troves. Ah but they will live on and he will be a few gems richer. The leopard took his flashlight and shined it into the hole. Within were a few things of note, a geode, a quartz of some kind, and the glimmer of gold. Now, he'd been fooled once before about gold nuggets.. He was suspicious.
"Look here, Varus. Seems we've found a little bounty for ourselves", Xentus said as he glanced over at the gargoyle. It was still busy digging its own hole, aimed slightly away from his own. But as the leopard spoke, it took a pause to look over at him, then to the various shining minerals and metals.
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Post by Xentus on Oct 11, 2020 17:57:35 GMT -6
The warden made an admittedly impressive find. The gargoyle clicked its beak in approval, but continued with its own burrow. Out of the things within that little stash.. The source of the thrumming was not among them. A being of its nature was slightly attuned to magics, thus drawn to it. Xentus noticed its determination, but said nothing about it. Whatever it was after must've been good. He, however, wanted to get in there for a closer look. Down on all fours, he crawled into his freshly unearth burrow, sticking his arm into the hole. The first thing he felt was grabbed and pulled out; a lumpy rock with its interior exposed. A geode. Musing on it, he did want a better look at the mineral within. He fished his hammer and chisel from his pack and gave the rock a generous handful of taps in a small circle. Then, one hard swing to shatter the crust.
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Post by Xentus on Oct 11, 2020 18:01:48 GMT -6
The purple crystal within glimmered in the light. A slightly disappointed hum sounded from the mammalian's throat. He was hoping for something different.. Amethyst was a somewhat common sight, in fact, he'd unearthed one of such things from a prior mining trip. It was pretty anyway, he supposed. Into the pack it went. The tools were set aside near the shovel as he reached in for the next prize from the goodie bag. At first, it seemed like another common rock, but it did have a certain glimmer in the light. Some kind of quartz, if he had to wager a guess. Murky, yet still somewhat translucent. Quartz in general wasn't very valuable since it was a rather common mineral, but this variant might offer some value, he supposed. It was tapped wit the chisel a few times to remove the excess stone encapsulating it before being added to the rest of the collection. Varus paid little mind to the noise, busy digging away.
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Post by Xentus on Oct 11, 2020 18:08:49 GMT -6
The gargoyle was close, it felt it. At this point, most of its body was within the burrow it dug, with only its tail poking out into the mine shaft. Its wings were pressed tight to its body so it could fit, crouched and squeezing into the relatively tight space. Its beaked head poked certain spots of the dirt in an attempt to sense the thrumming.. Pinpointing it wasn't the easiest feat. A careful set of claws scratched at the upper edge of the burrow, scraping away at another layer of dirt. And finally, there it was. The faint glow from the magic source.
Meanwhile, Xentus had just fished out the last of what remained in the burrow - two golden nuggets. Cautious about getting excited over the metal, he took the time to run a couple of tests. Gold was a relatively soft metal that easily scratched, for one. With the tip of a pocket knife, he ran it across the edge of one of the nuggets.
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Post by Xentus on Oct 11, 2020 18:23:08 GMT -6
And it scratched the surface. Gold. Or what was likely to be gold. There was another mineral which actually also was similar to pyrite and could scratch as well. But thankfully, he did his research on this. He could also attempt to strike it with a mallet. Gold flattens, pyrite sparks. His mallet was wooden, which wasn't very conducive to the test, but he decided to continue with it anyway. Starting with the nugget which scratched, he placed it on the ground and gave it a whack. The effect was subtle, but it did seem to flatten out a bit. Now for the next one. The process was repeated with little result. A smirk found its way onto the leopard's muzzle. Fooled once, but not fooled twice!
"Found anything, Varus? This one has found gold. It may be the only thing of much value in this bunch", he informed the gargoyle, peeking over to look into its hole. He could only see its rear, but the stone being seemed to be quite busy.
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