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Post by Xentus on Mar 3, 2021 21:12:58 GMT -6
A development which he completely enjoyed. It was heartwarming, in a way. Varus felt comfortable enough to walk alongside him.. A smile curled the man's lip, and he almost forgot that he was trying to remain somewhat quiet as he made his approach to the opening in the wall. The glow came closer and more recognizable.. Some kind of luminous mushroom colony? An intrigued hum escaped the man. He leaned forward and took a closer look, careful to avoid touching and of the fruiting fungi bodies. They grew along the eastern wall, poking from the rock through cracks on the surface. Now, mushrooms usually grew from some nutrient source. Decaying corpses or fertile ground were the typical growing medium of choice.. But given that they were deep underground, Xentus's curiosity was swelling. How did these things grow? And why? And why did they glow? The gargoyle found little interest in such a mundane sight of the underground, but looked on to see what the man was up to.
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Post by Xentus on Mar 3, 2021 21:19:08 GMT -6
Now, he really wanted to take the time to research these and the ground around them. And if they were poisonous. It was rare that a mushroom was toxic upon touch, so he wasn't too appalled by the idea of prodding the caps.. But the threat of the spores was a different issue. Inhaling spores was ill advised, and given that the mushrooms themselves were only useful for spore distribution, he wasn't looking to become infected by whatever this fungus was. He'd heard of a horror story where a fungal species took over an organism's brain, gaining control over the body.. A very real occurrence and threat for insects. Larger animals like himself weren't typically at risk, but he wasn't going to be the one to find glowing mushrooms growing from his body. Xentus attempted to bag a specimen for later research, but it turned out the shrooms were quite fragile- losing their luminous glow at the slightest touch.
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Post by Xentus on Mar 3, 2021 21:27:59 GMT -6
A shame.. Perhaps there was a way to harvest them, but the means of which was not known to him. He released his held breath and turned away to continue this exploration adventure. Varus tilted his head at the man, then tapped the mushroom he'd tried to harvest to return its glow. The act went unrecognized unfortunately. The lanky form lumbered after the warden, fluttering its stony wings to speed itself up. The sound caught the man's attention, eyes flicking over to the small runic being to make sure it was alright.
"Hm.. Ever truly flown, Varus?", the leopard asked quietly, "This one can teach you sometime if not." While those wings didn't look like they had the power of flight behind them, he'd presumed such incorrectly once or twice before about other creatures. Teaching another how to fly was a thrilling lesson - one which he would even try to do in the depths of the earth should he find a place with enough room.
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Post by Xentus on Mar 3, 2021 21:33:06 GMT -6
The gargoyle peered up toward the man with its hollow eyes, trying to figure what the man was trying to say.. But the meaning of his words were lost. Whatever it was, it seemed to be some kind of offer. Something kind. The warden was nice. Inattentive at times, but nice. Varus clicked its beak in reply. It was.. The best it could do. It had no voice of its own, but it would let the warden know that it was listening in the only way it could. The duo continued their exploration, entering the opening in the wall. A small, shallow room greeted them, offering nothing to see except for a partial cave-in. Xentus hummed, considering what he might find if they began digging around here.. And decided to go for it. Some amount of work would hopefully fruit in more nice gems or another magical crystal. His pack was placed against the wall, and a select couple of tools were chosen to use.
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Post by Xentus on Mar 3, 2021 21:44:43 GMT -6
A shovel and a pick. The former for getting the loose rubble out of the way, the pick to get into the denser wall-rock. The gargoyle was beckoned to help. Giving it some thought, he could try to teach the ground-dweller to dig when he asked. "Varus?", the leopard turned to the gargoyle and pointed to the rubble, "Dig. Come, dig with Xentus." His ward stared at him, trying to figure the meanings of his words. It could recognize its name.. And that something was asked of it - like the hold and drop exercise from before. The leopard did his best to show what he meant, pointing at the gargoyle then to the stone wall. He then pushed his shovel into it and removed a shallow portion of rubble and dirt, giving an example to work from. "Dig", he said again, looking at Varus. He wasn't sure how better to get his point across..
100 -- Dig - 1
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Post by Jack on Mar 4, 2021 7:58:50 GMT -6
Is that an emerald you can spy?
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Post by Xentus on Mar 4, 2021 19:59:18 GMT -6
Varus seemed to get the gist of it, wandering forward and scratching at the looser bits of rubble and earth at the wall. It had done this earlier when it tracked down that crystal, without the man's direction. It wasn't sure what the man's goal was, but digging was certainly in its nature. "That's it, Varus. Good dig", the man encouraged, beginning to work on his own space on the wall. The leopard wasn't sure how to reward the creature's efforts, but it gave him something to think about in the meantime. With some shovelfuls of loose rock and dirt, he was making good progress on making an indent in the wall to explore. Varus beside him had lost interest in excavating and was instead examining the shoveled bits of debris in case there was anything of interest there. "Varus. Dig, there", the man spoke up and pointed to his indent, seeing an opportunity to further this lesson.
101 -- Dig - 2
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Post by Xentus on Mar 4, 2021 20:05:22 GMT -6
Xentus had caught a glimmer of something already. Valuable or not, he was hoping the gargoyle would focus on it and excavate whatever it was lodged in the earth there. The creature looked up from the rock pile and stared at the man for a moment. It clicked its beak, then slowly made for the spot where he pointed. "Mhm. Dig", the warden encouraged with a nod, "Go on." Varus was rather uncertain of what the warden's goal here was, but it wasn't feeling like it was under some kind of scrutiny here. It did want to figure out what exactly the man was intending.. And seemed to realize when it saw the lodged gem. It could do this.. It put its claws to use and began digging around the glimmering spot. "Good dig, Varus!", Xentus praised, a toothy smile on his face. He kneeled down to get a better look at the creature's work.
102 -- Dig - 3
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Post by Xentus on Mar 4, 2021 20:14:59 GMT -6
But something about this kind of close proximity to the warden was.. Unnerving. The runic gargoyle peeked over its shoulder to see the man leaning in and watching it intently. Uncertain if whether the warden approved or not, Varus decided that backing out now would be better than continuing. It shied away, head ducking down low. "Oh, Varus you do well. Why stop?", the man gently cooed, tentatively giving the stone being a gentle pat on the head. If it could blush, it would've. But nothing about its stony face gave away its true feelings. "It is alright, dear Varus. Dig", the warden encouraged, pointing at the hole. The glimmer spot was nearly free from its confines, the work was nearly done. Xentus didn't want the gargoyle to stop here. It took a moment, but the stony creature seemed to regain the confidence to continue its excavating. The grating sound of claws on rock resumed.
103 -- Dig - 4
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Post by Xentus on Mar 4, 2021 20:31:36 GMT -6
The gargoyle's work was fast and efficient - the glimmery lump was freed within seconds of the creature starting its digging again. It clutched the red gem proudly, slowly turning to the leopard to show him what it had done. "Ah, what's this? Give, Varus", Xentus told it, holding a hand out for its quarry. And a small red gem was dropped into his grasp. It was rough and mostly opaque. His discerning eye was figuring it was either a carnelian or a ruby.. The deep hue was more like a ruby though. It would be appraised later. "Excellent work, Varus", the warden praised with a pleased grin, "This one will hold onto it for now, alright?" The gargoyle seemed impartial on the surface.. But did appreciate the praise. Once the gem was put away, work resumed. "Alright, let's continue. Dig, Varus", the man instructed, pointing at the halfhearted hole the creature had begun digging earlier.
104 -- Dig - 5
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Post by Xentus on Mar 4, 2021 20:42:38 GMT -6
"Varus can do better, right? Dig!", the man teased with a smirk. Even if the gargoyle couldn't understand him, it felt fulfilling to speak with it. The stony creature seemed to gather a bit of confidence and approached the shallow dent in the wall. It looked up at the man for a moment as if to confirm this was what he wanted. He gave a nod and the digging began again. There was no target, but it could tell there was something else here.. Buried deeper. If the warden liked the red rock, it might be able to impress him by finding more rocks like it. The leopard started digging into his own section of the wall with no real aim other than to see what might lay beneath the surface. The two kept at this digging, filling the chamber with echoes of scratching, shoveling, tinking, and thumps as the earth was scoured through.
105 -- Dig - 6
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Post by Kadin on Mar 5, 2021 12:45:35 GMT -6
After some effort, you unearth a pair of gems!
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Post by Xentus on Mar 5, 2021 13:52:06 GMT -6
It wasn't long before Xentus reached a point where the shovel no longer proved effective. Most of the rubble had been cleared away, leaving nothing but more solid stone to break through. Despite knowing that it was bound to happen eventually, the leopard let out a sigh. Time for the pick. After a quick tool swap, the man got to work swinging hard into the stone in an attempt to pierce or crack it. The granite was fairly tough, but nothing a little muscle couldn't manage. Beside him, Varus was having no trouble burrowing into the earth. It was most at home here after all. It occasionally paused to examine the various rocks that it unearthed, trying to consider if any were worth presenting to the warden. It could tell he preferred the more colorful kinds.. There was a particularly lumpy stone that was a little more blue here. Perhaps they would like it?
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Post by Xentus on Mar 5, 2021 13:57:51 GMT -6
The gargoyle picked up the rock and exited from the little hole it made, looking up at the warden expectantly. He seemed busy.. But it knew the man to be perceptive to whatever was going on directly near him. And it wasn't long before he noticed the distinct lack of scraping and scratching from the gargoyle. The leopard glanced over to see the dimly lit creature staring at him.. Holding a rock. Curious. Had it found something of interest? From first glance, the lumpy stone seemed to be just that, but the man held his hand out regardless. "What have you found there? Give", he told it gently, a soft smile resting on his muzzle. The expressionless gargoyle handed over the rock and stared, curious to see what the warden thought. Xentus looked it over and tried to find any interesting quality about the stone but.. It just seemed to be a little more blue than the rest.
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Post by Xentus on Mar 5, 2021 14:03:45 GMT -6
All things considered, blue minerals were a little more uncommon. Sapphire and lapis were the more famous blue gems. This rock was.. Neither of those. But if the gargoyle deemed it special somehow, he would keep it. "Excellent find, Varus. This one will keep it", he told the stone being, then went to stash it away with their other finds. On his return to his digging spot, he gave the gargoyle a pat on the head then resumed his work. Varus was elated, clicking his beaked mouth with delight. The warden approved! The warden enjoyed colorful rocks. With a goal now in mind to impress the man, the creature continued its digging, attempting to hone in on more special rocks like that one. Shiny ones were always of better favor, of course, but if it looked interesting enough, there would be no harm in showing it to the warden. And somehow, it was finding itself.. Enjoying this.
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