|
Post by Emery on Mar 15, 2024 10:11:23 GMT -6
Plus, there was no telling what was in it. She wasn't speaking about cave monsters of course- though she realized that in The Labs City, that was always a possibility. But primarily she was concerned about things like infectious bacteria or acidic or poisonous chemicals. Both of which were very common in the mines- it was easy for these sorts of things to get slowly concentrated in a body of water over time, only to screw over whoever was unfortunate (or dumb enough) to step in them. Especially considering that this water seemed to be dripping from somewhere onto the ground instead of coming from an underground spring. That meant the water wasn't flowing and wasn't necessarily being replaced at a rate high enough to clear out any contaminants. She cringed- best to keep a wide berth. She tugged on Moxie's lead, dragging him away from it. "That means you too." She scolded.
Emery 2 Moxie 36.2/36.2 12
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 15, 2024 10:17:15 GMT -6
She kept walking through the cave, keeping an eye out for more puddles. In some spots they were unavoidable- the whole area was very damp, and there was a thin sheen of water over everything. Luckily, Emery's boots would keep her safe from the worst of it, and Moxie... well, she would just have to hope he was hardy enough to withstand it. As of yet however, nothing in particular seemed very valuable. She could see some signs of human activity here before. Boreholes were carved into the wall, deep and dark with the edges all sharp and ragged in pointed contrast to the smoothed, water-rounded shapes of the other rocks in the cave. Sometimes a stalactite or stalagmite would be broken off, perhaps by accident. And every so often Emery's headlight caught a flash of fluorescent paint, a marker sprayed onto the wall in the dark, presumably for navigation's sake.
Emery 3 Moxie 36.3/6.3 13
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 15, 2024 10:23:43 GMT -6
It was likely there to help the miners that first explored this place find their way back throughout the winding tunnels. Emery had a good sense of direction however, and she was specifically trying to find a place NOT touched by anyone in the mines so far. So she would have to find a spot far from this place. Unfortunately, the more she walked, the more signs of prior mining she saw. Now she saw chunks taken out of the wall, and on the floor- tiny scraps of crystal. She picked some up in her hand, but couldn't identify. Quartz? Agate? She couldn't be sure. There were some small clusters that remained, but they were all too badly damaged to be worth anything. Whereas they once might have resembled a small bushel of flowers a mere inch or so across, they were now cracked and broken in half before being thrown to the ground.
Emery 4 Moxie 36.4/36.4 14
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 15, 2024 10:25:57 GMT -6
"What a waste." Emery muttered to herself. Whole, they might not have been worth much, but they would have been worth SOMETHING. Emery could have gone through this cave like a gleaner after a harvest of grain, picking out the scraps that the main crew had felt weren't valuable enough to be worth keeping. But it looked like even those pieces were destroyed now. Probably not on purpose, as mining equipment wasn't gentle, but still the destruction was whole. Emery kept picking around though, looking for anything salvageable. She found a few somewhat intact crystals, or at least ones big enough that they could be carved into something smaller but more appealing, and put them in the cart. It wasn't a lot though- more likely just a few credits worth. And certainly not enough to justify the trip down here. She would have to keep searching- but at least she had a lot of ground she could cover.
Emery 5 Moxie 37.0/37.0 15
|
|
|
Post by Silver on Mar 17, 2024 19:41:51 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 10:04:36 GMT -6
She had to keep moving, to keep working, but Emery also had to admit that she felt an... itch, of some sort. She was sure it was just frustration building up- a moment later she took a deep breath to calm herself, and that seemed to work... or perhaps she was just telling herself it was. Either way, she got back to work, gleaning the floor of the cave for valuable scraps. Moxie took a look too, though he didn't seem to understand what they were looking for. He was just doing it because it seemed to be the hot thing to do right now. Emery didn't find much like that- few more shards of crystal, and still with that irritating feeling in her head. She still didn't pay it much mind though- something about the cave air. At least she was watching her step however, as she nearly fell over a moment later.
Emery 6 Moxie 37.1/37.1 16
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 10:22:27 GMT -6
Emery sucked in a deep breath as she stumbled backwards. Moxie rushed over to help her- he didn't know what was going on, same as usual, but he was always quick to respond when Emery was in distress. She had been walking slowly forward when she almost fumbled herself right into an underground stream, a foot or so away from where her foot was. A simple slip on the water that was omnipresent on every surface down here, and she would have been into the drink. That was bad for a lot of reasons. First of all, she was mostly electronics by this point. Electronics famously didn't mesh well with water. MAYBE she could afford to go in the water up to mid-calf, but no higher. Past that, various servos would start shorting out, and she would find herself quite unable to move- except maybe to painfully drag herself across the floor.
Emery 7 Moxie 37.2/37.2 17
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 10:27:32 GMT -6
There would be no hope of her getting back out again if she did that, though she was sure Moxie would take advantage of the free meal her corpse provided before terrorizing the rest of the mines. The other issue was that even if she WAS capable of swimming, these streams could be a lot deeper than they looked. Water this fast tended to carve deep holes in rock very quickly, which meant what looked like a pleasant, narrow stream could be over ten feet deep and faster than one's maximum running speed. If she put a foot in it, she could be pulled under and killed very, very quickly. She breathed heavily for a moment, grasping Moxie's neck for support. He seemed concerned to say the least, but soon lifted his head upwards again, which had the added the side effect of finally bringing Emery to her feet. "...Thank you." She said, after a moment's hesitation.
Emery 8 Moxie 37.3/37.3 18
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 10:38:37 GMT -6
She brushed herself off, considering her next move. Gleaning wasn't getting her too far, but... well, she took a look at what she knew. These streams could be very deep. Quickly, she walked over to where a stalagmite had been knocked over by someone else's mining venture. It was a heavy, solid chunk of rock. As she was, she could barely lift it off the ground. It was thin- about the width of a baseball bat at its widest point- but long, nearly six feet. She dragged it over to the stream and put one end in, letting it sink down. Sure enough, the stream hungrily lapped up the entire length. Emery attempted to pull it back out but her hands slipped, and it quickly sunk into the underground stream entirely with barely a splash to show where it once was. She shuddered- that could have been her if she had been less careful.
Emery 9 Moxie 37.4/37.4 19
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 10:40:41 GMT -6
But it did confirm that this was the kind of stream she had been thinking of. The kind that could kill, yes, but were also very powerful- pounding away at the rock and ripping chunks of it off as it made its way along. That meant that it was essentially a natural rock tumbler. Anything it pulled off would be smoothed sooner rather than later, and more resistant materials- such as gemstones- would fare the best. Weaker materials would just get pounded to sand. That meant that if she could find a place where the stream was more shallow and where it didn't flow as quickly, then she could potentially pan the depths of it and find whatever it had managed to pry off of its own walls. It was an idea with a lot of merit, in her opinion. With that in mind, she snapped her fingers for Moxie to follow her.
Emery 10 Moxie 38.0/38.0 20
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 13:56:32 GMT -6
Their progress was slow, but at least Emery had a sense of direction now, instead of digging around in someone else's leftovers and hoping to find something. If she was right, it would be a very easy source of gemstones. Sure enough, as they followed the stream they found that those neon markers along the wall faded, and she stopped seeing signs of people mining. There were no more holes out of the wall, rough chunks of rock, or broken stalactites. Instead, it was just her and the sound of rushing water. The stream did start widening out a bit, though there was still nothing that she could really call a "shore" alongside it. It did make it easier to see and avoid though- even Moxie was keeping his distance now. Other than that, there were no visible changes to the water or its speed- she just had to hope it would pan out.
Emery 11 Moxie 38.1/38.1 21
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 14:06:58 GMT -6
After a while, Emery stopped to let Moxie drink. She was still suspicious of trusting the water down here, but it was her own fault for not bringing her own supply for her pet to drink. The stream water was likely safer than a still pool though- the water had to be flowing from somewhere to somewhere, so it was getting regularly changed out with fresh water. Moxie was good to go- so long as he didn't fall in. As a creature of fire however, he knew better than to go hopping in freezing cold water. Instead he simply took a gentle sip, taking just a few seconds for himself before he was ready to go again. Emery gave him a quick pat on the shoulder and they were off again, making their way slowly downhill. Despite the length of the stream, Emery noticed that the cave hadn't shrunk significantly either.
Emery 12 Moxie 38.2/38.2 22
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 14:11:45 GMT -6
This must be an enormous cave then- she and her kito had been walking for nearly twenty minutes by this point, with no sign of other people around them. If she turned her headlamp to her left, away from the stream, she could still just barely see the far wall. And if she turned her head to the right, she could see across the stream, but eventually the light petered out... except for a strange glint. Emery stopped and leaned forward a bit. The glint shifted- was it a gem of some sort? But- no wait, why would it be moving then. Emery stepped back a bit, placing her hand on Moxie's shoulder, as if instinctually urging him to protect her even though she couldn't seem to find her voice right now. As she watched, an enormous gem wyrm crept out of the depths of the cave, the light from Emery's headlamp reflecting off of its facets.
Emery 13 Moxie 38.3/38.3 23
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 14:17:40 GMT -6
Most gem wyrms were small, but this one was huge by comparison- holding its head up, it nearly came up to Emery's knee, and it must have been around ten feet long. She couldn't place the kind of gem- some sort of pale green. And now that it had spotted Emery, it had started moving. Fast. "Moxie!" She said, backing up as it approached. Even though it didn't have legs, she couldn't outrun it- she wasn't fast enough for that. And that stone body- it would be incredibly resistant to Moxie's acidic saliva and fire breath. She'd have to hope her kito could simply outmuscle it... and even then, she wasn't too sure of her odds. Her heart was beating at a speed she hadn't felt it do so for a long time, and she heard an alarm shriek somewhere as her support machinery started injecting medication to get it under control.
Emery 14 Moxie 38.4/38.4 24
|
|
|
Post by Emery on Mar 18, 2024 14:23:58 GMT -6
If it didn't, well... she figured her odds weren't great if she started going into cardiac arrest several hundred feet under the ground. She knew the mines could be dangerous, but she had thusfar been mostly focused on the material dangers. Poison, cave-ins, getting lost. She had forgotten about the very real fauna that stalked the depths. Moxie croaked loudly as the beast approached. Its body clinked against the ground as it slithered with a sound she'd find pretty, like windchimes, were it not for the fact that it was very much trying to kill her. For food or territoriality she could not know, but it took all of Emery's effort to not simply collapse from surprise. Moxie took a stance, but then at the very last second turned around. Emery was about to be shocked and horrified at her pet for turning tail and running, but it turned out that turning tail was all he was doing.
Emery 15 Moxie 39.0/39.0 25
|
|