Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:40:20 GMT -6
Whoever had been digging in this particular cavern before them had done so after the melt-water of this spring, the sphinx summarized - in all the holes she had come across that were not their own, the surfaces were rough and detailed, still fresh from the tools used if only a little dusty. Flowstone came with water and water tended to smooth out the contours of surfaces as it effectively sanded over them. The minerals left behind, deposited to the bottom of such temporary streams and rivers, left behind a thin but smooth calcite layer, adding to the ‘buffered’ look of most older holes.
No doubt the previous miners were also able to walk away with a sizeable find, considering the room still had plenty of untouched surfaces. Or, contrariwise, perhaps they found nothing after digging several holes and simply gave up to find better prospects in another area. Regardless, the flowstone still held plenty of treasure to go around either way.
(28) Darky: 28 Ras Dashen: 82 (3/5) / 82 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:40:47 GMT -6
It was some time after Ras had begun the hole and wrestled with the ore blocking his way that something else began to come up from where he threw the debris over the edge. Rather than throwing up chunks of rock he now began to shovel up loose gravel and sand, mixed in with smaller pieces of rock. Darky paused in her inspection of another lump and ordered him to stop, helping the gargoyle come back out of the hole while she shone the flashlight down into it.
Ras had managed to, apparently, dig all the way through the shelf itself, reaching a completely different layers beneath the shelf and even the cavern floor (which, admittedly, wasn’t exactly all too different as the entire cavern was covered in the lime). What greeted her sight below that layer was not unlike an old riverbed, perhaps unearthed for the first time in a century, if the shelf’s thickness was any indication.
(29) Darky: 29 Ras Dashen: 82 (4/5) / 82 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:41:18 GMT -6
That was.. interesting. And potentially useful. “Good job, Ras,” the sphinx said, still staring down the hole curiously. As words translated into thoughts and passed down the ribbon, the gargoyle perked up, beaming with due pride. He might not run good (getting tired easily), he might not swim good (more like sinking) but if it was one thing he was built to do tirelessly and the best at, it was digging.
The hole was a good three to four feet deep, before it hit the sandy gravel layer, and while that particular layer was a potential font for a lot of things, there was a problem - has Ras had dug it, it was only so wide as to fit him, and even then, perhaps not most comfortably. Darky leaned on the edge of the hole, flashlight lightly tapping against her helmet in thought, until a decision was finally reached.
Ras, the gargoyle responded with a look towards her, as the sphinx motioned to an area next to the hole, Dig here. We need to make the hole wider.
(30) Darky: 30 Ras Dashen: 83 (0/5) / 83 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:41:45 GMT -6
As the gargoyle wordlessly and vigorously got to work, the mammalian was hardly going to be simply sitting by on the sidelines. Taping the flashlight back onto the hardhat and grabbing her pickaxe, she moved to another place next to the gargoyle and began to hack at the ground, sending splinters of rock flying upward. The mammalian had little hope in keeping up with the gargoyle’s speed in this, but that was why her position was intentionally beside him, so the three holes would form a more comfortable line, interconnected with one another. Ras would undoubtedly end up reaching the bottom of his first, but then the gargoyle could be redirected to widen the first two holes while the sphinx worked on the third.
Only some time into the endeavor the effort was beginning to show, as the mammalian paused briefly and rubbed her shoulder. Unlike the gargoyle she had but one hand to work with - the one holding the pickaxe - while he was able to use the claws on both front legs to work his way through the rock.
(31) Darky: 31 Ras Dashen: 83 (1/5) / 83 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:42:25 GMT -6
Rolling the shoulder and cracking her neck, she returned to work, however, dead-set on not falling all too much behind. The tandem work ensued for almost half an hours, with a good dent made in both holes. In the process, the gargoyle had hit another hard spot, though this time instead of viridian, the pesky undiggable layer had turned out to be that of gold.
Actual gold, this time. Not pyrite, not copper, not any of the other shiny yellow materials. The sphinx paused to admire the lump once she had finished cleaning it and thought back to when last she’d find gold in the mines. She had certainly bought up ingots of gold or even ore at the marketplace, but gold as a find in the mountains seemed like a rare, and distant, memory. In a way it was almost funny - here she was working and labouring and held within her hand a lump that back home could make a servant a small lord.
(32) Darky: 32 Ras Dashen: 83 (2/5) / 83 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:42:54 GMT -6
At least, if the ore was pure enough, that was. Until she took it to the Workshop or the underground, there was no knowing, however. All the same, the dichotomy of such a small item having such profound sense of wealth back home as opposed to more a mild reception in the Labs perhaps showed the differences in the cultures and ways of thinking. She could turn this into the most beautiful piece of jewellery ever and it would hardly catch a glance in the City.
But back home wearing the jewellery could cause people to mistake you for royalty. Such was the world.
With the gold placed in the barrel, the mammalian turned her focus back to her hole. Ras had done a decent job of throwing a bunch of debris up from his side, and other than sweeping it a little more clear of the hole so the gargoyle doesn't end up buried again should it shift, the mammalian figured to sort through that at a later time.
(33) Darky: 33 Ras Dashen: 83 (3/5) / 83 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:43:22 GMT -6
By and large the two mostly focused on digging their respective holes, to widen the hollow so it would be comfortable to get to the bottom layer. With the mammalian digging her hole more closer to the slanting flowstone shelf’s edge, it was technically at an incline, meaning if the layer below was equally steady then her hole would need less digging. It didn’t change the fact that, after half an hour, the gargoyle was already ahead of her by almost a foot.
Darky told herself not to focus on the bits she lodged loose and tossed over the edge into her own (admittedly smaller) pile of debris, but then, she also couldn't help just occasionally stopping to look through some of the larger chunks.. just in case, she told herself, before returning her attention fully to digging. Most of the time it was nothing, or simply too obscure to make out details of, since the flowstone was still a milky tan through and through.
(34) Darky: 34 Ras Dashen: 83 (4/5) / 83 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:44:11 GMT -6
One unexpected moment, though, it wasn’t. The pickaxe hit a lump of rock in the side of the wall and a reverberation went up the mammalian’s arm as it hit something definitely more dense than simple stone. Shaking her hand, the sphinx suppressed an ‘ow’, as to not cause Ras some undue concern, before leaning in to take a closer look. The dent in the rock where the blade of the pick had hit glinted back brightly, like glass.
No, not like glass, like the other two from before, though in a more reddish hue. Metal, Darky recognized and stood to lean out of the hole, grabbing for her chisel. Tapping and scraping her way around it, the rock was lodged loose and cleaned up a little bit. It didn’t take an expert to realize it was copper - the reddish hue was ringed in parts by a bit of green - oxidation - and while it was denser than the rock, it wasn’t entirely harder, which explained why the pick had dug so deep into it in the swing.
(35) Darky: 35 Ras Dashen: 84 (0/5) / 84 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:44:39 GMT -6
The blemished didn’t exactly win it any Prettiest Ore awards, but being metal, it ultimately made little matter - in the end the lump would be melted down into an uniform ingot regardless, with all the impurities filtered out. Hefting herself up and out of the hole, she went and deposited the ore piece into the barrel.
The duo continued, and as expected, the gargoyle reached the gravel and sand layer long before the mammalian. Darky had about a half of the way still to go, when Ras dislodged the last larger rock piece and tossed it out of the hole. He then proceeded to sit in the middle of the hole and look up to the mammalian, tail ever so slightly ticking back and forth behind him. Gargoyles weren’t much for emotional expression, outward or inward, but there was a distinct sense of expectancy.
Darky paused, wiping her brow (the sweat was mostly in the palms and soles of her feet, but the skin could still heat up beneath the fur all the same) and smiled tiredly, “Good job, Ras.”
And that was enough for him.
(36) Darky: 36 Ras Dashen: 84 (1/5) / 84 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:45:13 GMT -6
Darky reached out, sore as her arms were and scratched the top of his head affectionately. Do you want to keep going?
Excitement filled the gargoyle, Yes. Yes. Yes. There was almost a wiggle to his posture.
Alright, you have finished the hole, but I need you to widen it a little more. The mammalian carefully shuffled into the hole, tight in space as it was even though she was still standing half-way out. Motioning to the sides, she explained to him to just keep digging horizontal, in even layers, so there would be more room. The gargoyle hardly needed guidance in digging, though he sometimes needed specifications of parameters in which to do it in, and got to work.
That sorted, the sphinx returned to her own side of the hole, semi-done as it was and resumed. Just a little more, she told her aching shoulders, and the bottom would greet them. Then the harder, heavier work was done and she could sit down and sort through the rocks.
(37) Darky: 37 Ras Dashen: 84 (2/5) / 84 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:45:47 GMT -6
It would be another half hour before the mammalian would even get close to the bottom, though Ras’ second hole certainly helped give her swings more space and impact, making for better angles. A few of the hits managed to strike previous cracks and fissures, long since filled and covered by more flowstone, but making for weak points none the less. Hauling those pieces out was a hardy job, and some had to be even broken down a little before that to make it possible.
The pickaxe hit the stone deep, finding another crack and a different sort of jolt went up the mammalian’s arm. The force threw her backwards, over the gargoyle’s head and out of the hole as a blinding flash filled the dark cavern. With a clatter of tools, hardhat and pickaxe, the mammalian landed heavily on her back among the debris pile, sending it scattering all over.
Ras’ head shot up from the hole, quickly flicking between the area the sphinx had stood and the messy pile she now lay groaning, alarmed but unable to understand why.
(38) Darky: 38 Ras Dashen: 84 (3/5) / 84 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:46:30 GMT -6
Help? he tentatively guesstimated, and when it took the mammalian too long to answer, he scrambled up out of the hole. Help! Help! he skid towards her.
Darky blinked, head spinning and lights dancing in front of her eyes. Her back hurt and her arm tingled weirdly, thought a quick internal self-check seemed to promise nothing was seriously injured. When the world swam back into focus, so did her ability to rationalize and she slowly sat up, rapidly shaking her head. The gargoyle was in her face almost immediately, and she had to fight him off for a few seconds, gently pushing him back down with assurances and telling him to calm down.
When Ras finally did settle, she raised her arm and looked it over. The tingling had moved from the arm to the back of her head and felt familiar. A pale glow played along the fibers of her skin, reminiscent of something though she couldn’t quite place it.
..Until she did.
(39) Darky: 39 Ras Dashen: 84 (4/5) / 84 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 6:47:19 GMT -6
Staring ahead when realization finally hit, she scrambled to her feet and back down into the hole. Along the way she grabbed for a chisel and the mallet from a little further off. The flashlight shone brightly against the gleaming stone, but for this, she turned it off, being left in the dim edge of the crystal torch’s range. In its stead the crack which the pickaxe had made had a small, faint, hazy glow coming from beneath.
Ras watched on the edge, defensive and hackled, as much as a stone body could, seeming to dare the rock to try something again, as the mammalian ever so carefully began to chip away at the crack, exposing the glow piece by piece, chip by careful chip, and making sure never to let the chisel stray into the glow itself.
A solid ten minutes of detailed work passed before she finally reached in and gently removed the sharp, bringing it up out of the hole and letting in illuminate the surrounding area - a light crystal.
(40) Darky: 40 - (added) Ras Dashen: 85 (0/5) / 85 (0/5)
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Post by Jack on Sept 28, 2019 7:14:00 GMT -6
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Sept 28, 2019 8:28:51 GMT -6
The auspicious moment of revealing the crystal ended up derailed by the less than auspicious clattering coming from nearby. At first the sphinx thought that perhaps someone else was coming down the main tunnel and they might have dropped something, or someone got followed into the mines by a band of familiars, but the more the two listened, the more on edge Ras went and the greater the dawning on the sphinx that this was not a 'nice' kind of noise.
With crystal still in hand she hoisted herself up from the hole, gargoyle in tow and the two went to find the source. It was a small side-tunnel that snaked and wound its way tightly to another little cavern, which was where the two became witness to a scuffle of some sort. At first the mammalian and gargoyle hung back, tucked behind a wall, simply observing. Gemlings.. Ras almost sneered in his mind. It wasn't an exact translation, but the best the ribbon could put forward the concept the gargoyle held of the gem familiar family. His annoyance was also palpable. Had he more of a vocabulary, he would have told of many tales of how in the past these squabbling little wrenches and thieves would constantly harry him and other gargoyles, trying to snatch their well-earned digs. The gargoyles were larger, but the gem familiars were many.
Ras' annoyance aside, things were looking to take a nastier turn, so the mammalian decided to intervene. From where she was, a distance from the squabble, she turned on the flashlight and shone a spotlight on the two familiars, "Hey!"
(41) Darky: 41 Ras Dashen: 85 (1/5) / 85 (1/5)
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