Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 2, 2023 5:01:00 GMT -6
It wasn't that help was difficult to accept (well, okay, sometimes it was), but more so that the sphinx felt like she was the responsible one in the situation. After all, the gargoyle followed her suit into the tunnels, her instructions and her plans. The fact those plans has a rather rumbelous disaster happen wasn't something she controlled, but something she had to none the less get them back out of.
And yet, the hollow eyes of the gargoyle brokered no argument. And, if she was being honest, her mind was getting a bit too tired to try as well.. So perhaps, this once, she could just allow them to ride the wave of whichever chaos washes into them next, assuming they aren't able to make it out before that.
"Alright.." she said finally with a sigh, "You can pull the cart. Just.. just let me know if you're getting tired, alright?" and she moved back over to the harness. Ras beamed, as much as a creature of black rock could, and padded on over so the mammalian could reattach the leads.
Now, then. Going forward. The sphinx looked ahead of them, then to the side at the giant gap Grant had made. Or perhaps.. going sideways?
(287) Darky: 287 Ras Dashen: 134 (2/5) / 134 (2/5) Grant: 2 (2/5) / 2 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 2, 2023 5:13:21 GMT -6
Even in her tiredness, there was a sense of curiosity. She'd never seen any trace of a giant tunnel worm before, much less encountered one.. While Grant's head wasn't necessarily larger than her, the tunnel certainly was. This lead her to suspect the vibrations she'd been sensing through the air when he first emerged were likely a means for the worms to cut through rock and earth, without, strictly speaking, 'cutting' though..
So, to that end, what had the tunnel worm been doing before the collapse below? And where else might these tunnels lead? While her flashlight's sight didn't extend terribly far into the gloom, she could tell that the tunnel extended quite a distance. Most likely it would interject with other tunnels down the line, or it could snake its way through to whole other areas. Some potentially even completely undisturbed by miners, if they were deep enough?
It was a tantalizing thought, an amazing adventure experiment, and dangerously tempting.. Any other day and she would have made the decision to explore it without hesitation.
As things were, she was on the brink of exhaustion on a very real mental level, the gargoyle was likely far more tired than he let on, and.. well, there was also the giant tunnel worm now part of their company to consider.
(288) Darky: 288 Ras Dashen: 134 (3/5) / 134 (3/5) Grant: 2 (3/5) / 2 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 2, 2023 5:49:32 GMT -6
As fun as it would have been to see Grant in proper action, cutting a clear line through the mountains, she rather suspected his instinct was to aim more for the deeper parts than the surface.. Perhaps another day, though. She could still return with him at some point, for a certain degree of scientific curiosity, if nothing else.. And it's not like the tunnel he made will necessarily go away, short of there being another collapse. So if she can remember the general path back here, they could still have the best of both worlds?
Well, at some point. A very, very specific point in a long ways into the future, if she can help it. The outside world would be the sweetest thing in a while to her mind in this particular moment of time, and there's pretty strong suspicious she'll not likely leave it behind for a time once they get top-side.
So instead, despite the temptation, the sphinx indicates for the gargoyle to continue down the smoother tunnel, same as they were before. The cart lurches into action, beginning its slow rattling towards the slight incline, as the gargoyle passes her still standing at the mouth of the fresh cave.
(289) Darky: 289 Ras Dashen: 134 (4/5) / 134 (4/5) Grant: 2 (4/5) / 2 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 2, 2023 5:54:46 GMT -6
The sphinx is about to turn and follow after, when something catcher her sight among the rubble. Crouching down, she brushes aside some of the rock dust to reveal a pinkish translucent rock. Well, it's not an ore, so chances that it was hoarded by the familiars seems slim. She gently plucks it out from between the rest of the rubble and inspects it against the flashlight - clear, strong colour, fairly few inclusions.. Would make for a fine inset for a necklace, if she ever decided to get it made into one.
For now, though, she pockets it into her jacket, not really wishing to cause Ras to stop the momentum he's built on the heavy cart. With a few quick steps, she's caught up to both, and places her hands on the back of the cart, to help push it along at least a little. There's still a ways to go, with no hint of outside light shining down the tunnel, but she keeps reminding herself that every step gets them that much closer.
Behind them, the air shifts as the reverberations pick up again, and it's not until a few moments later that the mammalian realizes the giant worm seems to have awoken from its rest and is not following them. Slowly, though.. as if just keeping up (which is a relief considering for half a second she assumed he might try to eat them after all).
(290) Darky: 290 - (added) Ras Dashen: 135 (0/5) / 135 (0/5) Grant: 3 (0/5) / 3 (0/5)
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Post by Nadia on Aug 2, 2023 6:08:34 GMT -6
What an interesting spiral shape.
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 3, 2023 1:43:55 GMT -6
This doesn't necessarily make the sensation of being followed by a giant worm any less worrisome. To be sure, having something with Grant's size and natural digging talent around would be very useful, but she also doesn't quite know how that could be made to be applicable.. A bit like trying to shout a command at an unruly sarane - they might respect you, up to a certain point, sure, but at the end of the day they're still twice your size, with three times the teeth and claws, and a general penchant for being quarrelsome.
The fact any of the creatures listen to her ever continues to be a miracle she's quite appreciative of every day.
Another problem being that as far as she remembers the tunnel worms weren't necessarily the brightest bunch. Admittedly, neither was Ras, but the worms even more so, which was already saying some. So any training they did would have to factor that in, and she'd have to hope there would even be a park yard left afterwards should things go awry (As opposed to mostly a giant tunnel or a hole in the ground, approximately Grant-sized).
Well, if anything then perhaps getting Grant to pull the cart might make their life a little easier right now..
(291) Darky: 291 Ras Dashen: 135 (1/5) / 135 (1/5) Grant: 3 (1/5) / 3 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 3, 2023 1:49:00 GMT -6
Adrenaline's a funny thing.. it can elevate your physical and mental capacity to extraordinary states in times of crisis.. but it also comes with the cost of exhaustion afterwards. Even as the mammalian pushed, she could feel the ache in hands and feet, much less her back, steadily increasing the more that initial rush got further and further behind them. In truth she didn't even think to have any adrenaline left, after the whole cave-in situation, followed by teeth-clenching composure, and general escape attempts.
And yet here they were.
In the distance the tunnel came to a bend, snaking further to the right. Still no glimmer of light, nor support beams to suggest they were close to the usual entrances of the Mines, though.. It didn't necessarily mean they weren't close to the surface, however, just that whichever part of the mountain this path lead was going to be a little outside the usual main entrance (It wouldn't be the first time she'd emerge to a completely different mountain side, and having to do some fairly impressive triangulation based on vegetation and geography to get the tat-lung to find them).
Well, at least if they happen to run into a wall, with no clear exit to the outside, there was the worm to make an opening.
(292) Darky: 292 Ras Dashen: 135 (2/5) / 135 (2/5) Grant: 3 (2/5) / 3 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 3, 2023 1:55:12 GMT -6
The bend in the tunnel got closer, and the gargoyle's claws began to echo back as they neared it, getting reflected by the now forward facing wall. At least the tunnel itself was pretty broad and wide, leaving well enough space to avoid that claustrophobic sense of entrapment by environment. It also meant that the tunnel worm wouldn't have to cut his way through in any particular sense, although at certain points even Grant had to duck his head down, lest he hit it against a lone hanging stalactite.
At the bend, the gargoyle carefully navigated the cart to turn, and then promptly stopped. The sphinx kept pushing for a few more steps, before realizing the effort became more than before and paused as well, looking ahead.
"Ras? What is it?"
The gargoyle's head remained fixed to the rest of the tunnel before them. Rock, he said, in that simple manner where it could mean several different things based on context. In this case, as the mammalian walked up from behind the cart and shone the flashlight forward, a very literal interpretation - ahead of them, the tunnel was crossed by a line of rocks, big and small, enough to obstruct the way through.
(293) Darky: 293 Ras Dashen: 135 (3/5) / 135 (3/5) Grant: 3 (3/5) / 3 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 3, 2023 2:00:02 GMT -6
Although 'obstruct' wasn't necessarily accurate - the mammalian and gargoyle could cross it easy.. if they were on foot alone. But because they had the cart with them, the rocks were a bit too jagged and a bit too high for it to simple roll over them. Likewise, it was too heavy by this point to also try and lift..
Looks like digging was still on the agenda, for at least a little while longer.
With a resigned sigh, the sphinx pulled the pickaxe from the holster on the cart and unclipped Ras from the reign. "Alright, let's just.. cut a path through.. what ever made this." Which was honestly a solid question, and one that soon found an answer.
When the mammalian and gargoyle were close enough, she could see an opening in either side of the tunnel's walls, not unlike the on Grant had made with his fairly grand entrance. The rocks, then, looked to have simply been the debris from the entry and exit gaps on the walls, ending up littering the path between them. For a moment the mammalian glanced back towards the worm, eyebrow rising. Just how long did he end up travelling with those shards in his sides?
(294) Darky: 294 Ras Dashen: 135 (4/5) / 135 (4/5) Grant: 3 (4/5) / 3 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 3, 2023 2:06:10 GMT -6
And more to the point, how long would he have continued to do so, if they hadn't had their little run-in? Suddenly, she felt quite bad for the tunnel worm, at the idea that he might not have run into anyone at all and remained stuck with that pain.
Hindsight could sometimes be both kind and cruel, one could say.
In the here and now, while Grant's help would certainly clear them a path quicker, the mammalian isn't.. really sure how to go about instructing him into doing that. So for now, the manual method it is. Her with her pickaxe, Ras with his claws, the two start to shift, move and crack apart the rocks blocking the path, making themselves a little stretch to squeeze the cart through. It's not a long job, considering even Grant is only able to create tunnels so wide, and thus the splatter of debris only so broad, but it none the less takes time.
Which isn't to say it isn't rewarding along the way - when cracking apart one of the larger stones and bushing half of it aside, the sphinx noticed a strange (but also familiar) looking spiral motif embedded in the rock's remaining half. Another fossil, though much larger than the previous one.
(295) Darky: 295 Ras Dashen: 136 (0/5) / 136 (0/5) Grant: 4 (0/5) / 4 (0/5)
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Post by Nadia on Aug 3, 2023 4:15:39 GMT -6
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 13, 2023 9:43:44 GMT -6
Dropping the pickaxe, the mammalian crouched down and brushed away some of the dirt and dust. Most fossils come in one of two conditions: fairly intact or barely assembled. Fortunately for them, it looks like this one was inset into some pretty hard rock around it, so even Grant's grand entrance and exit through the tunnel hadn't really damaged it too much. The rock around it? Slightly different story..
When the gargoyle paused, giving her a curious look, the mammalian waved him onwards, "Keep going, I'll just be a moment. Need to chisel this one out." With a practised nod, the gargoyle turned and continued pushing the rocks around, breaking any that didn't want to budge.
A quick trip to the cart and the sphinx was soon back with a pair of tools - chisel and the trusty hammer. Well.. more a mallet, in truth, but the use of the tool was much the same. Grabbing the rock, the mammalian dragged it to a more stable ground, and gently turned around to see what angles of approach they had to work with. Some of the stuff at the back of it could be already cleared with a pickaxe, it looked like.. but the finer details still came down to the chisel.
(296) Darky: 296 Ras Dashen: 136 (1/5) / 136 (1/5) Grant: 4 (1/5) / 4 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 13, 2023 9:49:28 GMT -6
So she began to first chip away at the rock using the pickaxe, careful to keep the strikes short and precise, in order to avoid any cracks forming and running through it. Whatever combination of stone this was, it gave away to the pickaxe fairly easily, which perhaps explained why Grant was able to leave such a considerable debris field when passing through. The tunnel worm seemed ever patient to remain half-coiled near the cart, although the expression almost made the mammalian suspect the mind was.. perhaps a bit emptier than the usual mining familiar.
Having a giant tunnel worm would certainly make traversing the tunnels a lot easier, especially if you simply just end up creating them in the process.. but training one? Well, that might be a bit trickier than she imagined.
Focusing back on the task, she finished up with the pickaxe and set it aside again, hefting the much smaller version of the lump onto a nearby boulder to give herself something of a work space. The chisel hadn't even touched the rock yet, when suddenly Ras showed up at her side, something green in his mouth.
Find, he indicated with a quick bob of the head.
(297) Darky: 297 Ras Dashen: 136 (2/5) / 136 (2/5) Grant: 4 (2/5) / 4 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 13, 2023 10:00:34 GMT -6
Darky blinked, looking over to her side, as a bit of turquoise was ceremoniously deposited onto the rock next to her. Sure, finding gemstones and other such minerals was largely why they came down to the mountain to begin with. Even so, she had approached this stretch of debris as more an obstacle to get through, than a chance to find anything. And now there was both an unfinished fossil in front of her, and small piece of gemstone next to it.
Remembering herself, the sphinx quickly smiled and nodded to Ras, "Good work. I'll take it to the cart once this one's done as well. Keep going and let me know if you come across anything else." The gargoyle bowed the head again, a mimicked motion to her own mannerisms, before turning around and padding off towards where the clear was left off.
Refocusing on the fossil again, the mammalian turned it around to start working on the back half, before pausing. Something about the surface of the rock was a bit.. different. Nothing that was evident after the pickaxe had left the usual scores on it, but once it was cleaned up a little, the white streaks in one area were a bit paler than the rest.
(298) Darky: 298 Ras Dashen: 136 (3/5) / 136 (3/5) Grant: 4 (3/5) / 4 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Aug 13, 2023 10:04:48 GMT -6
Suspicion rising, the mammalian picked up the chisel and made a few small intents into the middle of the area. And sure enough, the white looked to be only a thin layer covering something, as suddenly she saw a purple colour show up. A colour filled with a lot of inclusions.. which seemed to suggest this wasn't just a gemstone in its own right, but rather she was looking at a geode stuck to the backside of the fossil.
Well.. she had hoped to shave off some of the rock to make it lighter, but given how close both were to each other, there was no sense in trying to break them apart down here in the dark.. Later on, back home, when she'd rested and had better tools, perhaps. For now, she gave a deep sigh, before standing, picking up the lump of rock with a small heave, and beginning to haul it back to the cart.
The more things were added to it, the harder it was getting out of here, what with the extra weight, even with Ras' durability. The mammalian had half a mind to try and lash the cart to Grant's tail, on the off chance he wont notice and might end up pulling it along absent-mindedly..
(299) Darky: 299 Ras Dashen: 136 (4/5) / 136 (4/5) Grant: 4 (4/5) / 4 (4/5)
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