Metals and Mushrooms - RPLOG
Participants
Date
14/3/480
Log
There is a grizzled old armadillo at the meeting point, deep in the quarry. Luminous crystals provide faint, ambient light, but most of the local light comes from a small lantern the old being carries. Nearby, an old, but sturdy looking elevator with a complex rope and pulley system hangs over an open mine shaft.
Siyu adjusts his gloves and makes sure everything is on tight, boots, gloves and leather armor is all prepared and ready to go. His long hair tied back in a braid, "Well then, this is exciting isn't it. Exploring new and potentially unique things deep in the heart of Promise." he tries to sound encouraging as he looks over the elevator system.
Angus grunts in answer, his weapons belt jingling from his movements as his eyes take in the passage in the light from his torch. "Last time I went exploring we almost got eaten. Should be interesting." He answers cryptically, stopping near the Armadillo to tip his cavalier hat in greeting. "Evening, you were the one that put up the job paper at the freeswords?"
"Don't you worry none about that old lift," the armadillo chuckles, "Sturdy as stone, she is. And you boys are in the right place." The old miner, for surely that is what he is, taps on the supports of the elevator and grins. "Nah, trouble comes from deeper down. Sent a fella down there a couple of days ago and he came back up raving about rainbows and fairies and such. Me'n the boys, well, we'd like to open this old shaft back up for business, but this is sounding like one of them Spirit-y things has gone and moved in! Just like that other place down the way." He waves a hand vaguely toward the giant mushroom forest.
Siyu nods a bit to Angus, "Well almost getting eaten is better than getting eaten, so you have that going for you." he says with a salute to Angus. He looks back over to the Armadillo, "Raving mad huh? Could be a bad case of mine gas or something." he purses his lips and considers, though at the mention of the spirty things he looks back over to said mushroom forest, "Or right, we're in a forest of mushrooms, that could do it too." he looks back at Angus, "What do you think?"
Angus turns to investigate the mushrooms, guess he had missed that as a brow raises. "What in the creators name have I missed recently?" He asks bluntly, before stopping himself to pursue these thoughts before he turns around. "Nope, don't bother. One situation at a time. If it's a spirt thing then all we need to do is be cautious." He juggles his gear a bit, passing the torch to his right hand while gripping his staff of Ser'ther in his left quietly.
There are a few yellow, slightly luminous mushrooms here near the shaft, but nothing like in other parts of the odd cavern. "Anyway," the armadillo says, "We just need you boys to head down there and make sure that the place is safe and not too. . . y'know. . . other worldly, I guess. If'n it's just mushrooms or somethin' we can work around that."
Siyu nods to Angus, "Well there could be worse things in caves them mushrooms right?" he chuckles at the Armadillo, attempting to keep things jovial, though he does look a little concerned. "Still I'm sure we can handle it, after all, we're quite well equipped for anything that might come along." he turns back to the elevator.
Angus was already stepping up onto the elevator, sighing a little as he grips the staff tightly. "Right, lets get this over with." He comments, trying to hide the fact that the elevator itself was making him more nervous then dealing with a spirit.
The Armadillo nods and moves to the heavy winch system. "You boys all set?" he asks, then without waiting for an affirmative, he starts to lower the cab down the shaft.
It is only moments before the narrow mineshaft is dark, aside from a tiny square of light above, and Angus's torch. The cage itself moves slowly, occasionally scraping the sides of the stone shaft. Did the old miner say how deep this thing was supposed to be?
Siyu steps on with Angus, "It's all right Angus, at least someone knows were down here, they Freeswords do. I'm sure they'd send out a search party for you! You're an important guy!" he waits for the crane to start and listens to the sounds of the winch and the earth. Adjusting a few of the mathrunes on his gloves, making sure he has them ready. "The pulse of the earth feels pretty strong, I wonder what they primarily mine out of here."
Angus grips his staff a little tighter, tilting the brim of his hat to hide his eyes and his sight as the walls close in. "That's not really that assuring, especially since it's not just me down here. But I appreciate it." He answers, the torch crackling a little in his right hand as it throws shadows across the stone. "No clue, hard metals is what I know from the mines, other then that I'm not fully sure when it comes to the mines when it gets this deep. Question is how deep is this damned thing?"
This damned thing is surprisingly deep. It is a long, rattling trip down the shaft. Or maybe the old miner is just slow. Eventually, the cage rattles to a jarring halt.
The shaft opens out on the front side into a fairly large room. It looks like this place saw quite a bit of activity once. There are even a few old, rotted crates and barrels lying around, along with a few mining tools. The cavern itself is not especially large, but the ceiling is high enough for even a heavy clanner to stand upright. straight ahead, a tunnel leads further in. Whatever they were mining, there does not seem to be any of it left here.
Siyu listens to the creaking, "Pretty damn deep I guess. I am curious why they dug it straight down like this, perhaps the rock above is poor in minerals. I wonder what the layer is below us." he tries to stand up on his tip toes to pat Angus on the shoulder, "It's all right Lord Solacious. It'll open up soon I'm sure." he says, and soon enough there's that thud of arrival, "And here we are." he looks around, giving the main room a brief inspection. The rodent searches for a torch of his own to see about getting some extra light. "It does look as if it was abandoned for quite a while before he sent his fellow miner down here." he notes
Angus sighs as they reach the floor, ears perking as he realizes he has a hand on his shoulder. He chuckles a little. "I'm okay, a bit of a tight space isn't going to rattle me that much." He answers, holding his torch a little lower to see if he can't Siyu find himself one. He sniffs at the air, taking in its scent as his gaze swings over the shadows in the long corridor. "Back into the maw once more. If you see any giant worms stay behind me and make sure you have a blade. Blunt tools never work."
There are a few old scraps and things that make for a decent, makeshift torch, and the extra light is nice. There is really not much else to see here. The air is stale and smells of stone and wet and, as most things do down here, mushrooms.
There is an old, decrepit cart at the mouth of the tunnel, empty and abandoned, as is everything here, and the tunnel itself is not much more than dark. There are regular struts set up along the shaft, still seeming to be in good condition, which is good news for the miners.
As the pair makes their way along the tunnel, the damp, musty smell starts to grow stronger and the air becomes cool and humid. Gradually, the bare walls give way to small, yellow mushrooms. At first, they are ittermitent, only growing on discarded bits of wood or on the beams of the miners' struts, but they seem to become more plentiful as the pair continues on.
Siyu gets himself a torch together then, lighting it off of Angus' and he nods, "The air down here is pretty foul." he offers an herb pouch to Angus, putting one up to his nose. Hoping the cleansing magic would work on anything particularly nasty growing down here. "And more mushrooms...I don't think it'd be wise to touch them, especially if the last miner went mad about fairys. Perhaps they have some sort of poison or drug to them." He continues, occasionally touching his hand to a bare piece of the wall to feel the rock and see if there are any changes to it the deeper we go.
Angus adjusts his grip on his staff, holding it in the crook of his elbow as he runs his left hand over the edge of the cart as they pass it, rubbing the dust between two fingers before he's handed the pouch. "Mmm, who knows what happened honestly." He answers, but takes the advice for now as he holds the pouch up to his nose as they go along. The mushrooms get his attention again, debating taking one back for study before realizing he could always pick one up on his way back.
The filters are probably a wise choice as the air starts to fill with spores that crackle and spark in the flame of the torches. No doubt the last being that came down here had no such protection. It is only a wonder that he made it out in the first place.
The air starts to get a little warmer, but also incredibly damp as the duo proceeds down the tunnel. Siyu, as he presses a hand to the wall to perform a sounding, gets a sense that the shaft opens up not too far ahead. There is also a sense that the whole place is not so stable as one would hope. Probably the same tremors that revealed this place also weakened it.
Siyu grunts and he reiterates the knowledge back to Angus. Be careful be wary. He looks up at the ceiling, "Hm. Yes, I don't think it'll be a very good idea to reopen this, it doesn't feel as if it's going to be stable enough for heavy mining. At least we should see what the main chamber holds." he says and keeps the torch in front of him. "The fact that the spores are sparking in the torches is probably a good sign that it's the cause of whatever hallucination he saw. Hopefully it was just mushrooms, that's an easy reasonable explanation." he speaks, as if hoping to bring his optimism to life.
Angus puts his staff down, reaching up to tie off the filter to stay in place before picking it up again. "Wonderful. Dont't let the ebony addicts know this is here or they might come down just to see what trip they can get off this." He mutters to himself, nodding at the mention of the main room as he holds the torch high to burn off a bit more of the spores.
The shaft comes to an end, opening up into a much, much larger cavern. This one is obviously not made by beings, but a natural cave with bits and pieces mined out. There is a roar of noise that grows louder and louder as the pair emerge and their torches reveal a waterfall, crashing down from the darkness above to the darkness below that fills the whole space with a thick, damp mist. In the dim light of the torches, which is even dimmer thanks to all the water, faint glimmers of reflected light are visible on the other side of the cascading water and the chasm that it pours into.
Siyu just has to take it in, "Creators..." he mummers, watching the huge flow of water and he shakes his head, "That would explain why this area is a bit weaker. Water of course breaks rock rather well. Tremendous." he says as he looks back to the cave, "I suppose we shouldn't get too close to the edge. I imagine any slick rock will suck you in. And that fall...they'd never find you." he shivers but extends out his magical senses, trying to see perhaps where the water comes from or goes. Does this lead to anywhere known?
As far as where the water comes from? Siyu's earth magic does not stretch nearly far enough. And where it goes? The trouble remains the same.
But what is behind it? THAT is a more approachable and interesting thing. It seems that among the ordinary stone of the quarry, there is some other material that is not so reactive to the kangaroo mouse's sounding. It seems that there is even a path to get there, though it passes perilously close to the cascading water.
Siyu takes a deep breath and glances back at Angus, "I'm lighter and smaller, so...I suppose I should try to go and see what's around with it. I mean. No need to be nervous...I might be able to use the water..." he says with a harsh swallow as he presses his back up to the wall. Looking at his feet and the slick stones, and up the path. He takes a deep breath and wil slowly and carefully attempt to actually get himself across the path to the strangeness he felt.
The little ledge is narrow and slippery and Siyu's torch gutters in the spray from the icy deluge. Small and light may not avail him much here as his boots slip and slide about. There are a few near misses and one so bad that the little rodent must drop his torch to maintain his hold on the wall!
Siyu grunts hard as he continues to move, and the spray of water causes the sputter and finally the fall of his torch! Fortunetly there's at least the one on the otherside casting some light, and he just takes a deep breath and tries to maintain his composure. Continuing to be pressed against the wall, and trying his best not to fall!
The light of Angus's torch does not reach far, here on the opposite side of the waterfall, but now that Siyu is past the ledge, the footing is much more stable. The roar of the waterfall drowns out anything that Angus might say from the other side.
There is definitely something here, though. Seams of something that does not match the stone around it are evident, even on the surface. If only there was some light!
Siyu grunts hard as he uses his sensations to feel out the difference of the rock, he tilts his head and shivers from the water that has soaked into his leather. He raises a hand and tries to summon up the fire magic. This current soul is a bit rough for that. He has earth, and water, but fire. He tries to summon his will and gather enough flame to light the way.
It is an effort, under the chill water to spark a flame, but when he does, Siyu cannot be disappointed in the result.
The small grotto he finds himself in suddenly sparks to life like a living kaladioscope! Rainbows shimmer in the walls and reflect off the waterfall as the light of his magical flame bounces off the seams of iridescent metal that laces the stone.
Siyu blinks a little bit and stares up at it, "Well I'll be...rainbows and fairies...that miner was half right, if madened..." he says as he let's out a slow whistle. Pulling out a pick, he has to get a sample! The rainbow of color like nothing he's seen before.
The stone, or metal or whatever it is, is soft, and fairly easy to break with the pick. The metallic crystal that Siyu comes away with is a beautiful lattice of shimmering, multicolored. . . something. It is heavy, like lead, but lead certainly does not form crystals like this!
Siyu phews, "An interesting thing to mine." he looks up, "I'm not sure this cave would survive a heavy excavation, still we'll let them know what exactly we've found where to find it." he says and looks back to the way he came.
Siyu swaps to somthing that'll help his footing a lot more. Since he's recovered what he wanted his magic for, he switches to somthing more fleet of foot and prehaps the ability to avoid slipping and falling to death.
A choice that is probably wise, though problematic, as the shift in focus allows the kangaroo rat's flame to go out. This is certainly something to report back!
Siyu feels his way to the wall he so carefully climbed at and begins to slow and carful climb back over. Keeping Angus' torch in view as his eventual go, slowly scraping along the edge of the ledge.
This time, the crossing is not nearly so difficult. There seem to be more handholds and the stone seems less slippery underfoot. How could it have been so hard to get here in the first place. Soul gems truly are a wonder! It does not take long for Siyu to make his way back across the chasm.
Siyu phews a bit as he manages to get to the other side intact and with his precious cargo, "Right...adventure...fun. Let's go report back and go get a drink. I think that's enough fun for one day." he'll make his way back up top with Angus.
It is sort of a relief, from time to time, to not have anything actively trying to kill you on a Freeswords' mission. It is only fortunate that Siyu came prepared for those mushroom spores. Who knows what could have happened had the pair breathed them in.
