The mine with the ore in it - RPLOG
Participants
Date
11/9/477
Log
In a semi secluded spot in the hills stands a survey team of three beings. Two badgers who vaguely resemble each other and a heavy clan sized mole being. A somewhat cloudy day, as the group awaits the volunteers with bated breath. "You put up the fliers?" "Yeah, threw about thirty on the bulletin boards." "You were supposed to spread them out!" A brief uninteligible arguement transpires...
Technetium approaches the survey team quitely, coming from one of the trails leading in. She throws her cloak hood off and looks around for the others, who should arrive soon-ish, unless she got the location wrong, and she's approaching a random team of miners that are about to be extremely suprised at the sudden arrival of a cloaked fennec.
A young plant being moves towards the group, dressed in his usual body covering heavy cloak, with his double blossom for hair apparent for all to see, wafting his jasmine scent. Rokarion arrives the scene, and bows his head in a polite manner, "Greetings ladies and gentlemen, I am assuming you were the ones to request our aid? Mind if I ask what will this job entail?" Rokarion asked in his usual calm and polite tone.
Luck moved along her own trail, also seeking out the survey team that had been seeking assistance. Upon spotting others Luck pulled her hood up and quietly moved around the edge of the group, watching the others closely from a safe distance.
Landing a short distance away, Natska pauses a moment to adjust her black domino mask and then puts on an easy grin, walking up to the small group of people, one of the copies of the flyer held in her hand. "Excuse me," she calls. "I am here to assist. What is the matter at hand?"
Cassidy drops from the sky, landing next Natska with a soft thump of paws on the ground. Everyone else was already asking, so she remains silent, brushing off the sleeve of her red tailcoat with a whitegloved hand. Natska gets a happy pat on the back before she reaches up to adjust her hat and turn her eyes skyward for a moment.
The badgers continue to argue about proper placement of job notices. Right up until the big mole thwaps them both on the head and points them to the group. "Wait, who're you calling a lady?" The left side badger speaks, then the right badger: "Quiet, Jim. You're the help we asked for, right? Of course you are. Asking about the job, so, short version: Found a new shaft. Some kind of rare ore in there. It glows." "It doesn't glow, it's the fungus that glows." "Whatever. Point is, it's really dark in there and noises keep coming from it." Almost simultaneously, the three point towards a cave about twenty meters away. "So, whenever you're ready, we'll follow you in. Probably. It's dark." "You said that already."
Technetium looks out into the cave for a few seconds, then lights a ball of fire about a meter in front of her head, and then turns back over to look at the crew, "Right, then. So, we go and look for things of intrest, and do a survey, instead of you guys, which it is literally your jobs to do surveys? Meh. As long as we are paid." She begins to wander off in the general direction of the cave, waiting for the others first.
Rokarion nods, "I was referring to Lady Wirefur. My apologies if you mistook yourself for one." Rokarion says tone unchanging. He then looks at cave, "Hopefully there are other items of interest in that cave." As he says that, some slithering under his cloak can be seen, soon enough a vine appears out of the cloak and rising a bit over his head, the tip of the vine having a smaller jasmine blossom. Rokarion's body then starts glowing slightly a white colour, the glow seems to slowly fade from his body and focus only on the vine's blossom, when that happens the blossom glows even brighter until a shimmering light similar to that of a lantern appears out of it, "I believe we might need more light. Let us head off then."
Luck nodded once upon hearing the explanation from the badgers. Quickly the small female moved behind Technetium hiding in the shadow cast by the orb of fire. Looking back for a split moment Luck started to rest her hand on the dagger by her side, not afraid of what may lie in wait in front of her but rather those behind.
Natska sways back for just a moment, giving Cassidy a quick hug, then saunters towards the cave opening. "But lady Wirefur, if some horrible monster is lurking in the darkness, they can't finish their work! And who better than us to deal with it?" She grins wider and then draws her knife with a flourish, happily taking point as she heads into the cave. "Don't worry, good sirs! Whatever is down there is about to have a very bad day." She looks back at Cassidy and gives the fennec a wink, then adjusts her pace into the more measured steps of a quiet, stalking cat.
Cassidy gives a curt bow of her head and follows after Natska, smiling softly beneath her mask as her tail sways. "I am just happy to be doing something. I needed a break from my painting and felt like doing something fun." She leaves her hands folded behind her back as she wanders into the cave, not terribly concerned about anything jumping out at them that she needed to be particularly prepared for.
The opening to the cave is large enough for 5-6 average sized beings to walk side by side through. As mentioned by the badgers, 'tis dark. The badgers and mole stay with the group as they enter. The light provided by Rokarion and Technetium illuminates quite a bit of the walls, mostly just stone with occasional lichen as the group moves inward. As they walk, the as of yet unnamed badger speaks: "M-monsters? I heard skittering before..." Jim thwaps him on the head, in a similar fashion to the mole. "Quiet, Dan. If there are monsters, do you really want them to hear us?"
As the group makes their way through the cave, the path begins to wind downward. A slight angle at first, but it drops quickly, taking them further down. The big mole speaks: "Watch your step."
Technetium coughs lightly, and continues sweeping the fire around, with the intent to reveal things whenever they are supposed to be revealed, and she is careful to be sure she doesn't slip on any litchin along the well, also taking care not to slip on any wet rocks.
Rokarion looks around the te caves as he moves with the group, "So tell us about this ore you are here to survey. Is it a merely a better version of a known metal? Or is it some kind of new discovery?" Rokarion says in his usual tone, his blossom tipped glowing vine moving lazily around focusing on the less illuminated areas to ensure that nothing escapes the group's sight.
Luck continued to move in Technetium's shadow, eyes surveying the edged of the cave. As Rokarion spoke Luck found her intrest peaking and took a small piece of litchin without breaking stride. Tounge in her cheek Luck threw a small scrap of litchen at Thelergramor's orb of fire in an attempt to see what exactly would happen.
"So," Natska asks as the group continues along the winding path. "It is nice to see people are trying to reclaim the mines! You have managed to avoid any unpleasantness so far, yes? No urges to murder eachother? No more suicidal thoughts than you are otherwise normally prone to?" she asks, tail flicking. She pauses for a moment, ears perked as she listens for strange noises, then continues on with her easy pace.
Cassidy nods at Natska. "Yes. Monsters... Maybe. But the real worry is the proximity of a mine to Kindcraft. There are far worse things than monsters there, you know. Like violent lunatics, trying to bury a mining pick in your chest cavity," she says with a wiggle of her brows and a bemused tone. "But I am sure we will be fine."
Dan speaks first: "We should be coming up on the ore soon. Not much further 'till we get to where I stopped." Jim interjects: "Where we stopped." "Right. As for what the ore is, we haven't exactly looked yet. Possibly iron. Could be tin or copper, which is used to make bronze. Maybe even something we haven't seen yet. I doubt that though." A short laugh from Jim, as he answers Natska. "I haven't had any more urges to kill my brother than I usually have, no. And reclaiming the mines... I'm just here to figure out what kind of ore this is. And lunatics. That's why you're here, right? To keep us safe." The mole remains silent.
The thrown lichen catches fire when it passes through Technetiums flame. It falls to the ground and continues to burn, giving another source of light for the next few minutes at most.
The sloping ground flattens out again another twenty meters down; the ground remains rough, and from up ahead there comes a slight glow along the right wall. The path splits here; the left route thin, narrow and pitch black aside from the light flickering in from the freeswords. The path to the right is wider and casting a glow from bioluminescent fungus.
Technetium stares at the noise source for a few seconds, looking around a bit more, then continues to walk foward down the path, the noise not concerning her much, but she does whap Luck on the head when he throws litchen through her flame, a bit offended and annoyed by the action.
Rokarion's leafy ears perk up at the sound of the skittering, "It seems we have got company from the sound of it small creatures. I am assuming some form of rodents." Rokarion says as he moves to the right path and picking off some of the bioluminescent fungus, before slipping it under his heavy cloak, to be stored in a hidden pouch most likely. He then walks back towards the group, "If we are lucky they are just simple rodents. Worst case scenario they are somehow influenced by one of the Old Ones." Rokarion says in his calm tone, seemingly aloof to the idea of Old Ones using rodents as minions. He continues following Technetium, while his vine arches forward a bit to provide more light to the front of the narrower tunnel.
Luck took a couple hastey steps away from the skittering noise befeore once more blending into the group. Until technetium struck her head as it where. rubbing her injured head Luck momentarily gripped her dagger with white knuckles before relaxing once more. With that Luck moved behind Rokarion, slightly glaring at Technetium.
Natska's ears perk, and then she rolls her shoulders in a shrug. She moves in closer to their clients, ready to protect them should something untoward approach, then nods towards the tunnel with the bioluminescent moss. "Just some little thing. Shall we continue?"
Cassidy lifts one of her hands in front of her face and gives it a little wave before yawning. "Well, we can't go back now just because we heard something, right?" She says, shuffling along behind Natska. "We'll be fiiine, I'm sure. You've got me here at your back, love!"
"Hear that? I'm out." Dan turns round and flat out sprints from the tunnel. "Hey! Wait for me!" Jim immediately takes off after this brother, picking up the burning lichen to provide light. And burning himself. The mole remains, stoic and undissuaded. Seems even Natskas nearby presence couldn't help those cowards.
The light shining into the left path reveals a gap, approximately 4 feet wide with a depth that the lights aren't showing at their current angle. Off at the edge of the light, a single rock spider is momentarily visible as it backs away from the fire. From the sound in that direction, there are clearly more.
Technetium stares at the rock spider skittering away before slowly backing up and heading doen te one to the right, saying, "Newp! Down this way, please no spiders, or we'll have arachnid flambe." She continues waving the fire, now as a way to ward away suspicious animals.
Rokarion raises a petal for an eyebrow at the amusing display between the fennec and the panda ant. When Luck moves behind him he asks in his usual tone, "Hello Madam, I haven't got your name and I am sure we haven't met before. My name is Rokarion, yours?" He says while staring at the spider. He then answer's Technetium, "I see no reason why we should not sally forth, but then again we do not know where the ore is. If I may ask Mister...mole? Do you think the place you are looking for is most likely found following this path or the other path?"
Luck looked at the spider with mild intrest, toying with the hilt of her knife achlys spoke "i think we should go the way of the spiders" a small smile grew on Luck's face "has there ever been reward without risk?" Letting her words settle in Luck pulled on rokarion's sleeve then in a quieter voice said "i am luck, however now doesn't seem to be the best time for conversation"
Natska eyes the crack for a moment, then returns to her place at the front of the group, continuing down the path. "They did say the bit they were surveying had these growths," she points out, untroubled by a single rock spider. "Let us continue, then, so we can assure them it was nothing dangerous they heard before."
Cassidy scowls gently as Dan and Jim take off, earning an agitated flick of the the tail from the dapper vixen. "Well then," she mumbles before raising her brow. "A couple of spiders is no big deal, I should think," she finishes, looking at Tech. "But whatever way the group decides to go is fine with me!" She remains following Natska, in any case.
The mole answers Rokarion. "Don't know. Both paths unexplored. Ore all around us." Short answer, ending with a shrug and the mole taking a pick from his belt while looking at the spider before it flees. Indeed there are many small veins of the ore around. "Looking for a larger vein somewhere." The mole points to the right, follows the rest. As the group heads along the right-side path, the glowing lichen illuminating further than the flames and glows from Technetium and Rokarion. A couple minutes of uneventful walking, before the path turns a sharp corner into a rounder room. In the center, is a large stone... thing. Beside that is a smaller rock which appears to be walking around. Between them, lies a dead being.
Technetium stares at the dead being oddly, and notes, "How strange. We seem to have a dead body lying in the middle of a previously abandoned mineshaft." She turns to the rest of the group, and asks, "Does anyone mind explaining, or even throwing a theory out there? Having a dead being in front of us is generally a bad thing."
Rokarion nods towards Luck, and follows the group. At the round room, he moves a bit closer to the center scanning his surrondings, and looking at the moving rock "Well it is maybe a bit far fetched but some kind of altar to an old one? What about that walking creature can it help us? Can it talk?" Almost as an after thought, Rokarion moves wiggles a bit under his cloak, and slips a hand with a staff out of it. The staff glows for a bit. and he attempts to cover himself in a layer of ablative stone, just incase.
Luck looked closely at the strange scene in front of the group. breaking off Luck gathered a large amout of the Luminous litchen then threw it at the circle. In her other hand luck held her dagger, eady for if her action just happened to have unintended consequences.
Natska stands there, just in front of the others and in no real hurry to go poke either the body or the skittering rock. She glances back over her shoulder at the large mole. "You guys lose a team member?" she asks, motioning at the body with a thumb. "I know the other two said you didn't come this far down, but he had to come from somewhere, yea?"
Cassidy peers at the corpse, a thoughtful hum escaping from her puzzle as she props a hand lazily upon the pommel of her sword. "Well. If it's not a member of a prior team, then... Probably some hapless adventurer that wandered in and got killed? Sad to think about, but it happens. Could happen to anyone, if they're not careful."
Mole man shrugs. "Don't know. Supposed to be empty. Might have wandered in for some reason. Not one of my guys. Just the two badgers. But, if you look at the ore veins, we should be close to a large deposit."
As Rokarion moves closer, illuminating the area, the larger stone reaches out with what appears to be an arm and grabs the smaller elemental. It tosses it at Rokarion! Hostility!
Lucks lichen throwing illuminates the area by the stones. Clearly elementals of the shale variety.
Rokarion looks at the larger elemental only for a moment, before noticing the action done towards him. Not one to falter so easily, Rokarion immediately uttered an equation and with a circular motion of his free hand the ground 30 cm in front of him started raising itself until it just barely formed a wall, before the shale elemental crashed on it. The whole held only enough to stop the elemental, before it shattered. Leaving Rokarion with a small shale elemental in front of him. Having not enough time to prepare a spell, he immediately swung his staff right on top of the thing.
Luck watched rokarion's situation with something akin to mild amusement. After waiting for a moment Achlys moved next Technetium and sofly pulled on her sleeve "umm... i don't suppose we should do something to help him" achlys said eyeing the elementels.
Reacting quickly, Natska takes a small step to the side, into the circular room, as she gathers a handful of ice into her free hand. A quick lash with her arm and a run of equations sends a storm of icy daggers flying at the larger elemental.
Cassidy scoffs softly as she takes up a position next to Natska, joining in the attack against the elemental. She figures it'll go down without too much effort from the group. Holding up a gloved hand, she splays her fingers out and launches a brief volley of small flaming bolts at the aggressor.
The larger elemental is struck by flying shards of ice; which primarily just shatter on its stony hide, though do a bit of damage. Same with the flaming arrows sent at it. Minor damage, hard to freeze or burn stone. It charges for the group, still out of range for an attack.
Rokarions staff whacks upon the smaller elemental, chipping the softer parts of its stone, but overall not doing too much damage. The mole being runs at the smaller elemental, swinging his pick at it. He misses; lodging it in the floor of the cave. The elemental stands, swings its single stone arm at the plants knees!
Rokarion remains standing as the elemental hits his knee. However, thanks to the power of the spell it seems that both him and the layer of ablative stone are still in good shape, with only a few chips to prove that there was ever a hit. Rokarion wastes no chance taking a step backward, still in his defensive position, before uttering another equation, and attempting to create scythe like winds to hit creature on the damaged part of its shell.
Luck took the moment that the elementels where preoccupied to move past them and take a look at the body, pocketing whatever was of worth or intrest on then. Returning her focus back to the battle Luck waited, biding her time to strike at the elementels backs.
Natska calmly watches as the larger elemental charges in towards them, crouched and waiting for her opportunity. As it lumbers closer, the jaguar quickly springs forward and tumbles past it - as she rolls to her feet she is already unleashing a quick volley of strikes aimed at the elemental's joints and and other perceptible weak points.
Cassidy frowns a little as the elemental isn't terribly bothered by her fire. What a chore! She tries something a little more direct, this time, bringing up her hand again to snap her fingers, trying to create a small, localized explosion of air as close to the elemental as possible. Not a terribly large one that it'd risk hurting her companions, but very... Concentrated.
As Natska springs past and strikes multiple times at the elemental, the primarily shale body is surprisingly softer than one would imagine. The rock scratches, cracks and shatters in some places. Primarily on the left knee-region. Cassidy's airburst literally blows the arm off. Into shrapnel. It still turns to kick at Natska, though its movement is shaky.
Rokarions wind scythes crash into the smaller elemental; blowing it back and scarring the stone. The large mole being pulls his pick from the floor and swings it at the small shale elemental, slamming straight to the back. It keeps moving, though slower, pulling the pick with it as it dives toward jasmine, arm outstretched aiming for the groinal area.
Lucks search of the body yields several crowns,three to be exact, and a bound book. Possibly a journal of some kind. The body seems to have been here nearly a month; rotted, and appearing to have once been a feline of some kind.
Rokarion attempts to block the hit with his staff, but alas the arm passes throught his defenses and hit him straight in the gonads. The stone layer on him holds, but the some of the damage can still be felt, while he is in some light pain, his face remain as neutral and focused as usual. Shaking his head, he utters an equation, and draws a triangle with his right hand. Attempting to raise a stone pillar quickly from under the elemental to pierce it's underbelly.
Luck meahwhile seeing how the frey was continuing without him decided to instead pocket the few crowns and sit down to begin reading the journal from the small bit of glow moss that she had brought
As the large elemental's arm explodes into shards Natska nimbly darts to the side; she ducks most of the cloud that was heading her way, and lithly snags another one out of the air before it can hit her mask. She continues circling as the elemental turns to kick at her, sidestepping the strike at the last moment. Her arm lashes out and she catches the rocky limb, then twists and hammers the pommel of her knife into the elemental's hip joint, using their combined momentum to break the shale creature's leg clean off.
Cassidy grimaces a little as some of the shrapnel blasts off towards the jaguar. With a bit of deft thinking, she conjures a bit of air math to try to deflect what she can, and is relieved to see that Natska ends up alright in the end. With the larger elemental looking like it's rapdily going down, she folds her arms and settles in to watch the mop-up.
As Natska removes its leg, the elemental lies motionless, no longer able to move without an arm to drag nor a good leg to move. It remains face down, a broken shell of shale.
Rokarions earth attempt is successful, as a spire of rock 'Vlad the Impaler's' itself up the small elemental; trapping it 4 feet off the ground with a mining pick in its back. It squirms, still trying to move. The large mole tears it out. "He's done." And heads over to the dead feline and Luck.
The journal, as it is indeed a journal, details the travels of an adventuring magic practicioner. He was clearly delusional: Page long rants about the 'innumerable math of his powers', among other things that end up referencing a desire to eat other beings. Yeah. He was psychotic, if his journal is anything to go by.
Off at the other end of the cave is another passage, still illuminated by fungus as the last one was.
Rokarion disengages. He once again wraps his cloak around him to cover his body, and secretly massaging the damaged area for a second. Nodding towards the mole, "That is indeed true, but we can't leave it here for fear of it harming another traveller." Rokarion words sounded as sincere, but he secertely just wanted revenge. Rokarion then took a couple of steps away from small shale elemental hanging 120cm in the air. He then started uttering a complex equation, with his right hand quickly drawing different geometric shapes in the air, and the spell is as impressive as the effort put into it. The air near the elemental glows with mathemagical power for a moment, before exploding into a mixture of elements led mainly by fire. The damaged elemental couldn't handle the blast or the shockwave of the explosion. It's damaged structure forming even more cracks, before it exploded into a shower of small pieces of shale littering the whole area around the room, even a couple of pieces bouncing on the larger shale elemental as if fate was hinting on it's fate. Revenge was apparently a hot dish today.
Luck noticing the battle coming to a close stuffed the book under her cloak. Standing up Luck arched her back and walked over to Cassidy raising her eyebrows "that was interesting" she said in a dry voice. Casting a glance to the way they had came Luck continued "any of you intrested in what was in the other direction?"
Natska quietly lets out an angry hiss as she drops the elemental's leg; her tone changes, though, as she comes off of her combat high and her ears fold, hand slowly flexing as she lets out another short, pained hiss. She steps away from the blast zone as pieces of elemental fall around them, and then she grunts and shakes her head. "We keep moving forward and find our client his ore vein," she counters, ears coming back up and her expression fading as she gathers herself.
Cassidy tilts her head and peers at Natska. "Are you alright, love?" She asks as she tucks her hands into her pant pockets. "And are we ready to keep moving? No time for resting and dallying!" She turns on her paws and continues moving on as soon as her words are done!
She does, however, pause to look at Luck and flashes a little smile behind her porcelain mask. "Interesting indeed. But we mustn't stop now to ponder it. The sooner we are out, the better, I should say."
The big mole leads onward; not another word to the group as he runs his hand over a vein of ore. Walks off through the unexplored passage, seemingly unworried by whatever lies ahead.
Those who follow the mole are greeted with a simple journey through the dark. They all come out in a large chamber, another tunnel heading back where they came from. A stone spider skitters into it. A large vein of ore lines the wall at the other end. Mole quickly heads over to it. "This. What we're looking for." He starts prospecting it, trying to find exactly what it is. Turning back to the group: "I don't know what it is."
Rokarion looks at the area around them. Well what do you know it was the same path all along. Either way, the plant looks with interest on the ore, before using some of his earth magic to attempt to grab a chunk of the ore for himself, for testing of course. He manages to dislodge a piece of the ore, "Well Mister, I would like to take a chunk for my own research, I do not think that you would require anything else from us? However, I would appreciate if you would tell us everything you knew about this ore."
Luck sighed and followed the group, upon reaching the vein of ore Luck once more sat back and watched. Upon watching Rokarion once more prove his usefullness Luck decided to contribute what she could. Taking out the small book Achlys pulled on rokarion's sleeve pushing the book at him.
Natska leans her shoulder in against Cassidy for a moment as they move down the tunnel, the corner of her mouth ticking in a slight smile. "I'll be okay, hun," she replies. "Nothing to worry about." Her tone is tight and controlled, and she says nothing else as they follow the path to a point where their client can take his sample. She watches, flexing her hand again, tail swishing back and forth.
Cassidy wraps her arm around Natska as she walks with the woman, glancing around as they come out into the chamber. "Hmm..." Her eyes follow the mole and the vein he approaches, unseen curiosity written on her face. She certainly didn't know much about metals! "If you say so, Natska! We can get it looked at when we get home."
Mole man, who has up to now not given his name, answers Rok: "Sure. And call me Rolidge. Not Mister." He takes a swing at the ore; using his pick to pull free a chunk of ore. Approximately the size of a fist. On further inspection, now free of glowing lichen, 'tis an unremarkable metal ore. Smooth on the parts where it isn't rough, and grey. Could be a higher quality iron; the surveyor didn't know what it was, which makes that unlikely. Rolig gives it to Rokarion. The mole then takes another sample, again swinging his pick to the vein. "Ready to leave? Or want to check the other path?"
Rokarion looked at the short ant tugging his cloak. He looked at her and gave a nod, before leaning a bit closer and saying, "Thank you a lot Miss Luck, I hope this book will be useful, and I will return to you as soon as possible." After all reading it once will be enough for him to commit it to memeory for a long while. Rokarion then took the ore piece from the Mole, "Thank you a lot Mister Rolidge. I will be using it for research purposes." With that Rokarion slipped, both things under his cloak to hide them in a satchel most likely. "I am agreeble with looking into the other pass, if the group so wishes."
Natska rolls her shoulders in a shrug, then gives Rokarion a small nod. "After you," she says, her tone growing more relaxed. "I'm ready for whatever we might find, and we don't want to tell them it's clear when there might be something else lurking."
