The Fe'gan Mountains are the highest, coldest mountains Lambastia has to offer, with the highest peak recorded at 8589 m (28,179 ft). Only the toughest creatures survive here, and the trek to get to the Basantha Shrine lays through these harsh conditions. (+3 Endurance)

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Miles Beneath the Rock [self; L]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 3:48 AM

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"Gods... I don't get paid enough for this," John grumbled under his breath. They were in a thrice-blasted cave again, just him and the kid, and they had what felt like eighty tonnes of gear, most of it on his back; it was humid and he was sweaty and he'd lost his footing and almost gone sprawling twice, already. They'd been here maybe half an hour. He already wanted to die.

Every year... Every thrice-blasted, rot-taken, gods-forsaken year, and every damned time he swore it would be the last. And yet, here they were. Again.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 3:51 AM

"Cheer up, Mr John," said the kid, whose name was Barnaby or Brambleby or something like that. Something starting with B. John called him Bucky, or Bucko if he was pushing it, mostly because John couldn't be bothered to remember his real name, and a little because he wanted, in his petty and small-minded way, to get back at the kid for calling him 'Mr John'. Who the heck does that?! "I'm sure we'll find something good, and it will all be worth it. Besides, this is kind of fun, don't you think?"
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 3:53 AM

Ah, there it was. Case and point. This was why John couldn't stand the guy. Bucky was just too much of an optimist, and down here in the caves, just the two of them, there was no escaping from his endless bubbly prattling. "This cave had better make it worth my time," he replied, "if it knows what's good for it. By the hells, I'm going to blast the guts right out of this place when we're out. See if Zachariah sends me again next year when there's no stinking cave to mine."
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 3:55 AM

Bucky's eyes widened, and he backed off a little, clearly not having expected the vehemence of John's anger, which was his first mistake. Really, how long had they been stuck with each other now? John had memorized Bucky's little monologues. Considering he was the senior here, shouldn't it have been the other way around? Kids these days, no respect...

But the momentary fantasy of blowing the mountain sky high was appealing. It kept his mind off the exact specifics of how much his feet ached, and his back ached, and how he ached, in general.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 3:57 AM

Any relief was something to be thankful for down here, where the only light came from the thing mounted on their hard hats and the shadows made him second-guess every time he blinked. Men just weren't made for places like this. Funny how they kept sending people though.

Not without reason, of course. That was what Zachariah liked to say--- Nothing without reason, dear John! Damn him, and damn his reasons. But sometimes they did strike it good, and this mountain was the best for that. Sadly. And he did so like to send John, for whatever reason.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 3:59 AM

And John, who would have, by the way, loved to say no, needed the money too much to refuse. And the money was good. Better, when he found something. Better yet if he could keep some on him, to pawn off at his leisure, and Zachariah none the wiser--- about half the reason John worked for Zachariah was that he didn't sweat the details. No, Zachariah had fortunes enough that he needn't shake down every last man he sent on these trips... which was a good thing, John reminded himself. Still, it was hard not to resent his employer a little.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 4:03 AM

He sighed, and kept walking. His boots, and the boy's boots, thudded out a rhythm against the rock. It was rough going, worse than a hike; the tunnels had all been blasted out, and the mountain was mostly rock, very little dirt. That was what made it good for prospecting, but it also made the footing rough and uneven, and very often sharp. The boots they wore were thick, specifically to protect against that.

Of course, everything close to the entrances were picked clean, so they had to head deeper.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 10:02 PM

Of course they did. Nothing could ever be easy.

As if he was reading John's mind, Bucky chose that particular moment to chime in. "We'll be heading pretty deep this year, won't we? Since we were real thorough last time." He said this as if it was, somehow, a good thing. If John had been in the mood for sparing that kind of energy, he would have turned to fix the kid with a good, incredulous look. For better or for worse, he wasn't. He was going to be tired enough without reacting to Bucky's chatter.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 10:09 PM

Not that Bucky needed encouragement, or even a response, to continue. "I hear they came in and blasted some new tunnels in preparation for this year," he said. "So we won't have to do that ourselves. Isn't it great?" He was humming a tune, a goddamn tune, as he walked.

"Sure," said John, and didn't say that they'd done it because he had specifically told them to, saying if he had to do the prospecting and the blasting, they could say goodbye to his ass next year, because if the blasting didn't kill him--- which it almost had, on several occasions--- he was going to quit anyway.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self; L]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 11:15 PM

They'd needed him enough to keep him, he supposed. Zachariah had hemmed a little, talked about the costs, but what was that to him, really? They'd done it in the end, which about said all that really needed saying, didn't it?

It was better than nothing though. Even he could admit that much. On the other hand, he hadn't been bluffing about quitting; and he didn't know about being good at his job or not, but he did know it was going to be rough going finding someone else who wanted to do the work, these days.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self; L]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 11:19 PM

It was hard, it was grueling, it was depressing as hell. You spend all this time underground, not seeing the sun, not knowing what could have taken up in these thrice-blasted caves and tunnels; and you had to work with explosives in a closed space sometimes. If you hit a bit of bad gas and don't know how to check for it, you could die just like that. You could die from a rockfall, from asphyxiation... A city job with a steady paycheck and no immediate life-threatening conditions next to this, it was a no-brainer, especially for the younger folk.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self; L]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 11:21 PM

Which was part of what made Bucky such an oddity. He was young--- no older than his mid-twenties by John's reckoning, and likely younger still. He'd signed up for the job himself, no coercion at all, not the way some people John's age had to press their kids into it.

John did sneak a glance at Bucky's face just then. The brat caught his gaze, damn him, and smiled back. That was the other thing, who could have been happy in a place like this? John just didn't understand it.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self; L]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 11:23 PM

He'd only been with John a year and a half, and they didn't spend time together outside expeditions. That wasn't the norm either. Even counting out all the people who were bringing their immediate kin into the business--- because gods knew they weren't getting any more new blood--- most folk like John liked to keep a close eye on their proteges. Said it built trust, or some nonsense like that.

John trusted Bucky just fine. Not that he'd say it, but they were here, weren't they? Like he'd take some upstart down a mountain like this with him if he didn't trust them.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self; L]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 11:27 PM

He just didn't want to see Bucky's mug all the time. They spent more than enough time together when they were on a trip. When he got home, he wanted to be alone and drink or vegetate or do whatever it was he needed to do in peace. He liked being alone--- the quiet, the sense of nobody moving in his space but him. The anonymity.

And what was that song the kid was humming anyway? "You sing?" he said, his voice carrying a note of reproach as he spoke.
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Re: Miles Beneath the Rock [self; L]

Postby crow » 07/17/2017 11:28 PM

If Bucky noticed it, however, he didn't act like it. Maybe he'd learned some about John too. It was true enough that these days Bucky didn't push his luck when John was really mad, even though John had plenty of testimonials from people he knew that he seemed angry all the time. They were maybe not wrong about this, but there were also times where he didn't really mean it.

But then, Bucky had always been blithe. Now he gave a shrug--- that his pack was light enough for him to do it made John's bones ache in jealousy at the sight.
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