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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Day Job [Caving] [L] [H by Z]

Postby Indigo » 08/17/2017 9:48 PM

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They didn't tend to make a habit of traveling separately, because they worked best as a team, and Magdalena was not exactly thrilled about hiking up this mountain by herself. But she couldn't exactly say she didn't deserve it, signing them up without any real discussion as she had. She grumbled to herself a bit as she made her way to the cave, of course, but there was no one to hear her so no one could call her out on it.

She stood outside the cave with her arms folded for warmth and waited. After about twenty seconds she started sweeping her tail back and forth over the ground, because at least then she was doing something. She'd intended to wear her hat at a more reasonable angle, but it had been blown down over one brow ridge during the climb and to fix it would require taking her hands out of her armpits. Maybe she should've suggested they meet inside, out of the wind. Too late now.
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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?]

Postby Icy Rose » 08/18/2017 1:10 PM

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Bo wasn't exactly sure how long he kept Magdalena waiting but he knew it was longer than he should have. Last-minute preparations got in the way of a timely arrival.  He wasn't exactly literate in how to go about spelunking but it seemed like the Skyllard who gave them the job didn't have a clue either.  Didn't matter much to him as long as they got paid.

He finally arrived (he might've gotten lost on the way, but he certainly wouldn't admit that), beaming as he saw his partner.  "What're you doing out here? It's freezing!"  Of course it had to be a cave in the harshest mountain range of Basantha.  He gave her two cheesy thumbs up and sauntered over to the cave entrance, exclaiming "Lets do this!"  He had a frighteningly overpacked bag situated on his back and he was ready to put it to good use.


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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?]

Postby Indigo » 08/18/2017 6:40 PM

"Waiting for you, of course. And you finally made it!" She nudged him with her elbow. "No wonder it took you so long, with all that stuff." She followed him to the cave entrance and peered inside. It was dark in there, more or less as one would expect; she'd brought the most powerful flashlight she could find, which would likely draw attention from the cave's inhabitants if there were any, but she couldn't say she cared overmuch. All part of the fun.

There was nothing visible in the darkness, no looming shapes to give a hint of the place's topography, and there was no sound from within, which...could be good or bad. The fewer critters they ran into, the faster they'd go and the sooner they'd get paid, but it certainly wouldn't be very interesting.

"Well, there's no point in waiting to freeze to death out here," she said, and stepped forward, drawing her flashlight as she did so. It cast an eye-watering beam through the cave, revealing a wall somewhere back there, but the light was so intense it completely flattened everything it revealed so she couldn't tell how far away it was. She pointed it at the floor ahead of them instead, to illuminate any smaller obstacles, and started in.



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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?]

Postby Icy Rose » 08/19/2017 10:19 PM

"I'm always prepared," Bo announced as his partner poked fun at him.  He'd be ready for anything this cave system would throw at him, he was sure of it.  Creepy crawlers? Bats? A yeti?  Bring it on, caves.  As Magdalena started to approach the entrance he unclipped something off of his bag -
a flashlight that he rigged to sit on his head.  Someone had to have the free hands to draw out the cave system, after all.  He'd do it, of course.

He pulled the sheet of paper the Skyllard gave them (though he did bring his own pen) and joined Magdalena. "Wonder what kinda trouble you got us in this time," he teased as a big grin set across his face.  He took the first few steps into the cave, his head going every which way to illuminate what they could.  So far... just boring cave walls.


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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?]

Postby Indigo » 08/20/2017 8:09 PM

"Oh, terrible horrors," she drawled, "traps and pockets of poison gas and beasts never seen outside the horrific depths of this cave. I told that Skyllard you wouldn't be satisfied with anything less." She had made no attempt whatsoever to remember the Skyllard's name. After all, if things went well she'd only be talking to him once more, and if they went badly she probably wouldn't talk to anyone again so there was really no reason to bother. Except maybe to curse his name in the afterlife, but that seemed profoundly useless.

Her ears twitched as they continued further in, trying to pick up anything remotely interesting or informative. So far it seemed mostly to be a straight channel. "There must be more to this," she muttered, "or why are we here?" Years of collaboration had instilled in her the habit of voicing a lot of passing thoughts aloud, in case Bo had something to say about them. It was better than talking to yourself, anyway.



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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Icy Rose » 08/20/2017 10:53 PM

Bo shrugged.  "Maybe it's just a lazy man who doesn't want to do the dirty work."  He kicked a rock into the darkness and he didn't believe it hit a wall.  Running a hand along one of the walls, he added, "Wouldn't be the first time we've done a job like that and I doubt it'll be the last."  He laughed just to let Magdalena know he was just teasing her.

His attention drifted from what he was doing and consequently he stubbed a toe right into a stalagmite.  He groaned as quietly as he could.  "The biggest danger will be impaling ourselves on a rock. Maybe we'll adopt a bat."


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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Indigo » 08/21/2017 7:06 PM

She snorted. "Seems like that's all we get these days. Next job we get is gonna be someone paying us to take out their trash." After a moment's consideration, she added, "At least then we'd be getting paid."

That was the question, really. Was there anything worthwhile down here, apart from the allegedly valuable missing lab coat? And even if the reward for that was as good as the hype, the chances they'd find it were, well, certainly not the best odds they'd ever faced. She'd gotten the impression it was a pretty big cave, and even two sets of eyes could only see so much.

"A bat might be nice," Magdalena said, "we could train it as some kind of guide and then we wouldn't have to spend so much money on flashlight batteries—did you hear something?" Her ears twitched. She'd thought she had heard something clattering against rock, somewhere up ahead. One of the other people who'd taken on this expedition? Or something else?



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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Icy Rose » 08/21/2017 9:10 PM

Bo’s head snapped to turn his flashlight toward the sound that was clattering ahead. The walls were closing in and it seemed this was the only way to go. They basically just entered the cave and Bo already has goosebumps. Not that he would ever admit that. Certainly not to Magdalena and certainly not to all his adoring fans when he returned.  ”Maybe it's the bat? Playing hard to get?”

There were rumors that this job had a few casualties but that didn't explain to him why they were do desperate for takers.  Why send more people into a murder cave? For a jacket? There better be a pile of gold at the end of it. Without the dragon, preferably.


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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Indigo » 08/24/2017 5:18 PM

As soon as blue light crept into the edges of her vision, Magdalena switched off her flashlight. She'd heard things about the kinds of animals that lived in caves, bioluminescence and all that, and combined with those mysterious sounds, well, she really didn't want to draw attention before they knew what they were dealing with. Almost simultaneously, they emerged from the narrow entrance passage into a large chamber, thoroughly illuminated. She took three steps in and stopped to stare.

Well, she'd been right about the bioluminescence, but she was suddenly glad she hadn't voiced her brief concern. Bo would never let her live down being scared by moss.

It was pretty, she had to admit, and it was much better for depth perception than her superpowered flashlight, though if she'd known this was down here she never would've spent all that money on it. Maybe she could convince Bo to take some other caving job after this to justify the expense. It didn't seem to grow on the floor, which was a shame. It would be nice to see the tracks of whatever was clattering around down here. The noisemaker itself was nowhere to be seen.

"Well," she said, "looks like we have options. Anywhere look promising to you, or do you wanna flip a coin?"



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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Icy Rose » 08/28/2017 1:47 PM

Bo fumbled with his flashlight to make it seem like he was the one with the idea to turn them off.  He quite liked being the one with the ideas, thank you very much.  The moss growing on the walls somehow unsettled him a bit, though he had to admit it was quite the view.  He walked deeper into the cavern, furiously scribbling at the unfinished map.  The light coming from the walls wasn't enough to give him a good look at the paper but it offered a decent outline of the cavern they were in.

He started circling a pillar of rock, trying to get a decent enough drawing.  It didn't have to perfect, did it?
 The feather of his pen pointed off to the dark passage to the left of where they entered.  It didn't seem like the moss spread the entire cave.  "That way first?"  If things went well enough, maybe they'd get to see the rest of the passages spreading off from this one.


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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Indigo » 08/29/2017 5:38 PM

Magdalena was happy to follow Bo's lead, as far as their direction went. She had no idea which way the sound had come from, so she couldn't exactly make a decision based on that, and Bo would never admit to being worried about it, if he even was to begin with; she'd just have to be on the lookout no matter which way they went.

As they walked she reached over to the wall and pulled off a bit of the moss, which she carefully rolled around the handle of her flashlight. Who knew if it would live long enough to illuminate their progress into a less alive area of the cave, but if it did it would be much better than a beam so powerful it flattened everything it was cast over.



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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Icy Rose » 08/30/2017 9:26 PM

"Do you think this moss is all over the cave?"  He mused out loud as he continued to scrawl out the map.  He supposed he could finish it once they circled back around to explore the other side.  "Certainly make our jobs easier."  It didn't seem likely, as they faced a pitch black tunnel. Maybe it was in the next cavern!

It was mostly rhetorical, so he jumped into saying, "It's awful quiet, huh?"  Perhaps all the critters didn't like the light from the moss.  Maybe going deeper wasn't a great idea.  How much was this job paying, again?
 
Bo looked over to see moss wrapped around her flashlight.  "Be careful with that stuff.  Dunno if its safe."


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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Indigo » 08/31/2017 4:32 PM

"Mm. That's probably a good sign. I don't know a lot about caves but I think they're pretty good at conducting sound?" Magdalena hadn't exactly had time to do her research before this job—who needs impulse control anyway—but as far as she was concerned no noise was good noise. Being surprised by some cave beast would be better than spending their entire time in here suffused with dread, jumping at every little thing.

She shrugged off Bo's concern. "It's not like I'm gonna eat it. We're walking through a big chamber full of it, if it's that bad it's going to have some effect on us no matter what I do." Her ears twitched suddenly at a distant sound; not an animal this time, she was sure, which was a relief. Water, maybe? "Hear that? Like a river or something, further this way."



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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Icy Rose » 09/01/2017 1:22 AM

Bo chuckled as he replied, "I'm just saying, if you die here in this cave, who is gonna remember my favorite drink is whiskey?"  Its not like everything about him didn't scream he was a whiskey man to begin with.  The southern accent, the semi-cowboyish hat.  

"It'd certainly be interestin' if there was somethin' like a river down here," he added, though he wouldn't mention that would also likely be where any creepy crawlies in this cave would be.  He had quite a good track record with Magdalena of being Strong and Badass, he certainly couldn't stop now.  "I'm thiiiiiis close to finishing with this sketch."


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Re: Day Job [Caving] [L?] [H by Z]

Postby Indigo » 09/01/2017 5:52 PM

"You can always put it on my headstone," Magdalena returned. "'Here lies Magdalena. Her friend loved whiskey.' Has kind of a nice ring to it." The cave definitely darkened further away from the big chamber, as far as she could tell, though maybe that just meant a lower density of moss rather than none at all. Still, it seemed justification enough for her to be concerned about a light source.

She glanced over at Bo's map. "I hope you're still looking where you're going. If there is a river and you fall in it, all that work will go to waste." Not that she wasn't glad to have an up-to-date map—she wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of getting lost in here forever—but surely there were limits to the level of detail required.



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