Terra pulls out a sunrod and activates it and moves up to behind Heimoth to light the way.
The tunnel is about twenty feet long and ends at a small chamber. A vein of white sparkles in the far wall.
Nature I see a vein of quartz with a weird sparkle... I think we just found gold!
Marc moves into the cave with the others, cautiously, his large dagger drawn and held low.
He ears literally perk up.
"Did you say 'GOLD'?!?" He hisses in excitement. His grin is, large.
"Oh well, I am more of a silver girl. But I can make an exception when it is free."
From the back Hasren pipes up.
"Not exactly free. It will need to be mined & smelted. But I imagine we can negotiate a nice fat finder's fee with some mining outfit."
"Oh. And I apologize if I'm dousing your excitement Sefra, but I figure it's better we don't go off & spend gold we don't yet have. Best to figure a way for us to profit without having to do the mining ourselves. Mining is dirty, dangerous work."
"While it's true adventuring is also dirty & dangerous, it at least, lends itself to tales of daring & glory which keep fellows in my line of work well occupied..." he smirks.
"Still, it might provide a nice source of income for our little town. This is very good news, if the vein is viable."
"Oh well, I am more of a silver girl. But I can make an exception when it is free."
"My dear Sefra. I am quite certain that you would look equally stunning adorned in either precious metal." Marc says smoothly.
At the mention of 'mining', and 'dirty, dangerous work', Marc gives a not-entirely theatrical shudder.
"Yes, I must confess that adventuring appeals to me much more than mining. I have never heard of a ballad singing the praises of a miner!"
"I've never been comfortable underground, give me the moon and the stars anyday."
"I'm with Hasren let's pass the Terra-lode mine off to someone more suited and sit back and accept the royalties. Let's get back to surveying"
"Agreed! I much prefer my indoors to be decorated with lanterns and a bar. Preferably well-stocked!"
"This is a potentially vitally important location. On our way northwards, look for good locations for a trail or road here, as well as places suitable for housing workers, storing gear and things like that. If we can offer the prospective miners a well-planned package, we will get compensated accordingly."
The explorers emerge from their potentially remunerative find and continue mapping. The highlands are exposed and the wind whips the grass as herbivores chomp their way across the landscape, but the sun remains shining and everyone's spirits are lifted by their discovery.
Later that day, troops of mammoths move slowly across the landscape, mobile shaggy tors to join the rocky outcrops and scattered boulders. The party keep their distance, but suddenly one of the mammoths takes exception to their presence. With surprising speed it suddenly charges the party and is almost upon them before it pulls up sharply, a mountain clad in wiry brown hair, to glower across an uncomfortably close gap. The horses start in fear at the towering pachiderm.
"Um, they aren't carnivorous, so I guess it won't help to throw it a steak..."
Terra explains, in a low voice, that mammoth herds normally comprise females and young, and they turn aggressive when they are worried about the young being attacked.
"Well I don't want a mammoth steak! How do we convince it we're NOT a threat?!?" Marc mumbles through a big, friendly smile. Then he remembers hearing from some woodsman that showing your teeth is considered agressive by most wild animals, and he quickly shuts his mouth.
:)
Marc thinks fast, watching the unhappy mammoth before him, and listening.
He hears the whispered murmurs of his teammates, and the lowing of the larger-than-horse sized calves punctuated by the trumpeting of the adults,...
The calves,...
Used to making snap judgments, for better or worse, Marc takes a deep breath, and moans loudly in a close approximation of the calves lowing.
"OK. Now, I don't know the first thing about big beasts like this one. However, I do know a thing or two about how people act when they try to frighten off enemies. Elephants are smart, so I'm sure the logic is pretty much the same here. She'd rather not fight - if she did, we'd all be lying around like bowling pins, but she also won't back down. So let's slowly move away from the herd and be mindful to not approach any kind of cover that might hide a calf. No eye contact and no sudden movements, and we should get out of this."
The mammoth flaps its ears and stirs uneasily as Marc trumpets like a baby mammoth. But Heimoth's attempts to phychologise it fail, and Sefra can't easily spot what (other than the party itself) might be aggravating it.
One more fail and....[/ooc]
Trusting in the old axiom that "Music hath powers to soothe the savage breast," Hasren pulls out his trusty flute and begins a soothing melody as he motions for the rest of the party to back away from the herd.
The lute begins to murmur and the mammoth settles, its dark eyes regarding the bard.
I....figure intimidate is out.
This'll take a bit of thinking.
Remembering back to his history lessons,....
and stories of ancient southern kingdoms of the Mwangies using elephants in battle against eachother, he remembers this:
horses do not like charging elephants.
scared people like to run from elephants.
Elephants like to charge, but hate it when drilled soldiers dodge their charge and flank them; though not helpless they're a little less protected that way, with soldiers up under and to the side of them, spearing tender places.
"Don't run......but we'll spread out a fair bit. Spread out our group a little bit. Everybody spread out, and if it charges one of us,....we could go for it. Then we slowly start backing up and out of here."
So he tries not to run away thus prompting it to charge. Instead, spread out and slowly, slowly retreat.
"I heard they're smart too. She'll know what we're doing. She'll kill most of us if she engages, but it might cost her. OR,...she can let us go and save everybody here the trouble. We don't have to WIN, just force her to LOSE MORE THAN SHE WANTS TO if she comes at us.
I heard of one guy who would run up under an elephant and stab it in the heart a bunch with his spear then beat feet out of there before the dieing thing fell on him. Last time he tried it, though, was his last time......."
owell.....
Aleph's book-learning comes to the fore. The party slowly spread out and around the beast. It huffs through its trunk and takes a step back.
Nature
Hasren searches his memory for any additional useful tidbits of lore he may have picked up from his homeland or during his travels.
Hasren searches his memory for any additional useful tidbits of lore he may have picked up from his homeland or during his travels.
The mammoth decides that the adventurers are not a threat to her calf and backs off, returning to the herd.
"You can use their copious dung as fuel. Saves on trees."
After the potential mashing by the mammoth, the nexy few days pass uneventfully. Soon the explorers are able to claim another section of the wilderness as claimed, if not tamed.
I'm good with d23. I think tiers are subsets of levels.
Yeah. There's three tiers; 1-10th level, 11-20th level, and 21-30th level...heroic, paragon, and epic tiers.
Nature
Nature
Nature
I think that'll work. Let's do it.
Marc preens his goatee as he proudly takes his place up front.
Next to the people who can actually tell which way is 'North',...
The exploration continues. The travellers continue east. The grassy highlands continue, although to to the south-east they dip down into the valley of the river they espied from afar. The next few days are tranquil, after the excitement of the gold strike and the nearly fatal encounter with the female mammoth.
perception