[Hanako] Chapter 14: Southern Mining Site

[Asta]

"We'll be quite alright. Thank you for your concern." Hanako replied, though the guard's change in tone was troubling.

I wonder what's down there that has him so riled up...

[Throndir]

Location: Mining Site #2
Date: Day 16 - 9 AM

The soldier simply nodded, then pressing a button, and pulling on a lever, the elevator began to slowly head to the lower floors. The elevator was painfully slow, and each segment of a floor was actually much lower than it seemed. It was almost surprising to you the fact that they managed to dig so deep down, from the fact that they didn't have as much technology as the people of Earth did. But Trudy explained that the tunneling was primarily done through earth magic.

Soon enough the elevator went to the bottom level of the mining site.

Location: Mining Site #2 - 5th Level
Date: Day 16 - 9 AM

It would have been dark, but there were glowing crystals embedded into the walls. Many of them. It was almost like looking up into a clear night sky with the many stars shining through.

"Are those... mana crystals?" Trudy asked in wonder. She had cocked her rifle as a precaution earlier, but she stared wide-eyed now at the sight.

"From what Frau Leiningen had mentioned before, these crystals are only found in the new world, right? I don't understand why we have them underground here in our own country... There's no reports of these either..."

There were some soldiers ahead, who only nodded towards you when the elevator lowered and opened. You noted that there were a few slaves too who seemed to be mining the crystals. The slave collars that everyone wore at this level though, looked a bit different than the ones up above. These were thicker.

[Asta]

"Curious. Sofia is going to be excited to assume control of this place..." Hanako said looking around. She wondered if the crystals had been buried before and then revealed via earth magic, or if the cavern was naturally occurring. "Let's keep going, and see whats up down here I guess." As she walked she stooped down for a moment to grab a small rock from the ground and slipped it into her pocket.

[info]Perception, to spot anything of interest:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+8 : 8 + 8, total 16[/blockquote][/info]
[info]Knowledge (Nature), to see if she can discern if the area was dug out or more naturally occurring:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+12 : 2 + 12, total 14[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

[info]Perception: 16
You heard the sounds of a distant screeching. The slaves who were working continued to work however, though some of the soldiers looked into the distance. You noticed that all the soldiers at this level all had their crossbows drawn and ready, unlike the soldiers in the levels above them. You also realized that the mining operation at this level only covered this small area at the elevator.

Knowledge (nature)
Judging from the make of the cavern, compared to how the elevator shaft was like, this was naturally occuring.[/info]

One of the soldiers approached.

"You two taking my shift...? New here?" One of the soldiers said.

[Asta]

"Here for surprise inspection, Herr Klein's direct orders." Hanako replied and gave a short salute. "Things look under control. Have you been having much trouble with..." She trailed off and thumbed suggestively down the the chamber away from where the slaves toiled, hoping that the soldier would fill in the blank with whatever was making the noise in that direction.

[Throndir]

"Screeching lizards? It's been painful. We had to send some of our injured soldiers up a level to the hospital ward we've setup after the last attack. The admin should have requested for more soldiers for our operations here... There's been a rumor that we're going to be sent off an expedition soon to explore the caverns. You know if that's true?" The soldier asked, his skin was rather pale, and he had bags under his eyes from fatigue.

[Asta]

"I can't speak to that unfortunately. The three of us are going to be taking a look farther down the the cavern though. Is there anything more you can tell us about the situation?"

[Throndir]

"Looking further down the cavern?" The man repeated, a look of disbelief in his eyes. He shook his head.

"Very well... I don't think I've seen you or your companions here before, so I can only guess you're new here even if you've been told what's happening. But I wouldn't go in there with just three people... Anyways, not much other than what you might know... I know we're supposed to keep things just verbal between all communications and reports for this place, but a new kind of monster was found down here... Some kind of crystalline humanoid just yesterday. Apart from that, nothing else really."

[Asta]

"Herr Klein's direct orders..." Hanako said and gave a rueful look. "Thanks for letting us know, we'll return before too long I suspect."

She gave a short salute and turned to Trudy and Kari. "Let's go, be on your guard."

[info]Hanako and Co. will proceed down into the cavern relatively carefully, trying to make sure they don't get ambushed by lizards or crystal men or whatever.[/info]

[Throndir]

[info]This section will work like this:

Each hour spent, you can roll a Survival to either Explore current area (which rerolls the encounter table of the current zone), Travel deeper, or Retreat. I'm keeping track of where you are. These caverns are enormous. The deeper you go, the higher chance for nice things to find. There is one special thing in these caverns only obtainable at deeper levels.

Going deeper also increases the risk, as you'd have to go out the same way as well. Retracing your steps to a specific encounter/location is done by first heading to that zone, then another Survival check to find the area.

If you have any specific prep, or march order, then feel free to state so[/info]

Soon enough you began to travel. Kari lead the way, both holding a torch in one hand, and her curved blade in the other. You knew that she had to use two hands for the large weapon, so more than likely, if fighting did occur, she would drop the torch. Trudy had her rifle ready, though her own blade was close to her side.

Much like the entrance of the tunnels, there were many crystals throughout. Not only that, there were glowing roots that gave off a neon blue and cyan glow. Parts of it pulsated, telling you that it was indeed alive. It was then that Kari called out for the group.

"Despise mine own blood and race I do. However, mine ancestry giveth me vision in low-light conditions... Over yonder dost I see something... Strange? Trudy, mayst thou hold mine torch?"

Trudy nodded, taking a hold of the torch from Kari. Ten Kari moved forward slowly keeping her eyes up ahead.

When she was close enough, she paused, then beckoned the rest over. Finally when everyone was gathered around her. Kari pointed to the strange thing at the center. To you, it looked like a variety of ruins. Though, ruins that looked out of place in this not-Germany world perhaps around the early 1900s. These ruins looked more... modern, or perhaps even futuristic. There were evident pieces of metals that stuck out, almost as if they had once been a long array that were supposed to hold something in them. Almost like a rack. In one of these racks however, was an item. It had a mechanical look to it, but it was clearly some sort of belt. It was fastened against the remnants of the ruins however, with various clamps still in place that held it down. You saw evidence of various small light bulbs, but of course, with this small piece of ruins disconnected from whatever power source it had eons ago, there was no light. Surprisingly, though the ruins looked like they were torn, as if something had dismantled it forcefully, the belt itself still looked like it was in good condition.

[Asta]

[info]Marching order will be Kari, Hanako, Trudy. Hanako already has her sword drawn.[/info]

"That looks like something worth looking at..." Hanako remarked, and cautiously approached the ruins to take a closer look.

Once she was closer, she attempted to get a grasp of what the overall structure might have been as well as examining the "belt".

"What might you be...?" she asked the belt, knowing that to the others it would just sound like she was musing aloud.

[info]Perception to examine the belt and the ruin:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+8 : 10 + 8, total 18[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

[info]Perception: 18
The belt was primarily metallic, though, it had various joints that looked like they could easily bend, or stretch if needed. There was a glow coming from the item that you could see, which was reminiscent of the glow of mana that you would see in magic.[/info]

"Oh.... a human. You see? I haven't seen your kind here in thousands of years." The belt commented. "And I'm something you put around your waist, you see?" The belt responded. Kari who had never seen you use your ability before scrunched up her eyebrows.

"It's okay Kari, she's probably talking to it." Trudy said understanding what was happening.

Kari just blinked her eyes a couple times, but chose not to intrude.

"Oh... but no one puts me on anymore, you see..." The belt continued sadly.

[Asta]

"That's a real shame" Hanako replied. "Do you do anything besides keep pants up when you're worn? I may consider putting you on, provided you aren't going to hurt me." It would be a bad time to start wearing cursed items, she thought to herself.

[Throndir]

"Oh... of course I do. You see, I am the latest model for physical enhancement magi-tech. At least... I was. But you should put me on. You really should." The belt's voice seemed to get excited.

[Asta]

"Hmmmm..."

[info]Hanako is going to attempt to get a better idea of what the belt does (and if its cursed) before putting it on.
Spellcraft:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+18 : 1 + 18, total 19[/blockquote][/info]

[info]Provided the belt is not cursed, she'll take it and put it on.[/info]