What Lies in the Icy Mines (Closed)

[Valkyrie]

24th Summer, 512 AV Iceglaze Hold had been recruiting volunteers and working tirelessly to dig out the collapsed icestone mines and haul the crushed bodies of unfortunate miners to the surface for funeral services. The bodies had been stuck underground since the melting began in the beginning of Spring, some had been crushed from the heavy weight of icestone and others had suffocated as air passages collapsed. All in all it was a grim site and a difficult one for many people to consider going back to. Iceglaze was thankful for any help they could get in recovering their comrades and the continued returning sight of Coren was one they welcomed. As Coren made his way to the entrance of the mine late in the morning he was greeted with quiet smiles and nods from fellow volunteers and Iceglaze miners. As pleased as they were for the assistance it was not the time or place for hearty greetings and slaps on the back. The masked Vantha picked up a shovel from a pile that lay haphazardly on the ground nearby and ducked down beneath the wooden beam that marked the entrance to the mine though it was difficult to miss the dark gash in the small hill of icestone. As soon as he was through the opening the light vanished and it took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the dark tunnel sparsely lit with candles. The floor of the shafts were slippery and roughly cut steps led the way down deeper into the bowels of the mine. Most of the main shaft had been excavated already and that left the sprinkling of tunnels and shafts that webbed out from the main shaft. Twenty chimes passed as Coren carefully navigated down the shaft and came upon a strange sight. A crew of excavators were standing in an adjacent tunnel they appeared to have been excavating but the group was motionless. The miners were all quiet and seemed to be leaning towards the collapsed area in front of them. None of the miners spoke or moved much, each seemed to be concentrating on area in front of them.

[Coren]

Coren stood a bit dumbfounded at the motionless group, as long as he had been working here he never had seen a group of people standing still like that. Nearly everything had been a flurry of motion up till now, so what was going on there? Seeing as he really wouldn't figure that out by just standing and continue to look at them he walked towards them and shook one of the motionless men by the shoulder, hoping to get his attention. “What happenend here?” Coren asked in his level voice at the person, he gave a glance at the mound of rubble, there was an easy guess that came to his mind. “Did one of the tunnels just collapse?” It would explain why they where nearly catonic.

oocSorry its so short

[Valkyrie]

As Coren shook the miner’s shoulder and spoke the group startled and turned towards him. A woman with red highlights in her black hair cleared her throat and sighed heavily. “Yes, this tunnel did collapse. We just finished clearing it out yesterday and put in some strong supports but it appears to have collapsed anyways. Its quite strange, really.” The woman paused and turned back to the collapsed tunnel. She rubbed her chin absently before turning back to Coren. “But you know, that’s not even the strangest thing. Barro over there got frustrated with the whole thing and cursed loudly at the collapse but wouldn’t you know it, something responded with a squeal. We got worried and started calling out but all we’ve heard back is a few strange squeals. It can’t be a miner, or any person really, so we are all a bit stumped as to what might be in there. It’s making us a bit nervous to clear to it out, you see. It might be anything in there.” The woman’s voice trailed off. “Maybe we should call the Icewatch to stand by?” the miner Coren had grabbed offered his idea quietly. The other miners grumbled quietly and kicked their feet at the ground. Getting Icewatch involved would be a big to-do and slow down the excavation of the rest of the mine as the guards blocked off the area. “Well, the space back there isn’t that big and the squeals don’t sound too strong so whatever it is can’t be tha’ horrible. I don’t think we need to bother Icewatch. But we can always send someone out to get them if we need to.” Another miner spoke and a mumbling of general agreement followed. The woman turned to Coren with calculating eyes. “Do you think you could help us? Do you have any experience in aggression to help if whatever is in there attacks? Or do you at least have some speed to go call for Icewatch if need be?” The woman looked Coren up and down, clearly assessing his physical merits. She didn’t seem overly impressed by her final judgment but she was more interested in skill and finesse anyway, which sometimes hid in unlikely persons. The miners were muscular enough anyways if whatever it was required a simple bash over the head.

[Coren]

Coren hadn't expected for the entire group to suddenly look at him when he broke the silence and asked his question. And quite honestly, the sudden attention made him feel a bit uncomfortable. When she gave her answer he almost immediately wanted to ask why they where still standing around here doing nothing while they could be digging out the rubble? Luckily before he could rile the miners up with his blunt question she explained it, mentioning squeals. The miner he had tried to get to answer his question mentioned asking the icewatch, an idea that made coren just shake his head. Coren nodded in agreement as another miner rebutted against calling the icewatch right now, even without that he would have adviced to keep them out of this for now. Especially since the icewatch was stretched thin as it was already. With the collapsed city wall and the prisoners on the loose. Heck they might even just close down the mine in its entirety for the time being since they didn't have enough manpower at the moment. “I'm not really a good brawler to be honest. But I got more useful skills up my sleeve that I can use if whatever is in there proves tries to attack me, ” He stated when the woman questioned him about what he could do. seeing as he couldn't turn his arse without somebody recognizing him as a mage for what happenend a dozen day's ago or so, he didn't really think he would have to explain further. Most people didn't want to know more then that anyway. “So yes, I don't see why I couldn't lend you a helping hand here.” Coren shrugged, he had wanted to help them out anyway, so it didn't really matter to him if it was shoveling rubble or diving into a cave going toe to toe with an unkown entity. “I really wouldn't mind having somebody to help me if I go in there though. Call me a coward, but going alone into a dark tunnel where something that I don't know is lurking doesn't really strike me as the best idea one can have.” he let his gaze slip over the miners gathered at the entrance. “So anybody wants to volunteer to help me out?” He would just prepare himself during the time the woman and the other miners needed to clear out the rubble enough for him and his eventual help to slip through.

[Valkyrie]

“I will help you when the time comes. For now though, we need you to just keep a good eye out while we are digging in case anything wriggles through while we aren’t paying attention. Its difficult to know how far back this cave in goes but if its shallow we don’t want any spooks catching us unawares.” The woman instructed carefully. She didn’t have much combat training but her thickly muscled arms looked as though she could swing her shovel hard enough to do some considerable damage. The miners exchanged looks as the woman grunted out a few commands and they turned to begin digging out the collapse. No one much liked the idea of digging toward an unknown noise source. As soon as the first man dug his shovel into the rubble a high pitched squeal was heard faintly. The miners exchanged more looks and set about their tasks with an unusual air of quiet seriousness. Usually the miners talked and laughed as they worked to pass the time but now the only sound that could be heard was that of shovels crunching into a mound of loose icestone. Coren would have half a bell to prepare himself and keep his nerves calm. The miners worked quietly but efficiently and soon enough the occasional squeal seemed louder and sharper. More then one miner had to take a chime to step back and calm his shaky hands. Miners were used to dealing with the danger of collapses and oxygen deprivation but not strange creatures they could not see. Eventually the woman stepped back to stand near Coren and help keep an eye on the slowly diminishing icestone blockage. She pulled out a flask and politely offered it to Coren to drink. If he chose to take it he would find that it contained merely water.

[Coren]

“I can do that, gives me some time to prepare to.” Coren replied to the woman with the red streaks in her hair and sat down on a crate that was shoved against the wall of the tunnel and began to dig through the numerous pockets that where shattered all over his pants and clothes. Eventually pulling out a leather scroll case and opened it up. He ignored the few looks of confusion send his way, opened up the case and began pulling out some ruffled papers he had stuffed in to protect its rather fragile contents. When the first soft but high pitched squeal sounded out he couldn't help but feel a cold shiver making its way down his back. He quickly extracted the vial of ink out of its container and began to work on getting his glyph's on the right places. He didn't want to go down there without an edge. He painted as good and as bad he could a set of focus glyph's on all the joints of his right arm and the palm and back of his hand. trying to keep his nerves and wits about him as the squeals became sharper and sharper, strangely enough, they didn't disturb him as much as he expected them to, I mean, they where squeals and other noises from a strange unknown being, why was all he got a shiver over his spine and a strange feeling of excitement at. It took nearly the entire time of the half a bell for coren to finish the designs on his right arm and he had just put the last hand on the simplistic design when the red streaked woman moved over next to him and offered him a canteen. “Thank you.” Coren said in a polite voice as he took it with his non-inked left arm and took a sip. “So, I never caught your name. Who do I have the honor of decending down into the depts with?” Coren said in a light joking tone, as if it was just going to be a nice walk in the park instead of decending into the depts with a dangerous being.

[Valkyrie]

“Pauma, Pauma Iceglaze.” The woman politely as she took back the flask and drank deeply. She had watched Coren draw his glyphs with a mix of curiosity and hesitance. The other miners had been unnerved by his strange drawings and made sure to drop their shovels of icestone away from the masked man. One of the miners dug his shovel deeply into the rubble and the mound shifted. Icestone tumbled down the side and the miners lifted their arms to shield their heads. After a few moments the pile settled and and a dark opening could be seen at the top. The opening was perhaps three feet wide and two feet long. A squeal was heard but its noise through the opening was so clear and sharp that it was clear that the opening must lead into whatever chamber the creature was currently inhabiting. Pauma turned to look at Coren thoughtfully. “Do you think you could pop up there and peak through to see what is over there? You look thin enough to fit through. We could give you a boost up. If we know what we’re dealing with we know how prepared we need to be before we excavate further.” Pauma said with a friendly grin. The miners were clearly too bulky and muscular to fit through the space and observe what was on the other side so that left Coren as the only viable option. Pauma gave Coren a jovial smack on the arm and pulled him forward before he had more then a moment to think or respond. Another miner came up and grasped Coren’s other arm firmly and the two began to lift him towards the opening. OOCWe are about to find out what lies beyond!

[Coren]

“Nice meeting you, I'm Coren.” He didn't give the name of his hold, mostly because in the eyes of his own hold, he wasn't a member anymore. He had completely ignored the mixed emotions of pauma and the other miners as he was drawing his glyph's. He had been stared at for an entire season whenever somebody managed to figure out he was a mage. He closed the vial again and put it down besides him and now simply waited till the collapsed area was going to be cleaned up, or a hole would be ready for both of them too climb through. He didn't need to wait very long, with a small rumble the mound of icestone shifted and kicked up dust, causing coren to hold up an arm to shield his eyes from it. A small hole had opened up at the top of the mount of rubble, a clear squeal sounded out from the hole. And if coren's ears still worked right, the orgin of the sound was close. When puama made her request he just nodded as she dragged him over regardless what he would have said anyway. It didn't seem he had a lot of choice in the matter, since the hole was obviously to small for the more muscled miners. “Can I at least have a torch or something to light the way if you are going to send me down alone?” He asked in a flat tone as he was hoisted up to the hole by his arms

oocAnd you are sending me in alone anyway at least I don't have to share the glory

[Valkyrie]

“Oh now, you aren’t going in alone, just taking a peak. But yes, I suppose a torch would be helpful.” Pauma chided gently as she and the other miner hoisted Coren up towards the hole. They lifted Coren towards the opening and once he was at an appropriate height to wriggle his shoulders through they braced themselves to hold him steadily. A third miner held up a torch for Coren to grab. Coren would find it difficult to wriggle through but not impossible. Only a few inches needed to be cleared before he could see what was on the other side of the icestone rubble. Working the torch through to shed light on the area would also present some difficulties in not burning himself.
On the other side of the rubble the tunnel stretched on a little further. Looking directly down from the hole Coren would see a small blueish creature that almost appeared to be made out of ice. The creature seemed alive yet something was off about it. It resembled a fox-like creature and perked its head to the side as it looked up and saw Coren peering down at it. Its tail thumped oddly a few times. Its jaws opened and that strange squeal was once again emitted. It didn't appear particularly vicious or dangerous but Coren would instinctively feel that something was very off about this creature. That the way in which he was alive was perhaps not the same way in which the creature was alive. It was the kind of instinctive feeling any being with breath in its body would feel when it recognized something that perhaps did not survive in the same way.

Coren would only have a few minutes to observe the creature before the miners pulled him back through the opening and set him down on the ground. They all gathered in close with apprehensively curious expressions on their faces. Pauma was once again the first to step forward and speak. “So what did you see?”

[Coren]

“Thank morwen for that.” Coren deadpanned as he waited for somebody to give him a torch before he was going to try to squeeze his torso through the hole, he didn't like being burned and getting the torch in first probably would lessen the chance he got singed. Coren grabbed the offered torch and tried to wriggle his torso inside, holding the torch out in front of him to make sure he didn't light himself on fire, something he couldn't stress the importance of enough to himself. Wriggling through the hole wasn't very easy, especially since he was limited to one arm to pull him through and that was his non-dominant right arm at that. But eventually he managed to squeeze him self in the hole enough, holding the torch up to let the light illuminate the dark tunnel that went on for a while. What coren saw nearly let his breath stock in surprise, a small blueish creature that vaguely resembled a fox sat down there. And unless his eyes where deceiving him it seemed to be created out of ice or maybe raw icestone, he wasn't to sure about that. For a few following minutes both the creature and coren stared at each other. As far as coren knew the creature acted quite lifelike, but something just felt off about it. Still, it didn't seem particularly vicious or dangerous, not more then a normal wild small animal anyway. The fact something felt of about the creature didn't quell his fasination with it, if nothing else it only made him more interested and brought more questions, how did it work? How did it come into existence? Was it the icestone that was saturated with djed and thus birthed this creature or some other way, where there more of it or was that the only specimen in existence? Was it possible to create more if it was the only one? Did they need food or something similar to it, and if so what? All those questions ran through his mind in the few minutes as they where both staring at each other. After a few minutes the miners pulled him back. Coren didn't mind, while the creature was fascinating just looking at it wasn't really going to answer the questions he had running through his mind. When he was back on his two feet the miners gathered around him with curiosity. And once again pauma spoke up, asking what he saw. “Well, I saw a small foxlike creature made out of ice, or icestone, wasn't really sure about it.” He responded in a level tone. Using his hands to roughly mime the lenght and width of the creature “Quite remarkable, it doesn't really seem more dangerous then a regular wild animal though, still, I think capturing it is the best option. It is a fascinating creature, quite lifelike too. I would enjoy a chance to study it to be really honest.” He voiced his plan to the miners, hoping that he didn't get to many objections to it.