Cait Shelter
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@panda
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442
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panda
Magic
lightning god slayer
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MISSION NAME: a precious gem
CLIENT: the blacksmith guild of gabbro city
CHARACTERS: Orion Prima Emil Tezzeret
MISSION BRIEFING: there have been rumours about a priceless gem that has been sitting within the bowels of the abandoned mines of granite town. the blacksmith guild of gabbro city requests a small team of wizards to investigate and possibly retrieve a sample. if possible, no destruction is caused due to the already-fragile nature of the mines.
The smoke was unbearable, and that was coming from Orion, the biggest consumer of smokes in Alakitasia. It had been sweltering, the heat being trapped by the dense smoke. Orion had already taken off one layer of his clothing, and he was ready to just take off his white tank-top. He had been sorely tempted to light up a cigarette to ease his rising temper, but he knew that would only make it worse.
"Where is this partner of mine," Orion grunted to himself, leaning himself on the entrance of the mine. According to the blacksmith guild of Gabbro City, the place was in shambles, and any huge disturbance could collapse the whole mine itself. This meant they had to keep magic to a minimum, and avoid any sort of fight as much as they can.
Without waiting too long after, Orion saw someone walking towards his position. It seemed that his partner had arrived, and while he could not yet see the face, the visage seemed familiar. "Over here. bud" Orion called out, hoping to get the attention of his now-partner and get the mission started. Anything to get out of this oppressive atmosphere.
Emil Tezzeret
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Southern Wolves
tag
@emil
posts
41
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Pronouns
he/him/his
OOC name
aero
Magic
lightning magic
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emil coughs from suddenly suddenly inhaling volumes of the smoke as he neared the rendezvous point. hands would try to fan them away from his face to no avail. the heat brought another problem on its own as well, though it didn't bring as much problem to emil as his wheezing.
the familiar voice perks him up, however. "hey, friend!" he returns the greeting.
the job description mentioned nothing about the person he may be working with. emil simply assumed the worse, though he got something better than what he could have asked for.
nearing him, he flashes a smile at orion as he confirms his face. "what are the chances, am i right?" the pleasant expression quickly turns sour as he takes another whiff of the nicotine, turning his face away from orion and taking a big cough.
"can we move out of here soon?"
Orion Prima |
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Cait Shelter
tag
@panda
posts
442
balance
jewels
Pronouns
he/him
OOC name
panda
Magic
lightning god slayer
|
"What are the chances, indeed," Orion smirked "How have you been?". Inside, he was a bit more relieved. With his last partner being Cheshire, he had hoped that his next partner-type mission was with someone he knew as well. Wizards of ill-repute was not an uncommon occurrence in these situations, preying on weak wizards. He was not weak, but he'd rather not have to deal with it.
At the man's comment, Orion waved him over and entered the mine. It was musty, but the air was just a bit better than the outside atmosphere. Old would be the word that Orion would use to describe the place. Old, and very unstable. Looking around, the beams that supported the mine were already breaking apart. The danger was less with monsters but more on the structure of the place.
"So, you read the information for the mission?" Orion asked, making sure he had not missed anything himself. A gem. No magic if possible. Death by mine collapsing. "Wizards not allowed to use magic, what a pity hey?" But it was good money, so Orion was not too sad about it.
Emil Tezzeret |
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Southern Wolves
tag
@emil
posts
41
balance
jewels
Pronouns
he/him/his
OOC name
aero
Magic
lightning magic
|
the only thing he remembered within the job description was the location and the general objective, as well as him having a partner to accompany him along the trip. he figured the finer details was best left to whoever he was working with, to which he supposed was what was going to happen.
"i didn't rea-- what? fuck!"
his voice echoed through the walls of the abandoned mine. a hand covered his mouth immediately, following it up with a deep breath and a sigh. it quickly moved to the back of his head, scratching it until he calmed down from the surprise of the bad news he was given.
"i suppose i can't even use my magic to make this trip safer for us in the first place anyways."
what was electricity going to do with a bunch of falling rocks?
"i don't really like this place. can we please make this a quick one?" his voice almost sounded like a whine, though he picked up the tone of his words in the end to make it sound less like one.
he starts walking as they talked, not wanting to stay in the precarious place any longer. any moment they waste standing around was a risk for him, and he doesn't want himself dying in a sad place like this. sparks start to fly around him, providing a dim source of light.
he turns behind him while his legs move, continuing the conversation.
"have you been here before? does it really go way beyond?"
Orion Prima |
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Cait Shelter
tag
@panda
posts
442
balance
jewels
Pronouns
he/him
OOC name
panda
Magic
lightning god slayer
|
Orion didn’t answer the man, with him having already understood the point of not using magic. Truthfully, he would not have been comfortable at all about not being able to use his magic, especially in a situation where creatures of the deep earth might attack at any point in time. However, the problem was that the mine was very rickety, and easy collapsible. The constant threat of being squashed was real, and if they were not careful, they’d be pancakes by the end of this mission, if they were lucky enough to come back from it that is.
”The place gives me the creeps too, there’s something here that’s...” Orion trailed off, instead focusing on the sounds around him. It was breeze, it sounded like, but for a second, Orion thought it sounded more like a breath. Thankfully, the lightning mage started to emit electricity that lit up the place. Orion would have done the same, but the nature of his electricity was in such a way that it would, instead, darken the place. Black lightning was a different breed, so it seemed.
Idle talk was idle talk, but it passed the time ”I’ve been in only once,” he started, ”it was a bit different that time, and a different entrance to the mine altogether. But yes, the mine goes really deep into the earth, and they were not lying when they said it was unstable as fuck.” Orion and Cheshire had almost been flattened the last time, after all. ”Just be very careful, and alert. Don’t want to get flattened now, right?” They finally came to a junction, where three different paths were given to them as a choice. All three looked the same, and Orion looked at the three paths quizzically.
”What do you think? Right? Left? Middle?”
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Southern Wolves
tag
@emil
posts
41
balance
jewels
Pronouns
he/him/his
OOC name
aero
Magic
lightning magic
|
"i'm pretty lucky at these kinda things, y'know?" he wasn't. he points a finger straight ahead as he decides on which path to go with without much thinking. "we're going middle!"
emil takes the lead, moving straight to the middle path without taking a peek on the other two corridors. the way was unsurprisingly quiet, with the ground littered with rusted mining equipment and broken tracks of the railways of the abandoned mine. otherwise, nothing of significance hindered them.
the light from his electricity illuminates the way somehow despite its weaker luster compared to when large bolts are released. nonetheless, it manages to give the pair a view of what the room ahead of them was. a smile on emil's face widens as he manages to see the expanse of the room. along with his mood, the light he gives off brightens.
the railways end in a cliff, breaking off in a way such as it was supposed to continue on the other side of the ravine. the tunnel continues to the other side, but in between two cliffs was a huge fall. emil was tempted to shoot electricity at it to see the bottom with the sparks produced, but he stops himself.
he picks up a pebble instead, letting it free fall from the edge. it takes a while before it reaches the bottom, the sharp sound it produced as it did echoing all the way up.
"do you wanna go down there or nah?" he asks. his eyes were already searching for a safe way down, however, even before orion could respond to him.
Orion Prima |
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Cait Shelter
tag
@panda
posts
442
balance
jewels
Pronouns
he/him
OOC name
panda
Magic
lightning god slayer
|
Orion let the man lead, which was done for two reasons. One, the man had the light. In this case, visibility was a more important factor, instead of relying on Orion's amplified senses as a god slayer. And two, there were dangers in this whole abandoned mine that Orion really did not want to face. So, yes, his partner acted as a shield for him. He was not shy to admit it.
"That's..." Orion trailed off, his face scrunched up as he looked at the suspicious gap. Most likely, age was the culprit of this damage, however, that did not mean that monsters did not settle below the wreck. There were a few species of earth-bound scorpions that were known to burrow. He was hoping not to encounter one today.
From his point, he could see that Emil had wanted to go down into the pit. Orion shrugged, "Let's go back. Don't seem like-" A growl was heard from the pit, and a shadow of a monster can be seen slithering about. "Let's go. Left, this time." Orion quickly turned and briskly walked back. "Better now fight, it can bring this whole place down with us." He argued, not even looking back as he finally got to the major fork, and took the left passage. "A giant snake..." Orion muttered, thinking back to the creature inhabiting the ravine.
Emil Tezzeret |
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Southern Wolves
tag
@emil
posts
41
balance
jewels
Pronouns
he/him/his
OOC name
aero
Magic
lightning magic
|
he stares at the ravine just before they left. "would've been a story to tell the future generations, don't ya think?" well, if there would still be any. with each passing year, emil wanted to doubt that he'll live long enough to reach that age.
he remained upbeat despite the disappointment, humming a tone as he followed orion to the other route. as much as the daredevil in him wanted to tempt his fate with the perils of the unknown, he respected the other's opinion on not making any stupid decisions emil often does unknowingly. he made a mental note to learn the difference of being brave and needlessly rushing into danger later.
backtracking to where the fork led to the divide of three different paths, emil took the one orion had chosen this time. he was once again on the lead since he was the source of lighting. it was as quiet as the last path they took, though it ended in a room which emil's sparks cannot fully illuminate.
"should i make it brighter?"
they already stood out for the creatures of the underground even without the lights since they weren't from around here. having a brighter light would just attract more attention to them and mark them as a bigger target than they already are.
Orion Prima |
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Cait Shelter
tag
@panda
posts
442
balance
jewels
Pronouns
he/him
OOC name
panda
Magic
lightning god slayer
|
"Don't think we'd survive that to be honest, so there definitely would not have been any story to tell," Orion grunted, "Besides, remember, no magic? That fight would have brought the whole mines down on us." The place was horribly old, and very unstable. In fact, just raising his voice had caused some dust to call from the ceiling. It was definitely not a place for a fight.
They finally reached another junction. In this case, Emil's light did not even fully encompass the whole area. It seemed as though this was one of the main working areas of the miners. If that was true, then their quarry was nowhere here. The gem they were looking was somewhere deeper, where the miners had only started exploring before the Calamity struck.
"Follow the wall, keep your light stable but low." Orion held out his hand to feel the mine's wall. Whatever this place was, it seemed to be circular in shape. "Let's not tempt fate, we need to go deeper into the depths." They needed to find an exit, somewhere leading further into the ground.
Before they could get any further, Orion saw something at the corner of his eye. A mass, giant, was on the ceiling. Red dots blinked at them, and before Orion could do anything, they took flight.
Emil Tezzeret |
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