Day 229 [EVENT]: Search the Skyway

[bastionpc]

Who: Nathaniel, Zahi, and everyone who wants to participate
Open: Open
When: Day 229
Where: Burstone Quarry
What: The Bastion needs a core. Badly. So what better place would there be to search than the place cores were mined from before the Calamity?
Format:any
Warnings:here be monsters

[After a few days of rest and organization, Nathaniel and Zahi finally lead a good portion of the Bastion residents to the quarry to look for a core. Fortunately, it doesn't take long to reach the quarry, thanks to the extended reach of the Skyway. Unfortunately, the quarry is very large, which means that everyone has to split up into small groups to cover more ground. But is the risk worth it for the reward?]

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OOC:

Due to the nature of this post, there will be several threads happening at once. When your group is ready for some more NPC/setting interaction, put a note in the subject line of your comment, and a mod will jump in to further the thread.

Also, several groups can be at one location within the quarry, but each group will still have their own thread in that location.

Finally, if you did not sign up for a group, you can still participate. Any group of 2-4 participants can start a thread in here. If you need to find someone to make a last-minute group with, jump in on the most recent plurk on the mod plurk, or on the OOC post here.

Comments

[heptagram]

[Okay, okay, they probably wouldn't find a core out in the housing area, but they really should search everywhere, right? And 'everywhere' would include the housing area, right?

Well, that's the logic that dictated Patchouli accepting that her trio should head in that direction. As they arrive, Patchouli surveys the area. Hm, this looks really familiar. Well, that happens sometimes.]

Hopefully we find something useful here. Where should we start? Somehow I'm not inclined to believe splitting up is the best idea.

[coolerthansora]

You mean like- maybe something scared everyone away?

[Roxas hasn't had the best of luck in general, but he tends to assume the odds are better for other people.]

The shards'll still help though. [No objections here to picking them up. If they don't have to feed them to the Monument, then that's a lot of ice cream. He moves to start putting them away into his bag, the Samurai standing guard for them.]

[croceamors]

Extremely. If we send the Dusk ahead of us, it can make sure that I don't open one up over a pit or something just as ridiculous.

[bastionpc]

[No booze beats Caelondian booze.

There's a second flask hidden within a book on the shelf, by the way. Someone was clearly paranoid about people finding their liquor stash.

Other than what's already been found, nothing else will be of much use to the group. The one exception to that is some mail buried on the desk. It's correspondences between the foreman and a few agencies, all talking about business related to the mines. None of it is shipping order, though, it's all plans for future things, none of which happened because of the Calamity.]

[bastionpc]

[That sure is an interesting line of thought! There's nothing currently around to confirm or deny it, though.

With some searching, sacks can be found. The sacks used to carry other things, but they are currently in a trash pile, which has other burnable things in it. Clearly they were to be burned, but with the end of the world, nobody got around to it.]

[bastionpc]

[As Ryu keeps working, he reveals more and more of the shard. It'll take a moment to get it fully mined, though, part of the back of it is stuck to a particularly tough rock.

As Ryu digs, the sound of rubble moving around heads slowly down the tunnel, coming towards the group. Slowly, slowly it comes, until finally it stops right in front of Rob and Ippo.

A moment later, a Rattle-Tail's head pokes out of the ground and looks up at the pair, as if to say 'hay gaiz whatchu doin']

[bastionpc]

[All this talking has certainly attracted attention. That attention comes in the form of a momma Rattle-Tail, back from scavenging to see what rood beings are making noise around her eggs.

Papa Rattle-Tail is around as well, and also about five more Rattle-Tails who look slightly different from the other two. These ones have slightly different patterns in their feathers, and are a bit smaller.

Momma Rattle-Tail is currently between her nest and the party, hissing at the trio to get them to move. The rest are nearby, watching with their judging eyes.

The group can either move deeper into the mine, or go back out. Both ways are still available. However, if they go deeper into the mine, they'll have to deal with annoyed birds on their way out.]

[bastionpc]

[They're picking up something big.

See, another group has already started mining, and their efforts have awoken some of the monsters in the tunnels. Fortunately for them, the most worrisome one is not near them.

Unfortunately for Toph, Hilda, and Red, it's nearby. And as soon as it hears their voices, it'll start heading in their direction.

Toph will be able to get that it's big, moves on all fours, and sort of hops instead of walking. Also, it's moving as if it is curiously probing, rather than attacking. It's trying to find out wtf is going on, so it's not charging at them yet.]

[findsrisks]

[It's not so much the height that bothers her, as it is the fact that there's nothing below. Nanaki is surprisingly accepting of death: if there were ground a hundred feet below them, she wouldn't be so worried. Splatting against the ground is at least a quick and mostly-painless affair. But falling for eternity? That would involve falling until you had a heart attack and died from the shock, and that could take a while. It would definitely be more than enough time for the horror of the situation to hit her, if she fell.]

Nope, I'm good. You're probably stronger than me, so it'd make sense for you to pull me back up. I can climb down.

[So she just has to not fall. Fortunately, Nanaki has a pretty strong poker face, so she can at least fake confidence here.

She also seems to know at least a little bit about climbing things, because she doesn't just tie the rope around her waist. She wraps the rope around her legs too, distributing her weight much more effectively, and not unlike the bottom half of modern rock-climbing harnesses.]

[bastionpc]

[It certainly is at least a very large shard, if not a core. See, because this is a mine, the cores in the ground haven't been carved into the usual core-shape. Cores of all shapes and sizes can be found here, so Tobias could be perched on a long, skinny core. Maybe.

It does give a little when Tobias lands on it, though. Either the Calamity knocked it loose when it ripped the ground apart, or someone was digging at this one at some point.]

[windgod]

[That...hadn't been what Ippo had expected when something burrowed up out of the ground; it looked like...some kind of happy...bird like creature staring at them curiously. Ippo turned his gaze to Rob, silently mouthing "No sudden moves" as he reached his hand behind him to his pack.

He'd remembered to bring a loaf of bread with him and he figured maybe he could appease whatever kind of digging bird this was. He broke a piece off in his pack and brought it around slowly, holding the chunk out to the creature as a sort of peace offering.

Hopefully that would make it not attack. Hopefully.]

[followsthevoice]

[Raile already had enough shards of his own at the moment; while he would stoop to collect any that were near him, he wasn't going to stop and nab every one he saw. They were on a mission here and he was going to stick to it; he'd gotten a core here once before and he was sure that at least one of the groups here could do it again.]

[doctor_dragoon]

[Falling for eternity would definitely be a bummer, and Yukio sure doesn't have any way of catching her from the top of the cliff should she fall. Tobias already mentioned that he can't change forms fast enough to be of use in that situation either.

No falling, Nanaki. :|]

If you're sure. [Yukio offers a nod an an encouraging smile before taking hold of an upper section of the rope, ready to assist whenever necessary.]

Nanaki-san is coming down!

[Young lady on the way, Tobias. Watch your tail feathers.]

[notachickenhawk]

<Got it! There's something here, but I'm not sure what it is. Thumbs would be helpful.>

[Damn thumbs, always being useful in the situations where he doesn't have them.]

[amnesiadragon]

[Good thinking. He turns his head to - oh. Not that much of a problem. He returns his attention to digging, trying to carve off enough of the rock so that he can get a grip on it and wiggle it free. Failing that, at least he can make a hole big enough to stick the pick in.]

[findsrisks]

[Clearly you just have to grow thumbs, Tobias.

Nanaki carefully makes her way down the cliff, relying more on the handholds she can find than on the rope that's tied around her. She's trying her best to climb down to where Tobias is, but it's slow-going.]

I'm on my way! Is it a core?

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob doesn't catch what Ippo's trying to say, possibly because he can't lipread Japanese, but he wasn't planning on making any sudden moves around the bird-thing anyways. His guard lowers a bit; it's kind of cute and harmless-looking, actually.]

[daughterofursa]

[This group may need lessons in How Not to Be Loud.

Zuko turns around at the sound of hissing. She doesn't back up, because she doesn't want to put the other two between her and the birds, but she does hold up her free hand, palm-out.]

Easy. We're not interested in your nest.

[She doesn't expect the birds to understand, but they can pick up on tone of voice and body language. There are no threatening movements towards the eggs here. And the torch is totally non-threatening okay.]

[chosenbylife]

They don't look convinced.

[ Oh wow. That's quite a swarm there. Definitely more then just a couple Rattle-Tails. A part of him really REALLY wants to try catching one. But now's not really the time and his pokeballs don't exactly work on these things. ]

They're not blocking the path... let's just try and keep going...

[ He's slowly starting to back away. ]

[tophgirl]

[No, not a rockslide or a cave-in... the source is moving closer and becoming more clear. As it does, Toph's expression morphs from serious concentration to wary confusion.]

It looks kinda like a giant rabbiroo.

[freedom_engineer]

[Time to report back to the guy in charge.]

Nathan, Zahi, We found some things in the foreman's office that may be of use.

Including a map of the mines, which should show which tunnels are still producing and most likely to house a good core. Sadly, if I'm reading this accurately, they were exploring the process of opening a new tunnel, which means they probably weren't satisfied with the outputs of the current tunnels.

I also found a couple of addresses that might be likely to house a core. Off-site warehouses and a power plant that both seem promising.

We also found a very large shard, not quite a core though...

[amourtician]

Thank the Lord for handy cannon fodder, eh, darlings?

[amphibian]

Right... [And that's all Aoi has to say as she follows them along, practically tip-toeing by. That sure is quite a few unhappy-looking birds, so to keep herself calm, she stays close to her teammates and their shield-producing magic floating keyring.]

[bastionpc]

[Zahi will watch nearby, but Nathaniel is the one to look over everything Colin has. The news of the tunnels makes him frown, because he certainly understands the implications of that, but the giant shard makes his eyes go wide.]

That certainly is a large shard! We, er...

[It's not easy to explain how to use them to someone who didn't grow up in a world where cores and shards powered everything.]

Cores were for the big stuff. Boats, city power grids, things like that. They would be stuck in big machines that would effectively suck the power out of it for long periods of time. Shards, on the other hand, went in small things that wouldn't normally be connected to power lines. Watches, small radios, that sort of thing. They lost power faster, but were portable.

Things like this, they're usually cut down to a more appropriate size after they've been mined out. They're too big to be portable, and too small to be used like a core. But since we're just tossing cores and shards into the Bastion anyway, a bunch of things this size would have the same effect as a core. If we can find like 10-ish total, that would take care of our power problems for at least another month.

Cores will still be needed for the actual repairs to the Bastion, I think, but unrefined, large shards like this can be used for their raw power.

[bastionpc]

[The entrance may not be the best place for finding a core, but it certainly does have a lot of information. a little outcropping nearby is full of postings and papers, tacked up on a board for anyone to read. Shift schedules, notices of new dig locations, that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, it's all written in Caelondian. Fortunately, your group has someone who can read Caelondian in it! So Raile can easily find out just where this mining company found their last huge core.

The question is, will the group go there, or will they pass the information along to another group? Or will they pass by it entirely to look at other things in this area?]