sixthiterationlogs | [ MINGLE ] MINING EXPEDITION

WHO: Tony Stark & Co.
WHERE: North West Mountain Range
WHEN: November 5th - 8th
OPEN TO: Open to all
WARNINGS: Language, canon typical violence

The Hike Up/Down

After sending a message out the day before to meet him in the fountain park at dawn (daylight is important) Tony packs up. Supplies secured and a path found mostly by working himself up (not that difficult) and following the blue path only he can see (still weird) Tony guides his modest expedition up a winding way over rivers and to a promising stony outcropping at the base of the mountains before needing a moment to 're-calibrate'. AkA get stressed out as to where to head next for optimal ore extraction. It takes a minute but- again, he's got a lot of anxieties to kick into gear and it should be easy enough to nudge their rag tag little group further up until they find the right spot. Making an easy walk down- well. That's also a trick. Finding a quick path back to the village before they lose the light- marking the way they've come so they can find it the next day? Kind of important.

Digging a Hole

Breaking ground is a matter of staring, trying to think back to what little he knows of geology (not fucking much), and waiting for the anxiety to get to the point where it'll hand him something specific. They need ore, they need a good starting location, and once they manage to pinpoint it? Pickaxes are handed out, a nearby cave explored, and Tony strips down to get to work. Crack stone, haul it out, rinse, repeat. Anything usable gets put in sacks made from stolen sheets to be hauled down- not the best system he's got but they're just getting started. Regular breaks are A thing, canteens of water passed around- he's pretty sure there's a stream somewhere that should help with the 'not dying of thirst' issue in the future.

Encounters With Natives

Somewhere on the hike up, during the dig, or taking a rest on one of the craggy boulders surrounding the cave where they're chipping away at stone, signs of native fauna linger. There's a patchy nest looking thing where one can hear the mewling of peakittens, blue eyed, tiny, and abandoned by the looks of it. Loping about the slopes a few curious mountain elk that bound in at the sign of food, keeping a cautious distance but wandering close should anyone appear friendly. Near the woods, though, just as they wind their way up- or make their way back down at the end of the day? Dust Moths have taken to the air, shimmering wings leaving powder in the air.

Environmental Effects

During the hike up in the predawn there's lying mist clinging to the sides of the mountain in thin curls, swirling in the air as they hike through it. Careful not to inhale too deeply, otherwise you might find yourself a little more honest than you'd like for most of the morning, and that could make the rest of the hike pretty damn awkward. In the caves proper there's stone and ore enough- and a dark, black powder that tastes of licorice and ash. Shadow dust. Maybe the next few swings don't do as much damage- or do any at all. Maybe they picking up stone becomes impossible till you're in the light.

In Too Deep

On the second, maybe the third day all their activity and digging catches some aggressive attention. A pickaxe sunk too deep, cracking through a cave wall and finding a den of snarling, hungry cave wolves that spill through the hole all snapping teeth and snarling claws, bursting out of the tunnels to scatter whoever's dared to come close to their home. A tree felled to mark their path startles a giant boar into charging, bellowing in the night, turning tusk and muscle to clear it's own way through their weary line.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Hike
The Iron Bull had packed light for the hike. He usually did. He has his new axe and the armor that Tony had made him. It's not as much as he is used to but it is better than nothing. He's also packed a jacket, a few blankets as well as some food. Having traveled with the Inquisitor he is used to traveling light and knowing what benefits come from that. Besides if they find what they need they would most likely need to be able to carry as much as possible of that back with them. During the actual hike he is typically either at the back or the front of the group, eyes constantly scanning around them, an unease seeping into him whenever they encountered fog. But he doesn't say anything about it, instead focusing on the task at hand, keeping the people in his group safe.

The dig
He doesn't help out with the dig straight away. Instead he leaves his bedroll behind and starts out in the woods around the small camp, as he does every evening. He makes careful note of any tracks he finds, both animals he knows and especially any he doesn't. It isn't hard to do after all. He smiles when he locates a small stream not far from where they've made camp. Fresh water is always a win. On the way back, once he feels secure he has done a good search of the area he picks up a handful of wood for the fire.

Back in camp he lets others focus on setting up the camp and making food while he walks over to the dig and picks up a pickaxe, leaving his great axe aside and moves to help with the dig.

For the first time since arrival--with the exception of time with Rinoa--Squall felt useful. Protecting and rebuilding his home was where Squall felt best. He wasn't friendly enough to make casual conversation easily. But when there was a mission, he would be the first one to sign up.

He wasn't tired from the hike, but Tony needed to locate the best place for the ore before they began. Squall took the moment to follow the sound of water and refill some of the group's canteens.

He gave a nod to Bull as he approached. "It looks like a good place to camp." Hopefully they would find the ore close and no dangerous monsters would appear, but Squall was as prepared as he could be for that.

Bull nods to the other guy coming up to fill water. He smiles slightly and points towards the stream "If you go down there it looks like an good place to fill those."

Then he smiles a little warmer and reaches out to offer to take some of the containers. "It does, as far as I can tell we don't have anything to be worried about, but we'll keep watch anyway."

Squall was a man of few words, and so the nod he offered to Bull's first statement was his own quiet way of saying 'Thank you.' He followed the direction and also handed off a couple of the canteens.

"I have heard that this area's fauna is not...particularly aggressive." Squall wasn't sure how else to phrase this idea. It was still foreign to him that he didn't need to be extremely on guard at all times. There was wildlife, and some was more prone fighting over territory, but it was nothing like what Squall was used to in his world.

"Not all of it. Altair and I ran into a boar on the way up here. It wasn't happy to see us. But most beasts seem more likely to run away from us than attack if you startle them."

"A boar?" Squall had no idea what that was, but it must have been aggressive. Weirdly, that made Squall feel more at home. Fighting was about the only thing he felt really qualified to do, even if he was actually more competent.

"I had heard creatures were tame. It's good to know something has more of a fight in it." He knelt down and filled up the canteens. "It's good to be prepared for that."

"Prepared yed. On the other hand this beast was fierce, it is one thing for those of us who are used to fighting but we have others here who are not. I'd rather not have it meet any of them."

Squall nodded. Protecting those who didn't know how to fight was what he was good at. Maybe Iron Bull was the same.

"I've taken care of a beast or two in my time." Or a thousand, but who was counting? "We should rotate a guard we can spare to look after the camp, if there are some monsters out here."

"Not a bad idea. A couple of people keeping watch at any given time is probably the best bet" He nods to himself as he thinks about it. "I think we have enough people here to get a good guard rotation going."

"I think we do. There seems to be enough competent people here."

Maybe not mercenaries. Squall only trusted his SeeD and the people he knew completely. But there were quite a few people who had been taken who seemed to know how to handle a blade. Squall was comfortable enough taking turns.

"I've done some scouting with Hawke, and I think Altair would like to help out as well. We should try to get that set up when we get back."

"Good." He knew Hawke, but he hadn't met Altair. Still, he was will to trust the guy's judgement. He really seemed to know his way around a fight. "I'm ready to go back when you are," Squall informed, fastening the last top on the water canteens.

Bull nods to him and finishes filling the bottles he had brought. Then he starts heading back to the camp.

((good place to end adn we can pick up something new?))

[ MINGLE ] MINING EXPEDITION

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The dig

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