Post by blacknoise on Oct 6, 2015 4:44:48 GMT
Deeper...
Deeper...
Deeper...
Deeper...
Deeper...
And so they, ever deeper, ever farther down. Many figures coughed and shivered in the dark, despite sweating profusely from the warmth of the underground. All around them, strange and beautiful metals glowed and pulsated within the dark. A lone figure stood, completely immune the stones around her, even going as far as to reach out and brush her hand along them.
With a shout, all work inside the tunnel ceased, nearly seventy men and women halted. The sounds of pickaxes and hammers silenced, the woman called out, "Surveyor, report!" A woman, small and unassuming, stepped forward. Her entire body was covered in many marks, but her own paled in comparison to the woman before her. Despite her height, the redhead commanded a power that made her presence feel as though she were a giant.
Unable to look into the tattooed eyes without focusing on the pulsating scar of a mark on her forehead, the surveyor responded, "We're now seven kilometers deep, Leader, Amaymon, m-ma'am, and we've struck the largest deposit of the Devil Iron yet. We've also found an, er, interesting property, ma'am." She stopped, hesitating for a moment. Reaching forward, the redhead snatched the woman by her face and pulled her close, her grip painful and her arms strong enough to nearly pull her off balance. Voice low, she demanded, "What have you found?"
Breathe nearly hyperventilating, the surveyor stuttered out, "I-it grows, m-ma'am. We don't kn-know why, but it is a-a growing metal. L-like a pl-plant." Releasing the woman to massage her pained jaw, the dark woman ran a hand through her hair and laughed. Tentative laughter rippled through the crowd that gathered in the spacious, glowing tunnel. Stopping, the woman replied, "Excellent, excellent. Keep digging, ladies and gentlemen. For every ten kilograms pulled out by a single worker, I'll throw in a bonus!"
Half-hearted cheers erupted from the men and women as they resumed their work. Truthfully, Amaymon intended to pay them their bonus. However, in her head, she began estimating the cost of bringing in new workers. The Surveyor would be fine, but the rest of them would suffer from working so close with the Devil Iron. She could already see the burnout in some of their eyes, bloodshot and looking as though they hadn't slept in days. First came the burnout after a few weeks, then the hallucinations after a month, at which time if they didn't quit, it'd kill them.
Diabol'ferrium was no joking metal, it was a silent killer. The Leader and her surveyor were marked, their bodies were restricted inside and out, the metal's power would not damage their internal systems, although it still restricted their ability to utilize magic. The rest of them, well, they were simply unlucky. The Leader passed by multiple carts as she walked out, taking the metal further towards the surface, but no closer than three kilometers. Enough to disrupt magic in the Estate, but nowhere else. THe gargoyles would hopefully not be too affected, but anyone who attempted to attack the Estate would have trouble.
However, that was not her intention. No, there was a room at the three kilometer mark, a room she covered completely in Diabol'ferrium. It was a special room, it was the place she would use for both meetings and Diabol'ferrium forging. There, she would hold safe meetings with mages, and she would see to it that Diabol'ferrium arms and armor experiments would take place.
Things were going well for Aleksandria Kostya.