(TTC) The Mining Operation (Iron)

[The Inventor]

3216
Invetisto walked through the mountains of Glibaron, a mountain range full of many different ores. Today he decided he would try to find iron. As he came to the entrance of a cave that his scouts told him contained iron he lit his head lamp and went inside, and indeed there was a ton of iron ore deposits sitting in front of him. He looked at the group of minors and said, "Well lets start mining." Invetisto then pulled off his mechanical hand and replaced it with a pick and opened up a storage compartment in his suit to hold all the ore.

[Elthas_Belthasar]

Elthas looked at the cavernous expanse before him. Sedimentary rocks and granite, other forms of oxidized ore and elements were present. His eyes narrowed as he studied the men around him, and the cave. The cave was guarded by a few of The Trading Company's guards. They served post at request of Elthas directly, and with Invetisto's blessing. Elthas looked at the cave entrance, his companions were already going in and getting ready to work.

The cave was a known iron mine, many workers from various organizations went there to gather iron for this or that outfit. Some for profit, some to further their desire to blacksmith. Elthas looked around the area and made certain that the perimeter was secured. He looked at one of his companions, and motioned for him to take point at the Eastern section of the cave entrance. The other would guard and patrol an area of land immediately in front of the cave so no intruders, unwanted guests, would interfere. Elthas had taken a much colder outlook on life since the event that took place at The Well of Souls.

Elthas had someone to hate. Someone to focus his negativity on, it didn't matter that someone from his past was involved. What mattered was that Xu, his enemy, was out there. Growing in strength and influence, and would one day be placed in a collision course with Elthas. Elthas would be ready, Xu ruined his life once before, but he would never allow ANYBODY to harm him again. Elthas had his mining pick at the read, and saw Invetisto enter the cave.

"I'll be right after you boss. I want to make sure everything is well." Elthas said. He went with his patrolling companion to secure the area surrounding the cave. "Sam." Elthas said to the guard that was with him. "I want checkpoints marked, and patrols at regular intervals. I want to get our ore in a timely fashion and no surprises. Alert me right away if something attempts to interfere with our quota gathering." Elthas said carefully. He knew he had changed. Something about The Well of Souls had altered his mind, perhaps for the worse.

Either way it went, Elthas wanted to be careful. He didn't want a dagger in his back while he was vulnerable during the mining process. "I want a full report every hour at the top of the hour." Elthas told Sam.

"Understood sir." Sam responded with a simple salute, and proceeded to patrol the area around the cavern.

Elthas watched him for a few moments then went over to Phillip. Phillip was stationed at the entrance of the cavern. Elthas nodded with respect towards the burly guard. "Make sure you only allow miners to pass, nobody else should get in. This is Trading Company territory now and somebody has to defend it." Elthas said with a rather cold edge. Then, he entered the cave and went to find a suitable place to mine the precious Iron they would need for Invetisto's latest project...

[The Inventor]

Invetisto started to swing the pick and collected the iron ore. He had a project that he wanted to try. He hadn't given anybody the details but they knew he planned on making a new metal for The Trading Company. He had already collected about five iron ores and was starting to collect more when the air started to change, as if something strange was coming. Something that would make this adventure different.

[Random Stranger]

A random stranger watched as the miners mined the iron inside this old iron mine shaft. He saw as Elthas Belthasar set up the guards and Invetisto de Masinoj entered the caves to start to mine. He watched and waited for his time to strike.

[Elthas_Belthasar]

Elthas listened to the miners for a moment.

Some sang song whilst they worked, others simply talked among themselves as well. Elthas could feel the production of the mine around him, and it was an impressive event. He admired the way that Invetisto worked, the fellow was efficient and crafty. Elthas was prepared to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty. He found a suitable iron ore vein, the deposit was an ideal spot to begin his share of the quota. Overall, there were about six miners all together. Including Elthas. Each of the miners were situation around the shaft, in different positions. None of them went too deeply into the shaft so as not to get lost. Elthas readied his Elven quality iron mining pick, provided by The Trading Company, and began to work the technique required to extract ore. The process was a physically demanding one, and would require a lot of effort on Elthas's part. He never looked down on hard work, and prepared himself to get the task done. He needed to gather several clumps of the ore for Invetisto's project.

Swinging the lightweight pickaxe was easy enough. The momentum that built with the swing as he struck the iron vein, was what was difficult. Each strike of the pickaxe generated a considerable amount of force and energy. Sparks temporarily lit up the hallway of the mine shaft as they all worked. There was nothing else to consider, Invetisto had ordered the time and hour to work. They were all expected to work. Elthas allowed his mind to wander to various thoughts as he worked, but always, his mind wandered to Xu. Elthas was not a cold monster, he would not kill Xu outright. However, he did intend to pay the bastard back for everything he had done. And with thoughts of someday obtaining his vengeance, he worked. His body swinging to the motion, an endless dance with the ore as his partner. The sound became almost monotone, and he only took breaks to extract ore from the deposit. By the time he had filled his second bucket...

[Random Stranger]

There was his cue. Elthas had just filled his second bucket and was about to start his third. The random stranger suddenly appeared in the center of the miners and after shaking off his dizziness said. Elthas Belthasar and Invetisto de Masinoj. You have been chosen for a random fight. He then summoned an eagle and disappeared back into the woods surrounding the mine. After the stranger left the eagle screeched ready for battle.

[Elthas_Belthasar]

He heard someone call out his name.

Most importantly of the situation, that someone called out the boss's name too.

Elthas blinked as he listened to the words, and his pickaxe stopped hitting the ore. He'd managed to fill two buckets and the makings of a third. That was the quota he was meant to fill for that particular event. Suddenly, a monster made a loud screeching sound and Elthas immediately turned his attention to the monster. It appeared in the form of a mighty eagle with golden feathers, Elthas knew what eagles and avians were. He did not know what that species of eagle was capable of doing, and had never seen a variant with gold feathers before. In an instant, the avian predator began to attack nearby miners. It moved quickly, soaring through the air of the mine shaft and picking miners off one by one with it's sharp claws. The creature was deadly and proficient. Elthas was a little farther away from the main portion of the battle and had a bit more time to prepare. He pulled his two daggers, masterwork steel, and prepared for battle. That's monster's crazy. It is attempting to block off our escape route... Elthas thought to himself.

There was another loud screech.

Elthas heaerd mighty wings flapping in his general direction. His eyes narrowed, he was already used to seeing in the dimly lit mineshaft. He rotated the grips of his weapons skillfully, moving into a combat stance. He shifted his body weight and prepared to engage the monster as it moved into combat position. The bird Elthas was fleet footed, and could maneuver quickly on the ground. He ran TOWARDS the sound coming right at him and what he saw next made him hesitate for only a moment. Once he remembered what he was doing, Elthas looked up at the humongous eagle. Fuck, that thing is HUGE! Elthas thought to himself and prepared for combat. The bird skillfully came gliding down the hallway and Elthas had enough room to do his dance. The shaft was wide enough to give Elthas room to maneuver, and tall enough for the big eagle to fly. At the ready, Elthas ran at a forty-five degree angle TOWARDS the bird. What immediately caught Elthas's attention was the large bloody talons of the avian. It screeched it's eagle's sound the entire time it flew towards Elthas.

"You won't be having anymore fun!!!" Elthas yelled at the monster, his body moving on instinct. "Damn bird." The avian's shadow loomed over Elthas, clinging to everything around it. It's massive body, for an eagle, rippled with muscles and sinew. Elthas stabbed downward with both of his daggers. He was attempting a clipping maneuver, and was going for the bird's wings. Should Elthas's two pronged attack connect, he would ready another attack. If he missed, he needed to be prepared to take damage on the botched attack. He was always ready for battle, that he knew, but the bird was a monster of sorts. Monsters of the wild lands were forged naturally for battle and warfare. The bird was also going to attempt to use skirmishing tactics against Elthas. Elthas was quick on his feet, and he knew the bird would be just as quick and deadly. Elthas had to be ready for whatever surprises that the bird would through at him. He watched the world slow down as he saw his daggers heading towards the body of the monster. Would it connect? Only time would tell...

[Random Stranger]

Through the eyes of the eagle, the stranger saw the attack and sent a warning through the mental link that was connected to the bird. The bird acknowledged the warning then pulled it's wings in as the daggers barely missed their mark. However, this made it impossible for bird to stop as neared the clockwork body of Invetisto. This will be interesting, the stranger thought as his bird approached the robot.

[The Inventor]

Invetisto was on his fourth bucket of iron when a the man had come in with the giant bird. Invetisto had no interest in the bird as he knew Elthas could handle himself. So Invetisto didn't expect to be hit by the giant bird. Invetisto flew forward right into the wall face first. The face of his machine flattened and his door stuck shut.

Well this will end up being a problem later on. Invetisto pulled his head out of the wall and turned to the bird. "You stinken bird!" Invetisto swung his pickax at the bird, ready to impale it in the back for hitting him in the back.

[Random Stranger]

The random stranger noticed the danger and sent the warning to the bird. However, the was to dazed to do anything. The stranger watched helplessly as the bird was hit in the back and impaled. After a few seconds the bird disappeared as his connection severed. He was dumbstruck for a second before he blacked out and his body transported back to The Random Stranger Guild where he will be grilled for his lack of ability.



Somewhere in the mountains of the Southern Continent, a giant golden eagle awakened and stretched it's wings That was a good rest, it thought as it flew away.

[Elthas_Belthasar]

The battle was over.

Elthas landed after his attack had not connected with the giant bird and he sighed. He rotated his weapons, sheathing them in their respective scabbard. Elthas turned to look towards the other miners. "Everybody okay?" When they acknowledged that they were all okay, Elthas walked towards Invetisto, dusting his hands casually. Elthas had soot on his face from the manual labor in the mine. He went to make sure that Invetisto was well. Once he found that the fellow was okay, Elthas nodded towards him. "I think we got enough ore for today. I don't know how that guy snuck past the security I played outside. I don't know what cheap trick he used. But I'll make sure to tighten up patrols when we come back again to work out here tomorrow." Elthas said casually. "I think we got enough ore for our quota today." Elthas continued. "We should probably stop right here and head back to town." The town of Glibaron Hollow awaited the group of hard working miners. "I could use a drink anyway." Elthas said calmly.

He went back over towards the buckets of ore he had gathered, and doubled checked to make sure nothing was missing. His hard work was accounted for, he cleaned his face off as best as he could, and then he gathered the ore samples. He would work the forge in Glibaron Hollow make iron ingots for the ore later on. Anyway, the extra ore that they had acquired. Much of the ore was going towards Invetisto's current pet project. The ore alloy he was on the verge of single handedly discovering. He admired the way Invetisto thought. He was cutting edge, and ahead of the times. Elthas knew he would go far with someone like that backing him. Elthas gathered his ore samples and placed them in adequate containers that were waiting nearby. He filled one such contained and picked it up after making sure he could lift it. He could. It was basically a small crate. Some of the other miners were also finished with their work. They would be able to get to Glibaron Hollow on their own. Elthas joined in with several of the miners and helped them get their crates ready and filled with the precious cargo. Some would be smithed into ingots, some would be used in the art of blacksmithing, and others would be sold at the Glibaron Hollow stalls.

Once Elthas was done, he knew he had to prepare his mind for the work of the smith.

[The Inventor]

Invetisto nodded then picked up his four buckets and headed out. He was happy to get rid of that annoying bird.



10% of total gold + 10 copper ores to TTC.

[Elthas_Belthasar]

With the battle fresh on his mind, Elthas shrugged it off.

He was still feeling the adrenal glands pumping red hot fire in his body. Elthas was certain that they'd been set up. The battle with the large avian had not been a coincidence, Elthas never believed in coincidences. However, he did not have the resources at hand to mount a suitable investigation into who or what had summoned it in the first place. Elthas felt his his tired hands wrap around the bucket handle containing his precious ore. Iron. He'd worked all day for several bucket loads of iron, and found the work strangely satisfying. However, he preferred the chores that came with the mantle of blacksmith. Elthas felt the weight of soot and dirt against his fair skin. He knew he would have to take a well earned bath and have a hot meal after the trials of the hour. He felt the weight of back-breaking work against his shoulders. The clothing he wore was sticky and damp with sweat from hard work. He took a moist rag and rubbed his dirty face clean of the soot. The rag was quickly blackened from the layer of dirt on his face. An after effect of mining the ore.

As he made his way out of the mine, he followed the caravan of miners. They were company workers to be sure, but they were all brother and sister to Elthas. Elthas knew he would continue to work hard for the company as long as it would provide steady work and pay. Nothing in life was free. As he stepped out of the cold mining cavern, he looked up and saw the bright sunlight glaring down upon his face. He squinted, his sensitive eyes immediately reeling from the sun's harsh touch. He stepped out and several other miners, save for the more experienced of the lot, had the same reaction. There were miners of varying age brackets. He felt the ground underneath his boots, and sighed with relief. After the long day of working hard, he was relieved to be out of the cramped up mine. He was Elf, blue blood, and he missed the forests of his youth. However, to help bolster The Trading Company, Elthas was willing to make sacrifices. Haidia, they all were. Each of the hard workers, were men and women of The Trading Company. Elthas finished clasping his cloak around his neck and took a hearty stretch. It was part of their pay, the blacksmiths and crafters would be able to take home some of the ore for their handiwork.

It paid to be a company member. Elthas held a bucket in his hand with several units of iron ore. That was his share that he was allowed to take home with him. There were simply about five clumps of ore. He would oxidize the ore for impurities and remove them with his blacksmith's knowledge. Then, he would craft them into ingots. But that was work he would do later in the week. He knew the first thing he would do when he go back in town was take two nights off for himself to regather his thoughts. After he'd gathered the bucket with his ore, he prepared a mining sack. Then, he dumped the clumps of ore into the mining sack VERY carefully. He sealed the mining suck shut, and attached it to his utility belt. He looked at the nearest of the miners, and waved to his fellow company worker.

"Aye, Elthas. You have a good night now."

"I'm heading back to town and getting some sleep, I'm bloody tired." Elthas said calmly.

"Yeah we all earned sleep tonight. I doubt aint a single lad of us that won't get some sleep."

"Yeah after that shit with the bird. Gonna have to talk to someone about getting more security in the company mines. But that's a worry for another day." Elthas said. "You stay safe out here, and keep yourself out of trouble, Rob." Elthas said to Rob, who was also a member of The Trading Company.

"Will do, lad." Rob responded.

~End~

~Spoil Request~

1-Some Iron Ore used for the art of blacksmithing. The exact amount is pending to the mod, and I am paying TTC 10% dues of all my Gold earned out of this thread.

[Amber Eyes]

Thread Title: (TTC)-The-Mining-Operation-(Iron) (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?26541-(TTC)-The-Mining-Operation-(Iron)”)

Judgment Type: Full Rubric

Participants:The Inventor, Random Stranger, Elthas_Belthasar



Plot: 11/30

Story- 2/10

I had almost no setup for this thread. The only person who explain what they were doing there, who they were or how they knew the other characters was Elthas. Even when a thread is done solely to gain materials or craft something, there needs to be some backstory. How did the Random Stranger know the names of Elthas and Invetisto? Why does Invetisto want iron? If not for some background knowledge I would have been lost. Keep in mind that the reader should be able to read a thread without any prior knowledge of your characters and understand it. Quite often it felt like The Inventor was just shooting from the hip with this thread and leaving Elthas to piece it all together. Work together to come up with a plan in advance for a better score here.

Setting- 4/10

Very little here from The Inventor or Random Stranger. Elthas, you did an good job of giving me a basic setting. Focus on using your other senses to liven it up.

Pacing- 5/10

The pacing was fine. Nothing outstanding, no changes in flow. Overall this category was the best of the bunch.



Character: 9/30


Communication- 3/10

Again, I got almost nothing from The Inventor or Random Stranger. I know what the author is capable of, and honestly it feels like there was very little effort. Elthas, your mission was clear. I would have liked to see you give a bit more insight into Elthas’ goals and plans with TTC, but overall it was solid.

Action-3/10

The action was understandable, but I got very little other than in the battle scene. Elthas, you did a good job of explaining your movements. The Inventor, try not to skip so quickly from place to place, tell me about Invetisto entering the cave, let me know when he reaches for things, ect. Action is so much more than a clear fight scene.


Persona- 3/10

Again, I got almost nothing from The Inventor or Random Stranger. I know what the author is capable of, and honestly it feels like there was very little effort. Elthas, your mission was clear. I would have liked to see you give a bit more insight into Elthas’ goals and plans with TTC, but overall it was solid.



Prose: 12/30

Mechanics- 4/10

Missed quotations, it’s used instead of its (both writers did this), using singular nouns instead of plural. I think a quick proof-read would have done a lot here. If you would like more information on specific errors let me know. This is basic stuff and both of you have been writing for quite some time, so I’m confident you know these things, just perhaps overlooked them.

Clarity- 4/10

The thread was easy to follow thanks to a simple plot. The link between Random stranger and the bird was a bit confusing though. Mechanics hurt some here too, and I had to stop and reread a few times.

Technique- 4/10

Simple techniques were used effectively. Try mixing in some more literary devices to mix things up. Straightforward quests are useful, but at times stale. Using short sentences to speed up fight scenes or longer ones to slow down important moments could have helped here.



Wildcard: 3/10

Random Stranger, being able to control the bird is not included in your profile. Make sure to play to your abilities. Elthas, you did a good job of carrying this thread.



Final Score: 35/100


The Inventor (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?17112-The-Inventor) receives:

206 EXP!

0 GP!



Elthas_Belthasar (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?15053-Elthas_Belthasar) receives

350 EXP!

0 GP!



Random Stranger (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?16437-Random-Stranger) receives




180 EXP!

25 GP!

[Lye]

EXP & GP Added!

Please link this thread where proof of acquisition is needed.