>>31540286
>Go check on the crews findings.

Yes! Lamia Legacy!

breakfast first then see what the crew's findings are

>>31540286
eh, let's look at the findings I guess.
Then see if tai needs help with the horse while we're spinning our wheels and such.

File: 1397758654796.gif-(1.3 MB, 500x280, YouDon'tKnowIfVelesIsTire(...).gif)

1.3 MB GIF

Happy to be up earlier than most of your hands, you help Tai finish breakfast and have the table set before Marie or McCain get in. After a hearty breakfast of spiced sausage, fresh eggs, and toast you decide to check on the survey team to see what they found. Heading to the collection of tents, you notice the high pitched whine of whatever instrument the mage was using turn into a deep, resonating thrum that is almost painful to experience as it reverberates. Upon arriving in the came you see Veles watching Dahean with interest as he fiddles with a two foot square frame loaded with machinery both arcane and mundane. The old snake coughs loud enough to be heard over the din as you arrive making the elf look up. "Oh, Miss Masterson, my apologies I didn't hear you wal- err approach. My apologies on the noise. Was there anything I can help you with?"

"Well, it has been a couple of days, I was just wondering if you had made any progress with your search."

He grimaces a bit as Waylon comes out of a tent and addresses you, "Greetings Miss, we have somewhat, but we've run into some difficulties. Would you like the good news first or the curious news."

?

>>31541344
Curious!

will if it's something curious then shouldn't we save the surprises for last? let's start with the good news.

>>31541344
curious.
HOW many ancient demons did you find?
Are they made of rocks or bugs?

File: 1397760899868.jpg-(101 KB, 733x1200, YouHaveAGoodIdeaWhatCausedIt.jpg)

101 KB JPG

"So how many ancient demons did you find and are they made of rocks or bugs?"

The survey team leader gives you a look while Dahean sputters out a strangled chuckle, "Right, well... nothing quite so fanciful thankfully, but the curious bit is that there seems to have been some sort of massive geographical catastrophe a long while back. We've found exposed bedrock on the western end of the valley, not all that unusual until we attempted to date it It would appear that at least a fifth of the south west part of the valley was underwater a long time ago until some cataclysmic event happened. Dahean says he has seen something similar with magma vents on some of the UFK islands, but those are layers of magma surfacing and cooling, this looks more like something outright pushed these mountains upward all at once, not a gradual buildup."

"That is odd..." You reply, thinking back to your talk with Veles in the tunnel about the Leviathan Tanak... "Any idea what caused it?"

File: 1397760964562.jpg-(52 KB, 400x400, YouHaveAFeelingTheMinePro(...).jpg)

52 KB JPG

>>31541956
Meanwhile the device that the mage is tuning with slip into an even deeper hum and he turns to you, "Barring some magical event, the only thing I could think of is a pocket of mine gas that built up under the rock coming in contact with oxygen and igniting, creating an explosion that was rapidly filled by magma which then cooled. Its... plausible if a bit of a stretch, either way it has made things very interesting for my Thaumatergical Resonance Imager. We've managed to locate some ore lodes very deep down, but in my opinion it'd be cost prohibitive to try and access them at this time. We do have imagery of the hot springs, and the conditions are self sustaining which is incredible."

"That's mostly conjecture," Waylon cuts in, "that said, the ores really are down deep, more so than we usually see."

>Action?

>>31541980
>Action?
Well, I guess we're not mining that place for quite some time.
(at least until the ol' leviathan wakes up).

Anyway, tell 'em they did good finding that out so we didn't waste money trying to mine, ask them what's up about the spring, and finally ask what the good news was. If they haven't gone over it already.

After all that's over let them go back to surveying about and deal with that horse.

"so at a rough guess, how much time and money would you think it would take for us to get to the ore?"

If it's out of our price range we can always wait until we actually have the cash and focus on more immediate things for the time being.

File: 1397762913018.jpg-(94 KB, 900x391, DigDeepAndGreedilyForProfit.jpg)

94 KB JPG

>>31542240
"So at a rough guess, how much time and money would you think it would take for us to get to the ore?" you venture, not liking what you hear.

"Not for me to say miss, but I'd but an estimate at upwards of a fifty thousand, you've got to bore right through a good bit of bedrock to get to it. And that's just to get started." Waylon says dismissively.

You balk at that, that's the better part of a decade's worth of profits on ranching. Sure you've seen your father handled a goodly some of money, and you do the same, but a majority of it goes into purchasing more cattle, care, and just keeping yourself afloat. You know for certain you'll have to come up with a something else if you want to tap into that revenue.

"And the good news?"

"Well, the lodes, from what we can tell, are incredibly pure. They are hefty ones too, you wouldn't be wanting for much if you could get to them. That and this place is a damn trove of wildlife, between that horse herd we saw, the deer, and other things, you have a great deal of natural resources to tap. Shame demand for those are down right now." Things aren't looking too good, and you figure it must show on your face because Waylon continues, "All isn't lost however, the area around that spring is surprisingly stable, it'd be a prime building site, not only that, but according to Dahean the magma pocket is also so far down that while it heats the water, it is no risk of ever becoming active."

>Other questions?
>Head out.

>>31542564
>>Head out.
Can't think of much to ask other then how much more time they'll need to explore.

>>31542564
>Other questions?
How rare are these stable springs, anyhow?
I agree we should let them explore more, though. However long it takes for them to be done.

Looks like we'll have to open a route to the horse men if we want folks passing through to use our hot springs, though. Deal with tai and horses for now. I'm sure he could use a giant piece of living rope in his work.

huh, so it seems like the spa/bath house idea we had could actually work out but I'm not sure how much that would cost. We could also maybe put up a hunting ranch or something, or at least host hunting parties and maybe get some money from that or if it would just be cheaper and easier to hunt the deer ourselves and sell the meat to a nearby butcher then there's that as well. heh, maybe we could turn this into some kind of resort for the wealthy with they bath house/hunting lodge and have the rich people come to us to get any wild horses we catch but we can focus on that later once we actually decide what we want to do with the place.

As for a question ask how much could we make if we did dig up the mine? I'm just trying to figure out if it would even be worth it.

>>31542700
I figure the hot spring will be a traveling post for weary traders, myself.

The mine seems to be a long term goal- it has "more than enough" to set us up for a long time, if we get at it.

Or convince ol' leviathan to move.

File: 1397765093982.jpg-(202 KB, 1600x1200, DaisyFiddlingAbout.jpg)

202 KB JPG

Rolled 2, 17 = 19

"These springs, how rare at they exactly?"

"Damn near unique I'd say" the mage says, "Just about anyone would kill to rest their fee- leg- err traveling limbs in it. I'd imagine."

You nod, "How about progress, how much of the area have you surveyed?"

"We've just about covered all of it, we are doing one last pass with the Dahean's contraption but it is mostly formality." Waylon says, while Dahean gives a thumbs up gesture after poking the machine with some tool.

"That was fast. There's the six hundred thousand acres here." You say, expecting at least another week at the very least.

"We are good at what we do." the human says smoothly gesturing to the equipment, "Besides, Kar is eager to get back to the northern and survey the crafter ruins up there. I hear some of the Shadows are getting in on the action disarming those traps the buggers set up."

You head over to Veles, but he just says that it'd be better if you talked later under his breath, so you bid him, Dahz, and the team a good day as you head back to the ranch proper. Up in the sky you see Marie circling the herd as McCain exits the barn, sack of feed over one shoulder. Tai is still fighting with the colt as it is proving stubborn, and off on the porch you see Daisy on her perch flapping excitedly at your return.

>help with ranch chores
>help with breaking the colt.
>go work with Daisy some more.

Will need a d20 roll regardless for each

>>31543303
>go work with Daisy some more.
I was going to say work with the colt, but we can't just neglect the hawk, now can we? It's the only job we've not delegated.

I'd like to check in on marie, tai, and mccain and see how they're doing on keeping the ranch tidy and breaking that horse, though.

Rolled 18

>>31543303
>go work with Daisy some more.
Don't want to neglect her.

let's go play with daisy. might give us some time to think about the stuff we just found out about.

Rolled 14

>>31543303
we all forgot dice now that he mentions it

Rolled 2

>>31543629
dice+1d20

File: 1397768104728.gif-(1.88 MB, 360x200, MoreThanAFewCattleGotBuzz(...).gif)

1.88 MB GIF

Rolled 17

>18+1 from Scholar, utilizing Veles' teaching methods.

You spend the day working out the basic commands, careful to keep the bird on the leather glove Veles provided you. She's only just now got the hang of flying, but you've managed to get the basics of commands down. To the point where you are satisfied enough to take her off the foot tether and let her flit about. She does buzz Marie once, the harpy gamely dodging the streaking falcon as you call Daisy back frantically. By the midday you've got the falcon happily giving little proto-screech noises as you head to check on the hands. Thankfully, despite the noise the cattle are largely unaffected, only thing of note that they tend to stay on the far side of the pasture from the Magi's device. Marie is flying higher than normal, but you figure that is more due to the noise as well. McCain has finished feeding the chickens, horses, dairy cows and such, even deigning to water Tai's garden while the Phoenix man attempts to break the colt. Its... not going well to say the least, where Daisy has been working in concert with you, her predisposition toward you letting you speed through the lessons, Tai has had to fight the decades of bred in feral nature. You see Tai go flying off the back of the colt multiple times during the course of training Daisy, landing heavily a few times, but more often than landing on his feet. This time he is sent a good 17 feet before tumbling and springing back up.

>Its is now afternoon, action?

Rolled 20

go check on the hands I guess. Everyone has been working hard might as well see if there's anything we can do help before we call it a day.

>>31544306
Tai looks like he could use a hand.
I don't know if we actually can help him though.
Tai, is there anything we can do to help with all this? Hold the horse? Get you a hot drink?

If not, study our centaur language, have a good dinner with friends/hands, and dream of trade routes.

>>31544306
Help Tai somehow. He's having a rough day.

>>31544446
Seconding this

File: 1397770818282.jpg-(212 KB, 563x422, TheColtsABuggerSoYouAreWo(...).jpg)

212 KB JPG

You slide over to where Tai is dusting himself off. "Rough day?"

He chuckles mirthlessly, "He's proving more stubborn than I thought Miss Sasha."

"Anything I can do to help?" You ask, unsure how horsebreaking is supposed to go.

"Not really, I'm going to give him another go before I leave off for the day."

Tai heads towards the animal, boxing it in corner of the pasture and tying the bridle to the fence. He then climbs onto its back and pulls the slip knot so it comes free. The colt takes off like a shot bounding around the corral with Tai hanging on barely. The animal runs from one end to the other, nearly knocking the rider off by stopping suddenly in front of the front gate. After nearly a minute and a half of frantic kicking, the animal exhausts itself before rolling over, causing Tai to jump off as it begins its tumble. You and your hand franticly look at the animal to see if it injured a leg only to find the thing rolling in the dirt as if it were simply dusting itself.

Tai shakes his head and walks to the pump, getting himself some water. "All and all, it was a rough start, Miss Sasha." He says, pouring a cupped handful of water on his head. "But I think I can do it."

You give the hands some help securing everything for the night before heading back in for dinner. Heading to bed a bit earlier than usual, you find yourself not remembering your dreams this night either, and wake the next day to the sight of the survey crew packing up.

>Action?

>>31545228
Wish them luck.
Ask them how the northland digs have been doing. Then bid them farewell.
Then talk to veles about when he wants to go see the horse folk. And whether or not they could have seen his secret passages with their mining inspection thing.

I guess we can see them off at least. Then lets see what there is we can do to help around the ranch and maybe discuss some what we found out with McCain and see if he also had any ideas. Other then that I guess the only thing left for us to do would to be to help around the ranch and then get ready for our little adventure over the mountains that's coming up. Unless there's something I'm forgetting about.

>>31545376
we've been busily checking off things on the todolist before the adventure, and we're running low.

Sad we don't get to bring marie and tai along this time, though. veles and mccain both insist on comin' and we need at least two ranchhands.

File: 1397773513490.jpg-(42 KB, 376x304, IReallyNeedToFindADrawfag.jpg)

42 KB JPG

You get dressed and head out to where the team is packing up their things, Harold and Kar hard at work repacking the wagon, during their few days here they don't seem to have gone through a lot of their supplies, but now you can tell they hadn't packed much in the first place. You and Veles see them out, Waylon handing you a folder full of notes and readings from the machine, before heading inside to get breakfast.

<Any chance they found your lair?> You ask, after they team is well out of earshot.

<Not likely. Even if they had, I would have heard about it. The one called Dahean likes to talk a lot, every discovery I heard about.>

<From the looks of thing that Tanak fellow made things difficult for me.>

He snickers, <No doubt, but I can hardly call it planned.>

<Speaking of planning, what time did you want us to be here for heading to the other side of the mountain?>

<I am free to go any time you wish Sasha.>

You nod and head in, Veles joining you, McCain, Marie, and Tai for breakfast before bidding you goodbye and heading through the gateway.

You place your the dossier that Waylon handed you on your father's desk, and head downstairs to a waiting McCain, "Well Miss, what's the plan now?"

>Action?

>>31546066
well, we go make contact with the horse guys, hope it's friendly, get publicized legal ownership of the pass, introduce the governments to each other, and collect sweet, sweet traveller coin as everyone passes through our land and uses our (newly put in) roads and (newly put in) hot spring.

that's the plan, at least.

>>31546154
He meant more immediately, as in, what's the plan of action regarding going over to the other side. Apologies if it was unclear.

>>31546231
Oh!

We're taking veles, Mccain, and the military man. Tai 'n' Mai can take care of the ranch while we are gone.

>>31546326
and, in addition to this, bring travelling food, arms for everyone, and a few fancy knick-knacks if we can. Something to show off the mechanical complexity of our folk's work, another thing to show off our metalworking ability, a third thing to show off our snacks. You know, things that might be traded in the future.

We don't know how long we'll be gone, so we should start getting food and supplies together for the trip.

When meeting a new people, isn't it typical to present a gift for goodwill? What might we have that they would want? What could we give them to entice them to open trade with us?

>>31546347
>>31546353
oh, and also add a magic thing to the list of stuff to bring.
maybe an extra couple warmth charms will do.

Just to confirm, Veles, McCain, Captain Keel, yourself as the expedition, pick up food, arms, and trading materials possibly showing off mechanical complexity, metalworking ability, commodities, or magical aptitude.

When were you planning on going?

Was snagging food while you planned, apologies on the delay.

>>31547028
As soon as we can get everything together and inform Keel of our plans. I don't have a very clear idea of how long these preparations would take.

>>31547028
eh, couple days. Long enough to visit the local shops for whatever we might need and get our most adventurous gear together.

What's the weather like on the other side of the mountain, anyhow?

File: 1397779020545.jpg-(148 KB, 1024x685, WelcomeToCentaurLand.jpg)

148 KB JPG

"Get together food, arms, supplies for at least a couple weeks just in case things go wrong, let Keel know we are free to go and get him on board. Then we head over. I've been thinking though, we should probably bring trade material, something to barter with. Mechanical stuff, metalwork, shiny things, heck, even some warmth charms. It's lower down in that valley but I can only imagine how cold the badlands get."

Your foreman nods, "Sounds sensible enough, next couple of days then?"

"That's the plan."

The next couple of days are a blur, you first went and found Keel in South Fork. He was a bit taken aback by the speed at which you became ready, but said at least 6 of his men will be on standby near the ranch should anything go wrong. You then went to Enos and ordered supplies, including a couple watches, trinkets, and a pretty ornate flintlock pistol was 'gifts' so as not to raise suspicion, all in all costing you 200 isens. Three days later the bulk of it arrived, and two days after that you were fully geared and ready to go. You divided the supplies up among four packs, leaving the rest with the six men, (one of whom the sergeant who you remember from the boat) and head towards the tunnel. Keel and McCain behind you, you meet Veles at the tunnel and with some apprehension, the elf and the human follow you underground. There was a general introduction between the your companions, but all talking stopped when Veles opened the doorway to the other side of the valley.

File: 1397779146038.jpg-(148 KB, 500x749, DahzAndDaisyAreWithYouByTheWay.jpg)

148 KB JPG

Calling the thread here. My apologies on it being so short, but I'm coming up on crunch time and I'm going to be indisposed the next couple weeks dealing with exams and finally getting my degree so I figured I may as well set the stage for act II when I get back

>>31547784
Thanks for running Chemlab, great thread like always.

>>31547784
Fair enough. See you when hiatus breaks and we're off to talk to some centaurs.

File: 1397781227274.jpg-(89 KB, 400x254, AccurateDepictionOfMySoci(...).jpg)

89 KB JPG

Also, just as an aside to the poor buggers who had a one sided conversation on twitter at me for like 4 months, my apologies. I couldn't into twitter at all and had no idea there was a tab for notifications. I do now though, so I'll be checking it regularly if if I can

>>31548408
no biggie!
I automatically assume these things are because of some technical problem or other.
and I don't twitter message much.