5: A bunch of stones! Roll 1d10 to see how many you find in this cave!
Inside, he found it almost completely barren. It took a while of searching, but he only found one stone that would even cut it. It barely made the requirement of a passable stone to use.
Tossing it in his bag, he swam out and moved along the rock wall to where more caves lied. Even if hunters came here every day, Melvin doubted they would collect all the stones in all the caves here.
HP: 49/50 Stones Collected: 8
Prolixity
prolixity rolled 1 8-sided dice:
3Total: 3 (1-8)
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:51 pm
There was a rhythm to it, a routine of sorts; investigate carefully, collect, check for diving buddy, repeat. Noah's nervousness started to ease, and when Melvin emerged safely from another cave, he chose another of his own.
The light fell in a slant into this cave from some aperture above, and sorting through the stones here was easy. Noah collected a number of them before he swam back out.
Stones collected: 14
Quote:
3: A nice amount of stones! Roll 1d8 to see how many you find in this cave!
It was to some extent, easy. But it was a deceptive task. Collecting stones under water could be considered like a activity during a Caribbean vacation, but the ease and routine of the task allowed you to zone out, to drop your guard, and to forget where you were.
It was part of the reason why Melvin enjoyed it so much. He was physically and mentally away from the island and it's problems, and he enjoyed just being submerged and working on a bland task. He also felt tired yet productive after. It was rewarding in that he could sleep without dreaming or thinking. Hitting your bed hard was the one true blessing he needed these days.
He swam to another cave, glad that Noah seemed to be doing well.
1: A few stones! Roll 1d4 to see how many you find in this cave!
The cave was small and didn't reward him with much, but ti was the small progression of one cave to the next that made this training. In the end, he usually came back heavy with a pack of stones.
As Noah went with his own pace, Melvin decided he'd go ahead and move on. He'd keep a eye out for the hunter, but he also desired to go on and collect more himself. It was relaxing, and watching Noah made him anxious and worried. Small breathers would be best right now. He also felt a bit of pride in wanting to collect more stones than him. It wasn't every day he could show off a little.
Moving ahead, he started to move to the next cave.
6: This area becomes permanently mob free and reveals a large cache of stones, roll 1d20 to see how many you find in this cave!
He went into the larger caves, looking around as he held to the stone wall to see if there were any mermaids around. It was actually rather quiet today. Aside from their unpleasant decent down here, the rest was rather breezy. He hoped Noah didn't think this would always be a cake walk.
Swimming inside, he collected more stones and swam back out, bag twice as heavy as before.
Swimming out, he looked back to where Noah was and gave him a thumbs up to tell him everything was okay. It was a shame they couldn't talk, but it would be hard with both of them moving from cave to cave anyways.
Moving off, he decided to go above, not wanting to go too far away from where Noah was, and swam inside a cave.
6: This area becomes permanently mob free and reveals a large cache of stones, roll 1d20 to see how many you find in this cave!
The next cave was just as large as the previous ones and upon entering it, he was sure it had to have been guarded before. It didn't seem right that the amount of stones he found would be ignored, and he felt paranoid that something bad would happen soon. Either the mermaids were spooked or would be returning soon.
He was quick to collect as many stones as he saw and swam out quickly before swimming to a nearby rock for cover. He took a breather before making sure his bag was firmly clasped before looking around for his next target.
The water was nice and the currents weren't' strong. There was a general pressure to the water, the distant muffled noises of moving bodies, but floating in the blue, he felt himself suspended.
It was nice.
He moved away from the rock formation and headed to the nearest cave.
3: A nice amount of stones! Roll 1d8 to see how many you find in this cave!
Another nearly barren cave. It was strange how some could be nearly full of stones and others seemed cleaned out. Did the mermaids harvest or did they even bother with these stones. He never was sure.
Noah seemed to be doing well, and Melvin was growing more and more into his own rhythm and less and less concerned about nitpicking anything Noah did. Since Melvin went down here himself many times, he was sure Noah would be fine. It wasn't like Melvin was even strong, you just had to learn as you went what could hurt you.
Right now, Noah had to be aware of what was around him and get better at swimming away.
Not all big caves meant big payouts. This was one of those cases. Sighing, he let out a burst of bubbles around him, before he picked up a stone and swam back out.
Next. Next. Next. It wasn't hard to start seeing the caves as a repetitious blur, but for him, the next thing you knew, 2 hours would be gone, he'd be exhausted, and that was time otherwise spent not thinking about - horrible things.
It all served it's purpose - so bring on the caves!
