Working as one of them

[Ice]

Poker watched the diggers work from beneath the hood that hid his dark hair, though it was probably far too dark to notice anyway, Poker wasn't going to take the risk.
Poker had thrown away his pirate garments to stay in secret within the Emerald Mines. His new dirty clothes looked fit to fall apart at any moment, save for the hood, which was still well intact. Poker's skin had been dirtied so much within the mines that it didn't even look like him anymore. But Poker liked having some privacy. It was hard work - very hard work, but it was well worth it. Poker had already taken plently of emeralds of great sizes. Emeralds were rarely seen outside the Isle and Poker had a large attraction to them.
Poker continued digging down, thinking to himself, until a voice across the other side of the mine caught his attention.

[khalora]

"Its mine I'm telling you, I dug it out not five minutes ago," Chase wasn't prepared to give up his new emerald to this idiot who had challenged him.

"No, its mine, you stole it," was his only reply, the man was large with very darkened skin, but that didn't fase Chase, few things did.

"Give it back man... I'm warning you," Chase was not in the mood for this, he laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, he wasn't the best with it, but he serverly doubted that this man was better than him.

"Or what?" The man laughed bitterly and looked around at the crowd they were bringing.

Chase took his moment and drew his sharp longsword, slicing the mans chest in one deft movement. It was a move that didn't require any skill.

The man gasped and collapsed to the ground, trying to breathe. Chase bent down and picked up the huge emerald from his hand. "Last time you ever cross a pirate and his jewels," and with that, Chase killed him.

He sighed, wiping the blood off his sword, and walking towards his pick to hunt for some more of the precious jewels...

ooc: $100

[Ice]

Poker rolled his eyes. It wouldn't be too long until the guards found the dead body. People might not bat an eyelid at that in Tritern but on the Isle of Emeralds some rules were still upheld. Murder was one of them.
Poker continued digging quietly, keeping to himself, waiting for the military authorities to come by on their routine rounds.

ooc: Put your money in your signature so that people can keep track of it.

[khalora]

Chase knocked out another emerald from the wall and stowed it in his bag. He was about to attack the wall again, when he saw the body still lying on the ground. He thought for a moment, then sighed and put down the pickaxe.

He walked over to the body and picked it up, knowing that if he was caught, all of his emeralds would be taken from him. He walked over to a small mineshaft that went deeper into the earth. There was nobody down there because of a natural gas storage that had been dug into a few days ago. He quickly lifted up the hatch and threw the body down the shaft. It would be a week at the least before it was found he thought, as he slid the metal disc back into place.

Chase then returned to his pickaxe and saw another pirate looking fellow working just beside it, "You didn't see nothing, got it..."

[Ice]

Poker laughed. "Or what?" He let that settle for a moment before he continued. "Don't soil your pants, I'm not going to squeal on you." Poker laughed quietly to himself before finding another emerald that he quietly pocketed.

[khalora]

"Hmm," Chase looked at the pirate looking fellow for a while longer, summing him up. "Whatever you say." Chase picked up and attacked the the wall with his axe. Three strikes later however, the axe crashed completely through the rock and through into a large space on the other side. It completely caught him off balance and he was thrown into the wall.

Chase quickly tried to get up, and found himself looking into a small dark hole where his axe had gone through. There was nothing on the other side... only darkness, and silence...

[Ice]

Poker head the crumbling of the wall and looked around warily. There were no shouts from down the hallway. No one had heard yet.
Poker walked up to Chase's side of the mine. He bent down to look into the hole. He would be able to squeze through it...just. Chase probably could as well...with some 'help'.
"How did you not notice the wall was hollow?" Poker shook his head and moved onto more pressing matters. "We have to cover it up after we go in. There could be a fortune of emeralds down there!"

[khalora]

Chase looked into the hole, how hadn't he noticed. The wall had looked perfectly solid not a minute ago.

It was still a small hole, and he didn't know if he could fit through with his broad shoulders, but it was worth a try. Chase bent down and poked his head through the hole... looked safe enough, so he squeezed through the rest of his body, just. For a heartstopping instant he thought he had just made a horrifying mistake, as as soon as he was through, he fell... there was no floor, but then... crash! The hole was about 6 feet off the ground, which was surprising smooth and cool to the touch.

"Watch your step there mate, theres a fair drop and..." bang! "...too late..."

[Ice]

Poker hissed angrily as he landed painfully on the ground. "Great," Poker said. "We can't close the opening now, a guard could notice at any moment."
Poker stood up and rubbed his now-bruised back. "This place must be used, feel the ground, it's so smooth." Poker rubbed his hand along the ground. "What do you think it is?"

[khalora]

Chase knelt down and touched the ground, it felt like marble. "I'm not sure. Maybe its a vault of some kind," he said hopefully.

Chase felt around further and his hand touched something really sticky and slimy, "Ugh! What is this?" He couldn't see very well, the candlelight from the tunnel didn't illuminate much in here, but all he could see was a thick, mucusy type substance sticking between his fingers and around his hand. "...A very dirty vault, ugh..."

[Ice]

"Oh dear, we'd hate Chase to get his hands dirty." Poker pushed past Chase and tried to see what it was. It was hard to see, but some type of shape was beginning to form out of the darkness in Poker's eyes. It seemed that Chase had touched a puddle of something...disgusting, but Poker wasn't interested in that.
Poker was now looking beside them, at the huge, scaly shape that had become visible to Poker's now-adjusted eyes. "I...I think its...skin?" Poker frowned.

[khalora]

Chase wiped off the goo from his hands on the smooth tiles, but Poker's words caught his attention...

"Its what?" Chase walked over to where Poker was standing. "Skin? You must be imagining things man."

Chase looked at what Poker was looking at, but he thought it was just a rock. "Look man its just a ro..." He stopped when he saw some light glint off it, and he saw hundreds of little scales along the surface.

He walked closer and touched his hand to it lightly. It was very hard, smooth, and the scales were sharp, like blades... and it was cold. "It almost looks like a... snake-skin... but that... thats impossible. Snakes don't leave sheds like this..."

[Ice]

"Not any snake I've seen..." Poker said, walking up to the skin. He could make out the whole head now, and it was easily bigger than his whole body.
"What the hell..?" Was all he could think of to say.

[khalora]

Chase pulled out his crossbow and pulled back the sinew. Because of its awesome power he had to lever in back to place, which only took him about six seconds. He fitted one of his massive bolts into place and raised it to his shoulder, scanning the darkness.

He noticed Poker's confused face and said, "Just in case... It may not be dead."

Chase moved forward slowly, scanning around him. "Maybe we should leave... unless this really is a vault."

[Ice]

Poker laughed. "It's just a skin, Chase. Settle down." Poker looked around a bit. "Are you kidding? We can't leave here! This place must be covered with emeralds! Poker began to walk forward, slightly nervous, looking for any shiny object. What he found was two shining white fangs and two shining black eyes.