((A lead in before the Allagan Ruins event here))
The flaps to a nearby tent pulled to the side and Alexander stepped out to survey the fruits of his labors. The months of searching, of wracking his brain over every small scrap of information he could find. Months of coordinating his information gathering attacks on the primals. Even the creation of the TIC-TAC, a functioning albeit temporary and experimental anti-tempering device, were all pieces of a grander plan that would hopefully start to come to completion here. The ruins would hopefully expose tech and information yet untouched since the fall of the Allag so long ago, and in doing so, validate his theories and work.
His calm was broken by the sound of the foreman stepping out behind him, parchment in hand with a list of the losses they had accrued the previous day.
"Three more workers, and another camp guard." Alexander sighed, looking up from the parchment out over the miners who were working hard to bring his dream to a reality, "It's so hard to find good help these days." he muttered, "Do these people think that their replacements are just growing on trees?" The ruins were, not surprisingly, trapped. He had to raise wages once already when the miners threatened to walk off after the first dozen of them had died, and then hire a group of mercenaries to deal with the traps.
"What happened to giving your life in the name of progress?" he sighed heavily. It reminded him of that boy from the Ifrit excursion. Unwitting though he was, the boy's tempering and subsequent death would go on to save more lives than he probably could have as a healer. He would have a statue by the time Alexander was done.
He signed the bottom then handed the parchment back to the foreman. The cost was worth it, the lives would be worth it. Everything that would come out of the ground here was going to be his and there were more than a few Academies and research institutions that would pay for what they were going to pull up here, never mind the governments of the Alliance themselves. This might finally get the Malestrom out of his business so he could have his pirate captain back.
 Pulling out his chronometer he checked the time now, thinking about how long ago he had sent Rhianna to bring the others here. He expected Dogberry would have pulled from his extensive list of contacts to bring in competent individuals to survive what laid ahead; the Captain had not failed him before and Alexander did not expect he would now. He stuffed the timepiece back into its place and looked out over the dust and rock. It was here that everything would come together. It was here that the Little Ala Mhigo Project would find its lynch-pin.
Worth the Cost
The Thanalan sun sat high overhead, baking anything that would dare to sit under it for too long. The air rang with the sound of pickaxe against stone, shovels moving aside dirt and rock, men and woman toiling in the hot sun either grunting from their physical exertion or talking to try to forget their fatigue.The flaps to a nearby tent pulled to the side and Alexander stepped out to survey the fruits of his labors. The months of searching, of wracking his brain over every small scrap of information he could find. Months of coordinating his information gathering attacks on the primals. Even the creation of the TIC-TAC, a functioning albeit temporary and experimental anti-tempering device, were all pieces of a grander plan that would hopefully start to come to completion here. The ruins would hopefully expose tech and information yet untouched since the fall of the Allag so long ago, and in doing so, validate his theories and work.
His calm was broken by the sound of the foreman stepping out behind him, parchment in hand with a list of the losses they had accrued the previous day.
"Three more workers, and another camp guard." Alexander sighed, looking up from the parchment out over the miners who were working hard to bring his dream to a reality, "It's so hard to find good help these days." he muttered, "Do these people think that their replacements are just growing on trees?" The ruins were, not surprisingly, trapped. He had to raise wages once already when the miners threatened to walk off after the first dozen of them had died, and then hire a group of mercenaries to deal with the traps.
"What happened to giving your life in the name of progress?" he sighed heavily. It reminded him of that boy from the Ifrit excursion. Unwitting though he was, the boy's tempering and subsequent death would go on to save more lives than he probably could have as a healer. He would have a statue by the time Alexander was done.
He signed the bottom then handed the parchment back to the foreman. The cost was worth it, the lives would be worth it. Everything that would come out of the ground here was going to be his and there were more than a few Academies and research institutions that would pay for what they were going to pull up here, never mind the governments of the Alliance themselves. This might finally get the Malestrom out of his business so he could have his pirate captain back.
 Pulling out his chronometer he checked the time now, thinking about how long ago he had sent Rhianna to bring the others here. He expected Dogberry would have pulled from his extensive list of contacts to bring in competent individuals to survive what laid ahead; the Captain had not failed him before and Alexander did not expect he would now. He stuffed the timepiece back into its place and looked out over the dust and rock. It was here that everything would come together. It was here that the Little Ala Mhigo Project would find its lynch-pin.
