[center][h1]A Toph Man in a Dark Land[/h1][/center]

The Union of Umbrium Harvesters wasn't exactly the most prestigious of organizations that made its home in the burgeoning fortress town of Twilight's Rest. The sturdy lumberjacks, hard working farmers, free roaming herders, the wealthy merchants and their Paladin-Demon dark guards all had their palace and various kinds of respect. 

The Union members meanwhile were snidely referred to as the ‘road sweepers’ because of how they collected up the dust of the ever dark realm that drifted onto the road using long brooms and cart sized dustpans which generally got in the way of merchant traffic. 

They provided an invaluable service, in their opinion, both in keeping the road of light clear and in providing non lumber based fuel for the infernal fires of Twilight’s rest, freeing up the still somewhat dangerous to acquire wood to be used for construction. Yes, it wasn’t exactly skilled labor, and so their ranks were often filled with what some would consider the dregs of society, but they put back into their work and their necks on the line against the roaming horrors of the dark land to bring back warmth and light to hold back the dark and fuel their defender’s might? But did they get respect for that? Not one bit! 

Or at least that was how they felt, and it was part of what had had the Union pile together what excess funds they had on a commission for something to improve all their fortunes, and today was the day it had finally arrived.

With the palisaded town looming behind them and the road of light close at hand, the sweepers had gathered to watch as one of their number, Geoffry (a middle aged bald man with rosy skin and an impressive fiery red handlebar mustache) was strapped into a suit of salamander leather (ethically harvested from the great beast’s shed skin) that, with a few modifications, had been made to keep his heat in and the cold out just as well as these suits normally resisted the cold (the secret ingredient being massive amounts of soft fluffy goat wool).

This suit had two other notable alterations to the standard pattern on top of that cold proofing. The first was a pair of boots with green gems in their soles, and the other was a tiara of them on his brow. Both his forehead and his feet had Ambroisen fibers wrapped around them, but these were connected via crystal wiring linking them to the gems and not to his own nerves.

These meant that, as he stepped forwards into the dark and the world vanished into nothingness, he did not step without wisdom. No, instead as he carefully picked his way across the ever dark land the Ambroisen fibers around his feet squeezed around them with greater or lesser intensity to tell him how far away his foot was from the ground, feeling nothing upon contact with the ground and an constricting with almost blood stopping pain when he almost stepped into some kind of ravine that would have claimed his life otherwise.

Being able to walk was all well and good, but if it where only the land he had to worry about, they could have done this with guide ropes and tethers (which he did have, one was tied to his back and trailing all the way back to the land of light so he could find his way home).

No, the issue was that he wasn't alone in here. There were things out there in the dark. Horrible, crawling things that goddess Monica, bless her soul, had made for reasons no one really knew or understood. What they did know was that they hated all other life with a feral passion, and that was why, on top of the blindness and the cold, walking into the dark should have been suicide.

The man only had so much time till he attracted their attention, so he swiftly set to work, crouching down and pulling out a small rock hammer, which he used to chip away at a nearby outcropping, chipping off some samples of pure Umbrium, and then trying to do the same with one of the local plants, only to fail to break its crystalline structure and resorting to a combination of hammering the ground it was in and pulling to uproot it.

And that, that was what caught the attention of something dangerous. So far only little bugs had been trying to kill him, but thanks to his fully enclosed suit that was oxygenated by two small canisters of re-breather kelp sitting on either side of his mask, and one larger one strapped to his chest and connected to his mouth via tube, they had been able to do him no harm. Now something larger was approaching. Not too large, only about the size of a dog. But in the land of the blind the monster that did not need to see is a deadly hunter no matter its size, for it could fight tooth and claw while the man was helpless.

Or so it had been till this day. 

Geoffry caught the beast coming closer while glancing back, the Ambroisen fibers on his forehead constricting and forming little pinpricks as the gems on his forehead’s magics reached out ahead of him and detected the tiny seismic tremors of its many feet striking the bear stone of the land.

It wasn't detailed, he could mainly tell that there was something coming at him, and that it was big but not that big, and it would not be enough to let him land a sword strike or nail it with a perfect arrow. Besides, Geoffry was no warrior, let alone camomile kissed paladin or inferno fueled demon.

He was merely a sweeper with a pair of nubby horns. But he was sweeper with a new tool. With shaking hands he reached over his back and unslung something crossbow shaped and sized and pointed it in the general direction of his incoming death. 

Then he pulsed his pathetic magic reserves into the trigger pad, and there was a crackle of magic and a a wumf of air followed by a scream as the stone thrower shotgun blasted a dozen geokinetically propelled stone shards in a cone wide enough that even the blind sweeper was guaranteed to hit something.

The man tugged his rope and started to backed up/be reeled home, his stone sensing steps letting him tread backwards as he fumbled a latch on the the stone thrower, pulled out and replaced the spent stable crystal battery and then shoved another rock down the barrel, before bringing the gun up and with a crackle, woomf, crash another shot blasted out and hammered the beast. And then another. And another. Till his forehead stopped being pricked by the bug’s writhing and the deed was done.

A few dozen moments later, and the man stumbled back out into the light and into the arms of his fellows who gave a collective sigh of relief as several came up to embrace the brave pioneer.

“How was it, you hard bastard?” one hairy chested bloke asked after breaking his bear hug with Geoffry.

“Terrifying. I mean it worked. I’m back and not down a ravine somewhere, but still. Bloody terrifying” the man said, before reiterating “But it worked, creator’s bones did it work. Took one of them down with this thing” he clapped the stone thrower before getting to the main event, reaching into his pouch and pulling out first the Umbrium shard that seemed to eat the light even out here “but i got the rock, it's definitely mine-able, though the land’s a right bloody mess in there. Cravasses and such everywhere. Gonna be right bloody pain”

The other’s nodded. They hadn't expected it to be easy, but damn would it be worth it if they could get lots of dense flammable Umbrium out of it.

“Plus I also got a plant… ah where is it, the bloody thing was a pain to pull out let me… tell… you” his words faltered as he and the other’s beheld one of Maelite’s plants in the light for the first time, and its crystalline structure sparkled in the sunlight.

“Are… are they all like that?” the technician who had provided the suit asked, breaking the stunned silence “because if they are… if the entire land is suffused with these gems, that could be a boon and a half to science and industry… May I see it?” she asked, getting a stiff nod of permission and taking the plant to give it an examination during which the reality of the situation

“Do you know what this means Geoffry?” the bear huger said as he grasped the stunned explorer’s arm in both of his hands“we’ve got more than just an endless supply of firewood on our hands here, we’ve struck bloody gold!”

“Diamonds actually” the technician helpful informed them, which damn near caused the entire assembly of sweeper to faint with shock. Their fortunes were made, and from the sweat of their brows and the black and clear bounties of Maelite the 12th realm’s industrial revolution would truly begin.

[hider=summary]
We are quickly introduced to the concept of the Union of Umbrium Harvesters, who are often disparagingly referred to as the sweepers for their method of gathering Umbrium by brushing up the dust of it that spills onto the shining road running though node 11.

Kinda annoyed by their lack of status and trying to improve their fortunes, they commission a prototype suit that will let them survive the endless dark and cold of Maelite. Using earth gems as sensors and Ambroisen fibbers to communicate with the user via squeezing their feet or forehead, the salamander skinned and re-breather kelp oxygenated suit lets a man named Geoffry to enter the dark land, harvest some solid Umbrium and one of the plants of the region, before also shooting a bug using a ‘stone thrower’ shotgun before returning to the light.

His fellows greet him, overjoyed by the success of the experiment, and then are bowled over when the technician who made the suit informs them that the plant Geoffry retrieved is made of pure diamond.

Their fortunes certainly look up at this discovery, which will provide masses of flammable Umbrium to the 12th realm’s industry, as well as an absurd supply of diamonds for who knows what purposes.
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[hider=mp]
7/8
5 mp used to raise node 12 to Tier six: the steam age or middle fantasy industrial age, one based mainly on the magmatic (earth,fire and lava) magitech fueled by Umbrium fires. 
2/8 remaining
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