queenoflogs | the power of friendship.

Entry tags:

the power of friendship.

The Caves of the Arimoi are an extensive network of caverns, winding through the earth. Who maintains the torches which light each passage with a dim and flickering luminescence? Who placed here these treasure chest, filled with artifacts both ancient and obscure? What is it even doing here, as it is clearly not part of the Queen's domain? Nobody knows, or at least nobody is answering. But here it is nonetheless, and it is both ancient and strangely beautiful.

You are not alone in these caves, however. Echidna's children lurk, jealously guarding treasures and preying on unprepared explorers. Here a woman with the lower boidy of a dragon lurks, vicious teeth dripping with venom. There, a formless, shapeshiting mass strikes out with its terrible barbed whip. There, hydras and chimaerae patrol, and in some places the beautiful woman you stumble across may not be what she seems...

How are you supposed to make nice with creatures like these? That's up to you to figure out.

[ooc: A more detailed description of the Caves and Monsters can be found on the setting page. We will be tagging into threads with NPC monsters, if you have a specific monster you would like to encounter please leave a note in your thread.]

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Akiha didn't want to admit that Kris was helping her, but her hand tightened just a bit on the magician's. They weren't very far into the caverns and she was already tired of the place.

"Is it really necessary to be here? I only came along because you asked." And used that damn look Akiha hates because it makes it hard to say no.

"If you want first dibs on things, of course it's necessary."

Come on, Akiha. You wouldn't want people showing off things you didn't have, would you?

Only if they were things she wanted to have.

"Don't tell me you're just expecting there to be a pile of gold somewhere in this place?"

"Yeah, I was!" Monsters always stashed away things in chests that they took from previous adventurers or they took from other people's villages and other sorts.

"That and maybe some magical artifacts."

"...you're serious."

Akiha stopped to stare at Kris. She was dumbfounded. What was the point in risking their lives for a supposed pile of gold that's meaningless or some magical artifact. What counts as a magical artifact?

"Did you think I was joking?" Sheesh. How was a girl supposed to be taken seriously these days when Akihas were running around attempting to disprove everything.

"I have no idea." Akiha started walking again, picking her way over rocks and other stuff. "It just seems... silly to think there is a pile of gold laying around anywhere. That's what banks are for."

"A bank?" Kris snorts. Using a bank was for gullible people.

"Why would you ever trust people with your money?"

"Money is to be invested and held in a central place where bills can be payed, investments made, and capital moved around for use in a business," Akiha explained.

"It's all accounted for and there are laws should a bank misuse your money without your consent. They're insured and it when you deal in international business, you can't just carry around a pouch of gold. Different countries have different currency and banks facilitate the exchange of currency. I can't just go to America and buy something with yen. I have to have dollars to do that. And the same goes in Japan. It doesn't matter how many dollars I have in my possession, I can't buy anything unless I have yen."

Akiha glanced over. "Were you under the impression that there is a giant vault in my mansion in Misaki City that holds gold ingots?"

Kris shook her head. As a matter of fact, she had no idea where Akiha kept her money and wasn't too worried about it. It wasn't like she wanted to steal it all.

"It just sounds like a good way for them to take all your money."

"First of all, not all the money is in one account. Then not all the accounts are in the same bank. Some of it is in investment firms and other places. So, it's not ONE person holding my money," Akiha replied, her irritation showing. "Keeping all your money on your person is a good way to invite someone to mug you. Maybe it's easy for you to just hold all your money considering how little you have, but it's a very different situation when you have extensive assets."

She sighed. "And the rest of it is societal differences. Our worlds are different. Things work differently. Leave it at that. You are more than welcome to not put your money in a bank."

"I'm really rich, you know. Really rich." She used to be poor but no more. That aside, Kris resigned herself to not understanding why someone would use a bank.

Akiha was of the opinion that what Kris considered rich was a lot less than what Akiha considered rich.

"You certainly don't act like it," she commented.

"That's because I never know what to spend my money on."

Living with no money for most of your life then coming into riches was crazy! What all would she spend that money on?

"You invest it. You use it to build something lasting - a legacy," Akiha explained. "You purchase finer things. You use it to increase your reputation in society and influence politics. You can fund research and purchase rare things..."

Akiha could go on and on thanks to her upbringing. She was too embroiled in all this back home, so it came easily to mind. "You manage your money. I own a business. That's one of the biggest things that can be done with a lot of money."

She scratched her chin while walking, thinking on it. "I wouldn't mind giving you all my money."

"..." Akiha raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just said you wouldn't let someone else take care of your money?"

Kris' answer here should have been obvious. "I trust you."

"That much? Hmm." Akiha wasn't sure what else to say to that. Whereas Akiha had the right people at her fingertips back home to invest Kris' money well, it was still... not something she expects to hear.

"Did you think differently?" She skipped ahead, not really caring that they were discussing finances in a cave that probably had monsters in it. Just the average day in the life of an adventurer.

"I'm just not used to hearing it..."

Akiha watched Kris skip ahead, wondering how the hell she was so sure-footed in the caverns. The flickering torchlight made seeing the ground hard, so she reached up to take one of the torches down off the wall to make her own way easier. And that was when something caught her eye down a branch off of the main tunnel they were in.

"Kris," she called out, turning down the branch, and stopped in front of a--

Seriously. Seriously?

A treasure chest.

"This is like a bad fantasy novel."

Kris made sure to pull Akiha back a little. "Don't touch it!"

Treasure chests were very dangerous things, especially to first time adventurers like Akiha. How many people have lost their fingers or their life due to some trap or, even worse, a mimic.

"You have to be careful with chests."

"You're acting like it's going to bite me," Akiha grumbled, but didn't resist much being pulled back. "It's just a chest."

Clearly, Akiha hasn't read many bad fantasy novels.

"It could bite you though." To anyone else, it sounded ridiculous but to Kris, it was common sense.

"Just don't touch it without checking for traps."

"...it's an inanimate object, Kris." Akiha sighed and leaned against the cavern wall, crossing her arms. "And how do you check for traps without setting them off?"

Why was she even engaging in this ridiculous conversation about traps and vicious treasure chests? Next thing would be some fire-breathing dragon. At least that wouldn't be a problem.

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