[Audio]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[Apollo's voice makes him sound a bit older than he is. Anyone who doesn't know him may be in for a surprise later.]

How many of you who are planning on exploring outside the city have spent much time in the wilderness during the winter? If you haven't you should travel with someone who has. You won't be able to find an iron mine if you die.

[With that morbid thought delivered in a completely calm tone, there's a pause before he asks another question, one that he doesn't know the answer to.]

What does an iron mine look like?

Comments

[voice]

[sixwholeplates]

I will be careful.

[She knew about that intellectually, but reading books and experience are two very different things. She frowns while she thinks about the question he asks, though. Shouldn't everyone know that? A mine is a... mine. She hesitates, her voice wavering when she speaks.]

Like a cave, but with wooden beams supporting the walls. Veins of ore should be visible on the rock inside, from what I understand.

[voice]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[He lets her response to the first question stand; if she's aware of the possibility of danger and still wants to go on, that's her decision to make.]

As far as I know, the best places to find caves are near the mountains or in the canyon. Grandpa told me that he once found a small cave in the canyon, but I've never been that far west so I haven't seen it for myself. Like the announcement said though, the mountains are dangerous right now, so the canyon would probably be the safer place to search.

[voice]

[sixwholeplates]

That's a good idea. I don't know that I can handle the mountains, at the moment...

[She frowns at that, then she sighs, and speaks a little quieter in the warp band. She is out in the forests, after all.]

I plan to see if any books can shed light on suspected iron ore veins. If we know where they run, we can reduce the areas we need to consider searching, too. Of course, it is hard to say if those records exist...

[voice]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[He hadn't considered that books might have relevant information about this kind of thing.]

Wouldn't the announcement have said if the Council knew anything about where iron is?

[voice]

[sixwholeplates]

My hope is that it's hiding in an old book, and they don't know that. But you're right, it could be a fruitless search.

[voice]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

Wouldn't it be better to just start looking in different places? If someone finds out anything they'll be able to announce it over the Warp Bands, but while they're looking in books people could be exploring. Even if no one finds any iron someone might meet a species of Pokémon who we've never seen.

[A brief pause while an idea occurs to him.]

Maybe if we ask Pokémon near the mountains and the canyon one of them will have seen iron somewhere.

[Audio]

[ladyofluminosity]

Is that so? I think it's quite pleasant, actually.

[A pause. Whoops.]

I hadn't quite thought of that. That is a very good question.

[Audio]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

The weather isn't too harsh right now, but if it gets worse you'll need to be careful.

I've never needed to know about iron mines, so I've never asked about them before. I've mostly stayed within the forest.

[Audio]

[ladyofluminosity]

[There's a soft "hmm" from her end.]

I think I should be all right, but thank you for the warning.

Oh, then you are familiar with the forest! That seems helpful. You see, I am doing a bit of research myself. Any information that you might have would be of some use to me.

[Audio]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

I'm a Ranger. I go into the forest a lot. Grandpa's taken me to a few places outside of the forest too.

What are you researching?

[Audio]

[ladyofluminosity]

Oh? Interesting! What sorts of places?

I wish to catalog the various Pokémon of the known world.

[lifeissuffering]

A viable mine would probably be something underground where the mineral is readily accessible. If it's not the Old City though our options are a bit limited.

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

The only way to get underground that I know about is through the caverns at the base of the mountains. I've never been in them though, and from what the other Rangers have told me no one knows very much about them. The canyon is kind of like a cut in the ground though. It might cut through a place where iron is.

[lifeissuffering]

That was my thought as well. They're probably the best places to check first.

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

Both of them are more dangerous than the forest I know. The caverns might be safer than the mountains are right now, but since no one's been that deep into them there's no way to know for sure.

[lifeissuffering]

It'd be warmer at least.

[voice]

[netting_nettles]

The weather won't be that dangerous if we're just out in the forest...right? You could get snowed in up in the mountains or something, but out there -

If you're not stupid and keep warm, it should be fine.

[This is definitely the tone of someone trying to sound confident while also slowly realizing he's not so certain at all. It gets a little falter-y towards the end.]

Yeah?

[voice]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

It's safer than in the mountains, but it can still be dangerous. Keeping warm in the winter can be hard no matter where you are. If you get wet from the snow you'll have a harder time staying warm, and you need to have better shelter than you do in other seasons.

How much time have you spent outside the city?

[voice]

[netting_nettles]

Setting up camp would be harder with the wind and all that snow, huh?

[That's more muttered to himself, though loud enough to still be heard.]

...I've been out in the forest a few times.

[voice]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

Yeah. If there's enough snow you can make a camp out of snow, but you still have to do more work than in the summer.

Then you should have at least some idea of what it's like. I'm not sure if everyone who's going to be exploring will.

Re: [voice]

[netting_nettles]

[Well, it was more just the forest in walking distance of Union, and almost always with adult supervision.

But Apollo sounds like he's taking it more broadly, and Kariya decides there's no need to get technical.]

...So, if you were going out in the snow by yourself, you'd just need to take lots of dry clothes and stuff to keep a warm camp with...?

Voice;

[the_saner_one]

Neither I nor my companion have much experience travelling in the wilderness at all, I'm afraid. And since we're already outside the gates finding someone who does right away might be a bit tricky.

[ Oops. ]

But since you seem to know at least a bit about it, I don't suppose you have any advice you could give. Anything at all would be helpful, really.

Voice;

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[The game's been open for less than a day and Fai's already getting himself and Yuui into trouble. Grats.]

If you're still close by you should probably come back and find someone.

[Apollo should probably sound more concerned about this than he does. Which is "not at all".]

Stay dry. If you get wet from the snow find or build shelter, build a fire, and dry off as soon as you can. When you're gathering wood for a fire, gather more than you think you need, then gather three more piles like that. You probably want to wake up again after you go to sleep. Build shelter to block the wind. If there's enough snow then you can make a shelter out of it, but build a platform for sleeping on, because it will be colder on the ground than off of it a bit. Drink lots of water, just like it's the summer. If you can catch and kill a Pokémon, do it. Meat will keep you warmer than plants. And urinate a lot. Your body has to use energy to keep the urine warm otherwise.

[Google to the rescue.]

[voice]

[fellowtraveler]

I'm gonna guess that, you know, a mine looks like a mine. Has mine stuff in it, most likely iron, considering.

[So. Helpful.]

Here's hoping everyone dresses warmly, I guess.

[voice]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[Thank you for that tautology, Margot, but it wasn't helpful and Apollo doesn't understand why you even spoke it.]

That makes sense, but I've never seen a mine before so I wasn't sure what they look like.