“Nothing,” Kryos said as he went to his locker and began removing his armor, putting it into the storage before closing it up.
Leona leaned against the wall of lockers, staring at him the whole time. When he had put his gear away and turned the key in the lock, he started to put it away, and faster than he could react, she snatched it from his grip.
“Hey!” Kryos said as he tried to grab it back.
She flipped the loop around her finger. “We’re going to talk about your comment just now. We can do it here,” she shifted her gaze over to the table of veteran Adventurers, who were conversing amongst themselves, “or upstairs. Your pick.”
Kryos knew he was at an impasse. Either tell one person a bit of the truth, or tell multiple people.
Well, he thought, I’ve already put my eggs into this nest of an alliance, so I might as well be forthright.
“My room, then,” Kryos said as he made for the stairs and went up them. Leona followed him, and as they reached his room, he gestured. “Open it, please.”
She slid the key into the lock, opened the door, then handed him the key. After he slipped past her, she stepped inside and shut the door. “Now, what was that comment about Experience?”
Kryos sat on the bed and slid over. Leona stayed standing, back against the door. Kryos met her gaze. “Look at your HUD, and check my Class.”
She squinted, then blinked a few times. “You’re Tier two, but you have the same Class I saw before.” She then looked at him with confusion. “What gives? It didn’t upgrade.”
“I’m treated as a dragon when it comes to the SAVE system,” Kryos replied as he clasped his hands and wrung them. Everything his mom had told him screamed at him to cow her into submission and keep her quiet with threat of violence, but his dad’s advice won through—supported by Gary’s insights the day prior. Sincerity would be better at the moment. “Dragons . . . you can’t tell anyone this. Okay?”
Leona swallowed, but it was almost unnoticeable. She nodded. “Go ahead. My lips are sealed.”
Kryos opened his Trader’s Pouch and showed her the accumulated wealth inside. “This is my dragon hoard.”
“Pff. Doesn’t look like any hoard I’ve heard of.”
“Dragons get one true hoard at a time.” Kryos closed the pouch. “Right now, this is what I have. Maybe one day it’ll be a vault, or a massive cavern, or a basement in a fortified castle—who knows?” He tented his hands again. “Dragons gain levels based upon the value of our true hoard. I literally get stronger the more wealth I amass.”
Leona’s lips drew thin as her brow furrowed in thought. Silence reigned for a solid thirty seconds before she broke it. “Okay . . . so you don’t get Experience from Class activities, because you don’t have a Class like me.”
“Right,” Kryos said as she moved from the door and sat on the bed next to him. “I will always be a Mass Dragon, and my Class will never improve.” A little smile crossed his lips. “Maybe, if I get to a high enough level, I’ll switch to Gravity Dragon, like my mom. But I’m like a watered down version of her type.”
She let out a breath and nodded, taking the information in stride, and seeming to digest it. “That explains why you were so tense to the point of shaking in that treasure room. If you had all of that money, you would’ve been able to get to an extremely high level almost instantly.”
“Exactly,” Kryos replied. “It was so tempting, but I was able to hold myself back. My treasure sense was driving me crazy.”
“Wait,” she said, raising a brow. “You can sniff out treasure?”
“Sort of,” Kryos replied. “I get more of a feeling. A warmth in my chest when something valuable is nearby. I’m starting to get better at focusing on it to locate more effectively.” He tapped his nose. “I do have a good sense of smell, though.”
She shook her head and let out a giggle. “Okay then, mister sniffer. You’ve got your Artifact in your ‘hoard’ also,” she said the word ‘hoard’ with both fingers held up and making air quotes. “Does that do anything special?”
“It adds value,” Kryos replied. “And I get to use the Skill it bestows without having it on my person.”
“Stars above,” she whispered, then raised her voice and said, “That’s so useful. Your version of the SAVE system is both unfair to you and beneficial at the same time. No Experience from casual activities . . . but raw money turning into power?” She shook her head.
Kryos patted the bag. “But my hoard is almost full. I’ll need a strong lockbox soon, or a vault. But it can’t be something I’ll never be able to transport—for now.” He looked at the wooden, slatted window. “I don’t think I’ll be in Suncrest forever. My parents are in Velenar, and I’d like to see them eventually.”
“Never heard of it,” Leona said. “Well, we’re of a kindred mind in that regard. Suncrest is just a starting point for me. I don’t want to be here forever.”
Kryos looked at her. “Oh?”
She pulled her legs up so she was sitting cross-legged and turned to face him fully, drawing up to her full height. Her expression shifted to a full, serious one. “A few questions. First, since money is so important to you, does anything happen when you try to spend it?”
“It is hard to let go of,” Kryos replied. “Not physically painful, but it makes me . . . angry to part with. I can let it go, though.”
Leona nodded. “Next, do you have aspirations of grandeur?”
“Who doesn’t? My mom owns an entire town. I don’t think I’ll ever become that grand, but I could see myself being some type of renowned Adventurer going on grand quests. Eventually, I think, maybe, it would be interesting to own . . . I don’t know . . . a castle? Have a vault in that I used as my hoard?”
She cracked a grin at that. “We both dislike the Irontrail’s ten percent cut.”
“Yeah” Kryos frowned. “. . . Where are you going with this?”
Leona kept her smile plastered on, and there was a glint in her eyes. “Maybe, once we both have a bit of capital saved up, we could both invest and build our own Adventurer Guild Hall—but a mobile one. All we need is a Mender to join us, and we’d be set for any Rift we might come across.”
That’s an intriguing proposition, Kryos thought. A Quest Board if they’re made smaller, mounted on the outside of a fortified wagon, perhaps? The bottom inside could be steel-lined and serve as my vault so I have a bigger hoard?
“How . . . I mean . . .” Kryos wrung his hands. “Obviously you wouldn’t just be putting money into my vault—”
“Sort of,” Leona replied curtly, the smile vanishing. “I keep my cut separate from yours on paper. We can store it in your vault, but you have to be okay with me withdrawing my money any time I need it—I value liquidity.” She frowned. “Do you get weaker if money is removed?”
“No,” Kryos replied. “My SAVE system only looks at my highest-ever-reached effective hoard value. If some wealth was removed, then I would remain at my current level. I just don’t gain any new levels until I exceed my prior peak.”
Leona’s smile returned. “Then we could store the whole Guild’s wealth in our ‘vault’, which you could treat as your hoard. And I’ll just keep tabs on what is yours and what is mine. After we make a ton of money traveling, and you visit your parents or whatever, we can strike out for a place like Suncrest but less developed. Make ourselves like Irontrail—but be the first new Guild in that place. What do you say?”
“That sounds more than fair,” Kryos replied. “I just need to get better at . . . parting with what needs to be parted with for necessary expenses. And what’s yours, of course.”
She put a hand on his knee and gave it a little squeeze, and Kryos felt that little flutter in his stomach again. “You’ll get better at it.” She stood up. “Well, we have a long-term joint-Party goal then. We’ll stick around Suncrest long enough to make enough money to make a mobile Guild Hall—I’ve got some ideas on that.”
Kryos smiled at that. “I do, too. An armored cart with a fortified vault on the bottom? I know a smith in town who would probably be interested in a project like that.”
Leona snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Greedy minds think alike. And, no need for a mount, since we’ve got your muscle to pull it around.”
“Saving on costs—smart.”
Leona opened the door. “Try not to fall in love with me because I’m brilliant.”
Kryos looked after her as she closed the door, confused.
Is she . . . is she interested in me in that way, too?
Kryos woke up, went downstairs, got his gruel from the surly chef, and after devouring his fare, kitted out in his gear. Leona was almost right on his heels in the routine, though she got equipped much faster than him, and was leaning against the door waiting for him as he strapped on the last few pieces of his armor.
She opened the door as the two stepped out into the crisp, cool morning air. The sun had just started to crest over the mountains in the distance, and it took thirty minutes for the two to arrive at the mine entrance. They approached from the steeper side, and a few miners who were departing from the night shift barely noticed the two who were now standing behind them. Those miners headed down the smoother-sloped, packed dirt ramp toward Suncrest proper.
Kryos scanned the departures and waved at Gary, who spotted him and returned the wave, then spotted Leona and gave the half-dragon a wink.
“You know him?” Leona asked.
“Yeah. One of the miners I saved,” Kryos replied. “I visited him and his wife. Lovely folks.”
Leona nodded. “We should be meeting a surveyor and union representative. Any idea when?”
Kryos shrugged. “Nope.” He was a head and a half taller than anyone else, and tried to scan for someone that looked out-of-place. He was able to spot one, coming up the ramp, walking next to another person who looked less out of place.
The former was a thin, tall human with a pair of spectacles on their thin nose that complemented well-combed black hair, and they were dressed in heavy-duty, canvas pants, an equally heavy duty overcoat, had pack on their back that dwarfed them, and held a wooden board with several papers corded onto the front.
Next to them, conversing at a low volume, was a squat woman who was heavily scarred, with a milky, white right eye denoting blindness, bedecked in mining garb that had seen heavy use, wore a metal cap with a headlamp, and carried another lantern on a metal rod that they used as a walking stick.
Leona sighed. “Great. I should’ve read the slip more closely.”
Kryos glanced down at her. “Why? Just escorting two people to an abandoned section of mine and clearing out monsters. This should be easy.”
She crossed her arms. “Highpeak and mining union?” She sighed and looked up at him. “Well, don’t make it look like we’re playing favorites.”
Kryos gave her a questioning look, and was about to ask her what she meant, but the thin man shouted, “Ah! You must be the half-dragon our mayor told me about!” Kryos looked forward to the man, who quickened his pace and approached. “I’m Merrik Voss. Pleasure to meet you.” His eyes darted to Leona. “Ah, I wasn’t aware you had a Party member.”
“Leona,” she curtly said.
“Kryos,” the Anchor added. “We’re your escorts and monster-clearers for the day.”
“Hopefully just a day,” Merrik said with a smile. “I heard you dealt with some Tremorleeches with your bare claws when you first got here—armored as you are now, I doubt they’ll be much trouble!”
The squat woman looked at the thin man with a scowl, then dipped her head at Kryos and Leona. “I’m Dorna Flintvein. Union representative. I’m going to be checking the safety conditions of the shaft you’re clearing out.”
At that, Merrik’s smile cracked a little. “Yes, yes, all well and good. Well then, shall we? Daylight’s burning.”
Leona looked at Dorna. “You’ll be behind us lighting the path?”
“Aye. Hooded lantern with mirrors to angle ahead.” The squat woman looked at Merrik. “We should check in with the foreman first, and make sure they know our exact route, along with grabbing some fluorescent chalk to mark the path back.”
Merrik looked like he was about to argue against that, but then cleared his throat. “Of course. A quick detour, I suppose for safety’s sake.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Kryos pulled his shield from his back, affixed it to his forearm, and grabbed his mace from its loop on his belt. “Then let’s get to it.”
Dorna led the way, followed by Merrik, Leona, and then Kryos bringing up the rear. Entering the mine, the union representative took them to an equipment station, and after speaking to a foreman and advising them of the route the group would be taking, grabbed two sticks of a bright, pink chalk. She handed one stick to Leona. “Mark with a solid arrow the direction you’re going, and a dashed arrow the way you’ve come from. Every fifty paces. On the wall.”
“That’ll slow our pace significantly,” Merrik muttered.
“Safety first,” Dorna snapped.
Leona took the chalk and looked up at Kryos, then mouthed, ‘don’t take a side.’
Kryos just shrugged and said, “Tell me which way to go. I should probably be in the front when we get to where there might be monsters.”
Dorna ignited her headlamp and the lantern on the spike. “This way,” she said, leading them down a tunnel.
Kryos didn’t recognize any of the miners, though it seemed several recognized him, as he received many friendly waves, which he returned acknowledgement of with nods and a friendly smile. It seemed that the miners, in general, had a positive view of him—doubtless because of his actions in saving their companions.
“You seem to have good rapport here,” Merrik commented.
“I do,” Kryos replied, glancing back over his shoulder. He could see the thin man jotting some note on the paper lashed to the thin board he was carrying. “How far are we traveling?”
Dorna answered, “We’ll follow this route for a good ten minutes, then head down the marked-off section.”
Leona kept pace next to Kryos, and glanced up at him. “Tremorleeches detect movement through vibrations. I won’t be able to move around them without notice, so my Seafoam Steps won’t be effective. I’ll be next to you, mostly, getting in my hits, instead of flanking.”
Kryos nodded. “Understood. Does that change how we fight at all?”
“Nope. Just use your field thing that slows them, and I’ll hit harder.”
“Easy enough.” Kryos could hear the two behind him muttering, and focused his sight forward, but kept his hearing honed in on the conversation behind him.
“I’m telling you we need at least eight fall-arrest devices for the miners, and then another four larger ones for the platforms,” Dorna said.
Merrik replied in a curt, casually dismissive tone, “There’s no way the company will approve of that level of expense.”
“Money over lives,” Dorna growled back, her voice dripping with past grievances not let go. “Always that way with you lot.”
“I don’t make the policy, I just make sure quotas are met.”
Leona tapped Kryos’ shield, getting his attention. He glanced down at her, and she mouthed the words, ‘don’t get involved’, then tapped her ears.
Right, she has better hearing than I do, he thought. So she’s probably picked up other snippets I didn’t.
Kryos took in the environment. They were entering a dustier, older section of the mines. Rails had been lifted up, judging from the depression in the ground where tracks once were laid down. The supports along the walls, wooden beams that then split off to cross up above, were worn smooth where hands had held onto them for extra stability in between standing and squatting. Portions of the rock wall were carved away in jagged chunks that looked like arcing lightning bolts with forks splitting away from the center line.
“Here we are,” Dorna said as they reached a side tunnel that had been boarded up. “Alright, Kryos. Please remove the boards. The sound will probably alert any nearby monsters, so be ready for a fight.”
Kryos looked at Leona, and held his mace out. She took it from him, and seemed surprised by its weight, pulling slightly off-balance before recovering. Kryos easily ripped the wooden boards from their hastily-hammered places, shoving them to the side where they clattered on top of each other. This smaller tunnel was only big enough for Kryos to walk down if he were to have both arms out—perhaps ten feet tall and just as wide, whereas the main tunnels they had been in were triple that size to accommodate a massive operation. He grabbed his mace from Leona and toggled Singularity Stance.
His whole body felt sturdier, tougher, and condensed down, solidifying. He moved forward, and Dorna asked, “Do you need light?”
“I can see just fine,” Kryos replied. “Down this way? No curves or intersections?”
“There’s a natural cave system about sixty feet down,” Merrik replied.
Kryos could hear the faint noise of movement far ahead, but it was Leona who spoke up. “I hear movement. Tremorleeches. Get ready, they’ll swarm us in a moment.” She had pulled out her rapier.
He couldn’t question what it was as the Tremorleeches came into view, charging down the tunnel toward the vibrations that signalled prey. He activated Pressure Field, and saw the dust and dirt slam down into the ground. Kryos made sure to exclude Leona, and he held his shield at the ready as the first Tremorleech got into range. Lashing forward with his mace, his Mass Instinct Trait increased the power of his strike at the last instant.
Crunch!
His weapon slammed into the top of the thing, flattening it and pulverizing the internal jaw bone structure. But, it kept moving: tendrils lashing out at him, and he interposed his shield, feeling the light thud impacts of the suckers making contact with the barricade.
Leona’s blade flicked out under his guard as she stabbed forward, and the tension pulling on his shield became less fierce and more dead weight. Kryos flicked his shield to the side, and the corpse of the now-slain Tremorleech was flung to the left. Almost reactively, Leona was on his left, her thin rapier’s cutting edge slashing through the tendrils to free up his guard so he could place it in front of him once more.
Three more remained, and they all rushed forward at once. Kryos knew he needed to keep them all at bay, and trusted his armor to keep him safe from injury: so he elected to take several steps forward, kept the shield tucked along his left side to protect his flank, swung at the creature on his right, and allowed the one in front to come right at him. As soon as that central one flung its body toward him, Kryos raised his foot, extending his foot-claws like a blade, and impaled the thing with its own weight, slamming down as his leg went through the body.
Tendrils flailed at him from below, the suckers finding purchase on his armor but not getting through. The one on the left was trapped between his shield and the wall, trying to get by at the unarmored targets of union representative and surveyor who had retreated farther back, but unable to get past Kryos’ bulk blocking the passage. The one to the right, he crushed with his swing, sending it flailing back down the tunnel.
Leona appeared just under him once more, getting under his mace-swing and stabbing at the one he had impaled with his foot-claw and was now stuck on his leg. Her weapon found its vital point, causing its body to go limp, and then with deft dexterity, she spun around Kryos’ back. “Shield shove!”
Kryos followed her order and leaned his weight into the shield, shoving the Tremorleech who was trying to get past him up against the wall, pinning the creature against the stone. As he felt it crunch and squish under his bulk, Leona’s blade flicked out to his left, finding the gap between stone and metal, darting into the weak spot once more, and forcing the creature limp.
The one Kryos’ mace hit had sent tumbling back down the tunnel recovered and skittered away into the darkness, retreating.
“Good job,” Kryos said as he held ready, shield in front, waiting for more that might be coming. His Predation Awareness faded, and he couldn’t sense anything with hostile intent that might be stronger or weaker than him. He let his Pressure Field fade, but kept his Singularity Stance active.
Leona sheathed her rapier and pulled out a simple knife one would use to cut their meat at a table. “Hold still while I cut these suckers off. Keep eyes on the tunnel.” She set to work freeing him from the tendrils, and Kryos extricated his leg from the monster he had stepped through.
“You’re formidable,” Dorna said as she walked up behind them.
Leona glanced back. “We work well together, yes, as most Parties do.”
Merrik adjusted his glasses, and made a note on his board. “Most Parties have three though, no?”
Kryos grimaced at that as he kept facing the hall. If Tavan had survived, he thought, maybe he’d be on board for Leona and my long-term scheme. He looked at Leona. Still, we worked really well together during that fight. She really took advantage of every opening I made—and I wasn’t hurt at all.
Leona seemed to echo the sentiment but stayed silent, instead sheathing her knife and drawing her rapier once more, keeping her torch held in her other hand. “Right, which way?”
Merrik flipped through a few papers. “Urm, one second . . . Ah! At the end of this hall, we’ll be in a cave system. Go right.”
Leona held her torch out. “Hold this.” Kryos let the handle of his shield go, allowing it to sit on his arm by strap alone, as she pulled out the fluorescent chalk and made the arrow marks, then pocketed it and grabbed her torch. “One Tremorleech got away, so be careful: they are ambush predators. Dorna, can I borrow your headlamp? I’ll keep watch on the rear while Kryos takes the front.”
The dwarf woman handed her helmet to Leona, revealing a shock of deep, auburn hair that was tied up in a tight topknot. “Fine by me. I’ll do the chalk marking, unless we get separated.”
“Which shouldn’t happen!” Merrik added. “Come on, time is money, as they say.”
The mined tunnel ended in a much less-well-defined cave system. Kryos was reminded of the Drakemount immediately, with its winding passages and varying sizes of tunnels and passages. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sense of familiarity. Turning down to his right, he had to duck a little through an opening as he entered a long, undulating-in-size passage that required him to constantly duck down and even at one point squat-walk.
“We’ll have to expand this out,” Merrik said as he scribbled on his pad. “And have guards on-duty to watch for monsters coming in from the caverns—or hire them to clear out the creatures entirely. Is that something the Irontrail would do, you two?”
Kryos glanced back and replied, “Ask my partner: she’s the brains of the operation.”
Leona answered, “The Guild would be willing to do that. Monsters breed consistently, so fully clearing out the caves would be a fool’s errand. But, a few cullings here and there to keep the population down should be enough. Bright lights should keep most cave-dwelling types away. The Tremorleeches are the problematic ones—any mining will draw them instantly.”
Merrik clicked his tongue and looked at Dorna. “Any way to counter that?”
Dorna shook her head. “Nope. Not that I’m aware of. When they show up, we fight tooth and nail. Thankfully they’re squishy and our tools are sufficient enough to deal with them.”
The tunnel Kryos led them through began to widen, then cut left sharply. At Merrik’s direction, they took a hard turn which then led them down, before climbing up at a steep angle, before opening up to another large, cavernous space. An odor hit Kryos’ nose. It smelled damp and fetid, like the refuse-piles that wyrmlings often defecated in.
“Something’s nearby,” Kryos said.
“I can hear . . . something moving,” Leona said.
“We’re nearly at the opening that Falkrether fell through,” Merrik said excitedly. “Just keep going. I need to see what we’re working with.”
Kryos cautiously walked forward, and the scent grew stronger. He could see bulbous protrusions along the roof of the cavern, almost like undulations of waves, then froze as one moved. A pair of wings unfurled, and then tucked back in as the lump resumed its spot.
Dorna’s light lit Kryos from behind, and the light bled around him, illuminating the lumps: dark, brown shapes against the flat grey of the ceiling. That light seemed to wake them up, as dozens of the creatures extended wings, let out shrieks and calls, flipped over, and began to swarm toward Kryos.
“Ahh!” Merrik screamed as he ran back down the tunnel.
Dorna, to her credit, stood her ground, holding the lantern on its pike and grabbing a one-handed pick with her other hand as she crouched down to provide a lower profile.
Leona darted forward, getting right up behind and to the side of Kryos, near his shield-arm for cover.
The creatures swarmed down, and Kryos began swinging with abandon, trying to knock them out of the air. They were each easily the size of a hatchling, the size of his arm in length and the width of his calf, with wings that doubled the length of his leg. He had no idea how they were so maneuverable in the space, as they dashed past his mace strikes and lashed out at his face and neck with sharp claws.
Thankfully, the helmet that came with the armor kept him safe, and their claws skidded off. But they weren’t making any headway in dealing with the creatures. Even Leona’s stabs with her rapier were just poking holes into the leather structure of the wings, and not able to get at vital spots. Kryos tried to keep her covered from above with the shield, holding it horizontal so that she was protected from airborne strikes, but a few darted in with swooping attacks, and she let out a curse as her blood splashed the stone.
Kryos activated Pressure Field, and almost instantly the entire swarm slammed into the ground—the sudden increase in gravity catching them off-guard without time to recalibrate their flapping. That bought him an opening to get a few swings in, killing off four of the things, while Leona darted forward and dispatched another six with lethal stabs.
Dorna even dashed up and got a few strikes in, putting her pick into the skulls of two of the creatures.
A louder scream echoed from behind them, and Kryos spared a glance back as Merrik came running back toward them, eyes wild with fear, as the Tremorleech Kryos had slammed with his mace—the impact mark on the fleshy hide marking it as such—chased the surveyor. “Leona, behind us!”
She glanced back and grunted in acknowledgement, turning and moving to intercept the creature, while Kryos stayed up near the winged foes who were clumsily trying to regain their bearings and figure out how much force to flap with to overcome the increased gravity.
He was a merciless killing machine, with the perfect counter to a flying foe. Monsters died, crushed by his mace, over and over, until after a tense ten seconds all lay dead. Spinning around, he dashed past Merrik—who was clinging to Dorna for dear life while the dwarf woman sucked in breaths of exertion from her joint-killing along with Kryos.
Leona was easily fending off the Tremorleech’s attacks—her thin blade parrying the tendrils, but she wasn’t able to make any progress in injuring the main body due to the number of incoming attacks. The moment Kryos’ aura affected the creature, it faltered, and her blade was able to sneak past a tendril and strike deep. It wavered, and Kryos managed to get a slam in with his mace, which sent it tumbling to the wall. Leona capitalized on the opening with another expert thrust, ending the monster’s life.
The two stood there, tense, senses tuned for more threats, for a few seconds. Kryos scanned with his vision, and he could tell based on Leona’s closed eyes she was listening intently. But, after a few more seconds, he knew they were in the clear, and let his Pressure Field fade. “I think we’re good.”
Leona opened her eyes. “There’s more of the flyers in the chasm.” She walked past Kryos and over to Dorna, who was trying to peel Merrik off of her. Kryos walked right behind his Party member, who sheathed her rapier and held her torch up. “Did you know that flying monsters lived over here?”
“No idea,” Dorna replied. “Get off!”
Merrik whimpered and shook his head.
“Useless,” Dorna muttered.
Kryos looked over at the opening in the wall, then walked over and peered out. It was, indeed, a massive chasm. Far off in the distance, he saw darkness—not due to some magical effect, but just because there was nothing there. Whatever might lie beyond was far, far away. Glancing up, he saw stalagmites clinging onto the ceiling, and more of the winged creatures clinging to their perches.
Leona began to walk over but he held his hand up. “No torches,” he said. “More flyers up there. Just let me keep looking.”
“Alright,” Leona replied.
Kryos looked to his left, seeing metal pitons that had been hammered into the walls with eyelets that ropes could be strung through. To his right were more of the same, and just below the lip of the opening were even more of the hammered-in supports. Beneath that, still attached via old rope, was a partially-destroyed wooden platform that clung on with barely a few threads. More solid wooden platforms were still clinging to the walls, with what looked to be beams that had been hammered in to support them, and metal staples that made for descending akin to a ladder.
Ropes for moving supplies up and down, platforms for stable structures to rest or mine from, and staples for ladders and consistent means of movement. It seemed like a fairly solid setup: minus the open air, the distance to the silver vein, and the flying monsters overhead that would, doubtless, rouse if too much light or noise was disturbing them. There were even a few ledges scattered about.
His treasure sense bloomed in his chest, and it was a burning heat that raced up his neck. About a hundred feet down, he saw what looked like a river of silver, shining in the minutely-slanted-outward wall. It was the largest ore vein he could have imagined, with barely any rock constraining it, and it ran easily a quarter mile.
Farther beyond that, deeper in the depths of the chasm, something massive moved in the darkness.