We spent the rest of the morning clearing out the first floor of the mine. Once we reached the steps that would lead us to the lower level, we decided to stop. There hadn’t been many monsters left, but there had been enough to get Murr to level 9 and that was enough for the day.
There had been no sign that the Obsidian Crab from yesterday had returned to this level. Chances were, the first floor was safe to mine in. So, we brought Val over. As soon as he laid eyes on the room again, he pursed his lips in controlled fury. “I still can’t believe that…” He sighed. “If that crab comes back, I hope you make it suffer before you kill it.”
While I had no love for monsters, I wasn’t going to extend their suffering just to get revenge. Monsters were the enemies of everyone on Faeruled. They needed to die but they were still living beings that deserved a clean death. That was why I’d given those small red crabs a chance to escape when it would have been easier to attack them while they were still in the mine cart.
The purple-haired dwarf brought out a harness, rope, hammer, and pitons with a grin. “I also remembered to grab my gear so we can retrieve that helmet of yours.”
“Thank you!”
He helped me into the gear. Knowing how to climb was essential for an adventurer, and especially for Elves who lived in giant trees. Everyone at the hold learned how to use climbing gear. However, the crash course he gave me was appreciated, as hammering a piton into stone was harder than doing it in a tree. I had to find the right crack and make sure it was solid enough to hold my weight.
The floor in that area had almost entirely disappeared. At most, there was an inch-wide ledge and a few sections here and there where it was as wide as six inches. But it was enough of a foothold that climbing across the ledge would be easier
Val, Kron, and Murr held my rope and gave slack as I cautiously worked my way across the chasm. A quarter of the way through my toes were aching and my hands hurt with the strength I clung to the wall.
I reached an area where the ledge was thinnest and made the mistake of looking down. There was nothing but darkness with occasional hints of glowing pink. As an elf who lived in massive trees, I was not afraid of heights. However, seeing a pitch-black cave so deep my dark vision couldn’t reach the bottom was not the same as being high up in a forest surrounded by stars and birds. Where nets were strung between trees to catch anyone who accidentally fell. My mother often talked about some of the larger Elven cities that weren’t on the frontier. There, children walked around wearing rings of Soft Fall while adults developed ways to avoid taking damage when falling from the highest tree. Even non-combatants.