Chapter 98

It was quiet the rest of the way down. The descent into the massive pit took a good ten minutes, each lurching, groaning shudder of the platform causing me to flinch. The man from the Miner’s Guild had gone quiet after offering to help us out, choosing instead to stare out into the massive pit, eyes searching the shimmering ice. I was too cold and miserable to strike up conversation anyways and focused instead on trying to keep my teeth from chattering together, and fighting the fear that took hold of my stomach the entire descent. I never thought I’d had a fear of heights before, but now, I wasn’t quite sure. Was it heights? Maybe. Probably it was just trusting my life to some strange contraption that seemed extremely unstable in my eyes.

Not that I’d doubted the Miner who’d told us there was an entire camp at the bottom of the massive pit, when signs of life finally began to show themselves, a sense of relief filled me. First were the torches, welcome patches of yellows and orange that flickered with life. Then there were other glowing reds, and as we got close enough to make out the views, I noticed those glowing red pits were often surrounded by a handful of figures. The way they huddled around them, holding their hands over the glow, I figured it had to be some sort of warming pit.

From the looks of it, the massive expanse at the base of the pit was filled with close to fifty people. And those were only the figures I could see. The closer we got to the bottom, the more I noticed. There were tunnels cut into the ice all around us, massive, eight foot routes that went directly into the ice. I also saw not only similar tracks to those we’d followed on the ground, but finally, the source of those tracks.

They were carts, but with flat, board like bases on either side, that curved slightly upwards at the front. The objects sat extremely close to the ground, and I figured that was why there had been no actual footprints to follow. The plank like boards cut slightly into the snow, likely from the weight of the whatever was on the object, and as it was pulled, the low base completely flattened the snow, covering all signs of tracks.

More interesting than the make of the objects for transportation, were what they were attached to. Carts outside of the Tower, which had wheels in place of those planks, were often pulled by the vendor. For heavier carts, a team of people would pull them, grabbing handles on either side, as well as long poles out front that let them manuever and guide the cart. Smaller ones actually had the handles in the back, so people could push them, rather than pull them. For especially heavy or large shipments, Climber’s could be used to help move them.

“First time seeing the sleighs, eh?” The mysterious minor asked as he caught my gaze. I nodded to him. “Guessing it’s your first time seeing a yak too then, eh?”

“A yak?” I asked, “is that what they’re called?” The ‘yak’ was a massive creature, tall and wide, with giant horns protruding from their heads. They were like the cows I’d seen on the first floor, but much larger, much more intimidating, and covered in such thick fur it looked like multiple blankets had been layered on top of them.

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These yaks were attached to the sleighs as the man had called them via a rope and harness contraption. They waited, standing around in an extremely docile manner, while everyone moved too and fro.

“They’re special beasts of burden the Tower gifts us Miners,” the man continued. “They’re sturdy, powerful things, and handle the mountains of the third floor and this icy tundra with ease. Makes moving supplies, and mostly people quickly across the terrain a right piece of cake.”

So that’s what the sleighs were for. Moving the people. I’d thought it strange that they were so large. Especially when I knew from the day prior that non-climbers did have access to an inventory system. And if the Hunter’s could completely absorb something like the Jungle Titan, I had been trying really hard to imagine what they’d need those sleigh’s for on this floor.

“Also helps with moving communal supplies and camps.” The man continued, “Tower’s magic is helpful sure, but you learn quickly, especially if you’re not a climber, the dangers of storing everything in the inventory.”

I looked at him, my frozen eyebrow trying to raise, though all it managed was to crack a few ice droplets free.

“When we die,” the man said, tone solemn, “everything in our inventory goes with us. Not really something you want to risk. Sure we’ve Climber’s with us, sure we know these floors well, but accidents still happen. The Tower is still the Tower. Accidents are just that, accidents. And we’ve learned the tough lessons.” The platform shuddered one last time as he spoke, as we finally reached the very bottom. He swung open a gate, motioning for us to follow him, “it’s a lot smarter, and safer, to not take unnecessary risks in the Tower. And sometimes, the easy way, is the most dangerous way.”

I looked to Nyle and Lyn. Neither said anything, and I figured it wasn’t something worth discussing at the moment. There was a story there, I was sure of it. But we were on a timeline still, and our priorities were still to level as quickly as possible. We needed this miner to help outfit us with gear so we could fight on this floor, and to guide us to the Portal for the fifth floor. There’d be time for tales and stories later, outside of the Tower, once our task was complete.

“Come come,” the man turned back at us, noting we hadn’t immediately followed him. “The elevator’s not going anywhere without you. And even if it did,” he chuckled, “worst case scenario you’d be able to respawn, while the rest of us would freeze or starve to death.” He started laughing immediately as I looked at the others. Even frozen, I was certain my face showed my horror at his statement.

“That hasn’t happened in years,” he said again, “now come on. Last thing I need is for someone to think ol Mick’s been slacking in his overseer position.” He pulled his hood back, revealing a grizzled, muscled face, coated in a long beard and hair streaked with silver. “That’s me, by the way,” he said, smiling at us as he worked to take his gloves off as well. I noticed then that my teeth had stopped chattering, and it was actually a little warmer down here. The wind, as well, didn’t seem capable of reaching this far into the depths of the crater.

“Mine Chief of the day, Mick Pool at your service.” He bowed slightly. “Welcome, officially, to the Frozen Mines.”