Harper hung, her arms extended, for a moment above the mist line. The stuff moved in waves, lapping against the sides of the chasm like a lake against the shore. It had taken an hour to get to this point, mostly to find good anchor spots for the safety ropes. Until they found a decent ledge, rappelling down the cliff was not a viable option. The ropes were not long enough for that, and even if they were, there was no telling how long they had to be.

  It had been a pleasant climb down for her, and for the first time in a while, she was actually enjoying herself. She smiled. Maybe it’s that I’m fulfilling my debt to the old man. She still grieved, but at least she could think of Juan without getting all melancholy. That might change once they had me out of this place, and that was okay. In a safe place—with friends and lots of alcohol.

  Harper cracked her neck and stretched her body the best she could, hanging on by her fingers and toes. It was time to go into the mist. She checked over her equipment, other than what she had in her inventory.

  The plan was to not put any anchors in the mist covered part of the cliff face, unless it went too deep down into the chasm. Then it would be a matter of pounding them in on the way back up.

  Taking a deep, meditative breath and letting it out, Harper began her descent.

  The sensation of cold enveloped her foot as she carefully felt her way down. It wasn’t unpleasant, really, just cold and almost damp. Her toes found purchase on a slight nub and she shifted her weight carefully, moving her other foot down. If it hadn’t been for her high dexterity, she didn’t think this would be so easy. I almost wish I had left my boots on, just for the challenge, she thought amused.

  She moved quicker, confident in her ability to do so until she was fully enveloped in the strange mist. The chill raised goosebumps on her arms, and she stopped. Even though the mist glowed with the sunlight attempting to pierce it, visibility was barely three feet. She heard the faint scuffing of other feet, what she hoped were the feet of her fellow climbers.

  The memory of the massive flying creature, moving through the mist like a roiling serpent just under the water… No one wanted that thing to come for them. Harper refocused her efforts and focused on listening and moving.

  Over the next half-hour, Harper lost herself in the movement and listened to the noises within the mist. On a whim, she stopped to rest a bit. Just breathing and listening. The scuffs of feet from the other climbers were the only noises she heard. Someone slipped and swore in the distance.

  Harper’s eyes widened as something large whooshed past her at great speed. She heard the crack of large wings and the cut-off scream of a man being ripped from the wall and likely eaten. Fuck, that could have been me, she thought incredulously. Even with all my skills and my level, that could have been me except for dumb luck. Bogus.

  She hung there for a while, straining her ears. Despite knowing that there had been nothing to indicate the monster was coming, she couldn’t help trying. The other climbers hadn’t moved, probably in the same boat.

  Harper readied herself and began moving again. They would have to figure out how to move past this additional barrier, else it was going to be difficult to get both Finn and a sizable force down. She felt strongly about Finn’s being a part of this. They had grown close over the last several months, and even with the danger they would be in, Harper needed her friend by her side.

  Heals would need to be there, too. She’s good in a fight, and I’m warming to her. Harper had even gone along with the little tryst scheme that Heal’s had hatched. Those two were cute together, and this world was hell enough without taking chances on other people… other people who weren’t so green they noobed out.

  She froze, her new foothold feeling different. Warmer. Holding back a sigh of relief, Harper continued her descent out of the strange mist. Once free, she got a good look around. Though darker, there was still enough light to climb by. The bottom of the chasm was not yet visible to her, though she could see the other side of the chasm. But there was what looked like a ledge, maybe another fifty feet below her.

  The forms of the other surviving climbers were mostly visible to her. At best, it was a little better than the lighting at dusk, filled with the calls of birds and the roars of God knew what. The biggest thing is how noisy it is after the mist, Harper thought. How did we not hear any of this?

  She moved down ten more feet before setting the new anchor, before making her way down. Once Harper reached the ledge, she decided to take a moment to relax. The ledge jutted out about six feet where she was, though it looked like it varied along the cliff, shrinking to as little as two feet in some places. She glanced over the edge, barely making out the tops of trees far below. It was going to take at least three hours to get down. If they were lucky.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Pulling some food out of her inventory, mostly just the tasty sausages from breakfast, Harper wondered what challenges she would face at the bottom. Part of what she planned to do is a quick scout of the immediate area for dangers. I might have to eliminate some if they’re too close, she thought. Or it might be a small colony of gorgeous, sweaty lumberjack himbos who will fall over themselves to worship me!

  Harper sighed and ate another sausage. If only. She would get back on the horse, eventually. In the meantime, she’d have to chat up the cute cook who had given her the sausages. With a smile, she put the rest of the sausages back in her inventory and checked her fingers and hands for any grease. Seeing none, she pulled out some chalk and rubbed it onto her feet, paying particular attention to the toes.

  Rubbing the rest into her hands, she pulled out some anchors and another rope. Once everything was connected, Harper went over the edge and began her climb down.

  Harper crouched on the third ledge she had found, just above the trees. It was hard to discern what was going on below her, since the shadows of the trees hid much from her. There is definitely something moving down there. She needed to get closer.

  Carefully getting out of her climbing harness, Harper stowed it in her inventory. She was going to have to be very quiet, and couldn’t have the noise of the harness giving hints to her position. That done, she moved down the final cliff face as quickly as she could. She thought about jumping to one of the nearby trees, but quickly dismissed the idea.

  Getting closer to the bottom, about twenty feet up, her eyes adjusted to the further gloom. Racial bonuses, bitches! The ground underneath the trees was mostly bare, except for a variety of mushrooms. Some of them Harper could identify as edible or poisonous, but most were new to her. Among the mushrooms were a variety of gnomes, kobolds, dwarves, and a few species she had never seen before. They appeared to be farming the mushrooms, with some carefully picking some, while others dumped buckets of what could only be compost.

  The sight made her pause, as all the information pointed toward a hell of high-level monsters more than happy to rip apart any that came close. Do I make contact with these people? Maybe I should observe for a while before deciding. It was doubtful that these people would be open to outsiders after having been isolated for so long.

  Harper crept down to the ground and made her way to a tree, and was about to climb it when a small gnome peeked around the trunk, alarmed.

  “Oh, don’t do that!” he said in a high, nasal voice. “The trees belong to the spiders! We don’t go up and they don’t come down. Good way to get eaten, as my pa says.”

  “Um, thank you,” Harper replied hesitantly. Suddenly, she smiled at the young gnome. “My name’s Harper. What’s your name?

  The young gnome smiled back shyly. “My name’s Alant, Alant Acorn,” he replied. “You’re very pretty, Miss Harper. Your name’s a strange one.”

  “Well, I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. Acorn.”

  The small gnome put his hands up. “Oh, Mr. Acorn is my Pa. It’s just plain Alant, Miss Harper.”

  Harper laughed. “Well, just plain Alant, you must call me Harper. All my friends call me Harper.”

  The gnome beamed and held out his hand to shake. “Then I am happy to call you friend!”

  An amused, and somewhat charmed, Harper took the hand and shook it. “So I take it strangers are fairly common down here? You didn’t seem surprised to see me.”

  “Oh, mostly we just see the Sisters when they come down to help us out. They’re really nice. But my Pa has always said other people would come down eventually. And you were spotted coming down the wall a while ago.”

  Harper was a little taken aback by the admission of the gnome boy. How did they spot me so easily? It didn’t matter now, though, if the young gnome Alant was any indication. There were one or two concerning things, though.

  Alant smiled at Harper. “Do you want to meet everyone? We’ve all been super excited ever since we saw you!” he said.

  “Yes, I think that would be a good idea. Maybe you and your community can help me with something,” Harper replied.

  “Oh?” Alant said excitedly. “That sounds exciting! I’ll introduce you to my friends, and then you have to come with me to meet with my Pa and the council!”

  Harper hid a frown at the word council, as she wasn’t a fan of those at the moment, but nodded to the young gnome. “That sounds like a wonderful plan. Lead the way,” she said.

  The next fifteen minutes were a blur of names and faces, before Alant and some of the others escorted her out of the trees and into a clearing that surrounded a small town. It was very well-established, and the road out of the forest to the town was finely paved. The clearing also had some tilled fields being seeded. I wonder what grains and vegetables grow in this low light?

  The streets of the town were rather full of people, many of whom gawked at her and the little procession around her. She even heard the random, awed whisper of “Purple” among the crowd. She kept quiet and smiled at people, while Alant and the rest of the kids around her attempting to tell her everything about the town, the street they were on, the history, where the best street food was, and on and on and on…

  Then they brought her in front of a large stone building with an ominous feel to its architecture. She had a sudden worry that this might not have been the best approach, but it was a little too late to back out. If the kids and the townsfolk were any indication, these were good people. They pulled her inside the front door of the stone building, and Harper got her first look at the place. It looked like a courthouse.

  “Don’t worry, Harper,” Alant said cheerfully. “I’m sure you’ll survive the Judgement!”