It was still a bit early by his normal standards to eat and go to bed so remembering his frustration from earlier in the day Gar started climbing again he was feeling ready for another go. He would climb up a few meters then across then down again until he was almost touching the floor then he would climb across again before climbing up. Repeating this pattern across the length of the platform before reversing it and going back the other way. Every now and then he had to stop for a bit to rest his arms and legs or catch his breath and take a drink otherwise he continued, back and forth up and down. He was getting used to the rain slick rock, it was a matter of checking each hold and grip before trusting it with his weight always trying to have two good points of contact at least before moving. Just as it was getting dark his perseverance paid off.
“Climb levelled up climb level 5”
Happy with his progress Gar climbed down feeling the burn in his arms. With the rain still coming down it was another cold dinner sat in his shelter.
He sat there going over his day again the excitement at an adventure that fear of the unknown. Which lead him to confronting his feelings in general that fear he felt inside was still there but it hadn’t stopped him he had felt it, felt it rise up a number of times but it hadn’t been enough to stop him or make him freeze. Did he feel like he was better or more in control? If you had asked Gar he would have said no, he just wasn’t thinking about it at the time. Sat afterwards he was thinking he must be an idiot the number of unnecessary risks he took was it worth his life to which he answered logically, no the gains did not equal his life however taking the risks was life. If he just spent his time huddled in his shelter fearing everything outside of it then it wouldn’t be living and he would end up dying alone and scared. It would be at this point that if Gar was telling the story he would say he stood up and triumphantly declared he would not live a life of fear he would prefer to live a good life rather than a long one but Gar is not telling the story and that is not what happened. What did happen as he sat in that little shelter listening to the rain on the roof is he decided it had been a good day and he would try for another one.
Gar rose to begin his morning routine although after the previous days efforts to get a level in climb he wanted a new section of wall, he would have to go down to ground level off his platform. He swung himself over the edge onto the ladder and was face to face with the rock before he realised he had found a place to practice. He took a hold of the rock in front of him then stepped off the ladder. He was already higher than he usually liked to go on his climbs so started to work his way down, it was not an easy climb so he took it slow and just let his practice and experience guide him. It felt good it was what he had needed a new rock face to climb not the same holds he had used before.
He climbed until his body ached and his stamina was low then he stopped to eat. Cold axen pods where his breakfast as he had been ignoring them in favour of the nuts or berries, so he forced himself to eat them so they didn’t go to waste. They weren’t bad they just were bland and uninteresting which he supposed fitted with the job he wanted to do that day.
His rope was almost there it needed one more session of twisting. That is what he was going to get done. With nothing for it but to get to it Gar found the middle folded it over and started twisting. Time passed and Gar kept twisting, he got into the rhythm faster than last time and soon he needed the badgers help to keep it tight. He just let his mind wander as he worked not thinking about anything important just letting his hands move as he worked and much sooner than he expected he was finished. It hadn’t really occurred to him that the length more than halved each time. Tying of the ends he looked at his finished rope, giving it a pull the rope seemed strong the initial fibres could hold a decent weight and now all twisted together it could hold a lot more.
It was time to test it; if he was going to trust his life to it he was going to make sure that it held. First he coiled the rope up unwinding from where it was held taught to twist bringing it together. Then he started running it through his hand, right hand out pulling the rope between thumb and forefinger looking for any fraying or weak points or anywhere it could get caught as it was pulled through any rough spots that could cause problems. He was persistent and worked his way through the entire length, it seemed perfect no problems in its entire nearly five hundred meter length. Next he took it over to one of the trees on his platform, they were just big enough for what he wanted. He threw the end of the rope over one of the thicker branches letting it hang down on either side, then taking a piece on either side in hand he lifted his legs and hung from it, it held. Sliding the rope a couple of meters along he repeated this act again it held, he did this across the whole length of the rope. Twice he checked for any weak points in it, the entire thing held up with no problem. Gar was much more confident that it would hold when he needed it to. He had a safe and strong rope of roughly five hundred meters long which he estimated to be a bit under half the height of the cliffs that surrounded him, it would be a big help in getting him and his stuff out of there.
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With the rope made he turned his mind to what else he would need to get out of there. He would need supplies food and water. Water was going to be the main issue he had plenty of nuts and berries and already knew where to get more, water on the other hand he could get plenty but a bucket was no way to carry water on a journey. He was going to have to make something to hold water, some sort of sealable water bottle. That was not going to be an easy one to solve, carving one from wood was out as he was no way good enough to carve a tight enough fitting lid. Besides to be able to hollow it out properly it would have to be at least the size of a bucket and once full that would not only be an awkward shape to carry with him but it would also be heavy. He needed some sort of waterproof material he could easily shape while also being light weight and tough enough to withstand the wears of use. He didn’t have an immediate answer he would need to think about it.
As for other things he would need he wasn’t sure, anything to help him climb would be good however what that might be completely escaped him. By this point Gar was starting to feel antsy he felt like he was wasting time and that he should be doing something. When he realised this he stopped himself from going back into the rain to look for things he could use instead he remained sat on his bed and thought. Why was he rushing he was in no imminent danger he had no time limit, his mind flickered to the rising water level. The river had broken its banks and the water level was rising but he was also on a platform fifteen meters up in the air the kilometres wide hole he was in would need to all be filled up that height before it became a problem for him and while he doubted that would happen if it was to happen it would take months of rain so he had time. He truly had plenty of time and he was attempting to do something that really shouldn’t be rushed. That was all well and good to say but it didn’t change how Gar felt he wanted to be moving to be doing something.
So he figured if he wanted to move he would move he started climbing again. He remained on the wall at the back of his platform although he tried something different he stayed at a low level doing rapid movements trying to exhaust his stamina as quick as possible, then he would sit eat and drink and let his stamina refill before going all over again. At the beginning he was falling all the time, Gar was certain he would be covered in bruises by the next morning. Slowly he learnt, learnt to judge a hold better, learnt to hold on tighter, he was still falling off the wall every couple of minutes but he could see where he had made a mistake and he had ideas on what to do to fix it. It was dark when he fell one last time and called it a day too tired to stand he simply crawled into his shelter and slept.
The morning came all too quickly for Gar’s liking he crawled out into the sunlight still sore from his exertions the previous day. He stood and stretched feeling his body loosen and start to feel better already. Before he could think too much about it he moved to the wall and started climbing, by this point he had started to climb higher and spend longer on the wall. Gar had gotten used to the rain slick rock and trusted in his climbing skills. He had worked out it was best to keep his body as close to the rock as possible and to not stretch too far with one limb and to always move everything together one after the other.
“Climb levelled up climb level 6”
Gar barely registered the message preferring to keep his focus on his climbing. He was tempted to see how high he could go, to push himself up the cliff. It wasn’t time for that though so he held off he couldn’t afford the risk he wasn’t climbing for an adrenalin high a fall wouldn’t end with a helicopter ride to a hospital, he had the time he wasn’t going to risk it.
With his morning climb done it was time for another day of exploring the tunnels. Much less cautious of the cave snails at this point Gar was circling round them so as not to force an interaction otherwise he was making no effort not to be noticed by them as he and the badgers where back in formation walking quickly. Gar had decided he would take the same tunnel off the cave snails cavern as before only when he reached the split he would explore the other direction to previously.
He took a short break as he stood at the split in the tunnel having travelled quickly to get there. His remembered boredom of the long empty tunnel joined with his desire to explore somewhere new had pushed him to move through the tunnel much faster that previously, it was still a walk but only just. Gar was regretting his actions as he stood hands on knees breathing heavy it was only upon stopping that he had realised how fast he had been going for how long. Mentally he bumped finding a way to carry water up his priority’s list, he could have really done with a drink then despite eating and drinking his fill before setting out.
