Over the next two days Gunnar and Cassie began to roam all over their side of the mountain, mapping the hillside and marking valuable resources while hunting and gathering resources that could be used to improve their bodies' strength. As the days began pass by and they settled into this routine, they made significant progress towards amassing a non-insignificant amount of the volcanic iron that gave weapons a heat characteristic,and helped with mana circulation in regular alloys. Because of the cold weather they even found some Ice Sapphires, whose best use was widely debated, but was widely used for cooling enchantments in hot areas.
Three weeks in, they had a nice set up around their stash site and had traps such as deadfalls, pitfalls with stakes and tripwires made of twisted saplings and branches that would dangle their prey 6 to 10 feet off the ground.
But all this preparation would be for nothing if they attracted the attention of the Great Bear. If that monstrosity came, all their preparation would be for nothing.
After several days of gathering resources and hunting smaller elemental beasts from the south face of the mountain, they decided to make a survey of the west and if possible the north sides of the mountain. This was also with the constant thought of the Great Bear in the back of their minds. They had no clue how far the bears territory could span. and if they were really unlucky it could track any scent of theirs it caught all the way back to the tree they lived in.
So as their first trip to the western part of the mountain began, they moved as quietly as they could, always keeping an eye out for any sign of the bear or any sign from the mountain that it was going to erupt. Paying attention to the surroundings was and would always be a factor no matter where in the worlds they traveled. The one absolute fact that could never be forgotten in the three forge worlds, everything was out to kill them.
The two children were doing extraordinarily well, they were very well prepared for camping and hunting, but they both knew that luck never held out. Their vigilance would be what would save them when that particular factor failed.
Gunnar kept his eyes on the woods around them but they were quickly thinning out as they got closer to the mountain. Not much would grow on the mountain itself, the mana of the mountain was unstable and the weather would change too suddenly for much but the most hardy plants to take root and grow. Everything else might sprout but would die out very soon after. But this was in the fall on the planet and might as well be winter by the snow on the ground here.
The good thing about the snow was that tracks and heat vents were very quickly distinguishable. The tracks would tell them what, if anything, moved here. The heat vents however, were places where the heat, gases, and natural mana of the volcano vented into the air or congregated in the ground. At places like this they could find special resources like the volcanic iron, but also very valuable herbs with fire and earth characteristics.
They had found a few common grade herbs of both types used for body refinement. But as of yet, they had not found any rare grade herbs of any element. But as they climbed towards the peak of the mountain they hoped to find higher grade resources, even as the danger grew.
But this was the last week they would be on the particular mountain and as the time of their test was coming to an end they felt that taking a small risk to find higher tier resources would be worth it. So they began their climb and marked any resource point so that they could gather them on the return trip down the slope.
The ground where they stood was rocky and sharp, so they took great care of where they placed their feet so that they wouldn't cut their shoes open or slide down and cut themselves. From what they could see this was the easiest place to make the climb, and would be the safest bet for a return if nothing else changed.
Cassie called out to Gunnar. "There are some tracks that I don't recognize here Gunnar."
Gunnar approached the tracks and studied them for a moment. "I think that these are the tracks of a Crystor, you know the crystalline humanoids? They are close to a humans tracks in both shape and size but the rounded out side of the print where the humans feet narrow are telling."
"But they are relatively fragile to impact so having one be here on the volcano with its seismic activity is a little strange. Isn't it?"
"We do need to investigate. They are definitely intelligent enough to know better than to be here so it might be lost or ill."
The two slowly began to follow the tracks of the Crystor and noticed that the resources along the route were missing, and the further they moved up the mountain the more of the tracks that converged together. The number of tracks grew and grew until almost 20 were all together.
As they got closer and closer to the top of the mountain the more noticeable the smell of sulfur became. They also began to hear ringing cries like crystals vibrating or scraping together.
When the two reached about 200 feet below the rim they found a cave opening. All the tracks they followed to this pint had blurred into a muddy mess and extended in several directions, one of which was inside the cave mouth.
Gunnar reached to his belt and laid his hand the seax knife he carried, not drawing it yet, but wanting its familiar hilt in his hand before entering this cave. The feel of it in his palm calmed him as he took a deep but quiet breath and walked into the abyssal darkness of the cave.