I am sure the builders have many priorities so this is surely not a high one, but I had an interesting thought to share.
The Lowerdark is supposed to be far away, deep and scaaaary. And indeed it is scary, but the fact that it is "deep" is not as obvious as it might be. What if when the lift is used, you go to a small "area" with messages about your rise, similar to what happens when you sail a ship across the Dark Lake? Just like the boat system, monsters might crawl up the side of the cavern and jump onto the lift and you would then have to fight them off. If you are very lucky or unlucky, there is a tiiiny chance the lift might get jammed and then you have to make your way up ledges or exploring through caves to get away.
Increasing the time it takes to get back from the Lowerdark would also increase tension and make the area even scarier.
This would be awesome and also give a sense of the huge depth to get to the lowerdark.
The ships also include an "Abandon ship" choice if things turn sour, how would one abandon the lift in case things get hairy? :v
Climb up the ropes?
Could be climb up or down. Could introduce a whole new group of hideous flying and wall crawling aberrations as well....
Totally dig it.
Ooooh neat! Thanks SC!