Escape Plans

JP with Omni, Lucian, and Winteroak

“What happened to Alexis?”

Voah decided not to answer at first, giving it time to allow the mouldfolk to ignore Tarmen.

Moments later, Voah purposely stumbled and nearly fell, speaking in a voice that sounded sad and tired, as if she was talking to herself. Another thing she didn't have to fake very hard, "I was a fool... I left her and Gonyaul behind..."

Then she said in a voice that sounded like she was whining, “I’m thinking that water might help combat their spores. Maybe douse ourselves.”

For the first time, it seemed to Tarmen, that him and the Arbiter grasped the peril of their situation. It was one thing to explore halls against the mountain entrance above them, it was quite another to file through hollows as vast as this, a thread of light and furtive movement. Where before the dark had enclosed them, now it exposed. Anything, it seemed, might descend upon them.

Tarmen let his head fall at Voah’s response. That didn’t tell him if she was alive or if her and Barrel Boy had made it to the surface.
It also added to his growing pessimism for their current state.
If they didn’t know where they were, how would anyone else. It set him into a grim mindset.

He gave a weak grin to the spearman, appearing as if he was trying for a joke to win them over.

“They do seem to avoid it, though why would they want us free from it?”
After a moment being visibly ignored, he played off an even weaker punchline.

“We are probably bein’ watched, plus darkness doesn’t affect them.”

Voah sighed a real sigh, an act no longer. She considered his words. What could they do at this point? With the right situation, they could certainly kill these individuals and escape, but then they were lost and at a major disadvantage. But if they waited for more information or a better chance, there could be even more of them and they would be just as lost as before.

There seemed to be little choice but to turn the tables in their favor if they were to get out of this Shroud of Zin?

She sounded as if she was either cursing or praying at Tarmen in frustration, "We could always kill two of them and take one as a prisoner of our own."

It was a stretch, she knew, and their own prisoner might just lead them into a trap, or call more mouldfolk to descend on them. Things were feeling desperate.

He let her idea float through the inky miasma around them, swimming like fish before it returned to his mind.
While not ideal, it would test his budding theory of them being watched. Besides, what better option did the have other than taking as many of them to Zin before they met him.

He stumbled purposefully, kneeling to spit his response as he pretended to nurse a hurt ankle.

“Which one?”

Which one? Hoi's Tits, which one? Whoever didn't die, she supposed. Tarmen was right though. They should probably pick one and she figured it probably shouldn't be the leader. Without her, the men might lose morale.

She finally responded in the form of a question that sounded like she was surprised by seeing something along the way, "One of the men? Weaker one?"

And then the next part sounded like a mumbled remark in awe of the discovery she pretended to be surprised by.

"We still need a way to cut these binds."

It felt like they had been moving all night, but a day never came. Pillars, it was draining. If they were going to escape, they should do it soon. There was no telling when these mould folk would stop to have a true rest or where they would be when they did.