Move 166: Staring Down Tunnels
The Garlstone Mines--Morning, 4 Eleint 1374 DRA couple of people discussed sending someone alone down the lit tunnel. In the meantime, nothing noticeable happened in either tunnel or in the cavern behind them.
Jana took off down the lit tunnel at a brisk walk, her sword drawn.
"Seems someone's in a hurry to meet another eel. Let's go, there's been more than enough bodies on our side already." Daelen muttered, waiting for the others to move so he could continue guarding their back and keeping an eye on the dark tunnel untill he passed it.
Aloysius headed off after Jana.
Echo followed down the lit tunnel also.
Upon hearing his footsteps, Jana wheeled around, sword still in her hand. "Get the hell out of here," she growled,"Now." She moved the sword slightly, an unmistakeable threat.
A worried look flashed across Jana's face, then her features took on a deliberate scowl. "Go back," she growled.
Aloysius stopped dead in his tracks as Jana turned around. His jaw dropped as he unconciously edged backwards. "Janathell?" he asked quietly, "Stargazer understands not your actions."
Echo stopped too. She pushed back her cowl and gave Jana a confused, hurt look. "Jana?" she asked quietly.
Jana's snarl disappeared, her expression stricken. "I-- I need to go alone. In case... Please? Please," she pleaded with Echo, ignoring Aloysius for the moment, "I can't-- Please just let me go." She looked as if she might cry.
"In case what?" Echo asked with the confused look still on her face. "You shouldn't go by yourself,
Jana," she said, taking a step closer to her. "This isn't going to help. I can be just as stubborn as you are about me going by myself.""You're not cur--" Jana stopped abruptly, her eyes flickering briefly toward Aloysius before returning to Echo. She lowered her sword arm, the tip of her sword touching the ground. "It's different," she said lamely. "It's gonna happen anyway, so this is better."
Aloysius looked at Echo with an expression of complete confusion. "What is going to happen anyway?" he asked Jana. "I thought we had all agreed to stay together?"
He eyed Jana's sword nervously.
"Nothing," Jana replied curtly.
Aloysius backed slowly away from Jana and Echo, keeping alert for any sudden moves. When he got back to where the others were, he waited to see what Jana was going to do.
Jana watched Aloysius back away. She slumped slightly, as if suddenly very tired. She rubbed at her eyes with her free hand. "Dammit," she mumbled. "Dammit..."
Echo shook her head, "You don't know that, and it's not better. Not if Ranchefus captures you." She shuddered at the mention of it and watched Jana closely.
Jana winced as Echo spoke. She started slightly, lowered her hand to her stomach and looked down at it for a moment. When she looked up at Echo, her eyes were wide with terror. "Oh, gods," she whispered.
Jana leaned against the wall of the tunnel, looking as if it were all that was keeping her upright. In a quiet, desperate-sounding voice she said, "I don't know what to do."
Echo gave Jana a worried look and said, "One thing at a time. Let's get done exploring the mines right now." She put a hand on Jana's arm and attempted to get her off the wall and moving down the tunnel again.
Jana nodded numbly and let Echo guide her on down the tunnel. After a dozen or so steps, Jana firmed up her grip on her sword and began looking around far more attentively. "I'm not dealing with this as well as I'd've hoped," she said quietly to Echo, flashing a wry smile that quickly turned into a grimace.
Since the general interest was in the lit tunnel, Arachne gave hers to the dark one. She peered in, which accomplished next to nothing, so she took enough steps in to at least get out of the lighting and perhaps see some ways into the gloom.
Azrun watched with troubled eyes, "Echo, you and Jana scout ahead. We'll follow up in a minute or two. Yell, if there's trouble." Azrun nodded.
Daelen took two steps towards the darker tunnel but didn't follow Arachne immediately. He simply waited.
Blacky let the confrontation play out between the two women. He edged closer to Daelen. "You see anything Arachne?" He whispered into the darkness.
"Nope," the darkness whispered back. The whisper was, however, breathily familiar.
Rennirolas sidled up alongside those examining the darkened tunnel. He set his longbow on the floor beside him as he knelt next to Arache. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Renn began to check the tunnel as Arachne does.
"An you wish to go further in Arachne, I shall accompany you," Rennirolas said in a soft undertone.
Once his eyes had adjusted, Renn found that Arachne had taken a post close to the left wall of the dark passage.
"I did not so wish, actually," Arachne admitted in her soft whisper. "My curiosity has been pretty much frightened to death. I'd only meant to wait here and watch for anything that might choose to come out of the darkness. So I could warn the rest. I'll back you up, though, as I did Jana before, if you want to look a little farther. This is the Crab Petals, remember. Farther in, there are lots of alcoves in which to lurk."
"Nay, I believe I shall simply keep a watch as you are Arachne," Renn smiled slowly. "Unlike some others, I feel we should not become separated," he mumbled.
As Jana and Echo looked down one tunnel, and Arachne and Renn the other, Aloysius stood back near Daelen, Blacky and Azrun. The mage stood, arms folded, a worried expression on his face.
"I have a bad feeling about this. They're waiting for us and I'd rather get the drop on them, instead we're giving them the perfect chance to pick us off one by one." Daelen said quietly.
Echo and Jana walked off down the lit tunnel while most of the rest of the group hovered near the entrance of one tunnel or the other. The tunnel veered gradually to the left, and after walking a short distance, both women were out of sight of the rest of the others.
"I guess I'm one of the others," Arachne whispered cheerfully. "Dividing the forces, scouting places -- yes, they're risky. So's coming into this mine in the first place." She shrugged. "Not that I see much point in Jana's trying to scout by herself in the lit tunnel. The place is lit and she makes enough noise by herself, that her advancing alone or with the rest of us is pretty much the same in terms of warning anyone. But scouting a dark tunnel like this _does_ make some sense, though just watching it is good enough for our purposes.
"Kind of peaceful in here, actually. Just imagine how still it must be here, most of the time. Still and dark..." She fell silent.
"I only hope we can have that priest's head on a pike before he has the chance to do more harm." Daelen snorted.
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