After a protracted struggle against the vines in the foggy chamber, Kendall, Tuesday, and Indigo finally managed to pry Katarzyna free. The group reeled backwards as the vines came loose, almost landing on the ground in a big Courser pile, but luckily they all found their footing before falling on top of one another. They did not stick around long after that, though - as soon as they had their hooves they wordlessly scrambled out of the chamber as quickly as they could, lest the vines assail them again.

Once they were out into the next passageway, they stopped to catch their breaths. Katarzyna felt her cheeks burn as her comrades looked at her with wide eyes. The dungeon was quiet but for the sounds of their panting, and the silence between them was deafening to Katarzyna, at least until Tuesday broke it: 

“Why did you do that?” Tuesday asked Katarzyna, her tone more desperate than anything - she truly didn’t understand what had prompted her to confront the strange light, and the situation had made it clear to her that this understanding was urgently needed before something similar happened again.

Katarzyna opened her mouth to answer Tuesday’s question, but hesitated before speaking. She found it kind of hard to put into words, why she’d done what she had. She shook her head.

“...I don’t know. I just didn’t like turning my back on whatever that thing was. That’s all.”

Tuesday bit her tongue, resisting the urge to scold the younger Courser for her recklessness. Kendall and Indigo continued to watch the exchange with wide eyes.

“Well… next time you should say that, and we can talk about coming up with a different plan.” Tuesday responded evenly. Katarzyna nodded in understanding, lowering her head. She was embarrassed by what she’d done and what she’d almost wrought upon her comrades, and silently hoped they would be moving on soon. Kendall seemed to sense this, and chimed in shortly after Tuesday finished speaking.

“Well, it’s over now. Is everyone good to keep moving?”

The group looked at one another for a moment, and nodded their assent. Sawyer, Kendall’s hawk, settled in on Kendall’s back with a ruffle of his feathers.

“Fantastic. Let’s go, then.”

Kendall turned and lead his group forwards. The winding path lead them deeper underground, into darker and darker caverns. For a while, the dungeon around them was pitch black but for the light of the Coursers’ lanterns. 

Eventually, though, the oppressive darkness began to be weakened by a strange, blue-green ambient light, growing brighter as the group proceeded. Tuesday was the first to notice that it seemed to be coming from the moss and other such flora and fungi growing from the walls - flora that was becoming denser along this path. 

Soon the narrow passageway opened up into a vast room, lit so thoroughly by the dense bioluminescent plants that the Coursers’ lanterns were redundant. Flowers and leaves of all different shapes and sizes swayed gently as the adventurers passed. 

Pollen tickled Katarzyna’s nose, and she sneezed. That was annoying. 

“Let’s hurry up and get out of…” Katarzyna trailed off, sniffling, as she noticed that all three of her comrades seemed to be quite taken with the sights of the garden around them. Even Tuesday, normally level-headed and cautious, seemed a bit distracted as she admired a huge flower. 

“What a lovely place.” Indigo observed, as she lightly tapped a leafy sprig with her hoof and the sprig responded to her touch by closing up its leaves one by one. 

“It’s amazing!” Kendall was looking up and around in wonder, not paying attention to his surroundings. He tripped and stumbled on the root of a blooming shrub and Sawyer squawked as he almost fell off Kendall’s back, but both of them found their footing without an actual fall. Kendall glanced back at Sawyer apologetically.

“It’s… pretty, that’s for sure.” Katarzyna admitted, and then sneezed again. “Lotta pollen, though. Yeesh.” 

Tuesday nodded, seeming to refocus as she pried her attention away from the flower.

“Yes, it’s very pretty. But let’s stick together, and keep moving forwards.” 

“Yes, right,” Kendall nodded. “Um… where’s Indigo?” 

Kendall, Tuesday, and Katarzyna all glanced around. Indigo had gone out of sight. 

“Indigo?” Tuesday called out. “Indigo!”

“She can’t have gone far,” Kendall reassured. “It’s only been a moment.” 

“...Over here,” A shaky voice called back to them. The trio followed the sound of Indigo’s voice until they found her just off the path, staring warily at a large shrub that was suspiciously Courserlike in shape. 

“What’d you find, Indigo?” Kendall asked, trotting up to her and examining the shrub. Indigo shook her head, clearly frightened. Tuesday couldn’t explain it, but that shrub did give her a very bad feeling. 

“We need to get out of here. I think… I think that bush used to be a Courser. The… the pollen… I don’t know. We need to leave now.” Indigo turned and ran.

“Wait-” Katarzyna cut herself off with a sneeze. But Indigo was already gone - the other three had no choice but to follow her. The trio darted off. 

As they ran after Indigo, Tuesday and Kendall began to sneeze as well. It made it incredibly difficult to run. Katarzyna began to understand Indigo’s urgency and fear - what she’d said about the Courser bush had sounded bizarre, but they’d encountered stranger things in the dungeon. And this pollen was hindering them significantly in their attempt to leave the room. Perhaps this was how one of the plants reproduced - by taking up residence in passing adventurers. Maybe it was already too late for them. Katarzyna wrestled with cold terror as she raced through the garden after Indigo. They had to get out of here.