AberrantKapro | Strohmeier / Senbonzakura

After some time fighting, the two ruffian coursers finally accepted defeat and angrily threw away their makeshift weapons. Senbonzakura techniques and Strohmeier's strategies were a very successful combo, and not to underestimate Söl and their pets backing them up to alert for any ugly tricks the hostiles might have had up their sleeves. 

The group took their time to tidy up their camp and grab everything they needed and had forgotten previously so they could move on, and to make sure the intruders didn't return, Senbonzakura decided to lead the team towards the direction they left in, that way they couldn't just scuttle back when they had left. Those two seemed to live off of stealing loot from adventurers that actually risked their lives for it, despicable. 

Senbonzakura noticed that the ceiling slowly crept closer to them, and the walls didn't take long to follow suit. The corridor was getting much narrower rather quickly, and he soon had to leave Söl to walk behind him instead of next to him. 

Kinka and Micke took the lead before Senbonzakura, seeing as they no longer could fit next to him either, and the odd pair scouted ahead while simultaneously playing. Senbonzakura couldn't help but smile as his lantern lit up their tails and backs. 

“Stay within my sight.” he asked them, and they made sure to stay as close as they could without risking getting stepped on by accident. 

The tunnel was now getting uncomfortably right, and Senbonzakura tried his best to shut out the echoes of their stressed out heartbeats. He did his best to keep his cool and focus. While he wasn't claustrophobic, he wasn't far from it. Enclosed spaces like this had never been his cup of tea, and it quickly made him severely anxious and uneasy. What if they got stuck here? What if the tunnel collapsed on them? 

He swallowed hard, surely the others even heard it, but he pressed on, they couldn't give up here. 

As the rough stone walls closed in on the coursers, Strohmeier took it slow and steady. He was squeezed in inbetween Söl and Öte, so he couldn't exactly back out or force the faster forward. Not that they could walk much faster without most likely hurting themselves from the rough stones. 

He wanted to speak, but he wasn't sure what to say at this point except for telling them all to be careful, but they surely knew to do that already. So he stayed silent. His head was hurting and pounding from all the echoes of heartbeats. He didn't like this one bit, and just wanted it all to be over as soon as possible. 

444 words

Dillyweed | Öte / Söl

After the fighting they took a small break. It didn’t need to be long, just a breather, before making sure they grabbed anything. Söl and Öte were prepared to head back the way they walked before but instead they were informed that they would chase the intruders to discourage them from just waiting and returning to them. Bart the Bat flew down from the ceiling and landed on the side of Söl, hanging just by his mane as he walked around, checking on all of his insects.
Öte made sure to pack extra of everything he needed. He was less of a part of the quest as he hung with the party of the quest. He preferred it that way. They needed four, he was a fourth. But he had no stakes except his own safety in this. The loot was a bonus. But he didn’t have the insect aspect that Söl did or the cravings of adventure that Senbonzakrua and Stroheimer had. He was mostly just part of it. A way of keeping himself busy. Not bored.

The four of them started to walk towards the other end of the cave. The way that the two thieves had gone. They could see their tracks but there were no sounds of them. Söl ahead of Stroheimer. Not by choice. But Öte had taken the last space by intentionally daddling behind so that he would have to go last. It was intentional. That much Söl knew but he didn’t understand why. He himself always walked last so he wouldn’t be a bother if he had to stop and study something quick. Öte seemed to just prefer walking last. He never stopped to study anything. He just kept their pace, at the back.

Slowly the tunnel became smaller. Söl had to focus on controlling his breathing so he wouldn’t panic. The walks squeezed them all. He could hear all their hearts beat through the wall as it pressed against them. Or at least he thought he could. Maybe the small space made him hallucinate. But he had been in this situation before. He kept himself calm. He had walked in tight spaces before. He had managed, and he had lived. He just had to do it again. They took their time slowly controlling their breathing. Breathing when there was a bit of extra space. Holding it as they passed by the walls. Releasing it to squeeze through the tightest spaces. Panic would be the worst for them right now. It could mean death for them. It could mean that they breathe in too quickly. Hurt themselves. They had to choose when to breathe. The hardest part.

444 words