Very happy with his newfound treasure, Strohmeier felt ready to move on and Crispin, who had no desire to look for any loot, happily took the lead to move on. 

Strohmeier grew to enjoy Crispin’s company more and more, he started to view him more as a friend rather than a guide or mentor, but he didn't want to say it out loud in fear of being seen as unprofessional. He had, after all, hired Crispin to come along for his safety. Strohmeier wanted to strike up a new conversation to get to know more about Crispin himself, and maybe his adventures, but just as he opened his mouth to speak he had this unnerving feeling of being watched. 

He stopped and looked back, but there was nothing that he could see. Crispin of course heard that he had stopped moving and did so as well to see what was up. 

“Is everything alright back there?” he asked as he turned towards Strohmeier and took a few steps closer to him. 

“I'm not sure.” the dark courser responded. “I could swear something, or someone, was watching me. I could feel the gaze as if it was scratching the back of my head.”

Crispin looked towards where Strohmeier was referring to, he knew things could quite easily lure in the shadows here after all, so great caution was always advised. 

“We should be on the lookout. It could just be a curious, harmless lost spirit or something much more dangerous. Stay alert and let me know immediately if you happen to see or hear anything out of place.” Crispin informed Strohmeier, who nodded. He understood very well what Crispin was telling him. “We should keep going. This is a bad place to get ambushed.”

Strohmeier agreed, and the two of them started to get going. The gnawing feeling of being watched kept at it, Strohmeier kept looking back but was always met with eerie emptiness and dead silence. It felt so off, so wrong. As if something must be there but cloaked in a veil of shadows. 

“Crispin, are there perhaps creatures down here that can make themselves invisible?” Strohmeier nervously asked as they finally made their way out to a more open area. Finally someplace where they had a chance to run away if something jumped at them. 

“I sure hope not.” Crispin replied as he looked around. “But just in case we should not linger for longer than necessary. Let us seek refuge for now, until this feeling of being stalked ceases.” he added, as he was suspicious of it all. He didn't want to risk Strohmeier's or his own life. 

Strohmeier agreed that it was best to not venture further until it felt safe again. Crispin showed the way to yet another safe house the guild had prepared and the two of them stayed there until it felt safe again.