"Opip, Polak, Fidel, Tristin, Sirsten, and Rilling we are the seven survivors of August drop" Hapara held a speach after their victory against the black egg. To rouse the spirits and the morale of the only people left.
"We fought valiantly, we did our best, and even though most of our comrades are dead, we still have a chance to avenge them and get out of here, Now who's with me!?" Fidel clapped, everyone else fell silent. Polak diden't know what he was saying in the first place. Opip didn't feel like it was a victory worth celebrating and Trisitn still remembered the disintegrating face of his brother shot through by his own bolt. The other two Sisten and Rilling were the two adventurers who had managed to hide beneath Fidel's barrier. They felt more shame than anything. Shame for not being able to help. Shame for letting their friends die.
"How can you stay positive in a situation like this? Sisten looked towards the ground, his head held low, his spirit broken. Perhaps it would have been better if he just had died like his companions.
"I cant, but i can plan, i can move, i can find a way to survive, but if i want to live, and if you all want to live we're going to have to force ourselves to get up and do something" Hapara was at his lowest. Even though he portrayed such a hopefilled mask his inner self was close to giving up. He had come here to follow the footsteps of his fathers killer, and it seemed instead of finding him he had found his own tomb. A damp and dark place that smelled of death.
"Now if there is anything I do know, it's that there is no exit up here for as long as the master of this dungeon lives" Hapara took up his halberd. "So I say we do what we were going to do before the egg, and go down, find the creature and kill it"
"So your plan is to what? Commit suicide by magic? Because I have seen what this dungeon master can do, and with what little forces we have left, we don't stand a chance" Tristin thought it naive. A dumb plan from what seemed to be such a respectable man.
"Well if anyone has a better idea I'm open to suggestions" Hapara looked around the room. At all the tired faces. Not his sister nor his companion came with a suggestion. Neither Opip nor Tristin. "Anyone?"
"Actually I have an idea" Rilling, who hadn't said a word since his rescue. Who was skinny and covered by tattered rags, with barely any of the gear fit for a adventurer except for a rusted sword. "I.. used to be a bandit" The room fell silent.
"Not anymore of course, see i found god and ever since then i have…"
"Can you just get to the point?" Tristin asked impatiently.
"Well the bandits camp between the second and the third floor.. Was always within the darkmarch, there's a big blue rock there that wards off the darkness, no monsters dare go near" Rilling fidgeted a little on the ground. "There should be supplies, food, warmth and shelter but…"
"But also bandits right" Opip finished his sentence. And Rilling simply nodded. His hair unkempt flowed right down over his face like a waterfall.
The room fell silent for a time. "I say it's worth a shot, we can't stay here anyway so we should probably at least get a move on" Tristin wondered if it was the right choice to make, Jakurk could still be out there somewhere. But with how things had become he wondered if he was still alive. They couldn't stay in a place which had already been attacked twice.
"I agree" Opip took Tristin's side. The recent battle had been tough, the recent days had been tough. If they could find a place to rest where they could be somewhat safe she'd be grateful.
"It's better than just charging into the dark blind" Fidel directed her voice to her brother who was still lost in thought.
Hapara shrugged and sighed. "I guess we have the start of a plan then" It didn't take long for the group to begin to move. They gathered their equipment and what was left of it anyway. They grabbed whatever else they could find of the corpses of their fellow adventurers and then followed Rilling into the dark.
It would only be five minutes later that Jakurk and Eyemik reached the drop. An empty ruin by the time they arrived. "Tristin, Opip!? Any of you here? Anyone?" Jakurk walked alongside the empty chasm down to the third floor. When he saw the statues he knew the place had fallen.
"Now what?" Eyemik whispered. She was equally scared of the old mage and of the dungeon. He reminded her of the bandits captain. Honest and good natured in appearance only. But she'd rather be with another person than alone in the dark.
"We head for your friends camp" Jakurk just turned around when he felt a presence behind him. A gurgling mass of black that took the form of a hill folk. The form of Tristin. Black and empty. The still living black egg.