Otto stood there firmly and was beginning to make another comment when he heard Taza’s yell of horror. Something cold went through his body as he watched this man who was seemingly calm just a second ago, turn into a trapped animal. The words, ‘We aren’t alone here. shot Otto like a bullet. He swallowed and stared at Taza, waiting to hear more. “You see something, then?” he replied. “Look’s like this is a whole new game.” he mumbled looking at Killian sternly.

~

Before Effie could think straight, Taza was acting like a mad man. He yelled, jumped and screamed. He was trembling like a child. She listened to him yell ‘stay back’, and she froze in her confusion. “Have you lost your mind?” she whispered. Looking at the others, she marched over to him and went beside him,

“There is nothing down here. Not a single thing other than bones, darkness, and tunnels.”

She stared at him like fire and again repeated to him, “There is nothing .” Her body could feel the tension radiating off the walls themselves after Taza’s episode. She felt like she needed to say something else, but there was nothing that came to her mind. “The dark is just spooking our minds.” Her voice was quiet, “Now,” she sighed “Let’s try the tunnel in the middle here. According to the ones down here before, this is the main tunnel that connects to the other six. It’s all like a maze.”

~
Again, Otto listened to his sister and was frankly speechless. One moment, she’s willing to let everyone go on themselves, then next she says they need to stay together. He raised his eyebrow at her. “Well, I’m going to stick with this one on the far right.” He held out his arm in the tunnel. “There’s another very small room that connects these two tunnels on this side. We’ll check these one’s off, meet up, come back to the main room and go on the left side.” He really didn’t give Effie a choice in the matter, he started walking down the far right tunnel while Effie stayed in the middle one.

Killian blinked as the two siblings split up, each taking on a different passage. For a moment he considered abandoning the rest of the party to explore his own tunnel, then thought better of it. He really wasn’t familiar with the catacombs and the idea of getting lost in the darkness sent a shiver down his spine. He was an adventurer, not an idiot.

Making a split-second decision, Killian trotted down the tunnel on the right to catch up with Otto.

“Slow down, there,” he called. His voice echoed against the closed-in walls of the passageway. He waited until he was beside Otto before continuing to speak. “Unlike you, I didn’t do much research on this place before I got here, so I’m in the dark about what’s supposedly going on down here – no pun intended.” Killian waved his torch near the sides of the tunnels, halfheartedly looking for anything unusual as they walked.

“So anyways, what’s the plan?” Killian asked.