"Death by existence?" Rilolia pondered, sounding quite perturbed. Such a profound title could only mean one thing, she though. He was forcibly being kept alive and sentenced to an eternity in lonesome in this 'dark hole'. How horrendous. If anything, she thought (and if his rescue were anything but impossible), simply being executed would have put her heart at a greater ease. She put a hand to her chin and thought for a few moments, pacing slightly on the deck.

"So then I suppose we are to procure some information on this place, right? Otherwise we'll be headless chickens running around the butcher's back room." Secrecy in Astopol, given the already monstrous designs of their fortresses, meant an equally if not more impossibly difficult to penetrate location. If they Astopolians couldn't guard it, or felt it was so terrible as to not even deserve the company of prison guards, then it meant it was furthermore desolate. Where in god's name could they possibly have dropped Vance then? Simply asking a common Astopolian for "directions to the nearest abysmal hole meant for the worst of the worst" would probably garner absolutely nothing of value, which meant they'd need to interrogate someone with a wealth of knowledge or power. The mission was becoming less of a castle crash and more of something like espionage, and that meant a prolonged period of time in the country.

That was even worse than a smash and grab to Rilolia.

"So then how do we find this place? I don't suppose you know where this hole or mountain is, Lenz?" Rilolia asked.