As the group is resting in the room with the comfortable chairs, Alexis looks at Ca’armine. “You sensed evil behind that door back there and wanted to go in.”
He pauses a moment.
“We also ran straight past the key we needed.” He glances at Ethelred. “You and I need to be the ones asking what we’re running past. That’s our job. We need to remember it.”
Rask snores quietly in his chair. Exhausted, battered, soundly sleeping.
“Having Hadonis and his rock giants on our heels pushed us forward. Given where we found the first 3 keys piles of rubble seemed unlikely. It would have taken us too long to find the key in all the mess.
Rushing can be bad. Sometimes it is needed.”
Red looks up at the only way out this room.
“I fear we may not be able to rest once we leave this room. Rushing may become our normal pace.”
“That’s my point. We can’t let rushing become our normal pace. We didn’t get this far by rushing in.”
“I was carried away. We all get carried away. And we need to take the time to center ourselves.”
Alexis looks over at Rask “he’s always going to rush in and advocate for a face-first approach. And usually he can survive that.” Alexis looks back at Ethelred “but we didn’t become what we are by rushing in. We need to be more deliberate. That was a foolish mistake we made, and a miracle we survived.”
“I agree. We started this whole area rushing a bit. Made you use your gift from Nordanthrep.
We then slowed down on purpose and it worked. Until we had such pressure we had little options.
Before we head up the shaft we should reset the tone. What awaits us above is unknown. What is clear is there is only one direction: forward.
What pressure await is? Exciting. Also daunting.
I wish we knew for sure that Hendonis could not follow us here. But it is only a matter of time until he gets the 4 bars and is sitting in this room looking up.
Hopefully he has fsix hearts of the stones giants with him!”
Ca’armine nods. “I did not like, running away from pursuers with my spells largely depleted, damaged from too many battles in a row. The head-on approach is sometimes the best strategy, or is necessary if the battle has been brought to us, but care and preparation yield better results. We should leave this place rested and refreshed, so that we can make the best decisions and conserve our resources for greatest need.”