bethen avilla ; the circle mage (bethe) wrote in thedas,
What they were about to do was either brave, or incredibly stupid, and while it wasn't typical for Bethen to engage in either sort of behavior, it didn't occur to her to question Constans' lead at all. "All right," she agreed to his plan, figuring that he was older and possibly wiser (although if they weren't stuck in a cave with some mysterious destructive being, under ordinary circumstances, such a thought would have never crossed her mind). And there was something oddly charismatic and persuasive about the boy, she had to give him that. She quirked at brow at his last remark, shooting an unappreciative glare of his skepticism, "What makes you think it," she'd settled on a preferred pronoun, "hasn't been in here the whole time?" She tried not to visibly shudder at the thought that they were not nearly as alone this entire time as they were led to believe.
Regardless, they needed to take some kind of action rather than stand around and gab about it. Beth's grip on the wooden stick tightened as she took a few steps toward the faintly lit pathway he'd gestured at, stopping at the mouth of the narrowing passage to look back at Constans. She smiled at him warmly, though she wasn't sure if she was making the expression to reassure him, or herself. Her tone was cheerful, brighter and friendlier than it had been in the whole past hour, "I'm sure you're right... But we should probably check. We'll have to clean up the mess either way." She shrugged. "See you on the other side, I suppose..."
With that, the blue robed girl turned around and ventured deeper into the cavern. It wasn't until he was out of sight that she felt it suddenly unwise to have split up and wandered alone. She was trying very hard not to jump at the shifting shape of her own shadow, bending over the curves and cracks of the stone walls as the torchlight danced due to an unseen breeze. There was some sort of air leak in these earthen burrows, allowing the room to be breathable rather than stuffy. Maybe that was of dwarven make, as well. Those little thoughts and observations were somewhat comforting, keeping her mind off of the building tension that was standing the fine hairs on the nape of her neck on end. Beth still saw nothing, but then again, her eyes were only looking forward, rather than where they should have been -- upwards.
Her soft soled shoes scuffed on the ground as she slipped over a pebble, not sliding enough to fall, but managing to kick up a cloud of dust in the process of catching herself. Bethen raised a sleeve to muffle yet another sneeze as the particles rose to her face, oblivious to the creature that had lowered itself behind her until she heard a loud breath -- or was that a hiss? Instinctively, she froze in place, turning only her head to glance behind her. From the corner of her eye, she could see it now -- a giant spider, limbs as thick as her legs and bulbous body at least twice, if not three times, her size. The beast continued to make the low noise, mandibles clicking together, but it didn't approach her just yet. She didn't know what to do -- run away, call for help? Would making any sudden noise or movement just provoke the spider? Would Constans even be able to hear her, let alone get there in time to give any aid? What if there was more than one down here, and he was trapped, too? Her mind was panicking, her heart was racing, and her throat was parched. What was she going to do?