Relief washed over the demihuman as Iroryn made her attendance known, calling out to the two. [color=bc8dbf]"Y-yeh!"[/color] he agreed after a moment of inspecting his crossbow, wondering what went wrong with the device. In the process of leading Ashdane back the way he'd come before noticing something peculiar. Ariel was reaching down to relieve one of the dead of their weapon, almost causing Kaeci to come to a halt with both a confused and mortified expression. A chill ran up his spine from the perceived affront, casual theft from the deceased, causing him to fluff up. His ears perked up, frantically looking about as if expecting something to happen, and appearing cautiously disappointed when nothing did.

[color=Gray]Perhaps...perhaps humans have a different relationship with Fish? I had known curses to be placed on those that bit hooks, as the saying goes, but was this act somehow acceptable? Maybe...maybe humans' dead were somehow...[i]distant[/i] from Fish?
Maybe [i]we[/i] are the ones who are distant...[/color]

Kaeci reentered the chamber, thankfully not needing to introduce the man they found as Alm took a notice to their newest member, introducing them as the rabbit continued to watch Ariel with a hint of worry in their eyes just before the blast from an orcish warhorn snapped him out of his thoughts. He hadn't needed Alm's order to quickly fall in step with the man, disappearing into the passage way with him. Kaeci continued a short ways and once again began shaking as he went about partially dismantling his crossbow as quietly as he could manage to find where the fault was.
With the box out, he held the string up as he brought the lever to a half-cycle, revealing how the fork was getting worn down again. The string must have slipped right over it, having not even reached the lock which seemed to still be in working order. Unfortunately, the fork was also responsible for triggering the drop of another bolt from the box, and the old wood, comfortable to the touch as it was, was likely not intended for as much use as he'd put it through without being replaced. He made a mental note to see if he could find a way to get a metal replacement, should they survive this mess.

Their ears drooped and hope briefly left his eyes until the sounds of the orcs engaging the other denizens of the ruins brought attention to how he may have enough time to at least attempt to jury-rig a fix. [color=bc8dbf]"Vould eit not be better to let zehm kill eachozher?"[/color] Kaeci softly asked, barely enough to be heard over the fighting but outwardly stressed by their harrowing situation of being now [i]stuck[/i] in the ruins. In the meantime, he used a small knife to etch enough of a notch into the wooden fork for the string to catch. It was an optimistic fix at best, the next misfire would likely be the fork outright breaking under the stress. The device could potentially be loaded, primed and fired manually, though that would no doubt take time they would not have. To prolong the inevitable, he went about the process of practically wrestling the worn string onto the lock by hand at least for the first round which he picked out of the box, loading it and then slipping the box back into place with a soft prayer in the beastman's foreign tongue.

[color=bc8dbf]"Y-yes! Miss Iroryn iz makink sense. Vee found zee expedition...[sub]among vehr dreams sleep[/sub]...should our mission not be complete?"[/color] Kaeci chimed in to agree with the woman's suggestion that more or less ran parallel with his own. Still fluffed, he moved to properly rejoin the group as he spoke, holding his armament at the ready, though with little confidence of its reliability.