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Alja's head was still on Graves' shoulder, though her tears had faded to hiccuping sobs, by the time the water burst open and Rael came out. Alja jolted, then stood upright, rubbing her eyes furiously to clear them. Tears threatened to spill out again, but she pressed her fingertips into her closed eyes hard. What was she doing? What was she [i]doing?[/i] They were trapped deep in the Thorin city sewers, one of their party members was still unaccounted for—wait, never mind, that [i]was[/i] Kalie that Rael had just hauled out of the sewer water—and they had three low level players with them. There was no [i]time[/i] for her to be bawling her eyes out. She couldn't afford to be [color=dc918e][i]useless[/i] agai[/color]— 

She cut the thought off. None of that. What she couldn't afford was to be at less than one hundred percent. Her eyes were still swollen and red. On the other side of the cistern, she noticed the two lowbies that she'd put on that ice ledge hauling themselves out on to a small stone ledge and shimmying across it. Good. They'd ended up alright. She waved them over. After they arrived, she did a headcount, then frowned. The fear threatened to swallow her again, but she fought it down. When she first spoke, her voice was thin and reedy from crying, and she coughed self-consciously to clear it, though it still shook slightly. As she spoke, she paced back and forth nervously. Seven steps forward, seven steps back. 

"[color=d1fffc]Valena is—[i]ahem[/i]—Valena's here, Yasmin's here—[/color]" She pointed to the remaining member of the low-leveled party—"[color=d1fffc]'Fraid I haven't made his acquaintance, but he's here. So we're all grouped again. Good. Now, the problem is,[/color]" she heaved a deep breath, looking around at her surroundings, at the stones dripping with condensation as they led off into yet more sewer tunnels, "[color=d1fffc]we have no idea where we are, we can't get back to where we started, and the monsters' difficulties look like they've been cranked [i]way[/i] the hell up. So we need to figure out a way to get outta here, but still keep everybody safe.[/color]"

She stopped pacing and leaned against the condensation-drenched wall, her voice stabilizing some as she crushed down the rest of her emotions in favor of living to see another day. Her eyes panned over the rest of her significantly expanded party. 

"[color=d1fffc]So, any bright ideas? Anybody spent time down here, know the sewers in some way? Anythin' like that?[/color]"