"Test the flickering thing with no divers down, see if it works; if it does, try that with divers and they can put a harpoon in it and you'll get breaks between dives. Sound like a plan?"

“Yeah!” Okay first she should put her shirt back on.

He should too, though he will keep the sleeves rolled up.

Okay. Back into the dungeon.

She reaches for a monster.

Ho hum it is swimming in lazy circles around the base of this spooky tree where it stretches down into the base of the dungeon.

Spooky tree is kind of interesting, actually, but not in fact important. What happens if she grabs it and makes it STOP for just a moment.

It has forward momentum, but its legs all stutter.

But does it, like, react, in any way.

It considers going brhMMMMMmmmmmm but ultimately does not do so.

She tries flickering no control with STOP.

The third time she does this it gets as far as going brhMM.

She holds it still a moment longer, then releases it—does it immediately resume making noise, or no.

hMMMmmmmmm! it continues.

She shuts it up again.

”Flickering is ineffective against noise-making.”

"Okay. Nobody's down there, it's okay if they're making noise, you should generally be not using your powers when you don't need to be."

“Yeah…” she lets go again.

Was she right about what it does, are the other monsters heading towards this one?

The nearest couple are.

"You should be in the habit of narrating what you're trying, I can tell your backlash is going up but not why."

“I was checking if the sound attracts other monsters.” She lets go. “It does—I think I could lure monsters away from where divers are planning to go.”

"I don't want to rely on that, it's a few inferential steps beyond what we can be sure of. It's worth trying once Rhombus gets here, Rhombus can decapitate one if it comes for her."

“Fair.” She is so painfully aware of how new she is at this.

Rhombus doesn't take much longer to arrive. "Hullo, Traceless. This is Sonder?"

"Yup. Sonder, Rhombus, she helped introduce me to my first couple dungeons."

Fistbump?

Fistbump! Accompanied by a bright friendly smile that hopefully obscures the butterflies in her stomach!

Yeah no these backlashes have nothing to do with each other why are you even here, goes the new sensory modality. "Figures," says Rhombus. "Anyway, if I were trying to solo this place I'd scuba up and light up and go down planning to behead the monsters. Should I change my approach to account for you?"