"I wouldn't have used that exact phrase..."

She giggles softly. "I know, I know."

"But it may be best to - keep both ears out and not just one," he says.

"Makes sense."

His movements are - not less hasty because he was never hasty, only swift.  But they're slower than they were a few minutes ago, the last time they were traveling in silence.  He still keeps one eye on her, glancing over his shoulder, but he might have calmed down a little even without any guiding, somehow.

That's heartening. She brightens a little as she follows him.

At a four-way intersection, looking around the corner, he stops, and holds up his hand to stop her.

He thinks for a moment, then says, "Let's fall back to that last doorway on our right."  (None of the doorways in this dungeon have had actual doors in them, so far, but sometimes there are empty frames set into the wall, instead of simply hallways.)

"—'kay." Back she trundles. She kind of wants to ask what's up but his whole demeanour suggests that she shouldn't make more noise than necessary.

The last doorway on their right leads to a small room, dark, with two exits, and enough space for each of them to stand against an opposite wall.

"Around the next corner," he says, "the hallway's about four times longer than it should be."

"...well I don't love that."

Soft snort.  "Yeah.  It doesn't let out to the side anywhere, only in and out.  We'd be choke-pointed.  It's probably an ambush."

"Do you think it stretched out, or shifted around some other way? Because if it just stretched out then it's the way back but if it shifted around some other way then maybe it's not... should we tell people?"

"I think stretching's more likely," he says, "but either way I'm gonna call it in, yeah - we're not that far out, we could hole up here and ask them to send out a couple SWAT guys, sweep for an ambush."

Thoughtful nod.

"Base camp, I'm a couple minutes out and I just looked down a hallway that's about four times too long," he says, and names some coordinates.  "Could you send out a couple guys to sweep the far end?  Got a feeling we're walking into an ambush."

Kimberly is overall still pretty chill, but she's not as cheerful as she was before. This situation is disquieting.

He clicks the radio button a couple times.

"Base camp, come in."

Uh... huh.

"So what's probably happening is the dungeon has started foxing our radio transmissions " he says.

"And either we're really close by and they can probably find us easily once they figure out something's wrong, or we're not and they can't, huh?"

God damn this girl's such a badass.  "I'd bet on the first one," he says.  "First time dungeons can't do a lot of that type of overtly-magic stuff, and I think if this place could alter its layout more than a little bit it wouldn't need to steal spraypaint and mess with our tags."

"Yeah, makes sense. So, wait it out?"

"Wait it out," he says.  "I'll check the comms every so often, but it's just as likely the first we'll hear of anyone will be somebody showing up in person."

"Time to chat about dungeon philosophy some more? Or should we be keeping our ears open?"

"...hmm," he says.

"I'm gonna tell my power to - ping me - if any dungeon monsters are listening," he says.  "I try to avoid doing that because sudden unexpected jolts of backlash can be - dicey, for me - but I think on this occasion I'll be okay.  Keep it light, keep one ear open, keep your voice low - but yeah, we can talk a little."