The rest of the journey to the dungeon was uneventful. Which made Jonas more uneasy than anything else. He felt like there should have been something that would attack or at least occur to try and prevent them from reaching the dungeon. Much like that giant worm was likely meant to do. If only to provide the viewers more entertainment or whatever it was that they got out of this competition.
Jonas knew he certainly had a few ideas of what the viewers likely got out of it. He just didn't care to think too deeply about it. There were better things for him to focus his attention on instead. Such as what might come at them next.
"Hey, I think I see movement at the entrance," Elin commented, drawing everyone's attention towards the entrance of the dungeon.
Without having to strain his eyes, Jonas had to agree that there was definitely movement. And since it was unlikely that it was some other monster or group of unrelated people from this world, he had to conclude that it was Stanley and his group. Or at least the rest of it, since Harold had already been dealt with.
"I guess either they spent all night heading towards the entrance or they came straight here after that morning announcement," Kim remarked, sounding like she wasn't sure which one she wanted to be the case more.
"Not that it matters, since it means that we'll have to deal with them now rather than being able to avoid them," Patricia growled, glancing at Elwin as she spoke. Which made Jonas wonder if she somehow blamed Elwin for this, given how Elwin had been in favor of pressing on rather than resting. At least until the earth worm attack. After that, it was a pretty much general consensus for all of them to rest until morning, as none of them wanted to have a repeat of that kind of fight.
"As I said, we should have rested," Patrick grumbled, clearly not happy for a completely different reason than his girlfriend. Not that Jonas found Patrick's complaint surprising. Not with how he had been when they first started moving after the morning announcement.
"And we could be fighting another kind of fight if we did rest," Elwin retorted grumpily. "It wouldn't be much of a rest if we had to fight again."
"At least there wasn't a guarantee of that happening," Patrick shot back, almost like a dog with a bone.
"Whatever may or may not have happened, we should focus on what's happening now," Sonya snapped, clearly annoyed with the bickering between the two.
Which Jonas had to completely agree with, even though he doubted he'd care to say as much aloud. Largely because he'd rather stay out of the issue altogether and speaking out loud about it would show where he stood and potentially create more problems for himself than letting everyone else know his thoughts on the matter.
"Maybe we can talk our way past them," Heather said hopefully.
Again, Jonas had his thoughts on that point but felt like it would be better to not say anything. He doubted it would be that simple, but at the same time, he couldn't dispute the possibility of that actually occurring.
"Doubtful," Kim remarked, her eyes hardening. "But if you're willing to be the one to speak to them, you're welcome to try."
Heather blanched and looked panicked for a moment. "Uh, never mind," she answered weakly, her voice likely difficult for the others to hear, but Jonas was able to hear it perfectly.
"Maybe we should rest out here and try to enter when it gets dark?" Bart suggested. "I'm not sure if they've seen us yet, but even if they have, we can retreat into the trees and make it look like we're not anywhere around if they try and come after us."
Jonas nodded, he would have the upper hand against Stanley and his team, at least with his vision in the dark, but he worried about any other abilities that Thomas or Frank had. It was possible that they had an ability similar to his that they just hadn't mentioned before. Especially since he recalled that there were times when they were in a daze and under Stanley's influence from an ability that he didn't quite fully understand. An ability he was pretty sure could cut through the dark, no matter how well any of them could see.
"Maybe, but what about that ability Stanley used on us before, when he was the one making the decisions and we were left agreeing with whatever he said," Jonas replied, feeling like he was starting to feel the same way then, when Stanely had complete control over his mind. A sensation that wasn't very pleasant for Jonas, even though he was mostly sure that it was a phantom sensation rather than Stanely taking control of him already. "I don't think that would be a good idea. At least if we're going to fight them, that is."
"We don't have to fight them," Bart replied, looking rather annoyed. "If it's dark, then we have a better chance to sneak in."
"Unless they're smart enough to place lights at either end of the entrance, camp inside the entrance, and sleep with their weapons in hand," Owen remarked, earning a glare from Kim who had opened her mouth to say something, but had been beaten by Owen at speaking. Which Jonas wondered if Kim had been about to say the same thing as well.
"But there's a chance they won't do that," Bart replied, almost sounding like he was grasping at straws, even as he saw his plan falling down around him.
"Actually, I have a sleep spell that might help with that," Elmo said suddenly, nearly making Jonas hurt himself by how fast his head whipped around to look at him. "If we can get close enough that I can see whoever it standing watch, I can put them to sleep with it. Then after we get close enough, I can use the same spell on the other two, just in case they wake up while we walk by."
Jonas kept himself from speaking, even as he thought through that idea. It wasn't a bad one and if it didn't work, they could still fight, even if he doubted that it would be a good idea to do so in the first place. At least at night.
"That's a plan I could get behind," Elwin remarked thoughtfully. "Not only would it get us past them, but I'm not sure how well we could fight them without any of us getting hurt."
Jonas turned to look closely at Elwin, making sure that he wasn't under the influence of someone, given how uncharacteristic this seemed of him. That it almost seemed like he hadn't been advocating pressing forward, regardless of how it would affect any of them.
"You know, given Elmo has the ability to put them to sleep, shouldn't we do just that now and move on without having to wait for dark?" Patricia remarked, sounding a little annoyed. "Not only would we have to worry about something coming up from the forest to attack us, since I'm pretty sure that those running this thing would prefer us to have some kind of conflict to entertain those watching this competition."
"Actually, as I think about it, maybe we could do a little of the two," Owen commented, looking like he'd just had an idea. "If Elmo puts them to sleep right away, then he could alert them to the fact that something's happening and if it doesn't work on all of them, then they'd know something's going on, but if we time it so they look like they might have fallen asleep naturally, then they might not realize something's off until all of them wake up."
"So, how would you suggest we do that?" Elwin growled, looking like he didn't care to think too much about the matter. "Should we take a survey or poll or something to determine that?"
"Actually, we wait until they take up positions while they wait themselves. They don't know when we should arrive, so unless they're already aware of us where we're at, they don't know we're actually here. So, if we wait, a little bit, we should be able to see them relax a little and take up a position that would allow them to conserve their energy," Owen answered, almost seeming to be getting excited at his own idea, which Jonas hoped wasn't actually the case.
"So, what range do you have on your sleep spell?" Bart asked Elmo.
Elmo jumped at the sudden question and Jonas had a feeling that it was more than the attentions- shifting to him so suddenly. That Elmo had other reasons to feel startled about the sudden question.
"Uh… range?" Elmo echoed, his voice sounding almost strangled. "I'm not sure. I've never used it before that I can remember, so I haven't really had time to test it's range and I don't think that the tutorial thingy explained what range it has. If there is one, at least."
"Well, why don't we try it out first?" Jonas suggested. "If his target isn't in range when they're in a position like Owen suggested, then I can see about moving him closer without any of them noticing. If it works, we can't be sure that it wouldn't be on the edge of the range, so if it turns out that that's the case, then I'll still be there to assist him to get the others."
Jonas had a feeling this plan could work. That they'd be able to bypass Stanley and his group without any real trouble. As even if they were only able to put one of the others put to sleep, it would reduce their ability to fight the rest of them. Much the same as if that person wasn't even there in the first place.