The small room swallows them whole. Rusted chairs groan under their weight as Benjamin, Louis, Jenny, and Elias finally sit, the last of the gate's adrenaline leaking out of their shoulders.
For a few beats, nobody speaks. The overhead light flickers weakly over tired faces, scraped clothes, and the kind of silence that only comes after surviving something terrible.
Louis
We are in, then. I did not think that guard was ever going to say yes.
Jenny
He almost did not. My legs still feel like wet paper.
Elias
Same. I could sleep sitting up, and I would not even complain about it.
Louis leans back and lets out a breath that sounds halfway between a laugh and a wince. Jenny rubs at her forehead, then glances around the bare room like she is counting the walls twice.
Benjamin
The chairs are the first thing in hours that do not move.
The quiet settles in around them, not safe exactly, but gentle enough to let the group rest in it. For the first time since the road, they have nothing to do but sit together and feel the weight of making it this far.
“Can we just wait here until someone comes in to see what comes next?”
NO (Likely, rolled 71)
The heavy steel door at the back of the room suddenly grinds open, revealing a stern-faced guard who gestures for the group to stand immediately. There is no time for the rest they hoped for, as the guard signals that they must move deeper into the facility at once.
“I stand and follow the guard deeper inside”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Benjamin rises in one smooth motion, bat forgotten at his side, and falls into step behind the guard.
Louis and Jenny shift with him, easing up from the wall as Elias straightens with a wary glance toward the open door.
The guard leads them out of the bare entry room and into a narrower corridor, the light behind them dropping away.
Cool air brushes Benjamin's face as the mountain's interior swallows the noise of the road outside.
A Different Guard
Stay close. Keep moving.
Benjamin keeps pace without hesitation, his group funneling in behind him as the first sealed doorway ahead starts to open.