"It's alright, come on. You're fine, just come here, okay?" Elvira cooed at the cowering form barely visible in the darkened corridor. Umbra was hid behind its bag, shying away from what few rays of sunlight that reached past the doorway. Whatever the creature had done made the area around it dark enough that even the elf's keen eyes could barely make it out, to the humans it must have been pitch black, but apparently it couldn't completely stop the light.

Elvira had thought that Umbra would be surprised by the light, unsettled even, but this reaction was more than expected. It clearly wanted nothing to do with the outside world, and there was no way in Light's name the elf would be venturing into the dark to drag the thing out. One glance at the humans was enough to assure her that they wouldn't be getting within a stone's throw of the doorway, they wouldn't be any any help. They couldn't leave Umbra behind, especially since it had the makeshift tent and a large portion of their food in its pack.

"It's alright, look at me. I'm fine, see? It's just sunlight, it won't hurt you," she murmured to the frightened Voidspawn. She wasn't entirely sure that it wouldn't burst into flames at the touch of the sun's light, some stories had creatures of the Void burned by bright lights, but sitting still wasn't helping anything. The creature hadn't seemed particularly hurt when the door first opened, and it wouldn't have the luxury of completely avoiding the sun on their journey.

It took a few more minutes of coaxing, but eventually the thing reached out a single, tentative tentacle, moving into the light then quickly darting back. Umbra didn't seem to be in any pain, though Elvira wasn't entirely sure she would be able to tell if it was. Who knew how Void creatures would react to being hurt. After a moment of hesitation another tentacle reached out into the light, staying still for a few moments before retreating back into the dark. The bag shifted in the darkness and soon enough Umbra squirmed its way into the light, hidden as much as possible below its pack. A tendril reached out, scratching in the dirt.

Light is bad. Always this bright?

Elvira smiled, relieved that the creature was able to continue. "No, only about half the time. You see up there, the big ball of light? That's the sun, it'll set in a while. Once it's gone it'll be darker." After a moment's pause she continued in a placating tone, "You'll be fine, Umbra. You just need to adjust to the light."

Light is bad.

Despite its protests the creature didn't attempt to return to the dungeon, so Elvira took the chance to survey their surroundings. They seemed to be in the ruins of some ancient building, a small castle perhaps? It looked as if it had been destroyed at least a century ago, little more than a few stray walls and some rubble remained. The forest had overtaken the entire area, but it seemed that someone had taken the time to clear the way to the entrance of the dungeon, a small path leading off through the woods.

"Well," the elf said, "if everyone's ready I suppose we should follow the path?"

Neither Umbra nor the humans raised any complaints, so the elf pulled her bag into a more comfortable position and began walking.

After half an hour of walking the human woman, Josephine, pulled on the elf's sleeve. Looking back, Elvira noticed that the woman looked exhausted, barely capable of standing. Harry, the other human, wasn't doing well either, though he was at least steady on his feet. Elvira put her hand on Josephine's, pulling her over to a tree and motioning for both her and Harry to sit. After a few minutes of helping to take off bags and finding a good spot the two were settled. Yet again she wished she could speak the human tongue, it would make things so much easier dealing with the two.

Before Elvira could decide what to do during their impromptu stop there was a loud snapping sound behind her. Whirling around she saw two halves of a stick falling to the ground beside Umbra's abandoned bag. A single black tentacle reached out from between a nearby tree's roots to tap the ground beside a hastily scrawled note in the dirt.

Why are we stopping?

Elvira sighed. "We need to rest, Umbra. We'll continue on soon enough."

The Voidspawn seemed displeased by that answer, aggressively swiping at the dirt to wipe away the writing and quickly scratching out a new message. Why? We should keep going.

"We can't," Elvira replied, exasperated. "The humans need to stop for now, and I could use a rest as well. Either we stop now, or one of them collapses and we'll have to stop for longer."

Umbra didn't respond to that, simply pulling further into the shadows. The creature certainly wasn't making things any easier, but there was precious little to be done about it. Leaving the Voidspawn to sulk Elvira rummaged through its bag to find a few cuts of dried meat and a water skin, tossing one chunk of meat towards Umbra's hiding place. A tentacle snatched the meat from the air before it could even land, quickly retracting back into the darkness. At least the thing hadn't lost its appetite.

Having fed the Voidspawn, Elvira returned to the humans to ensure they ate, drank, and rested properly. It took another half hour before they were ready to move on, and they had to stop regularly for more rests. The journey was clearly wearing on Josephine, enough so that Elvira worried that she wouldn't be able to make it to a village before collapsing. What would they do if she couldn't walk? Umbra, on the other hand, grew increasingly restless, seeming especially aggravated when it couldn't find a sufficiently dark corner to hide in. It refrained from making any further comments, but its displeasure was clear.

With how often they needed to stop, it was late afternoon by the time they reached the beach. The expanse of water beyond it stretched in every direction, land only distantly visible on the far side. The small dock near where the path they had been following had only a small rowboat that looked as if it would sink at any moment, its wood splintered and rotting in places.

This... may complicate things.