Charro scrunched up his face in concentration for a moment, then said:
"Maybe they dropped the glowsticks on their way back, towards the exit?" He followed this train of thought and frowned.
"...Wait. Does this mean... All the lights on the way back are going to start burning out, too, in time for our return trip...?"
He grimaced and started to move, keeping a loose grip on the rope as he went. "Well. Shall we get moving, then?"
>Move hesitantly onwards! Letting anyone with light overtake me, of course.
You step out into the darkness, carefully following the rope as you move blindly forward, swinging your free arm and laser around in front of you. You get maybe 10 feet before Milno just walks past you, laying a trail of ropelight out behind him.
"Time for a rope light. Can someone tie it to a pole or the rope itself? That's not easy with just one hand."
Activate rope light, ask someone to tie it to a convenient pole or to the path's rope.
"Be very careful. With the amount of lights the brothers had, there is absolutely no reason to only use glowsticks. And did you notice? The path has been pretty much straight from the Fall, right through an 'alley' where the obelisks only flanked us. That's pretty precise for a path whose direction was picked at random."
You activate your ropelight and shrug the bundle off, handing it to Milno. He ties one end to the last post in the lit area and starts walking, laying a line of the rope behind him as he blazes the trail forward.
"Let's get going."
Lead the way forward, substitute dead glowsticks for lanterns.
You grab chin's length of ropelight and tie it around a post before heading off into the darkness, laying a trail of it behind you.
What stupid ideas enter my mind. It's probably just the place trying to get to me... We should be careful.
Retrace the idea I had before getting carried away in self-praise; try to think about it again.
Move with the group. Continue regularly checking the amount of sand in my bag and in the container I'm holding; try to remain on guard as well, though.
[int:5]
Oh, thats right, you might want to somehow mark the amount of sand you have in the jar right now so you don't have to keep eyeballing it. After all, if it's increasing slowly then it's gonna be hard to tell if it's moving at all till the difference is blatantly obvious.
These are expended glowsticks, not expended lanterns. The lanterns that made up the path, well, the few that weren't ripped to shreds by the swarm of shades in the pitted lands or shut off by the Lighteater, will all still be on. Fairly sure, after all, Conrad said that these things were meant to last for a long, long, long time.
And we may want to save our ropelight for an area where there is no rope, until then, we have lanterns.
Continue to relight the dead glowstick path with lanterns.
You go to hang your lanterns but decide against it. No reason to waste them now that milno is laying the ropelight, despite your protests.
The group continues their forward march, slowly moving forward and leaving a trail of light behind. Spent glowsticks litter the darkened path and the rope remains unbroken, a welcome safety line and guide. Chin's supply of ropelight is almost depleted by the time the squad finds something. The weak bubble of light reveals a sandstone wall blocking the way forward. It's dimensions are unknown, it stretches beyond the boundaries of the light, but it has a slight bend to it, a curve, like the outside of a cylinder. The trail of spent glowsticks continues, flowing the wall to the left.