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Chris was surprised his cry of success had not been met with a stampede of three other people trying to get down, especially given all the yammering they had been giving him beforehand, but that was probably for the best. He didn’t want to be trampled. He did want to get out of there as soon as possible, though, even if the darkness was emanating down there below him in a way the stairs in the dungeon had not done so previously, but he was thankful for the moment to collect himself. He stood up and put away his lockpicking kit, making sure everything was in his proper place. Sword sheathed, the magic thread was put away, his daggers… Oh. It wasn’t a big deal or anything. He still had the one dagger to wield in his off-hand when necessary, and he could just acquire a new one later, whether through legal means or not. Surely, Chris thought, he was not the first person to lose something down here. Really, with the way he threw them around so often, it was amazing it took fifteen floors and several desperate flights away from attacking monsters to leave one behind. The sounds of continued fighting rang out behind him, but Chris still faced forward down the stairs. He had plans for that afternoon and night that he had to get ready for. Everyone else would get there when they were ready. They could take care of themselves. But then he thought about every time Lana and he had charged to the other’s defense, or whenever Estellise had gone out of her way to ensure his safety. He thought about Ziun charging in behind him when Ziun thought Chris might be in trouble. They were still a team, and they had to finish as one. He turned back around and saw the thing from earlier menacing Lana with a dagger. His dagger. Chris’ other dagger was out of his hand before he even had time to think, hurtling through the air and chunking into its chest. It staggered and stopped in place for a moment to collect itself, but that meant it was still very much aware of what was happening to it, and pretty soon it was trudging toward Lana again. “We can get out of here,” Chris said, “I’ve got your back if it chases us.”

"Eh? Eh? But I - I," Carmen couldn't help but try to respond to Brian's comment about her lack of communication and stammered off instead. As the man brought up the idea of sealing the room, Carmen wasn't entirely sure what that entailed. Maybe the could just close the doors and seal them both like that? But then what if the room was the ghost and then they would obliterate themselves when the ghost was destroyed. That wouldn't be preferable. Though it was probably less painful then standing here for all eternity and wasting away in a ghost room. Maybe it was preferable to that. Still, Brian's assurance that this was in fact just an escape room did help ease Carmen's mood. She hadn't really had much experience with escape rooms, typically the idea of being stuck in a room or series of rooms and having to rifle around every little thing in order to find one's way out did not sit well with her on multiple levels. However, in this instance it just meant that she was living in one giant puzzle and puzzles were meant to be solved. There also wasn't anything particularly scary about this puzzle, unlike the visible ghost they had seen last night, though her hairs were still standing on end and her shoulders were still hunched forward with her head pulled back in the same way a scared child attempts to retreat from a situation. But that was just how she always was. Deciding to go look for the answer she decided to check one thing she hadn't yet in this room. Looking at the posters, all of which were taped to the wall, they also seemed to have some kind of generic maxim on them to motivate the employees. She wasn't really sure what to make of them, the girl herself having little in way of motivational posters at her own work space or home, but she was positive that they would only serve to unnerve her rather than inspire were they around. Tapping at the posters, nothing seemed to happen. And while she would have been able to remove them, quite like the water cooler, she was afraid of damaging private property and also being caught on camera doing so. Tape left marks on the wall sometimes after all. So instead she just lightly pulled back on them, to try and see if there was anything behind them. Though the left and right were blank, the middle one seemed to be hiding something underneath it. Reflexively, seeing anything other than wall, Carmen let the poster snap back into place and took a few seconds before allowing her newfound curiosity to be satiated. All that was there was a crude drawing of several sticks figures kicking a one with devil horns labeled "boss." A smirk crossed her face as she imagined doing so in her own work place, simply letting out another short, "heh." After seeing the drawing the girl let the poster snap back into place and walked away. Though amusing as it was she didn't end up finding any real clues to the puzzle at hand. Disappointed, hanging her head, the girl looked back at the posters before a thought crossed her mind. She looked over to the doors, and then to Brian. Walking towards one she said, "uh, um, oh, uh Brian could you uhhhh..." The girl had a hard time voicing herself after the last time she spoke not being able to get her message clear enough across, but started moving her fingers rapidly as if to say, "walk." "Through there- the uh, the door. At the same time...." The girl pointed to herself and the door next to her. Once it was clear what she meant she got ready to cross the threshold and when the two entered at the same time they...exited at the same time too. Having not passed each other or collided they were merely now at opposite ends of the room once. Hanging her head in defeat the girl said, "I uh...sorry, I just thought...Escape Room..." The girl pointed at the first poster and muttered, "teamwork..."