Rusto was falling again, though this time he was fully in control of himself. The voices hadn't been as overwhelming as before. He hoped that they would stay that way.
The fall stopped at a pool of water, lit by a mysterious bright light shining from somewhere above them. Rusto, who was no stranger to falls from great height, landed on his feet. He was shocked to see Twre fall on the cave floor beside the pool, though he didn't hear the all too familiar sound of bone breaking from a bad fall. Maybe the ground here is softer than it looks? This cave's peculiar enough, I wouldn't put something like that past it.
Before he could make his way beside the fallen "orc" he heard another splash behind him, followed by a string of cursing. The voice was familiar enough, he knew who it was well before he turned around.
Mato.
Rusto watched as the pronoun confounding warrior priest got their bearings and got on their feet. He had his right, intact hand on the handle of his rapier. They had reacted surprisingly well to being grappled by a drunk Twre, but he still remembered what they were capable of.
"Oh, it's you. Roostou, was it?"
"It's pronounced as it's written."
"Hmph, you all have such overcomplicated names. Anyway, are you going to listen to what I have to say, or are you going to go crazy and try to stab me again?"
"I confess, I was overcome by some influence of this foul place." Rusto then drew his blade. "Which I feel is reason enough to put an end to you and be sent to a new location!"
Mato readied their mace. "You may want to reconsider that. How about I told you I had a plan to get out of this crazy game and teach that Mendeleev-woman a lesson while we're at it?"
"Was that what you were trying to accomplish in Cardboard City? How many lives were lost because of that?"
"They were collateral damage, they-"
"Was Naizen 'collateral damage' too?"
"Look now, Nasal's death-"
"His name was Naizen, you monster!" Rusto screamed and attacked.
It soon became obvious that the area they were in wasn't big enough for a proper fight. The two combatants constantly bumped into walls, mace and rapier struck the walls more than anything. It didn't take long for exhaustion from all they both had gone through to bring the battle to a standstill.
"You fight better than I expected", Rusto gasped between breaths. "Maybe now would be the best time for you to-"
He was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a small bottle flying at Mato, leaving behind a trail of red. Mato began to grapple with Tobasco.
---
The Gurlax heard a stomping sound outside it's lair and skittered out to have a look. As it had expected, it was the Vromblator, going about without a care for the Things with more sensitive hearing senses. It noticed that the traipsing Thing was carrying a leather case and, feeling peeved by the ruckus caused by it's errant trotting about, decided to acquire it.
"Hello Vromblator", the Gurlax sensespoke at the Vromblator "Did you know some light comes from stars, but some light comes from other sources?"
The Vromblator, being a Thing that senses mostly through seismic activity, was quite taken aback by the concept of 'light' and 'stars'. It didn't notice as the Gurlax lunged and flashed its bright-organ at the Vromblator's sensitive eyes, causing it to drop the interesting case it had purloined.
Having fled into a side corridor with the case, the Gurlax tested the case and was surprised by its toughness. After breaking one of it's seven mandibles it was starting to try and pry the case open when it heard a rumbling noise approaching. Fearing that the Atrofunk was coming, it dropped the case and fled, not knowing that the Atrofunk's traveling sound sounded, coincidentally, exactly the same as the motor on a scooter...