Katja shivered, the fog that swirled around the human adventurer was all but solid, it seemed at times; and cold to the touch. It was everywhere, enveloping her in its folds.

Through the mists, she could barely even make out the trees of the forest, not more than two yards away on either side of the dirt road, only vague, unsettling shadows looming in the eerie half-light. Katja and her companion, an elf maiden named Thrycia, had been travelling through the woods for what felt like days now, on a narrow dirt path winding its way through the gnarled ancient trees.

The two adventurers had stuck to the path, not daring to stray off it. In this sorcerous fog, for no mist this thick could possibly be natural, it would be all too easy to become lost, wandering the woods until some misfortune befell them. Though they had no idea where it led, the path at least gave them a direction to head in.

Besides, it had to lead somewhere, right? It was certainly better than walking in circles; that was for sure. Katja just wished she was more confident of that…

Silently, the young thief cursed the ill luck that had dogged every step of this journey. It had seemed easy enough, back at the tavern where she'd signed on to this doomed expedition; follow the ancient map to the dungeon of the Lich Thornagon, make their way to the lowest level of the infernal ruins past his traps and monstrous minions, kill the Lich, grab as much of his treasure as they could all carry then head back to the city to claim their reward from the prince.

There had been fifteen in the party then. Fighting their way through the traps and nightmare monsters infesting the dungeon had claimed two. Among them had been their cleric, forcing the wounded to bear their injuries as best they could and press on.

The fight against the Lich had been fierce and hotly contested. The struggle had rattled the walls and pillars of the deep caverns. The floor had split open and magma had poured forth killed two companions had died. By the time the Lich had tasted final death, five more brave companions were dead and nearly all of them bore injuries of some sort.

They'd looted the Lich's treasure; battered, but victorious; and began the long ascent to the surface. That was when they'd discovered there were still plenty of horrors awaiting them. They'd been ambushed during their journey upwards by monsters, driving insane by the death of their master. Of the original company, as far as Katja knew, only she and Thrycia remained alive.

"We didn't even get the treasure." Katja thought bitterly. They'd dropped most of their looted plunder to lighten the load, along with most of their equipment, as they fled the monsters chasing them upwards, hoping to buy their lives with speed, rather than gold.

The last of the treasure had been in Grimna, the dwarf's, pack. He'd been dragged down by a swarm of cavern lurkers, too slow to keep up with the rest of the party. The few coins and trinkets Katja had kept on her person would barely be enough to pay for the equipment she'd lost.

And now, it was beginning to look like they wouldn't even be able to claim the bounty on the Lich's head; assuming they made it back to civilization at all. The two were completely and totally lost.

One of the many arcane spells protecting the Lich's dungeon was a discombobulating ward cast over the dungeon and the surrounding forests and swamps. Anyone who entered without some sort of  magical protection would become lost immediately, wandering aimlessly until the dangers of the swamps or the goblin bandits who haunted those blasted lands, picked the unfortunate travellers off.

A sorceress in the party had, temporarily, dispelled the ward when they'd entered the dungeon. Unfortunately, at the moment, she was wrapped up in a Thrasus Spider's web somewhere between the fifth and tenth levels and hadn't been available to do it a second time.

That little fact hadn't been very high on any of the last three survivors, Katja, Thrycia, and a female shifter named Gotha's, minds, when they'd left the cavern. Chief among their concerns had been avoiding the herd of enraged Drognem that had been chasing them.

No sooner had they stepped outside, then the ground had begun to shake beneath the women's feet and the hills had spun around them, blurring. Katja had managed to grab hold of Thrycia before everything went black. When she'd woken, the two had been on this path. There'd been no sign of Gotha or the Drognem. They'd been following the path since.

***

At that moment, Thrycia stopped and sat down. "That's it. I can't go any further. This is as good a place as any to stop." Her skin was pale, even for an elf's. A Drognem had managed to bite her during their flight from the cave. Though their poison wasn't strong enough to kill an elf, it had been enough to leave her very weak. "Let's make camp for the night."

"Night?" Katja thought to herself, looking around. For all she knew, it could have been mid-morning. The human woman was, nearly, certain more than twenty four hours had passed and the fog had not gotten any lighter or any darker, nor given any indication that any time had passed.

She shrugged. It hardly mattered. She dropped her pack and stepped off the path to gather some sticks for a fire, careful to stay within sight of the road, all too aware how easy it would be to get lost in this unnatural fog.

Thrycia unrolled a couple blankets that would have to do for bedrolls; all their other camping equipment had been lost with the rest of their equipment. She took some hardtack and jerky out as Katja returned. Katja grimaced. She'd had better rations on a goblin slave barge, and that had been no vacation.

"What happened to the elven waybread you had?" she asked.

"Rotten." Thrycia replied, doing her best to make the hard tack chewable if not edible, with some water from their last water-skin, another thing they were running low of.

"I thought waybread never spoiled or went bad?" Katja replied.

"Not after it's been fished out of the belly of a Norgo slime monster." The elf replied. Katja sighed. There was no chance of them hunting anything better in the woods either. Even if they could find something, the animal sounds the two had heard in the mists didn't sound like they came from anything edible. They ate in silence.

Katja debated whether or not to light a fire. It might attract attention, and this far from civilization, anyone they met was unlikely to be friendly. The two women were practically unarmed; Thrycia had lost her bow while Katja had only a small dagger in her belt. Thrycia was more or less helpless from her poisoning, and, while Katja had no major wounds, she'd been scrapped up enough and was tired enough to know any fight could only have one outcome…

On the other hand, it was getting colder and; her sore back and hands told her; if she wasn't going to use it after all, why'd she go to trouble of gathering all this wood in the first place. Odds were there was no one around for miles. She got out her flint and steel and made small fire, feeding twigs and small sticks into the tiny flame, building it up into a modest campfire.

Katja rolled up in her blanket. The dirt road, and a couple stones she hadn't been able to brush away before lying down, made a far from comfortable bed, but tired as she was, Katja couldn't care less. In moments, she was fast asleep…

***

Not surprisingly, the fog still enveloped everything around her when Katja woke the next morning, if morning it actually was. It hadn't gotten any darker or lighter that she could tell.

The fire had died down to a few smoldering embers among the grey ash while they'd been asleep. Katja made a not to put out the embers and cover over the ash with dirt before they moved on, just in case they were being followed.

Suddenly, Katja realized she was all alone in the woods. Thrycia was gone. She'd taken her pack and bedroll as well. The only clue that she'd even been with Katja was a stretch of path brushed clear of rocks where she'd laid down the evening before, and a set of tracks leading off into the woods.

"Goddess curse me," Katja swore to herself. "I might as well be a fishmonger's wife or a merchant's concubine for surely I am no warrioress." Her finely honed senses hadn't woken her when her companion had left. Stealthy as the elf was, that was no excuse for her laxness. She must have been even more exhausted then she'd though the evening before.   

Katja sighed. Should she risk the fog and go look for the elf? No telling if she was planning on coming back, or even if she could come back, more likely than not hopelessly lost by now.

On the other hand, if she was coming back, the last thing Katja wanted to do was be off blundering in the woods looking for her when Thrycia returned. Perhaps it might be best to wait a couple hours for her to return.

The young woman stood gazing into the mists, wondering what to do...

What should Katja do?
Keep Going: The elf left on her own. Let her find her own way back then.
Wait for her: An hour or two couldn't hurt, right? Just sit tight and wait.
Go looking for her: I can't just abandon a companion like that. Best to go look for her.