Swamped

"What happened to you, anyways? You're not in good shape at all."

Rider laughs, weakly.

"What hasn't happened? Last night, Long surprised me by igniting a pocket of swamp gas. The next thing I knew, we were in a tunneler's nest, barely conscious. I found an exit, and we went through it, then we had to fend off a pair of thornbeasts. It didn't go that well." He pauses and glances down at his damaged armor. "Poor Long came out of that worse than I did. Fortunately, I saw tracks from your group's wagon. We followed them to where you'd set up camp."

"Oh. They must have been worried about me," you say.

"Indeed. We compared notes, and reasoned that their missing researcher - you - had probably gotten swept up in the same phenomenon that brought us here. They were relieved, but I knew the swamp's dangers well... but I decided not to dash their hopes, not until I could say for sure what had happened."

"I'm glad," you say. You feel a little bad about causing so much trouble for his group. "I'll be able to see them all again."

"Well. Assuming we make it back. Long came down with desert fever, and your treatment options were designed for greblings. I knew I could help him if I could get back here, so I borrowed the compass in order to find a gateway. Theodore suspected there was a connection, at any rate, and it was our only lead. I suppose it's confirmed now."

He hands you the compass.

"I suppose it's best that I return it now... hmm?"

The compass' needle is moving.

"Is this pointing to our exit?"

"That's worrying. I wouldn't want anyone else getting caught in the desert. Hmm... but it doesn't seem to indicate the gateway opening for quite some time."

"How can you tell?"

"It's barely glowing."

You take a look at the needle again. You can see a very faint blue light around it.

"The glow tells you how close it is to opening?"

"So it seems. It was quite bright before my last transport." He slowly gets to his feet. "Well. It seems to me it would be best to use the time to work out the exact location, and make sure nobody else gets dragged along with us."

"There's a problem with that plan. We're both trying to keep low profiles. And you're still not in any shape to walk right now."

"That's a matter of exhaustion, not injury. I can feel my strength starting to return. But yes, this must be done with discretion. How do you think we should approach this?"

He's asking you? This is his base, not yours. But you suppose if you've got any ideas, it can't hurt to mention them.