Swamped

It does occur to you that you haven't made any effort to find a way back. Ember never mentioned that it would be a problem, so you assumed he had a way to retrieve you. Besides, Marshall and Long were brought here somehow, so presumably whatever handled that can go in the other direction.

"Let's figure out how to leave," you say. "What do you remember about coming here?"

"Well, I was following an ether trail, and Captain Long was there, and then... well, suddenly we were in a very small room. It was almost like a closet. Then we saw Ash, and... he must have knocked us out or something, because I don't remember anything clearly after that until I woke up in that cell."

Not much to go on. Ash could probably give you more answers, but not in his current state. Maybe Carma could be persuaded, if you had any idea where to find her, but relying on the hospitality of your captor is hardly ideal.

"Don't suppose you remember anything about where this closet was."

Marshall thinks for a bit.

"I think it was in a larger room. I remember catching a glimpse of an open door behind Ash. But I couldn't say where it was..."

Hmm? The quiet kid looked up for just a moment, before putting their head back down.

"Well, maybe we've got someone can lead us there," you say, looking down.

"Can you lead us to where the Captain and I arrived?" Marshall asks. The kid slowly gets up, bows to Marshall, and walks out. Guess they know their way around, at least.

You and Marshall start following, and soon enough the kid leads you to a room. When you open it up, you find it's mostly empty, except for a small chamber in the corner. There's some weird symbols cut into the wooden walls of the chamber.

"What do you make of this, Marshall?"

Marshall glances at the symbols.

"I think I saw these in one of those books. And I think there's some ether here? But it seems to be fading. It might not work the way it's supposed to."

Well, that's not very promising. Now what?