Istredd has a tendency to get distance and seem overly calm and controlled, and he's done the same since getting here. He's been distant and focused, at least on the outside, but internally he's fared not much better than Wilhelm himself, or anyone else. Saying that about their surprise survival is giving some glimpse into his own struggle. He truly did almost die here, after the others escaped, wounded and infected, his breath becoming more struggled by the hour.

They were all more resilient than they probably expected, to survive this. The fact they all did is a miracle, as he said. But all the bodies around them speaks to how few others were lucky; they'd just been here longer.

"The vines are off the ground. Not as damp." They are on the walls instead, and they seem deceptively simple right now, but Istredd and Wilhelm are well-aware that they were alive and strangled people in here. He got caught himself once, but rescued, early on. They definitely should be taken care of.