I got myself stuck on some alternative directions for a few Hans chapters near the beginning. I've been putting a lot of time into rewriting the ones around the farm shop/barn/tractor chase, since I've never been happy with the pacing there and I think that's got to be a big contributor for action fatigue.

I managed to rewrite them much more smoothly with way more character & some good moments between Hans and Erika. Instead of action over 3 chapters, I squashed the majority of the action into 1 chapter, so it goes like this:
1. Hans makes a distraction so the other hostages can escape. Erika shouts at the penumbra to keep it from clawing him to bits. He hides from Selena.
2. After Selena goes away, they talk about what happened, who Erika is, the fact that she can sense Felix with Lilly via the agate he carries, and some other junk.
3. Erika sends her penumbra out to make a distraction among the surfacers, the two of them make a run for the barn, Selena runs after them but doesn't catch them. As previously, penumbra break into the barn, but the two don't stop to talk, just make a beeline for a tractor and drive away. (Before, this sequence was spread through 3 chapters in pieces)

My writing group aptly pointed out that while I improved all the character things, there are still some blocking snafoos that bother everybody, and they made some suggestions that are pretty good but also mean sacrificing a bunch of other things. Since it's the hinge point for all of the Hans/Erika relationship and plot that follows, how this scene plays out will affect their entire arcs.

The alternative presented was to have Hans think about making his distraction, but not go through with it, and be relieved (he thinks he's ready to sacrifice his life, but notices he wasn't actually). Instead of Erika proceeding to gather supplies for the raid, as soon as Selena goes away, Erika confronts Hans about the stuff she senses from the stone (I added stuff into this latest version where she can sense things to do with Lilly). Because of this, she is the one to decide to take action and let the hostages go. Instead of sending the penumbra out to be a distraction, they tell the penumbra to stay put, giving them a window to sneak out the back before anyone notices they're gone. They sneak to the barn, where Hans spills the fish ahead of time knowing it'll detain the penumbra, and they also start up the tractor and drive it off but they aren't on it, so their pursuers go after it and they sneak off to the city.

Essentially, it's sneaky and one-step-ahead, vs urgent and trying to keep up with what's going on.

Pros for this version:
- Hans being an academic, he can be much more thinky with the escape rather than jumping to physical solutions, ie running like mad
- He can have that moment of relief that he doesn't have to go through with making the distraction
- Erika sensing the agate on Hans is what makes her want to escape in the first place. (In the edited version atm, it still is a major motivation, but it's discussed after the other hostages have already got away)
- Gets rid of even more action than I already did
- Gives them a much bigger head start on both Selena with her control ring, and the penumbra chasing after them
- No matter how I try to describe it, my CPs can't get their heads around a tractor as a getaway vehicle, because they seem so slow and lumbering. I'm sure a tractor can go faster than a person can run, or at least as fast, but it's bothering my writing group to no end.

Cons for this version:
- We don't get to see a penumbra in action right away, when Hans makes his distraction and it moves way faster than he expected.
- We don't see Erika pleading with the penumbra to not shred Hans, and it mostly listening.
- We don't see Selena using the control ring right off the bat, and the effect it has on both Erika and penumbra.
- Alters the balance of agency between Hans and Erika in a way that affects Hans's arc, as he no longer is the one to offer to help her
- What do I do with the other three hostages, now?
- How are they going to get all the way to the city line fast enough without driving on a tractor?

The more I type this out, the more it strikes me that I'd be losing some major informative worldbuilding & characterizing, about the mystics, Erika's [iffy] control over the penumbra, and Hans's own agency. But there are some good advantages to the non-action version.

I'm not crazy excited by the ideas of the non-action version, so maybe I should stick to my gut and go with the more "fun" way. But, you know, action fatigue and all. And some question marks over things being possible, such as tractor speed, Selena not catching them, etc... which I can definitely address and try to explain better, but who knows if that's just me trying to patch a sinking ship and I'd be better of re-envisioning the scene without those holes to begin with. Help!