With the forest and mists muting everything outside of a faint breeze, there was complete silence as Seru looked at each of them, face quickly becoming more smug with every set of eyes she met.

She couldn't help the glee in her voice. “Yeah, you guys are definitely in a time loop.”

Everyone else around the camp fire was still frozen, Corvanye included. He turned to look at Wick for her guidance, and she looked at him helplessly. Nyxion started to stand and Lady Blood Claw quickly grabbed his arm.

The alien woman's voice was tight, and her skin rippled red then orange. “Let's.... chill out for a moment.” Corvayne watched Miss Blood Claw turn to look at the girl smugly smiling at everyone from next to him. “Seru is your name, right?”

“Yeah. I don't know yours.” Seru responded.

“Lady Blood Claw.” She offered her now gray hand and Seru shook it.

“So Seru, when you say you think we are in a time loop... what exactly do you mean by that?” Lady blood claw had darkened into a charcoal color. It had to mean something. He wondered if LBC would tell him.

“Okay. All three of you...” Seru pointed at Corvayne, Wick, and Mister I in turn. “All three of you kept saying things that implied you were working off a time table. Key words like 'again' and 'this time' come up a lot. Sometimes you responded like you had made a mistake. Also, you have friends who are going to pop in here, but why wouldn't they be geared up to blow away a hundred goblins with guns? Or heck, any weapon. Let's talk about how Corvayne knew every other floor where to look for things, but he hit floor six and I watched him run around like a chicken with his head cut off because he had no idea what he's up against. Then after he does know, I see how he acts later once he has a handle on a floor and he might as well be striding out of a movie screen. Like, the dude is a natural and all once he's not distracted and tired, but it's totally different from the feeling he had say, on the river. He seemed to know exactly where monsters were hiding and just bolted at them like a machine. More importantly, every single one of you has been one hundred percent sure if I blab you're dead. Okay, cool, but I could also tell there's some sort of resentment aimed at Nyxion, and it's not just that he's an asshole who likes getting sat on...”

She paused and leaned forward to look at Nyxion. “Sorry, no judgement on your tastes. I bet girls have fun riding your face.”

“Oh perish the thought you irritating harlot. Water under the bridge.” Nyx spoke in a jesting tone, his eyes sharp. “Do go on with your amusing theory.”

Seru continued. “See, Corvayne had said he had been here a while back. Weeks ago. Except I go hiking here at least every weekend because my parents own a place just down the road. The clearing on Goblin Hill is my favorite spot.”

“Wait it's named literally Goblin's Hill? Hmm... uhh that's interesting.” Wick was clearly sweating like crazy. Grunt was watching all this happen and simply grabbed another log to toss it on the fire. Was he... faintly amused?

Seru didn't stray from her point. She smiled and stood up, pacing near the rekindled fire. “I was there on Thursday because Friday is a holiday for Gygaxians. Unless you did everything the previous day, the stairs didn't exist at all before Friday. Also, that discussion about the value of how much money people got killed over was suspicious as hell. You all knew what happened, with some guy poking holes in everyone, I heard the same example every time. How would you all know that's how your friends died but not all the amount of money they had? Or how much sold? Not to mention what you're doing, farting around with goblins. Like, do I look dumb? You wouldn't do that if you thought someone was on your trail. I know people think I'm stupid but come on.”

Wick grimaced “We do think that, but less so in light of the rather EMBARRASSING last five minutes. Did you pillow talk it out of Corvayne?” Wick looked over at Corvayne. “Oh don't give me that shocked look! I gave you permission because because I knew you're a sopping wet cracker for lost girls and I can tell you felt bad for scaring her. Also you looked guilty on seeing me again.”

“I... didn't say anything.” He felt angry, and tried to divert it with rigid control as he folded his arms. Could she not make his mistakes public? Was being in love with Wick ever going to just work?

LBC shrugged, then rubbed her hands a little. “Ok. Thank you Seru for explaining why you think we are in a loop.”

“You have not done this a lot, or this is the earliest you've hit this dungeon in the loop... but wait, you didn't take my phone any of the other times?” Seru looked between Corvayne, Mister I, and Wick.

Wick sighed. “You nitwit. You know how Corvayne kept saying we saved your life? The entrance was nothing but bones and scraps of nice jackets. You and the other three were almost certainly eaten.”

Seru's triumphant look faded. “You don't know that. Maybe I made it out?”

Corvayne gestured. “Maybe. But with only one leg if that was the case. I saw one of your boots on a leg bone. I am pretty sure Jake would be shirtless since he gave his to a skeleton. Dave left some of his camo in the tree by those two. So I can say, maybe, but I'd not start a fight at such long odds.”

Grunt nudged Wick and made some gestures. Corvayne looked between them and Seru who was digesting his comment. Her face was wobbling between on the verge of tears and horrified.

“Wait, you slept with me even though you've seen me dead? That's really weird!”

“You were the one who kept bugging me to do it.” Corvayne shot back. “I just wanted to go to bed and saw no other way to stop you.”

“I don't like it. You're telling me I got eaten?” Seru said. “Did they kill me first?”

“I assume you fought to the bitter end and didn't feel anything.” Corvayne didn't mention that it would probably take a long time to bleed out if the goblins were just using poorly made knives.

“Let's move on.” Wick added. Her shoulders were moving up and down as she took deep breaths and he could see her closing her eyes. Wait, was she okay?

Mister I nodded. “We know the nature of our goblin foes. Why do you think we were so adamant about exterminating them? If not us, they eat each other. Mosh being an exception.”

Seru backed off a little. “Sorry it's just really gross to think about being... torn apart... like something eating my foot.”

Wick was trembling “Stop.”

Nyxion was focused on Seru. “Oh no, never... I'm sure they just started at the soft parts, you know when animals eat a person it's gruesome because they...”

“Shut the FUCK UP! FUCK! FUCK!” Wick stood up, stumbling for a moment, then ran into the underbrush.

Grunt moved to stand but Corvanye was already walking past him. “I'll try to calm her down.” he told everyone who was looking between where she ran off to and him. He ignored their protests and started jogging after her into the mist shrouded woods.

Wick didn't get all that far and he found her by following the sound of her sobbing and throwing up. She was hunched over in a circle of ferns, coughing and retching with her cloud robe splayed out behind her. It was getting dark, but he didn't see anything else moving in the brush. He crouched near her and spoke softly.

“Wick, are you okay? I'm here. Take your time.” He really wanted to comfort her, but felt this was a moment she'd rather not have him all over her.

“Fuck. I can't... It won't stop.” Wick was crying then coughed and started retching again.

“I'll get you a towel and some water.” He dashed back to camp and picked his pack up.

After a minute of her heaving he was able to hand her a towel he had looted from the house he was staying at. She rolled back and wiped her face then blew her nose into it, and offered it back to him. He took it and tossed it into the woods, then handed her the canteen. She swished her mouth out, spit, then drank some. The girl he loved was miserable, and he couldn't do anything.

Wick “I'm sorry. This isn't going to work. I'm just spinning my wheels and I...”

Corvayne sat next to her. “You haven't slept well since the car. Lets make camp.”

“I got plenty of sleep. We should keep going...”

“No, you haven't. You look burned out. Wick, I am willing to die for you. Heck, I did die for you. I'd do it again-”

“That's part of the fucking problem! You're such a god damned idiot, what do you THINK it felt like to see you die? Then we can't talk about it, at all, for a week, and you run off and now it's like, do I have to kill someone to stop it from happening again? And I keep thinking about the memories I have that, of the... of the first time and it hurts and I just want it to stop. The pills help sometimes. Mister I tries, Dawn, Grunt, and you... can't you see I'm not worth it? I'm not a good person. I can't fix my own problems. I can't protect myself, I'm going to get you killed until it sticks for both of us, and I was going to ask you about fucking some jackass who I-”

“Wick. I love you despite that.” Corvayne said. There was silence, then she leaned against him.

“If I was a better person I'd tell you it's over.” Wick muttered.

“I have no idea why you like me, at all, but it's why I'm not rolling around in the dirt like you are right now.” He put an arm around her.

“I really mean it. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't have a... a... plan. I think it's going to happen even faster this time. We're going to die again.”

“We'll figure it out. We are going to get stronger. Seru, for all I don't like her, might be right about leveling up. So even if we don't get treasure killing stuff here may be doing something.”

Wick turned to him and pulled her head back. “I know coming from me it's absolutely the pot calling the kettle black, but did fucking her give you her crazies too?”

“I wish you had just told her I was off limits.” Corvayne noted dryly.

“I wish you had exceeded my expectations and just tied her up instead of letting her wear you down.”

“Ok good, now we're both angry about the same person rather than moping.” He thought for a while. “If you want to just get out of here... we can try diving deep into this place. The inn keeper had said he came from a different world. Hari showed up here so it's probably not strictly one way. We can go back to the inn and ask him how to travel through the dungeon. If you need to get out, we can get out.”

“Okay.” She put an arm around him.

“Hey Wick?” He looked off at the pale fog, a shade of blue-green against the black outlines of trees as dusk fell.

“Yeah?”

“You smell like vomit.” Corvayne squeezed her shoulder. That got a laugh out of her.

They moved camp to the little hill with the pulley cart platform. There was some fencing that Corvayne dragged along the edge of the hill to make it harder for any porcupines or other monsters to sneak in. Before Wick was willing to sleep, she wanted to finish the conversation from before. They sat on the grass at the edge of a tarp they had put out under a tent. The biggest suprise to Corvayne was Seru and Nyxion had worked together to set the tent up and did so pretty smoothly.

Corvayne had set up his own tarps as a lean-to opposite the tent. He didn't mind sleeping outside in a bedroll. Wick had laid out her sleeping bag next to his.

Wick started their little meeting. “Okay, First things first. Seru, I vote you can work with us. But I want to say, we don't know why we are not dead on a tarmac. We don't really know what exactly we did but it stirred up a hornet's nest. You are probably going to die.”

Corvayne looked over at Seru. She nodded, pushing a little hair out of her face. “As the holy vestments say: Death is Certain.”

Wick looked around. “Anyone strongly disagree?”

Nyx smiled and looked at Seru. “I think if she's close to us, there's less trouble.”

Corvayne nodded. “Fine point. Seru, you already know about us. Catch.”

He tossed her phone to her. She caught it and fumbled the catch a little before getting a firm grip on it. “Just hand it to me! I mean, thank you Corvy-Baby”

Corvayne winced. “Don't ever say that again. Please.”

Wick rubbed her hands and put them closer to the fire. This prompted Corvayne to extend his cloak around her. “There was talk about running a smoke screen. We'll talk about it, assuming it takes us another day to reach the end of floor 10. I want to talk about leaving Cascadia too. As in, going into this dungeon and not coming out.”

Nyxion shook his head. “I'm against it. I actually DO want to fix The Collective and get my revenge.”

Lady Blood Claw shrugged, colors of blue and gray gently flowing across her skin. “I agree to leaving but I want Corvayne to help me find the Magus.”

Corvayne folded his arms. “I agree and I'm not going back to my village. They exiled me, and even if they didn't they can eat rocks.”

Seru laughed. “I think that's the angriest I've ever seen him get aside from at me.”

Wick butt in. “We'll have Corvayne explain why we'd rather not deal with his village later.”

Mister I shook his head. “I don't think the dungeon is an option if the three gentlemen blab. Or at least, this one wouldn't be. Finding somewhere else may be the most enlightened choice. I also defer my vote.

Grunt made an X with his arms. He then punched his palm: Don't run. Let's beat that guy up.

Wick said. “I vote we leave, but not before we get Hari and Mosh.”

Seru thought. “I'm okay with going on an adventure, but I want to tie up loose ends before we go.”

Wick nodded. “Most of us only have shallow roots here, but I know Grunt and Mister I are exceptions...”

Mister I laughed. “My friends would skin me alive if I didn't chase a meat-dream. I think if I tell them about the tower, they will forgive me. In fact, they are the sort that would cherish being part of the first wave.”

Grunt folded his arms. He looked at Wick, then Corvayne, and nodded.

Wick asked him “Even with dawn?”

Grunt nodded. He made a reeling gesture then a shrug with hands presenting to Wick: Could we bring her too?

“Yes but she seems glued to Cascadia. I think she's going to just dump you again rather than leave.”

Grunt made a salute. It was odd: he was a great bro and all, but what was the difference that made him stay previously and now willing to go with them? Maybe the difference was Grunt thought they'd make it off the planet? He reflected that Grunt and Wick were both kind to him for so long, and resolved that he'd be Grunt's wing-man should Dawn not come along.

Oh. He really hoped Dawn wasn't coming. The woman terrified him.

“Ok. Leaving has it.” Wick leaned against Corvayne.

Nyxion raised an arm. “We should raid the mine. Stop the group from nuking it, take a few items, and we have another point for the information to spread from.”

Lady Blood Claw laughed, her skin flashing bright blues and pinks. “Greedy!”

The nobleman smirked and made a flourish with his hand. “Greed is good. Also, if we are keeping our things, I'd like to fly again with those boots.”

Corvayne added “Not to mention saving lives.”

Wick gave his shoulder a friendly headbutt. “Okay. Last... levels.”

Seru nodded. “The church of Gygax believes in systems. Tabletop games, video games, they are sort of like shadows cast on the wall of a real thing or something. I admit, I thought it was kind of just an excuse for a bunch of old guys to get kids to play healers in their Dung-” Lady Blood Claw gestured and for a moment Seru's audio went out.

Her color shifted to orange and she frowned. “Don't say either word. Just say DnD.”

Seru looked angry and a few seconds later was audible again. “That was really rude!”

“What you say in a place like this can influence it. Maybe even you. It's thought that intent fuels how it picks what perks you get. You don't say that word because it frames this place as an adversary.” Lady Blood Claw folded her hands and frowned as her orange skin rippled to light gray. “I can't comprehend what would happen if you played a game of 'you know whats and you know whos' in here. I don't like it's in my head even.”

Seru shrugged. “Anyway, the Church of Gygax did well because it pushed personal growth, but maybe the pope on Tripic has been actually gaining levels... it would explain why they fuss over any attempts to move people to a philosophical interpretation.”

Corvayne added “It's real enough... watch.”

He intoned about being his stats and rolled his hands. Again he saw a blue piece of paper appear. No changes in anything aside from his HP being full at the moment.

As silly as everyone looked, they all tried it at once. He thought he heard LBC swear as she either messed the incantation up or didn't say it hard enough.

Nyx stood up. “I do NOT like what it thinks my class is! I am no 'Tyrant'!”

Seru waved a hand. “Calm down. You can be a good or bad anything. It's probably a statement of how you overcome challenges or something. I mean, I want to be a journalist, my job is to take pictures of myself, and my class is Monk 7.”

LBC tried the motion. “Level 7 enchanter, level 10 blade, and plus 10 next to it. Hmm. Seems I have a boost to enchanting.”

Grunt shrugged and flexed: Can't say the words but who cares I'm buff.

Mister I invoked it and raised an eyebrow. “Hmm... It doesn't like me. Perhaps because I've been trying those invocations to Lythandies?”

Wick hissed and held her head. “Time Mage 11. But something about it gave me a real bad headache.”

Corvayne figured he'd add his two cents. “I already checked. Arms Master 30.”

Wick looked at him. “How the heck are you so high level? Also Arms MASTER hmm? That might explain why you can fire lasers out of a can opener.”

Corvayne smiled. “I'll try that next time I'm disarmed in reach of a drawer of utensils. But as for level... I've been fighting monsters for years? I was stunned when Cascadia didn't have a wall around it.” Corvayne thought about the kinds of things he fought non stop. “There was some sort of disturbance in nature north of my town that spawned things like sixty foot wide birds and huge armored bugs that could spray acid all over, as well as swarms of little things. I suppose it also means if Gygax thinks I'm skilled enough to be called an Arms Master, then my village would be full of people it would call 'ultra grandmasters' or whatever is above that.”

Seru gestured at Corvayne. “Well Gygax thinks you're ten times as durable as me. But we don't really know if 30 is high or we are all just really low.”

Nyxion folds his arms. “I've killed men. But not many. Lady Blood Claw has certainly slain more...”

Seru gestured to the woods down the hill. “If you just think about games... usually taking down bigger prey is worth more. So it could be that Corvayne is so high level because the monsters out in his desert are big baddies. We killed goblins for a whole week, but the porcupines got me a level somewhere in there.”

Wick gestured around them. “I would assume then that going deeper we'll find more dangerous monsters. The armadillos and dogs are not as dangerous as the monsters on a different floor four. And these floors have added monsters that can attack at range, though from what Corvayne said of the drones, they were very ineffectual.”

Corvayne felt his cheek with his tongue. “Yeah. As long as they didn't hit something delicate. The spines are way worse due to the number in a volley.”

Wick nodded. “But really... we need tools to get better at understanding what's making us stronger.”

LBC said. “So lets see. Our group needs: A space ship. More magic powers. A better understanding of forces few people even know about. A way to defeat an entire empire that has all three of those. Was I missing anything?”

Grunt mimed holding reigns: How about a pony?

Mister I held up a hand. “I would like to eat the natural treasure of a million planets that would restore my youth.”

Grunt reached into his pack and handed Mister I a banana with brown spots. The monk accepted it and started peeling it. “Not quite what I had in mind, but thank you Grunt. Your friendship is a million planet treasure as well.”

Grunt waved his hands then held up three fingers, four, waved his hands, then five.

The monk laughed “You are too modest, I'd say at least in the ten to twenty range.”

Wick nodded. “Grunt's worth it. All right, I'm calling last watch or none at all, you guys figure out the rest.” She stood up, messed with Corvayne's hair then took a few steps over and flopped into her bedroll.