Alastair realized he was in combat. He combined for a three-red connection and his avatar punched a rabbit straight in the face.

  Flor said, “Are you back?”

  “Yeah, I think so. How did we get in combat?”

  Maelstrom said, “You wandered into its aggro range. Meaning the well-defined platform that counts as a landing and combat zone.”

  “Oh! Did we resolve the issue about having five in the party?”

  “Yes. Sparks took the loot and returned to the entry to craft items. Did you black out or something?”

  “The last thing I remember was that we were listening to Sparks talk and then my mind went wandering and then I was fighting a rabbit.” It wasn’t the first time he had blacked out in this game, and it was honestly a bit concerning. “Does someone else mind taking the lead for a bit?”

  Galoots went forward to the lead. “I’ll go. Do you need to head down and keep Sparks company or do you think you’ll be alright?”

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Just, there is so much to think about.”

  Flor was by his side a moment later. “Has this happened any since we’ve been apart?”

  It took a large amount of self-control to answer without snark. “Not that I recall. Not since in Mida’s office.”

  Galoots called out, “Next combat in two steps. Everyone ready?” Then she proceeded to step on the platform without waiting for a response.

  Alastair was drawn into the combat support role. Regardless, these second-floor rabbits were easy enough at their current level that the support wouldn’t be necessary. Really, unless the rabbits were defensive, they were all destroyed with one hit. It probably wouldn’t be until the fourth level that there was a need for the support roles, and even then…well, they should be to the fifth level quickly, and then the decision was if they should take on the big boss. No one had done so yet, and they had speculated if it would follow the animal theme.

  Galoots had noted that the foes were all of a typically animatronic mammal theme here, and each floor increasing in size. So maybe the big boss would be something like a bear or something unusually fearsome. It was nice to see the enemies’ stats, which Alastair wondered if had something to do with the new interface. The pattern had been fairly apparent so far, up to this second floor, with the standard mouse enemies having one defense and one attack, but the floor one boss having double that. The standard floor two rabbits also had two and two, so the floor boss would likely have three and three or four and four. And then arguably the process would increase from there.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  They had also analyzed the arithmetic of how many coins they would come away with each run. While the coins dropped never remained consistent between runs, Maelstrom had pointed out a rough cap on each floor that she hadn’t exceeded. Having braved level four as a solo in the past, she had pointed out that the amount didn’t quite double each floor. They would get roughly fifty coins for each run, before the processing and selling of loot. The max gear loadout for each member cost around three hundred and fifty for a brawler and two hundred fifty coins for a scribe. Since Alastair was the only scribe in the party, they needed over sixteen hundred coins to outfit the party fully, assuming they started from scratch, which would be thirty-three runs before selling loot. They would also be able to trade in their current gear, and it seemed like Maelstrom already had some progress to a full level three gear loadout. Still, these runs weren’t going fast.

  “This will take us the better part of two days, won’t it?”

  Maelstrom said, “Likely. At least, we won’t be able to gear up fully today.”

  Alastair continued, “Why don’t we limit the party to three members and rotate members out after each run to rest and focus on crafting? We can use the party chat to bring up a member as we get closer to the fourth floor.”

  Galoots said, “Are you rethinking about heading down to help Sparks now?”

  He shook his head no. “Maybe after this run, but not yet. What time should we abandon to sell off and buy gear?”

  Maelstrom said, “We’ll need to let the dungeon reset between each run, anyway. It resets if uninhabited by a party at the top of an hour.”

  “Which sounds like we’ll need to head out after every run. The developers made strange calculations to figure out how much time would be necessary to get through this part.”

  “They probably screwed up the programming that let people keep the coins they earn overnight when the program resets each day rather than progress.”

  “There is no way that is intentional, right?”

  “Doubtful, at least.”

  Flor said, “You done chatting over there? Can we at least plan how to get through the Keep?”

  Alastair answered, “All out assault. Just roll up and storm the place.”

  The conversation paused as Galoots entered combat with the second-floor rabbit boss. On coming out, she said, “I doubt it’s that simple from what you said about it before.”

  Maelstrom added, “We’ll probably need to leverage the privateers’ party, and maybe the Lords from the city. I imagine there will be a brawl in the Main Hall, culminating with a fight of the necromancer.”

  Flor said, “I’m not sure the necromancer is the level boss. She seemed…I don’t know…calm? At least not overtly malicious.”

  “Who do you think it is, then?”

  “I don’t know. Just don’t eat or drink anything offered up there. I think whoever is in charge poisoned me. Did you notice who else was in the dungeon when you…rescued me?” She seemed hesitant to say that last part.

  Alastair shook his head. “No, you were the only one we saw, but it’s possible there were more dungeons further back. Did you say the Lord necromancer is a she?”

  “Yes, the Lady Oriol. And I think technically she isn’t even a necromancer. She saved the King from death in a dungeon crawl, and people assumed she brought him back from the dead.”

  “That’s some misdirection. Well, if it wasn’t the necromancer as the Keep’s boss, then who?”

  “Probably the Lord Chamberlain. At least, he has the look of a villain about him. Surely he could be running the show behind the curtains.”