You currently have an entrance monologue. Would you like to change or update it?

[Yes / No]

Lucas hesitated, thinking about what he was going to say. He didn’t know what he could possibly spit out in any single sentence that would be good enough to cause any of the enemies to like him. Then an idea struck him, and he hit the “Yes” button. The prompt appeared for him to begin his new entrance monologue, and he said the best version of a manipulative line he could think of. “You adventurers have come such a long way, but I must apologize. I am a poor host, you see, as I have but one item to give, and there are four of you. Please do not be angry at each other for this . . . I’m sure you all are capable of sharing.

When you are satisfied with the monologue, press the Finish button. If you want to try again, press the Retry button.

[Finish] [Retry]

Lucas hit the “Finish” button, and a new message popped up that he hadn’t seen last time.

Due to the nature of your entrance monologue, your loot shall be condensed into a single item. Combat begins in three seconds.

Before he got a chance to celebrate the fact that his entire Loot Level would go toward making a single item, the enemies had already begun moving. Thankfully, Lucas also noticed that his guards were moving faster than they had last time. They quickly darted across the floor, this time in a formation, and Lucas watched while channeling his first spell. One of the guards was blown up by the enemies’ Mage using a giant ball of fire, but the other two moved to occupy their respective opponents.

Lucas’s Meddling Minds went off half a second after the enemy sorcerer’s spell, and this time he aimed it at the caster. The archer, unable to create any distance between himself and the guard, swapped his bow out for a pair of daggers and engaged in melee combat.

But the caster turned to him and cursed. “Your filthy, thieving hands shall not touch my gear!” he shouted. He then slammed his staff onto the ground and began channeling.

“What?! What are you doing?! We’re a team!” the archer yelled back. But by then it was too late. Ice grew around his feet and slowly began creeping its way up his body, preventing him from moving. It caught the guard within its limited range, but it was clearly centered around the archer.

“Stop this madness!” the Healer bellowed. He turned and threw a Force Shield up between himself and the Mage, but that allowed the second remaining guard to turn and gore the man with his halberd. Then, as if to celebrate the victory, the guard lifted the corpse above his head and slammed it back on the ground as if for good measure.