“Yeah,” Bonnie agreed, crouching down to look at what Lucas was talking about. “None of this stuff is precious silk, and I don’t see any worms on their way to mamma to make me some moolah.”

“That’s because silkworms aren’t the only creature that makes silk,” Lucas said, standing up and pulling out his staff. “Nick . . . Nick, you might . . .”

“What? Stop speaking in riddles and just say what it is already. Freaking heck, man, why don’t—”

“TURN AROUND!” Lucas shouted. “TURN AROUND AND CAST! NOW!”

Nick hesitated a second before he turned around, finally spinning on his heel and throwing his channeled Firebolt down the tunnel. “At what?” he demanded, panicked. “What am I casting at?”

“At our feet . . . and then everywhere!” Lucas insisted. Rather than bothering with Firebolt himself, he began channeling Zap instead. Nick’s second spell zoomed through the air and into the ground a few feet away, engulfing what appeared to be nothing in a ball of flame.

“Why am I doing this?” Nick asked quizzically as he fired off another Firebolt.

Before Lucas had time to answer, however, experience points started appearing. There were a dozen death messages that read out 1 to 3 EXP, no loot, and listed the enemy as “Small Baby Spider.”

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope!” Bonnie shouted when she spied the messages. She began swinging her torch at the ground in wide arcs, ostensibly to keep the tiny arachnids away from her. “I don't care what you're paying me. No! Spiders are a no!”

“Ha? Giving up so easily? Some mercenary you are!” Nick snapped snidely. He cast one Firebolt after another down the tunnel, each one shooting farther than the last and garnering the group experience. “I guess you’re not going to be collecting your paycheck.”

“Hey!” Bonnie exclaimed. “I am not just some random merc!” With that, she reached into her backpack and pulled out a bottle of booze. “I will have you know that I am Bonnie, the Queen of Hired Guns!” She heaved the bottle of liquor at the ground where Nick’s latest Firebolt was headed. Blazing heat exploded everywhere when the two connected, scorching the area around the shattered container. “Suck on this, spiders! I’m going to burn you all! Even if I have to waste the quest’s entire bounty in liquor costs to do so!”

Lucas finished his third Zap and sent yet another bolt of Lightning crackling down the hall. He silently rejoiced when it didn’t connect with anything.

“Stupid Rogue, that’s not a flame,” Nick snickered. “This is a flame!” He threw out another Firebolt, but despite his melodramatics, it was still the same size as the previous one.

“Will you just shut up already?!” Bonnie cried, tossing the second bottle and scattering the flame farther forward.

Since Lucas’s first Zap hadn't caught anything large, he was holding his energy back for a moment as he considered what to do next.