“Do we get to kill the nobleman now?” Bonnie asked impatiently. “I’ll give you a discount as long as we don’t have to fight that . . . that thing again. Why can’t game devs come up with something more creative than nasty spiders?”

“Maybe because they’re so creepy they always work?” Nick suggested.

“Well, whatever. Just don’t make me fight it again. Let’s just skip that one this go around,” she demanded.

“I thought you were all about doing anything you could to make money. Why would you offer up a discount?” Lucas asked.

“I am! I will make the most money. I will be the richest there is. I have to . . . because . . .” Bonnie fumbled across her words. “Just shut up. Let’s go do your quest. I’m on the clock.”

Lucas chuckled. He pushed himself back from the table and then stood up. “Well, you guys heard the lass: Let’s get going.”

With that, the group went out of the tavern and toward the small hut that hid the tunnel into Kegan’s manor.

——-

No one really talked until they entered the underground passage. Lucas was too absorbed in his thoughts, ruminating on the journal with such focus as they were climbing down that he almost didn’t notice how the entire environment in the dungeon had reset. There wasn’t so much as even the smallest scratch on the walls and floor from their earlier visit. The hole that had been burned away by Firebolts and cocktails was completely gone, and all that remained was the original dark, empty tunnel.

As Lucas took in the impact of the game having reset the dungeon, Bonnie made sure to warn the group. “No fire!” she said, even as she lit a torch so that everyone could see what was going on. “No fire at all!”

“Sure, sure,” Lucas said, pocketing the new staff Nick had given him and pulling out the beginner’s version. “Use the beginner staff’s Frost Breath for the little ones.” Then he looked over at Jason. “I’ve been meaning to ask you . . . Do you know an Isabel?” As the question left Lucas’s mouth, he heard Gunter’s foot dig into the dirt, and he almost tripped forward.

“Yeah, I knew her,” Jason said. “What of it?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Lucas thought aloud, twisting the staff around in his hands. “I was just wondering if you knew how she died.”

“Jason, don’t,” Gunter warned sternly.

“What? Don’t brag? Why not? Of course I know how she died,” Jason said, a wide grin on his face as he walked forward. “I put her down like a used workhorse, broken and exhausted, after the group of us had ridden her all across town.”

Bonnie’s lower lip twitched as she heard the description leaving Jason’s proud mouth. Her voice shook as she said, “Boss, I don’t care if he’s in our party. I’m going to—”