Penelope stared at the wall.

"Want to talk about it?" Circe sat down across from her.

"No." Penelope pulled her knees up into her chest.

"It wasn't your fault." Oakley walked over and sat down in one of the stone chairs. They were in the command center, but it was only the four of them.

Frederica sat down in Oakley's lap. "He's right, this wasn't your fault."

"It's my team!" Penelope fought back tears. "I've lost two Tanks, a Caster, a Hitter, and now a Healer who was a good man!" She hung her head. "He had a son that he's never going to get to see again." She closed her eyes. "I'm just cursed."

"You're not cursed." Circe touched Penelope's hand. "You want that hug now?"

Penelope opened her eyes to glare at her friend.

"That's still a no…" Circe pulled her hand back. "But no one thinks you're cursed. We ran into a new monster, and things didn't go our way. That doesn't mean you're cursed."

"Riva has agreed to swap out with Fae-Anna, and Skylar is going to come in as your Healer." Frederica leaned against Oakley's chest. "Pat is upset, but he knows you're not at fault, and he's going to stay your Tank for now." She looked at her friend. "Focus on who you saved and remember the ones you lost."

"You can always reset." Jeru offered. "I know what he meant to you."

"I think I just want to be alone." Penelope made it halfway up before Circe stopped her.

"You might want to be alone, but that's not what you need." The younger woman maintained her hold. "If you hole up with your thoughts right now, you're going to go down a dark path, and we can't have that." She glanced back at the couple before turning back to her friend. "Because we need you."

"I take a little offense at that, but it doesn't change that she's right." Jeru huffed. "And if you're thinking about resetting just so you can sulk in peace, you know Frederica is going to be a lot less sympathetic in the past."

I know that! Penelope allowed herself to be guided back to the ground.

"You should try one of these chairs." Oakley rubbed the arm of the stone furniture. "Pat has gotten really good at shaping things. He's even planning on wrapping some with fur and stuffing them so we'll have actual furniture!"

"I'm too tired to think about furniture." Penelope looked at the menu.

Day 10 - 4:13pm

Time Remaining 8:15:41:41

The others had just filtered in after they'd held a moment of silence to burn Marlow's body. She'd hidden in the command center while the rest of the team had gathered everyone up, and either intentionally or accidentally, no one had come to get her.

"Well, it's too early to go to bed." Circe glanced at the door as Patrick swept the hide out of the way and stomped into the room, his arms laden with boards and a hammer.

"Stupid doors!" The balding man dropped the dried vines, then pulled a handful of <Metal Spikes> out of the pouch tied to his belt.

"Pat, let me help you with that." Oakley tapped Frederica on the leg as he rose to get out of the chair.

"I don't need your help!" Patrick growled as he laid out the converted boards. He gripped the warhammer by the neck as he hammered the spikes through the wood.

Circe leaned over so she could whisper into Penelope's ear. "He's been riding Stanley about shaping his spell into nails instead of cones since we got down here."

Penelope could tell the "nails" were about the length of her finger and the head was thicker than her thumb, with the whole thing more of a cone than a true nail, but it was working for what Patrick wanted.

It didn't take him long to nail the boards together; then he attached a crude hinge at the top and bottom of the left side. After that, he nailed a pair of metal hooks as thick as his arm on the back. Patrick grunted as he lifted the door and leaned it against the wall, then he ripped off the hide they'd been using as a door in one tug. He tossed the used hide towards the middle of the room, then slid the door into the opening. A few bangs later, the door was swinging.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Patrick wiped his brow. "I'll get doors on all of your rooms eventually." He picked up one of the boards and dropped it on the hooks, then he shut the door and slid another hook under either end of the board against the wall, then nailed those hooks to the wall. A grin spread across his face as he tugged on the door.

"It won't keep out a Tier One or even a level one with an ax, but it'll stop someone from just walking in on you." Patrick nodded at the group, then picked up the board he used to bar the door and leaned it against the wall.

"Pat." Frederica shifted in Oakley's lap so she could see him. "You should take a break."

"Marlow's the one that died, not me." Patrick huffed. "The guards told me the barrier on 17G is down." He opened the door and paused. "Take what time you need, but they aren't going to stop just because a good man died."

Penelope watched him leave, the weight in her chest growing.

"He's right." Frederica stood up, pacing in the middle of the room. "If we don't clear our half before Derek gets done, then he's going to come on our side and head for the boss."

"Or do you think he'll come talk to us again?" Circe looked at the others.

"I think he'll do whatever benefits him the most." Frederica shook her head. "He made it very clear that he wants some of the boss loot, and it wouldn't surprise me if he tries to negotiate for more than half."

"I don't know…" Penelope shook her head. "Even going slower than we do, he should have finished 17G yesterday."

"You think he still has a spy in our group telling him what to expect?" Circe bounced to her feet.

"There's no way he doesn't." Frederica sighed as she paused her pacing. She looked over at Penelope. "What are you thinking?"

"That we have time." Penelope took a deep breath. "Derek might have loyalty, but he doesn't have the manpower. If he's moving that slow, it's likely that he's also splitting his forces to build up a secondary group and if he's not attempting the next column until his spies have a chance to tell him what to expect…"

"Then we don't have to worry about him trying the boss room by himself." Circe snapped her fingers. "But isn't that all just a guess?"

"It's what I would do in his shoes." Frederica sighed. "There's no way that we could just walk into the boss room without preparation, so he knows we can't do it without him. He also doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who is arrogant enough to do it on his own." She waffled her head. "Not yet anyway."

"But what does that mean?" Circe shrunched her brow.

"That we have time." Oakley got up and wrapped his arms around Frederica, stopping her from continuing her pacing. "Derek is reacting to what we're doing, and it takes time for that information to get to him." He looked over at Circe. "We lost someone the first time we tried a 17, so he waited until the day after we found a better way to clear the monsters in the 17s to do it himself. It's going to be the same way with the 18s." He looked down at the woman he was holding. "You think Riva could do a little spying?"

Frederica thought for a moment, then looked at Penelope. "Pea, what do you think?"

"They'd need someone with <Clairvoyance> on to see her…" Penelope turned her thoughts inward. Jeru?

"He's got people that can learn it, but none of them are T1, so they wouldn't see her, but there's no way for you to know that."

Penelope triggered her own <Clairvoyance> and looked around. No one was hiding in the shadows as far as she could see, but Eldri and Riva were making their way towards the command room. Eldri was stumbling, which was odd for someone who hadn't been injured during the last fight.

"It'll be a risk." Penelope turned off the spell as she focused in the room. "I can see when one of you is in the shadows with my <Clairvoyance>, and if he's got a Tier One, light-based Magic user, then he'll know we're spying on him."

"We can see each other when we're in the shadows too." Circe chimed.

"And we don't know what other skills or spells might exist…" Frederica shook her head. "It's too dangerous right now, but it's something to think about in the future."

The door swung open.

"We've got doors now?" Riva knocked on it. "That's cool." She glanced around the room. "How's everyone?"

"Grieving in our own way." Frederica sank back into Oakley, drawing his arms around her tighter. "Patrick is building doors."

"Well…" Riva held up the helmet in her hand that had been converted into a pitcher. "Dora from the backups got a skill called <Dull Mind>, and she figured out how to cast it on water." She held up the pitcher. "This stuff tastes like piss and moldy lawn clippings, but it's the closest thing we've got to liquor!"

"I want some!" Circe took one step before Penelope caught her.

"You're too young." Penelope shook her head. "She's passing. We're passing."

"Plenty more where this came from." Riva motioned behind her. "They're having a party to celebrate life at the break room." She chuckled and guided the woman next to her towards her room. "Some of us have already had a little too much."

"I'll take that." Frederica untangled herself from Oakley and took the pitcher from Riva so the other woman could use both hands to get the stumbling woman to her room.

"Patrick isn't going to like this…" Oakley shook his head.

"Let's get out there and do some damage control." Frederica put the helmet on the arm of the stone chair. "It sounds like too many people have already imbibed for us to get any decent amount of work done this afternoon." Her eyes darted to Circe. "We need to go out there and make sure it's not being given to people that aren't old enough."

"It's a spell that I could get hit with while fighting!" Circe sulked. "It's not fair!"

"And if you got hit with it, we'd have Eldri or Caleb cleanse it off you." Frederica groaned. "Pea, can you get Caleb or Skylar, if he's not sober, to come heal Eldri?"

Penelope glanced at the door. I really want to be alone right now. She sighed and forced her feet to move her towards the people.

"Such is the burden of leadership." Jeru chuckled. "And if you think this is bad, wait until they figure out how to rapidly ferment stuff."

I don't want to think about it. Penelope took a deep breath, then headed out into what she hoped wasn't a chaotic party.

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