The monsters changed tactics.

The main three groups gathered in the middle of the barrier, looking at the changed battlefield.

Through the night, the Romals grew thorny rose vines over the three paths into 21C from 21D. Barricades were erected in a staggered pattern all the way to the other end of the square, giving the Cypups lots of cover. Penelope was able to see other monsters hiding behind the wooden walls, waiting for the Humans to get close enough to strike.

"Well, this changes things." Patrick chewed on a piece of grass that he'd plucked from the ground.

"Aly can burn away the underbrush." Raelyn pointed at the young Caster.

"That only gives us one path forward and leaves us with the other two falling behind." Patrick shook his head. "Whoever pushes into the middle of this fight is going to get swamped."

"So why don't we have them come sideways?" Penelope swallowed when everyone looked at her. She pointed at the barrier. "Aly starts on the right, Rae and Frederica are in the middle, and we come in on the left. Aly burns the underbrush through the trees and meets up with the middle group, then they come to us." She gestured at the monsters in the square. "The underbrush impedes their movement as much as it does ours and the Slorpies and Munhoks are the only things that can fly. The Healers won't attack us, so we only have to worry about the melee bugs."

Patrick chewed on his piece of grass while he thought about it. "That could work, but what happens if they've got the trees in between the groups rigged to fall?"

Penelope thought for a moment and sighed. "That would be a problem."

"Um, I have an idea." Aly grinned as she marched over to the barrier. "What if I just do this?"

The brunette Caster released a jet of flames into the underbrush, then pulled her hand back in. A huge smile split her face as she turned to face the crowd. "The whole place is covered in vines and underbrush. Why don't I just burn it all down before we go in there?"

"That's…" The piece of grass fell out of Patrick's mouth. "You want to burn up all the wood!? What about all the fruit and nut trees? Do you have any idea how wasteful that's going to be?"

"Or how much smoke that's going to fill this side with as soon as the barrier comes down?" Frederica added.

"But we could clear the room without having to even enter." Aly pointed at Penelope. "She's even got a wind spell that could help me spread the fire faster. Then all we have to do is wait until the embers die down. Fae could even put out the fires close to our side of the barrier so we could go in there and finish off any monsters that the fire doesn't kill!"

Patrick turned to Penelope, who nodded. "I know you don't like the idea of burning down all that wood, but we're on a floor that's nine square miles of woods." She turned to Frederica. "And we could bring in any other fire or air Casters to see if it gives them any extra experience."

Frederica twirled her finger through the end of her blonde ponytail.

"You can't seriously be thinking of giving this a green light!" Patrick threw up his hands. "Fine, do whatever you want. I'm going to go find something constructive to do. Call me over once you've burned down the world!"

The balding man pulled off his helmet and stomped off.

"Do we even have any lower level Fire or Air Casters?" Penelope looked at Aly. "There weren't any in the group I've been working with."

"Patrick had us make a registry of everyone down here." Fae piped up. "Cassandra Allbritton is Air and Stephen Frye and Forest Torrey are Fire!" She looked at Raelyn. "Want me to go get them?"

"Go." Raelyn waved for the two Casters to leave.

Fae-Anna and Allis took off towards the base camp.

"I'll add everyone to my team." Raelyn began messing with her menu.

"This is a Caster operation; Penelope will run it." Frederica glared at the other woman.

"I thought we decided that she wasn't going to run any more teams?" Raelyn glanced at Penelope, then turned to face Frederica.

"They aren't going into the room, so that makes this a training exercise, which Pen is still in charge of." Frederica eyed the other woman. "Or are you wanting to strip her of that title too?"

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Raelyn thought for a moment, then held up her hands. "You're right." She turned to Penelope. "Just make sure nobody goes into that room."

Penelope nodded.

Raelyn didn't look satisfied, but she walked away without adding anything else.

Circe and Frederica were the last two to leave.

"We've got a fire Archer, but I'm not sure I'd give him a chance to burn stuff." Circe frowned. "I wish I had an air or fire skill. This sounds like it's going to be fun!"

"It'll be okay." Penelope forced a smile. "It'll give you more time to work on the backups with their target practice."

"That's not how I wanted to spend my morning…" Circe grumbled.

"Make sure these people know you're the one that's giving them this chance." Frederica glanced around. "They need to answer to you, not Rae."

Penelope took a slow breath as her chest knotted. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good, good." Frederica smiled. "Send someone to come get us once you've got the place burned down." She hummed as she turned and walked away.

"What's up with her?" Circe moved closer to Penelope. "Was she always this paranoid?"

"She misses Oakley." Penelope knew that it was more than that but didn't want Circe to accidentally let something slip during another conversation.

"I can imagine. They were like fated lovers." Circe clasped her hands together. "I hope I find someone like that."

"You'd want someone you love to be down here in this?" Penelope motioned at the Dungeon floor. "I would want anyone I care about to stay far away from this place."

"You have people you care about?" A smile spread across Circe's face as she leaned closer to Penelope.

"I'm not incapable of care or concern." Penelope palmed the other woman's face and pushed her back. "I just don't like most people touching me."

"And how does one get out of this 'most' category?" Circe made air quotes as she turned her head so she could look around Penelope's fingers.

"By not being in my face all the time." Penelope let go of her friend's face and sighed. "Seriously, you don't have to always be touching someone."

"I'm not always…" Circe kicked the dirt with the toe of her boot.

Penelope waited as the woman thought.

"Okay, so maybe I take comfort in knowing people are there!" Circe pawed at the end of her brown ponytail. "Have you seen where we're living? Not everyone has nerves of steel like you! Most of us are freaked out and could use someone else to reassure us that we're going to be okay!"

"I…" Penelope's voice caught in her throat.

"You're right." Jeru gave voice to the thought in her head. "If you relent right now, she's never going to leave your personal bubble. There's nothing wrong with telling her that physical affirmation is not something you can give her."

"I get that." Penelope lowered her hand a little. "And believe me, I'm not holding it together that well either."

Circe's brown eyes lit up.

"But touching is still off the table." Penelope shook her head. "I get that you like hugs, but I've seen you get them from lots of people out here; many are just as happy to receive them as you are to give them."

"Fine." Circe chewed on her lip as she attempted to pout. "But one of these days, you're going to let me hug you and you'll see what you've been missing!" She blew a kiss, then ran off as the group of five Casters got closer.

"Okay!" Penelope raised her voice, eager to focus on something that she could explain. "We're going to group up!" She opened her menu and as she swept her vision over each person, the option to add them to her group became available. She added the three level ones as well as Allis and Fae-Anna.

"Why am I in the group?" Fae-Anna tilted her head. "I'm not a fire or an air Caster."

"In case we need someone to put out the fire." Penelope pointed at the barrier. "I know that most of you don't have any levels, so you're going to be using the very basic spells, but the idea is that we're going to burn that place down."

Aly grinned ear to ear and puffed out her chest. "It was my idea."

"You can brag after it works." Penelope stuck her right hand through the barrier, then pointed the wand in that hand at the ground. She summoned <Tornado Alley> horizontally and flattened the spell out. Instead of a column of swirling air, instead, there was a straight line of high-powered wind.

"This will carry your fire farther into the square." Penelope pulled her arm back through the barrier and the spell winked out. I guess I have to stay in the square to maintain the spell.

"Considering what you're attempting, I'd say it's a small price to pay."

Is it going to work?

Jeru was silent for a few moments, then he sighed. "In theory, but only to those who help cause or spread the fire." He pointed at the Shadow Caster sporting a light blue robe. "And that Ice Caster is going to be a problem."

We'll deal with that once we move the teams in. Penelope turned around to face the other Casters. "Channeled spells only stay alive as long as you have a part of your body in the square, so once you get something like a beam or stream spell, remember that." She looked at Allis. "Aly, you're going to be the primary person igniting the foliage, but we need to have Cassandra contribute if she's going to get experience. See if the two of you can get some sort of stream going where her <Air Blasts> will fan your flames."

"Will do!" Allis saluted and tapped the older woman's arm. "Come'on Miss Cass, let's start on the other side and show them what a real fire looks like!"

Penelope watched the younger woman take the lead as the duo headed to the left side, then turned to Fae-Anna. "Fae, go with them and make sure if that Caster gets close, it doesn't yank one of them in or something."

The other redhead nodded, then followed after her friend.

"Alright." Penelope flexed her fingers as she turned to the two men. "Let's start burning stuff."

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