Penelope’s eyes shot open.

  She had to throw off a robe that had been covering her like a blanket. Penelope stared at the cloth in her hand, then checked the time.

  “Have a good nap?”

  Penelope glared at the blue Elf in front of her. “Were you watching me in my sleep?”

  Jeru shrugged. “Not much else to do.”

  Penelope sighed and looked around. “How’s the other group doing?”

  Her ethereal companion floated over to look to the east. “From what I could see, they beat two squares and bedded down themselves. Ula came to check on you by herself.”

  “Is that why I have this…” Penelope looked to her left at the bodies of the bugs that she’d fallen asleep on. Her stash from the far west was stacked in a nice pile between her and the corpses.

  “Did they move my stuff?” Her chest got tighter as she scooted over and started taking an inventory.

  “It’s almost all there.” The blue Elf pointed at the Infernal Water. “You really need to drink. You didn’t get enough yesterday.”

  Penelope licked her dry lips as she picked up the vials. Some quick math had her shaking her head. “There’s not enough for all of us.”

  Jeru rested on the pile of stacked armor. “You can make it.”

  “There’s 1455 oz of fluid in here. We each need close to 100 oz a day given our level of exertion. That means there’s enough here to last all five of us three days, not four.”

  “You’ll be weak, but it’s doable.” The blue Elf raised an eyebrow. “Are you wanting to reset?”

  Penelope looked at the boss area to the north. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head. “No. There’s still a lot I can learn about this floor while I think about the water problem.”

  “Thinking about taking water as your element?”

  She thought for a moment before shaking her head. “No, because if we don’t have my light, then we can’t cook.” She stood up. “I’ll think of something.”

  All of the gear had been sorted and was stacked in a pile not far from her. Penelope opened her menu and scanned the pile.

  “Jeru, what did the last mage have that wasn’t a common item?” She knelt down to physically count the instead of relying on the display.

  “Magic Gloves.” The incorporeal Elf hovered beside her. “Dawson took them about an hour ago. Also took two of your waters and the potions that weren’t in your pockets.”

  Penelope clenched her right hand into a fist. “That little…” She took a deep breath. “How good was it?”

  “The gloves? Just one point to your Magic. No extra resistances or damage.”

  “Do I need to make a fuss about it?” Just the thought of going over there and confronting the group accelerated her heart.

  “The next chance you’ll get at some cloth gloves are in 7A.” Jeru shrugged. “Getting twenty Magic would upgrade two of your classes.”

  Penelope pulled up her stats and glanced over them, then she looked at her equipment.

  Penelope bit her lip. “When is the next piece of Magic gear?”

  “5D.” Jeru sighed. “If you confront Dawson, he will argue. Ula is honest enough to tell him to give it back. Patrick will back whoever keeps the fight going and Marlow could go either way.”

  “You’ve dealt with them a lot?”

  The blue Elf nodded. “Loopers will join one of the two teams down here, so I’ve got to see a lot of interactions.”

  “How hard is it going to be to get them back?” Penelope closed her eyes as she focused on leveling her breathing.

  “It’s not worth it.” Jeru’s words calmed her panicking nerves. “If this was a keeper run, then sure, fight for what’s yours. But you’re planning on resetting this, so you can just make sure you grab them first on the next run.”

  Penelope nodded. “I should probably start then.”

  She ate one of the jerky steaks and drank a few vials of . The sulfur aftertaste was strong, but it was the only water that she had, so she forced it down. She looked to the north to the next square.

  Both the demonic beasts were at least three feet tall. The Demonic Frog had rows of teeth that would make a shark jealous. Its pink tongue licked its face, leaving a trail of saliva between the two yellow eyes.

  The four Demonic Spiders were on the ceiling, scratching at the stone with each one of their eyes focused on the human that was standing in front of their square.

  The Shadow Caster had its eyes closed, an ominous sight compared to the hatred that most of the Demons cast her way before she entered. There was nothing to indicate what type of spells awaited her when she entered and given her luck with the last few Casters, Penelope wasn’t excited about the coming battle.

  The biggest source of her discomfort was that the Shadow Demon didn’t have a weapon. Those had been Healers and Buffers so far, with poison serving as one of the hardest things for her to deal with. The Assassin had been a harder fight, but once she’d learned its moves, it had been easy to avoid.

  “I don’t suppose you’ll give me any hints?” Penelope looked over at the blue Elf floating beside her.

  “The frog’s tongue can get you from farther away than you’d expect. The spiders can shoot their webs as far as you can cast, and they’ll lay down thread to keep you from being able to move around without getting tangled.” Jeru shrugged. “The Shadow is all offense; just hit them hard because metal spells are nasty and you don’t have much in the form of protection.”

  Penelope stared at her translucent companion. “What happened to not helping?”

  “I got bored.” Jeru shrugged. “You’re about to start seeing some of the nastiness, and I don’t feel like watching you repeat the last day a few hundred more times.”

  “Thanks, I guess.” Penelope sliced through the air a few times with her wand.

  “Let’s do this.”

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