“Huh?” Orrin sat up slowly. How long was I asleep?

“Get up,” Daniel demanded, pulling Orrin’s arm and dragging him out of his sleeping mat. “I was just coming to get you for your shift. I passed the guys and heard Jude crying in his sleep. Look.”

Orrin stumbled and righted himself. He followed Daniel the few steps away to where Jude and Brandt were tossing in their sleep.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“I don’t know,” Daniel said with agitation. He ran his hands through his hair. “I was hoping you could [Identify] them. I couldn’t get Jude to wake when I shook him.”

“Is Madi alright?” Orrin squatted down and tried shaking Jude. He just moaned and rolled further into his blanket.

“I’ll check.” Daniel moved to the other side of the room.

Orrin cast [Identify] on Jude.

Jude DeGuis

Bruiser Level 16

Status: Fatigued, Dizzy; Brain Fog; Nauseous

HP 130

MP 100

Strength: 19

Constitution: 13

Dexterity: 14

Will: 10

Intelligence: 10

What the hell? Orrin ignored all of Jude’s spells and skills. Where did all those status effects come from?

“Orrin! Madi is shaking too. Are they sick?”

Orrin turned his [Identify] to Brandt, who had the same odd statuses. He ran over to Madi. She was the same.

“They all have status effects, fatigue, brain fog, dizzy, and things like that,” Orrin explained. “How do you feel?”

Daniel put his hands up in the air and stretched down. “I don’t feel bad at all. A little weak after I woke up. Your [Utility Ward] wore off when I was asleep. But I figured that was just me getting used to my normal stat build.”

“Shit. Do you think it’s my buffs?” Orrin felt terrible. If he’d hurt the party...

“I mean, we all ate the same food,” Daniel said. “But then you and I should feel it too, right?”

“I have no idea,” Orrin went back over the Brandt and tried waking him again. “Brandt! Brandt!”

Orrin slapped his cheek lightly. Brandt’s eyes fluttered open.

“What...do you...need?” Brandt’s voice was low and slurred.

“Everybody’s sick. How are you feeling? Can you remember your name?” Orrin asked.

Thank god for all mom’s hospital stories, Orrin thought. He could just remember basic concussion protocols.

“I feel...heavy.” Brandt tried to sit up and his eyes rolled back. He fell with a loud thump. “Ow.”

“Stay with me,” Orrin snapped his fingers over Brandt’s face until he opened his eyes again. “What is your name?”

“Brandt Bennett.”

“Good. Do you know where you are?”

Brandt paused. A long few seconds passed. “...no.” Brandt’s voice was small and afraid.

“Can you tell me how you feel? What do you remember?” Orrin asked as Daniel brought a waterskin over. “Thanks Daniel.”

Orrin took the water and wet Brandt’s lips. Then he pointed to Jude and Madi. Daniel nodded and went to keep them hydrated.

“I... feel heavy.”

“Yes. Anything else? Does your head hurt? Do you feel any nausea or tingling?” Orrin wished he had listened better to the symptoms of a concussion. It wasn’t the problem here but would have given him more to work with.

“Head hurts. Yes. Dizzy when I sit up. Hard to think. Can I sleep now?” Brandt’s normal demeanor was shattered. He talked to Orrin like a small child with his first flu.

“Yes. You did great Brandt. Get some sleep.”

Orrin stood and joined Daniel. He was just finishing giving Jude something to drink. Jude hadn’t even come fully awake.

“So?” Daniel asked as he stood. “What’s going on?”

“I have no idea,” Orrin took the water from Daniel and walked to Madi. “Maybe she’ll be able to talk better.”

Madi roused easier than the men had, but she could barely move her body.

“Uggg. My head is pounding. What happened?” Madi asked as she stayed very still.

“We don’t know,” Daniel offered. “I think it’s Orrin’s buff. Side effects maybe?”

“My body feels like Brandt threw me through his knight workout again.” She tried to push herself up and fell to her side. “Oh, that’s embarrassing.”

“Just let us help,” Orrin said. He and Daniel sat her upright in the corner. Madi kept shaking her head sporadically.

“I feel... weird. My head isn’t doing what I want it to,” she said as she shook her head again.

“I’m going to try to heal you, okay?” Orrin said. “Let me know if you feel any different?”

“Sure. You’re much kinder than we thought, you know.” Madi smiled wide. “I’m really sorry you got hurt.” She started to cry.

Orrin cast [Heal Small Wounds] on Madi.

“Anything?”

“Hmm? No. I still feel off.” She tilted on the wall and Daniel reached out to straighten her. “I’m cold. Can you pull that blanket up?”

Orrin looked to Daniel. “Can you pull her closer to the fire. It’s dark in here anyways. I want to-“

“I can help with that,” Madi interrupted and pointed her finger to the ceiling. “I can make pretty, pretty butterflies.”

She cast her spell and immediately threw up on Daniel.

“Come on,” Daniel let her fall to the ground and shook his hands. Orrin quickly backed away.

“Shurry,” a muffled voice moaned. Madi’s face had landed in the blankets and she didn’t have the strength to move.

“At least the lights let us see a bit better.” Orrin smirked.

“I’m going to use your sleeping bag to wipe this off,” Daniel huffed. Orrin laughed and poured some water out over Daniel’s arms. Then he knelt and washed Madi’s mouth off.

“Ok. So no more spells,” Orrin instructed Madi, as they worked together to pull her around. He turned to look at Daniel. “We need to keep them hydrated and feed them small meals, so they can keep it down easier. I have no idea what is going on, but concussion protocol shouldn’t hurt at least.”

“Whatever you say.” Daniel helped prop one of the bags on its side, letting Madi sit up a little in front of the fire. The ice cores were still burning away merrily. “How long do these things burn for?”

Orrin looked at the fire and felt a pit in his stomach. “If the fire goes out, we can only feed them jerky, bread, and water. I shouldn’t have turned all the rest of the chicken into soup.”

“Hen,” Madi murmured. She was losing consciousness again slowly.

Orrin turned and saw Brandt and Jude were already out, tossing in their blanket rolls.

“We could pull them back. If we retreat to the safe room, instead of sitting in this hallway, we can get those guards to help,” he suggested.

“I could go defeat a room and get more monster corpse to burn,” Daniel offered. “More monster corpse to burn...that’s a fun sentence I never thought I’d have to say in my life.”

“We are not going into another room. That would just be stupid.” Orrin tilted Madi’s body so she could rest comfortably, but wouldn’t roll into the fire. “We can wait a few hours. Maybe this is just temporary, whatever it is.”

“You sure?” Daniel stood and looked down the hall. “You put one boost on me and I could have taken out those Elementals. I just didn’t want to show off.”

“You? Not show off? Please.” Orrin picked up a small piece of ice and threw it at his friend. “I need your help taking care of them. With Madi, I can move her. I’m not sure about Brandt or Jude.”

“Boost your strength.”

“That might be the problem. What if I fall sick, too?”

Jude moaned loudly.

“I’ll stay and help, of course.” Daniel picked up a second water and moved towards the knights. “I’ll keep them watered and fed.”

“Let them sleep a few hours in between.”

Daniel waved over his head.

Now, we wait. Orrin thought. Stuck in a dungeon with over half the party down. This isn’t looking good.

The next few hours were drudgery. Feeding the trio, then getting them water, was boring and thankless work.

Orrin and Daniel moved the other two closer to the fire after Daniel discovered Brandt’s hands were cold as...well...ice. Daniel was able to manhandle them over with ease and Orrin set up a circle of all their packs, taking his and Daniel’s out of his [Dimension Hole] to finish the circuit.

“It’s like a campout, but with dead bodies,” Daniel said grimly.

“They aren’t dead. Brandt just drank half that water.” Orrin had taken the barrel of water out of his storage and was currently refilling all their water skins.

“I’ll take some more of that,” a small voice drifted over.

Orrin almost dropped the water and hurried to the fire. “Brandt?”

“Hi kid. What happened?” The knight tried to sit himself up and managed to get into a half sit, half bent position over his own pack.

“We don’t know for sure, but my money is on Orrin’s buffs.” Daniel appeared next to Orrin. “Here, eat something.”

Brandt took the bread with a shaky hand. “I feel like I was beaten all over.”

“And you were having trouble talking earlier. All three of you,” Orrin said and waved to the other two sleeping teammates. He looked closer. Madi and Jude were both snoring with a gentler ease than before.

“Thanks for not leaving us,” Brandt said between bites. “You two really are honorable.”

“Leave you? I just suggested taking a room out without you guys, but Orrin had to be all strict and logical,” Daniel quipped.

“I’m not sure I can finish this bread,” Brandt spoke and then handed the bread over quickly. “I feel so wrong.”

“Try to get some more sleep,” Orrin ordered. “You’ll feel better when you wake up.”

Brandt nodded gently and passed out with his body still leaning over the bags.

Daniel sighed and got him situated back on the ground.

“They’re getting better.”

Daniel nodded. “But the fire is starting to sputter.”

“That’s fine. We don’t need it to last forever. A little cold won’t kill us, and we can always use the torches I brought.”

Daniel slapped his head. “Thank god. I forgot about the torches. I really thought I’d have to sneak off and kill a monster.”

Orrin paused. “You are joking right. You weren’t about to go off on your own, after I specifically told you not to?”

Daniel smirked at him. “I mean...I would have asked for a strength buff first.”

“Dumbass.”

By the afternoon, Madi and Jude had both come around as well. Madi was able to stay awake and talk, although she could move her body less than either knight.

“It has to be the [Utility Ward] buffs,” she agreed with Daniel. “Nothing else would make sense. But why would it not affect you both?”

“Well, I’m a [Hero],” Daniel said as he puffed up. “So, no little stat boost is going to stop me.”

“And it’s my own spells. It would be weird if it brought me down, right?” Orrin offered.

“This sucks. We were making such good time. Brandt is going to make us turn back as soon as he can get up,” she complained.

The three sat in silence, listening to Jude’s snores.

Orrin summoned an ice sword and used it to move the broken ice cores around. The giant marbles had remained after the fire had guttered out. Five torches now lined the group, sunk into the ground where Daniel had stabbed the hard floor with his shortsword.

“Madi...what do you want to do after you beat a dungeon?” Orrin asked.

She watched him move the cores in circles for a moment before she answered. “Well. Defeating a dungeon is good for Dey and makes the world safer. The extra stats are also amazing. But truly?” She looked at Daniel. “I want to follow the [Hero].”

Orrin kept moving the sword round and round. “Why?”

“Because I’m fucking awesome,” Daniel put in. He leaned back and put his hands behind his head.

“I’ve been kind of going non-stop for awhile now. Today is the first time that I was able to really be alone with my thoughts. I mean Daniel was here, but he’s an idiot.” Orrin smiled at his friend. Daniel flicked him off. “What I mean is. What’s in it for you?”

Madi frowned. “You still don’t trust me.”

She threw an arm over the bag she was leaning on and grunted in pain as she pulled herself upright.

“Let me tell you something about myself. My father has never allowed me in a dungeon... I’m not sure he ever would have either. My mom was a part-time adventurer. She was damn good, too. Until she wasn’t. She died repelling a dungeon break from the Silver Vault when I was eight. Ever since then, it has been my dream to defeat one. I read all the stories as a little girl, you know, Elizabeth and the Fallen Crater, Denna and the Sandy Dunes. The children stories of great adventurers who overcame the odds to shatter dungeon cores and led nations.”

She used the back of her arm to push tears away from her eyes. “But after my mom died, I became the cloistered princess instead. Begging lessons off Brandt when he could escape his squire training. Reading everything I could, so that I could unlock a different class than my father. Because he wants me to be the same as him. Facades and manipulation. But I want to be like Denna and help push my party to the top of that final dune. I want to help the [Hero] complete his main quest, even if you never share it with me, Daniel. You ask what I want to do after we defeat this dungeon? I want to defeat every single dungeon in this world so nobody ever has to die from one again.”