“Wraiths?” Reeve said.

“Enslaved Souls,” Dusk said, disgust evident in her voice. “Spawn of the most repugnant magic.”

“OK,” Reeve said. “Never seen them before. How do we kill them?”

“Their souls are bound to a Prismatic Shard that would be where their brains once were,” Dawn called.

“Yeah, it’s pretty much always the brain,” Reeve said to herself. “Thomanji'yheri, I’ll keep this thing busy, you go for a headshot.”

The dwarf grunted acknowledgment and shifted farther to his right, more effectively dividing the guard’s attention between him and Reeve, who launched a lunging attack aimed at the ethereal creature’s torso. Ignoring the naginata, which appeared to pierce it harmlessly, the Enslaved Soul spun to parry Thomanji'yheri’s descending blade. Before the blades even met, Reeve could sense that the Enslaved Soul would carry the momentum of its parry into an attack on Reeve’s right side, but, unable to stop her own momentum and withdraw her blade, she watched with sinking disappointment as the bone sword whipped around and caught her across the forearm, sending searing pain through her entire body with the speed of an electric shock. She tried to catch the base of the bone sword with the shaft of her naginata, but instead found herself crumpling to the ground, her body ignoring her instructions, her head striking the stone, causing lights to flash in both eyes. Darkness followed as her cowl fell across her face where she lay.

Fantastic, Reeve thought, with none of her father’s joy for the word. She called up her logs.

A Level 12 Enslaved Soul slashes you with a putrid bone sword for 9 points of damage.

You are afflicted with Paralytic Shock. If left untreated, the affliction will last for five minutes.

Over the ensuing tense seconds, Reeve glanced between the Combat and Party logs, feeling like she was trying to keep up with an e-sport using antiquated technology. She was relieved when the sound of crystal shattering was followed by a new entry.

Thomanji’yheri strikes the Prismatic Shard of a Level 12 Enslaved Soul with a broadsword for 17 points of damage.

Thomanji'yheri has killed a Level 12 Enslaved Soul.

Waiting for more entries, which seemed agonizingly slow in coming, Reeve tried to suppress a feeling of panic beginning to grow from her inability to move and the claustrophobia of the cowl. She watched the logs slowly scroll as Dusk and then Thoman’yherei joined Dawn in facing the remaining Enslaved Soul.

Something rough and warm rubbed against Reeve’s cheek, and a moment later her cowl was pushed up onto her forehead. Bunce gazed at her, then left her field of view and moved toward the pool. Guess you slept off the venom, huh? Reeve thought. Shouts and snarls sent Reeve back to her logs.

A Level 12 Enslaved Soul impales Bunce with a putrid bone sword for 6 points of damage.

A Level 12 Enslaved Soul impales Bunce with a putrid bone sword for 4 points of damage.

Come on, Reeve though, isn’t anyone going to finish this?

A Level 12 Enslaved Soul slashes Dusk with a putrid bone sword for 4 points of damage.

Dusk is afflicted with Paralytic Shock. If left untreated, the affliction will last for five minutes.

Dusk collapsed in front of Reeve, who stared through unblinking eyes at both Dusk and Leaf where they lay. Two different ways to end up paralyzed, Reeve thought. We’re heading toward a Total Party Kill.

A Level 12 Enslaved Soul impales Bunce with a putrid bone sword for 5 points of damage.

Come on! Mom, what are you doing?

Pain exploded at the back of Reeve’s head, and Dawn fell backwards across Reeve’s face, landing hard on her back between Reeve and Dusk.

A Level 12 Enslaved Soul bludgeons Dawn with the hilt of a putrid bone sword for 3 points of damage.

Fifty percent of the people still on their feet are my mother, Reeve thought. We are doomed.

A Level 12 Enslaved Soul impales Bunce with a putrid bone sword for 4 points of damage.

I forgot to count the honey badger, Reeve thought. OMG she can take damage.

“¡Ay caray!” Despite Wanda’s deep male voice, Reeve immediately recognized the tone, and she knew whatever had just happened was not what her mother had meant to do, and it was bad.

A spurt of blood arced across Reeve’s limited field of view.

Fighter (human) impales Thomanji'yheri with Unerring Devotion (estoc) for 8 points of damage.

Thomanji'yheri is afflicted with Vasculotoxic Puncture. If left untreated, the affliction will continue until unconsciousness and, eventually, death.

Dawn rolled to all fours, crawled to Dusk’s side, and leaned over her paralyzed twin. Reeve thought Dawn might be saying something, but she couldn’t hear over grunts of pain from Thomanji'yheri.

A Level 12 Enslaved Soul stabs Fighter (human) with a putrid bone sword for 6 points of damage.

Fighter (human) is afflicted with Paralytic Shock. If left untreated, the affliction will last for five minutes.

Reeve couldn’t see Bunce, but the snarling behind her suggested that the honey badger was still in the fight, though Reeve expected her father’s companion was finding the ethereal nature of the Enslaved Soul’s ankles and legs to present a challenge.

Dawn stood from Dusk’s side, and Reeve really, really wished she could move her eyes. Staring across the floor, all Reeve could tell was that one of Dawn’s hands moved suddenly.

Dawn strikes the Prismatic Shard of a Level 12 Enslaved Soul with a Dragə Venom laced silver throwing dagger for 23 points of damage.

Dawn has killed a Level 12 Enslaved Soul.

Dawn sank onto her knees, placed a hand on Dusk’s leg, and dropped her head.

“We must…,” Thomanji'yheri gasped from pain, and it took several seconds for him to master his voice again, “…must flee before more come. Helia has a score at her command.”

Dawn shook her head. “We cannot leave. Fate has beguiled us. We are penned here.”

“She will kill us all,” Thomanji'yheri said, “unless she chooses to first subject us to worse.”

Dawn shook her head slowly. “We can’t leave.”

I, Reeve thought, am at the mercy of two NPCs. And if they don’t stop arguing soon, we’re all going to die. Then my party’s NPCs will be gone forever, and I’ll be trapped in this cell with my mom and dad for the better part of a year until we time out.

Bunce collapsed into Reeve’s view, blood oozing from multiple pierced wounds.

My mom and dad and a really hard to kill honey badger.

“You must be able to get us out of here, Caster,” Thomanji'yheri said. “I saw your power. And our freedom is right there.”

Whatever gesture Thomanji'yheri made caused Dawn to look first to him and then to the ceiling, where light from the river played through. She looked back at the dwarf. “Her guards would take us before we left the river.”

“Better there than here,” Thomanji'yheri said.

Dawn shook her head again but gradually stopped, looking once more at the light playing through the ceiling. “Perhaps you are right, Dwarf,” she said. “Better there than here.”

Behind Reeve, Thomanji’yheri grunted and gave a weak, “Thank you, Caster.”

In her peripheral vision, Reeve saw Dawn’s hands craft the beginning of a spell, then move slowly together until Reeve couldn’t tell whether they were touching.

“I hope these elves’ water magic protects you yet from submersion,” Dawn said, “or you will not thank me for delivering you to the river.” She held her closely positioned hands toward the ceiling and then flung them apart. A percussive shock threw Reeve onto her back in time to glimpse the remnants of the ceiling and the water that was driving them down into the room the moment before it all crashed into her.