"Why does your companion have so much rope?" Leyla held up the third coil we'd pulled from Tandy's bag. "Was she a sheep wrangler?" She looked at Argin. "It's sheep in that part of the world, right? Do they even wrangle sheep?"

  "She's an [Adventurer]." Ash, thankfully, came to the rescue. "You can't have enough rope as an [Adventurer]. Look at us now! Rope was voted as the most useful item that was most often forgotten in Dungeons and Dragons." The two ladies looked at each other when Ash said dragons, completely side-stepping everything else the man said. "I had a cousin once who was stuck in a dungeon, and he had to use a spell slot on Fly, a third-level spell slot, just to get out of pits!"

  "Are dungeons common in your homeland? Where was that again?" Leyla asked, while Argin leaned in. "Did you say Fly is a spell? Is your cousin a powerful mage?"

  I couldn't help but grin as the realization hit Ash of what he'd done. He looked between the two girls as he continued to coil the rope he pulled out of Tandy's bag, for once struggling with what to say next.

  I took pity on the man.

  "It's a game. Ash has a tendency to talk about this game his family plays like it's real. He's from the Port of Dragons, so it's a theme up there." We'd agreed that the Port of Dragons was a simple lie. After talking to him, it seemed to have the right climate for his home in Oregon. It was also remote enough that while many knew the eastern port, very few had actually visited it. "And no, Tandy is not a sheep wrangler. She hates them." I paused, an intrusive memory of Ched telling us we were sheep fuckers. I grabbed the rope from Leyla's icy fingers. "What she does like is being prepared. Very prepared."

  I also thought it was fairly possible her bag was [Enchanted] to elongate rope and her stash of granola.

  "Yeah, if Tandy were here, we'd be out of the dungeon already." Meredeath commented drolly. I glanced over to check and see, and yes, she still had the telltale green fire around the irises of her eyes. The comment had been almost normal for the woman.

  “I agree. This net also would have knitted itself.”

  My hands were raw from tying knots. I was no fisherman, or weaver, but I had gotten a makeshift cargo net made while Ash was repairing the harness for the SCMMOO. I tied another knot.

  Taking a step back from my half of the cargo net masterpiece, I manually turned off [Self Critic] in my interface for what seemed like the fiftieth time. The net we'd built was lopsided, with some loops extra big and others really tight. It was ugly, but it'd work. That wasn't the part of the plan that was worrying me.

  Our enclosure had shrunk considerably. If we didn't try our plan soon, it would not work. There wouldn’t be enough room in the bubble to dangle our cargo net.

  The only thing going our way was that the World Snail hadn't moved. I looked up at the floating foot of the snail as it frilled in across the ceiling of the sea. The gray mollusk was so large and ugly. It made me glad Richard was a banana slug.

  "How much longer, Ash? We need to give this a go."

  "We're good, just finished the last loop." Ash was standing over the SCMMOO nursing burned fingers. That was definitely going to hurt once he got seawater on it. "I still don't think doing this in one shot is the way to go."

  "I know, but we're running out of time." Waving my hand at the walls of our enclosure, I continued, "If we don't do it now, we will not get the chance. I don't want to be the last member standing of [Your Mom's Party]." That statement was nightmare fuel.

  "Briyain is ready." Meredeath said in a creepy monotone. She grinned at my grimace. "Oh, come on, Cole. Loosen up. This is just another Tuesday. We'll be fine."

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  The Tuli Monster shifted its head towards me, teeth clacking together as it mimicked human laughter. The best thing about getting off the floor of the sea was that we were going to leave Briyain behind. Briyain's bisected eyes bobbed up and down against its head as it stared at me. It was as though it mocked me with its theoretical death.

  Ash checked our work. I'm not sure he knew knots any better than the rest of us, but it made me feel better as he muttered about measurements and tugged at the lines.

  Argin had kept some of the air bladders from our earlier dynammonite experiments in her dimensional storage. We tied the wet, leathery bladders to the net. The theory was that they would act as mini-flotation devices once the bubble reached the surface.

  Within twenty minutes we had everyone in the cargo net, myself and Briyain being the sole exceptions. Meredeath sat on the edge so she could monitor Briyain. Leyla and Argin sat a third of the way across from Meredeath so they were spaced out evenly, with Ash at the bottom of the net so he could watch the SCMMOO.

  "Does everyone have their knife secured?" I called. It was important that everyone could cut themselves free if it came to it. No one wanted to drown in a tangled net.

  I took an inventory of the team. Leyla was the most nervous. She tried to hide it behind tight eyes, but the constant bouncing of her leg gave it away.

  By comparison, Argin looked like she didn’t have a care in the world. I think she thought she was dead the moment her grandfather popped out of the dungeon. She was completely resigned to whatever fate awaited her. I was positive Argin didn't believe that Ash, Meredeath, and I could beat this dungeon. Frankly, I didn't blame her. Meredeath was unnaturally calm. I still couldn't decide how much influence Briyain had on my friend. It was worrying, but there wasn't much I could do at the bottom of the sea.

  Ash was muttering to himself as though negotiating with the fates the outcome of our rat’s nest of a plan.

  "Alright, let's go!" I said the words as confidently as I could manage.

  Meredeath looked at her minion, and the green magic flared. She'd reached an odd sort of equilibrium with the skill. Her face was still gaunt, but the magic no longer seemed to eat away at her. The Tuli Monster's neck stretched as it began swimming up.

  The trailing line behind it pulled tight as the SCMMOO stared raising off of the floor. Ash had done a good job, the ball of magic was completely encased in a web of netting, secure. I stood on the floor of the enclosure, watching as the bubble rose with the SCMMOO. The cargo netting pulled up. Leyla looked at me, like I alone was responsible for the success or failure of our plan. A lifeline in the abyss.

  She gasped as her feet lifted off the ground.

  "Good luck!" I winked at her, channeling Richard.

  As the circular barrier pulled higher, the sand under my feet got damp. I braced for the plunge.

  The cargo net hung in a teardrop just below the SCMMOO. Ash sat in the net’s bottom looking up like he was praying to his orb. Water was up to my knees. Meredeath was looking up at her minion as though worshiping some terror from the abyss. Her face was a study in concentration as everyone dangled from her minion. I shivered as the water level had reached my hips. The two looked like they’d found their own gods, joined their respective cults.

  Leyla, stupidly, was holding her knife. She held it awkwardly away from the net as though afraid she might cut it by accident. Ash had lectured them extensively about this possibility.

  The cargo net twisted slowly to Argin. She sat like a bored kid on a swing waiting for their parents to push them. Her two legs kicked idly. The water level had reached my chest. I could have dived under, but the land dweller in me didn't want to use my gills an instant before I had to.

  "Watch out!" Leyla yelled, rewarding my moment's inattention. Looking up, I found her knife dropping straight at me.

  Diving to the side, the cold bite of the water hit my gills. Thankfully, the knife lost most of its velocity as it hit the water.

  I stood at the bottom of the sea for a moment in shock. The cold dungeon water grated on my nerves. Briefly, I wished I were dry on the cargo net with my friends. The shimmering bubble rose slowly.

  Grabbing my sinking kitchen knife, I swam free of the bubble. Foolishly, I'd given Leyla my favorite kitchen knife, trying to reassure her with its favor.

  Of course, the idiot dropped it.

  By the Everbear, I sounded like Richard more every day. Maybe Meredeath wasn't the only one that had to worry.

  Kicking off the floor, I followed the bubble containing my friends. I watched the bubble’s precious cargo with a raised head, as if I too had joined a cult.

  Things were about to get interesting.

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