Simone sat on a hard wooden bench near the entrance of Cave City, Kentucky, anxiously watching the multiple dark cavern inlets in the distance.

It had only taken her about two minutes to navigate here from the drop point, so the rest of the party should have been back long ago. They would come. She knew it. It was only a matter of when.

Cave City, Kentucky was a bizarre, tiny trading-post town situated just at the upper edge of the Upper Northdank. It served as a buffer zone, separating the relatively safe overworld from the lethal Drow empires below, and it carried all manner of underground curiosities. It functioned exactly like a tacky highway tourist trap.

It had been an hour. Maybe she could just go check out the trading post alone and secure the giant roosters they needed for transport. After another moment of anxious deliberation, she walked into the center of the subterranean town.

There wasn’t much here. A massive, gaudy trading post and inn sat in the middle of the cavern, illuminated by buzzing magical neon lights. It was surrounded by smaller, shady vendors, a full operational forge, and a large, foul-smelling stable with a brightly painted wooden sign hung over the wide doors: Big Chuck’s Cluck Cluckery.

Painted just below the main logo, in tiny, defensive lettering that must have been born from a deeply private tabletop joke, was a subtitle: Not affiliated with Big Cuck’s Cluck Fuckery.

Simone blinked slowly at the sign. She rubbed her temples, took a deep breath, and continued walking. She would wait for the rest of the group before stepping foot in there.

“Simone!”

She whipped her head around toward the cavern entrance to see Sara jogging toward her, accompanied by another girl wearing tightly woven, floral leather armor.

“Sara!” Simone ran over and pulled the Tiefling into a tight hug, feeling the tension bleed out of her friend's shoulders. “Are you okay? Who’s this?”

“I’m good. This is Kaori. She’s with us now,” Sara replied, her voice exhausted.

“Hi,” the girl flushed, bowing her head slightly.

“Hi,” Simone responded, offering a reassuring smile.

“Have you seen anyone else?” Sara asked, looking past Simone toward the neon-lit vendor stalls.

“Not yet,” Simone answered, her worry creeping back. “I’ve been sitting here a while.”

“Ok.” Sara completely deflated, her adrenaline crashing. She fell heavily onto a nearby wooden bench. “I’m so fucking ready to go home.”

“Me too.” Simone offered the other side of the bench to Kaori, who sat down quietly.

“I mean real home,” Sara clarified, shaking her head and staring at the stone ceiling. “There are actual innocents trapped here that Craig brought through the portal. Kaori is from Osaka.”

The reality of the statement hit Simone like a ton of bricks. Sara, the woman who Simone had been getting so much closer to since arriving in this world, was actively ready to leave it all behind.

“Osaka?” Simone asked gently. “Are you sure there isn’t an Osaka here in the game? You know Mark loves Japan.”

“Not as much as I do,” Sara said, shaking her head firmly. “I explicitly told Mark never to use Osaka in the lore, because it’s my absolute dream city. I didn't want him ruining it with his weird jokes.”

“It is?” Simone wondered.

“Yeah,” Sara looked back out at the dark, gaping caverns. “Tennoji-ku. Right next to Ikuno-ku, where Kaori is from.”

“You want to live in Tennoji-ku?” Kaori suddenly perked up, her emerald eyes brightening. “I love Tenshiba Park!”

Sara looked over at the Druid, a painful, genuine longing washing over her face. “That’s the exact thing that sold me on Tennoji. Do people really go out there every night and just sit on the lawn under the lights? It wasn’t just a special event day I saw on a YouTube video?”

“Yes!” Kaori was practically giddy, the shared connection bringing her to life. “I try to go at least twice a week just to sit, but... money is hard.”

“Isn’t it, though?” Sara sighed heavily, the weight of two worlds crushing her. “That’s exactly why I’m not there right now. It’s why I’m trapped here. Because I knew I would never make enough money working retail to actually go, and it broke my fucking heart.”

Simone’s heart broke just hearing her friend’s confession. Sara wasn't just missing an apartment; she was actively mourning a dream she felt she had abandoned. “Sara…”

Her words hung heavy and unfinished in the cavern air for a long moment before Sara looked up toward the caves. “Have you figured out leveling up, yet? Mark said it would pop up when I leveled, but I haven’t seen it and I feel like I’ve done enough to level.”

Simone shrugged. “No. I’ve tried a bunch of commands, but nothing works.”

Sara suddenly adjusted her view, squinting into the distance. “There. It’s Cody.”

Strolling leisurely down the steep, rocky path high on the hill, Cody approached the glowing city with his usual, unbothered Catfolk smile.

“Where’s Mark?” Simone bit the inside of her lip, her Ranger anxiety spiking.

“And Raven?” Sara added, instantly standing up, clearly distressed.

As Cody continued his casual descent, a single figure burst from another dark path higher up the cavern wall. It was Mark. He was sprinting awkwardly, completely out of breath. Cody jogged over and caught up with him on the way down, exchanging rapid words until they arrived at the bench.

Mark was covered from head to toe in a thick, rancid layer of shimmering grease. He was panting violently.

“Where’s Raven?” Sara demanded, her voice rising in panic.

“She’s stabilized, but I can’t carry her. She’s hurt bad,” Mark gasped, clutching his knees. “I got her a long way out of the city because of the grease sliding, but I ran out of momentum. She’s a ways up the path.”

“Grease?” Cody asked, wrinkling his nose at the smell. “Where did you—”

Sara bolted.

She didn't say a word. She didn't check her clipboard. She just exploded into a dead sprint toward the dark cavern tunnel Mark had pointed to.

Simone exchanged a frantic glance with Cody and instantly sprinted after her.

“I’ll stay here with the newbie!” Cody yelled out as Simone effortlessly caught up to Sara's pace. “And the Druid!”

“You know you can’t do this all on your own!” Simone yelled over the echoing sound of their boots as they rushed into the pitch-black mouth of the cave.

Sara didn't slow down. “Remind me when I’m dead.”

Sara powered up the steep, rocky slope with a terrifying, primal determination that Simone had never seen in her before. Even Simone’s high-Dexterity Elven legs burned fiercely at this brutal incline, and she began to lose ground as Sara pushed herself to the absolute edge of Simone's darkvision.

Then, a shape materialized ahead in the darkness.

A Drow. Not Raven.

The stranger was hovering directly over a prone, bleeding body on the stone floor, a wicked, curved stiletto knife raised high in the air, ready to strike downward.

Sara didn’t stop. She didn't pull a weapon. She charged straight for the assassin with terrifying momentum.

At the last possible second, Sara let out a guttural, pained war cry, giving away her position. The Drow assassin startled and spun around, knife ready to parry, but Sara was already there. She lowered her head, weaponizing her Tiefling biology.

The impact was sickening.

It only took a second. With a horrific crunch of bone and leather, Sara buried her thick, curved horns to the skull directly into the center of the Drow’s chest. The assassin's eyes went wide with paralyzing shock and agony. The stiletto fell uselessly from her hand as the sheer kinetic force of the charge carried them both backward, taking Sara to the ground in a tangle of limbs and blood.

“Arrrrgggghhh!” Sara screamed, violently yanking her horns free from the Drow's shattered ribcage. She scrambled on her hands and knees over to the downed, bleeding form of her friend.

“Raven! Get up!” Sara thrust her bloody hands onto Raven's chest, her survival instincts tapping directly into the raw magic of the world. “Cure Critical Wounds!”

A blinding flash of golden Bardic light erupted from Sara's palms, sinking deep into Raven's flesh.

Raven gasped violently, as if she hadn’t drawn breath in hours, her body arching off the stone as she jerked awake. Before she could even try to sit up, Sara collapsed heavily onto her, squeezing her tight and sobbing into the Drow's shoulder.

Raven caught Simone’s wide-eyed glance as the Ranger finally caught up to them. Raven looked confused as she carefully wrapped her arms around the trembling Tiefling and scanned the dark tunnel. After a moment, her pale eyes found the bloody, ruined body of the Drow lying dead on the stone a few feet away.

Raven slowly, gently separated herself from Sara's embrace.

“She was my sister,” Raven whispered. She stood up, her face completely unreadable, and looked down at the corpse.

“What?” Sara, still sitting on the bloody stone, reached up a trembling hand and touched the warm blood coating her own horns.

“April,” Raven said, her voice hollow.

“I’m…” Sara was stunned, her breath hitching as the horror of what she had just done set in. “I didn't know...”

“Don’t.” Raven cut her off sharply, raising a hand. She didn't look angry, just profoundly resigned. “We’re just above Hazbruhharassin. I need to bring her home.”

“But won’t they kill you?” Simone stepped in cautiously, sensing that Sara had entirely lost her power in this situation.

“They’re more likely to turn me back into an Arachne,” Raven said grimly. She knelt beside the body and gently closed her dead sister's eyes with two pale fingers.

“I’m so sorry,” Sara sobbed, scrambling to her feet, her corporate composure completely shattered. “I’m going with you.”

“Walking right into Hazbruhharassin to tell the Spider Queen you gored her daughter to death doesn’t seem like a good idea to me, Sara.” Pure, cold fear coiled tightly in Simone’s chest.

“She’s right,” Raven replied, effortlessly hoisting April’s limp body into her arms. She looked long and hard at Sara, her expression guarded. “They’ll kill you on sight.”

Sara pushed up to her full height. She wiped her running nose and bloody eyes with the back of her sleeve, her jaw setting into a line of absolute, terrifying resolve. She looked past the Drow, locking eyes with Simone.

“Take the team and go back to base,” Sara commanded. “If I don’t come back... don’t let Mark DM.”

[SYSTEM ALERT: Encounter Cleared.]

[XP Awarded: 1,000]

[Level Up Available! Unspent Attribute Points: 4]