We took a moment to catch our breath after we made it through the portal.

  “You were cutting it a little close there, weren’t you?” Tully slapped Jeffry on the shoulder, hard.

  “I made it, and that’s what counts.” The half-elf stood straighter and placed a hand on his sword. Julian drew his own blade.

  They were standing in a cold, dark cavern. Stalagmites rose from the floor haphazardly. The walls were made of stone, with white ice that crept up to about Julian’s knee height at the base. A few feet forward, the cavern exited into two tunnels.

  Wind blew from the tunnel on the right.

  “One second,” Gerda said, pulling out her winter clothes and slipping them back on. Julian and John stood watch while everyone else did the same.

  “I say we go left.” Tully motioned towards the left.

  “Well I say we go right.” Visha snapped, an edge in her voice.

  It was unlike the elf, who usually maintained a stricter level of indifference. Tully stopped and stared at Visha, and then hesitatingly said, “Uh, alright?”

  “I like walking with the wind.” Pram smiled, missing the tension.

  “We’ll have John scout both, and make an informed decision after.” Julian stated.

  The rogue vanished as instructed.

  A short while later, John’s chat arrived. [There are no monsters to either side. Or signs of battle. Should I go further?]

  Julian restricted how far to scout ahead incase the person ran into monsters alone. There was also the chance that the other party had cleared things ahead of them without leaving a trace… or they’d already left the dungeon.

  “We’ll start on the right.” Julian announced, reaching a decision. “And follow the wind.”

  “Did we want to rest first?” Jeffry broached. “Let half of the party get a full recovery?”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Due to the unknown adventurers already here, there was a driving sense of urgency that made Julian want to push forward… but he wasn’t in this alone. “Okay. I’ll stand guard while everyone rests.”

  He might as well, since he wasn’t going to get much sleep as it was. There was a shuffle as sleeping bags came out. They hesitated between sleeping on the platform - it was warmer than the frozen cave floor. But there was a chance, however slim, that the other group might portal in and land right on top of them while they were sleeping.

  They chose the cavern floor.

  Julian sat down on the edge of the platform while everyone else slept. Waiting.

  And thinking.

  At the three hour mark, he pulled out parchment to write a letter to his sister. Sometimes writing to her helped everything make sense - and it was a habit he’d developed long ago.

  He ate some of his rations after that. His storage ring couldn’t keep things in stasis like Gerda’s, so he went with cheese and smoked boar, and sourdough with bimbleberry jam. He usually ate trail rations when dungeoneering, since the luxury of hot food was thanks to his bridge troll.

  Then, his eyes drifted away from the tunnels to Gerda, still asleep.

  He pulled out a new parchment and set to writing.

  …

  Julian felt a presence approaching through the tunnel at hour seven. It was coming from the left passage.

  Instead of waking anyone, he set up a [Barrier] and walked over to meet whatever was coming down the tunnel. It was a star vole, an underground dwelling monster known for the star shaped white fur around its eyes. Sitting hunched over a bit, the star vole was as tall as Julian’s shoulder.

  It was known for burrowing, biting, and paw bashing.

  Julian activated [Charge], barreling towards the beast. The star vole noticed his approach and tried to lash out with its long front claws. Each was the size of a pocket dagger.

  The sword sliced into one of the claws and the star vole hissed, but dungeon madness pushed it forward through the pain. Julian ducked and struck again. Even if it could’ve landed a hit past his Royal Valarian Shield, it wasn’t too much of a threat on its own.

  [You have defeated a Star Vole (Level 26). +13 EXP]

  If monsters were suddenly appearing now… that meant the previous party had cleared them out shortly before they arrived on this floor and it was respawn time. Unfortunately, everyone had been pushing through on potions to get here, and Julian didn’t want to disturb them early.

  He could hold off a few monsters for an hour.

  the big edit. The final edit before it goes to the narrators. Sigh. FLOUNCE.

  flounce kinda day.