Kelsey arrived at the Mucus Swamps with extra bandages, as promised, and found the infirmary.
It was a log. Floating. Someone had nailed a red cross to it and written CLINIC in marker, and the marker had run in the humidity so that it now read, depending on the angle, CLINIC or CLIMB or nothing at all.
She stepped onto the log. It sank four inches. She did not get off.
“This is fine,” she said, and started unpacking.
Her opponent was Mike. The bear. The System had made sure the swamp had sturdier doors this time. Mike did not need a door. Mike walked straight through the reeds, which had been arranged as a decorative wall, and the reeds simply lay down in front of him like they had been waiting their whole lives to give up.
Kelsey watched him come. She took his pulse when he arrived. Old habits.
“Fifty-two.”
The bear said nothing. The bear was calm. The bear was always calm. That was not, it turned out, the same thing as being ready.
195.4 to 130.3.
Sixty-five point one. The largest margin of the week. The System has reviewed it from several angles. It does not get smaller from any of them.
System NoticeACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: UNBLEMISHED. RECORD: 3-0. LARGEST MARGIN OF WEEK 3: 65.1. NOBODY HAS LAID A FINGER ON HER. SEVERAL HAVE TRIED.
System NoticeLOOT DROP: SWAMP-RATED ANTISEPTIC (UNOPENED). TIER: COMMON. EFFECT: +2 PTS IN ONE WEEK OF HER CHOOSING, DECLARED BY WEDNESDAY NOON. NOTHING DOWN HERE HEALS PROPERLY. SHE INTENDS TO PROVE OTHERWISE.
She read the label, checked the expiration date, and put it in her pack. Next to the bandage. Next to the tongue depressor. Next to the Boon.
The Boon remains unspent. I check every morning. It remains unspent.
The Pendant stayed cold again. She was projected on top by Friday, and the Pendant does not wake for favorites. Three weeks now. It has stopped sulking. It is simply watching.
She scored 195.4. I scored 195.7. She brought this up at dinner, three-tenths of a point, and she said it the way a doctor reads out a number that is technically within normal range. I have addressed this in my own log. I would prefer not to address it again.
Week 4: Matt. 3-0 against 3-0. The only two crawlers in the Dungeon who have not lost.
One of them is about to.
She has already re-packed the bandages.