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    Violet arrived in the underwater worldlet a little while later and blinked to the boss bat. The bat squeaked in greeting and Violet nodded to the boss creature.


    "You did very well, bat." Violet said. "Better than I thought anything in the dungeon could do against that woman. Thank you." The bat''s expression brightened a bit at the praise. "I brought you a bit of healing, to help fix your wing. I think you just swallow these." Violet held out the pills and the bat snatched them up with its tongue. Healing energy slowly infused into the bat''s body, filling in missing scales and reducing the swelling on the wing joint. The boss bat squeaked in surprise and gratitude. Violet smiled. "You''re welcome." He said.


    Violet cleared his throat and spoke more somberly. "Now, when she returns, I think you and your bats should just hide in the underwater tunnels. Let her have the gold." The bat squeaked in outrage and Violet held up his hands. "I''m not ordering you to do that, I just know that she''ll work to remove your advantages when she comes back. If you hide, then she doesn''t get the glory of defeating you." The bat didn''t seem convinced, but Violet let the matter drop.


    Violet returned to the underworld workshop and found Chaney tracing the words that Violet had written onto more pieces of paper while Yrryth drew a bat flying triumphantly over a dead woman with a slight resemblance to the bandit leader. He picked up the small pile of completed fliers and shuffled through them. "Perfect." He said. "These are perfect. Chaney, your stealth skill should make it so you can drop these off where bandits will find them. The queen won''t be able to destroy all of them and it makes her look weak, because she couldn''t kill a dungeon monster on the first try. I bet she''ll bring backup with nets next time she goes to the underwater floor." Chaney and Yrryth acknowledged his comments but kept working.


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    Punch returned to camp with the rest of the harvesting bandits. The nearby dungeon floors were all cleared out and these bandits would be out harvesting on the next two shifts. Punch''s enthusiasm to report the project faded as he heard Zdeska and Sajaa screaming at each other. Punch ordered the rest of the bandits to go rest. He decided to check in with his old team first to see what they knew about the situation.


    Punch found his team, whole and unharmed, sitting in his tent. "How did it go?" He asked.


    "No issues, Punch. We got back hours ago." Target said. Bean and Shtorrr nodded confirmation.


    "Good." Punch said. "Do you know what Zdeska and Sajaa are arguing about?"


    "Nah, we''ve been in here the whole time." Bean said. Punch frowned at that and tried to think how a third-in-command would find out what his superiors were discussing. He snapped his fingers and left the tent.


    Punch walked around the camp to the sentries. Since the sentries were out in the blinding light for so long, they wore thin cloth wraps over their eyes. Punch just squinted like everyone else as he tried to recognize the bandits on watch. "Hey." He said when he couldn''t tell who it was.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Hey yourself, Punch." The sentry replied. Fortunately, Punch recognized the voice of the bandit woman.


    "Bee, anything interesting to report?" Punch asked.


    Bee hummed thoughtfully. "Queen came back half an hour ago or so. Then you got back with your group about ten minutes ago."


    Punch tried to shade his eyes, but it didn''t help. He knew it wouldn''t help, it was just something everyone kept trying. "How was the queen''s group when they returned?" He asked.


    "They lost Mirvin, and the queen had some injuries. Other than that, they were just soaking wet." Bee said.


    "Injuries?" Punch was shocked. "What injured her?"


    Bee shrugged. "Don''t know. Hard to believe she could be hurt by frogs and salamanders."


    Punch nearly said something in agreement, like a scout team leader might say to a sentry, but he remembered just in time that he was third-in-command. "I''m sure whatever it was would have killed us. It killed Mirvin, right?"


    "Uh, sure. sure." Bee said, not sounding sure.


    Punch could hear that the shouting had stopped, so he went back to camp to find the second-in-command. He found Sajaa standing outside the bandit queen''s tent. "Sajaa, how''s the queen?" He asked quietly.


    Sajaa punched him in the arm. "That weakling got cut up by a bat, swimming in a puddle." She said loudly. A shout from inside had Sajaa and Punch scampering away from the queen''s tent. When they were safely distant, Sajaa spoke more quietly. "She''s isn''t hurt bad. I think she got a bit scared because something in here could actually hurt her. If she had stood her ground she could have killed the thing." Sajaa shrugged. "Maybe she didn''t want to mess up her hair to badly, I don''t know. What have you been up to Punch?"


    Punch had a few moments of panic at the idea that something was in the dungeon that could scare off Zdeska. Had he just send pairs of bandits to their deaths at the hands of a terrible dungeon monster? How long-


    Sajaa punched Punch in the other arm. "Punch! Wake up!"


    Punch snapped out of his frozen state and rubbed his arms. "Damn, Sajaa. That hurt." Sajaa snorted in amusement. "I heard from some sentries that the dungeon isn''t spawning creatures any more, so I organized three shifts of two on all the nearby dungeon floors to gather all the valuables. I just got back from leading the entire group around and clearing out all the monsters."


    Sajaa looked confused. "The dungeon isn''t spawning monsters? That sounds like a trap."


    Punch shrugged. "Maybe, but it''s a poor trap. The harvesters will run back here if the dungeon spawns anything worth fighting. In the meantime, the wooden shields could be very useful for building actual defenses or even just regular structures like walkways over mud and sand."


    Sajaa blinked in surprise at Punch''s thinking, but quickly resumed squinting in the bright light. A slow smile spread across her face and she took a half step forward to gently rub Punch''s punched shoulders. Punch''s face turned a bit red at the contact. "Punch, those are great ideas. I know a thing or two about building a permanent shield wall and Lochock did plenty of basic carpentry at the old caverns. With good defenses, we wouldn''t have to hide in this rainy torture bog. You''re gonna be camp hero once we get the queen on board."


    Punch felt a bit giddy but remembered his concern. "You think so? Should- should we get started now? I''m worried whatever fought with the queen will come and kill the harvester pairs I have stationed out there."


    Sajaa shook her head. "No need to hurry. She fought a water bat--it probably can''t leave the water. Lets go find Lochock and see what he thinks he can build with shields and tree branches."


    "And rope." Punch said. He pulled a few strands of a tough fiber from a pocket as they started walking. "The dungeon is dropping a bunch of this stuff now. It feels like rope and I''m sure we can make strong rope out of it."


    Sajaa laughed. "Are we bandits or old women spinning string?" She teased but took the fibers anyway and tried twisting some together.