Finishing the last of my one-toed squats, I wriggle my cute little black-tipped digits around in happy satisfaction at another successful morning workout. Well, more of a morning warm-up, I guess. Mei-Mei told me to take it easy on the training this morning. We’re supposed to be breaking out today after all.

Tossing my makeshift weight to the side—an upturned table filled with chunks of concrete and broken furniture from yesterday’s little scuffle—I dust my hands of both dirt and responsibility as it loudly crashes to the cracked, debris-littered floor.

This place is a real mess! But there's no point worrying about that since this is my last day here and all. I was planning on turning this whole Spire into my own personal harem-house, but breaking out sounds more fun right now. Surstrom Spire isn't going anywhere so I can always come back later!

Last night, Mei-Mei tried to catch us up on everything that happened yesterday and why it happened in the first place. I didn't really get it and stopped paying attention at some point but apparently the Spire has some pretty crazy technology that probably wasn't made by dwarves after all. When she stuck her dismembered hand in the wall to take a closer look at it, the Spire got angry and tried to stop her from poking around. According to Mei-Mei, it's something the Spire did on its own, meaning the Warden didn't know what was going on either.

Oh, and we found out what Mei-Mei was so excited about finding on the floor above us.

"It's Lust!" Bran complains as I walk into another heated argument in Mei-Mei's cell. "What do you mean you're going to wake her up? That's the exact thing the Warden warned us specifically not to do or we’d all die!"

"The Warden's an idiot!" Mei-Mei snaps back. "He doesn't even understand what the Spire is. His own prison! I wouldn't trust his opinion on anything. Lust is only one floor above us so waking her should be simple."

Inside her cell, Mei-Mei and Bran are arguing like usual while Biscuit sits quietly off to the side, spoon-feeding pudding into the dirt bucket of the tree that hadn't moved since last night. They've been arguing like this ever since Mei-Mei explained her breakout plan to the three of us yesterday. In the end, the plan was too long and I stopped paying attention midway through. I'll just wait until Mei-Mei tells me what to do. It's a lot easier this way.

"Oh? What is the Spire then?" I ask, plonking myself down next to Biscuit and ruffling her fluffy white head.

"Seriously? Did you not listen to anything I said last night?" Mei-Mei immediately starts getting upset at me for some reason, dragging me into the argument too.

"It's a machine," she sighs. "I don't know who built it and for what purpose but, seeing as the Warden doesn't appear to have any control over it, it seems to be acting on its own. All we need to do is have the Spire act against the Warden and his guards and we can slip out in all the uproar. Simple."

"That doesn't sound simple at all!" Bran complains. "And why do we need Lust to do that in the first place?! You’re supposed to be a so-called genius or something, right? If it’s a machine, can’t you just... fix it to do what we want?"

"I am a genius, but I can't possibly know everything! I have no idea how the Spire works or how to make it work in our favour. All I need is for it to do what it did to us yesterday, but everywhere. On every floor. Assuming Lust is as big a threat as the Warden makes her out to be, her actions are bound to be the trigger that creates a chain reaction across the whole prison."

"Wait, wait, wait. Your plan isn't to bring Lust or the Spire over to our side, it's to turn the entire prison into a free-for-all between the guards, the prisoners, and the Spire itself so we can somehow escape down ninety-nine floors of chaos and just walk out the front door?"

"Exactly! You finally get it! Simple, right?"

"No!"

Ah, I think I finally understand what Mei-Mei's planning to do.

"Fwahaha! I get it! The plan is to create a free-for-all bloodbath where the last one alive at the end is the one who becomes the new owner of the Spire, right? All I have to do is beat everybody else and become the last woman standing!"

"You don't get it at all!"

Fweh? Apparently I don't understand what Mei-Mei's planning to do.

"Then explain it better!" I complain. "Just tell me what the plan is but sum it up in ten words or less! Any more than that and I won't understand!"

"Fine," Mei-Mei sighs. "This is the plan. Bran dies. Biscuit wakes Lust. We all run. Got it?"

"Okay!" I nod. "Got it!"

"No, not okay!" Bran cries, slapping the top of my head. "What kind of plan is that?! What kind of jailbreak can be summed up in ten words or less?! Why is me dying a part of the plan?!"

"Keh-heh! It'll be fine. Being dead isn't all that bad."

As Bran attempts to chase the dead, snickering dwarf around the room, Biscuit suddenly speaks up.

"I-I don't know if I can wake Lust... D-do I just do the same thing as yesterday?" she asks anxiously.

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Last night I learnt what actually happened to Biscuit yesterday. I learnt where she had disappeared to when the Warden showed up, and how she managed to hide everything that Mei-Mei asked her to.

After collecting everything in a bedsheet and succumbing to the gas, she woke to find the Warden and his guards already in the Curse Ward with the rest of us dragged out into the main room. All except for her. Because of her Curse, the guards completely overlooked her unconscious body and, by extension, whatever she was carrying. They just didn't notice her at all. When she awoke, she simply crept into the corner of an empty cell and stood there quietly until all the guards finally left. For the most part anyway. I seem to remember a mysterious bottle of yellow liquid appearing out of nowhere and nailing one of those guards back there...

At Biscuit's question, Mei-Mei's expression shifts to a more serious one, almost uncharacteristically apologetic.

"We will be exploiting your Curse in a similar way, but... To be honest, this whole plan rests on you, Biscuit. It'll probably be difficult and you'll potentially be in a lot of danger. If you don't want to do it then don't feel like you need to force yourself. Nobody will blame you for not wanting to go through with it. It's all up to you but I need to know your decision right now. Sorry."

"What's with the time limit?" Bran asks. "Telling her to decide just like that is... Why does everything have to be today anyway? Can't we prepare a little more?"

"Well, we could but..." Mei-Mei shakes her head. "Today is the best shot we've got. I'm willing to bet the Warden is already making some changes to the security of this floor and the one above us. This might be the only opportunity for us to act freely."

Giving the anxious Biscuit a cheeky grin, I flex a beautiful bicep in reassurance.

"Fwahaha! Don't worry about it!" I tell her. "If you don't want to do it, I'll just punch the ceiling down and wake that sleepyhead up myself! Fwahaha!"

Actually, could I just punch the ceiling down? I think it’s pretty thick... And how would I even reach that high? Maybe if we stack a bunch of tables and beds on top of each other, I could stand on Bran's shoulders and—

"Mm! I'll do my best!"

Raising her voice over my wandering thoughts, Biscuit jumps to her feet and clenches her little fists in front of her chest in anxious determination.

“Well, with that settled... Let’s go over the plan one last time! Make sure you all pay attention this time!”

Mei-Mei paces around the room as she talks us through the plan again, every now and then looking back at me to make sure I’m paying attention. She seems to have simplified it a lot since yesterday to make it easier to understand.

“Step one! The first step is to have the guards open the Curse Ward door. This will all be on Bran. If Bran’s performance can fool the guards into opening the door, even for just a second, then we can move on to step two. Step two! As soon as that door opens, Biscuit will slip through unnoticed. From there, she's going to take the stairs to floor one hundred and then wake up Lust. Step three! Lust will make a break for it, fighting her way down the Spire and sowing chaos along the way. In the meantime, Me, Bran, and Pepper will bust down the Curse Ward doors and meet back up with Biscuit outside floor ninety-nine. Step four! With Pepper taking the lead, we'll charge our way through the chaos, leaving the Warden and his guards to deal with Lust as we make our way down to the exit on the first floor. Step five! We steal a boat and make our escape!”

Rifling through the pockets in her coat, Mei-Mei pulls out a collection of folded-up papers and hands one to each of us. Each paper has a name written on it in big, bold letters.

“Now, because you're all idiots,” she continues. “I did you the service of writing up each of your individual roles in this step-by-step guide. Please read over each step carefully and memorize them to the best of your ability. However meagre that ability may be."

Taking the paper with his name on it, Bran opens it up and scans down the page.

"Hey..." he says, holding up his unfolded piece of paper for all of us to see. "This is just harassment at this point, right?"

I read the note in Bran's hand.

Step 1: Bran dies (lol)

Step 2: Everybody escapes

Aside from those two steps, there's nothing else written on the page.

"Why?!" he complains. "Why is my only role in this plan to be killed off?! Please plan for me to live instead! And was the 'lol' really necessary?!”

Snickering at the casual everyday harassment of Bran, I open up my own piece of paper. My snickering immediately stops.

Step 1: Meat shield (gorilla)

Step 2: Everybody escapes (gorilla)

"Why?!" I complain alongside Bran. “Why does mine say 'gorilla' twice?! Why is it always a gorilla? I told you I wanted something cuter! Write down slow loris instead! Slow loris!"

“That’s your problem?!” Bran interjects. “Be more concerned with the ‘meat shield’ part!”

“Stop complaining, you two! Of course I'm not going to expend the effort to write out a plan for two idiots who aren't even going to understand it anyway! And seriously, what the hell is a slow—!"

Interrupting her scolding, a blushing Biscuit pounces in from the side and wraps her arms around the tiny dwarf in a hug—an unfolded piece of paper still in one hand.

"Mm. I-I'll do my best. Thanks, b-big sis Mei-Mei." she says, tail wagging behind her.

Hm? Wait, maybe she's not hugging her. Maybe I'm being deceived by Biscuit's overwhelmingly pure aura into believing she's doing something wholesome. I mean, if Mei-Mei wrote something stupid on Biscuit's paper too, it'd make more sense if she was actually attacking her instead, right? Oh! It must be a suplex! Biscuit is going to suplex her! Or...

Taking a quick peek at the paper in Biscuit's hand, I can see it isn't as simple as the one Mei-Mei gave me and Bran. The entire page is filled with writing—detailed step-by-step instructions along with intricate colour-coded diagrams and basic floor plans—everything she needs to complete her role without worry.

"D-don't get the wrong idea." An embarrassed-looking Mei-Mei breaks out of the hug and pushes the wolfgirl off of her. "If you mess up, I won't be able to leave this place. That's all."

"Mm." Biscuit nods, tucking the paper away inside her dress.

Bran sighs and shoves his own paper into his pocket.

I fold mine back up and tuck it securely beneath my... belt. Sadly, my usual storage pocket isn’t an option anymore after it was burned up by the Warden yesterday...

All of us nod. It's time.

"W-well." Biscuits skips out of the cell and turns to face us, giving a little curtsy and a short bow. "Th-thank you all. For everything..."

In response, she's met with three reassuring thumbs-ups.

"Follow my plan and it'll all work out. We'll meet up again soon. I promise."

"Stay safe, Biscuit. Don't leave me alone with the zombie and gorilla for too long..."

"Fwahaha! Steal a pudding for me while you're out there!"

Clearly fighting back tears but still making an effort to put on a brave face, Biscuit nods. "Mm!" she says, giving one last little wave, and then— There's nobody there.

Me, Mei-Mei, and Bran all stare out of the cell at nothing in particular. What were we looking at? I don't remember. It feels like it was super important though...

A short beep from Mei-Mei's pockets pulls my mind from being sucked down the now-familiar black hole of missing memories that I'm sure I've been down many times before since arriving in Curse Ward.

"Hm." Glancing inside her coat pocket and giving a little nod to herself, Mei-Mei pulls a lit cigarette from behind her ear and rests it between her lips before turning to me and Bran.

"Alright, idiots," she says. "Step one. It’s time for Bran to die."