Former Marine Jack Mason wakes inside Dungeon World with no memory of how he arrived and a cheerful Tutorial congratulating him on his promotion.

He used to be an Infrared NPC.

Now he is a Red-ranked Player Character, which means better weapons, visible stats, and the privilege of dying for an audience.

Jack is thrown together with six unstable strangers: a relentless paladin, a color-obsessed marksman, a dangerously enthusiastic bard, a rules-hacking mage, a rogue who remembers things she shouldn’t, and a former war machine trapped in human flesh. To survive, they must become a squad before the Game Master turns them into entertainment.

Their first quest sounds simple:

Enter the Tomb of the Crimson Lord.
Retrieve the cursed Crown.
Return within seven days.

Then the final condition appears.

One party member must be sacrificed and returned to Infrared status.

Infrared doesn’t mean dead. It means stripped of memory, identity, and free will until nothing remains but an obedient background character.

The Tomb was built to make teams betray each other. Its monsters were once players. Its treasures carry hidden costs. Its mirrors show futures filled with treachery. And the Crown knows exactly what each of them fears enough to sacrifice someone else.

Jack can complete the mission.

The real challenge is bringing all seven of them back as people.

Because the Game Master isn’t waiting to see whether they win.

It’s waiting to see whom they choose to erase.

The blurb preserves the book’s central commercial hook, seven-person squad, tactical dungeon structure, seven-day deadline, cursed Crown, and forced Infrared-demotion clause.