This time Grizzizzik was frozen with everyone else, though the look of revenge was clear on his face. At least he was level four now.

Nick grabbed the dice and gave it a good shake. Nat twenty. He hoped that was a good omen for how he would roll for the future. Nick glanced at his clock on the phone and saw it was a minute to ten o’clock. This would be a long minute. He glanced at the horizon, seeing it lighten where the moon was ready to peek over.

The d20 appeared back in his vision.

Roll to hit.

Nick shook it, taking a deep breath. Grizzizzik would be the first to attack. He was also an idiot, and would run right up and use his rapier when he no longer had poison protection tattoos. They weren’t ready for this. Not like before.

Nick rolled, his hands still manacled, and saw it clatter on nineteen. He tried not to get too excited, but Grizzizzik could finally hit his father. He grabbed the d8, rolled it, and was happy enough to see it land on a three. The +2 was always welcome, but he was no Hraktar.

Time resumed, and as expected, Grizzizzik ran right up to his father and slashed him against his already injured shoulder. Akshi let out a grunt before facing him, his teeth lengthening.

“Grizzizzik,” Nick couldn’t help but say. Akshi packed a punch with his bite, and they were down one healer. Ezekiel could not join this fight until he was cleansed.

Akshi reached out, trying to bite Grizzizzik’s shoulder, but he dodged it, snarling. Nick’s shoulders relaxed. For now, Grizzizzik was fine. Akshi was about to say something when another arrow sailed through the air and smacked his shoulder. Soon after, Hraktar let out a shout, bringing down his great sword toward the crime lord. It made a deep gash in his snake body that made him stumble back, snarling at Hraktar.

“You think you’ve—” One of Milo’s crossbow bolts not only cut off Akshi’s phrase, but his shoulder, too. He went to sneer at Milo when he got cannon fire right to the chest, throwing him back five feet.

Milo rested his cannon on his shoulder. “You were saying?”

Akshi gripped his chest, glaring at Milo. One round, and Akshi looked haggard. They might actually kill Akshi. Or, rather, they might kill him before he resurrects himself in a few days.

Nick was so focused on the battle that he didn’t notice Evelyn approaching until she threw her arms around him. She whimpered before backing him further from the fight.

“I’m alright.” Nick watched the battle as she pulled him closer to Tyler.

“You stay with us until he’s dead,” Evelyn said.

Tyler glanced at her. “If he dies.”

His little sister’s eyes darkened. “If they don’t kill him, I will.”

Tyler and Nick exchanged worried glances.

Akshi pointed a finger at Milo. “I will have your throat.”

Grizzizzik lifted his rapier, bringing it down hard on Akshi, but he raised his long sword, blocking it easily. He sneered, then shot his hand forward, a bolt of lightning escaping him. Nick ducked to be certain it wouldn’t hit him.

Roll a dexterity save throw.

Nick closed his eyes, reminding himself that Grizzizzik was at level four now. He might survive. Hopefully.

Eight. That wasn’t good. Not good at all.

Failed save.

Nick winced, prepared for the worst.

Time resumed, and the bolt of lightning shot through all the characters. Grizzizzik got hit the hardest, with his hit points dropping to ten. Everyone else rolled a save, with them losing about ten hit points each. Not bad, but he was pretty sure Akshi could do that spell again.

“I’ve got it!” a new voice shouted. Nick spun around, seeing Pippa behind him. Pippa had snuck up behind them all to get Ezekiel. She scooped up the sword from the triangle and held it up to Akshi. “Set up the spell! I have it!”

She then paused as the sword flickered and turned into a rock. Nick frowned, glancing at the rock in her hand. She wasn’t the only one. Some characters, too, were confused.

“What the hell?” Pippa asked.

Milo partially raised his hand. “Yeah, that one’s on me.”

Pippa stared at Milo, then looked at Ezekiel kneeling in prayer in the middle of the triangle. Pippa threw the rock at the cleric, and it sailed right through. Ezekiel, or the copy of the cleric, went right on praying. Though he flickered before disappearing. Pippa snarled at Milo. “Where is he!”

Milo gave her a look. Pippa would have to do more than that to get her answer. Clarissa raised her hand, the spirit of the bear circling around the group, giving everyone an added nine hit points, which made Nick more relieved.

Evelyn lifted Nick’s arm, tugging at the manacles around his wrists

“Grizzizzik will pick the lock when he’s not so busy.” Nick held up his wrists.

Evelyn frowned, but nodded. “Fine.”

Clarissa tried to attack Pippa with a thorn whip, but the woman dodged it, snarling.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

With a loud shout, Hraktar raised his great sword. Akshi was distracted with Pippa’s discovery, so he didn’t pay attention to Hraktar’s first strike, which was a wide swing into the gut. Akshi shouted in pain as the sword went in deep. With an almost flourish, Hraktar swung the great sword around before slamming it down against Akshi’s head. Grizzizzik raised a hand to block the blood that splattered across his face before he took a few steps back, eyes wide. Akshi gurgled, then his scales turned to dust as his body disintegrated. Nick’s jaw dropped open as the dust flew through the wind and Akshi disappeared. Nick couldn’t help it and looked at Alejandra, who was beaming.

“I love nat twenties.”

Clarissa spun around, picking up her flame blade and heading for Pippa. Pippa, who now had a turn at being distracted by Akshi’s disintegrating body, didn’t notice until it was too late. The sword buried into her shoulder, and she shrieked, backing away. Milo picked up his cannon and shot a ball of energy into Pippa’s other shoulder. She snarled at him, the red in her eyes distinct.

Grizzizzik tried shooting with his short bow, letting the arrow loose, but it smacked the ground behind her. Pippa spun, watching Milo.

“Milo.” Her voice dripped in seduction.

Derek took a few steps forward, worried. He must have failed the save. Milo grunted, moving his head as his cannon dropped from his hands, his pupils glowing red.

“Where is the cleric, sugar?” Pippa asked.

“I… don’t know.” Milo’s voice shook. “We knew this would happen. We knew I had a weakness for you. Not even Rafael knows. The only person who does is Ezekiel. And he’s not here.”

Pippa’s eyes widened. Clarissa slammed her again with the flame blade, and a scorch mark appeared on her side. She snarled at Clarissa before Hraktar brought down his great sword. She leapt out of the way as it hit the ground. The sword was too close, and she barely glanced at it before turning around and sprinting into the desert.

“Do we go after her?” Hraktar asked.

“No. We have our victory. Akshi’s dead for now, and Pippa will not find Ezekiel in the next fifteen minutes.” Clarissa frowned, then glanced at Rafael. “Right?”

Rafael shrugged. “I seriously don’t know where he is.”

The flame blade disappeared as the druid kept her eyes on him. “Why didn’t you tell us your plan?”

“Ezekiel wouldn’t let me. Akshi has the spell detect thought, and the best way to protect from that is if no one knows where he actually is. Even me.” Rafael sighed, then glanced at the rest of the group. “The anxiety of the wererat was a lot, and he didn’t want to put anyone in danger. Milo used his illusion spells to do what he did here, but he wanted to be on his own when he performed his ritual.”

Grizzizzik walked over to Milo, tapping his cheek. “Milo?” The mana fusor stared ahead, not reacting to Grizzizzik’s taps.

Time froze, and words appeared next to a d4.

How hard was the slap?

Nick winced, then grabbed the d4, giving it a shake before letting it fall on a two. Time resumed when he heard the sharp smack of Grizzizzik’s palm against Milo’s cheek.

Milo didn’t react. His head simply moved, and he went back to staring at nothing.

Derek rose a hand, excited. “Slap him again! I got a prompt for a wisdom saving roll when you hit him. If I get another, I might succeed it.”

Clarissa went to grab the rogue. “Wait.”

Grizzizzik didn’t wait. Time slowed down as Grizzizzik’s hand was in the air. Nick suppressed a smile as he grabbed the d4 again. This one landed on a three.

Grizzizzik smacked him hard. Milo let out a shout of surprise, backing away. “What? What happened?”

“Pippa charmed you, but she ran away. I had to shake you out of it,” Grizzizzik said.

Milo rubbed his cheek, his face scrunched in pain. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thanks. I think?”

“Did you want to stay under the charm of Pippa?”

“Deities, no.”

Grizzizzik turned around, heading toward Nick. “That’s what I thought.”

Nick took in a steadying breath, looking at the place that Akshi’s body once was. A thousand experience points trickled into his bar, and he sighed in relief.

3885/6500 XP

There were still almost three thousand more points they needed to get before they got to the next level, but it was set. He needed to do his chaotic thing for it to count toward the warlock level.

Grizzizzik picked the lock on his manacles, which was thankfully successful. Grizzizzik only had to fiddle around with the lock pick for a minute before they popped open. Nick rubbed his wrist, refusing to thank his rogue, as he was still angry with him. Grizzizzik, in turn, walked a few paces away to study the manacles from his father.

Evelyn wrapped her arms around him again and squeezed him so tightly he grunted.

“Oh my god, never do that again,” Evelyn said.

“I mean, it wasn’t like I had a choice.” Nick patted the top of her head.

Derek walked up, giving him a once over. “You alright?”

“Yeah.” Nick rubbed his neck. “Better, now that he’s dead.”

“He won’t stay dead for long,” Grizzizzik said.

“Are you going to be okay at school?” Evelyn asked.

“He hasn’t dared try to attack me at school,” Nick said.

“That’s because he’s felt like he’s had the upper hand,” Alejandra said. She was rubbing her arms, but kept glancing at Nick. “So… we can’t be sure.”

Grizzizzik grunted at that. “Alejandra’s right. When at that school, never be alone.”

“I…” Nick tried to figure out how to say that he was always alone.

“I’ll stay with him,” Evelyn said.

“So will I,” Derek said.

Rafael glanced at his shoes. “As long as everyone else is okay with it, I can be there too.”

Nick stared at his friends, surprised. “I… have classes. You can’t all be in my class.”

“We’ve got to set up a code system through the phone,” Evelyn said.

“Dad’ll-”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Evelyn pulled out her phone. “Akshi threatened your life. Twice. If he does so again, say where you are in the group text. We’ll come running and teleport our characters in.”

Nick nodded, feeling his old flip phone weighing in his pocket. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Obviously,” Evelyn said.

Alejandra glanced at Tyler, nervous. “How many days does it take for Akshi to return?”

“Whatever number a d6 lands on,” Tyler said.

Alejandra’s eyes widened slightly. “That’s… not a lot of days.”

“No, it’s not. He could very well be there Monday morning,” Tyler said.

Alejandra glanced at Nick, and for the first time in a long while, her look wasn’t sharp. It didn’t last long, and she focused on a bush, but it was nice to know Alejandra was more worried than angry.

Tyler glanced at the moon peeking over the horizon, then at his phone. “Should we head back?”

“I need to know about Ezekiel,” Clarissa said.

“Dad’s not expecting us for another twenty minutes,” Evelyn said, still staying by Nick’s side.

“Oh, alright. Should we plan another session next weekend?” Tyler asked.

“No,” Grizzizzik said.

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “No?”

“We should plan another session for tomorrow.”

Nick glanced at his character, but he didn’t return the gaze.

“We are still at level four. We need to get stronger. All these monsters need to be gone by next August, and we can’t afford to do a session every week. The more we level up, the more monsters will trickle into Elmwood. We barely defeated Akshi because Hraktar got lucky.”

Hraktar’s already thick shoulders stiffened at that. “Not luck. Skill.”

Grizzizzik ignored him. “If Nick really is in the danger we all feel he is, we’ve got to keep leveling up.”

There was a pause, and the longer it lasted, the more Nick realized it was because time had stood still.

Make a persuasion check with advantage.

Nick glanced at everyone’s face frozen as they looked at his character before he grabbed the d20. He sort of hoped he could roll low and for them to figure something out. But this wasn’t deception. It was persuasion.

The first one was a nine. The second roll was a three. With a +4 bonus, it might be enough.

Clarissa sighed as time resumed. “You’re probably right, but I’d like to wait until we cure Ezekiel from lycanthropy before making a final decision.”

Milo nodded. “Agree. Which… shouldn’t be too long.” He glanced at the full moon in the sky.