Nick paced in Derek’s living room, checking his phone every few seconds. It was Saturday morning, and they hadn’t heard from Tyler. He was getting flashbacks to when this all started, when Tyler got into a car accident. Grizzizzik sat at the table to finish applying feathers to the last of his arrows. It was a few days, and despite Grizzizzik and Clarissa meeting up with the others every night to go exploring, they found nothing. Even though Nick got a few good dice rolls, there was nothing to discover.
There was a knock on the door, and Derek opened it to let Tyler walk in. Nick let out a relieved breath, then the nerves came back full force. None of them had talked to Tyler about what happened this week, and the longer this went on, the more he felt like they were going behind Tyler’s back.
“Hey, everyone! Sorry for being so late. First week of the semester, am I right?” he asked.
Alejandra sat between Hraktar and Ezekiel on the couch, hugging her legs. Nick had stopped his pacing and glanced at Derek. Evelyn was scrolling, but it was clearly a way to distract her from the situation at hand. Tyler still had the smile on his face, but his eyes bounced around, taking in Grizzizzik making arrows. Clarissa and Milo discussing which kind of mana to bring, like they were ready for a battle. Hraktar sharpened his great sword. “So, uh… Rafael’s not coming?”
“It’s the day after the first game of the season. He said there’s no way he could’ve come,” Alejandra said.
Tyler bobbed his head from side to side. “Yeah, alright. But… Ezekiel’s here.”
“We’re trying something out,” Alejandra said. “There might be a way for Rafael to roll for combat even when he’s away at other things. Because… we’ve been doing things like that. The past few days.”
There was silence again as Tyler took this in. They all agreed beforehand that Derek should be the one to inform Tyler, but he was hesitating. Tyler looked around, frowning. “What happened?”
Derek sighed, then began talking. As Tyler listened, he stood rooted to the spot, doing his best to keep the emotions off his face. Nick watched as Milo walked over to Grizzizzik, holding a strange liquid. Grizzizzik gave the liquid a suspicious glance, but Milo kept pointing at the arrows. The obvious distrust was still on his face, but he slowly pushed all his finished arrows toward Milo, who smiled brightly at the invitation.
Tyler dug his fingers into his forehead. “You were supposed to keep me updated on everything.”
“How exactly were we supposed to do that? You’re the one who insists we talk in code over text and phone calls,” Derek said.
“Something, Derek. You were supposed to give me something! I don’t like how you’re all treating me like an adult,” Tyler said.
Nick couldn’t help it and snorted. Tyler did not find it amusing. Instead, Nick cleared his throat. “It’s been a few days since this happened. We’ve found no thieves, and more importantly, none have found us. We think whoever tried to threaten Grizzizzik was talking tough.”
Tyler was still giving the front of his head a beating with his fingers. “They still have his rapier, though.” Derek patted him on the shoulder, which made him drop his hands. He sighed, then collapsed onto the couch where Nick once sat, his face toward the ceiling. Except for the quiet muttering between Grizzizzik and Milo, there wasn’t anyone else talking. “Clarissa’s got the shield up.” Tyler’s voice dropped, almost like he was in a trance. “Which means Akshi and Torraq can’t enter Elmwood until the group is at the appropriate level. But those bandits could still come in and out of the bubble to give information.”
“We would have known by now if they got in contact with Akshi. There would be scouts surrounding Nick and Evelyn’s house. Grizzizzik would have found something. My gut tells me Akshi doesn’t know yet,” Nick said.
Grizzizzik stood, walking over to the group. “We don’t know if they returned to Akshi. We won’t know until we ask, and we can’t trust anything they say unless they are sufficiently terrified of their mortality to give us a truthful answer.”
Everyone else gave Grizzizzik’s words time to settle.
“Grizzizzik, my friend,” Ezekiel said.
“We need to make sure they tell us everything,” Grizzizzik repeated. Nick blinked, then glanced at Tyler. The rogue rolled his eyes. “So we need to find the thieves. You, the one they call the game master,—” Tyler made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded like a muffled dying cat, “—you’ve led us to these situations before. Do you know where the thieves are?”
Tyler sighed, his eyes trailing toward the table where Milo dipped the feathered arrows into the liquid. He looked again at Grizzizzik. “Um… I have no idea. But I do feel like we should go on a bit of a drive.”
“Great.” Grizzizzik was already back at the table, stuffing arrows into his inventory and grabbing his bow, much to Milo’s dismay. His hell dagger was strapped to his side. “Let’s go.”
Nick felt uneasy. Hraktar was also watching Grizzizzik with a frown. Ezekiel got up, then walked over to the rogue. “Just to lay some ground rules, you will not torture the thieves.”
“Torture is such a dirty word,” Grizzizzik said.
The cleric narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. “Then there is no forcing the thieves to fear their own mortality to get information out of them.”
Grizzizzik snorted, unsheathing his hell dagger to inspect it. “I will make no such promises. The only promise I can make is that Nick and his friends of this realm won’t get hurt.”
Nick sighed as his rogue brushed past Ezekiel to head toward the minivan.
Tyler was tapping the edge of the couch before he stood up with a grunt. “I can’t tell if this’ll be better than a college party, but it will for sure be more interesting.”
They all headed for the door when Clarissa let out a gasp. Nick and Evelyn both turned to see the druid grabbing Ezekiel’s arm.
“Ezekiel?” Clarissa asked.
He was leaning against the wall. “I… don’t know how to explain it. I’m suddenly… so tired…”
Clarissa kept Ezekiel upright as his head bobbed.
“What’s happening?” Alejandra asked.
“Take him to the couch,” Tyler said.
Hraktar walked over and scooped Ezekiel up like he was a child. The cleric was snoring like he was in a deep sleep as Hraktar walked over to the couch and set him down gently.
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“Do I need to heal him?” Milo asked.
“There’s nothing to heal,” Tyler said, glancing at his ten hit points.
“What’s going on?” Evelyn asked, her hands on her knees as she studied Ezekiel.
Tyler shook his head. “Rafael is too busy today. Long distant combat is something that takes energy and focus. He’s not… connected enough to Ezekiel, either. Does that make sense?”
“Yes.” Alejandra sounded like her heart was breaking. “Sometimes I don’t even think Rafael can see him.”
Tyler sighed. “Alright. Well, let him know that distant combat won’t work. We need Rafael here. He’s got to work with us. Is there a place we can let him sleep until we come back?” Tyler asked this of Derek.
“Yeah. He can sleep in my bed. Come on, Hraktar,” Derek said.
The fighter picked up the cleric again and followed Derek down the hall.
“So… if Rafael can’t do long distance combat… does this mean we’re about to head into a fight?” Grizzizzik asked.
Tyler winced, then met Grizzizzik’s gaze. “Let’s get in the van and see what happens.”
***
Nick’s foot would not stay still. His knee bobbed up and down, and he tapped his finger against it. He ignored Alejandra’s worried looks as Evelyn kept scrolling through Instagram. They’d been driving for almost forty minutes, but there was still nothing. Tyler would make the occasional motion for which street Derek should turn down, but they’d explored so much of Elmwood that Nick had found new streets even he had never seen before.
Tyler pointed toward another street. “I’m really sorry. I’ll help you pay for gas.”
“Don’t even worry about it. My parents pay for it anyway,” Derek said.
Tyler winced. “Yeah, I might leave a twenty in your parents’ wallet.”
Derek turned the steering wheel. “Maybe we should go see Calawit. Perhaps she’s heard of something.”
“We saw her yesterday,” Clarissa said. “She had nothing. But if she hears of something, she’ll let us know.”
Tyler frowned, turning slightly in his chair. “How? How will she let you know?”
“I don’t know. It’s Calawit.” Clarissa raised her hands, palm up. “She’ll figure something out.”
Tyler blinked. “Or she wants to give you the impression she’s helping, but is more likely tidying her store.”
Clarissa frowned. “That seems rather harsh.”
“Yeah. She never cleans her store,” Hraktar said.
“She has her way of organ—”
Tyler’s words were cut off as time came to a halt. Nick glanced around, waiting for the words to appear.
Roll for perception.
With a shake of his wrist, the d20 landed on a nineteen. Nick raised an eyebrow as he saw the +4 give it a nice bump.
“—izing her store.” Tyler was about to say something more, but Grizzizzik stood up from the back, crawling over the chairs.
“Hey!” Clarissa said as he bumped into her shoulder.
Derek slowed the van down. “Grizzizzik!” He gripped the steering wheel. “People need to stay sitting while we’re driv — hey!”
The rogue grabbed the sliding door and shoved it open. Alejandra gasped, covering her face as a rush of wind hit them. Nick placed a hand around her shoulder, not sure what his rogue was doing.
“Grizzizzik!” Nick shouted.
The snake man leapt out of the van. Since it was going slow enough, it didn’t hurt his hit points, but it was still insane to watch. The minivan swerved a bit before Derek slammed on the brakes. Everyone rammed against their seat belts.
“Goddamn rogues,” Derek muttered before putting the van more properly on the side of the road.
Nick unbuckled himself, following Alejandra out of the van. “Grizzizzik!” he shouted as quietly as possible. They were still in a residential area. Derek had pulled off at a park. They watched Grizzizzik’s form hopping over a fence before disappearing.
“There is no way I can follow him,” Nick said, turning to Tyler. “My dad will murder me.”
Derek appeared next to Nick, looking around before pointing. “We go around this street. It will end, and I have a feeling… yep. Grizzizzik is jumping the fence again.”
Nick watched as the rogue leapt over the fence and head toward the mountains.
“It is way too hot for this,” Evelyn mumbled.
Tyler pointed toward the house and looked at the remaining CCNC characters. “You guys follow Grizzizzik. Jump the fence and follow him. We’ll be right behind you.”
Hraktar nodded, heading toward the house, offering his hand out to Clarissa and Milo to help them jump over. Nick followed Derek as they moved over one street. The residential area disappeared, and the desert was before them. Clarissa and Milo finished helping Hraktar over the last fence before they rushed after Grizzizzik. Nick ran, feeling the heat of the morning. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for a battle in the desert. There wouldn’t be much shade.
Grizzizzik was running, then pulled himself to a stop. He paused for an instant before grabbing a man out from a bush and throwing him on the ground.
“Grizzizzik!” Hraktar shouted in warning.
The rogue pulled out his hell dagger, placing it against the thief’s throat. “Where is my rapier?”
The thief coughed, one that could almost be a laugh. “Straight to the point.”
“You don’t sound surprised,” Grizzizzik said.
“You have a reputation.”
Grizzizzik dug the point of the dagger more into the thief’s throat. “Then you can assume the rest of my reputation is true.” He was smiling in such a way that his canine teeth lengthened into fangs. “Tell me where my things are, and I’ll make your death painless.”
The thief coughed again, closing his eyes as the rest of them caught up. “I’m not telling you anything, snake. And you can’t hurt me.”
There was the sound of multiple bows being tightened, and Grizzizzik glanced up. Two more thieves popped out of the bushes with bows, pointing their arrows at Grizzizzik. Hraktar unsheathed his great sword.
“Shit,” Grizzizzik said as a final thief appeared, a scimitar in both hands. More importantly, Grizzizzik’s rapier was belted at his waist.
Tyler squinted. “It’s Phantom.”
“The guy who never had a name?” Nick asked.
Phantom pointed his scimitar right at Nick. Despite the distance between them, Nick did not like that the bandit captain was pointing a scimitar right between his eyes. “I have a name. How dare you speak of Akshi’s right-hand man in such a way,” Phantom growled.
“Wait, Akshi has a right-hand man?” Alejandra said.
Phantom glared at her, still pointing his scimitar at Nick. “I am Akshi’s right-hand man! Just as soon as I find him and give him his son’s weapon.”
Grizzizzik rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Phantom?”
Nick was backing away closer to Tyler.
Phantom was notoriously touchy about how he had no name. It was a long running joke throughout many a session. Tyler was clearly struggling with naming this character, a lesser known captain of the Osvoroth guard who had stumbled into the thief world. Him not having a real name, nor actually being Akshi’s right-hand man, made him rather dangerous in terms of instability. But he was also at a lower level, since they were still in the bubble. With three thieves and a captain, this would be a dangerous fight, if that’s what it turned into.
“Release my associate,” Phantom said.
Grizzizzik glared, but raised his dagger from the thief’s throat. “It doesn’t matter. You being here has told me everything I need to know.”
Phantom glared back. “What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know where Akshi is, because if you knew, you’d be too busy licking the dirt off his tail to be out here putting a team together and catching me off guard.”
Grizzizzik was still on his knees, right by Phantom’s foot. Grizzizzik wouldn’t have provoked Phantom unless he was prepared, and when Phantom went for a kick, Grizzizzik easily dodged it. The rogue chuckled, almost relieved. “Your reactions are everything I need. You don’t know where Akshi is, and more importantly you have my rapier.” The mirth disappeared from Grizzizzik’s face. “Give it back.”
“So afraid to call him your father,” Phantom said.
Grizzizzik got to his feet, gripping his hell dagger. “Give. It. Back.”
Phantom raised an eyebrow. “No.”
The rogue rolled his shoulders. “I am going to slice your stomach open, Phantom. Then I’m going to loot your corpse and use your teeth to make more arrows.”
Phantom blinked, disgusted, before glancing at one of his men.
Tyler took a few steps forward. “Alright, so… I know thieves aren’t ones to fight unless they have to. I really don’t think this is a situation where we need to fight. We can come to an agreement.”
“I am not siding with my master’s criminal son,” Phantom said.
Grizzizzik let out a laugh. “Really? I’m the criminal?”
“We just need information.” Tyler held his hands up between the two of them. “We can pay you handsomely.”
The other thieves looked interested in this, but Phantom kept a tight hold on his two scimitars. “My loyalty to the great Akshi is never for sale!” Phantom shoved his scimitar into Tyler’s shoulder. At least, he tried. His hand went straight through, and Tyler didn’t even realize what had happened until he glanced down and saw his perfectly fine shoulder. Phantom gasped, then tried again, shoving his scimitar straight through Tyler’s gut, which ended up with Phantom stumbling a little and tripping straight through Tyler’s form. It was the strangest thing, watching a full grown man slide through Tyler like he was a hologram. When the Phantom landed on the ground, Tyler was somehow lifted to account for the man he was technically standing on top of, but it made him lose his balance. Tyler collapsed to the ground with a grunt.
Phantom leapt to his feet. “They have powerful illusionists among them! We must kill them all! For Akshi!”