The weapon option came back, and without Nick doing anything, the arrow option popped up.

Panic forced words out of him. “Grizzizzik? Grizzizzik, no. Don’t, this isn’t—” Nick’s hand unfroze, brushing against the d20. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Experimenting,” was all Grizzizzik said.

Choosing for himself. His rogue was figuring out if he could alter Nick’s decisions. “Put it back! Make it the dagger again! The arrow will do too little damage! This isn’t the time—”

Grizzizzik lifted a hand to match Nick’s, cutting him off. Nick’s heart, which had previously stopped, began rocketing again as his fingers became nothing more than a puppet, wiggling when Grizzizzik made his own wiggle. “No. No, don’t!” Grizzizzik reached out with his hand, and Nick’s hand reached toward the dice. Nick grabbed his wrist, trying to pull it back. “Grizzizzik! STOP!”

Nick watched in horror as his palm circled around the d20. Grizzizzik’s smile widened as he pantomimed himself shaking the dice. Nick’s hand was forced to follow suit. “Please! Don’t do this! The arrow won’t do as much damage! Hraktar’s not there, so you won’t have the added damage of a sneak attack! We’ve got to take them out fast!” The dice tumbled out of his palm, landing on a fourteen. An arrow by itself didn’t have any bonus, but it was enough to pierce through the thief’s armor. “Idiot!”

Grizzizzik said nothing as a d4 appeared. Nick didn’t grab it, still staring wide eyed at Grizzizzik. The rogue lifted his hand, and Nick was forced to grab the die, giving it a roll. It landed on a one. Another +1 appeared, no doubt from whatever liquid Milo soaked them in. Nick’s wide-eyed shock turned into a smoldering glare.

Time resumed. Stupidly, Grizzizzik sheathed his dagger before pulling out a single arrow and dove it into the thief’s arm. He grunted, but there was no way that hurt him badly.

“You empty-headed idiot!” Nick shouted.

Evelyn glanced at Nick, frowning. Grizzizzik smiled as triumphantly as if he had destroyed the thief. Nick’s chest was heaving, mostly in anger. What was that stupid rogue thinking? They didn’t have time for this.

Milo swiped his dagger at the thief, slicing him across the face. The thief sputtered, already quite weakened. It collapsed to the ground, dead. Milo straightened, trying to hit Phantom with his crossbow, but the bolt missed him completely. Milo grunted, grabbing his wounded shoulder. The battle resumed around them, but Nick kept his glare right at Grizzizzik.

Phantom tried again to swipe at Hraktar, but he missed both times. On the second swipe, Hraktar grabbed Phantom’s wrist before giving a low snarl. Phantom glared back.

The thief Grizzizzik was fighting plucked the arrow out of his arm, then tried to swipe at Grizzizzik with his dagger. The snake man was far too happy about his victory and easily dodged the dagger. Clarissa got to her feet, trying to stab Phantom with her own scimitar. It easily bounced off his armor.

Hraktar tried to swipe at Phantom, but seeing Clarissa there made him stumble just enough that Phantom easily dodged out of the way.

Time slowed down, and Nick was still trying to calm his anger.

“Idiot. You absolute idiot,” Nick grumbled as he mentally clicked the dagger. He snatched the die before Grizzizzik could stop him. He shook it sloppily, and it landed on a two. Even with a +4, it wasn’t enough.

“Would have been a lot better if we had the roll from before!”

Grizzizzik unsheathed his dagger and tried to stab the thief, but was distracted by Nick’s shouts and missed completely. He growled. “I’m quite certain that was your fault!”

“No, it wasn’t! That was the roll, idiot! I got a two! You lost your focus because of the roll! Not because of me!”

Tyler glanced over, frowning. “What is going on, you two?”

“Nothing!” Nick and Grizzizzik shouted at Tyler, prompting him to give them a disbelieving look.

Milo tried once again to shoot Phantom, but the bolt again missed. Milo raised a finger. “I’d like to point out that I didn’t hit anyone this time!”

Phantom steeled himself, then went with two strikes at Hraktar. Both hit him on either shoulder, and he grunted as blood bloomed on his shirt. He dropped to seventeen hit points. Before anyone had time to react, the thief thrust his dagger into Grizzizzik’s arm. He grunted in pain as his hit points dropped to thirteen.

“Wow, would you look at that! A dagger did far more damage than a stupid arrow!” Nick knew he was being petty, but he was furious with his character. “It would certainly be an idiot that would try using an arrow instead of a perfectly suitable weapon!”

Grizzizzik sneered, glaring right at Nick. “You better be glad I can’t hurt you.” His voice was low, but the threat was there. Nick did nothing but glare right back at him.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Clarissa shot her hand forward, her brows furrowed in concentration. “Could you two possibly not do this right now!” A puff of faint green gas left her hand, hitting Phantom’s face. He coughed and sputtered, his face matching the same green color. Hraktar caught Phantom in the side with his great sword, slicing it. Phantom groaned, backing away as he clutched his stomach. It wasn’t a severe cut, but Phantom was certainly looking haggard enough.

Nick rolled fast to make sure there wasn’t a repeat of Grizzizzik trying to make different choices. It landed on a sixteen, with a plus four. It was enough. He snatched the d6 and rolled it just as fast. It landed on a six, thankfully. +2 made it eight total. He watched as Grizzizzik stabbed the thief in the gut. The thief grunted, fear filling his eyes. With two of his friends dead, there was no way he wanted to stay. He broke away and ran toward the mountains, gripping his stomach. Grizzizzik let him go, pointing his blood covered hell dagger at Phantom.

Phantom, despite not looking nearly as haggard as the thieves, still wasn’t a huge fan of pain. He held up his hands, backing away. “I don’t like this any more than you do…” Phantom said.

Grizzizzik crept forward, siding next to Hraktar, who already had his great sword pointed at the bandit captain. Grizzizzik narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t want money. The only other card left on the table is your life. Give me my rapier, and you will leave with it intact.”

Phantom glared at Grizzizzik. “You honestly think you’ll be able to hide from your father?”

“Stop calling him that.”

Phantom smiled, but slowly sheathed his scimitars before unbuckling the rapier around his waist.

Clarissa came next to Hraktar. “Work for us, Phantom. Be our scout. If you find Akshi, let us know what you find, and we can pay you handsomely.”

Phantom snorted. “You have no money. This one hardly had twenty-five gold pieces on him.” The bandit captain gestured toward Grizzizzik. “He usually has a lot more on him.”

The rapier dropped to the ground. The rogue glared as he moved forward to retrieve it. Phantom backed up, more than happy to get away from the group.

“You get us information, and we’ll stop hurting you. And killing your associates,” Hraktar said. “The safety of our new friends is our top concern right now.”

Phantom narrowed his eyes, then glanced at Alejandra and Derek, who were standing together. Hraktar probably meant Evelyn and Nick since they were in the same house as Grizzizzik, but he was personally happy Hraktar didn’t say their names.

Grizzizzik unsheathed his rapier. “Do you surrender?”

Phantom’s shoulders drooped. Milo walked over, joining the other three.

“I cannot promise anything,” Phantom said.

“And neither can we. But it’s clear you have no idea where Akshi is. We can work together as people who are definitely not friends, but will help each other out for the time being,” Grizzizzik said.

“That’s the only way I know how to do it,” Phantom said.

Clarissa and Milo exchanged glances.

“Lovely weather in this new world, isn’t it?” Grizzizzik asked.

Nick shot Tyler a glance. Grizzizzik was speaking in thieves’ cant. He could almost hear the translation in his mind. “The restaurant in town painted a bright pink. Seen it?”

“The weather is far too distasteful for me,” Phantom said, brushing off something from his clothes. “I have. From a distance.”

“I rather like it. I figured someone like you might like it as well.” “Calawit’s tent is near there. Give her information, and she’ll pass the message along.”

Phantom grunted before turning around and leaving. Clarissa was leaning against Milo, gripping her stomach. Hraktar watched Phantom through narrowed eyes. “So, we’re going to let him leave?”

Grizzizzik sheathed his rapier again. “It’s better this way. The guy’s not too big of a threat.”

Clarissa’s fingers brushed against the drying blood on her abdomen. “Say that to my stomach.”

Milo kept a hold of her as golden mana rose from his hand, sinking into Clarissa’s body and traveling through to her stomach. Clarissa closed her eyes as her hit points filled back up to ten. “Thank you, Milo.”

“My mild-mannered and trusting best friend Ezekiel would have chopped my hand off if I didn’t,” Milo said.

Clarissa chuckled. “And I would have skinned you alive if you wasted any of your mana during combat for me.”

The mana fusor shook his head. “And this is why it’s more dangerous to be friends with you two than be an adventurer.”

Nick had his arms folded as he saw twenty-five experience points drop into Grizzizzik’s bar, bringing the total to four hundred.

“Oh, good. Clarissa’s finally going to level up,” Evelyn said.

“Good. It’s odd having a low-level druid,” Tyler said.

“Milo’s going to, too. Hopefully you won’t be so squishy,” Derek said.

Alejandra turned toward Nick and Grizzizzik. “What was up with you two?”

“Nothing,” Nick and Grizzizzik both said. Almost perfectly, with the same inflection. It was enough that everyone stopped their talk and looked at them. Nick glanced over at the rogue and saw him folding his arms, too. They both looked too similar, like a reminder that Grizzizzik was created by Nick. Which, judging by the annoyed, almost dark glare, the rogue did not appreciate the reminder.

“We might have to iron that out before you shove it much further into your moodiness,” Evelyn said.

Nick shot his glare in her direction, which caused her to shrug. He had glared so much in his life that his little sister had built up an immunity to it.

“Grizzizzik figured out how to not listen to me,” Nick said.

The rogue shook his head. “I figured out that I can choose what to do in battle, just in case Nick does something stupid.”

“And instead, you were the one to do something stupid. We could have had that thief if you didn’t choose to ram an arrow into his arm,” Nick said.

Grizzizzik unfolded his arm, still smiling. “It’s the principle of the thing.”

“So great. You’ve figured it out. Congratulations, Grizzizzik. Can we go back to how it was?” Nick said.

Grizzizzik took a step closer. “I’ll let you pretend things go back to normal. I’ll let you cling to the hope that nothing has changed. But every time you go to roll that die, every time you make a choice, you’ll be reminded of this battle. You’ll look at me and remember I can change my own mind. And if push comes to shove, I can force you to roll the die on a choice I’ve made. But sure. Keep pretending nothing has changed. It makes it easier to circle you deeper into my power.”

Grizzizzik walked away, heading for a body to loot. Nick closed his eyes, giving a small shake of his head. “Goddamn rogues.”

Time froze, and the words appeared.

Roll sleight of hand.

Nick muttered curses as he snatched the d20 out of the air, giving it a hard shake before letting it drop.

Nineteen plus four.

Time resumed, and Grizzizzik hardly dropped to the ground before pocketing a coin purse from the dead thief that no one else noticed because he rolled too high. Nick rolled his eyes as he saw thirty-five gold drop into the inventory.

“Well, um…” Tyler rubbed the back of his head before glancing up at the sky. “Let’s get back in the van. It’s getting way too hot.”