"There is no way this is going to work." Naomi muttered as she, Luis, and Siora approached the expedition campsite once again. The partial gloom of twilight enveloped the woodland, shrouding their surroundings in shadow. Though the ground was relatively flat, she and Luis had to carefully watch their steps to ensure they didn't stumble on an unseen root or bush. Siora, as always, was unbothered by such things and moved gracefully alongside them.

"Positive vibes, Naomi." Luis patted her on the back. "You're gonna do great."

"I thought you wanted to perform for people." Siora asked curiously.

"This isn't quite what I had in mind."

Firelight flickered between the trees ahead. They were almost there.

"Just remember how bad the backup plan is." Luis suggested helpfully. "This is way better."

"Oh God, don't remind me."

A few minutes later, they reached the edge of the camp. One of humans, a man that Naomi judged to be one of the nobleman's underlings, stopped them with a raised hand.

"Lord Ledkin." He gruffly called over his shoulder. "Our visit'rs are back."

Activity paused in the camp as everyone looked up. The young Lord stood from his seat near the fire, walking over to join them. From the looks of things, he had been relaxing and letting everyone else manage the work of preparing an evening meal and keeping the camp tidy.

Naomi quickly surveyed the scene, relieved to discover that the pot of stew was still simmering over the fire. The robed woman, Aylin, had been setting out a line of bowls on a nearby bench. Now she stopped, moving with Verres to intercept them, a frown on her face. An intense wave of relief rose to mingle with her growing anxiety. They weren't too late.

Unfortunately, that also meant that she had to go through with this.

"Back so soon?" The nobleman drawled. "I hope you've reconsidered my proposal."

"Our first meeting got a little heated, but we don't want any conflict between our peoples. So, we've come to negotiate a more friendly agreement." Luis said amiably, opening his arms in a friendly gesture.

"Oh really?" Verres raised an eyebrow. "This will be entertaining. Very well then, what is your offer?"

Siora casually stepped in front of Naomi, briefly shielding her from view while Luis kept everyone's attention. She took the opportunity to shift in place and wink, flooding her body with a burst of magic and activating 'Dazzle'. Without a designated target to daze the talent's visual effect was subdued, merely a momentary soft glow. What mattered to Naomi was the sudden burst of confidence and self-assuredness that accompanied the temporary charisma boost.

"I'm going to put on a performance for you." Naomi said, slapping the neck of her guitar into her hand and smiling brightly at the lord. "In my world, I'm a musician, and this is one of our greatest instruments. How about I treat you to a few songs, we answer some of your questions about our home, and you give us a discount on the price for passage?"

Naomi finished with a flourish, twirling around and strumming once on her guitar. The electric buzz of the chord resonated through the camp, an unfamiliar sound that caught everyone's attention. The nobleman gave an amused look to his fellow expedition members, and then shrugged.

"Why not? Some evening entertainment would be a nice change of pace. Perhaps I could be a little flexible with the fee for our services. What was your name?"

"Naomi." She replied cheerfully, a far cry from the cool hostility she'd presented to him earlier. She strutted over to an open area between the trees that would serve as a good stage, and also put everyone's back to the rest of the camp. Luis and Siora took out a pair of lanterns that they'd purchased from the Labyrinth Store, positioning them to illuminate her. "I'm sure I can impress you, my lord."

Maybe it was the charisma boost, or maybe it was just the prospect of performing in front of an audience again at last, but Naomi felt her 'stage persona' emerge. It was a fabrication, a mask that she had originally created to overcome stage fright and anxiety when she had started performing live as a teenager at school events and, later, local clubs.

Over time, the persona had grown more versatile, coming out whenever Naomi faced challenges that required her to be brave. In a way, her alter ego was an idealized version of herself: Courageous, talented, and confident. Nothing like the shy and timid girl she actually was. Since entering the Labyrinth, her 'performance mode' had been elusive, and Naomi had worried that she had lost it just when she needed strength the most. But now she understood. 'Star' Naomi hadn’t gone anywhere. She just needed some coaxing to emerge again, whether that be a little magic, or an audience.

Even if that audience is primarily a prick of a nobleman. She thought, smiling at Verres even as she detested him.

"We shall see." Verres said, gesturing to one of his men. "Fetch us some food, we shall listen while we eat."

Naomi's heart skipped a beat. She opened her mouth to protest, but Luis beat her to the punch.

"Wait!" he said, holding up his hands and looking aghast. "That would be a great insult to her!"

"What are you talking about?" The nobleman scoffed, annoyed.

"In our culture, it is taboo to have a meal while watching a performance." Luis lied with a straight face. Naomi played along, trying to look offended at the mere thought and covering her mouth in what she hoped was a horrified look. "It means you find her music so boring that you can't be bothered to pay attention to it!"

"You expect us to starve while we watch some outlander sing and dance about?"

"It won't take long." Naomi assured him. "Earth performances are short and powerful! The goal is to fit as much emotion into as little time as you can." She made up on the spot, taking a page from Luis's playbook.

"I'm sure the duke would prefer to have as good relations as possible with the newcomers, Lord Ledkin." The armored fellian captain said. "Perhaps we should humor them, if only to prevent further incident."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Fine." Verres relented, seating himself on a log and gesturing for the others to join him. "Well? Are you going to begin?"

"Where is your other friend?" The other fellian, a brutish looking woman, asked, not giving Naomi a chance to reply.

"Jade?" Siora asked. "Oh, she's watching our camp. She can be a little hot-headed, and we all thought it would be best if she had some time to calm down."

The elf sounded so innocent that even Naomi almost believed her. Fortunately, no one questioned them further.

You'd better hurry up Jade. Naomi thought as she plastered a smile onto her face and began to play a lively tune. I don't know how long we can keep this up…

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Jade shifted her feet on the branch, holding herself steady against the rough trunk. She was halfway up a tree, hidden both by the canopy of leaves and rapidly descending darkness as night enveloped the land. Firelight glimmered in the near distance, marking her goal. She had just finished counting to three hundred, the agreed-upon time she should wait before moving in towards the camp. She couldn't hear anything from this distance but if her companions didn't yet have everyone's attention, they soon should.

Focusing on the next tree over, the gymnast activated 'Mirage Step'. The world blurred as she warped across the short gap, reappearing slightly above her target branch. She dropped onto it, wobbling precariously before managing to steady herself. Even for a trained gymnast the maneuver was exceptionally tricky, and Jade wasn't sure her reflexes would have been up to the task before the enhancements her level ups granted her.

As quietly as she could Jade swung herself around to the other side of the tree, moving closer to the camp. Before embarking on this mission, Jade had tweaked her appearance with her 'Shapechange' feature, shifting her hair and skin to an olive color that wouldn't stand out against the trees. Her gear was also smeared with dirt and mud, every reflective buckle and shiny surface thoroughly obscured. Jade hoped that wouldn't matter, if everything went according to plan no one should even be looking in her direction, but she really didn't want to be spotted in such a precarious position.

Jade warped to the next tree as soon as the cooldown on her talent reset, drawing closer to her destination. She could hear music emanating from the campsite now, something fast, loud, and energetic. It sounded like Naomi was performing a pop song, although it sounded a little strange without any of the accompaniment that such music normally had. Jade didn't care if she was doing an interpretive dance, as long as she kept everyone's attention for just a few more minutes.

Before long, Jade made it to the broad tree that towered over the Labyrinth natives' camp. She could see Naomi a short distance away, playing, dancing, and singing her heart out. The performer was in her element, drawing everyone's eyes and keeping their rapt attention. Even Jade felt a compulsion to watch her performance, but her knowledge of Naomi's attention grabbing 'Superstar' passive ability combined with her racial resistance to charm effects allowed her to stay focused.

Everyone's backs were to her as they watched the idol, and Jade started crawling out along a branch that hung some twenty feet above the cookpot. She moved as quickly as she dared, an anxious pit sitting in her stomach like a lead weight. At any moment she expected someone to turn around and raise the alarm, but even the fellian woman guarding the stairway door was fully engrossed the show.

It only took a few moments for Jade to shuffle into position over the pot. It simmered beneath her, smoke from the fire wafting into the air and stinging her eyes and nose. Gritting her teeth, Jade fished out the vials Siora had prepared and uncorked them. After doublechecking to ensure no one was watching, she carefully spilled their contents into the pot below. Some of the liquid missed, it was hard to be precise from this height, but most of it fell true. The viscous spider-egg extract splashed into the pot, unheard amidst the sounds of Naomi's performance.

Heart pounding like a jackhammer in her chest, Jade began crawling back to the relative safety of the more obscured tree trunk. Just then, a shifting breeze sent a thick cloud of smoke right into her face as she drew in a breath. Jade stifled a cough, the branch shaking beneath her as she shuddered. The fellian by the door glanced in her direction and she froze, one arm holding herself in place. Jade held her breath, not daring to move a muscle even as her arm began to tremble from the strain of keeping her in an awkward position.

WHOOSH

Pillars of sparkling fire burst from the ground around Naomi's feet as she cast 'Pyrotechnics', exploding in the air like fireworks around her. The fellian looked away, enthralled by the effect just as Jade's strength failed her and she slumped down against the branch. She used the opening to slip away into the night, perspiration beading on her forehead in a sweaty sheen. Only after a pair of 'Mirage Steps' carried her well away from the camp did she dare let out a shaky breath, relief flooding her. The strain of warping so many times was taking its toll on her stamina, so Jade dropped to the ground, slipping away into the twilit woodland on foot.

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"Did you get it?" Luis asked as the three of them returned to the meeting point. Jade was already there, having reached it a quarter of an hour before her friends.

"I did." She said, taking a swig from her water bottle. Her body was spent from the exertion, but that didn't stop a triumphant grin from forming on her face. "Dumped all three vials into it."

"Phew." Siora whistled. "They're going to feel that in the morning."

"Serves them right." Naomi said, slinging her guitar back over her shoulder. "We told that wannabe lord we'd have 3000 coins for him in the morning, after we finished a monster hunting quest."

"They fell for it, then?" Jade asked. "No one was suspicious?"

"The mage lookin' chick gave us some weird looks." Luis said with a shrug. "But no one saw you. I think we're good, amiga."

"That was very stressful." Siora said, rubbing her forehead. "Can we please not do that again?"

"I don't know." Naomi said, surprising Jade. "I kind of liked getting to perform again. Everyone seemed to enjoy it."

"Maybe when we get to a city, we can find you a tavern to play in." Luis suggested. "You can earn us some rooms for the night, classic adventurer style."

"We'll see." Naomi grinned, clearly exhilarated from the night's events. "I still can't believe we pulled that off…"

"We're not out of the woods yet." Jade said. "Siora, how long until it takes effect?"

"Diluted like that, maybe about an hour?"

"Good. Plenty of time for them to settle in for the night. Let's rest for a bit, and then sneak back. With any luck, they won't even know what happened."

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Aylin sat cross-legged a short distance from the fading embers of the campfire, listening to her fellow expedition members snore heavily through the night. The mage wasn't sure if she should be annoyed or impressed at the sheer audacity of the foreigners slipping a sedative into their evening meal. Given her personal dislike of their group's appointed leader, she was leaning towards a mixture of impressed and mild amusement. Lord Ledkin wouldn't be happy in the morning, but she expected the wayfarers to be long gone by then.

Fortunately, she had long since learned a basic cleansing incantation. Given the many types of monsters that utilized poison, Aylin considered that type of magic an essential component of any foray into the wilderness. As soon as she'd felt the onset of sudden weariness, she'd cast it on herself and removed the affliction.

The mage felt no need to do the same for her companions, however. Lord Ledkin could use a dose of humbling, and she had no affection for his brutish hirelings. Captain Mar was another matter, and Aylin was surprised that a member of the Onyx Shield had fallen so easily for such a ploy. Perhaps this would be a good wakeup call for him as well. It was easy to feel safe in the cities, and sometimes people forgot just how deadly the Labyrinth could truly be.

Aylin waited for their guests to return, remaining at the edge of the flickering light and keeping an eye on the stairway door. As long as they meant their group no real harm she had no intention of impeding them, but something was bothering her. Her magical senses, which were solidly in C-rank, had tingled when she'd laid eyes on the apparent leader of their party, Jade. That by itself wasn't strange, but the fact that she'd been unable to determine the type of magic was odd. The mage's past experiences had taught her to trust her instincts, and she intended to investigate the matter. If they were hiding something, she would find out what it was.