“If they’re the NPCs,” said Cuby. “Can’t we kill the players before we talk to them? Otherwise we’ll have to sneak around.”

“We may want to share the experience points,” I said. “And the boon. That’s the plan, remember? Ally ourselves with the NPCs.”

“I suppose….”

“We already have more boons than we can use,” I said. “This is the plan.”

“All right.”

Okay, Brandon, I said to the crow once he’d landed in front of us. I need to see if I can give you a spell.

I invested him with an Intuitive Auditory Illusion, then had him loose it, where it made the sound of a dialup internet connection.

“Works,” I said, canceling the spell. “We might use you to kill some people later—if you don’t mind.”

I don’t, Brandon said matter-of-factly.

“Good.”

We began to creep along the slope, taking our time sneaking to a ledge along the river’s edge. There was no avoiding the fact that we needed to glide over it, and anyone with a true sight potion would be able to see through my Perfect Invisibility, but I figured the chances were slim that someone would both have the buff and be watching that particular slice of sky at that given moment, so I cast the spell and we launched ourselves over the river, then crept along the ledge, invisible, until we came at their camp from behind.

I stored a Doublecharged Twin Haste as my fragmented spell, in case we had to run, then loaded Cuby up with Hex of Chains.

There’s traps, Cuby said, pointing out the gentle glow of a rune beneath a nearby shrub.

It wouldn’t matter, I said. Actually… since this is their camp, that might be a proximity trap, not a remote one. I hesitated, then added. I almost want to see if it will trigger even while we’re invisible.

Why wouldn’t it? Cuby asked.

I decided she had a point: rune traps probably didn’t need to see someone to shoot them, and I didn’t want to introduce myself by walking into one and looking the fool.

Might as well decloak and introduce myself, I said.

What’s our plan if they attack?

Run, I said.

A pause. Seriously?

If these people are NPCs hunting down someone who attacked their village, we’ll hurt our cause by killing them—even if they attack first. I’ll haste us and we can run away if things go wrong.

Okay. You don’t want to put any runes down, or anything?

It’ll make us look hostile, I said. And they’re mostly level 11 anyway—they can barely even hit us with attacks.

I dropped my invisibility. “Hello there!” I said loudly, speaking generally to the cluster of tents ahead.

A few of the members not sleeping saw me and scrambled into action—someone shouted the word chosen and that got the rest of them up fairly quick. I watched the whole process with interest, timing how long it took a semi-sleeping camp to wake once its watchmen sounded the alarm. It was almost twenty seconds before the last of them had joined the group in forming a loose, wide line of well-spaced people, all facing me.

“I come in peace,” I said.

An old woman in chainmail named Alona stepped out from the group, a level 11. “Then why is your companion still hiding?”

Huh. So they had some true sight—they just hadn’t spotted us, even when we’d walked up to the edge of their camp. The person with the buff must not have seen us.

Cuby dropped her invisibility. “Hi!” she said, waving.

“What do you want?” asked Alona. Apparently she was the leader despite Hallah, a level 10 chosen, standing next to her.

“That group across the river—are they the group that attacked Karokon?”

Alona stared cautiously at me. “Aye.”

“And you were its defenders?”

“Aye.”

“I see,” I said. “My companion and I have come from Mirrakatetz, where we purged the demonic influence and locked the dungeon. Before that, we fought off a player attack at Oromar’s Bastion. I’m going to destroy that group of players across the river, and shortly. If you want to help, you can. Afterward, my companion and I are going to purge and lock the free dungeon—and if you want to help, you can.”

“And if we don’t want to help?”

“We’ll race you to it,” I said. “And win.”

Alona was silent.

“Your enemies outnumber you,” I said pointedly. “And they’ve got one chosen for your one chosen. Even if you overcome them—how many of your fighters will die for it?”

“And what’s the cost of your help?”

“Some of the spoils,” I said. “Mirrakatetz had five bosses—and each dropped a boon card when they were killed. With the enemy chosen, that’s six boons that we can split, provided this dungeon has as many bosses. And when it comes to the dungeon, we’ll back off and let you claim the experience and loot for yourselves, as long as we have your word that you’ll honor your part of the bargain and give us the cards.”

I didn’t mention that our clocks were almost down to an hour—whether we’d even have the time to do the whole dungeon was questionable. I also didn’t mention that if they came out of the dungeon having spent the boon cards, we could simply kill them and take them for ourselves.

“So that’s what you want?” Alona said. “Spoils? Power?”

I let out a humorless laugh. “If that was all I wanted, I’d have killed your enemies already—and you.”

Their group stirred, some weapons come free, but I paid them no mind. “And then we’d have started on the dungeons,” I continued. “All of it is for our taking, if we want it. But we’re not just after spoils and power.”

I walked toward Alona. After a few steps, Hallah leveled her staff at me. “You stay there!” she cried.

I held out my hands placatingly, looked at Alona. “I’m not going to hurt any of you,” I said.

Alona sighed, nodded, and began walking toward me. We met in the middle—and I materialized one of my legendary boon cards and held it out to her.

She stared down at it, her eyes wide.

“What happened to Karokon has been happening all over,” I said. “And while the towns with leveled characters might be able to fight off one or two chosen, it won’t last. Once players start plundering dungeons and powering up with handfuls of boon cards, anyone without chosen defenders won’t stand a chance. You have a chosen,” I said, nodding to Hallah. “You know the advantages it brings—they’re insurmountable. What I really want—why I’m speaking to you right now—is to enforce a law among players: no violence against NPCs.”

Alona took the boon card from my hand, stowed it, and then seemed to read it in her inventory. Her expression of disbelief didn’t change the whole time.

“I value life,” I said, speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear. “That’s all. A simple explanation, even if you might find it hard to believe. Your levels are high but they need to be higher; you have one boon but you need more if you want to protect yourselves. My companion and I are going to scour these mountains and take every boon from every murderer we can.”

Alona nodded slowly. “It’s too good to be true,” she said. “But you’re right: if you wanted anything else you’d have just attacked. All right—we’ll do it.” She turned back to the group. “Kalos—I have something for you.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

A younger man with a mace and shield—possibly a pilgrim—stepped forward. “Ma’am?”

“Take this,” she said. “Use it just like we planned.”

Kalos blinked as Alona must have traded him the boon card. “I….”

“No need to thank me,” she said, slapping him on the shoulder. “You’re front-line against the dead in that cave.”

His face fell immediately. I thought of Erialda, back in Mirrakatetz, and I imagined what the bosses in an undead dungeon might look and smell like. I didn’t envy Kalos.

“The enemy likely has scouts with an eye on your camp,” I said to Alona. “We didn’t spot them on the way over, but that could just mean they’re hidden. If they have anything like a spyglass, they’ll be spotting my companion and I and reporting back to their leader shortly.”

“Definitely,” said Alona. “Take Hallah and go kill them.”

I blinked. “Dungeon bosses are level 15, and players are fast experience. I can sheathe all your fighters in thousand-absorb Mana Shields that regenerate 100 absorption a second—we can bring everyone, finish their group without losing a single fighter.”

But Alona was shaking her head. “All of us together aren’t fast enough—and we don’t have an easy way across the river ever since we blew the bridge. If they’ve spotted you, and they likely have, they’ll be panicking. They may flee, and that’s a mess I don’t want, not when our clocks are low and the whole of the dungeon is ahead of us. A small team can finish it quick—and you can return with the boon and help us make headway into the Dark Harbour.” She fixed me with a meaningful look. “This is all provided you’re confident you three will be able to finish them.”

“We’re confident!” Cuby called out from behind us.

“Good to hear. Hallah?”

The level 10 chosen stepped forward. She was a dark-haired elf woman, young—around the same apparent age as Cuby and I. She looked us over, seeming unimpressed. Then she looked at Alona. “You’re sure about this?”

“As sure as I need to be,” said Alona. “Your level is what all your blessings and miracles are calculated from—I want you as high as possible. I want you to outlevel the group even more than you already do. You go.”

Hallah nodded. Beside her, Kalos was engulfed in a sudden flash of red light. He’d used the boon card and deleveled to 7.

“Don’t let anyone die while I’m gone,” Hallah told him. Then she turned to Cuby and I. “We’ll figure everything out on the way.”

“I’m a psychic,” I told her, linking the Mind Link passive. Then, in thought speech, I added: join the link.

I’m in, she said. I have to ask: what are you two wearing?

I glanced down at our soft leather robes. Well, uh….

It’s skin from an unknown source! said Cuby. It says so in the item description!

Hallah looked between us, seemingly at a loss for words.

You have Charm of Gliding? I asked. Mighty Leap?

She gave a look that said: are you joking? “I’m from the Scimitar Mountains,” she said aloud. “All of us can glide or jump.”

“Try to get along, Hallah,” said Alona. “And good luck to all of you.”

Let’s go, I said. We’ll come at them from the slopes above their camp, then see if we can’t figure out whether they have any true sight using Brandon.

We left the camp, jumping to get up the slope that we would move along until we could cross the river. Brandon? Asked Hallah. Who’s Brandon?

He’s my bird, I explained. I can invest spells in my allies. Since anyone with true sight needs to spot an illusion before their whole party can see through it, we’ll send him in invisible, maybe with something to draw visual attention to himself. He’ll put himself in view of as few people at a time as he can, and the first person to spot him gets killed or dispelled. If things go well, Cuby and I mop up while they can’t see us.

I… see, Hallah said. She sounded troubled—perhaps she was realizing, for the first time, how unthreatening her party was to us, how easy it would have been for Cuby and I to simply kill everyone on both sides.

I’m a mage psychic, by the way, I said. I have another class called hierarch—I’ll show you when we’re stopped. Cuby’s a warrior rogue with an uncommon class called sword saint.

We got them from the angels! Cuby said.

Is that where class cards come from? asked Hallah. We never knew.

That, and dungeon bosses, I said. Alona mentioned miracles—maybe you’ll want a High Priest card.

Maybe, she said. I’m a pilgrim priest.

Really? Cuby asked. But—

Yes, really, Hallah said, annoyance clear in her voice. Are players also all confused about whether or not it’s a good combination? Because I’ve heard no end of complaints about my choice ever since I brought down that fool in Karokon.

We’re not confused, said Cuby. We’re all pretty much in agreement that it’s bad.

Do you need me to explain why it isn’t? Hallah asked acidly.

We’d scaled to the top of a ridge and were perched overlooking the river far enough down it to be out of view of their camp. Nonetheless, we’d taken cover behind some shrubs. You killed the chosen in Karokon? I asked. I’d figured Alona gave you the card because you were her strongest fighter.

“Both,” Hallah whispered, her voice a mix of annoyance and pride. “I gave her the card, and she gave it back. I’d have used it right away on account of the battle, but the cowards began retreating as soon as their incompetent master fell.” She paused, then added: “I hope you two don’t fight like other players.”

We won’t disappoint! said Cuby.

I’m going to cast some buffs on you before we cross, I said, trying to get us on track. Then I’ll cast invisibility on Brandon and load him with some spells—if they spot us on our way over and engage, he can still scope out any true sight by flying in front of their faces and seeing who he distracts. Hallah, you’ll take the second invisibility until we get into position.

How do you have two? she asked. There’s a one illusion limit.

It’s a chosen boon, said Cuby. You did read the other boons, yeah?

The multiclass boon is the strongest by far, said Hallah.

That’s not what I asked, though.

Look, Hallah said, glaring at Cuby. Then something seemed to distract her. How the hell are your buffs this strong, Alatar—57 Divine Resistance? 57 Psychic Resistance? 114 Fire Resistance?

1050 absorb Mana Shield is next, I said. Now can we focus? If they spot us and are playing aggressive, and we can clear their true sight, I’ll try to get invisibilities out on either both of you, or Cuby and I, and everyone else can pull back. If invisibility is a total bust, we just fight to the death. Miracle charges?

One, Hallah said. Unfortunately. But here, some blessings.

She fixed us both with a precision blessing and a new blessing—Blessing of Fervor—that gave us some Haste. Which of you has the Blessing of Protection? she asked.

Me, said Cuby.

We’ll call out through the Mind Link if we desperately need saving, I told Hallah. But otherwise, don’t get scared if we take hits. Now, what I’d like to do is get a good position to fall back on and lay some rune traps we can retreat into….

It was a short conversation about a fairly straightforward plan. If we did have to retreat, the broken bridge across the river was our best bet—the enemy might not all be able to easily traverse it the way we could.

Neither of them objected to laying out the details when we had such a clear advantage in levels, which I was glad for. You could never be too careful when it was life or death.

Then we glided across the river, hoping that the cover of darkness would obscure us from their lookouts even if it seemed an unlikely prospect. Still, no-one had raised an alarm by the time we crested a grassy gnoll and looked down at their camp, some 80 meters away from us—they’d set themselves in the middle of the road, as far from the slopes that rose around them as they could manage.

I can see their chosen, now, Brandon said, flying overhead. Valonthi—level 9.

Level 9, I whispered, finding the man Brandon had picked out: he sat on a rock speaking with two of his group members, looking entirely unconcerned about anything. We may have overthought this, I said, looking down at them in disbelief.

Better to overthink it than to fail to be prepared, said Hallah. But yes: the players are, generally speaking, fools. From where she crouched beside me, her grip tightened on her staff. Fools who have killed people I know.

I lay an Intuitive Twin Supercharged Rune Trap, negating the oral components, then lay a second trap, minus the Twin Spell Augment. All right, Brandon, I said. Let’s get started.

Brandon fulfilled his part of the plan flawlessly, swooping noiselessly down in front of the enemy, coming close to their faces, even landing and hopping about in some cases.

But it didn’t matter. Only six or so enemies were awake, and it soon became apparent that none of them had true sight.

We definitely overthought this, Cuby said as we watched Brandon strut around in front of Valonthi, wings splayed like some kind of elaborate mating dance, attracting no attention.

All right, I said. Come on back, Brandon. Cuby and I will go in, invisible. I sighed, then gritted my teeth and looked down at the collection of twenty-or-tents below us. A massacre it is.