Kara lands on the edge of the first platform, crouching down and towards the first building. The first building has two guards placed at the door, chatting idly with one another, with no other in view.

She leaves my sight, dashing behind the building to continue her search.

I hold my breath, activating [Steady Aim] just to be sure that if she gets found out I can kill the guard and hover a tendril over the scope to limit the glare coming off of it. I can easily keep [Steady Aim] up without losing mana so I do. She can’t seriously take this long just to go past the building and back into my sight unless she found a window or got caught.

The Guards out front don’t react to anything so she probably hasn’t been found out yet but I keep my scope on the right Guards head anyway.

A few seconds later, I notice movement behind the building, Kara having moved on. She looks over to me and shakes her head before quickly moving on to the next building.

The Guards out front turn around.

I tighten my grip on the trigger, seconds away from shooting the Guard, but before I can, he yells, voice barely able to reach me thanks to my vitality, “Oi, Garrett! Five gold on Jeff!”

What are they betting on? Loosening my grip on the trigger, I exhale the breath I didn’t know I was holding. I can’t imagine doing this more often as I can’t do anything without revealing Kara. Unless I can draw attention to myself without having all of them on high guard but she might be able to abuse that, if they think there is only a sniper taking out their people, they might not look for an infiltrator.

I lost my line of sight to her so I quickly scan over the buildings. I was too lost in my thoughts, not bothering to trace her movement.

I can’t believe I’ve already lost her, she didn’t even look through the second building. She must be somewhere nearby but if she gets found out now, I can’t help her.

Admittedly, it takes me too long to find her as I waste at least a minute checking each building.

She apparently looked through three buildings while I was searching for her. I finally find her on the second outcrop, leaving the building to the back of the outcropping.

The nerve-wracking wait of mine continues for way too long, Kara checking building after building and shaking her head after each building. No Morgan. She cleverly keeps to the shadows, hiding from the guards and waiting around the corners but I can’t help but bate my breath each time she sneaks past a Guard.

I almost shoot when a guard turns around and looks in her direction but he just turns back around, glancing over her completely. Some bullshit Skill at work probably but I wouldn’t see her if she used that. A dumb guard then.

She sneaks into the next building but instantly backs out of it, tripping around the corner and into the same Gangster that glossed over her before.

The Gangster says something I can’t hear, pulling out a magitech revolver, probably attuned to fire as this is the Stokes after all, and points it at her.

Kara pulls her knife but I am faster, pressing the trigger, activating [Reap Shot] and hitting the Gangster in the head, avoiding Kara's head by an inch.

[Your party has killed a Gangster- lvl9]

[Oblivion: A percentage of the target's highest stat (Dexterity) has been added to yours. +1 D]

Kara whips around, flipping me off before storming into the building. Rude. I hope that’s the building where they keep Morgan. It does look like a workshop.

The entire camp erupts into movement, like a disturbed Dunecrawler nest, Gangsters running to cover and searching for the attacker swarm from everywhere.

“Sniper!” someone yells.

Two shots ring out, originating from the Building Kara entered.

Another Gangster runs towards the building but I shoot them before they can reach it.

Surprisingly, they only stagger before diving behind a short wall. They Survived a rifle bullet through the shoulder.

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[Your party has killed a Gangster- lvl15]

Thank the Gods, Kara is still alive. I reload my rifle and search for any other Gangsters that run towards the building but before I see any, the Gangster I shot staggers up and points their hand in my direction.

A Shining bolt of Fire bursts from their hand, missing me entirely but highlighting my position for everyone in the ravine.

I return fire, activating [Reap Shot] and [Bullseye] to curve the bullet and hit the Gangster as they duck behind the wall again.

[Your party has killed a Pyromancer- lvl13]

[Oblivion: A percentage of the target's highest stat (Magic Power) has been added to yours. +3 MP]

A veritable hail of gunfire hits the rocks surrounding me and I press myself flat against the ground. The firebolt must have revealed my location to everyone in the camp.

[Your party has killed a Gangster- lvl15]

Kara got a second guard. They are higher level than both of us, how is she killing them?

I reload my rifle and wait for a lull in the barrage but it seems like there won’t be one in a while, they are too coordinated and used to fighting in groups for that. Squads equipped with firearms are the Stokes's main groups after all.

Just as that thought crosses my mind, the gunfire stops.

An obvious trap. How stupid do they think I am?

I quickly scroll through my Class Sheet, searching for any Skill that can help me peek at them without dying.

The only skill that might work is [Runecraft] but I’ve been neglecting it for a while, I’ve only done some rudimentary testing that resulted in nothing. I know I can etch runes into surfaces and “feed” them mana but I haven’t figured out a rune that has a noticeable effect yet.

No time to learn like the present.

I grab one of the bullets and start randomly etching sigils or runes into the stone.

[Your party has killed a Gangster- lvl10]

Another Kill. I continue etching runes with renewed vigour, each attempt just fizzling out or producing some sparks as the gangsters start shooting at me again, pacing their shots a lot more but I am sure that if I were to peek over the edge I’d get shot before I could see where they are.

It probably takes a minute for me to get the first results, a small ball of shimmering, solid force, a Shield.

Steps coming from the ladder alert me to someone's presence so I grab my rifle and aim towards it ready to shoot whoever it is as long as it isn’t Kara or Morgan.

Of course, I am not lucky enough for it to be Kara or Morgan and another Gangster raises his revolver at me. “Who-” he asks, getting interrupted by a bullet tearing through his face and leaving a gaping hole.

[Your party has killed a Gangster- lvl13]

Idiot.

“Jamie you fucking Idiot!” someone agrees from below.

“That’s not really a loss, you know?” another one adds.

I continue etching the rune, modifying it to try and turn the Shield into a plane but I quickly grow annoyed at it and resolve to etch a huge rune on the edge. A ball of force springs into existence in front of me.

“He ran, we’ll follow him,” Kara yells from just below me, causing me to stop. Is she trying to lie her way out of this? That can’t possibly work, they never saw her before.

The shooting stops as the voice that insulted Jamie earlier answers her “Why do you think he ran? He must have known what he got himself into, shooting two guys and running sounds dumb.”

“Jamie got shot from behind, Idiot!” Kara yells back, “Either you climb up there with me or you guys continue wasting ammo!”

“I ain’t risking my life because of you, Jeffrey, follow them!” he continues yelling.

Someone, presumably Jeffrey, runs over to Kara and they start climbing the ladder as I reload.

Kara enters my view first, quickly followed by a cowled Morgan. “See, what did I tell you?” Kara yells over her shoulder, walking away from the ladder.

“Yeah, Yeah,” Jeffrey complains as he gets to the top but freezes up when he sees me. “Oh fuck-”

[Your party has killed a Gangster- lvl9]

Kara and Morgan throw themselves onto the ground as more shots ring out. One of them collides with the ball of force but it holds, good to know.

We start crawling away and stand up once we are positive we are out of sight of them. I can’t believe that worked. Turning to Kara, I start to jog away while asking “How did you convince them that you are a part of the Stokes?”

She looks back at me with a big grin, raising one of her hands and showing off the ring on it, “I pretended like I belonged there and stole a bunch of those rings.”

“Huh,” I say, “I guess you already look like a Gangster.”

She pouts but continues without a comment.

We continue on for a bit in silence before slowing down as Strendorrs Mine enters our view. Morgan takes this opportunity to pull us into a hug and thanking us “Thank you two, I had a plan but I didn’t think I had much of a chance of success, to be honest. What about Lily?”

“She’s fine,” I quickly reassure her, “She locked herself in her room with enough food to last for a few days.”

“Our food,” Kara grumbles.

Morgan shakes her head with a smile and we continue on our walk back to Strendorrs Mine as she sighs “I guess I’ll have to pack up shop and search for a new location.”