Blake started complaining an hour into the trip. “Oh damnit I meant to bring the hall sunscreen. This central storage crap is useless with mosquitoes.”

“With…” Mason watched his brother slap at his skin and shook his head, temporarily lost for words. “Where the hell did you even find sunscreen?”

Blake squinted like Mason was an idiot. “The town storage has three kinds,” Blake held up a bottle. “It’s got all sorts of things. Oil, marshmallows, chips. It even self-replenishes slowly over time. No idea how. It’s like some kind of sci-fi replicator technology or something. Really amazing. You really haven’t been down there?”

“Haley, uh, does that,” Mason cleared his throat and avoided looking at Rebecca. “Also the forest canopy blocks most of the sunlight.” He pointed for effect. “A Swedish Albino wouldn’t get burned out here.”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt.” Blake grinned then punched Mason in the arm. “This is so exciting! The Nimitz brothers officially teaming up. The dynamic duo. The Double Dragons. We’ll be unstoppable.”

Mason cringed and looked to Becky and Seul-ki for help. The former just kept smiling politely, which slightly twisted Mason’s gut. The latter wore a poker face as usual.

“It’s going to take us all day to get to the tree,” Mason said. “That gives us plenty of time to discuss tactics, and how to prevent you guys from getting killed.” And maybe if we’re going to continue sexual acts with one another or not, he thought to himself. “I don’t actually know what’s waiting for us in this place.”

“You mean this loot filled awesome dungeon?” Blake said, and Mason sighed.

“Yes, Blake.”

“God damnit this is cool,” his brother reiterated. “OK. Well, I’m obviously the arcane support. Seul-ki here is like my apprentice—no offense, because being my apprentice is awesome—Becky…I guess she’s the tank? Mason is obviously the deeps.”

Mason and the girls all exchanged blank stares. “The what?”

“The…” Blake rolled his eyes. “The heavy. The damage dealer. The…I know for a fact I made you play a few MMOs, like were you literally paying zero attention and were you…”

“OK I get it.” Mason looked at Becky and frowned at the thought of putting her in danger. “I think to start I’d best go first. Until we get a sense of things. But why don’t we all actually explain what we can do. Becky, I know I saw you before, at the uh…well, do you want to go first?”

She flushed, and so did he, though the sight of her pink skin sent an inappropriate lance of heat straight down his pants.

“My, uh, class is called Arcane Defender, whatever that means. I expect ya’ll won’t be that impressed, but I can stop things from hurting us. At least for awhile. I make these…shield, things. I guess the game calls it ‘Arcane Shield’—not the most creative names, if I say so myself. So that’s what I do, mostly. Until I run out of juice.”

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“You use mana, then?” Mason frowned, knowing how slowly his own recharged.

“Yeah. But also not exactly.” Becky shrugged. “I have some, but mostly I have this other thing that comes back pretty quick. I just use the mana to attack right now. Though all I can do is explode a shield once, maybe twice. But it works pretty good. On bats and wolves, at least.”

Mason smiled encouragingly. “Good to know. Blake, explain yourself. And for the love of God, don’t embellish it.”

“Welll.” Blake drew out the word and took a breath like it was some amazing feat. “I can control minds like my own little puppets on strings, so there’s that. I can also move objects without touching them. And I can occasionally blow things up.”

“Blow things up?” Mason quirked a brow.

“That one’s new.” Blake grinned. “It’s slow and costs a lot of mana, but, yeah.”

“How fast do you recuperate?”

“Faster than most,” Blake said, then wiggled his eyebrows at both Seul-ki and Becky meaningfully. Mason rubbed a hand over his face.

“Blake, I’m tired, for Christ’s sake just just tell me plainly what sort of…”

“I regenerate mana as well as providing extra capacity as I did with your staff against Chief Sebastian,” Seul-ki interrupted, and Mason felt his brow raise. “I can also temporarily increase a player’s powers. For self protection, I have very little. But I can fight with a staff.”

“Increase powers?” Mason said with genuine interest. “One? All? How much and for how long?”

Seul-ki shrugged. “As many as I wish, for as long as I wish. It just costs mana. A single power for several minutes is most practical. But I could enhance everything for a very short burst. I re-charge my mana quite quickly.”

Mason exchanged a look with a grinning Blake, because that sounded useful as hell. Of course he didn’t know exactly what ‘enhance’ meant, but Seul-ki seemed almost exclusively a support class, so he suspected it would be significant.

“Alright. Thank you. I think…”

“You didn’t go,” said Blake. “I mean you didn’t describe your powers.”

“I , uh, shoot.” Mason shrugged. “I fight. I lay traps. I regenerate. I can use a pitiful druid power or two with my tiny mana pool. That about sums it up.”

“Oh is that all,” Blake grinned. “And don’t forget your vaguely unpredictable, man-eating mutant wolf.”

“Why don’t we all just contemplate tactics in silence for awhile.”

Mason walked slightly faster until he was in front of the others. He knew Blake was correct—that Becky would have to stand in the way of some danger, but he certainly didn’t like the idea.

With Blake and Seul-ki watching out for her while Mason spent his time murdering, it was likely they could keep her protected. He’d just have to make sure he killed quickly.

I shouldn’t have brought her, he thought somewhat bitterly. Not yet. Not until I’ve got everything figured out.

They’d be at the tree and with the nymphs soon, too, and that brought its own set of complications. Should he tell Rebecca about Thea and Calypsa now? And what the hell did he even say?

‘There are two vaguely human sex-powered witches up ahead. I’ve slept with them. And they desperately want me to do it more. But I won’t if you don’t want me to. Except…I might have to. Very occasionally. Or their giant tree might die, or something.’

Mason sighed. He wasn’t used to this. Well, no one was used to nymphs overpowering them with seduction magic. But just…women problems.

Normally it was Blake dealing with girls everywhere he went, juggling and talking his way out of problems and into pants. Mason usually just wanted some peace.

But it seemed that just wasn’t his situation. Whether it was refugees, or random sex creatures in their rotting trees, or just a girl from Arkansas floating down the river—it seemed someone always needed Mason’s help.

“Keep moving this direction,” he called back to the others, feeling the urge to stretch his legs, to summon Claw and hack something down. Or maybe just run away from it all. “Streak and I will scout ahead.”