I checked the contest interface after waking up the following day. Unfortunately, no changes took place overnight during the Great RPG Contest. Eight players remained in contention for the grand prize.

  The grisly head swinging from Bircht’s belt numbered among the first images to greet me in consciousness. To say it haunted me perhaps went a little far, but I felt better without it behind me. Our brief stay with the deep elves gave me a chance to size up our opponents without actually having to go into combat. It gave me the opportunity to formulate a battle plan if they ever escaped.

  Our sudden discharge from captivity pushed the confrontation to another day, but if their interviews went poorly, we might not have to face them at all. I hoped for the latter.

  I stretched but stayed beneath the warm blanket. After days of ascending Grenspur’s foothills, waking up and getting up were two different things. It felt good to sleep in for a change. I could blame the late rise on Fabulosa for being a corrupting influence, but sore legs factored into my slow start.

  Fabulosa dozed through the first hours of sunlight, which illuminated the darkroom from the floor’s opening. I couldn’t remember my last late breakfast in Miros. Sleeping in felt like a luxury, but without my partner up, I saw no reason to rise. It wasn’t like I could travel without her, so a getting-up-last contest fit my mood.

  The contest map showed two recent developments. Toadkiller and Audigger traveled north on either side of the continent. It seemed both had an early start on their day.

  I rolled over and blamed it all on Fabulosa.

  Four opponents stayed in their previous locations, more or less. Bircht and Duchess occupied the same blip nearby. Flagboi hunkered down in the northwest, likely in his laboratory in Heaven’s Falls. Darkstep remained somewhere in the southeast, away from any settlement I’d read about. And here, I’d thought Hawkhurst had been off the beaten trail. That boy had checked out from the whole show.

  Fabulosa and I, of course, weren’t on the map. The thought of our opponents freaking out over our disappearance made me curious. I checked the group chat to see if anyone had noticed.

  Audigger Apache and Fab aren’t on the map again. But they’re still in the contest. Has anyone seen what happened to them?

  Duchess No. The deep elves moved them. I don’t know where they went.

  Flagboi They did? Why didn’t you say something earlier?

  Duchess Because you’re the one who put us in here.

  Flagboi Don’t blame a player for making moves. But it seems impossible that they could have escaped. Not from a deep elf jail. There’s just no way. And them not being on the map makes me worry.

  Bircht It might have something to do with following Forren. We learned their deity’s name—and Apache is an elder for Forren in Hawkhurst. A blessing could have bypassed the deep elf anti-magic equipment.

  Audigger It’s gotta be demonic. If they can jump through dimensions, it explains why Darkstep thinks Apache can stand up to Toadkiller’s demon.

  Flagboi I sent word to my contact asking about your status, but they haven’t replied. Whenever Apache disappears, it makes me nervous. I keep worrying that he’s going to pop into my room while I’m sleeping.

  Duchess He spoke in fluent Deep Elf. I could barely understand him.

  Flagboi Didn’t you say you knew Deep Elf?

  Duchess I know enough to get by.

  Flagboi Apparently not.

  Duchess Oh, you’re hilarious. I am so remembering this.

  The chat channel did not show a time stamp for their conversation. I looked for clues in the discussion but didn’t see any. Duchess could have seen us missing last night or this morning. Regardless, I stayed out of the debate. Rekindling speculation wouldn’t serve me.

  The amusing theories about the Dark Room reminded me of how the chat channel warped perceptions, pointing people in the wrong direction. Fabulosa had been right about going to Heaven’s Falls. Her seeing Flagboi in his lab made for tangible intel on an enemy’s whereabouts, and it superseded Darkstep’s leads. And she wasn’t wrong about being able to open Darkstep’s letter at any mailbox. I didn’t need to go to Oxum.

  Still, the letter drove me crazy with curiosity.

  I longed for breakfast. The only drawback to our parole was the lack of food. Given the posh accommodations, I bet the deep elves served a good meal. Hunger drove me from the warmth of my covers.

  I’d already set my mind on what I wanted to eat—a cup of hot tea, sizzling strips of worm meat, jam on bread, and seasoned potatoes. I could brown them on the oversized skillet we liberated from the magician’s vault. Building a fire might not be easy at this altitude, but I wanted a freshly cooked meal, and my allegiance with the Wainwright Guild granted me freedom of action.

  I also knew the easiest way of rousing Fabulosa out of bed involved a hot meal.

  After equipping myself, I dropped out of the Dark Room. I spammed Detect Magic and Detect Stealth while gathering wood for a campfire. Again, I found nothing.

  The view had much improved since the night before. The late morning sun had burned off the clouds, giving me a clear impression of our surroundings. I admired the world while breakfast sizzled.

  To the northwest, dozens of buttes and mesas projected from a sea of green water two dozen miles away. To the east, the land dipped into another river, one that flowed into the coast. Beyond that, the horizon turned green—was that the open ocean?

  The continent’s north coast made me think of Atlantic City and how long it might take before returning to a traffic-choked American beach town. Even though there were only eight players left, the ending felt so far away.

  By the time the meat popped and hissed and a tea kettle burbled, Fabulosa materialized next to me.

  “Boo.”

  I’d gotten used to her fading into existence with her cloak. “Boo yourself.”

  Fabulosa admired the river. “At the end of the fork is Ul Itor. That’s where I fought the vampire.”

  “Why is the ocean green?” I pointed to the green blanket beneath the bluffs.

  “That’s not water. It’s a special fog. That’s the vapor you can’t breathe unless you have a gnome mask. It’s a respirator or filter of some kind.”

  “Have you been there?”

  “No, not Blyeheath. It’s a weird mix between swamp and desert, but I didn’t have a mask, so I didn’t see it close up. I kept to the highlands. Ul Itor overlooks the eastern extents of Blyeheath.” Fabulosa pointed north to a series of mesas. “Those must be the Gray Manors. Oxum’s somewhere tucked in there.” She diverted my attention to a series of hills to the west. “Heaven’s Falls is yonder.”

  “Have you seen the latest? Flagboi is taking I-told-you-so laps for us being a power couple, and Bircht gave away our patron deity.”

  Fabulosa’s eyes widened. “Patch, have you seen the contest map? Bircht and Duchess are out.”

  I opened the interface again. Only one dot appeared north of Mount Grenspur. It listed four names.

  “I thought they were still in their cells. I looked at it this morning, but we weren’t on the map.”

  Fabulosa put the skillet on the ground and kicked dirt on the campfire to put out the flames. “I told you we could have fought our way out.”

  Years of having red and green blips appear on my map made me complacent. I’d gotten used to Hawkhurst’s seismic bonuses that showed our enemy’s location. Even though my helm protected me from backstabs, I cast Presence. When fighting dark magic, the more light, the better.

  The Dark Room had worked against us. Since we weren’t on the map, I lacked a point of reference to how close our opponents had moved during the night.

  How had they freed themselves? Regardless of Fabulosa’s opinion, it didn’t seem possible they escaped. They probably bribed their way out, greasing the gears of politics to turn in their favor. Or they might have had the right affiliation with the deep elves. I should have guessed that getting lucky was too much to hope for.

  Starting a fire would have planted a beacon on our position. I cast Heavenly Favor and wrapped the Dark Room rope around my waist. “If we can move, we can get to Heaven’s Falls before them. It’s only a few days west.”

  “Nuts to that. Why not fight them here?”

  “We don’t get Aggressions double-damage bonus.”

  Before anything happened, I cast Familiar and prepared myself for combat.

  Fabulosa laughed. “It’s a little late to go looking for a battle pet. We’ll find you a pony when we get to Heaven’s Falls.”

  I didn’t share her laugh. “Jasper is enough for me. You’ll be thankful for him when we find a road. He’s big enough to carry us both.”

  Fabulosa peered down the mountainside. “It’ll be a bit before we find a road.”

  Detect Stealth’s cooldown was ten minutes long, but my rank of 24 in light magic meant the spell lasted over a minute and a half. It created a mini-game of guessing when stealthers lurked nearby, and correct guesses gave a considerable advantage.

  Fabulosa picked up the skillet. “C’mon. Let’s find a good cliff. We can eat breakfast there.”

  “Cliff?”

  “To bounce them off of. I reckon with Slipstream, cliffs pose a greater danger.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  I followed her until we found a suitable plateau that was wide enough for a combat between four people, but it didn’t have any cliffs. Its surrounding slopes led only to hillsides leading down. The drop-off wasn’t sheer, making falls survivable, but the open space gave us a significant advantage in terms of Detecting Stealth.

  I surveyed the topography to prepare myself for a fight. The plateau lay clear of large rocks, trees, or bushes. The even footing would maximize my combat skills. Approaching enemies couldn’t hide behind rocks or trees. “I like this place. It’s good ground to fight. We should stay away from each other. Bircht will use his vacuum against one of us, but we don’t want him to catch us both.”

  “That works for me. These shifting winds aren’t in my favor. They mostly sweep down the mountainside. I’ll reposition myself anyway, in case I need to catch a lucky breeze. I’m harder to hit with the hood up. Come on, let’s eat while the food is warm.”

  We gobbled down breakfast while we waited. When Detect Stealth’s cooldown ended, I cast it again.

  Fabulosa snapped her fingers. “Oh, yeah. That reminds me.” She Scorched me for 27 damage before planting Winterbyte’s old battle standard into the soil.

  Fabulosa opens battleground channel.

  Fabulosa joins channel.

  Apache joins the channel.

  Apache Ow! What was that for?

  Fabulosa We need to be in combat for the battle standard to operate.

  Apache But Bircht and Duchess can read our messages.

  Fabulosa Yeah. I used to drag around zombies to activate it against Skullcaps. The battle standard is my jury-rigged stealth detector. Any players entering the area appear in the chat channel.

  Apache Brains as well as beauty.

  Fabulosa You know it, little brother.

  Fabulosa’s tease about being a little brother hadn’t escaped me. Her higher level ostensibly made her the senior partner. Until I closed the gap, I’d have to endure the ribbing. But her positive vibes made me eager for combat. I had one trick up my sleeve that I needed to play. I’d formulated a risky plan while waiting for the deep elves to release us, but doing nothing made me anxious.

  We waited for our opponents, recasting Heavenly Favor and Presence whenever the buffs got low. I drank five stat potions, bumping my health to 500 and my mana pool to 570.

  Our enemies had timed their attack correctly, or we were just unlucky. Four faded moons hung in the sky. Bircht’s Mantle of Fortune would slow us and give him invisibility if he stood still. His spells would last 33 percent longer, and his healing was just as strong. These weren’t insurmountable conditions because we intended to fight toe-to-toe. Besides, Bircht needed to concentrate on his shrunken head, not casting spells.

  Duchess joins channel.

  Bircht joins the channel.

  Bircht Whoa, what’s this? Another chat room?

  Fabulosa It’s a local chat room. It has an impressive radius, so I use it to detect stealthers.

  Bircht You’re still worried about stealth?

  Duchess I take it you two didn’t unlock many dark spells.

  Bircht Shh! Let it be a surprise.

  Instead of parsing their words, I watched two figures approach from our campsite.

  Bircht and Duchess conferred outside of spell range, planning their attack.

  I lowered my voice. “Which one do you want to gang up on first?”

  Fabulosa harrumphed. “Plans are lists of things that never happen. If we agree to hit Bircht, he’ll wriggle his way out of it, and we’re back to improvising. Let’s just wing it.”

  Duchess ambled into spell range and called over to us. “Girls versus girls?”

  Fabulosa raised both of her arms. “Suits me.”

  The head beneath the black shroud tilted. “I was hoping you’d say that.” Before entering combat range, Duchess activated her shroud, which brought 23 Mirror Images. The doppelgangers fanned out around combat. Each moved in a unique cadence with convincing fidgets. Any of them could have the real Duchess.

  A Slowed icon appeared beside my buffs as Bircht approached.

  At the sight of the duplicate Duchesses, Fabulosa exhaled audibly.

  Activating my charm of protection against dark magic caused the images to shimmer and waver, and I scanned the crowd to see which one remained solid. If I could see one standing out, I could point out Duchess to my partner.

  Though they stood many levels beneath us, we needed to be wary. Surprisingly, neither of our adversaries produced weapons or Familiars. Bircht reaching for his shrunken head wasn’t a surprise.

  He approached me.

  Fabulosa flipped her hood, became transparent, and swept toward the Mirror Images in a gust of wind. She moved not as fast as I expected, but then again, Bircht’s cape had Slowed her down.

  Bircht ran toward me and activated the disembodied head. A shimmering sphere surrounded me, distorting distant images.

  All 23 Duchesses chanted a channel called Improved Stasis. Some stood still while others walked about. Each moved as if they were the genuine Duchess. I reflexively tried to Counterspell it but couldn’t pronounce the magic words.

  A vacuum muted the world around me. The wind didn’t howl in my ears, the gravel beneath my feet didn’t crunch, and the material of my gear didn’t clink or rustle.

  Five debuffs appeared in my peripheral vision—Asphyxiated, Deafened, Grappled, Rooted, and Silenced.

  The Book of Dungeons had immobilized me before. Roots didn’t affect my limbs, so I could swing my sword or use magic items. As the lightly tinted sphere enveloped me, Duchess’s channel held me in place, making it the perfect complement to the vacuum. The magic held me in place and prevented me from speaking spells of my own. Escape mechanics like Hot Air and Slipstream wouldn’t work while Grappled. None of my blessings or items could counteract the hold of Stasis.

  My charm of dark magic resistance proved useless against the combination. Both affected environments, which meant they came from nature magic.

  The vacuum’s Silence prevented me from casting spells and produced an Asphyxiation progress bar that slowly slid toward a skull icon. Fabulosa and Bircht shared the same Grappled and Rooted conditions, even though she floated several feet above the ground. Either Stasis affected foes and allies alike, or Bircht counted as an enemy.

  Fabulosa Do you have your anti-dark magic charm working?

  Apache I do, and I’m looking for the real Duchess. As far as I can tell, none of them stand out.

  Fabulosa shot a Chain Lightning Bolt that zigzagged through three Mirror Images. Each waved into nothingness after the spell struck. If she could interrupt Duchess’s channel, I could simply walk outside the vacuum.

  The remaining Duchesses fanned out to avoid area-of-effect spells.

  Asphyxiated produced a progress bar on my interface showing exactly how much time I had left in the game. Their strategy involved suffocating me and then double-teaming Fabulosa.

  My partner was the only one who could interrupt the Stasis, and she knew the stakes. Her inability to move complicated the search.

  Fabulosa pulled out a Permanent Hole and tossed it at the feet of the nearest Duchess. The Permanent Hole yawned beneath her enemy, who lost her footing and shimmered out of existence. Nineteen Duchesses remained.

  I pulled out Cognitus and pointed the blade at one of the Duchess figures crouching low. It looked as if she were using another Duchess to hide from Fabulosa. It had to be the real Duchess.

  Triggering a Compression Sphere rune needed no verbal component. I performed the gesture that Gladius and I practiced while in the deep elf cell, producing a thunderclap and a thin white cloud.

  It dispelled two Mirror Images.

  I couldn’t even use my robe’s ability to reset my sword’s Compression Sphere rune because it wasn’t my cooldown—it was Gladdy’s.

  After putting away my sword, I pulled out a sling. I didn’t have any Boulder Bullets, but I could interrupt Bircht’s concentration with an accurate shot.

  A well-timed Mana Shield absorbed my first attempt. It appeared before I released my sling.

  Mana Shield and Avoid Ammo were the game’s only channels that didn’t require concentration, and Bircht needed one to execute his strategy. He’d come well-prepared.

  Since I couldn’t exhaust his mana pool before suffocating, I aimed for the nearest Duchess.

  The Mirror Images shuffled about further away from me, and the shimmering effect of the vacuum bubble either interfered with my missiles or refracted the light—either way, it spoiled my aim. The unnatural feeling of being unable to breathe complicated the act of using a sling. Bullet after bullet missed.

  With Fabulosa Rooted, Bircht focused on maintaining the vacuum by holding up the shrunken head from its knotted hair. He’d kept outside my partner’s spell range—or rather, Duchess had locked her down before Fabulosa reached his spell range.

  Fabulosa’s hair whipped around as she searched for our missing adversary. She cast Compression Sphere on another Mirror Image, dispelling it.

  Asphyxiate’s progress bar had shrunken to half of its original length.

  A Fireball exploded between two more Mirror Images, dispelling them on impact. More fell to a Scorch, Shocking Reach, and Ice Bolts, reducing their numbers to ten.

  A Wall of Fire caught two apparitions. Fabulosa had only eliminated two-thirds of the duplicates by the time my progress bar to Asphyxiation dropped to 25 percent and would reach the skull within 30 seconds.

  Casts of Tangling Thorns and Tangling Roots only dispelled one simulacrum at a time. Only six Mirror Images remained.

  Several Duchesses cast nervous glances toward me. With only six duplicates, it would only be a matter of time before Fabulosa hit the correct one.

  Bircht turned to watch Fabulosa flail in the air. His voice held the even calm of a airline pilot. “Good job, Duch. Keep it going. When Apache goes, I’ll switch to Fab.”

  His calm professionalism visibly upset my partner. Her eyes widened with fear.

  The Duchesses said nothing except chanting their chorus of Stasis.

  With my lungs burning, my bullets veered off their marks. I fumbled loading my sling, and dropped two bullets in succession.

  Fabulosa’s forehead furrowed with worry. “I’m sorry, Patch. I don’t know which one to hit.” She switched to a bow and lined up a shot using an Arrow of Curved Space. I couldn’t read the item’s description through the vacuum bubble, but the missile swooped in an arc to strike its target. A figure draped in a black funeral shroud disappeared.

  It wasn’t Duchess. Five Mirror Images remained.

  Fabulosa launched regular arrows at them. Each shot took extra effort as she hung suspended in midair. The wind spun her around as if on a pivot.

  One normal arrow struck a simulacrum, dispelling her target.

  I spotted a Duchesses inching her way behind Fabulosa, moving whenever Fabulosa focused on another target. It had to be the real enemy.

  Apache Fab, one’s going for the battle standard.

  Apache leaves channel.

  Duchess kicked at the battle standard. It fell over, dumping everyone out of the chat group.

  Fabulosa whirled around, wasting no time, and cast Wall of Thorns. When the chime of Anticipate rang, Duchess rocketed away from the damaging hedge. Fabulosa dismissed the magic so she could better see her target. As the Duchess hurried toward Bircht, Fabulosa nocked and launched an arrow, which hit her mark.

  The arrow only brought down another Mirror Image. It seemed impossible. How had an illusion knocked over the battlefield standard?

  I looked to where it lay on the ground and saw a fourth shimmering figure moving behind Bircht’s Mana Shield. My high willpower and charm against dark magic revealed a faint silhouette standing behind Bircht. The real duchess had been Invisible. She must have drank a potion, for consuming a potion didn’t appear in the combat log.

  I waved franticly to get Fabulosa’s attention, but she’d moved on to another target. Only three Duchesses remained, though only I knew them to be fake.

  My Asphyxiation bar dropped below 10 percent.

  I launched a bullet at the Invisible figure moving behind Bircht, but the bullet hit his Mana Shield.

  Fabulosa panicked as her next arrow missed. She didn’t know that she shot at phantoms.

  Bircht spoke loud as if talking to the fake Duchesses close to my partner, but his tone stayed emotionless. “We’re nearly there. Switch to Hex when he’s gone. Get ready.”

  The Invisible Duchess stood behind Bircht, blocked by his protective bubble.

  Fabulosa’s next arrow struck one of the remaining Mirror Images. She cried out when it turned out to be another fake. “Apache, I’m sorry. My spells are on cooldown!”

  The morning sunlight twinkled off of her eyes.

  The Asphyxiated bar dropped to dangerously low levels.

  Fabulosa fumbled and missed her next shot. When she reloaded, she spared another glance at me. Her eyes had reddened and blurred with brimming tears.

  I dropped the useless sling and met her gaze. Because of the vacuum, she couldn’t hear me, so I mouthed my words. “I am so sorry.”