It’s still me. Zach will introduce himself again when it’s time.

  Where was I?

  It’s the morning before the battle. Everyone is working on getting the tents back into the packs. We’d had a small scuffle with robots in the night, but Cal woke us up on time.

  We were all groggy, and I especially missed Berryhop’s special chocolates. I don’t know how Zach does it, that thing where he’s just able to be awake in the morning after only 6 hours of sleep. I needed, like, 9.

  After getting dressed, I put the last pieces of my costume on near the windows, hoping the sun would wake me up.

  I glanced at my stats, while I tightened the ties on my steelsilk.

  Shade the level 6 Assassin Rogue and level 5 Fey Warlock.

  Hit Points 57, Armor Class 20 (Steelsilk +1, Bracers of Deflecting)

  STR 7 (-2) DEX 20 (+5) CON 12 (+1)

  INT 13 (+1) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 18 (+4)

  Items: Fascinator +2, Thirsting Thorn +2, Boots of Swiftness, Bracers of Deflecting, Dagger of Tracking +1, Steelsilk +1, 6 throwing daggers, 1 combat knife, 1 ration, 1 flint and tinder box, charcoal, 10 sheets loose paper.

  Abilities from Rogue: Backstab (+150% additional damage against targets from behind or against targets that are otherwise distracted), Improved Assassinate (350% backstab damage against targets that do not identify you as a threat), Beguiling Allure (double proficiency bonus to charisma checks against the opposite sex)

  Abilities from Warlock: Empowered Leap (triple jump distance). Enveloping Shadows, (While in shadows or darkness, one may make themselves harder to see). Fey Sight (see farther and through dim light or darkness). Healing Touch (free castings of Heal Light Wounds, Twice per day). Spiderwalk (walk on vertical surfaces and even upside down). Spellcasting.

  Skills: Acrobatics, Deception, Investigate, Seduction, Sleight of Hand, Stealth

  Again my eyes fell on my new healing abilities. Even as mobile as I was, they still needed touch. Unlike Zach’s spells, I had to wait until things were really dire. And even then, I had four uses, two slots and two free castings, total. Warlock gave me some fun stuff, like empowering leap and spiderclimb, but as for actual spellcasting ability, I only had those two slots. They supposedly came back quicker than other spellcasting slots, but it limited how much I could do in one combat. I needed to stay frugal.

  I had also gained the enveloping shadows ability. It was a kind of active camo, not quite as good as invisibility, but also because it wasn’t that specific spell, may fool those who sought to see the invisible. This meant Zach could focus more on healing and control spells.

  I made sure my daggers and knives were secure, then scrolled through my spells

  At-Will Spells—

  Distract

  Little Tricks

  Upset Mind

  Warlock Spells at Third Level—

  Charm Person

  Command

  Darkness

  Heal Light Wounds

  Impede Area

  Invisibility

  Secure Mind

  [Secure Mind] was my strongest spell after [Impede Area]. It made mental attacks easier to thwart, and gave me a bonus against the damage done by such attacks. This seemed situational at first, but I expected it to provide difficulty for enemy spellcasters. If I was taken out of the fight by some kind of illusion or magically induced hallucination, we could be in really big trouble.

  Zach called it a Death Spiral, like I needed something else to obsess about. It basically meant, if I went down, Rachel would get swarmed, then she would go down. At that point, with no front line, the spellcasters would fall last and we’d all be dead.

  I had to trust that this new party configuration would work.

  My hands smoothed the steelsilk. It felt good on me. I tightened it here and there. It was mostly loose flowy silk, bound with thick wraps that had straps that tied to secure over the chest, thighs, and upper arms. It looked kind of like a short kimono in places except for the bits wrapped around my legs. I had always felt sort of blocky shaped, but the steelsilk accentuated my waist in a way that I thought looked fetching.

  I was proud of my body, even before getting here. Girls that looked like me didn’t get roles in big productions unless they had other skills to bring to the table. I didn’t have the benefit of expensive vocal coaches, but my mom taught me how to do a handspring with damn near twice the air of other girls.

  Now, I could do a handspring, and cut a dude's head off at the same time.

  I loved the way it made me feel, even if I didn’t always feel sexy.

  “You know,” Geoff said with a smile. “You lookin’ mighty fine in the steelsilk, cher.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  His eyes narrowed. I smiled.

  “You got a sec?” he asked.

  I glanced at Zach, who was pouring himself some tea. Geoff followed my eyes.

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  “It’ll only take a moment,” he said.

  I had at least six knives on me at the moment, and I felt pretty confident I could draw one before he was done casting even the simplest spell. Also, if he’d wanted to hurt me, he had plenty of opportunity last night.

  “Sure,” I said.

  We stepped around a stack of books. Geoff chewed on his mustache, and gazed out the window for a moment before launching into it.

  “Where’ve I possibly misstepped? I think I’ve more than proved my fidelity.”

  “It takes more than showing altruism to earn trust,” I said. “You need to prove competency, also. You’ll get there.”

  “Well, I’d hoped I’d already proved my competency.”

  “Getting Zach to switch classes, drawing the sigil, it’s great. But until I see you fight… I can’t assume you know what you’re doing. I don’t dislike you. Don’t worry about it.”

  I didn’t reach for a mask, and we gazed at each other for a moment.

  He laughed.

  “You’re a right mean bitch.”

  I laughed too.

  “Only every fucking day.”

  He leaned against a stack, and cursed to himself.

  “You know, when I got here, I spent a lot of time trying to help people,” he said.

  “Did you?”

  “I imagine a girl like you wouldn’t deign to waste your time on that.”

  My mind flashed back to the first couple days I was here. I flinched. Then I pushed past that, relaxed some. I think this guy appreciated directness, so I kept it simple.

  “This isn’t home. It’s a test. I mean to pass.”

  “Indeed,” Geoff laughed. “Isn’t that just what everyone else is doing? Wouldn’t the best option be to ignore the game?”

  “Is that what you did?”

  “Maybe.”

  “And how did that work out for you?”

  The corner of his mouth quirked in frustration, and his mustache slanted comically.

  “I see your point.”

  “The only people who get to quit this game are the winners.”

  “That’s very close to what the DM said.”

  “Of course. The DM makes the rules. But he doesn’t get to tell me how I win. I don’t need a kingdom and soldiers and knights to win. I just need a sword, and a target.”

  I thought about the target on my horizon, Sophia, a woman I still held some affection for, but who I soured on by the day. She still had some kind of hold on Zach. I didn’t like that. Killing her would solve that problem real quick. But I also wondered what it would be like if we’d been able to reach her, if we’d been able to win that beautiful mind and razor sharp killing instinct for ourselves.

  “It’s that simple huh?” he asked.

  “It’s that simple, because I’ve made it that simple. And until I figure you out, you only complicate things. But that’s a me problem. You just worry about yourself, and we’ll probably end up alright.”

  “Fair enough,” he said with an uncomfortable chuckle.

  After we’d finished packing, I walked up to my partner and put my arms around him. Just like that, I couldn’t think about anything else but his warm shoulders under my arms.

  “Hey, baby,” I said, kissing his cheek, “you ready to cast some spells.”

  “Ah, haha, ready as I’ll ever be,” he said, kissing me back.

  I gave him a squeeze, then walked to the sigil. Zach needed constant reassurance, and I was only too happy to give him that. For now.

  Soon, we had arrayed ourselves in a circle around, back to back, on the teleportation sigil. Rachel had my back, and the boys, Cal and Zach, were to either side of me. Geoff waved his arms and the sigil glowed powerfully at our feet.

  The world popped into existence in front of us like a well placed edit in a movie, and we stood somewhere dozens of floors up. I immediately drew two daggers

  A horde of four foot tall, wingless raptors jostled around the sigil. A 60 foot long, six foot tall triceratops lumbered ahead.

  I’d been expecting to fight Liam, or the robots. This, this would be much easier. These guys had flesh. And I owed them for last time.

  I threw my two daggers, piercing the neck of the first raptor, who fell dead, then pulling Thorn and Fascinator.

  “Keep the big one busy while I thin the adds!” I yelled, as I leapt over the bulk of the horde.

  Rachel roared and charged, swinging her huge greatsword, and carving through the raptors. Geoff immediately tapped Zach, and both floated upward, away from the sharp teeth of the small dinosaurs. Cal climbed a bookcase with his feet, and began firing arrows into the horde.

  My legs churned as I dashed through the throng of monsters, stabbing and slicing. Hot blood splattered across my face, and in moments my hands and arms were soaked with it.

  One raptor got lucky, clamped down on my leg. I had milliseconds to free myself before six more leapt on me.

  A searing bolt of lighting arced through the creatures nearby. I glanced up and saw Geoff, who waved.

  I leapt onto the wall and ran up. The raptors leapt after me, but only one at a time. I stabbed them before they reached me.

  In the opening scrum, we’d maybe killed half of them. Rachel grappled with the triceratops, one hand on the neck plate, and another on his nose horn. The creature pushed against her. Her feet slid, but she didn’t fall. Her sword was plunged into the marble next to her.

  Cal plugged arrow after arrow into the monsters that tried to jump on Rachel’s back, but I could see that it wouldn’t be enough. I looked for Zach.

  As if he knew, my partner flew to my side. I threw a dagger at a raptor that tried to leap onto his back, and it crashed limply into the wall below me.

  “I need to help Rachel!” I said. I threw another dagger.

  “What do you want me — wait. I got it.”

  I needed my sword.

  Why hadn’t he summoned my sword yet?

  I was just standing here on the wall waiting for him.

  Gimmie. Gimme. Come on you buffoon. Gimme!

  “Gimmie!” I said.

  “Forgive me for what I must do.”

  Edge of Nothing hovered in the air in front of him. I leapt off the wall, grabbed it, flourished my hand, and summoned a globe of darkness. I focused on the ground next to Rachel, said the magic word, then felt my body pop out of the air, as if a needle pulled through the fabric of spacetime, and plopped on the smooth marble next to her.

  In the globe of darkness, everything shimmered in an outline of shiny grey, as my darkvision kicked in. Three raptors entered the globe. I separated their heads from their long necks with three quick movements, swishing the blade under their chins, and flicking my wrist up.

  “Was that you, Bernie?” Rachel asked, grunting with exertion.

  “Got your back,” I said.

  “Thank god.”

  Two more raptors, one low and one leaping through the air, came at us. I plunged my sword through the head of the first, stepped to the side as the second landed, then skewered it as easily as you please. A third dashed in, a moulinet, a swishing of my wrist that spun my sword in an arc, slashed it from chest to neck, and it fell too.

  “I think if you keep them from me, I can put him on his side,” she said.

  “You got it, babe,” I said, dodging a snap of jaws, and lashing out with my sword.

  I heard Rachel shout, then a huge crash shook the floor. I glanced over my shoulder.

  There he was, the triceratops, on his side, legs kicking.

  I leapt, landed on his belly, then dragged my sword through his skin behind me as I ran the length of him. I leapt again, and hit the floor behind him. His tail thrashed. I dismissed the globe of darkness. I jumped over his lashing tail.

  Rachel retrieved her sword, ran around to his back, then hacked at his neck behind the plate.

  The monster stilled.

  I leapt to Rachel’s side and swung Edge through the body of a raptor mid leap, hearing it slam in two pieces behind me. Zach dropped a shatter in the middle of the remaining pack, disorienting them, sending blood bleeding from their eyes. Rachel carved through multiple raptors at a time, whipping her sword around at incredible speeds.

  In a couple more seconds, it was all over.

  We whooped and cheered, kept our spirits up during the after battle adrenaline crash. I looked around at the sigil we’d taken, and took a sip of water. Huge furrows from the triceratops had been scored into it. We weren’t coming back to this one.

  Only way out is up!

  Hugs all around. Then we climbed the steps.