As Hirrus crouched on the hilltop overlooking Rumi’s camp, he ruminated briefly on how impossible the task ahead was. Rumi’s camp was immense. There was a core knot of tents in the middle of the camp, arranged in neat little rows. That represented the forces Hirrus had expected to fight. But the encampment sprawled out around them, filling the small valley.

Instead of scores of foes, there were hundreds. An army of robed cultists, worshipping Rumi for having freed them from their decision trees. Patrolling the camp. Working. Filling the space with eyes and ears to spot him.

He tried to keep his pessimism under control. He couldn’t cut his way through this. If he was relying on nothing but the strength of his own arms, his goal was out of reach. Even if everybody was the weak form of a civilian, and Rumi had accumulated no further guards or soldiers, it would take him time to cut through them in their Merciless form.

Even just the bare seconds it would take to cut down a foe with one strike would be too long. There were just so many.

Because there were so many, they didn’t even have to stop him. They’d just have to buy enough time for Rumi to escape. As soon as an alarm was raised, a man smart enough to put together this operation would be smart enough to turn tail and run for his life.

His approach was doomed before it even began.

He was able to keep calm, though.

Because his approach wasn’t the only option.

Hirrus had friends. Relying on them would carry him through this challenge.

“Patience,” he said to himself quietly.

It was barely a minute before Nidra and Alric appeared. Both of them stepped out of thin air, and Hirrus almost asked how Alric had an Arcana like Nidra’s.

But the realization came that it wasn’t like Nidra’s.

It had been Fire’s.

Alric had gotten credit for helping with that fight, and picked up some tricks, including the stealth power that Hirrus had dismissed as useless. It would fail around too many observers. Alric must have been forced to stay at a distance, or else the numerous patrols and guards would have seen through it.

“Defenses are tightly packed,” Nidra said. “Not just around the perimeter, but on nearly every thoroughfare. Most of them are… Like us. Very few of the masked adventurers remain, and none of them are on guard duty. It looks like Rumi has at least one guard captain giving orders, as there appear to be some normal guards still bound to their decision trees put on duty, no doubt unwillingly waiting for their turn to be Awakened.” She turned and squinted out at the camp before concluding. “No more monsters, though. They might have no more to bring to bear, or else they can no longer field them without Fire at the helm of the operation.”

Hirrus nodded, though he could clearly see as much from here without the report.

“Cheer up, man. There is good news,” Alric offered, patting Hirrus on the shoulder. “They’re just eyes. Only watching. Not stopping people to talk or anything. Without proper checkpoints, I think we have a chance.”

“A chance at what?” Hirrus asked. “Running in headlong and hoping they ignore us?”

“Subtle penetration,” Nidra said.

Alric snorted, but both Nidra and Hirrus ignored him.

“If we can blend in and get into the camp, we should be able to move about with impunity.” She pointed at the organized central area of the camp, her finger tracing a line around the border between it and the more haphazard tents. “Even there, that border is only cosmetic. We will be able to walk right up to Rumi’s tent. No alarm will be raised until the first strike has already landed.”

“And I will make sure it will be the last strike as well,” Hirrus said, clenching a fist. “So how do we get in?”

Nidra grimaced, but said nothing, just staring down at the camp. Hirrus pressed his lips into a thin line as well. She seemed like she had the tools for infiltration. If she couldn’t think of a way, it was, perhaps, impossible.

“Uh, really?” Alric asked, looking back and forth between them. “Or is this like… You want me to be the one to say it so I feel useful?” He gestured down at the camp. “The fucking robes. We get robes and then we look like everyone else. Like… Isn’t that obvious?”

It hadn’t seemed obvious to Hirrus. He wasn’t sure how they would even get the robes, and he certainly hadn’t considered the idea of changing out of his combat-ready armor. The robes also wouldn’t cover their faces, and if the guards had even a passing familiarity with those in the camp, they might still stick out as strangers.

But on the edges of her mask, Nidra’s cheeks were turning red. More than the logic of it, that lent Alric’s plan some credibility. If Nidra thought the plan could work - and was embarrassed that the adventurer had thought of it first - then perhaps Hirrus just wasn’t looking at it properly.

“So how do we get the robes?” Hirrus asked, approaching the strategy from the most immediate angle.

“A distraction,” Alric said. He pointed to a spot on the east side of the camp. It looked like it had become something of a main entrance to the place. “We make a fuss over there. Just something little. Definitely not obviously Hirrus, so that they don’t panic. But just make it look like some big shot adventurer got pissed and picked a fight. Just enough that they’re looking this direction.”

“And then from here,” Nidra cut in, pointing to the east side of the camp, “a couple of people suffer unfortunate accidents and disappear.”

“I don’t think we can count on them to have accidents,” Alric said, shaking his head. “I think you better go kill them.”

Nidra stared at him for a long moment. Long enough for Alric’s expression to break into a smile.

The adventurer thought he was far funnier than he actually was.

“How do we engage with their defenses, then?” Hirrus asked. “If I attack, there’s a chance they will realize it’s me. Even if I don’t go all-out and make a clean break to escape, Rumi could hop on a cart and be set up in Thordal to the northwest - or even over the border in Onara across the mountains.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Alric said with a broad smirk. He socked Hirrus in the arm playfully. “I’ll be right there with you. Let me escalate the fight - my way - and then once they throw down, you cut in and escalate it your way. We rumble for a few minutes, and then get out of dodge.” He looked to Nidra. “How long do you need to snipe and strip three people?”

“Seconds,” Nidra said, confidently.

“Okay, so we only need to make a ruckus long enough to attract attention, and then we can skedaddle as soon as the first reinforcements come in,” Alric said. “Super easy. Barely an inconvenience.”

“It will certainly be an inconvenience for someone,” Nidra said, hand dropping to the wide dagger on her hip.

“I need you to be careful,” Hirrus said to Alric. “I have the tools to escape at speed. I don’t have the tools to get you out if you’re made of stone.”

“Fuck that, man,” Alric said with a laugh. “As soon as the fight breaks out, I’m gonna punk out like a bitch. Don’t worry about me.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Hirrus said.

“Context clues,” Nidra said with sudden impatience. “He means to flee, and calls himself a coward.”

“Yeah, more or less,” Alric said, smirking.

That wasn’t necessarily a comfort to Hirrus, but he supposed it would have to do. He felt like the plan had too many flaws. Engaging in combat might send Rumi to ground. They might attract too much attention and Alric could be killed. They might not attract enough attention to give Nidra the opening she needed. And it all depended on the robes being all it took to fool the guards.

But he had nearly been killed when he’d turned his back on their planning before. He’d sworn to trust them. He needed to put his own pride aside and rely on their strength. He couldn’t do this alone. He didn’t have to understand how their strategy would work. He just had to trust that it would.

“Alright,” Hirrus said at last. “I’ll leave it to you, Nidra. We’ll create the distraction. You get the robes.”

“Don’t worry,” Alric said, putting an arm around Hirrus’s shoulder, using the other hand to wave Nidra away. “I’ll take good care of him, and bring him back with a full tank.”

Again, Hirrus had no idea what Alric was saying, but from Nidra’s rolled eyes, he thought it was safe to assume that she had understood what he meant. Considering she had broached no protest, he assumed it wasn’t as inappropriate as it sounded.