"You okay, James?" Connie asked him, concern written on her face.

"James?" Rocko inquired.

"My memory," James struggled to find the words, "I am missing some of my memories."

"Easy, James," Rocko tried to start.

"Easy? Are you telling me that you knew about this?" James yelled.

"Yes, it happens to everyone brought in from other worlds. I am sorry," Rocko sympathized.

"What did you forget?" Barbara asked.

James ignored Barbara's question and focused on Rocko, "What happened? And why didn't you tell me?"

Rocko looked abashed but didn't look away, "How do you tell someone that part of the memories are gone. Especially when we first started, and I could only give you information upon request."

"But you could have told me afterwards?" James sighed.

"You ever get the feeling we're not here?" Connie asked.

"Or he is just crazy as a rango!" Doris grunted.

"By then, I didn't think about it, honestly, as to how it happened. They could not make an exact copy when you were brought to this world. The brain is a complex mechanism to duplicate, so pieces must be sacrificed."

"Who decided what pieces were sacrificed?" James asked an undercurrent of anger in his voice.

"I don't know, James. I would suspect Ignatius, but he may not be aware either." Rocko shrugged.

"That's stupid. I was brought here because of my specialized skills. Now I am losing them. I am forgetting things that make me who I am!"

"Who you are has not changed. You are a sum of your experiences, but you don't have to have perfect recall of all of them for your personality to exist." Rocko kept his voice calm and slowed it down to his usual sedate pace.

"Bullshit. I should have seen the sniper position." James looked up at where the goblins had been hiding, "It is obvious!"

"It was hidden by magic, James. You would not have seen it." Rocko corrected.

"That wasn't there before?" Doris asked Barbara.

"What do you mean, hidden by magic?" James growled. He had stopped yelling, but he was still pissed.

"Don't you think I would have seen it?" Barbara snapped at Doris.

"Most likely, one of the Shaman used an illusion Spell to conceal that portion of the wall. Or it is considered a special trap by the dungeon." Rocko continued.

"Hidden by magic?" Connie asked, looking at her sisters, then nodded, "That would make sense."

Doris also nodded, "Ya, considering we can see it as clear as day right now, but I didn't see shit when I walked in. Or when the room was scouted earlier."

James turned to the women and looked at them. Their words finally slipped through his anger and fear. "It wasn't visible when we arrived?"

Barbara and Doris shook their heads; Connie shrugged.

"God damn world!" James muttered, "How do we counter an illusion?" This last part was directed at Connie and Rocko.

"Normally, you can't." Connie started, "Part of the nature of illusions is that they can't be detected. Otherwise, they would be pretty useless."

"She is correct. However, there is a Spell called Detect Illusions, which does the job." Rocko added.

"Detect Illusions?" James asked Rocko, "How hard is it to get?"

Connie laughed, "Not hard, here, let me pull it out of my-" James held up his hand to stop her, "Shush, not asking you."

Connie's only response was a rude gesture.

"You could buy it for 20 Advantage points because of your Resistance to Magic, or you could buy a wand or scroll or special glasses that allow you to see through them." Rocko listed.

"None of which helps us now," James concluded.

"Other than spending 20 Advantage points, it doesn't help you now." Rocko agreed.

"What about an Advantage that allows you to see through illusions?" James asked hopefully.

"Yes, there are a couple of variations for that. Rocko offered. They start at 75 Advantage points."

James looked to the ground, "Damn."

"Does this mean he is done yelling at himself?" Doris whispered to Barbara, who shrugged.

James needed to take a break and collect his thoughts. He was extremely pissed at his memory loss but realized there wasn't much he could do about it. That didn't make the bitter pill any easier to swallow. After doing some meditation and muttering darkly under his breath, James was finally ready to go. He was surprised to hear that Barbara had already scouted the tunnel ahead and returned with a report.

"The tunnel is not very long. It does twist and turns a bit, but I was able to find and disarm a trap set partway. The room at the end is on two levels. The tunnel opens up at the bottom level with three goblins. Two in leather with sword and shield and one in chainmail with a large two-handed sword. Or at least, large for them." Shifting in her seat, she continued to draw the map on the ground. "I couldn't see that much of the upper portion, but there were three goblins. Two with crossbows and one that looked like a Shaman."

"These rooms are getting progressively harder," Doris frowned.

"To be expected. It is a dungeon, not a cakewalk." James replied.

"Why would cake walk?" Connie asked, but Doris just shook her head in a 'don't encourage him' way.

"Good Recon, but I think we should get some more information on the goblins at the top." James continued.

"What is Recon. Does anyone else feel like he is speaking a different language?" Doris asked her sisters.

"To Recon means to reconoiter. It just means to go and scout the location." James explained.

"Then why didn't you just say that?" Barbara asked him sternly.

"It is like you are deliberately trying to make us look stupid," Doris growled.

James held up a hand, "No, Connie is right. It is a different language. In my world, where I come from, these are terms that I am familiar with and that we use. Sorry, I am still thinking the way I am familiar."

Connie smiled, "It is okay, James. I am sure this is pretty new for you. Any other words we should be aware of?"

James thought about that for a moment. There were hundreds of words they used regularly. Most of which wouldn't apply in this world, but some might.

"Camo is short for camouflage. Hardened Target refers to a place that has been fortified. Klicks mean kilometres and Mikes for minutes. Overwatch means someone in a high position who watches over their team. Shoot and Scoot means harrying tactics or a controlled retreat. Most of the other ones are specific to my job or refer to things that don't exist here."

"Like what?" Connie asked.

"Medevac refers to having a helicopter come to your location and extract the wounded. And before you ask, a helicopter is a flying machine," James explained.

"That sounds like fun. Who doesn't like to fly," Barbara grinned, "But I do like the idea of shoot and scoot." To which the women chuckled.

"To scoot means to evacuate one's bowels," Rocko explained. "At least in our world."

James grinned and looked over at Rocko, "So long as you don't leave a trail, all is good."

James moved down the tunnel to the chamber with the two-level. He told the women that he would see if he could get a better vantage point to look at the Goblin Shaman and the goblins on top. He wasn't overly concerned, as he had fought a Shaman before, but he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. The Party had agreed on a course of action, and it was just a matter of implementing it. James hoped it worked out.

Moving as close as he dared, James used Shadow Meld and disappeared deeper into the darkness. Next, he used Shadow Sense and moved his perception to the cave's ceiling. This gave him the vantage point he needed to see where everything was and confirm the information they already had. Since there was nothing new to be added, James tried something new. It was something he wanted to practice before but never had the chance. He used Shadow Step from where he was in the tunnel to the tunnel's entrance at the top level, using his vantage point at the ceiling as a conduit. The power said it would allow him to step anywhere he could see, so this should work.

A moment of disorientation passed quickly, but James still saw things from the vantage point in the ceiling. He didn't know if Shadow Stepped had worked because his perception was still locked near the ceiling. James decided to take a chance, dropping the Shadow Sense ability. Now he found himself in the new tunnel, facing the wrong way. To turn around, he would have to drop the Shadow Meld Power.

James decided to wait until the Flash Spell went off before dropping the ability. With the bonus he was getting from Stealth, he couldn't take the chance of alerting the goblins early or of getting the attention of the Shaman before the Flash Spell neutralized him.

He had to wait too long before seeing the flash of light reflect down the tunnel. Dropping the Shadow Meld ability, he turned around and got ready to charge toward the Goblin Shaman. The plan was that Connie would blind the goblins on the lower level, which would draw the goblins' attention on the upper level her way. Then quickly cast the Flash Spell again in front of them so that James could charge them from behind.

Waiting with his eyes averted, he lined up his attack with the rapier at the back of the Shaman. The second flash came after a few seconds, and James charged out of the tunnel. It only took him a few seconds to arrive behind the Shaman and deliver a critical strike to its back. The blade went right through the goblin's body and out of its chest. The Shaman collapsed to the ground, causing James to fall with it. James straddled the Shaman, getting to his knees quickly, his rapier still stuck in the Shaman's back. James lifted his shield, held it with both hands, and delivered a crushing blow to the goblin's skull with its rim.

James caught a flicker of motion to his right and rolled off the Shaman. One of the Goblin Crossbowmen had taken a blind shot at James. As a crossbow bolt struck him, a sharp stabbing pain blossomed in his hip. Stifling a scream, he got to his feet and turned to see the two goblins with crossbows. The one who had fired was reloading, and the other was waving his crossbow around, looking for a target to shoot.

Shifting back to the Shaman, James retrieved his Glrick Sword and brought up the shield. The second goblin finally took a shot, and James was glad that it went wide. As James quietly approached, the first goblin reloading backed up and barked something at his companion. His companion dropped the crossbow and pulled out a long dagger.

By this point, James could tell that the Blindness effect had expired as the goblin grinned at James as they stalked toward each other. The damage from the crossbow bolt hurt more than he cared to admit, causing him to limp. James decided to launch a PSI Bolt at the goblin stalking toward him.

The goblin at the back finished reloading and raised its crossbow. James stepped to the side and raised his shield in response. It was the second time that day that a crossbow bolt pierced his shield and hit his armour. This time, the bolt pierced his forearm; that hurt like a son of a bitch. The goblin with the dagger took advantage of James' distraction to step into James' reach and stab at his groin. Fortunately, the scale armour was longer in the front than the sides, and the goblin's blade scraped across the scales.

James used the crossguard of his rapier to punch the goblin in the face. As the goblin staggered backwards, James fired off another PSI Bolt and then Thurst his rapier into its torso. The creature fell to the floor in a bloody heap.

The last goblin was not so quick to abandon its crossbow as he had already loaded another bolt and was raising it to its shoulder. James fainted to the right and then dodged to the left. It worked as the bolt went wide and missed him. The goblin's eyes went wide when he realized he had missed and turned to run out of the chamber. Unfortunately for the goblin, James had more speed and caught up to the cowardly creature. James tripped its feet and brought his sword down a couple of times on its neck.

The fight was far from over as James rushed to the edge to give aid to his Party.