Robin rubbed his forehead as several voices clashed in disagreement around him. He and Vance were back at base, and, having recounted their discoveries to the others, now had to face the debate about what to do about them.

He took a sip of his drink, cooling it with [Legerdemain]. It was not a question that was going to be settled any time soon.

I still do not understand why you cannot give us a more precise estimate of their numbers.

‘We don’t all sense our surroundings the way you do now,’ Robin answered drily, with a bit of warning on the end of the sentence. ‘We have to use our eyes to determine such things. And there were at least three hundred hobgoblins in that encampment.’

‘He is correct,’ Savra confirmed. ‘I cannot tell precisely how many, as my senses are still confused. More confused when directed near the hobgoblins, actually.’ She paused, thoughtful. ‘Perhaps they are somehow responsible for the confusion I sense. Though that seems unlikely.’

‘Maybe they have something that defies divination and there is something about the city itself that frustrates that art,’ Vance suggested. ‘It does not have to be simply one or the other. It could be both.’

The librarian was sat next to Robin, likewise savouring a cool drink. Robin made sure to keep it that way. He owed the man that much at least after the day they’d both had.

Well, three hundred would certainly be an excellent start toward expanding our influence in this area.

‘You’ll get fat,’ Robin murmured in English.

The building around them shook slightly in displeasure.

‘Robin?’ Jhess said sweetly.

‘Yes?’

‘Don’t antagonise the dungeon.’

‘Yes ma’am.’ Robin smiled sardonically and fired her a mock salute.

‘What I want to know is if there are other encampments like this throughout this section of the city,’ Drev said, a troubled look on his face. ‘From your description it sounds like this is very much a war camp, but they’re not enough to hold more than a few neighbourhoods of this palace. There’s plenty of room for others.’

‘Savra?’ Robin looked to the seeress hopefully.

She shook her head.

Robin sighed. He really wanted to take more pleasure in her frustration, but it was as much a problem for him as it was for her, and that just took all the fun out of things.

I suppose we shall just have to do this the hard way. We need more information. It is imperative. Our success depends on it. Fortunately, we have an ideal solution at hand.

‘What?’ Jhess asked, wariness as clear on her face as a fresh-painted bullseye.

We send in our spy.

Robin didn’t like where this was going.

‘I presume you mean me?’

Of course. You have the requisite skills. You are equipped both to infiltrate and to understand the native language in question. You can generate illusions to hide yourself in as you eavesdrop. In fact, I’m not sure why you did not simply remain behind to gather information from the start. It would be much more efficient.

‘I’m rather attached to my hide,’ Robin said, ‘and this plan seems like it had too high a chance of separating me from it.’

‘Oh come on,’ Jhess said. ‘You live for this kind of stuff. Playing with disguises, acting like a master spy, living by your wits. You can’t hide any of that from us. We know you too well.’

‘You do.’ Robin glared at her flatly.

Yes. We do.

Robin bit back a retort. As irritated as he was about being gently bullied into this, they did have a point. And Ruprecht knew far more about him than any of the others. Knew about Earth.

And a dungeon was not an enemy you really wanted to cultivate. Particularly one that was currently providing you with rations, shelter, and defences.

‘It might also give you the chance to get your hands on one of those mage collars without blowing it up,’ Drev added.

Jhess laughed. Vance grinned. Robin glared.

‘Is that supposed to be funny?’ the bard asked the mage.

Drev coloured.

‘No,’ he said, ‘I mean, no. Definitely not. I just meant—‘

‘I know,’ Robin sighed, ‘and you’re right. I should probably be the one to do this.’

He sent a thread of will through the [Mask of Disguise] resting invisibly on his face. In place of his usual bardic self a battle-scarred hobgoblin scout sat. Robin pointedly raised his drink and took a noisy slurp.

‘Happy?’

‘Definitely an improvement in the looks department,’ Jhess quipped.

Robin shifted to make himself look like a hobgoblin version of the rogue. The smile promptly dropped off her face. A knife appeared in her hand a moment later.

Robin quickly shifted his appearance again, this time to that of the first hobgoblin mage he’d faced.

No, Ruprecht said instantly. That is not a wise idea. Too many people of power might recognise you. It certainly would not do you any favours in terms of staying unnoticed. Mages tend to draw attention.

‘Not all of us,’ Drev said.

‘You’re the son of a crime lord! And twice as handsome as you have any right to be,’ Robin said. ‘You’re hardly one to talk.’

Drev coloured again and hid behind taking a swig from his own drink.

‘Do not attempt to distract us,’ Savra said. ‘We were discussing your infiltration attempt.’

‘We’re really doing this?’ Robin looked around at the party, ‘You’re going to micromanage my infiltration? Tell me how that is a good idea? The only one of you who would have anything reasonable to say on the matter is Jhess, and even then her methods aren’t close enough to mine for her to have any really useful advice.’ Robin noticed Jhess still had her knife in her hand. ‘No offence.’

‘I’m not sure if I’ll be taking any or not,’ the rogue said. ‘We’ll see how the rest of this conversation goes.’

‘We’re happy to leave the details to you,’ Vance said. ‘We trust you. But I do believe that this is the best course of action at the moment. It’s in the best interests of yourself as well as the party to agree.’

Oddly enough, Robin thought he librarian meant that. And even odder, the bard was inclined to agree. He did feel like he was slowly slotting into a place where he could trust these people.

To a point. A bard’s gotta have some secrets, after all. And what your friends don’t know they can’t have tortured out of them.

Robin resumed wearing his own face.

‘Fair enough. I think this level of risk does call for an increased level of reward, though.’

‘What do you want?’ Jhess leapt on the suggestion immediately.

The rogue always was quite protective of the treasure division.

‘Any illusion artefacts, knowledge sources, or magical items that we discover, anywhere in or related to Tarin-Tiran are not tallied up with the regular treasure and are offered to me. If I want it, it’s mine. If I don’t, then it can pass into the treasure pool as normal.

That’s stupid, Rerebos piped up into his mind from wherever the little dragon was hiding. Why surrender any shinies at all?

Because friends are the shiniest of shinies, Robin thought back at him. And you the shiniest of those.

Robin felt his familiar preen beneath the compliment.

‘That seems like a lot,’ Jhess said.

‘Just give it to him,’ Drev said. ‘This way he won’t try to sneak it from us on the sly, or hold back on any of the potential treasure hoard locations he’s researched.’

‘Traitor,’ Robin said to Vance.

‘Don’t look at me,’ the librarian said. ‘I didn’t say a word.’

‘You’re a little bit obvious,’ Drev said. ‘And it’s not hard to figure out your main areas of interest. Given, well, everything we’ve been through together.’

‘Wow,’ Robin said. ‘Way to weaponise our friendship.’

‘I still think it’s a lot,’ Jhess said. ‘After all, how dangerous can it really be?’

She was going to fight him every step of the way on this. Fine. Robin was ready for this battle. This was not a line he was going to budge on.

Might as well make the risks crystal clear. Maybe make it a bit of a performance. If he played his cards right, the others would join together and outvote Jhess.

‘What do i do if I’m discovered?’ Robin asked. ‘There are battle-priests there as well as mages. How do I prioritise targets? I certainly can’t live amongst them for an extended period. I’ll be able to fool them for awhile, and I’ll have mind reading spells for a bit of my reconnaissance, but my magical energies do have limits. What’s the line? When do I call enough enough?’

I do not know the answers to any of those questions, Robin, but I do know one thing.

‘Oh? What’s that?’ Robin’s heart sank. He had a feeling he already knew what Ruprecht was going to say.

You are going to find out for us.