“So, I obviously didn’t have the time to ask in the midst of everything, but why exactly are we all pretending that woman isn’t the dragon?” asked Millicent.

“She’s WHAT!?” asked Zevrack, his tail twitching wildly like a startled cat. He started moving rapidly toward the treeline towards her. “We need to save her!”

I bounded after him and grabbed him by the tail, only just barely managing to stop him. “Wait Zev. Think about it. Those goblins had to be some kind of illusion of hers, and even if they weren't, how would a dragon be in danger from just twenty goblins? Hell, how could she be in any danger from a thousand of them?”

Zev paused, and his eyes went blank. “I did not receive any notifications for the ones I killed,” he said, his tone much more even now that he had a problem to occupy his thoughts. He cocked his head. “Why is she doing this?”

“My working theory is because she thinks it’s fun.”

“And why are we doing this?” asked Nica.

“Because she is having fun and liking us is a great place to start off negotiations,” said Tristus, beating me to it. “It’s not too different from some of the stranger rituals certain other countries put diplomats through.” He smiled and looked off in the distance for a moment. “Once when I was a part of a delegation to some Cervi, I was forced to participate in a ritualistic wrestling tournament with their stags alongside my almost seventy-five year old senior negotiator. He managed to take down his opponent with grit and vigor. I wound up pinned within moments.” He let out a dreamy sigh. “I let him pin me a few times after that. It was one of the better times I’ve had negotiating.”

“Do you have any anecdotes that don’t end in me having to hear something new about your sex life?” asked Tib with an expression that could wilt flowers.

Tristus put a finger to his chin for a few moments, seemingly thinking hard. “You know, I don’t think I do. At least, I don’t have any anecdotes worth telling that don’t end that way.”

Tiberius sighed and rubbed his temples.

A small smile creeped across Tristus’ face as a thought seemed to jolt his expression. “When we rescue the dragon masquerading as a princess, you don’t suppose she’ll want to-”

“Stop,” said Tib, holding up a single finger in front of his cousin’s face. “I know what you were about to say, and I don’t need to hear it.”

“Cousin, I’m simply thinking of the best ways to pursue negotiations,” said Tristus with a wide eyed look of innocence. “I have to be willing to sacrifice even my body for the good of Heracleum.”

Tib looked at him, stared for a few moments, then simply walked away. Nica went over to him and began rubbing his back in an attempt to soothe him.

Tristus looked at the rest of us. “Surely he doesn’t think my motives are impure?” he asked in mock outrage.

“Oh, I’m fairly certain your motives are as pure as is possible,” answered Patience.

I walked over to the edge of the treeline. “Well, at this point we’re committed to seeing this charade through I suppose.”

“Could we not simply change tactics and approach her directly?” asked Millicent.

I shook my head. “I think that interrupting her fun halfway through may actually be the worst option.”

“How are you so certain that this is the path to take?” asked Nica.

“Well, it’s just the way that I think best reflects my experiences with incredibly powerful beings so far.”

“Is the god you serve also prone to whimsy?” asked Millicent.

“Well, when we first met he forced me to go through a job interview during which he made me incapable of lying and when it was over he shoved me into a desk. Then after I earned him his first choice he immediately used it to bring dragons here, I’m fairly certain just because he thought it would be fun. The last time he spoke to me he summoned me naked into a conference room full of copies of himself so that I could inform him of my plan.”

“So…yes then,” said Millicent.

I nodded. “I’m not sure that they’re all like this, I hope not anyway, but based on what I’ve been through I think this is the best way to go.”

Patience shrugged. “Good enough for me. I’d certainly rather deal with a dragon this way then the way with the fire and the teeth, and the screaming.”

“So, I guess we all just press forward and hope that once we finish the charade she’ll be amenable to us. Though, obviously, if she tries to keep this going for too long it may get to a point that we need to cut things short.”

With that I stepped into the trees and started following the trail left by the faux goblins, which very obviously showed that eventually they let Ran go, and she simply walked in the middle of them. We walked through a small forest of rainbow colored trees and grasses until we reached a wide open field. In the field were maybe a hundred goblins, both the small variants we’d encountered just a short time ago and some larger variants I’d never seen before. In the middle of them was a stone tower atop which Ran was tied to a wooden beam, her clothes seemingly torn in a way that would provide the most dramatic and eye-catching effect to anyone looking. In front of the tower stood a massive minotaur wielding a spiked metal club. This was about what I’d been expecting, but I found it more than a little uncanny as the goblins, minotaur, and even Ran herself were standing completely still in neat orderly rows.

I exchanged glances with the rest of the party, and stepped into the field. When she saw us, Ran let out an ear-piercing scream, and the small monster horde began to move, which I found oddly comforting despite the fact that they were moving toward us.

Zevrack took to the sky immediately this time, and let out a burst of flame from his maw, scorching a line directly through the center of the goblins. There were screams, but the goblins closed rank quickly, and began their charge again.

Nica began to loose arrows, downing several goblins in a row. At one point I watched her arrow fly through more than four of them. Whether that was pure skill or Martial Power, I couldn’t tell, but I was damned impressed either way.

Millicent carved a jagged scar in the earth in front of us, and summoned spikes in it to halt their advance. A half dozen goblins skewered themselves in their mindless charge, though I noted that this time they maintained their form, and the horde was not endless as it had been when we’d been attacked earlier.

Tib and I took point. I sent out a third of a fireball to clear some space, then Tiberius leapt into the hole that I’d just created and started cleaving through goblins with his sword. I jumped over Millicent’s ditch and landed next to him. I made a few slashes with my sword, and dodged around a few goblin knives with flash-step, but when I heard Zevrack approaching again I rapidfire cast grease across all the goblin’s on my right side, and when Zevrack passed over them with his flame breath, that entire flank melted into a green sea of screams.

As Tib and I pushed further afield, Patience took on the role of keeping the goblins off of Millicent and Tristus, who had climbed a tree and was focused on kicking down any goblins that attempted to scale it. She was weaving and leaping through all of them, her daggers slicing through faces and throats before she seemingly disappeared from field of view and reappeared to attack before the goblins could overwhelm Millicent, who was able to focus on casting more devastating spells into their center line.

In spite of the strong opening of the party, I soon found myself overwhelmed and separated from everyone else. I dodged several attacks, kicked one goblin into the others, and made a wide sweep with my sword, but suddenly felt a deep pain in my leg. I looked down to see a goblin sinking its teeth deep into my calf. The moment I looked down, the rest of the goblins leapt for me. I activated both Adrenaline and Focus simultaneously and every one of the goblins came into a crystal clear focus. With my increased strength and speed, I unleashed a series of jabs with my left hand, striking more than four of them before they could reach me. I then kicked the one that was biting my leg off and into another of them. From there I began firing very reduced fireballs, and stone tosses to blind enemies, or knock their legs out from under them, while at the same time carving a path through with my sword.

I soon managed to reach the stone tower at the center of it all. Ran was still yelling dramatically while posed against the pole she’d been tied to, and the rest of my party was about half a field away from me, though they were closing the gap quickly. The only major problem left was the minotaur who was walking at a deliberate pace toward me, his club at the ready. Unfortunately, with my friends far away and my mana low, that’s when I ran out of stamina.