‘So that’s where we are,’ Robin concluded, ‘we’ve got a few hundred hobgoblins soon to be bearing down on this general vicinity, bent on rooting out whatever has been killing their patrols and making this their new base camp.’

The bard looked around the room that had basically become Ruprecht’s de facto core chamber. They had all gathered to hear his report after he’d returned, solemn and shaking, form his reconnaissance. Now, they all shared his look.

Well, hopefully he didn’t look quite that shell-shocked.

‘Suggestions?’ he asked. Might as well try to focus things in a positive direction.

Silence answered him.

Well, silence and Rerebos.

Kill them all and take their shinies!

That’s the plan, he answered cheerfully, as soon as we can figure out exactly how to do that.

Ah.

Then there was silence.

‘Ruprecht can’t be uprooted again so soon,’ Robin said, laying out the facts. Facts were good. You could work from facts. Any time something was known it removed a bunch of possibility, and it was often very hard to see through an endless haze of possibility.

‘And there are three hundred or so hobgoblins coming to this area,’ Savra said slowly.

Robin glanced to the jewel floating atop the nearby pillar. Ruprecht was strangely silent. Although given that he may be staring down the barrel of his own mortality—at least the destruction of this version of himself—Robin could see how it might be difficult to muster any kind of quippy observation.

Or maybe the dungeon was just pondering a masterful plan to wow them all with.

They will almost certainly shatter me.

Or maybe not.

Robin had never heard the dungeon sound so dejected. So morose. So—human.

‘Not if we end ‘em first!’ Jhess said suddenly. ‘Come on, think! isn;’t this basically what we wanted? An all you can eat buffet for Rupee here? So what if it’s delivering itself a bit ahead of schedule. We just need to find a way to chop it into small enough pieces to stuff down his gullet.’ Jhess jerked her thumb toward Ruprecht’s gem.

‘That is one way of looking at it,’ Vance said.

Robin shot the librarian a look. Vance looked far too pleased with Jhess’s suggestion. Far too pleased.

‘I appreciate the sentiment, of course, and applaud the initiative,’ Drev said coolly, ‘but I for one would appreciate a bit more how to go with this what, thank you.’

‘That’s for you all to figure out.’ Jhess shrugged. ‘I’m the brawn. Most of you claim to be the brains of the outfit. So use ‘em.’

‘We’d need a way to slow them down and separate them,’ Robin said, ‘something they’re caught up in before they realise it, so there’s not enough time to abort whatever attack is coming.’ He sighed. ‘And it will have to be more than simple illusion. The priest that tipped them off, Gis, knows me. Knows a lot of the tricks illusion can pull off. And how to counter them.’

‘The faithful of Urkhan are relentless,’ Savra said, ‘though also usually lacking in imagination. It comes with the territory of being so bound to their petty hierarchies.’

‘Might be something we can use there,’ Vance said. ‘You said there wasn’t a clear chain of command? maybe we can get conflicting orders into the mix, gum things up that way?’

‘Or use the orders to direct groups of them where we want, when we want them.’ Drev looked thoughtful. ‘And we know Robin can forge them easily enough.’

‘The mages,’ Savra said suddenly.

Everyone turned to her.

‘That’s all I can see,’ she said, hands clenching at her sides as she stared off into the distance. ‘This accursed city! I can see that the mages present some sort of opportunity—a dangerous one—but I cannot see beyond that. It is too clouded.’

‘They’re certainly an exploited underclass with a unique power all their own,’ Robin said slowly. ‘If we could somehow convince them to rebel…’

A key materialised on the ground near Robin;s feet. He bent and picked it up. It was ornate and looked to be centuries old. It was worn shiny and smooth in a few places, as if from the movement of hundreds of pairs of hands over the years.

This is the best approximation of the key that controls the mage collars I can manage at present. It won’t do anything, unfortunately, but it will at least read as the right kind of magic, should it be investigated. You would have to be very persuasive, I think, however.

‘No lie,’ Robin said. He passed the key to Savra. ‘Can you see anything else when you hold this?’

She accepted the key sand frowned, turning it over and over in her hands.

‘I see nothing else,’ she said at last, ‘but that does not necessarily mean anything, in this place.’

‘Anything else it might be?’ Drev asked. ‘What else do we know about the mages?’

I have come up with a way to possibly neutralise them. Ruprecht sounded less than thrilled about the innovation, however. It is reckless beyond belief, and not something we can control the outcome of, but it would almost certain cause utter chaos amongst the ranks of the enemy.

‘I like the sound of that!’ Jhess smiled evilly. ‘Do tell!’

There was a sigh like the sound of wind through the eaves before the dungeon spoke again.

I have taken a great deal of time to study the function of the enchantments upon the wands, and have even experimented a bit with trying to alter it, to turn the device into something we one or all of us might benefit from. I did not succeed in that.

‘But you found something else,’ Robin guessed.

Yes. I believe I can produce wands that have somewhat the opposite of their intended effect.

‘I’m not sure I follow,’ Savra said with a frown.

‘They make the wielders magic more likely to go wild?’ Vance guessed.

Drev went white as a sheet at the words.

‘That much wild magic…no! There’s no way we should risk that.’ The mage was clearly agitated.

‘I dunno,’ Robin said. He held up a hand to stop the inevitable objection. ‘Hear me out. Yes, there’s a chance the magic might be as bad for us if not worse than it is for the enemy, or that it might even aid them in some unexpected fashion, but there are a lot more of them than there are of us. If we don’t have any other, better options in place, it might be worth trying to force some kind of wild magic surge amongst them. It could cause a lot of chaos in their ranks, and with the odds we are facing, that would not be a bad thing.’

‘It is an impossible thing to predict,’ Savra was shaking her head. ‘I am inclined to agree with Drev. We should not risk it.’

‘It’s a moot point if Ruprecht dec ides he does not wish to produce any of these wildly accursed wands he’s described, Vance said, but I agree with Robin that we should have them in reserve as an option of last resort. The odds are currently too stacked against us. This might even those odds or even tilt them in our favour. The wild magic seems to almost have a specific dislike of the hobgoblins.’

It made sense, if it was the result of an ancient curse placed on their ancestors for destroying the city.

Ruprecht said nothing. The party all looked to Jhess. The rogue blinked.

‘What are you all looking at me for?’

‘You need to vote,’ Robin said. ‘Ruprecht clearly is waiting to hear form everyone before he weighs in, so you need to vote. Wild magic ace in the hole, or no?’

Jhess looked back and forth between all the faces looking expectantly at her before shrugging.

‘I say we do it.’

‘What?’ Drev looked aghast. ‘It might be suicide!’

‘Hundreds of hobgoblins bearing down on us when we can’t retreat without leaving one of our own behind is just as suicidal,’ Jhess said bluntly, ‘and none of us are leaving Ruprecht, so what’s the difference? At least with the trapped wands we have a chance of taking the bastards with us. Works for me.’ The rogue crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall.

There was a sudden clatter as several wands materialised on top of one another in the midst of the party. There was also the ringing clink of a small pouch of gold appearing behind Jhess’s heel. Robin spotted it, barely, and repressed a smile.

There. I would prefer we not have to risk that avenue, however, so can we please get to work designing the most efficient and effective death trap we can in the time remaining to us. I have sufficient stored energies to make substantial refinements to the local area. I think some of you recall how effective I can be with trap doors and nested tunnels.

No lie there.

‘How much area do we have to work with?’ Robin asked, conjuring a replica of the nearby area with [Visual Phantasm].

I just expanded my sphere of influence. Given that it seems unlikely I will be able to assimilate the locking mechanism before the enemy arrives, it seemed more prudent to have greater control of more area. You are sure the priest does not know of my existence?

‘As sure as I can be,’ Robin replied. ‘He didn’t bring it up during the strategy meeting, and I would have expected that to be something he’d mention as a possible impediment.’

‘The faithful of Urkhan have limited skills in terms of divination,’ Savra said dismissively. ‘Mostly they rely on demonic forces for aid, and not only are those untrustworthy at best, often the information provided is just bad.’

Robin grinned at the professional pride—and professional judgement—in Savra’s tone.

‘At least there’s that,’ Drev said. The mage shook his head. ‘Well, let us get to work then! The more we can do to ensure that those—‘ he glanced at the pile of wands like it was a nest of snakes, ‘—see no use, the better.’

‘When they come, they are likely to come as a unified armed force,’ Robin said. ‘It won’t be easy to split them up.’

I have some ideas on that front.

Robin broke out drinks and chilled them as the party got down to the serious business of trying to outsmart an invading force that outnumbered them by a factor of fifty or more.

How hard could it be?