That’s Gis and his party!

Robin conjured the words with [Visual Phantasm]. His mind immediately began to race. There was the opportunity for an ambush here, for some trickery. Every option that came to mind was a gamble, however.

The tunnel forked here. It would be easy to redirect Gis down one or the other pathways with a simple illusion, provided they were not moving carefully. But should they send Gis and company down the longer route and risk the short cut, or take the safe path themselves and send Gis into Silinir’s territory, hoping the priest will be destroyed or delayed by what might be found there?

Robin wished he knew what kind of map the priest was using. That would make the decision easier. But he didn’t and there was no time to dwell.

Retreat toward Silinir’s territory. We need speed. I’ll delay with illusion and catch up. Jhess be careful scouting!

The party nodded and slipped away as Robin whirled to carefully examine the floor, ceiling, and walls around this juncture so he could match them seamlessly with the illusion blocking their path.

Behind him, the sound of his friends faded into the darkness. Ahead of him, the sounds of Gis advancing slowly grew. Robin quickly stepped back into the tunnel on silent feet and conjured what he hoped would be a seamless illusion to block the way.

Thankfully the air down here was still, no whisper of movement that might give things away. Robin moved to the tunnel’s wall and pressed his back to it, so he’d have partial cover from the approaching party and so he could—through his own illusion—see down the tunnel he hoped to effortlessly guide Gis down.

All too soon someone broke his field of vision. Robin stiffened and clamped down on the urge to gasp in alarm. It was the last of the hobgoblin scouts, looking very much worse for wear.

The brute paused and sniffed, but then shook his head and plodded dully on. He was clearly exhausted. Good for Robin! Exhausted people make mistakes.

Maybe a whisper of breath escaped his lips, or maybe Gis’s status as Disciple had enhanced his senses, but as the High Priest passed the illusory wall behind which Robin hid, he paused, eyes narrowing.

‘Sir?’ One of the two brutes in armour asked. ‘Do you hear something?’

Robin froze, breath caught in the clutch of his lungs. He didn’t move. He didn’t dare so much as turn his head. His eyes were fixed fast to the face of Gis.

Fortunately the evil old man kept his eyepatch in place. The snake that lived in his skull was safely hidden away. It’s heightened senses would not be brought into play.

At least they hadn’t been yet. And there was no way that Robin was going to simply stand here and wait for the worst to happen.

Time for a distraction.

Robin flexed his fingers silently though the motions of [Lesser Phantasm] and conjured the soft sound of a falling stone as far down the tunnel as he could.

Gis’s head whipped around as the scout called out in response to the sound. The whole party went on high alert, but their attention was focused ahead, no to the sides, and they swiftly moved off down the tunnel.

Robin let out a long slow breath, mentally renewing the illusion so it would last as long as possible after he left. Hopefully Gis and company were long gone by then and had no reason to backtrack. Then he turned and made his way quickly after his friends, using his mental connection with Rerebos to guise him and assure himself that everything was fine with them so far.

Now they just needed to get through the shortcut intact and find the room and crown before Gis could catch up to them.

***

Robin panted. If he never saw another tentacle it would be too soon! Thankfully, Jhess had spotted the formation in the cave floor and this time they took extra care in traversing the ropes they strung across the cavern, making it through without incident.

There hadn’t been any other major encounters in Silinir’s territory. Robin wanted to call it good luck, but his recent experiences told him it was just the Scales of Fate balancing in advance of some seriously bad luck.

‘It’s got to be around here somewhere,’ vance said, almost growling in frustration.

Robin had led them to the section of ruins marked by Nilsiir’s map. These were in as good repair as the last section. That alone wasn’t enough to raise suspicion, but it did indicate they were in the right spot. There was no way Melusk’s hiding place would have crumbled away.

‘Try here,’ Jhess said, squinting at a section of stone. ‘I’m not sure, but I think the colour is slightly different.’

Vance grunted and threw his enhanced strength against the wall once more. This time it moved!

‘Let me check for traps,’ Jhess said, ducking inside. ‘There weren’t any last time, but better safe than sorry.’

Robin almost bounced with nerves. They’d bought themselves some time but Gis and his party could show up at any minute and the last thing they wanted was to be caught in a dead end when that happened.

‘Hu—‘ he began.

‘Don’t tell me to hurry up!’ Jhess called over her shoulder. ‘Dead is slower, I promise.’

So he waited with the rest of the party as Jhess did her thing. The rogue found a poison needle trap and two tripwires attached to acid sprays but nothing else. Drev confirmed there were no magical traps he could detect.

Inside Melusk’s second hiding space was a small chamber almost identical to the last one. There was a desk and small bookcase, several chests, a small bed, and little else. The main difference was this room had painting hung all across the walls. Not murals. Paintings.

‘These have to be magic,’ Drev said. ‘They should have cracked and aged beyond all recognition by now, but they’re as fresh as the day they were painted. Yet I cannot sense any magic in any of them.’

‘There are spells that conceal magic,’ Robin said. ‘Maybe the frames are enchanted with those somehow? Both to preserve and hide the magic? No use creating a little hidey-hole like this if the magical signature gives it away.’

‘Look at this one,’ Jhess called softly. ‘The ego on this asshole.’

Robin moved to look at the painting Jhess was pointing to. It was a portrait of Melusk; he recognised the man from the illusory scenes they had encountered earlier. He stood in a richly detailed hall—the architecture matched that of Tarin-Tiran, actually. He wore ermine and scarlet and there was a distinct crown upon his head. It was a brutalist, ugly thing, and it matched the description of the crown and the sketches Robin had found in the man’s journals.

‘Subtle he was not,’ Robin said. ‘Like so many of Urkhan’s little pests.’

‘We could have company at any moment,’ Dre4v reminded them. ‘Let us see if we can find the crown and get out of here before that happens, shall we?’

‘Indeed,’ Vance said. ‘Shall we turn our senses to seeing what magic might be present, yet hidden?’

‘I’m going to check the chests,’ the rogue said. ‘He might have thought the place hidden enough not to need to hide the crown as well.’

‘I’ll check behind the paintings for hidden caches,’ Robin said. Too many stories form his old world, where safes were hidden behind paintings.

‘Now you’re thinking like a proper rogue,’ Jhess said approvingly. ‘I’d not heard of that one, but good thought.’

Robin began moving the paintings as the rest of his party began searching the room, with means both magical and mundane. He found nothing but blank stone walls. Savra’s divinations turned up nothing. Jhess managed to disarm the traps on the chests but again all they found was bits of silver and gold with the occasional jewel thrown in for variety.

There was no sign of the crown.

‘I don’t understand it. Something like that should be radiating a powerful magical signature,’ Drev said in frustration. ‘But I sense nothing of the kind. Maybe it’s not here.’

‘Or maybe it’s right in front of our noses,’ Robin said. ‘Think about it. We know the painting are magical, but they don’t read as magic. Maybe the enchantment isn’t there to hide how magical they are, but to hide the aura of the crown? Or both. But the point is, maybe it’s—‘ Memories of moving paintings and stories of jumping into chalk murals and other works of art surfaced in his mind.

Robin reached out to gently probe the painting of Melusk in the crown gently with one finger.

‘Maybe it’s somehow in the painting?’

The canvas was strangely cool beneath his touch, but nothing immediately happened.

‘Melusk would certainly have access to the funds needed for such a thing,’ Vance said thoughtfully.

‘Too bad we can’t trust Nilsiir enough to just summon them and have them do that reality warping thing they do. That might make the crown pop right out.’ Jhess sighed.

‘There’s a reason Nilsiir didn’t ask us to do that,’ Robin said. ‘We need to deal with the crown first. I’m willing to bet there’s some danger to Nilsiir that the crown represents. Not that we’re likely to ever know what it is. The secrets that priest keeps…’ Robin shook his head.

‘If it is in the painting, and that is a large if,’ Savra said, ‘how do we get it out?’

‘Vance, check the desk for anything that looks like a command word. You read more quickly than I do. Let me know if you encounter any temple tongue.’ Robin kept staring at the painting.

‘Most magical items do have an activation word or sigil of some kind,’ Drev agreed. ‘Perhaps there is a clue to it concealed in the frame?’

‘What would happen if we just cut the crown bit free form the rest of the painting?’ Jhess asked, dagger in hand. ‘Seems like that might work.’

‘It also might cause the dimensional space the crown is in to be lost on another plane, or the loosing of such energies might destroy us—possibly even suck us into whatever space the crown is held in.’

‘Evil magical crown lost in another world? Doesn’t sound too bad to me.’ Jhess shrugged.

‘Let’s call that Plan B,’ Robin said. ‘I’d rather not risk any of the other possibilities Drev mentioned if we can help it.’

‘Fine,’ Jhess said. ‘I’ll help Riri keep watch then. Call me if you find something physical to disarms or unlock.’

Robin and Drev nodded, most of their attention still on the painting. Drev began cycling through common magical activation phrases for magical items, though it was clearly a long shot.

The painting was smooth and cool beneath Robin;’s fingers, but though he carefully searched it with all of his senses he found no hidden message nor runes, no switch triggers or other clues. The bit of the painting that replicated the crown felt noticeably colder than any other part, so they had to be right that the crown was in here, but how to get it out?

Then a flare of alarm blasted across his mind. Rerebos had spotted something!

‘Shit,’ Jhess cursed, ducking back into the room. ‘We’ve got company. Any luck with that crown?’

‘Not yet,’ Drev said.

‘Then grab the painting and let’s go! We can figure out how to get the ugly jewelry out of it later, when we’re not about to have an angry Disciple up our collective ass.’ Jhess practically vibrated with nerves.

Robin grabbed the painting.

‘It’s stuck to the wall! It won’t come off.’ The bard cursed.

‘Leave it then!’

‘I’m not leaving it,’ Robin snapped back. ‘If Gis gets this then game over. he could use it to dominate the entire continent.’

‘Then we take our chances cutting the bitch out,’ the rogue said, advancing with her dagger.

‘Whatever you do, do it fast,’ Vance said. ‘I can hear them now. They’ll turn the corner any moment and see the gap in the wall.’

Robin’s mind whirled. There had to be a trick to this! Something obvious he was missing!

But what?