Gis’s laughter cut through Robin’s horror more surely than the ropes binding him cut into his wrists. It was sharper, for one thing. Though both being laughed at and being bound against his will kindled a spark of anger in Robin.

He seized that spark and fanned it into a small flame, trying to drown out the fear with fury. It sort of worked. He was still scared as frak, but he could think through his fear now, at least.

‘What do you even want?’ he screamed at the priest.

Robin wasn’t proud of his delivery, but at least he managed to take control of the situation.

‘From you? Only one thing. The location of a certain shrine. I’m sure you’ve seen it, illusionist.’ Gis’s smile was running a close second to the snake undulating in his frakking eye socket for the most disturbing thing Robin had ever seen.

‘I’ve been in a lot of new places recently, but I don’t know if any of them is definitely the shrine you’re after,’ Robin babbled. He was very nearly losing it, but it was a controlled chaos, for now, at least.

The snake flicked out its tongue and tested the air.

‘He doesss not lie,’ it said, reluctantly.

‘He has been there!’ Gis said intently. ‘I am certain of it. Our Lord directed me here to find the shrine of that forgotten troublemaker, and here is a strange traveller stinking of illusion magics? Possibly even touched by the shadow of Rhyth’s lost power? No. It’s too much to be a coincidence.’

You can smell magic? That was a new one on Robin. But then—he glanced at the snake before quickly averting his eyes—that thing seemed to be able to smell or taste lies. So who knew? Brand new world. Brand new rules.

‘Quessstion him quickly! Before my Lordsss’ grace passsesss from me.’

Ah. So it’s not an inherent talent. It is some kind of spell. Just channelled through the snake? Robin fixated on the details. Anything to keep him from thinking about his situation or how utterly fragged this whole situation was.

‘Have you been in any place within the last three days that you have reasonable cause to believe might have at one point been a shrine to the Lost God Rhyth, master of illusions and primordial power of shadows?’

‘Uhm…’ Robin stalled for time to formulate a response. That was a very specific question with looseness in all the wrong places. Frell! He was going to have to say yes. Or at least, ‘…probably?’

‘Truth,’ the snake whispered.

‘Describe the place you are thinking of.’

‘It was a small cave,’ Robin began, talking slowly as his brain scrambled for a way to control this situation. ‘There wasn’t much there, except for what might have once been a statue. It was hard to see amongst the rest of the rock.’

So far, so true, though Robin suspected the hard-to-see statue was the result of illusion rather than natural erosion. His brain throbbed with the effort of trying to split focus like this.

Proficiency Unlocked: Concentration.

Of course. Well. That might be useful if he could steal a moment to increase it. Gis was looking at him. He hurried to continue speaking before the priest got impatient.

‘I thought I was trapped there at first, until I discovered an entrance that was covered by some sort of illusion spell. It was strong. I could feel it as well as see it.’

‘He ssspeaksss true!’ The snake seemed excited.

‘Yes! Yes! This must be the place!’ Gis crowed.

Did they share moods? They shared a body, so that might be possible. Disturbing AF but possible.

‘Where is it?’ Gis demanded.

‘I…’ Robin’s jaw worked. He couldn’t say! They’d knocked him out before bringing him here. He’d need to be taken back to familiar tunnels to even have a chance. And that gave him an idea.

‘I don’t know how to get there from here,’ he said, following quickly with, ‘but I could probably find my way back from the place you captured us. Or I could try to describe it to you, if you know the area well.’ He fished for a bit of information.

‘No.’ Gis flicked his fingers. ‘You will lead us, little shadow. I don’t trust the kobolds to know tail from elbow. And the filth has rebelled against their rightful master once already.’

The snake coiled around to hiss discreetly in Gis’s ear. Robin hadn’t thought his hair could stand any more on end, but that took things to new heights.

‘Yes, good point, Gehn.’ The priest eyed Robin. ‘Tell me, did anything happen to you in this shrine that would fit the description of magical or miraculous? Then, after you have answered that question, tell me anything else strange that occurred while you were in that place.’

‘I was attacked by a swarm of creatures that lived in the stalactites above,’ Robin said, ‘and after I drove them off, the water from the shrine healed me. There were only scratches and a few cuts, but that’s definitely magical.’

That didn’t seem too much to give away. Healing magic was common here. Healing waters couldn’t be rare, right?

‘Is that why my Lord is so interested in this shrine? It holds another fragment of Rhyth’s lost power?’ the priest mused to himself.

Robin seized on that. A fragment of lost power? That sounded familiar. He thought of the changes he had been put through upon arrival to this world. And Gis had said ‘another,’ implying there were more.

Was Urkhan trying to seize the power for himself? Robin felt queasy at the thought. If that was true, it did not bode well for his odds of survival. Hardly the most comforting of insights.

Speaking of insight and other proficiencies, Gis seemed distracted. This might be Robin’s only chance to see if he could wring any other advantages out of his recent experiences.

He pulled up his character interface.

ROBIN PARKER Heritage: Shadeling, Juvenile Profession: None Tier: 0 (Progress to Tier 1: 38%) Properties

Physical Mental Social Strength: 11 Intelligence: 17 Charisma: 15 Dexterity: 14 Cunning: 18 Manipulation: 13 Fortitude: 11 Resilience: 14 Poise: 15 Proficiencies

Physical (5/9) Mental (5/9) Social (5/9) Athletics: 0 Arcane Lore: 1 ??? ??? ??? Deception: 4 ??? Concentration: 1 Empathy: 1 ??? ??? Expression: 4 ??? ??? ??? Ranged Combat: 0 Insight: 3 ??? Sleight of Hand: 1 Learning: 1 Persuasion: 1 Stealth: 1 ??? Socialise: 1 Survival: 1 Perception: 1 ??? Peculiarities Blessing of Rhyth Tongue of the Fallen Tower Mark of the Trickster

There wasn’t much he could do. He hadn’t garnered enough experience since being captured to alter any of his stats significantly. He could probably raise one of his proficiencies to 1 but nothing beyond that.

Not knowing how much longer this interrogation might go, Robin slammed a point into Concentration. The quickly-becoming-familiar feeling of weakness and then power filled his frame.

‘Where did you go, little shadow?’

Robin blinked the screen away only to find Gis’s face thrust right up in front of his. The snake could have flicked out its tongue and licked Robin’s left eyeball.

He jerked back. Gis laughed, and the snake hissed an echo of that amusement.

‘Your attention went elsewhere. I’m not used to such distractions when I’m interrogating someone. You seemed to be reading something in the air. What did you see?’

Gis’s eyes glittered in the sanguine light. Robin’s heart hammered in his chest. The priest had noticed him checking his status screen! Then something else occurred to him.

Yes, Gis had noticed, but he hadn’t seemed to recognise the action. If a character interface like Robin’s was common in this world, surely a person of Gis’s station would be familiar with it.

‘What visions are you seeing? You cannot trust them, you know. Rhyth was driven out and destroyed for a very good reason. Illusions.’ Gis spat. ‘Trickery. Lies. You cannot trust what you see, little shadow.’

Robin needed a plausible lie and fast. Deception, don’t fail now!

‘It’s just—’ He swallowed for dramatic effect, ‘I don’t know what I’m seeing, not really. Sometimes I see shadows,’—shadows being a completely acceptable Shakespearean turn of phrase for illusions—‘and they move in ways I don’t understand.’ He certainly didn’t understand his interface or how the numbers ‘moved’ up. ‘I wish I understood, I really do, but I don’t, so I can’t tell you exactly what you want to know.’

The snake flicked its tongue out. There was a long pause, and Robin’s heart nearly stuttered out of his chest.

‘Truth,’ the snake said finally, but it didn’t look happy about it. ‘Thisss one is near the breaking point. We will get nothing more of ussse out of him.’

‘That’s quite alright, Gehn. We have what we need. Soon our little shadow here will lead us to the shrine and we can dispense with this tedious pilgrimage beneath the ground.’

The priest rose. The snake withdrew back into his eye socket, and Gis affixed his eyepatch once more in place. Then he called for the kobolds, and Robin was returned to the main cavern and the rest of the party.

They waited just long enough for the kobolds to depart before interrogating him in low tones.

‘Anything useful?’ Lantha asked.

‘Did you manage to draw any blood?’ Ora-Jean demanded.

‘Never mind that, just tell us what happened.’ Grathilde was trussed up behind him, but she slammed her shoulder into his back imperiously.

‘I saw what was behind his eyepatch.’ Robin shuddered.

‘What was it?’ The dwarf asked in horrified fascination.

‘You do not want to know,’ Lantha said firmly.

‘But—’

‘You really don’t,’ Robin said. Then, to cut off further conversation, ‘I have a plan.’

That quieted even Grathilde. He explained his intent to the rest of the party, making use of [Lesser Phantasm] when possible to make sure they were not overheard. Naturally, there was some skepticism expressed.

‘Do you have a better idea?’ Robin asked. ‘Lay it on me and I will happily cede the floor. But,’ he stressed the syllable, ‘if you don’t, I say we go all in here. We’re outnumbered, at a distinct disadvantage in terms of armaments, and there is no way Gis or his pets have any intention of letting us live after that priest gets what he wants.’

No one had an answer to that.

‘Right. In that case,’ Robin gestured toward the nearby mushrooms with his chin, ‘do any of you know which of those aren’t poisonous?’

‘Don’t look at me,’ Grathilde said instantly. ‘Just because we both grew up underground doesn’t mean we know one another.’

Robin snorted. It wasn’t the best joke, but he’d take it. He needed a laugh after his meeting with Gis.

Fiamah, for her part, fell into lecture mode. Robin was happy to listen, happier when her words triggered another notification.

Proficiency Unlocked: Natural Wisdom.

‘None of them are terribly nutritious,’ Fiamah concluded, ‘which I expect is why they are still growing here. The kobolds would have snapped them up otherwise, for Gis if not for themselves.’

‘As long as they aren’t toxic to the touch, I’m happy. I just hope I can work well enough with just my hands.’ He grimaced.

Proficiency Unlocked: Crafts.

Of course. And here he was with no experience points left to invest. Perfect.

Still, he had a plan. It might even work.

New Quest: [Grasp of the Tyrant-Priest]

You have a plan to escape the grasp of Gis, Priest of Urkhan. Successfully execute this plan, save your newfound friends, and don’t die in the inevitable chaos. Good luck!

Reward: Isn’t escaping with your life reward enough? Well, for those of you who are greedy enough that it isn’t, successful completion of this quest will also award +3 proficiency ranks and +1 property rank.

‘Why are you smiling?’ Grathilde asked.

‘I’ve got a good feeling about this,’ he replied. ‘I feel like someone or something is watching out for us.’

Now he’d best get to work before Gis got the kobolds to round them up and drag them back to the tunnels where they were captured.