The first thing Robin did was have Drev show him how to open the secret door leading from the tavern basement into the tunnels of the undercity.

‘It needs to be someplace a body can disappear and no one will question it, not even our shiny friend,’ he had explained. ‘This is as good a place as any. Especially with the running water.’

The secret door was controlled by a clever bit of runework, activated by passing one’s hand over a slightly off-colour stone in the right pattern. From the way Drev activated it, Robin was fairly certain he had been involved in its creation, somehow. Though it didn’t seem like the mage was high-enough level to complete all of the requisite magic himself.

On the other side of the secret door was a section of the city sewers. They were a lot cleaner than Robin expected, but Drev mentioned something about purification spells laid into the stones which turned the waste into harmless soil and water, which collected at various reservoirs throughout the city to be drawn up and used to grow the gardens of the wealthy and fuel the farms of those who still grew crops.

Robin wasn’t the only one who still liked to eat in spite of the various magical means of sustenance available. And while there were enough with knowledge of the requisite spells to, say, keep the army fed and running, or sustain the population in times of martial law where the rulers could ensure equitable distribution of resources, things were more lax in times of peace, and there were those who made do with traditionally sourced and prepared food instead of magic sustenance.

And some of those crops were fed with the water rushing by at Robin’s feet. The secret door opened onto a small ledge or towpath used by workers to clear the channels when they were clogged and the like.

It was a good place to stage a mock battle. Robin had explored down in the tunnels a bit. Not too far. He had the strangest feeling he was being watched from all sides, and small eyes glinting in the darkness told him it wasn’t just his imagination. This was the undercity and there were plenty of creatures living down here, caring nothing for the antics of the peoples above.

The channel ran, flowing swifter and deeper than one would think, into a junction that coiled around into a deeper, faster-flowing tunnel that carried many streams to a large reservoir beneath this ward of the city.

Easy enough to believe that someone could be swept away by the current.

The stage for his little deception was set. It had been easy enough to convince Drev, Jhess, and Savra to go along with his plan. They knew Riv had to go and that Khavren needed to be the one to choose the replacement party member.

It was just a matter of setting up the right situation.

A mug smashed upstairs, the sound flitting down the stairs via the open trapdoor.

That was the signal. Jhess and Savra would be bringing Khavren down soon. Drev moved into position as Robin assumed his Riv guise using [Mask of Myriad Faces]. Robin reviewed the necessary sequence of gestures to open the secret door as he did. It wouldn’t do to miss one and get caught by Khavren because he made a little mistake.

‘We’re just going to talk this out,’ Drev said loudly as they heard the first few footsteps on the stairs. ‘No need to do anything rash.’

‘That lunatic tried to kill me!’ Robin—as Riv—protested, loudly enough that he knew Khavren could hear. ‘He needs to seriously reevaluate his morality, because it’s twisted!’

If Riv was going out, then he was going out saying what Robin had been thinking for days.

‘That’s not a terribly helpful stance to take,’ Drev said halfheartedly.

‘It’s not terribly helpful to try and murder your party members and encourage fellow guild mates to help you!’

‘Shapeshifters cannot be trusted,’ Khavren boomed, having reached the bottom of the stairs. ‘The chaos in their flesh is abomination, inimical to order. You literally cannot help but be a danger to civilisation.’

Savra was behind the knight, still on the stairs. Jhess was standing firmly between the knight and the rest of the party. For all the good that was likely to do.

‘Who hurt you, Khavren?’ Robin asked. ‘What disruption to your life robbed you of stability to the point you’re this deranged? Did your nanny not pick you up from school at the right time and you missed dinner? Is that your damage?’

Khavren purpled.

Robin as Riv took a step back and shouted.

‘You said he’d control himself! Look at him! There’s no way I can trust the word of that madman!’

Might as well insult the knight’s honour while he was at it.

Jhess blocked Khavren as he tried to lunge around her.

That didn’t take much!

Robin let out a yelp and jumped over to the wall, passing his hands over the spot that activated the secret door. There was a grinding of stone and the passage to the undercity opened. Robin darted through and shouts followed him.

It was dark on the other side, the only strong light coming from that which spilled through the open door after him. The shadows all around were thick. The perfect environment for a bit of trickery.

Steel sang as Khavren drew his sword. There were shouts and protests, but Robin knew Drev and Jhess would only delay the knight for so long before allowing him past.

Robin slipped over to the spot he’d scouted earlier, right on the edge of the narrow towpath where it jutted over the water. A beam of stray light from the door illuminated the spot and shimmered off the water, showing it moving past.

To draw things out, Robin used [Visual Phantasm] to place a double of himself closer to the door. It didn’t last long. Khavren charged out moments later and slashed right through it. The sword passed through with no resistance and the knight growled in anger.

‘Treachery!’

‘I’d say murdering someone is a lot more treacherous than painting in midair with a bit of light,’ Robin shouted back, revealing his location.

Not that he was hiding. In fact he’d picked a spot that guaranteed he’d been seen clearly. It wasn’t a stage, but it would have to do.

The knight whirled on him. Yeah, no, that was enough of that. Robin didn’t want him to have the chance to charge forward. It was time for the next phase of his little plan.

Robin willed a new illusion to form as he flashed his hands through the passes of [Lesser Phantasm]. Water splashed and burbled eerily before tentacles erupted from the water and began questing all around.

Khavren shouted in alarm as he and Drev, Jhess, and Savra quickly fell into defensive positions. Rerebos took advantage of the distractions in the heavy shadow cover to splash them with water he was carrying in a mug gripped in his tiny talons. Real water made the illusion of the tentacles all the more convincing.

‘Fall back!’ the knight shouted.

Robin moved the tentacles between himself and the party, and shouted in alarm for good measure. He wanted everyone’s attention on him for this next bit.

The tentacles lashed out, wrapping around him. Robin struggled a bit, hoping it looked convincing. He didn’t dare move too much for fear of phasing through one of the images and giving the whole game away. He screamed.

‘It stung me! It stung me!’ Robin tried to slur a bit on the last word, as if he were being affected by some kind of toxin.

Anything to sell the performance and make people overlook any inconsistencies!

Robin struggled a bit more, but not much. He needed to move this along. Especially before Khavren got any stupid ideas about charging to the rescue. He shifted his weight, wobbled on the edge of the towpath for a moment, then let himself fall into the water with a splash.

He gave a strangled cry as he did so, for effect.

Khavren recoiled. It was instinct. Even Drev and Jhess, knowing what was going to happen, flinched. Only Savra remained unaffected.

He was really going to have to have a word with her about this. If she didn’t play the part it was going to undercut the effectiveness of his illusions.

The ones she knew about, anyway.

Robin splashed about valiantly for a few moments, willing his [Visual Phantasm] to writhe about him in pure tentacular glory, before he uttered one final blood-curdling screech and disappeared beneath the water.

He sent the illusion down the tunnel and into the shadows. He wanted it out of sight as soon as possible. Robin himself swam in the opposite direction while the rest of the party was distracted.

Robin silently thanked Rhyth and whatever other deities were listening that certain tropes didn’t seem to have become common in this world. If there were a lot of ballads floating around about how the villain always comes back unless you’ve seen the body, it would have been a lot more difficult to trick Khavren.

The bard quickly slipped out of the water. [Legerdemain] dried and cleaned him, and [Visual Phantasm] wrapped him in enough shadow that he could easily slip past the commotion at the edge of the water.

Khavren was shouting and slashing at the water with his sword, but Robin noted that the knight didn’t make any move to actually step into the water and pursue whatever creature it was that had snatched Riv up and dragged him away into the shadows.

‘He’s gone,’ Jhess said, loudly. ‘And I don’t think he’s coming back after that.’

Sadly no. Alas poor Riv, we barely knew ye!

Ah well. Easy enough to come up with another alter ego, at least.

Whatever conversations the others had about the loss of Riv, what that might do to their ability to explore the undercity, and the arguments they made to keep Khavren on track with the ticking clock Robin, Drev, and Jhess were working under, the bard didn’t hear.

He was busy sneaking up the stairs so he could come tromping down as Marq, quite loudly, with Wulfram at his heels. He strode up to the group, as if he hadn’t a clue what might be happening, and launched into his performance.

‘What,’ Robin said in Marq’s loudest voice, ‘is going on here!?’