Chương 80: Bluffing In

To Thomas's mild surprise (and intense relief), Twitch was still at the Wyoming campsite. He was sitting by a dying campfire, and by the softer look to his normally skeletal cheekbones, he had advanced to Level 2. Twitch looked up at their arrival.

"Took you long enough. Tell me that one of you brought food." Thomas repressed the urge to snap at him. This was serious business; they were about to go into a life-or-death situation. Then he looked around and saw how far the sun had arced across the sky. Leveling up to 4 had taken hours.

"I could eat," Zach agreed easily, probably noticing the same thing.

"As long as it's something fast."

"Yeah, okay." Thomas dug around in his backpack and pulled out granola bars from the box Jo had originally bought. He tossed two each to Twitch and Zach and kept one for himself. Twitch unwrapped his and bit into it like a starving man. Zach was more casual but ate quickly as he started unpacking the gear they'd brought from Elf World. Meanwhile, Thomas pulled out his skill shard. He looked at it for a moment. This was the point of no return.

He could still save this for later and use the slot for a combat-only skill. Except that, really, this shard was almost perfect for his needs.

"What's that?" Twitch asked.

"Self-buff skill," Thomas replied shortly, and absorbed it. The skill traveled up his arms as a warm presence, then seemed to disperse throughout his body. He swore he felt his Wellspring mana chime inside his core.

"You get one skill a level, right?" Twitch looked between the two of them.

"What you got for me? Or am I supposed to help you fight some guys with my winning personality?" That was a good question.

"Skills are expensive, but you can have this." He went to his pack again and pulled out one of the sword drops from the Flying Sword dungeon. It was the scimitar-looking sword with the ivy patterning that curled up the hilt and halfway up the blade. Twitch took it, though his nose wrinkled.

"I haven't LARPed before with this shit. How about a real piece?" A piece of what? Thomas almost asked before he realized Twitch meant a gun. Zach, who was quicker on the uptake, shook his head as he pulled his quarterstaff from his bag, switching it out for Kevin, who had given a sad 'chirr' as he was tucked away to safety.

"Not an option."

"Why? We're not going into a dungeon, right?" Zach shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not." He turned to Thomas with a too-casual motion.

"Hey, Thomas, what level were you when Twitch's friends shot you?"

"Uh, two. Why?"

"You said it clipped a lung, right?"

"Yeah." Something about his tone set off alarm bells. Zach didn't look dangerous as he stood, calm and laid back as usual, but somehow danger was radiating off him. Feeling a little unbalanced, Thomas added, "I coughed up the bullet, actually."

"Level two, and you coughed it up," Zach repeated, then with a half turn, he flicked his wrist. One of the shadow blades seemed to come out of nowhere and thunked right between Twitch's feet with such force that the blade vibrated. Twitch shouted in surprise and jumped back.

"What the hell, man?!" He had dropped the sword in his shock, and hastily scooped it up again. Thomas froze in shock and watched Zach casually come over and jerk the shadow blade free of the ground. He stood up, met Twitch's gaze, and palmed the blade so smoothly it was as if it vanished out of thin air. Thomas knew he had at least a dozen others just like it. Zach smiled at Twitch and half-shrugged.

"Age of guns and shit is over, bro. Even if that tech will work near magic, anyone you shoot who has levels might be able to shrug it off. It's a lot harder to get around a knife through your windpipe or a lost arm. From now on, you're using a real weapon."

"All right, Jesus." Twitch looked a little freaked, but his voice didn't waver.

"You could have just said no."

"I coulda, yeah." Zach tossed a casual glance over his shoulder at Thomas, deliberately taking his gaze off Twitch as if he were no threat at all before he turned back.

"If you turn on the team or try to attack Thomas or Jo... Well, you'd better count on taking me out first, if you can. I got a teleportation lock on you." He stepped forward. Twitch automatically stepped back, but it didn't matter because within a second Zach was on the opposite side of him, finishing his sentence, "And I can get you wherever you are."

Thomas knew that short-term teleporting was a lot more intensive for him than the longer-distance stuff, but he kept quiet, not wanting to get in the way with whatever mind game Zach was playing. Twitch lived up to his namesake and twitched hard to the side.

"Fuck, all right, I got it. I got it. I wasn't even the one who shot him."

"I know, bro. It's all good," Zach said, and absolutely no one in that clearing believed it. He sent a sunny smile at Twitch before he turned back and started going through his bag. Twitch sent a 'What the hell was that?' look to Thomas, who ignored him. He didn't exactly approve of intimidating the guy who would be part of his team, but it was important Twitch was reminded of the stakes.

"I'll use the fucking sword," Twitch grumbled to no one.

"It's just I've never even carried one around before. Now I'm supposed to fight people with it?"

"Hopefully, you won't need to," Thomas said. He wasn't taking pity on the guy, exactly, but recognized he needed a boost, or else he really was liable to run off. Thomas could play token good cop.

"The plan is to bluff our way in, grab Jo, and teleport home. We don't want a fight. You're backup in case things go wrong." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I've heard plenty of plans like that. Ain't none ever go that smooth." Thomas said nothing. Privately, he didn't think it was going to be that easy, either. He also noted that Twitch was taking the not-so-subtle threat if he were to turn on them pretty well. Was that because he was used to this kind of stuff, or an effect of the Earth mana making him more emotionally solid? He didn't know him well enough to tell for sure.

Thomas he busied himself with smearing the magical sedative on his trusty dagger that cut everything. It hadn't seen a lot of use in the higher-level dungeons but still worked on mundane stuff just fine. With that in mind, he made sure his spirit-stealing penknife was within reach, too. He couldn't exactly walk around with his shield but made sure it was well-positioned within his pack so he could yank it out and have it on within seconds. The elf communicators went behind the ear, hidden under their hair.

Some testing showed that subvocalization worked as long as they kept the sentences short. Otherwise, it just looked like the person was suspiciously muttering to themself. So, no monologuing, got it. Lastly were the holographic gems. They had to be touching flesh to activate, but once that was done, they could be put in a pocket and still work. It was strange as all hell. Elf proportions were off from humans. They had slightly longer faces, broader shoulders, and longer arms.

And, of course, the ears, though no one was going to be messing with those. The hologram distorted slightly whenever one of them picked up an object as if it couldn't quite parse the shorter human reach with what elves should look like. Zach managed it the best, probably because of his Dancer on The End of A Branch skill, which increased his grace and dexterity. These holograms wouldn't stand up under close scrutiny, so it was best to not, like, do manual labor with them.

"If we get in a fight, our cover has pretty much been blown anyway," Thomas said.

"So avoid that."

"What happens if we run into other elves?" Twitch asked. He had his hologram activated, and the elf he became was every bit as painfully thin as the man underneath. No tattoos, though.

"I can't speak alien bullshit."

"No need, the System translates between our languages," Zach said.

"Give it a British upper-crust sound," Thomas suggested, then at Zach's snort, said, "What? They don't sound sort of British to you?"

"Right you are, gov'ner," Twitch agreed.

"That's Cockney, and that was awful."

"Don't talk if you can help it, but if you absolutely have to, throw in some put-downs on humans. That'll get you into Club Light Elf," Zach suggested. He activated his hologram, and suddenly a haughty Light Elf stood before him. He had a different bone structure, which resulted in a squarish jaw, but weirdly his eye color hadn't changed—still the same shade of blue, though wide without a sclera and alien.

"They don't like people, huh?" Twitch asked, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"They like people just fine," Thomas corrected.

"They just don't think humans, or Dark Elves or most Wood Elves are people." He looked around.

"Everyone ready?" At their nods, he activated his own hologram. Not that he could tell. It was seamless, except when he looked at his own too-long arm, which was now chalk white. Zach placed a hand on their shoulder. He had been given visual references by the elders. A moment later, Thomas found himself standing at the edge of an abandoned quartz quarry in the middle of southwest Arizona. The rock around them was dusty and red and reminded Thomas of NASA's pictures of the surface of Mars.

As it had been clear since the ambush that Zach's teleportation skill was known, they had arrived about a quarter mile away from their goal. The first thing Thomas did was look at Zach.

"Still feel her?"

"Yup. She's real close." He raised a chalk-white hand and pointed.

"That'a'way." To Thomas's absolute non-surprise, he was indicating direct west, which was also the dungeon they had been aiming for. Jo was still alive. Thomas could deal with putting her back together no matter what shape they found her in.

"Wait, you got a tracker on this chick?" Twitch demanded, blinking. Zach sent him a smile that his elf persona twisted into a pure arrogant leer.

"I got a tracker on everyone I teleport."

"Guys, we need to be in character going forward. Stop chatting, and start with the faux British accents."

"Right o'," Twitch confirmed, in what he probably thought sounded British. Why did they bring this guy along again? Oh right, because his Gift made him basically unkillable. As a group, they marched towards the quarry. It wasn't that far away, but Thomas had really underestimated how hot it was going to be.

He lived in California all his life and thought he knew what dry heat was, but he had been completely unprepared for how true desert heat pushed down on him like a physical weight, and seemed to suck the moisture out of his pores. The inside of his nostrils actually started to sting before long. He wasn't going to be covered with sweat because any moisture was whisked away the second his body made it. Twitch, who couldn't shut up even if his life was at stake, subvocalized.

"You couldn't BAMF us closer?" No one had an answer to that. They hit the edge of the quarry, which luckily had a stairway down. The whole pit was, unluckily enough, made of exposed white rock that reflected the sun. Light elves live on the sun-ward side of their planet, Thomas reminded himself. They thrive in places like this. Weirdos. The mine shaft, which led to the dungeon, was visible as a dark rectangle at the bottom of the rock wall among eye-searing white.

Two people stood just within, acting as guards, and Thomas didn't envy their jobs. They were also human. Despite being in the shadow of a mine entrance, both were visibly sunburned and looked a little surprised to see Thomas's group. Not"Oh my god, what are these things approaching us?" surprised, but"Oh my god, are we in trouble?" surprised. That was good news. Since Zach typically provided the social lubricant, Thomas expected him to take the lead and launch into introductions.

However, he stayed silent, and his step even faltered as if he had been completely taken off guard. Thomas glanced at him to see his eyes slightly too wide." I can't talk to these guys," Zach sub-vocalized. Wait, what? Thomas had no idea what was going on, but they were committed now and he certainly wasn't going to let Twitch take the lead. They were within a few feet of the guards now. He had no choice but to step forward, trying to project arrogance, and with his best upper-crust accent, he said, "I am Sateryn.

Myself and my colleagues are here on inspection." Hopefully, these random guards wouldn't know that name. It was the first one that came to mind. The two guards still looked a little freaked but were trying not to show it. The lead guard had a rifle slung low and studied them for a moment, lingering on Twitch's particularly unpleasant expression.

"Nobody said anything about an inspection today," the guard said at last.

"It would hardly be a proper inspection if you were told ahead of time, would it?" Thomas said, drawing up his arrogance. He could tell that it was falling flat, though. The two guards glanced at each other, weighing what to do. Twitch stepped up, crossing the short distance between them, and then obviously took a moment to read the guard's badge. Though there was a distinct aura around him. Thomas thought Zach had radiated danger before, and now he saw that Twitch could do it too... and do it better.

He looked and felt like the muscle who was itching for the excuse to provide a beat-down. Thomas respected the guards a little for not flinching.

"Why are you not contacting your superior?" Twitch asked in a growly tone that did a lot to cover his extremely bad accent.

"Tell them Sateryn's people are here and have pointed questions about your quota." Whatever that was supposed to mean.

"Quota" was doing a lot of heavy lifting, but there was a good chance that if there was a dungeon nearby, someone would want its goods coming out on a regular basis. The second guard frowned, but the first nodded.

"Excuse me." Then he turned, bringing a walkie-talkie to his mouth. The back of the device had a simple cheat sheet for different channels.

"Entrance" was channel 1, "Inventory" channel 2, and so on. That wasn't what caught his attention, though. Across the top and printed from a label maker were the words: de'Montvallon #5 This dungeon belonged to Zach's family.