Turns out the party is way luckier than Clutter and I. They stumbled across some plastic on another continent, found someone with a skill that works like my plastic map, and just… got the quest that way. No phase bullshit, no worrying about a horizonguard on their ass, and no time crunch. Since they’ve been ready for this for about as long as I’ve had a class.

  As for the way they’re dressed… well, they wouldn’t elaborate on that. They just kept repeating that it’s a human tradition or something along those lines. I’m still willing to bet that some asshole gaslit them into believing something that isn’t true at all, but honestly, I don’t give a shit. They’re way safer than we are here. So they can afford to be weaker and have some fun.

  Finally, we get to the meat of the issue. Which is that none of them have a single reason to explain why they came here. No system notifications, no spells, not even a gut feeling–just that they somehow walked here over the last few days. According to Dani, the other group has the exact same reasoning. Combine that fact with how little they care about the fact that multiple groups of people randomly decided to come here–even though it wasn’t a straight shot at all–well, it raises more than a few flags.

  When all’s said and done, Clutter and I leave the lighthouse and make our way back to the tower. Once we’re sealed off from the other ten people I grab his arm before he can climb the stairs, then shake my head.

  “They could see us if we went up there.” I say seriously. “This reeks of someone manipulating things behind the scenes, and we need to figure out who that is.”

  He tilts his head to the side. “Aren’t there only two options; the horizonguard or the quest itself?”

  I nod. “Yeah. But one of them is so much worse for us that it isn’t even funny. C’mon; let’s explore the walls while we know the other ten are cooped up in the lighthouses.”

  With slight reluctance, Clutter takes his foot off the stairs and follows me to the room with doors. Once we close the door behind us I take out a purification coin, crush it to dispel whatever might’ve been put on us, then lean down and open a door to the workshop. Clutter jumps down without hesitation. I follow a second later with a mental command to dispel the cloud of salty magic.

  “So what do you actually think of them? The party, I mean; I know you didn’t meet or see the other five.” Clutter unnecessarily clarifies.

  I grimace as I open one last door to the hallway. “Something about them just rubs me the wrong way. Everyone but the paladin feels unbelievably weak, yet he seems way too strong for what I can feel. There’s no way they’d survive as a group with that kind of dependency–especially not if they’re actively looking for quests.”

  Clutter’s mouth pulls into a thin line. I turn and raise an eyebrow at him, but by the time I actually get my eyes on him, the expression has been replaced with a passive smile. He steps through the door right after me into the root-and-vine-and-cable filled hallway without saying much of anything, and… ah, shit. I just prodded his sense of inferiority.

  Which… does actually point out something pretty important I missed. They treat each other like friends and equals. Either those are bonds they’ve had for so long that strength doesn’t matter, or the other four are completely not suited for combat at all. Not every quest starts and ends with violence, after all; just being able to defend themselves was probably enough most of the time.

  I hum to myself as we walk. “Could you tell what classes they had?”

  He blinks, then… shakes his head. “Now that you say it… no. I couldn’t. Dani–um, the paladin, I think you called him–all of his magic came from the book. That doesn’t mean his class isn’t just someone who can use magical items really well, but it didn’t look like he used any spells or skills.”

  “Hrm. That’s weird.” I scratch my neck where Pearl normally sits and grimace. “I guess I just assumed their classes were what they called themselves. But if they have completely different classes than what they’re dressed up as, then they could be a lot stronger or weaker than we think. Guess we’ll just have to keep an even closer eye on them.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Pearl says, breaking an almost hour-long silence. “They all seemed slightly magical at all times, which usually means they’re wearing or using magical gear. Except for Dani’s book and that staff with the name I forgot, I couldn’t make out any specific items.”

  “So they’re hiding them with something?”

  Pearl nods. “That’s what I think. But I’m not sure they’re hiding it for nefarious reasons just yet. Keep an eye on them, though, for good measure.”

  I catch Clutter staring at Pearl’s shell. I give him a nod to confirm I’m talking to her, not him, and a flash of that same expression casts a shadow on his face. He really needs to take a solid win without me interfering to prove that he’s worthy. Not to me, but to himself. Because apparently no amount of him doing damn good recon work will convince him that he’s good enough.

  “Do you believe them?”

  Clutter’s words linger in my ears for a second before I register them. “About what?”

  He shrugs. “Everything, really. They talk like they’ve been friends for literal years, but if that’s the case, then they should all be about the same level of strength. Then they apparently just stumbled on what we had to work for? Do we really believe the quest would just have some entrances that are infinitely easier to get into than the others? And–and… um… wait.”

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  A scowl etches itself onto Clutter’s face as he glares down at the ground. He quietly mutters incoherent things to himself as if trying to get the words out from between his teeth. I hear each of the party’s names multiple times, but as he keeps speaking… he says things that don’t make sense. Each of their birthdays. Their favorite colours. What they like to eat. Where their favorite spots to take a starbathing swim are. All things that I definitely don’t remember them saying.

  I grimace. “Psychic?”

  He bears his teeth. “No. This isn’t magic. I… I don’t know what it is, but I know way too much about them. And these memories are from before we met them. From before I met you. But something’s making them all hazy. I… I think it’s the quest.”

  “The quest?” I groan and shake my head. “Shit, are they working with it?”

  Clutter vigorously shakes his head. “No. I… just… the quest is keeping me from remembering why I know stuff about them, just like it kept me from remembering that I definitely should know them from somewhere. There’s a precedent for this, too, in other quests when someone famous or important goes in one and asks to be treated as anonymous.”

  “Wait, you can do that? I could’ve done that to protect us from the horizonguard?”

  He shoots me a look that asks ‘you’re famous?’. I glare right back, but he just grins like an idiot. But this is a huge problem. The party could be famous for anything at all–and from anywhere at all. I’ve damn sure never heard of them, but… hrm. Why’d Clutter remember anything about them at… ah, right, the purification. It must’ve gotten rid of a little bit of the spell but not enough to get rid of the censorship.

  “How about you?” Clutter asks. “Do you remember anything about them?”

  I shake my head. “Absolutely nothing.”

  “That’s good. It means I’m not forgetting something we saw while we were together. Actually, you probably would’ve felt the spell working on you if you actually remembered anything. That should’ve told me all I needed to know.”

  Hrm. He makes a good point. I doubt he’d know anything about the horizonguard that I didn’t, especially not pointless stuff like a favorite colour. Doubly so considering he didn’t know the horizonguard existed before he met me. So… does it really matter who they are? It’s unnerving to know the quest is protecting them, sure, but if they aren’t a threat to us then who gives a shit? Clutter’s definitely bothered by it, but we’ve got so much worse to worry about.

  “Well, all we can do is have a plan in place if they’re working with stonestep. They seem like good friends, or at least work well together, so we can take advantage of that.”

  Clutter nods in agreement. “The first thing we’d need to do is neutralize Dani. He’s pretty much all of their firepower, and all of it comes from the book. As far as I could tell he didn’t notice me when I was invisible, so I can probably steal the book pretty easily.”

  “Perfect. Play some scenarios in your head to get the image down and be ready for that. I’ll work on a way to disable the other four just in case they’re hiding shit from us.” I reach up and feel at Clamber’s armlet. “Worst comes to worst, we just need to find their plastic things and get them into our tower. Then they’ll be completely useless.”

  “Ooh, good point. I almost forgot about that.” Clutter holds up his wrapped hand with the ring underneath. “I should probably keep this hand wrapped forever. Do you want me to wrap your arm, too?”

  I think for a second, then roll up my sleeve and hold out my arm. “As long as you can handle the mana drain.”

  “Don’t worry about that; it’s pretty much nothing. Especially compared to going invisible.” He chuckles as he pulls out more of the fabric. “So, um, have you noticed anything different about the tunnels yet?”

  As he ties a knot to get the wrap started, I take a better look around. We’ve only been walking for a few minutes, but honestly, I can’t see anything different. Sure there’s a little more magic in the air, but that doesn’t mean much of anything. I purse my lips and try to feel for anything different at all, but–

  Movement at the edge of my awareness. Legs, arms, a body, a head, and a tail. The makeup of a normal paindne. Clutter looks up at me with wide eyes when I tense my arm, and I hold a finger up to my lips to make sure he keeps quiet. That’s enough for him to understand something’s off, and he hurries to tie off the wrap. Once he does it melts against my skin like the most comfortable clothing I’ve ever worn–just like the other stuff Dell made.

  I shove that unpleasant image aside and motion down the hall, past a snarl of roots that impede our vision. Another paindne shape joins the first a moment later, and the two of them turn to look at each other in silence as their mouths open and close. I can’t make out any sounds, though, so they must have some kind of spell keeping them silent.

  This could be the horizonguard’s people. With a snap of my fingers Clutter walks ahead, vanishing into inky darkness and quickly pushing through the roots. I give him a good ten second head start before following, making sure that I don’t create any more noise than I have to. Pearl quietly gasps, her face a mixture of confusion and an attempt to understand what she’s seeing. I feel Clutter push through, look around, and… freeze. He tenses up like his muscles are made of springs.

  The hell is he seeing up there? On a split second decision I abandon stealth and shove my way through the vines. Clutter doesn’t move at all, but when he hears me, his head swivels ever so slightly so he can see me too.

  I push through, ready for whatever stonestep solutions have prepared for us. Bustling foot traffic, signs for shops, and plant life greet me instead. Paindne walk the hallway as they chat to each other like nothing’s wrong at all. Dozens and dozens of them as far as I can see down the hallway, and there must be even more of them in the walls behind the store signs.

  All of it greyscale.

  All of it plastic.