'That's not the right way, runt!' Pinky ignored Lars as she scurried across the street towards the shadow. 'That's not out of the fog, or deeper inside, or even evading some Tallfolk. Now's your chance to infiltrate while they've blinded themselves with that Skill!'

"C'mon, Lars, it's around here somewhere." The mist parted to reveal a gigantic brick wall. She must've veered to the left or the right.

'What is, Took?' Lars sounded concerned. 'What did you see?'

Pinky decided... left!

She turned and followed the wall while whispering to Lars. It probably wasn't necessary, the mist seemed to be absorbing sound, but her target was going to be tricky. Every precaution was needed.

Now wasn't the time to be 'Foolish'.

"I saw a shadow."

'A shadow?' He asked incredulously.

"It wasn't just any shadow, it was special." Hmmm... Perhaps to the right?

'How was it special, Took, how? Explain it to me.' Her friend was starting to sound worried.

"It was... lumpy." Yeah, that was the best way to describe it.

'Lumpy?' Lars moved in front of her. 'Took.' His expression was serious. 'Are you seeing things again?'

"Aside from you?" She rolled her eyes and continued to the right. She had to have gone past where she'd originally had touched the brick wall.

'Yes!' He threw his arms up. 'Aside from me!'

"I see lots of things, Lars." But not as much with this fog.

The ghost pinched the bridge of his nose and grumbled to himself. 'Are you seeing things that others cannot, aside from me?'

"Hm?" She stopped and looked at him before smiling. "You're worried about me!"

'Of course I am! You had a blood class! You told me you hallucinated me for how many years?!'

"Pft." She rolled her eyes and made a mark on the brick wall. Time to go back the other way. She must've given up too early. The mark would help her if she was wrong and was now giving up too early in this direction. "What I saw was something that you should've been able to see, if you hadn't been focusing on the fog."

'Okay, okay, what is it?' He let out a sigh. 'Besides 'lumpy' that is.'

"That's the thing." She whispered back to him. "You know Bit's Met thingies?"

'Yeah?'

"Well, they're made of cubes. And their shadows are lumpy."

'Oh.' It sounded like he got it now. 'So...'

"Yep!"

Ah ha! The alleyway! Pinky crept inside and moved towards where the shadow had been. The Met might've moved already, but it might not have either.

Sure, she could've used this opportunity to escape the watchers that Bit had given her. Honestly! It was just like what her mom used to do. But why escape when it was a lot more fun to ambush them?

Besides... a non-homicidal Met could be useful.

The fog parted for her anti-weather charm, and the lumpy shadow came into view.

"Ah ha!" Pinky rushed around the wooden crate, having found her target. She pointed at it imperiously. "I found you..." She blinked. "You're not a Met."

Niers sat on his pedestal and watched the game unfold. Having this many viewpoints to cover all the different strategies was fun. He could manage the same thing with his Skills, but even then one couldn't catch everything.

Indeed, even with all their [Mages], Wistram had lost track of Venaz, Marian, and Umina - along with half a dozen other students of his that had gone to ground. Tulm had just set out to box in Jekilt. Unfortunately for the Centaur [Captain], he would probably be captured if he didn't have another trick up his sleeve.

If he did... well, he might manage to get away.

Tulm was great at scorched earth tactics, but the rules of the game were hampering him.

But... not that much.

The scrying orb switched to Xol as he crashed through another house to counter-ambush some of Wil's [Knights]. The fourteen foot tall [Juggernaut] would have been a tough foe to take down even if lethal spells and [Skills] were allowed. Trying to non-lethally subdue a Dullahan the size of a half-giant was... daunting.

Niers had ideas for how it could be done, but they all required specialized troops or prepping the battlefield. His students just didn't have the levels to deal with an opponent like that.

His earring vibrated.

Ah, it seemed like his third plot was working. Or was it his fourth? It was hard to keep track of which one he'd technically had initiated first. He hadn't given Dincal a speaking stone - that would have been far too distracting. The vibrating earring was telling him all that he needed to know.

Mainly that the cubic golem was just as skilled as Fraerlings were at remaining hidden - but he could have told them that from the lack of any [Mages] getting a picture of the construct in their scrying orbs. More importantly, that it was both open to commands and that it had a hive-mind.

It was more of a swarm of constructs than who knew how many individual ones. Of course, it was also possible that whomever its creator had been was also using it to spy.

Niers suspected Zelkyr. It was either that, or a Fraerling [Artificer] from a remote city. Of course, every Fraerling city was remote - so that didn't narrow things down in the slightest.

"Lord Astoragon, what are your thoughts on Xol?" Teura asked him.

He smiled for the scrying orb as he responded. "He's one of Tulm's greatest assets, but I have every confidence that one of my students will handle him."

"What do you mean by 'handle'? Do you think he can be subdued?"

"Yes. Absolutely." Niers nodded. "Not that such a tactic would be easy to pull off. Wil's [Knights] could manage it if they have some [Strategist] support. [Mages] could also work, but I haven't seen any that would be high-enough level to counter him."

"Is that it? Are those the only options?"

"Of course not!" Niers laughed. "That's why this is a game! I'm sure the end result will surprise even me!"

"You have a lot of faith in your students, Lord Astoragon." Teura calmly replied.

"They've earned it." His smile grew. "Look at how Jekilt nearly escaped from Tulm's pincer move. If that charge had worked, he and his troops would have had a clear shot towards the southern streets." Niers was pretty sure that's what the Centaur had been planning. It would have let him connect with Wil's forces.

Teaming up was the obvious next move. Wil had the troops, but the other students had their Skills that could empower the [Knights]. Unfortunately, Tulm and Xol were aware of that and were doing everything they could to prevent it - while also holding the line they'd made around the town plaza.

While Wil was currently the biggest threat, this wasn't a war game. All it took was one of his students sneaking past to win.

'This is a bad idea.' Lars said as he watched Took climb on top of the... golem?

"It's actually a lot less 'Foolish' than you'd think." His friend replied from the top of the cubic creature. "Who's a good boy? You are! You are!" She scratched it behind its ears... and it seemed to enjoy it.

'It's a wild... animal!' He argued. It may or may not be an animal, but it certainly was wild.

"No... Cubey here is fluffy and cute!"

'Cubey?' Lars could tell his voice had risen a few octaves.

"What else? I'm sure that's what Bit would call it."

Cubey suddenly started running in circles around the area - and through Lars.

'What's going on? Is it attacking you? It's trying to buck you off! It's not trained, runt!'

Took just laughed until the thing stopped.

"It's just like chipmunk wrangling!" Cubey huffed. "Except ten times, no, a hundred times better!" Took scratched Cubey behind its ears again and the thing closed its eyes and pushed its head towards her. "You saw the Mets, right? This is something like that. Probably some [Rogue] thing Bit made with a Met and scraps from a monkey." Pinky extended her hand. "C'mon, get on."

'Pft.' Lars ignored her arm and floated up. 'I'm a ghost. I can't hold your hand, runt.'

That wasn't... technically true.

Probably.

Ghosts could interact with the real world enough to not float away. Gravity affected them, but to a varying degree. He could also stand on a wall or walk through it. People, alive people, didn't exist in the Deadlands.

However, Lars wasn't in the Deadlands. There were no other ghosts around except for when Took's skill ended and he was 'un-summoned'.

As such, he wasn't sure, but it seemed likely that he could 'grab' onto Tooks hand and let her pull him up - even if she couldn't touch him in return.

But he'd still had been a Tallguard in life. He didn't need help to mount whatever it was that thing was.

"Okay, Cubey, let's go find the Titan!" Took whispered in its ear. Cubey turned its head and looked at her. "Take us to where the Titan is. You know? The Teye-Tain!"

'Saying it slower isn't going to make-' Lars bit his tongue as Cubey jumped away. 'Ow.' He said it more out of reflex than anything else. Ghosts couldn't get hurt or feel pain. He'd actually love to feel any sensation now, even pain, but he bet he'd change his mind if he ever did get hurt.

Cubey latched onto the wall like a Tallguard and began to race up it. Lars grudgingly admitted that he was climbing faster than anyone but an actual [Climber]. To be fair, there was a reason why they used animal mounts in the first place.

It was surreal as the fog parted before them due to Took's magical item. They could only see about a foot ahead of themselves, but that didn't seem to deter Cubey in the slightest. The animal, construct, whatever, smoothly transitioned to a horizontal run as it breached the fog and made it onto the rooftop.

Lars looked around. It was important for a Tallguard to always be aware of their surroundings - especially what was above them. Cats of all sorts loved to lounge on trees and pounce on unsuspecting Fraerlings. That had been his very first lesson as a trainee.

Lars saw a grid of islands in a sea of mist. The fog didn't reach high enough to fully engulf the Tallfolk's tall houses, so that left each roof its own little bastion. They, however, weren't alone. Lars spotted the walls, which weren't that far away. Dullahans patrolled on top of them.

More relevant were the [Mages] that he could see spread out on the roofs. They all held crystal balls that he assumed were scrying orbs and were peering over the edges and into the fog-filled streets with them.

It was strange in that the [Mages] didn't look like Dullahans, and it was complete over-kill for... Actually, Lars still didn't know what was going on. So having multiple [Mages] scry into the fog might make perfect sense.

Cubey raced across the rooftops. It ducked and swerved around the chimneys and pipes. As usual, Tallfolk were too busy looking at other things to notice the Fraerlings beneath their feet. In this case, the [Mages] were focusing their attention into the fog. Cubey expertly scurried behind their backs as he leapt from one house to another.

The sounds of battle began to grow louder as they rapidly moved across the city. Beneath them, the fog began to thin as armored figures clashed in the streets below. The fog clearly came from a Skill, but it looked like pure magic could drive it back.

Annoying really. The way the Tallfolks below used their power. It was easy to produce that much mana when they were so big. In contrast, Took's weather device was far more efficient... if limited in scope. It parted the fog instead of spending power and effort to forcibly disperse it.

They came to a group of [Knights] chasing a squad of Dullahan archers. At least Lars was pretty sure that the people on horseback weren't Dullahans. This whole thing seemed like the different Tallfolk races were fighting each other.

It looked like a classic rout. He wasn't a [Strategist], but it seemed like a bad idea for archers to not have anyone screening them - especially against mounted forces.

Then again, from up here he could see that there were other troops the cavalry had broken away from. Amidst them were numerous headless bodies. That probably meant that...

Yes.

The [Archers] had ambushed the [Knights]. The Dullahans seemed unimpeded by the fog. So it was clearly a [Skill] from one of them or a mass-Spell or something similar. They'd passed by other groups of Dullahans mounting attacks from within the mists.

So it made sense that this one had done the same thing, but had lost their front-line people in the counter-attack. The [Archers] were running away to regroup. If their opponents didn't have horses to run them down with, it might have worked.

As the [Archers] dropped their bows and pulled out padded swords, Lars wondered two things. First, why were all the Tallfolk using weapons wrapped with cloth to cushion their blows? And second, why had Cubey stopped to watch this fight in particular?

The thing had seemed to understand when Took had asked it about the Titan - and it seemed to know where it was going. So why-

The wall of one of the buildings exploded as a fourteen foot tall armored figure charged into the [Knights].

"Well... I guess that's technically correct." Took mused from in front of him.

'Y-yeah.' Lars agreed. While that wasn't THE Titan, it certainly could be considered A titan. 'I think that's a [War Walker]. The ghosts talked about them.'

"A [War Walker]?"

'Dullahans that gain levels that result in them getting bigger and stronger.' Lars shook his head. 'But they're usually smaller.' At least if what he'd been told was true. He didn't see any reason for the other ghosts to have lied to him which meant. 'I think whoever that is... is high level.'

It was a figurative slaughter.

The War Walker only wielded a shield. He also didn't stomp the [Knights] flat like he could have. Lars knew a lot about that as a Tallguard. The giant fighting the less-tall Tallfolk was basically the same as a Tallfolk fighting Fraerlings.

Stomping was easy. Levels only helped so much against overwhelming physical force. Tallfolk could also sweep through Fraerlings like they weren't there. The [Knights] clearly had no idea how to fight someone so much bigger than they were.

In contrast, the War Walker seemed to know what he was doing as he gently grabbed an opponent and gently slammed them on the ground. 'Gently' being a relative term. It was clearly better than being stomped, punched with a fist as big a as your chest, or tossed who knows how far. It was equally clear that the [Knights] that were manhandled in such a way were out of the fight.

They were, surprisingly, not dead.

Yep. That War Walker definitely knew what he was doing.

Niers watched Xol overwhelm the squadron in the scrying orb.

The fight itself was straightforward after that point. The maneuvering beforehand had been the important part. He'd been using [Bird's Eye View] to keep track of the relevant forces beforehand, so he'd expected the outcome.

In truth, it was a little annoying that the main Wistram feed that was sent out to the scrying orbs had only focused on the final battle. Sure, it was expected, but for him personally it would've have been nicer if they'd kept on showing images of elsewhere in the city.

He was just about to refocus his Skill when he saw it. The golem.

It was to be expected, he supposed. He'd arranged with Dincal for some of the cubic creatures to be inside of the city. So far, they'd proven how skilled at subterfuge they were. That was one of the reasons he'd done so. You had to test your skills, troops, and assumptions before you used them in important scenarios. Information was power.

Interestingly, the Wistram feed cut off right before the [Mage] watching the battle would have turned just enough to get the construct in his field of view.

Even more interesting was the expression on Teura's face.

It had been subtle. A widening of her eyes before she switched to a faint scowl.

Niers, in return, smiled widely.

The second part of this particular plan had succeeded. After all, there'd been rumors from the magical school of a new Archmage: Pixel the [Archmage of Cubes]. Details were sparse. A rumor that one of the [Sailors] who'd docked there had overheard. Nothing substantial, but he'd recalled the name in one of the reports that had passed across his desk.

[Archmage of Cubes]

A creature made of cubes.

The possible connection couldn't be ignored. However, as powerful as the Forgotten Wing Company was, they were mainly limited to Baleros. Niers got information from all over the world, but an active investigation would have been impossible.

Well, not strictly impossible, but complicated. Doubly so for Wistram. Their island had plenty of visitors in all of the [Merchants] and [Sailors], but only graduates and students were allowed inside. There weren't even any [Cleaners] or [Custodians] that could be bribed or infiltrated by a [Spy].

Zelkyr's creations had eliminated that avenue of entrance quite thoroughly. The best you could hope for was a [Chef] looking for some extra money, but Wistram hired the best [Chefs] and paid them well. Thus, confirming the connection between Pixel and the hamster had been... difficult.

Dincal, of course, had argued against it.

His fellow Faerling however didn't know about two other relevant pieces of information:

1. There were people from another world who had 'magical' devices that weren't magic.
2. There were rumors from the Empire of Sands about cubic artifacts appearing in their cities.

The first part could explain how an Archmage-level person could simply appear without any history. Although, there were plenty of high-level people that avoided attention. It was really only the timing that raised his suspicions.

The second point was far more relevant.

Cubic artifacts, a cubic creature, the [Archmage of Cubes]. Honestly, it was so blatant that he half-suspected that it was all a ploy of some kind. If the golem hadn't come to him via a Fraerling city, Niers would've suspected a grand scheme of some sort.

But, since it seemed far more likely that his encounter with the golem was happenstance, Niers' other theories had to be given greater weight.

Teura's reaction was all the confirmation he needed. She recognized the golem. Furthermore, she'd kept it from being broadcast on the scrying network. While there were other possible reasons for such a thing, the only one that really fit was that Pixel had made the golem in the first place.

Wistram would keep its own secrets.

Now the only real question was how Pixel and the visitors from another world were connected. Niers didn't believe in luck or coincidence.

"Huh." They'd left the fight between the Tallfolk and the Tallerfolk behind, only to encounter a different obstacle. Pinky looked at the nets that were blocking her path. The mists had nearly caused them to run into the trap, but Cubey had pulled up short. "What in the world is that?"

'It looks like a Fraerling-catching net to me, runt.' Lars floated off of Cubey and got closer. 'Why else would the Tallfolk make such a fine mesh.'

Pinky frowned. He had a good point. The net was strung up so that it covered the entire way forward. "Let's go around?"

'That won't work.' Lars shook his head and pointed up through the thinning mist. 'Look. It's almost a dome. You can see where it curves to cover the sky.' He then pointed to the right side. 'There's also a curve there. This is to keep people out... or to keep someone in.'

"The Titan!" Pinky gasped. It was all so clear! "They've surrounded Lord Astoragon!" She looked at Lars. "What do we do?"

Her friend frowned. 'I'll go in. I can't get too far from you without passing back into the Deadlands, but I might be able to see something if the mist lets up on the other side.'

"But..." If he vanished like that, it would take time for her [Skill] to be able to call him back. Pinky would be alone. "Okay." She petted Cubey's fur. It was scary going along with someone else's idea. She had no clue as to how 'Foolish' Lars' plan was.

The [Ghostly Presence] nodded and stepped through the net. Lars vanished inside of the swirling mists, and for a second the world was quiet.

'Run!' Lars' voice came as a muffled shout. 'Run, Took, run! It's an ambush!'

Pinky suddenly got the impression that it would be very 'Foolish' to stay where they were. Or to run to the left. Or to run to the right. Or to try and hide.

A Dullahan in pitch black armor with his head in one hand, and a club in the other burst out of the mist on the other side of the net. "It's no use trying to hide." He grumbled as he moved his head side to side. It was only the fact that Pinky and Cubey were so close to the ground that he hadn't noticed them.

That would change in a moment.

Pinky knew she should run, but if she did, she'd be leaving Lars behind. The rational part of her mind told her that she could just call him again in an hour when [Ghostly Whispers] was ready again. It would take longer for [Ghostly Presence] to become available, but it would if given enough time. Lars was already dead. It wasn't like this was the end.

...She still couldn't bring herself to abandon him.

Cubey, on the other hand, had no such qualms. Indeed, the Miniature Giant Space Hamster clone had no idea that Lars even existed. So it only came as a surprise to Pinky when she realized she was suddenly racing away from the net on the back of her cubic companion.

"[Sentry's Sight]."

"[Detect Heat]."

"[Tremorsense]."

More Dullahans had appeared on the other side of the net and were using skills and spells. Squadrons were also converging from the outside.

"There's no one here."

"I'm telling you, [Detect Presence] went off." The replying voice sounded contrite as it faded into the mists. "But, it was really faint. I could-"

And then Pinky was alone again as Cubey carried her away.

Riley pressed her hand against the door. Nope. Nothing from this side. The Stranger effect of the Minotaur's charms was directed outwards. If she wanted to experiment with it, she'd need to step outside of the house their group had commandeered.

Well, 'commandeered' was a strong word.

The Lizardperson had let them inside and seemed to be excited to be part of the game.

That was just another reason why she shouldn't open the door and step outside. She'd love to try and see just how a 'warding charm' worked. Especially since she knew it existed. Could it remove knowledge of itself? How exactly did it hide the warded area? Did it make it un-see-able? Or was it like Badgy's 'you don't notice me' effect?

"Yeah. I'm part of a company. The United Nations company. We're based in Talenqual."

Riley paused and looked over. That was a strange name for a company. She looked at Luan closer. Could he be one of the people from Earth Iota? It would be easy to tell. She'd just have to cut him open and look for things like microplastics. Even with being here and getting galas muscles of his own, it would be simple to notice pollutants that didn't exist on this world.

Or... she could just ask him, she supposed.

"How many nations are part of your company? Don't answer; it's a terrible name for a company. You should change it." Venaz snorted at Luan.

"Venaz is a terrible name for a Minotaur. You should change it." He replied back. While Luan was working for this group of students, he clearly still held a grudge against the Minotaur.

"Argue over names later. It's time to make a decision. Wil's forming up. He's going for the decisive blow as well." Marian, the Centauress, literally got in the middle of their argument.

Riley sat back and watched as they argued over what to do next in the game. All the knights on horseback were the doing of one of their friends. A human noble named 'Wil'. He'd apparently gotten his country on another continent to send him a small army for this game.

It also, apparently, hadn't been enough. At least not enough for an overwhelming victory. Instead he and the Iron Legion - those were the Dullahans - had been in a rough stalemate for a while. The scrying orbs - which were like TV - were showing that the knights were regrouping for a final push.

Riley wondered if she should offer to use some of her knockout gas. The problem was that without her supplies, she only had what was contained inside of her dress and her body. That wasn't enough to take out an army.

Though... she COULD make a self-perpetuating gas where it was a virus that spread in clouds and sedated its victims before using them as a cloud-breeding ground...

No. She shook her head. That would take a couple of days to make even with her supplies. It would take significantly longer without them. Besides, they'd only paid her ten gold. Presumably, that was a decent chunk of money, but not a 'take out an army' amount.

You got what you paid for, and Marian was running out of cash.

The conversation had turned towards bribing members of the other side. A valid strategy, but a plague to sew discord in their ranks would work even better...

Umina, the Lizardgirl, went off on her own. Marian was upset, but her and the Minotaur decided to exit their safehouse and join in the fight.

They were almost immediately ambushed.

...

"Venaz of Hammerad! Turn and face me, coward!" A large, armored figure threw away their staff and challenged the Minotaur. "I am Shailt of Tergim. I challenge you to a duel. Fists. Run and forfeit your honor."

Actually... Riley narrowed her eyes. The horns on their helmet looked natural. Her voice was higher pitched, and while the now staffless fighter had regular feet and not hooves... Riley was pretty sure she was a Minotaur too!

A Minotauress!

Her eyes gleamed. There were two of them!

Shailt took off her helmet and dropped it to her side before spreading her arms. Her Dullahan troops and the knights they were fighting backed away to create space around her.

"Never!" Venaz roared as he charged his countryman.

The two met in a clash that seemed to shake the earth. Punches, kicks, headbutts, and more were used as the two armored fighters brawled.

The general melee around them raged on as Human knights fought with Dullahan soldiers. Riley stayed close to Luan to keep him safe while Marian shot people with padded arrows if they got too close. Luan seemed to have picked up a table leg from somewhere and was using it as a club.

That would've been rather ridiculous, except that even the Human knights were wielding wooden swords - even wooden greatswords. There honestly wasn't much difference in those and a table leg.

Shailt tossed Venaz across the street and into the wall of a house. However, as she charged towards him, the Minotaur rolled out of the way and came to his feet already swinging. Despite their armor, the two Brutes were landing blows that clearly winded each other.

Riley looked away as an armored figure slashed at Luan. The runner was too slow and got a cut along his arm. Well, more of a gash really. The wooden sword of his opponent hadn't really pierced his skin so much as it had gotten its tip caught and had torn away some flesh.

Riley stepped forward and kicked the enemy in his side. She wasn't as strong or as skilled as Kevin, but she could target his liver just fine. He doubled over in pain as she pulled Luan away.

"Here. Let me see that."

"What?" He tried to pull his arm away. "I know you're a healer, but now isn't the time! We need to be fighting if we way to get-"

"Done."

"What?" Luan looked at her blankly before glancing down as his arm. The stitches weren't her best work. They were still clearly visible, but they'd stop the bleeding and let his arm heal naturally. Or, more likely, keep some blood in his body until he splashed on of those healing potions on it. "Did you?"

Riley turned to see what she'd missed just in time to see Venaz punch Shailt's jaw. A punch that struck her unarmored face, and which he hadn't been holding back. Time seemed to slow down as the Minotauress' jaw shattered before she bonelessly collapsed to the ground.

Venaz' eyes went wide. He bellowed as he stood over his fallen opponent. A look of panic and grief was on his face.

"Healer!"

Note: Some dialogue was taken directly from the Wandering Inn.