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Of course, it would have been easiest if they would’ve just let him in as an official Atreyan ambassador in the first place. But no. Apparently, the base was on some kind of low-level lockdown and not permitting any unexpected visitors.

Normally, Roman might have given up there and simply moved on to the next location on his list, but as it so happened, Roman knew a little something about the visitors that Lava Base was expecting. The previous fortress that he’d been to was sending a replacement janitor to fill in for one who had fallen ill. So it was just a matter of ambushing the poor guy along the way and assuming his identity.

Unfortunately, that same poor guy had been a Hun’Kui, which meant that Roman needed to disguise himself as one. Which was certainly a new experience for him. He’d used body paint before but never to this extent, and it seemed like the materials that they used here in the Undercrust were different, too. Of course, the paint did have to endure much higher temperatures, but was it supposed to be this itchy? He was beginning to think he was having an allergic reaction.

Maybe that was just from all the shaving, though. He’d never been so hairless in his entire life.

The disguise didn’t end there, however. His non-glowing eyes would’ve been a dead giveaway, obviously, but he’d found an easy solution to that. Many of the Hun’Kui had taken to wearing goggles. At first, he’d thought they were just some kind of fashion trend, but Voreese eventually discovered that these things were infused with ardor, and when wearing them, the Hun’Kui could see reapers.

Suffice to say, Roman was surprised.

And so, here he now was, navigating through Lava Base as a mostly naked, goggle-wearing, gray-skinned janitor. He didn’t think he’d be forgetting this experience for a while.