Octavius moved at as close to a jog as he could as he weaved through the masses of people milling about. The sun was still shining the golden light of early afternoon down on the Sanctuary. Stress was growing high with the end of the Emergence approaching. As the arrival of the dreaded Lord of Beasts grew closer, more and more people fled the beast magnet that was the Sanctuary. Hurrying past the various tents and lodgings, Octavius and David both moved as quickly as they could to reach Robert. They were both extremely worried about the threat posed by the thralls and the information they had learned. If the thrall wasn’t lying, there were nine other thralls in the area; even if it was, Octavius would bet his life that there were at least a few more near the Sanctuary. He’d grown to trust Robert a good deal over the past few days. The man was one of the founders of the Sanctuary, something Octavius could respect, and his work ethic was something that even a special operator like Octavius could appreciate. Beyond that, while the man wasn’t an amazing fighter without a gun, he was a brilliant tactician. The man had come up with dozens of ideas to help protect the Sanctuary, such as burning logs at night. While they couldn’t cut down trees fast enough to ring the Sanctuary at night, they did cover some of the most exposed areas. The logs were angled towards a gap so that they would act as a funnel for beasts when set ablaze. The idea worked well, as Octavius had seen the night before. If someone was going to come up with a plan out of the left-field to help deal with the thralls, it would be Robert. Octavius looked over his shoulder at David, who had slowed significantly. The older man paused and knelt in front of a smiling little boy. Turning around, Octavius walked over to them quickly. “... want to be a hunter!” David was saying when Octavius put his hand on the man’s shoulder. Leaning down, Octavius whispered into the older man’s ear. “Remember the thralls,” his voice came in a soft hiss. David groaned and nodded. Fixing his expression to a friendly one once more. He turned to the young boy, and he spoke, “I have to go do my job, but remember: if you work hard enough, you can definitely become a hunter!” David stood, and Octavius spoke to him under his breath, “Don’t worry about the thralls. Just think that you have to talk to Robert about the guard schedules.” “Will that really trick the compulsion?” the older man asked. Octavius nodded, “I think so.” David nodded, and they hurried towards Robert’s clearing. The old guard was able to follow along without being distracted this time, and they quickly reached the entrance to Robert’s clearing. Octavius didn’t even pause to call out as he swept the animal furs aside with his hand and stepped through the large doorway. “Robert!” he said, “We’ve got a problem.” The blonde man looked up from the wooden table from where he was speaking to one of David’s fellow Lieutenants. The middle-aged man who'd been speaking to Robert trailed off as he was interrupted. Robert’s brows creased in worry, “What is it?” Octavius glanced surreptitiously towards the other man in the clearing, and Robert nodded, “Quinn is trustworthy. What’s the problem?” Octavius nodded and began to explain. “There is another intelligent race in the tutorial, and they’re hostile.” Robert’s eyes widened, “What? How did nobody notice?” “Because there is some sort of compulsion around them. It just nudges your thoughts away from them until you end up never even thinking about them,” Octavius explained, “I met one early on in the tutorial, and more after that. After each time, they just seemed to slip my mind.” The guard lieutenant, Quinn, interjected in surprise, “What? They can change our memories!?” David shook his head, “No, it just distracts you. It happened to me on the way here. The only ways we’ve found to get around it is to have a will stat above forty or to trick it.” “Ok, how do you trick it?” Robert asked. “You don’t think about them,” Octavius explained, “If you want to tell someone about the thralls, that's what they're called, the compulsion would likely distract you before you can follow through. But, if you wrote down information about the thralls while you aren’t distracted by anything, you could want to give it to the same person, and the compulsion wouldn’t interfere.” Robert nodded, “Ok, what are these thralls capabilities and numbers, then?” Octavius sighed at that, “They are all around level 20, if not above it. Their mages have enchanted rings that let them turn invisible, and the rest that I’ve encountered were melee fighters. And we don’t know their numbers, but the one we captured said that there were nine more around the Sanctuary.” Quinn developed a horrified expression as Octavius expounded, and Robert looked off into the distance, lost in his thoughts. After a moment, he opened his mouth slowly, only to close it again. After the silence stretched for a few seconds, he spoke, “What do you mean by invisible?” “It is an illusion that only leaves a distortion where they are. If they don’t move, it's pretty much unnoticeable,” Octavius explained. “So,” Robert trailed off before starting again, “So, if I were to tell the guards that there is a new monster that can turn invisible and to attack any distortions like that, the compulsion wouldn’t affect them?” Octavius nodded appreciatively, “Exactly.” While he had thought of that himself, he didn’t do it within a few minutes of first hearing about thralls. That was one of the reasons why Octavius had come to Robert first, rather than trying to reach the council in charge of the Sanctuary. Octavius himself was decent at thinking outside the box and creating tactics, but what he excelled at was thinking on his feet and improvising plans. Robert’s brain just seemed to be wired toward thinking of the most obscure strategies. “You said that you captured one? When?” “Yeah,” Octavius affirmed, “About a half-hour ago. Since then, we’ve been interrogating it.” Robert’s eyebrows rose at that, and Quinn seemed to grow suddenly hawkish in the way he watched Octavius. “What do you mean by that?” Quinn asked. “I waterboarded it until it would talk,” Octavius said with no inflection in his tone whatsoever. Quinn’s hawkish stare shifted to distrustful and disapproving, not that Octavius really cared about his attitude. Robert, on the other hand, had a much more interesting reaction. The blonde man looked surprised but didn’t have any negative reaction that was visible to Octavius. He went on to detail the questions he asked the thrall, as well as its answers. Robert nodded along as Quinn just glared at him. Once he’d finished explaining the recent events, he went further back and explained his previous encounters with the thralls. Their trait of being able to harden their skin visibly intrigued Robert, and the man once again fell into thought. Octavius spun the ring from the captured thrall in the pocket. He’d told Robert that the rings existed, but not that he had more than the one from the captured thrall. While the man could probably guess that he did, that didn’t mean Octavius would spell it out for him. “I assume people saw you bringing it to the cell?” Robert asked. “Yes,” Octavius affirmed, “but I don’t think anyone will be able to overcome the compulsion any time soon. Not to mention the two guards watching it.” As Robert looked into the distance, Octavius proposed an idea he’d been contemplating. “I think we should try to find their local outpost and attack it tonight,” he recommended, “I’d go myself, but facing potentially nine thralls that can all turn invisible wouldn’t be very… fun, especially if the thrall gave us a low number to try to trick us.” Quinn spoke before Robert could, “Why would we do that? The Lord of Beasts is coming tomorrow, and we can’t afford to lose manpower.” “No, I agree with him,” Robert interjected, “If there is one thrall, there are likely more. If they are here, they’d need somewhere to rest. I’ll go ask some of the hunters that ranged down there if they remember a massive oak that could have a cave in its roots. The thrall that Octavius captured confirmed his suspicion that they kept us around so that the average level of the tutorial would be brought down. Now that the Emergence has started, the only reason I can think of for them to continue to let us level up is so that we have to deal with the Lord of Beasts. ” Octavius elaborated, “Once we deal with the Lord of Beasts, they’ll start wiping us out before we grow too strong unless there is another challenge they need us for. Since the tutorial started, the average level of humans has risen much faster than the level of the thralls I’ve seen.” Robert nodded, “I’ll bring this to the council right now; I’ll recommend that we put together a team to attack their outpost tonight. Even if the outpost isn't there, it would be worth the time expenditure to rule it out.” Octavius considered for a moment before speaking, “I’ll lead the team. I bet that I have the most experience with leading elite teams than anyone else in the tutorial, much less leading them on a nighttime raid. Try to get a team together as soon as possible and send them to the kitchens in two hours. I’ll give them a crash course on what to do before we leave.” Robert nodded, “You probably do have the most experience. You are definitely the only special operations officer in the Sanctuary. Ok, I’ll tell them to meet you there. What are you looking for in team members?” “I’d say smart, high-level people who can follow orders. Send at least a few with guns and experience using them. And make sure they’re reliable in combat. Also, don’t tell them about the thralls, only that it's a special mission.” Robert nodded and stood, “Ok, I’ll go tell the council now. Even if they don’t approve of the mission, I’m sure I can find you some solid volunteers.” As he walked past him, Octavius grabbed his arm. “Wait, you’ll end up forgetting about the thralls the moment something else catches your attention. I wrote the word ‘THRALL’ on my hand to remind me whenever I look at it,” he held out the back of his hand, “Like this.” Robert nodded, “That’s a good idea. I was going to try to use your trick to get myself to the council.” He walked back to the table and grabbed a pen. After he scribbled something on his hand, he hurried out of the clearing. Quinn followed, glaring at Octavius the whole time. Octavius turned to David with a grin, “I don’t think that Quinn guy likes me very much.” David snorted, “What tipped you off, the burning flames in his eyes?” As they walked towards the doorway, David spoke, “I hope you know that I’m not going on your raid. I’m getting too old to keep up with you kids.” Octavius smiled, “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of dragging you from your leisurely retirement.” They chuckled as they stepped back into the throngs of foot traffic. “What are you going to do right now?” David asked as they walked back towards the thrall. Octavius thought for a second, “I think I’m going to go find someone.” Octavius stood straight with his spear resting in his hand perpendicular to the ground. His eyes were focused on a fight two hundred feet in front of him. A group of three guards took turns attacking a large horned ram. They moved well, stepping around each other and using their spears rather effectively. Uncommon Bighorn Sheep (Lvl 18) The one whom Octavius was watching the most intently jumped out of the way of the ram like a matador and struck out with her makeshift spear. The combat knife secured to the long wooden shaft glinted in the sun as it pierced the beast’s side and quickly withdrew. Ava had improved an inordinate amount over the past week. Octavius supposed that the natural talent that she had unknowingly displayed when they met had finally had its time to shine. Anyone with superhuman physicality would learn physical skills like spearmanship quickly. Add that to the constant live combat she’d participated in for most of the past week and her natural talent, and you were left with a rate of improvement only matched by the few and far between. He used identify on her to see what level she had reached.

Ava - Human (F) (Lvl 11) (Spearman) Wow, that’s impressive, he thought, level 11 already. She gained much less EXP than me over the past few days but crushed the amount of time it took me to go from level 7 to level 11. He watched her move lightly on her feet, constantly in motion, just like he’d taught her. I suppose it isn’t a surprise that she chose the spearman class. He watched her movements. Her skill was only about what Octavius would deem acceptable. Even so, he caught a glimpse of the spear fighter she had the potential to become in brief flashes throughout her fight with the ram. It was most clear when she used instant thrust at the perfect moment to slice directly between two of its ribs while it was distracted by her teammate. As the ram fell dead to the ground, Octavius started to walk towards her. She was talking to her two teammates, a man of around forty and a young ginger man that looked to be in his mid-twenties when she spotted him. Whatever she was saying cut off mid-sentence when she waved wildly above her head at him. “Octavius,” she called, “What are you doing here? I heard that you joined the Sanctuary! I thought you were more of a loner.” Octavius smiled and closed to a reasonable speaking distance before he responded. “I didn’t join the Sanctuary, but we’ve come to a mutually beneficial agreement. I’m going on a mission tonight with some guards. It’s going to be at night time, so I’ll be giving them a crash course on how to operate in a team at night. I figured you’d be interested, so I came to find you. I still owe you a lesson, after all.” Her two companions looked confused, but she responded without hesitation, “I’m definitely interested! When is it?” “It’s in an hour, at the northern kitchens,” he told her, and she nodded. “Ok, I’ll get Brian to sub in for my shift,” as she finished speaking, a large badger exited the tree line and charged the group. She shouted over her shoulder as she turned to face it, “I got to go, see you in an hour!” Octavius looked over the crack team he’d been given. It was an eclectic group, to say the least. They stood in a loose semicircle around him. On his left was Bill. Bill was well past the prime of his life but was spry, fit, and, most importantly, experienced. He was the hunter that had been called to the council when they wanted to know if there was an oak large enough to hide a cave in its roots to the south. When Bill replied that there was, even if he’d only seen it from a distance, he was assigned to the team. To his right stood the two gunmen assigned to him. Marcus and Leo were US Marines, and Octavius had taken a liking to the two younger men. They each had a rifle slung over their shoulders, but no extra magazines of ammo. When Octavius had asked, he’d been told that combined, they had 37 rounds of 5.56 ammunition. Standing beside those two was a much younger man who stood at an incredible 6’ 7”. Even with his height, the young man appeared to be dangerously skinny. The physique didn’t seem to be something the human mage looked at as important. The mage, who was rather prophetically named Caster, seemed the bookish sort, but he had a rather impressive reputation. Finally, there were Raj, Jean, Finn, and Toby. They all had various melee classes and came well recommended. Next to those four stood Ava, who was not part of the team, but part of the training. “Ok,” Octavius began, “We’ve received intel of an opposing force of mages to the south of the Sanctuary. We do know that they are in the area, but our intel on their numbers and location is sketchy. Still, it’s been deemed worth the risk to possibly take them out before the last day of the Emergence. Bill is going to lead us to where we think their location is, and if they’re there, we’ll wipe them out. This is an elimination mission, but if you see an opportunity to capture one of them, take it.” The group had varied expressions. The two marines looked excited, while Bill looked entirely unruffled. Finn had a surprised expression stretched across his young features. The rest of the group looked simply determined. “In case you don’t know, I’m Octavius, and I was a captain in the Army Rangers,” he continued, “We have about four hours until nightfall, which means four hours to familiarize ourselves with each other and for me to teach you the basics of conducting a night raid.” After his short speech, he began to break down each person’s role in the team: the melee fighters with him in the front, Caster just behind them, and Marcus and Leo set up to provide covering fire. They even briefly practiced breaking the party into smaller groups. They worked through movement drills, hand signals, and the basics of stealth over the course of two hours. After that, they moved on to planning for probable scenarios, such as being ambushed by an invisible enemy. For that drill, Octavius had revealed the ring from the second thrall. He let each one of them get practice with spotting the slight distortion it left behind and reacting accordingly. Even if doing it during the day would be easier than in the dark, it was better than nothing. Once the sun had set, Ava left the group to return to her own team. The nine of them sat around a fire, eating together, and building a rapport. Octavius knew how important trust was for members of a team, so he did his best to encourage them to bond as much as they could within the small time frame. After the last purples of the sunset left the sky, it was time for them to get suited up and set off into the darkness.