Though the idea of refugees summoned visions of masses of people fleeing a conflict in most people’s minds, tusks were uncommon and rarely lived in groups. Dwarves in a predominantly human town, for example, might unofficially form a “dwarf town,” a neighborhood where dwarves and their businesses congregated. The same was true of halfling and lizardmen. That didn’t happen with tusks. Most towns wouldn’t allow it.

Given that reality, no one in Gomi expected tusks to descend in droves.

The first tusk refugees arrived a few days after the merchants delivered Hans’ order, the one he had placed on behalf of the Tribe. The first barn was complete–including beds and blankets and simple free-standing closets for personal belongings. The second barn was not far behind.

Luther escorted a mother and daughter into town. The mother was more wiry than Galinda, seeming to favor her human heritage more in her body with her strongest orc traits in her face. Her daughter, who was perhaps five years old, must have had a human father. She had the jawline and teeth of a tusk, but her other facial features were much softer than her mother’s.

The daughter held her mom’s hand while the mom carried a single backpack. Other than that and the clothes they wore, they had no other belongings.

Hans poked his head out of the guild hall when he heard Galinda fussing over the young girl, complimenting her on her cute tusks and asking if she liked pastries. Galinda had already taken the bag from the mother, and Mayor Charlie knelt next to the daughter with a bag opened toward her.

Hesitant at first, she reached in and pulled out a flaky croissant. When the girl wasn’t looking, he passed the bag to the mother. She tried to refuse, but Charlie insisted, saying they were welcome to save the rest for later.

The two newcomers were clearly tired from their journey and overwhelmed by the few Gomi residents who stepped outside to greet them, so Hans decided he would introduce himself when they had settled and had a chance to rest.

With Luther in the lead, Charlie and Galinda escorted Gomi’s newest citizens to their new home with the Tribe.

Watching them go, Hans experienced that sense of deep fulfillment of knowing he played a small part in helping someone. It wasn’t personal joy but rather being happy for someone else’s good fortune. He remembered how he felt when he saw his apartment in the Gomi guild hall. It wasn’t much, but it was a home. It was his. Finding that after feeling unmoored for years brought him great comfort.

He couldn’t imagine how that would feel for someone–like the mother and daughter about to disappear into the Gomi forest with their guides–who scraped to survive and lived in fear of their neighbors.

In that moment, Hans knew that this was home. He didn’t want to leave.

Quest Update: Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

***

Galad and Luther visited Hans in the guild hall later that day, a few minutes before kids’ class was set to begin. While the children invented their own games in the training yard, the three adults sat inside, talking. When Hans asked if they should wait for Mayor Charlie and Galinda, Galad said that they would be briefed later. For now, the pair was doting over the new arrivals, helping to get them settled and comfortable.

“I’m riding out right after this,” Luther stated. “Galad said to share my news with you before I did.”

“I appreciate that.”

“The two we brought today hadn’t heard of the war with the orcs. They were renting a room and got kicked out when humans wanted to rent instead.”

Hans nodded. They had already agreed that they would take any tusk refugees, even those not directly concerned or affected by the orc attacks.

“News of the conflict has just barely reached Raven’s Hollow. Most of the citizens I spoke to didn’t know anything about it. I did find two traveling adventurers who had just come from Hoseki. According to them, the conflict is still far off for most of the kingdom, but the reports of tusks defecting to join the orcs have continued.”

“There goes our hope that it was just a strange rumor.”

Galad agreed, glumly.

“The way they described it…” Luther said, trying to find the right words. “It was like the tusks changed personalities, becoming aggressive and ferocious. Apparently one of the defectors was a librarian. Spent every morning reading books to children. Then he ran off and joined the orcs.”

With that, Luther added that he expected at least a dozen or so more refugees, based on the conversations he had had with tusks as he went town to town. They all asked where this promised safe haven was located, and they didn’t argue when Luther declined to tell them. They understood the value of keeping the Tribe farmland off of kingdom maps.

When Luther stood to leave, Hans noticed his sword and scabbard had hints of rust. He asked to see it, finding chips in the blade when he drew the sword. Frowning, he held up a finger to ask Luther to wait before disappearing into the guild storage room.

Hans returned with one of his new swords from Gomi’s blacksmith and held it out for Luther.

“What’s this?” the tusk asked.

“It’s a sword,” Hans said, smiling.

Luther rolled his eyes. “I mean why are you giving me this? It looks new.”

“It is. If you died because your sword blade was too dull, it would be embarrassing for all of us.”

Galad and Luther laughed. When Galad nodded his approval to Luther, the tusk took the gift, bowing to express his thanks. He left to begin his ride back to Osare.

When Luther had gone, Galad said, “I’m surprised the guild has that kind of equipment.”

“Not much point in teaching people to use a sword if no one has one when they need it.”

***

Hans flipped through his new bestiary, rereading the entries on chimeras and gnolls over and over, hoping a new insight would magically form from the limited descriptions. The books Mazo had left him were of excellent quality in all respects, but they were written as quick reference field guides. Adventurers didn’t need to read the musings of scholars and researchers. They just needed to know how to protect themselves. That’s how most people thought of it at least.

He longed for a library like those found in the capital.

Roland entered with a full burlap bag over his shoulder, setting it on one of the tables in the guild hall.

“Are you tired of people asking how you’re feeling?” Hans asked.

The hunter nodded, chuckling softly. “I know it comes from kindness, but yes. For you, though, I’m doing better. I still don’t quite feel like myself, but I can hunt again.”

Pointing to the bag, Roland explained it was full of smoked and salted venison, an entire deer’s worth. He said he wanted Hans to eat well during the winter, and wanted to do what he could to repay the Guild Master for all that he had done for him and Quentin.

Though his immediate reaction was to resist the gift, Hans had met people like Roland before. He was strong minded and prided himself on being independent and self-sufficient. If he offered a gift, he meant it with all sincerity and wouldn’t be talked out of giving it.

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Hans thanked the hunter, shaking his hand.

Before Roland left, Hans called after him. “I forgot I had a question for you. We’ve been doing this job board for the kids, and we got a request to clear a giant rat nest for one of the farmers. I was thinking of inviting Quentin and Kane, if that was okay with you.”

Roland thought. “You’ll be with him the whole time?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then I have no qualms. I’m sure he’d be excited.”

***

Hans, Quentin, and Kane stood on the porch of a Gomi farmhouse, looking at a barn–a proper barn, not a fancy tusk barn–across a cornfield. Quentin wore leather armor he borrowed from his father. Kane was supposed to borrow Hans’ armor, but it was too small for the tusk-touched. He ended up wearing Galinda’s. It was baggy in places, and the belt could almost wrap around Kane twice, but it didn’t impede Kane’s movement in any way.

“Tuck your pants into your boots,” Hans instructed. “If you’re hunting something you know attacks low, you need to take extra care to protect your legs. It sounds silly, but it’s easier for a monster to drag you away by your pant legs than your boots.”

The children did as they were told.

“Based on what you read in the bestiary, how should we do this?”

Quentin and Kane shrugged. “We thought you’d tell us,” Kane said.

Shaking his head, Hans said, “Nope. This is your job. I’m here to make sure nothing goes wrong, but otherwise, the real work is for you and Quentin.”

Quentin and Kane looked at one another and began sharing ideas with each other. The Guild Master stood nearby, listening but not contributing.

In a few minutes, they had a plan. They would enter through the large barn door and mostly shut it behind them. They wanted a compromise between closing off a big escape route for the rats and locking themselves inside with the monsters. With the door cracked, rats could not escape as easily, and the teens had a way to fallback if anything went wrong.

Nodding as he listened to the plan, Hans asked, “What if the rats have another way out? How are you going to keep them from escaping?”

Quentin thought. “Should one of us keep watch outside while the other goes inside?”

“In almost all situations, splitting the party is a bad idea. Adventurers work in groups because there is safety in numbers. If you split up, you lose that.”

“Could we block off their other exits?”

Hans nodded proudly. “Very good. Let’s get to it!”

Keeping a distance–but not so far that he couldn’t quickly intervene–Hans watched Quentin and Kane walk the perimeter of the barn, finding a tunnel the rats had dug under the exterior wall. Kane borrowed several pieces of chopped firewood from a nearby pile and stuffed the hole. The wooden blockade wouldn’t last long against motivated rats, but it would hopefully last long enough for the job.

Kane and Quentin entered the barn first with Hans close behind.

Before their eyes could adjust to the dim interior, they heard the distinctive scratchy pitter patters of rats scurrying across wood and burrowing through straw. The barn was a standard two-story design, the upper loft reserved for storing hay bales and the bottom half lined with stalls for the front half of the barn. The back half of the barn looked like storage for animal feed, farm tools, and empty barrels.

They checked the stalls first, taking turns for who went in and who stayed near the stall door to protect their flank and prevent the escape of fleeing rats.

On the last stall, it was Quentin’s turn to go inside. A moment after he stepped over the threshold, he unleashed a childish squeal, like someone had snuck up on him as a joke. Quentin must have recovered, though, because he emerged soon after with blood on his sword.

One rat was digging a burrow in the stall, and Quentin dispatched it with a quick thrust, once he had collected himself, of course.

And Kane was jealous.

The real nest was at the back of the barn, buried beneath a pile of rotting hay and straw. When Kane reached down to brush some of the hay away, the pile erupted like a giant rat volcano.

Five giant rats, each the size of a pig, shot out of the pile with strands of hay and straw in their matted black fur. They squealed and hissed. Two were unlucky enough to run into Quentin and Kane as soon as they emerged from their hiding places. They growled and bared beaver-like teeth. The other three attempted to flee, content to sacrifice their friends in the process.

Like Hans taught them, Kane and Quentin squatted low to put their shields in better position to block the charge of a giant rat. Also like Hans had instructed, they opened with a thrust, attempting to use the charging monsters’ rage against them.

Kane’s sword drove into his rat, the creature writhing and screeching but still trying to bite. With the monster impaled on his sword, the tusk teen opted to bring the rat near to his feet for a fast but gory stomp. That wasn’t a move Hans had taught, but the Guild Master was pleased with the improvisation.

Meanwhile, Quentin’s rat dodged the thrust and dove forward to bite his ankle. The rat had barely closed its teeth around Quentin’s shin when the boy’s shield came down on top of its neck with a dull chop. The blow stunned the rat, and Quentin chopped its head off with a slash.

“By the plow!” Quentin called, pointing to where two giant rats sniffed at the wall, looking for a way out.

When the boys moved in, staying side by side with their shields and swords ready, both rats turned and launched themselves at Quentin’s face. He got his shield up in time, but the weight of both rats bouncing off his targes caused him to stumble. Kane moved in, killing one of the stunned rats with a quick thrust to its midsection while Quentin recovered and finished off the other with two hacking slashes.

“We should check the nest to be sure,” Kane suggested. Quentin agreed, and the two used their shields to push aside straw and hay.

As they neared the corner of the barn, Kane’s shield hit something soft. He called out and stepped back, a rat twice the size of the previous four skittered forward to attack. Half thrusting as a feint, Kane forced the rat to hesitate while Quentin attacked from the side, managing to slice into the rat’s shoulder.

Turning its attention to Quentin to retaliate, the rat inadvertently exposed its other flank to Kane, who ran the rat through the ribs. Quentin did the same from his side. When it was dead, the two looked around, panting.

“They were way faster than I expected,” Quentin huffed.

Hans, without moving from his vantage point by the stalls, said, “Monsters are always faster than you expect. Make it a habit to assume that, every time.”

Kane poked the largest rat with his foot. “This guy was big.”

“Girl,” Hans corrected. “Looks like she was pregnant. Would have been three times as many this time tomorrow.”

“Really?” Kane asked, grimacing.

Hans nodded.

Quentin and Kane poked around the back half of the barn, looking for any other rats that might be hiding. They climbed the ladder to the hay loft and checked there, finding no new signs of rats there either. When they came back to the ground floor, Hans was in the same place, waiting for them.

“What’d we learn?”

“Besides block the exits and monsters are fast?” Kane asked.

Hans chuckled. “Yes, besides that.”

“The big one was easier than the small ones.”

“Why?”

“Well, when it went after Quentin, it was easy for me to capitalize. And the same for him when it went after me.”

Staying quiet, Hans gave his students time to continue thinking.

“We weren’t ready for them to run every direction like that,” Quentin said.

“What would you do differently?”

Quentin walked over to the pile of hay and looked around. “We came in side by side, but maybe we could have tried coming in at 90 degree angles. That might have kept them together.”

“Anything else?”

The boys thought, eventually shrugging. “I can’t think of anything else we could have tried to stop the two that ran,” Quentin said.

“Three.”

“What?” Kane asked.

Hans reached around the corner of the stall next to him and pulled out the body of a giant rat. Its smashed head bore a bootprint. “Five rats came out of the nest. This one ran for the door.”

Kane and Quentin deflated.

“No, don’t do that. You two did really well. Better than most beginners, I’d say. The lesson here is to practice your battlefield awareness. When you’re being attacked, it’s natural to get tunnel vision, focusing only on the thing trying to bite you, but as you learned with the mama rat, focusing too much on one target leaves you vulnerable to the others. A more aggressive monster would have attacked you from behind instead of trying to bolt.”

“How do you keep track of so much at once?” Quentin asked.

“That’s why we spend so much time drilling. With enough practice, you’ll need to think less about where you need to put your sword. Eventually, individual attacks and parries will be automatic, freeing your mind to think more about strategy.”

The two students said they understood.

“Seriously, though. That was good work. Let’s go tell the client the job is done, and I’ll show you how to properly clean your swords.”

***

Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

Mend the rift with Devon.

Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

Identify the unknown purple flower from Olza.

Brainstorm ideas for safe approaches to training on uneven terrain.

Design a winter curriculum.

Protect your place in Gomi and maintain control of the Gomi chapter.

Collect Becky’s report on the flower stakeout.