The Apprentices adapted to what they referred to as “Bone Goblin Dungeon” or “Bone Goblins” for short. Hans lobbied for everyone to refer to that section of dungeon as the “Regenerating Dungeon.” He liked how it sounded, and he liked the gravitas that name seemed to carry as it referenced its original inspiration.

His efforts were in vain. Bone Goblins won the contest handily.

Aside from the final battle with the minotaur and goblin shaman, the Apprentices could clear the Bone Goblins after three guided runs supported by Hans, Bel, and Lee. From there, they did runs with three Apprentices and one Silver–Theneesa’s pupils alternating shifts so that the Apprentices never had to take on the shaman by themselves. Where most encounters became predictable over time, the final battle had too many enemies and too much chaos for it to be exactly the same each run.

The addition of the Bone Goblins pushed their average run to two days. Reaching the bottom now took a little over a day, so they camped near the dungeon core and returned to the surface the next morning. The regrowth rate of the dungeon also seemed to shift, but neither Hans nor anyone else could deduce what that rate was based on. Prior to the Bone Goblins, the dungeon needed to be cleared every other day or so. Now the dungeon regrew roughly twice a week.

Hans had hoped to introduce Becky to the new Silvers and show her the Regenerating Castle, but she didn’t visit the cabin while he was there. Buru hadn’t heard from her in some time either, but the Apprentice Druid seemed unconcerned. He had plenty to practice in the meantime, and he respected Becky’s survival skills.

Buru might not have been worried, but Hans was. Becky hadn’t visited in weeks, which Charlie assured him was perfectly normal for the Druid, but that seemed unusual for Hans with how frequently they talked just a few months ago. He decided if he hadn’t heard from her in another week, he would ask Buru to send a sparrow.

When Hans returned to Gomi, the sparkling white of deep winter had melted into dirty grays and all manner of mud and slop. The training yard wouldn’t be usable for a while yet, but one good day of strong sun could change that. Olza told him not to get his hopes up for one of those just yet.

Then she added, “Luther is on his feet and sleeping in his own bed again. He was asking after you.”

Two images of Luther had been in Hans’ mind since Bel and Lee returned him to Gomi. He could remember the first time he met the tusk. On one of his earliest days in Gomi, he had gone out to the Tribe farmlands to introduce himself and to learn more about his new home. Galad and Luther were working in the fields and weren’t sure what to make of the new Guild Master.

Where Galad favored his orc heritage in his appearance, Luther favored human traits, but he was no less intimidating. In the summer sun, his strength was obvious, possessing both the natural gifts of his race and the hard-earned athleticism of a farmer. The Luther that came out of the forest a few weeks ago was the shell of a person, beaten and starved until the power he had in his mind and the strength he had in his muscles were gone.

The version of Luther Hans saw now was still weak and emaciated, his skin stretched taut over the bones of his face, but vigor had returned to his eyes and his smile.

“Hey there, Guild Master,” Luther said, opening his door to let Hans inside.

“It’s good to see you, friend,” Hans said, hugging the tusk.

Luther’s cabin was similar to Galad’s in size, making it humble yet comfortable and functional. Several plates of baked goods sat stacked neatly on his dining room table, and most everything else resembled the chaotic faux organization of a bachelor.

Passing Hans a cup of tea before joining him at the table, Luther said, “I owe you my thanks. If Bel and Lee hadn’t found me, I wouldn’t be here.”

“They did that on their own. I can’t take any credit for that.”

“You can dispute it, but they wouldn’t have come through Osare were it not for you. While you think of more arguments against that, I assumed you’d want the winter debrief from me. I can give that to you now if you’d like.”

Hans had spent enough time around tragedy–many jobs had their roots in someone’s else’s unhappy ending–so he knew the toll that retelling a story could take. Though people asked questions like “What happened?” or “How are you feeling?” with the best of intentions, telling a story for many meant reliving a horror, sometimes as viscerally as if the events were happening all over again.

In situations like Luther’s, he preferred to get the story secondhand from someone like Galinda who had spent several days serving as his caretaker, especially if no one was in immediate danger.

Luther assured him it was fine and felt it was his duty to keep the Guild Master informed.

The early days of Gomi’s tusk refugee efforts were peaceful, according to Luther. He and the brothers who joined him traveled through the small network of nearby villages and towns with only the usual sideways glances and the occasional human who fast-walked to cross the street to avoid passing too closely to a tusk.

The worst of the tensions began shortly before snow blocked the pass to Gomi.

“I underestimated it,” Luther said. “At first the odd person would spit in my direction or ask me to leave their business instead of sell to me, but once it was too late to go home, the war got worse and so did the people.”

The orc incursion was still relatively far from Osare at that point, but it was close enough to spread fear and rumors. As the conflict worsened, so did the town’s treatment of Luther. One night, while Luther enjoyed a pint of ale at a mostly empty tavern, two Osare humans picked a fight with the tusk and lost. Later that same night, someone kicked in the door to Luther’s inn room and several hands pulled him from his bed.

They beat him, a seemingly never ending circle of kicks and punches while he fetal-positioned on the floor of a horse stable, barely conscious and too battered to fight back. They kept him locked in there with no food and water. He scraped snow off the small barn window to stay hydrated, but that was too little for a person of his stature. By the time Bel and Lee found him, he wasn’t sure what was real and what was a hallucination.

“I’m sorry, Luther,” Hans said.

“I stayed in Osare to help the tusks who couldn’t beat winter,” he said. “If my suffering spared Bel and Lee that fate or worse, I can accept the price I paid.”

I’d like to think I’d be that noble.

Active Quest: Mend the rift with Devon.

I can’t even release Devon from his stupid oath. I definitely couldn’t be that noble.

“I do have a favor to ask,” Luther continued.

“Name it.”

“I won’t be working for a while. Mind if I borrow some books?”

Hans chuckled at the simplicity of that request relative to the gravity with which it was asked. “I’ll bring a stack by tomorrow. That’s no problem.”

“Thank you.”

When Hans stood to leave, he added, “Staying behind like you did… That says a lot about who you are. I don’t think most people would have that level of character.”

“Any of my brothers or sisters would have done the same.”

Knowing that Luther believed that statement in his heart, with no inkling of doubt, gave Hans more hope for Gomi and for the kingdom as a whole.

***

With the merchant caravan due to arrive any day now that the pass was mostly clear, the next chapter in Gomi’s history would soon begin. When the merchants departed from Gomi, the world would hear about Hans’ Ultimate Training Dungeon, and it would be too late to take back or undo any part of their outlandish plan. Powered by anxiety, Hans meticulously prepared for that day.

He had Galinda’s woodblocks for printing fliers wrapped in fabric with a note. He wanted to send one flier to each of the twenty closest Adventurers’ Guild chapters as well as to Hoseki. For the town’s surrounding those chapters, he hoped they could send fliers to the top three taverns and inns. Unsure of how much ambition was reasonable for mailing fliers around the kingdom, he wrote down his request and noted that if they could only reach the chapters and nothing else, that was acceptable.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Charlie had his letter for the guild written and sealed. The Mayor was reliable, but Hans found it comforting to add the guild letter as a to-do and then cross it out. Charlie’s letter seemed compelling, and Hans hoped the guild would accept Gomi’s proposal to keep him on as the chapter Guild Master. Other than worry–which he would definitely do–he could do nothing more on that particular front.

With his letter, Charlie would include Gomi’s annual report to the Adventurers’ Guild. Hans wrote that up, inflating the number of gnolls the guild had defeated in the last twelve months and providing honest numbers about kids’ class attendance. For a town the size of Gomi, Hans’ actual community engagement metrics were above average.

He also had a list of magery books to order. One page outlined the titles Hans knew he wanted, and the second page outlined where substitutes were acceptable. Improving the Gomi chapter magery curriculum was too important for him to be too picky. A mediocre book on a magic school like Healing was better than no book at all. Seeing his full wish list written out made him again thank the gods for sending Bel and Lee his way. Training Chisel and Honronk might have fallen apart completely without their contributions.

Expressing his gratitude to Theneesa in writing for sending Bel and Lee to Gomi was easy enough to do discreetly, but he struggled with how to share their recent findings about Repel Possession working against blood magic and their plan to attempt establishing permanent wards via tattoos. If someone intercepted the letter, he didn’t want to expose the Tribe. If he was too cryptic and too guarded, however, Theneesa would be less equipped to help tusks near her home in Mikata.

He settled on the following:

Master Theneesa,

Your gifts did not arrive until spring, but they are no less appreciated. Thank you for being so kind.

A merchant gave me an update on the orc conflict, and it reminded me of an essay I read back in Hoseki. Gods, I must have been Iron or Bronze then, but at any rate, the details are fuzzy. It talked about using Repel Possession to prevent influence magic, and the author talked about encountering a group in the frontier who tattooed the ward into their skin. If I remember the author’s name, I’ll write right away.

I’m sure I’m remembering the Repel Possession part correctly. I’m not so sure about my memory of the wards, though. I’m getting old and find myself mixing up memories more and more often.

Well, I know you have a lot on your plate, so I’ll cut my rambling there.

I’m proud of you, by the way. I hope I’ve told you that before. I’m sorry if I haven’t.

-Hans

Guild Master

Gomi Chapter

That would have to do, and he hoped he could have the letter rushed to Mikata. That might be suspicious, but people were dying. The risk was worthwhile.

His letter to Mazo was far less cryptic. A Guild Master asking a respected mage for advice on teaching magic and recommendations of what books to buy was not unusual. With no way of knowing where Mazo and her attendants, Izz and Thuz, had gone over the winter, he couldn’t predict when he’d receive a response. The questions were still worth asking, though.

Hans leaned back and reviewed his list once more. He was ready for the plan to begin. Logistically ready, that is. Emotionally, he was a mess.

***

Misty rain fell as the first merchant caravan of the season pulled into Gomi, parking their wagons in the clearing just beyond the front gate. While their assistants and hired hands made camp and cared for the horses, the merchants themselves spread across Gomi to meet with various customers and trading partners.

A potbellied merchant with several gold chains around his neck waved happily when he spotted Hans.

“Master Hans!” the merchant called before joining him under the awning of Charlie’s bakery. “It is always a joy to see a fine adventurer like yourself.”

“Treat yourself recently?”

“What? Oh these,” the merchant said, adjusting his chains so that they laid flat and in order by size. “Yes, I had a few surprise orders at the end of last season and I thought a celebration was in order.” He winked, confirming that he meant the purchases Hans made on behalf of the Tribe.

“Perhaps you’d like a few more gold chains to go with your collection?”

“I would.”

Hans glanced around to make certain no one eavesdropped on their conversation. “An old business partner of mine has a surplus of alchemical materials they’d like to sell, but they value their privacy. The finder’s fee they offered me last year was pretty sizable, and if they’re still looking, that sum may be larger by now. I’d split the fee with you, of course.”

“How private is this individual?” the Merchant asked, his crossed arms resting on his belly.

“They don’t like putting their name on paper if they can help it.”

“Yes, yes. I see. I see. How much inventory are we talking?”

The Guild Master made a show of thinking about the answer. “I don’t know exactly, but it’s a lot. When we spoke they had several jars of imp blood and about fifty camahueto horns.”

“Seriously?”

Hans nodded. “Like I said, the finder’s fee is sizable.”

The merchant tugged on his white soul patch as he thought. “I know a guy in Raven’s Hollow who supplies several alchemist shops and a few universities with reagents. Buys in bulk, distributes. Makes his gold on the markup and is comfortable with silent partners.”

Quest Update: Give Uncle Ed the contact information for the Raven’s Hollow distributor.

He gave Hans a name and a shop. Thanking him, Hans began to talk to the merchant about his other orders and requests, like the items he needed to mail and the books he wanted to order. His focus shifted when he spotted three well-equipped warriors standing in the middle of the road, looking around Gomi with serious faces. Their fur-lined leather armor, long beards, and assortment of knives and axes gave them the look of Barbarians.

Excusing himself, Hans approached the warriors and offered an introduction. They gruffly informed him they were Bronze-ranked adventurers on a job to recover escaped fugitives. Three tusks, two female and one male. Hans asked when the fugitives were believed to have escaped and was given a timeline that matched Bel and Lee’s arrival with Luther.

“You’re sure about those dates?” Hans asked. When three surly heads nodded, he continued. “We had a blizzard around that time. Getting through the pass in the winter is a tall order on its own, so if you’re sure they came toward Gomi, you’ll probably find their bodies when the snow melts, unless the gnolls got to them first.”

They asked Hans if he was certain.

“Today’s the first time I've seen a new face in months. Not many tusks around these parts either, so if three of them came out of a blizzard all of a sudden I think I’d notice.”

Hans launched into a pitch about his new venture, a training facility for adventurers, and invited the Bronzes to sign up for a course. Hearing the fee–five gold per student–depleted any patience they had left for the odd Gold-ranked Guild Master. As their annoyance became more visible, Hans’ smile got bigger and his pitch grew more intense. Finally, one of the trio cut Hans off mid-sentence and said they didn’t have time to talk anymore.

“The hall is always open to you!” Hans called to the back of their heads. “You could train with the only Gold Guild Master in history! That’s worth a few weeks, right?”

The Barbarians half-jogged away from Hans after that.

That was kind of fun.

Later that day, Uncle Ed and two other men from Gomi brought two wagons loaded with kegs and barrels to join the merchant caravan. Traveling alone would have been faster, and he could have left much sooner, but moving product in a group was much safer. Ed and Galad both were prepared to take those risks when they first saw Luther, but their heads cooled, and they agreed to wait for the merchants. That was lucky because Hans could give Ed the information for the distributor in Raven’s Hollow.

If they needed to do more deliveries in the future without the natural security of a caravan, Gomi would need a team to stand guard. Bandits and monsters both enjoyed a helpless wagon full of goodies.

Any of the Apprentices were capable of protecting a wagon at that point, but they didn’t have enough bodies for managing the dungeon as it was, and with most of them being tusks, sending them outside of Gomi was actually more dangerous. By that point, everyone had heard–if not seen for themselves–what happened to Luther in Osare. Anyone who might have held onto the illusion that the conflict was overblown had to admit it wasn’t.

Hans pulled Uncle Ed aside to tell him about the potential trade contact in Raven’s Hollow.

“What do they know already?” the farmer asked.

“Only that I had a friend who wanted to move a large inventory. You’re sure you’re okay with this?” Hans asked.

Ed clapped Hans on the shoulder. “If you can believe it, I was a deckhand and security for a trading company in my younger days. Plenty of strange characters doing business around boats and docks. I’ll be fine. Just take care of my boys while I’m gone, and we’re square.”

“Promise.”

Quest Complete: Give Uncle Ed the contact information for the Raven’s Hollow distributor.

***

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."

Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

Protect Gomi.

Earn enough gold to free enough workers to build the new campus. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

Implement a Repel Possession ward to stop the nightmares, permanently.