I looked at the hobgoblin cautiously, as I felt the icy feeling that had come over me start to fade. The more I had studied the hobgoblins talking in front of us the more I had accepted my death.

“What do you mean?” Gary asked quietly. “Are you slavers?”

“Enough, I’m not spending all day on this. Dorv, take them to the outpost and have them contracted under our team,” the hobgoblin with the staff spoke commandingly as it stood. The chair disappeared with a touch and the hobgoblin with the hammers straightened and nodded seriously to the order.

“Follow me, humans,” the hobgoblin waved us towards the entrance as the other four hobgoblins walked past us to head deeper into the dungeon. I looked incredulously at the leaving monsters and hesitantly followed the remaining monster to the dungeon portal.

“What do we do?” Gabrielle whispered as we followed the hobgoblin. I shook my head and shrugged, although I was happy to get far away from the rest of the hobgoblins team, at least. We slowly made our way out of the dungeon portal and back into the mountain cave.

“So…” the hobgoblin trailed off as he studied our team after we all exited the portal. “Do you pups want to try to escape now, or later?” I looked at Gary from the corner of my eye and watched him look around at our team for a moment before he turned back to face the hobgoblin.

“What’s the Ascended Skorv’s Warband?” Gary asked the hobgoblin. I tried to imagine a way that we could slow down this monster and couldn’t think of anything at all. I could tell that the hobgoblin's answer would decide whether we would fight or surrender, here.

The hobgoblin grunted and shook its head, “You humans grow up in a cave? Ascended Skorv and the Towering Kings have been fighting for hundreds of years.” The monster flipped a hammer in the air and caught it while it looked into the distance. “Our Warband just formed, and we won’t leave for the campaign for another four months. You’ll train with us here at the eastern edge of Ascended Skorv’s territory and then we’ll campaign against the Towering Kings for a year,” the monster grinned and its sharp teeth gleamed in the dull glow of the cave.

“Look, you children are out here begging for death as it is,” the monster walked up to Gary and both of his hammers disappeared. He touched Gary’s spear and shook his head as Gary tensed and pulled back. “Think of it as an opportunity, because it is. You won’t be sent to your deaths; Ascended Skorv treats his Warband well.”

“And you won’t let us leave, right?” Aaron asked cautiously. The hobgoblin stood right in front of us and he was more than a meter taller than each of us and the aura he gave off was intimidating to deal with.

“No,” the hobgoblin grinned, “We earn contribution points depending on how well you do during the campaign. As will all of you, of course.”

“All right,” Aaron replied, “I’ll go.”

“What! Aaron, we can’t,” Gabrielle said as soon as Aaron took a step forward. I was conflicted, but I knew this was a choice between survival and death. There was no choice other than following the monster where it led us, for now.

“Gabrielle,” Gary put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. “We don’t have a choice.”

The hobgoblin chuckled as he shook his head, “too right! Follow me, humans,” he began leading us out of the mountain. “And tell me where you're from!”

“Does it matter?” Gabrielle asked as we followed him. The five of us walked side-by-side a few paces behind the monster and it replied over its shoulder without stopping.

“I’m just curious, I didn’t think there were any humans between here and the Crystal Hammer territory, and I can’t imagine where you all must have grown up to carry gear like that.” the hobgoblin chatted as it strolled along the cave.

“We’re E-rank adventurers, what type of gear are we supposed to have?” Zack said defensively.

“E-rank adventurers? Is that supposed to mean something?” the hobgoblin turned and began walking backward as it asked its questions.

“We Awakened and advanced past level five to reach E-rank,” I explained after I received a nod from Gary. The monster immediately began nodding and he turned back around to face the cave.

“Yes, you’ve reached early Bronze,” he waved a hand in the air lazily. “And where is your early Bronze equipment? Even something created by an Awakened leatherworker would be better than those rags you're wearing.”

I shook my head, “we’re not nobles. Enchanted gear is worth more than we’ve earned since we Awakened.” I wasn’t sure how much we planned on explaining to the hobgoblin, but I didn’t see the risk in saying that much. I wasn’t sure if this was a monster or something similar to another human-like it acted. I had no idea what to do other than follow it with the rest of my team.

“Incredible!” The hobgoblin didn’t say anything else and we continued following him quietly until we reached the opening to the mountains. The sun was setting as we exited the cave and I took a deep breath of the fresh air after the days spent in the cave and dungeon. I closed my eyes to try to clear my head and the hobgoblin cleared its throat from right in front of me.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Let’s camp here, we’ll head to the outpost in the morning.” I jerked back as the hobgoblin chuckled at my reaction. “Don’t make me chase you down.” I nodded and walked away from him back into the cave to join the rest of my team. I laid out my bedroll beside Gary, on the opposite side of the hobgoblin.

“What are we doing?” I whispered as I straightened my pack beside him.

“Staying Alive,” Gary replied softly and shrugged. I looked him in the eyes and saw the same fear of death that I felt before I turned away. There was something about the hobgoblins that made it clear anything I tried would end in my death. Not to mention the enchanted items they all seemed to be covered in. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the hobgoblin had pulled a full tent out of nowhere and was sitting in a comfortable-looking chair.

“Where’s he getting everything from?” I asked and Gary just shook his head while we walked outside the cave to where Gabrielle was setting up a campfire.

“Hey,” Zack nodded his head as we sat down beside the rest of the team. “Gary, what’s the plan?”

“I don’t know, Zack. I don’t have a plan for this,” Gary gestured behind us at the relaxing hobgoblin fiddling with some sort of item. “I don’t even know what this is. I didn’t even know hobgoblins could talk, but that hobgoblin can kill us without breaking a sweat. If we want to live, we follow it,” he shrugged helplessly and I sighed. I agreed with everything he said, running would only get us killed.

“Do you think what he said was true? About the Warband? I’ve never heard of any other kingdoms or territories outside of Satar,” I rambled for a moment and looked around.

“I’ve never heard of anything he said, but I don’t see why something so powerful would lie,” Gary responded after a moment. “If they wanted to kill us they would have.”

“So, we’re supposed to just disappear for a year and a half and fight in some war?” Gabrielle was shaking her head and I saw tears when I glanced at her face. No one said anything for a while as we contemplated our future quietly around the small fire. I heard some noise an hour later and saw the other four hobgoblins joining the one we followed here.

“I guess we just go sleep, then…” I trailed off and exchanged a wary look with Aaron. He sighed and led the way back to our bedrolls inside the cave. None of the hobgoblins were coming over to us so I decided to just lay down and go to sleep. Hopefully, I’d wake up tomorrow and all of this would have been a dream. I pulled up my status half-heartedly as I tried to ignore the hobgoblins chatting on the other side of the cave.

Eli - Lvl 5 Druid

Experience - 3710\10000

Strength-11

Dexterity-12

Perception-10

Vitality-11

Spirit-14

Willpower-14 (+1)

Barkskin - Level 8\10 Upgradeable

Experience - 6420\12800

Thornbolt - Level 6\20 Upgradeable

Experience - 3060\6400

Rejuvenation - Level 5\10 Upgradeable

Experience - 3140\3200

Snaring Roots - Level 4\10 Upgradeable

Experience - 420\1600

At least I leveled to fourteen in Willpower from the difficult fight in the dungeon, as well as earned a significant amount of experience in my skills and class. I rolled over and spent the next few hours trying not to think about what was going to happen to us when we reached this hobgoblin outpost.

“Get up, Eli,” I opened my eyes to Gary gently shaking me awake. I looked around and saw that I was still in the cave, with the five hobgoblins still resting on the other side of the cave. I sighed loudly and packed up my bedroll into my pack before joining the rest of my team outside of the cave.

“I was thinking, last night,” Aaron said quietly as I sat down. “He said we’ll be training here for four months, that’s plenty of time to escape back to Satar.”

“Quiet, Aaron,” Gary shook his head warningly and I remembered the hobgoblin hearing us from halfway across the chamber in the dungeon. We quietly ate breakfast while we waited for the hobgoblins to lead us to the outpost over the mountain.

An hour later the hobgoblins started leading us back over the top of the mountain and into the valley towards the stone fortress. None of the hobgoblins spoke to us, even when Gary tried asking a question, and we didn’t arrive at the outpost until night had fallen. The city walls looked similar to Gorok’s from close up and as we got closer to the gates we passed hundreds of other hobgoblin patrols and teams. This was supposed to just be one Warband of this territory and I doubted any city in Satar would survive an attack.

“Dorv, take them to get a contract with the Warband,” the hobgoblin with the staff said as we entered the gates behind him and Dorv waved for us to follow him. The buildings in the outpost were all made of the same stone the city walls were and everything looked blocky and similar other than the signs on some places. I saw a few races other than hobgoblins during the walk, although no other humans. After another half-hour of walking through the city in the fading sunlight, we reached a large building with an emblem I had seen all over the city, a pair of bloody tusks.

“Come,” Dorv waved at us impatiently as he walked into the building. I followed him inside and saw a counter with attendants set up similar to the adventurers guild. I studied the other creatures in the building while we waited in line and I saw four different races, although I only knew the name of the drow elf because it was so obvious. Everyone in the building wore enchanted gear of all types and I found myself staring from one item to another as we waited.

“I need recruit contracts for these humans, contribution to Duskar of the Dusk,” Dorv said as he walked to an open attendant.

“Understood,” the hobgoblin behind the counter nodded and pulled out five contracts and bracelets. “This contract shows that you swear fealty to Ascended Skorv and will serve in his Warband for one campaign. Desertion will be handled by a team of early-gold hunter classes, so I wouldn’t recommend it,” the hobgoblin grinned down at us as we looked at the contract warily. “Of course, contribution points will allow you to purchase some gear that doesn’t make you look like a barbarian. Enlistment into Ascended Skorv’s Warband comes with one hundred contribution points, although twenty percent will be sent to your recruiter.” I swallowed and glanced around the room half-heartedly looking for a way out of the situation.

“Go on, I’ll show you where to get settled after we’re done,” Dorv waved us towards the contracts.

“What are the bracelets?” I asked cautiously to delay making the decision.

“Ah, the bracelets are how we keep track of your contribution points. They will allow you to get paid for resources and handle purchases here in the outpost,” the hobgoblin attendant explained helpfully. I was sure they were also used to track us, though. Gary sighed and with a depressed glance back towards us he led us in signing the contracts and attuning to the bracelets by sending Essence into them. Before I knew it, we had sworn fealty to this Ascended Skorv and joined his Warband.