The early morning rapidly filled with people grabbing the opportunity to learn whatever skill the System applied to an equestrian. Karl put together a large group to go hunting for the giant hobgoblin. Terry didn't want to get up early but did; Doug and Chenelle, and Jo and Tabitha; Christine and Alain, and Mr. and Mrs. Williams. Ten of the most high powered people they had.

A dozen of the low level residents opted to move to the farm in order to have more spacious living quarters and a head start on growing food, and were willing to give up their lesser System tokens.

The group of twenty-five people and four horses set out and made good time east along Post Road. It was still five hours before they arrived, since they were moving at the speed of the lowest endurance score in the group. They had to stop and fight three different times; but monsters that the Lazy Circle group had avoided were not too much of a challenge for the powerful party.

On arrival, they got a brief tour of the Lazy Circle Farm Safe Zone, and the dozen new residents were admitted and welcomed. They met lots of people and Karl could not really remember any of them, except the boy Steve who learned Mana Dart from Alain, got his mage class, and proudly handed over his token to Jack Swift.

They kept the visit short because of the travel time; if they waited much longer they would have to spend the night, and while that would not have been a burden for the Zone or the visitors, Endurance could not spare so much of its firepower for that long. Two riders decided to accompany the hunting party for the first stretch as they started back on foot to search the area where the giant hobgoblin had been sighted.

Karl was amazed to see how quickly the map data filled in with the scouts ranging far afield and returning, over and over. We definitely need to find or hire some horses for Endurance. It would be easy to become spoiled with all this information. While they travelled, they discussed the hobgoblin.

“So those things usually come in batches, not alone. Remember the one that almost killed you, Sir Karl?”

“Which time?”

“The first one. The one that dropped the core and nearly took your arm off and cursed you half to death.”

“Oh that time a hobgoblin almost killed me. Right.”

“Wiseass.”

“Terry!” her mother scolded.

“I earned my wise ass by putting in the decades, young lady. Whereas you—”

“—got it by natural talent and eight levels in badass.”

We need to find someone with more levels than her to take her down a notch before she gets too insufferable.

“So anyway, that guy had like two healers and several other puds backing him up. Then the other one had the entire fort with like 60 of them. So can we expect a swarm of little wannabes around the big guy?”

“Presumably. We're also not 100% sure that it's even a hobgoblin. They said it looked like a huge one but didn't get close enough for a proper Identify.”

“Just so long as we're not off on a wild moose chase.”

A couple of people groaned.

The riders left them after three hours, in order to get back to the Lazy Circle before dark. From that point progress was slower. Christine had to track over a lot of territory. Karl was starting to wonder whether to give up and try to double-time it home before dark, when the ranger called out in triumph. Nobody got too close for fear of messing up her tracking, now that she finally had the trail.

“This isn't a hobgoblin,” Chris announced. “But it's definitely something big. No sign of a lot of minions, it might be a solo creature.”

“Please, don't be a troll,” Chenelle murmured. Karl mentally agreed with the sentiment wholeheartedly.

“What do we do if it's a rare spawn?” Alain asked from the back.

“We kick its ass anyway,” Terry declared.

“Don't get cocky. We're not all eighth level yet. It took the entire Safe Zone's resources to stop those trolls.”

“Quiet down please, the tracks are getting fresher.”

Karl looked over the party and discovered that Terry had just vanished. He summoned his shield. Seeing that, others tensed. Christine glided into the woods and disappeared. They waited for about a minute, then the tracker returned. She came close to the others, leaned in and spoke quietly.

“I see two of them. They look a lot like the trolls, but green. Maybe ten or eleven feet tall. Didn't get quite close enough for an Identify.”

“Terry, are you here?” Karl murmured.

“Yep. They're called moss ogres. Uncommon. Shouldn't be too bad for us. I'm going to go stab one, you'll hear it yell because I probably can't drop one of those things in just one blow.”

“Any weird terrain?”

“They're in a clearing, in the shade. There are some rock piles but nothing big.”

Karl glanced around. “Thoughts?”

“You and I get up close,” Barbara suggested. “Doug backs us up. Chenelle and Mur in the back.”

“I'll guard the casters and shooters,” Jo declared.

Next to her, Tabitha held up her hands as if holding a beach ball. “Fire.”

“Try not to hit Terry.”

Christine shrugged. “I'll circle around to the right and take shots; I can run back into the woods if they come my way.”

Something about that made Karl uneasy, but he wasn't a good enough tactician to pin down the issue. “Here.” He cast Guardian Angel on Christine, and then Blessing of Courage on the group. “All right, let's move closer.” When they got to the edge of the clearing, the scene was as Terry had described.

The battle kicked off as expected. Terry got in her backstab, making the ogre on the right suddenly howl. A moment later, Tabitha's Fireball flew at the the one on the left. Alain and Christine opened fire with spells and arrows, and Karl, Barbara and Doug started forward across the clearing at a run.

The trouble started when the ogre on the left bent over and picked up a rock about the size of a basketball. Uh-oh. Karl tried to figure out what they should do in response. The fighters were still too far away to reach the ogres. The one on the left reared back and threw the rock directly at the person who had hurt it: Tabitha. The rock seemed to move impossibly fast. Karl looked over his shoulder, and to his horror, saw Tabitha soar backwards through the air and slam into a tree, then fall to the ground and lie still. Chenelle was already turning and casting before the pyromancer even hit the forest floor. Karl could only hope that there was something left to heal.

When he turned back, the ogre was picking up another rock big enough to sit on. “There are some rock piles...” He cursed his stupidity and put on an extra burst of speed, but still didn't get there in time to stop the second throw, this time aimed off to the right, at Christine. He couldn't see what happened. Then he finally arrived in melee range, and his impression of the fight devolved into a blur of swings and stabs and dodges. He couldn't think of anything clever; his brain had frozen up. His body moved on autopilot. I may have gotten my friends killed.

It felt like an eternity passed. Karl came back to himself when someone called his name; he was standing over one ogre, while Barbara and Doug were finishing off the other with support from Alain's Mana Darts. Karl's health was a bit under half and his mana mostly drained. He turned around, and realized that Chenelle was calling for him. He ran back across the field, terrified of what he would find. For a moment he wasn't sure what he was hearing, and then he understood.

The sound of Tabitha keening broke his heart.

Oh no. He looked around for Jo, and didn't see her anywhere. Chenelle was still casting on Tabitha, who looked like a little broken doll. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, knees to her chest, as she rocked back and forth. Murray was kneeling on the ground and Alain was standing next to him. They were looking down at...

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Karl blinked and moved closer. What looked like a giant tangle of vines was wrapped tightly around something large. Murray met his gaze. “It was all I could think of.”

Examine, Karl thought, staring at the vines.

Cocoon, Level 5

The targeted creature has been absorbed by the forest, and will not emerge unchanged.

“Murray...what did you do, exactly?”

“I'm not completely sure. The spell says that if it is cast within a minute of death it will restore one hit point per day.”

Karl took a breath. “She died?”

Murray nodded. “It has to be one of her Protector abilities. She took on the damage—most of the damage—that would have killed Tabitha. I don't know how it works, but...there wasn't much left of her when I got to her. Her head seemed intact, so we can hope that whatever makes Jo, Jo, is still in there...but I don't know what's going to happen.”

“Can we move her?”

“No.”

Karl closed his eyes and put a hand to his forehead for a moment. “It could have been worse. Would have been worse. You did the only thing anyone could. I couldn't have saved her; I don't think Chenelle can raise the dead. So thank you, Murray.” He opened his eyes and looked around. “How is everyone else? Where's Christine?”

“Guys...? A little help here?”

Karl turned and ran diagonally across the field to the spot where Terry was half-carrying a limping Christine out of the woods. The tree nearest them had been felled and they were picking their way past its branches. “Here.” Karl reached out, lifted Christine into his arms, and carried her past the tree. “Let's join the others.” Since he was holding her already, he cast Healing Hands on her twice while walking over, murmuring prayers, then asked, “What happened? There was only one rock thrown your way; I'd have thought the Guardian Angel spell would have protected you.”

Christine cleared her throat. When Karl looked down he saw that she was red-faced, and promptly set her back on her feet. “Oh. My apologies. Can you walk?” Christine looked down at her feet as she gently took a step.

“Yes. Thank you.” She cleared her throat again, still looking at the ground. “Your spell saved my life, Sir Karl. It took the impact from the rock, but it had already expired by the time I hit the other tree.”

“The other tree?”

Christine looked up. “I took cover behind what I thought was a solid enough tree when I saw the rock coming, but the rock punched right through it and hit me anyway, with enough force to send me flying. When I slammed into another tree is when I took this damage.” She looked down again. “I'm sorry I wasn't more help in the fight.”

“Eh, you got some shots in. You got experience, right?” She nodded. “So the System says you helped. Case closed.” Karl did his best to use his Charisma score to convince her not to worry about it.

“She was hurt worse than this, Sir Karl,” Terry piped up. “I used up my emergency healer staff getting her into good enough shape to move. And what took you so long anyway?”

“It's Jo,” Karl said grimly as they approached the others.

Terry's face grew serious. “Is she okay?”

“It's...complicated. Your father cast a spell to save her, but...” Terry looked past him at the rest of the group.

“ACK! Dad! What did you do?” Terry ran over, dropped into a crouch and stared at the cocoon.

“Everyone,” Chenelle called, “please give us some room.” She was leading a very fragile looking Tabitha forward. The rest of them except the druid moved away a few steps. The pyromancer approached the cocoon very slowly, sank to her knees, and very, very gently reached around it as far as she could in a hug, pressing her cheek against the vines, and weeping silently. After a moment, Murray whispered something and backed away carefully, leaving Chenelle standing sentry over the small redhead and the hopefully once-and-future Jo. The rest of them gathered a short distance away and spoke in low tones.

“Everyone,” Karl sighed, “I know I screwed up. But we'll discuss that later. First, Jo's status. Murray?”

The druid took a deep breath and explained. “When the rock hit Tabitha, I happened to be looking at Jo. It seemed like she was out of position for some reason, and was concentrating. Suddenly she...she all but exploded, frankly. A huge hole right through her. No recoil, but she was dead before she hit the ground.”

“How could it hit that hard?”

“I don't know,” Murray snapped, then took a breath. “I have a spell, Cocoon. It's an extreme measure, but she couldn't get any worse, so I tried it. It can save...something...even of a dead person if cast soon enough. I don't know what it will do to her. I can't get a clear read on her now, just the cocoon. Something will emerge when the cocoon breaks...I'm not sure exactly what, but it—she—will at least be alive. Like I told Karl, her head was intact, so we can hope that her...her soul, her spirit, is still in there.” Everyone started asking questions.

“How long will it take?”

“Three days.”

“Should we carry her back to Endurance like that?”

“We can't. Moving the cocoon would kill her.”

“You mean we're stuck here in this clearing for three days and nights with no Safe Zone?”

“I'm afraid so.”

“What's it going to do to her? What does the System say?”

Murray closed his eyes and read his interface. “It says the spell will restore one hit point per day to the target, and revive even a dead body if cast within a minute of death.”

“Were you in time?”

“Yes, barely.” Murray kept reading. “The level of the creature that emerges cannot exceed the level of the caster. Alterations of physical structure and abilities will vary with circumstances. Uprooting or severely damaging the cocoon will result in the death of the target creature.” He opened his eyes. “We were lucky she was just on the edge of the trees when she fell; the spell technically requires her to be surrounded by forest on all sides. I'm going to be spending my mana helping the plants next to her to grow so the spell doesn't fail. But I can't do it too much or the saplings will take nutrients from the soil that should go to the cocoon.” The man sounded very stressed and worried over the responsibility.

Karl cleared his throat. “Murray, thank you. That was nothing short of a miracle, and I was fresh out. You gave her a chance. We won't let that chance slip away. Whatever it takes, we'll protect that cocoon.”

“Tabitha must feel so helpless,” Christine murmured. “Her abilities are fire-based and that's the last thing Jo needs right now.”

“Is she going to grow gills or feathers or something?”

“Terry, I don't know.”

“Sorry Dad.” Terry rubbed her forehead. “Sir Karl, I should probably run back to Endurance and tell them what happened. Maybe they can send building supplies and we can make a temporary Safe Zone tomorrow.” Karl nodded.

“Send wood only,” Murray said. “She needs forest all around; we'll have to see whether putting wood between trees will be good enough to satisfy both conditions at once.”

“We might do better building a regular building on the far side of the clearing and using that instead. We can come out to guard, and then go in to sleep safely.”

“Fair enough. Got that, Terry?”

“Yeah. Anybody need anything?”

“A change of clothes would be nice.”

“Anything else?”

“Anything Tabitha might need.”

“Gotcha. Okay.” Terry looked up. “I should get back to Endurance by nightfall if I hustle. If we leave at first light tomorrow we can be back by ten or so, but let's assume it takes people time to wake up and have breakfast and stuff, so expect us around noon.”

Then Terry went around and hugged everyone individually before leaving, something she didn't normally do, but Karl understood. She approached Tabitha last, and whispered to her a bit, then gave a wave and headed off.

Karl tried to think of what was next. “We'll have to sleep in shifts, to make sure nothing bothers her during the night. I can take a middle watch; I don't need much sleep these days. Does everyone have rations?” There were nods.

“I can get us some meat,” Christine offered. “I've still got my backup bow.”

“That would be great, Christine. I'm craving meat constantly these days.” It was actually true, but the reason he said it was to help her feel useful.

“Has anybody looted the ogres?” Alain asked. Nobody answered. “I'll start on that for my part. I'm not good for anything else until I get some mana back.”

“Should we gather wood for a fire?”

Murray stirred. “If you could pick up some fallen wood and bring it here unmodified, it technically counts as forest so it would help with my safety margin.”

“Barbara. At a good time, if you could relieve Chenelle so we can fill her in that would be great. There are only...” Karl glanced around, “three women here who could care for Tabitha right now.” We had six women when we set out, fortunately.

“You boys keep your distance. I know a little about her situation. We've talked.”

Karl blinked. “Really.”

The barbarian mother nodded. “There weren't a lot of words, but we talked.”

I'm going to chalk that up to personality skills I don't have and not mess with it.

They went out in pairs to loot the ogres, and Karl's eyebrows raised when he got one gold coin from one of them. Well, we damned well paid for it in blood. For just Uncommon monsters they were tough.

“Sir Karl?” Alain walked up to him and held out something. Karl focused on it for a moment.

Bracer of Throwing

“What is that?”

“It's how that one ogre could throw rocks hard enough to punch through trees, apparently. I don't know who needs this, most of us aren't throwing things when we attack. I figure you would know better who should get it.”

“Thank you, I'll talk to people when we get back.” Karl took it and vanished it into his inventory, and Alain walked off.

Karl shook his head. When did I start thinking of uncommon spawns as “just” that? My overconfidence nearly...it did...get Jo killed. We almost lost Christine as well. And how would I have felt then?

When we get back, I'm going to make the time for more lessons in tactics from Paul and Chad. Everything else will just have to wait.