The Last Desert was one of the highlights of Hans’ career. Very few humans ever traveled that far, so standing at the edge of the wasteland at the end of the world was a privilege he still treasured. Maybe three dozen other people in all of human history had ever gone as far as he did. He couldn't help but feel like he cheated, however. The rest of his party were exceptional Diamond-ranked adventurers.

  Which wasn’t quite the heroic scenario Hans dreamed of as a kid, but that didn’t sour it too much.

  In the dungeon, the adventurers didn’t get to see or experience the immensity of what this place was in the real world, nor did they have to make the climb that Hans and his party did.

  The known border of the Last Desert was at the top of a cliff face. Some scholars argued the whole of the desert was actually on a butte, but no one had mapped the full border to know. To Hans’ knowledge, there was no other desert in the world where getting to it meant climbing up first. Deserts were typically in valleys or on long, mostly flat plains.

  The winds weren’t constant, but they were frequent enough to make the ascent precarious. Sand cascaded down the rock face with every gust. In the worst cases, Hans had to hug one handhold for several minutes to clear all of the sand from his eyes with blinks and squints. By the time he reached the summit, his hair looked blonde from the layers of desert dust.

  The other major difference between the dungeon version and the real thing was that the real Last Desert didn’t have a bunch of squabbling children.

  Jason, the party Ranger, had stepped on a shadow scorpion and paid for his poor manners with a stinger to the biceps. Hans and Terry watched from a distance as it happened, both using Truesight potions so that they knew where the scorpions lurked. If there was more than one scorpion hiding in that area, Hans would have intervened, but these were seasoned adventurers aiming for big things. He couldn’t baby them too much.

  As far as monsters with Illusion magic were concerned, Hans would fight shadow scorpions every time if given the choice. In the heat of the day, they didn’t stalk or pursue. They waited in hiding for a meal to walk in range. At night when it was cool, they were a bit more aggressive, but a few extra fires were all it took to keep them from growing too bold.

  Moon lions could stalk a party for hours before making their move, usually when one of a group fell behind or got distracted. Several varieties of demons were masters of disguise and faking voices, tricking adventurers into attacking a double or luring them into a trap by pretending to be a hurt child or a beautiful woman. A rock spider pretended to be, well, a rock, and then pounced on unsuspecting prey. Those were all more deadly than shadow scorpions in Hans’ mind.

  And though they weren’t technically users of Illusion magic, Hans thought of mimics and gargoyles as Illusion monsters also. They went to great lengths to be something they weren’t to catch their prey unawares.

  “What the shit, Bridun?” Jeremy asked for the third time.

  The Ranger got to a Cure Poison potion before the venom had time to do its worst, and a Healing potion put the muscles of his arm back together. It was going to be sore and stiff for several days, though. Nobody died, but Jeremy was very aware that he could have.

  “You said you had it covered,” the Ranger hissed.

  “I did!” Bridun yelled back. “I had the song right. They should have been Paralyzed.”

  “Obviously, you fucking didn’t.”

  Terry leaned in to whisper to Hans. “Is this bickering part of the lesson?”

  “Eh, sort of,” Hans replied.

  Beth the Black Mage stepped between the Bard and the Ranger. “You guys are being embarrassing.” She jerked her head to remind the party that Hans and Terry were right there watching them fight. “Let’s just get this done.”

  Jeremy the Fighter nodded his approval. “On me,” he said.

  And the party formed back up. As soon as Bridun started to strum the same Paralyze song, Hans shouted for them to wait.

  They looked at the Guild Master confused.

  “Are you really going to do the same thing that just got you stung?” he asked.

  The Bronze-ranked adventurers glanced between one another nervously.

  “Shadow scorpions are immune to Charm, Paralyze, Peacemaking, and Discordance. Your tactics are going to break down in the exact same way.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us they were immune?” Jeremy asked with an edge of accusation to his tone.

  “Why would I?”

  The Fighter hesitated. “Because you’re the teacher.”

  “Yeah, and you’re the adventurers. Prepping for the job is your responsibility, not mine. How do you handle prep in your party?”

  The group again looked between one another. “We agree on the job and review it together before we leave,” Bridun said, his voice soft.

  “What kind of research goes into that review?”

  “Uhh,” Bridun gestured to the Ranger. “Jason pulls maps, and Jeremy packs food.”

  “And?”

  Bridun stared blankly at Hans.

  Communicating with the Bard was unusually difficult for the Guild Master. He had met and worked with all manner of eccentric characters with equally diverse interpersonal styles between them, but Bridun was an outlier puzzle Hans had yet to solve. At first, he thought that the Bard might see the world similarly to Honronk, but direct and literal wasn’t it. Nor was the young man shy and nervous.

  He seemed bored and disinterested whenever he spoke. When Bridun had a task or was running a drill, however, Hans believed he was truly seeing his best attempts, and that was true of his behavior on runs as well. Bridun was also engaged with his party and gave his all to keep them safe.

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  But when Bridun talked, Hans half-expected the Bard to fall asleep right there in front of him.

  When Bridun didn’t answer Hans’ prompt, the Guild Master continued, “...and your process should involve more than that.”

  “We’ve done pretty good with our methods so far,” Beth added.

  Hans shook his head. “That’s not what I’ve seen. In fact, you’re all exceptional in a fight, and I mean that. But when things go wrong, you have a hard time recovering your rhythm as a party. You all had a similar moment with the lamias when the water elemental almost got to Bridun. Despite having every opportunity to prep for the specific monsters you knew would be there, your frontline got run over by the elementals.”

  “So, what’s the fix?” Jason asked.

  “I think the problem is rooted in your prep, so we need to get you a repeatable process for properly anticipating problems on a job and then work on party cohesion when things go wrong. I’m not saying it will instantly make you Silvers or that there aren’t other opportunities to improve, but that weed has been growing for a long time. I think you’ll notice when it’s gone.”

  “Are we finishing the run?” Bridun asked as he nodded his agreement with Hans’ words.

  “Yep. Figure out a plan for dealing with the scorps now that you know Bard magic won’t work. And no, I won’t give you any hints. Terry might, if you ask him nicely.”

  “Bribery works too,” Terry added.

  “We’ve decided not to take griffons,” Chisel said at the end of one of their Cursed memory sessions. Luther and Devon had already gone, leaving only Hans and the White Mage in the small Gomi house.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. We decided that the attention isn’t worth the convenience. With it being so soon after the war, we’d rather folks ignore us than notice us.”

  “That makes sense,” Hans replied.

  “And as you pointed out, we can’t bring cave crawlers if we fly. Can’t take horses either, for that matter. The crawlers can’t swim that fast.”

  “Get yourselves a wagon.”

  “Huh?”

  “Get a wagon,” Hans repeated. “Put the bodyguards in the back. When you make camp for the night or head into a town, have them dive then.”

  Chisel wrinkled her face, unconvinced. “That feels like it would attract attention. Maybe not as much as a griffon, but folks will notice.”

  Hans wobbled his head. “If you’re traveling with a caravan, sure, but I had it in my head you intended to make your way alone.”

  “We do.”

  “Yeah, see, then your problem is solved. Let them out of the wagon before you’re surrounded by witnesses, and you’re set. Have you decided where you want to go?”

  “We’re thinking of going to Raven’s Hollow. Olza has made it sound like a nice town to visit.”

  Olza did speak fondly of her hometown. “That trip is long enough that it makes me even more adamant about the wagon,” Hans said. “It’s better than walking, and making camp is so much nicer when you have room for that many supplies. At the very least, let someone from Gomi give you and your guards a ride to the pass. You’ve seen the forest already, so might as well cut that time since you can.”

  The White Mage thought for a time. “I think you’ve convinced me about the wagon.”

  “Good. Plan on taking the imps?”

  “Oh definitely,” Chisel said immediately. “I’ve gotten far too used to having the extra help whenever I need it.”

  “Yeah, Olza’s like that with Jerry, but he stays in the lab mostly.”

  “And so does she.”

  Hans chuckled. “That’s very true. When are you planning to leave?”

  “Maybe a few days? The summer is disappearing more quickly than I’d like it to.”

  “Agreed.”

  Chisel shifted for a moment, as if unsure if she should speak her mind. “What do we do if someone bothers us? I mean, do you think there are people that will notice that the wards aren’t sending us to Gomi?”

  “I doubt it. That feature didn’t come with the statue paperwork, you know? I can’t imagine any locals know about it.”

  “Honk thinks we should leave them alone. I think we should destroy every last one of them.”

  Hans raised an eyebrow. He had noticed that he preferred to raise his left eyebrow when he made that expression, and the eye patch weakened the effect significantly. But trying to raise his right eyebrow instead was headache-inducingly difficult, so he started the process of accepting that he would continue using the left eyebrow regardless, even if no one would see it.

  “Magic like that shouldn’t be permitted to continue,” Chisel said, resolutely. “Honk believes that leaving them be is the lesser of two evils. He’d rather the orc Blood magic remain blocked and our people get sent to Gomi than drop that defense completely. And am I really seeing you agree with him right now?”

  Laughing, Hans nodded. “Technically, I agree with both of you. Tattooing every tusk isn’t sustainable in the long term. I’m sure folks like Gomi and all, but people move towns all the time for all kinds of reasons. Everyone in Gomi should have that control over their lives, you know? But at the same time, those wards took a lot of power and a lot of money. I’m wary of picking a fight that big with so little information.”

  Chisel slumped backward. “You sound exactly like Honk.”

  “Exactly?”

  That got Chisel to laugh. “No, not word for word. He raised similar points.”

  “I think you’re pushing the right issues, though,” Hans said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “A lot of things need to change in the kingdom, and it’s going to take a lot of smart, dedicated people to make those changes possible. I know you’re going to tell me I’m wrong, but you’re sharp. I think you speaking up more often will lead to good things.”

  Chisel exhaled, her smile gone. “You make it sound like I’m responsible for the future of tusks.”

  “You are.”

  “I don’t know that I want that responsibility.”

  Hans shook his head. “That’s not how I mean. We’re all responsible for each other, right? Every member of the party plays their role. From watching Galad and Charlie work, I’ve learned that a community as a whole is like that too. I’m not trying to suggest you carry this alone or lead the movement, but your contributions matter more than you think.”

  “I thought these sessions were to help you, not me?” Chisel joked.

  “We don’t have to make it that serious,” Hans joked back. “I just know that you tend to stick to the background, a classic supporting White Mage, I guess. There’s nothing wrong with preferring that, but I would hate to learn that you held back your best because you didn’t think anyone wanted to hear your ideas.”

  Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

  Monitor for independently grown sections of dungeon.

  Complete the next volume (Bronze to Silver) for “The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers.”

  Manage the ongoing establishment of a Hoseki-grade library in Gomi.

  Learn to help your advanced students as much as you help beginners.

  Decide how to manage breeding requests for monsters like mimics and shadow scorpions.

  Relocate the titan bones to the dungeon entrance.

  Offer Diamond quests to Ewan and his party.

  Prepare Bridun and his party for Silver.