Every adventurer the guild could call on was lounging about the main hall.

  Not every adventurer, Marie amended as she snuck into the room with Napoleon. Every non-allagi adventurer.

  Forty or so men and women picked at snacks that Greeleena had laid out, caught a quick nap in one of the comfy armchairs, or caught up with old friends come out of retirement for the night.

  Not that many old ones though. Marie recognised almost everyone in the hall as an active member, and even the ones of advancing years couldn’t be much past fifty. Seeing one that her [Basic Level Analysis] registered as just over level 30 - possibly Gold-ranked - with half an arm missing and a patchwork of scars across her exposed skin, Marie wondered if the reason for that might be obvious.

  She waved at Dusty who was hanging out by the quest board with Chiritta

  Spotting Fila across the room, Maire made her way through wafts of oiled leather and polished armour and a hint of hard-earned sweat to stand next to the noblewoman.

  “I was not sure if you would be participating in this.”

  Fila’s eyes flashed.

  “I wouldn’t have been if father had his way, but I’m a part of the guild.”

  Marie was well aware; she’d filed the papers herself.

  “Do you know what we will be doing?”

  “Not entirely, but we’ll find out soon enough.”

  She gestured to the figure descending from the upper floors, and the rest of Sirrochon’s Spellswords gathered up, greeting her with silent nods, as the [Guildmaster] made his way down the stairs.

  “Those of you who have done this before, check the board for your assignments.”

  Guildmaster Thunderous Roar flicked a hand and the quest board flickered to show a map of the town and a series of cards and strings appeared that almost all the adventurers wandered over to check out.

  That is much better than my Skill.

  Marie couldn’t be too surprised, watching the dark-furred tabaxi stop in front of her, Fila and two other adventurers that had only signed up in the past week. The guildmaster had been doing this a lot longer than she had.

  He took a moment to size them up, the sound of the chatter from the other adventurers fading into the background under the focus of his sombre gaze.

  “Listen carefully, don’t interrupt, and ask questions at the end if you need to.” Thror waited for signs of understanding before he continued. “Tonight is the beastwatch. You should have some idea of what that means, but there’s a specific role you’ll play now as adventurers.” He pointed over to the others double-checking the boards and forming into groups. “The most important thing to understand is that we’re out tonight to keep people safe, but that includes yourselves. You’re all new so you won’t be assigned to the most risky areas, but the guild has been doing this for decades - centuries even - and you need to believe me when I say nowhere is risk-free tonight. As adventurers, we take the more dangerous routes alongside the higher-leveled members of the Watch.” He drew in a breath as he gave them a once-over. “Is this all your gear?”

  Marie glanced at the other three in the cluster. Only Fila had the look of an adventurer, with her green robes clearly tailored to fit, a wand that radiated magic loosely strapped to one arm, and a spellbook clipped securely at her waist. Whilst not as obvious, Marie suspected some of her rings and maybe her pendant and a diadem she was wearing were magical in nature. Lord Entoll had certainly spared no expense to equip his daughter.

  The other two adventurers had only the gear from one of the starter kits Marie had put together, with one carrying a flail and shield and the other favouring a two-handed sword which was currently slung in a clever sheath that let her draw it over her shoulder.

  Marie herself had nothing prepared; she’d been distracted by her [Secretary] work, but even so, with [Proficiency: Improvised Weapons] and [Improvise Shield], she didn’t have the same requirements as others.

  From the look of it, that didn’t meet the guildmaster’s standards though, and Thror looked directly at her.

  “Get armor from the stores for everyone except Miss Entoll.” He shifted his gaze to encompass the others. “You have five minutes to prepare. Go.”

  They raced off, Marie leading the other two to one of the back rooms which she’d organised as a basic armoury. She was already filtering options out with [Inventory Intuition], and she helped the young man and gnoll woman with her as they raced to strap some basic leathers and chainmail on. Even so, they barely made it back before their allotted deadline.

  The [Guildmaster] looked them over with a critical eye and grunted.

  “Good enough. Return it tomorrow. Now, as I’ve already explained to Fila, you’ll be on shifts between sundown and sunup, but so long as the moon is in the sky, you should be ready to go at a moment’s notice. You’re new to it so I’m putting you together as a support group for the other Bronze and Silver-rankers. Your patrol area and times are marked out on the quest board: memorise them and keep to the schedule. Is that crystal clear?”

  “As a winter’s pond, Sir.” The gnoll woman said, only to flinch as she remembered the instruction not to interrupt.

  For his part, the hulking tabaxi simply narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before he continued.

  “I’ll keep it simple. Keep to the middle of the streets and squares as you patrol. If you see an allagi, first shout ‘Ware the beast’ at the top of your lungs, and then either try to subdue them, or else keep tabs on them until help arrives. Understood?”

  Four heads nodded emphatically. Marie felt a shiver run up her spine. The [Guildmaster] was always serious, but his brevity in this made it feel even more serious than she’d imagined.

  “Marie, what do you shout if you see an allagi.”

  The question almost caught her off-guard, but she stammered out.

  “B-beware the beast?”

  “Ware the beast. As loudly as you can. Each of you, do it now.”

  He pointed at the armoured man, who rattled off the call without hesitation. The other three were picked out, and Marie gave a better showing the second time, but Thror was relentless, and they each gave the cry four or five times at the top of their lungs - Fila bringing down a layer of dust from the rafters - until the [Guildmaster] was satisfied. Even Napoleon seemed to understand what was going on, and stamped his skeletal paws hard enough that Marie worried her makeshift bone-brace solution was going to fail.

  “Remember. Keep the patrol. Stay away from the shadows. First give the shout, then engage or follow a beast if you see one.” Almost as an afterthought he added. “If there are two or more, don’t engage without backup. Any questions?”

  Marie half-raised her hand to ask about compensation, but the look that Thror gave her sent it back down. From his expression, he knew what she was going to say and the furrow to his brows told her it was something to be addressed the following day.

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  “Good, then grab ropes and chains and cuffs from the table - at least two sets between you - and get going.”

  —

  Lammaran tensed as a shout echoed through the streets, but there was no following cry of ‘Ware the beast’. After a moment, the level 13 [Thrasher] shouldered his flail and continued on.

  As the most heavily armored of the four, the young man was in front as the group made what seemed like their hundredth loop of their patrol route.

  It had still been light outside when they’d started, and though there was still illumination from the full moon, it threw most of the town into shadow.

  Behind the one-time [Farmer] who led the way, Sharra followed. Despite being the youngest and lowest-levelled of them all as a level 10 [Ranger] - barely even Bronze-ranked, the gnoll girl had the keenest senses by a country mile. The teenaged gnoll sniffed the air as she walked, one hand twitching towards the pommel of her broadsword which hung over her shoulders in its novel scabbard.

  Marie kept pace at the rear, with Fila directly in front, sandwiched safely in the middle. The noblewoman might have been wearing the most expensive gear, and was older and higher level than the Bronze-rankers in front, but Marie knew her file and the [Arcane Songstress] wasn’t suited to brawling if it came down to it.

  A chill wind raised the hairs on Marie’s arm. It was remarkable how quickly the town changed once night had fallen, although perhaps there was more to blame tonight than the weather.

  Ahead, figures appeared, stalking across an intersection in the streets, and Lammaran raised a hand, waiting for Sharra. They were all nervous, and Napoleon’s presence wasn’t helping the two younger ones.

  Inhaling the cold night air, Sharra shook her head.

  “They’re with us.”

  Marie frowned at that. It implied that the allagi were against them.

  It is just a condition they have to deal with.

  Sudden whistles and shouts from the north west had them all on edge, poised to run, but before anyone could bolt off, Marie made the call.

  “Too far. Leave it.”

  As the highest levelled and the most experienced in combat, Thror had put her in charge of the new group. A length of chain clinked in her hands and manacles shifted at her waist as they resumed their patrol. Sharra carried rope and another set of cuffs, but Marie was almost certain it was just for show. Their route was far from the allagi part of town where the Spellswords and Evermore’s Flame and the older adventurers were keeping watch.

  They continued until the moon was directly overhead. Every single disturbance that drifted through the air caused them to stop in their tracks and wait. They had almost reached the end of their first long shift when sounds of a fight grew nearby - closer than any that had come before. Each of them strained their ears, but without the cry they were waiting for, the instructions had been clear.

  They moved on slowly, hesitating in their patrol in case the call to arms came, until the sounds finally died down. They began to breathe more easily until a sudden pounding of footsteps caused them to stop and huddle up in a defensive stance, the three more martial classes and Napoleon protecting Fila in the middle.

  When Leaping Mist came out of the shadows, their heartbeats slowed from a thundering pace to merely fast, and Marie allowed her grip on the chain to relax fractionally.

  At the sight of his face, it tightened up again.

  Leam only gave them a once-over before he nodded to Maire.

  “You got enough to restrain three allagi?”

  She nodded back, and without speaking he waved for them to follow and took off at a lope through the town.

  It was only a few streets over that Leaping Mist led them, though from the looks of it the fight had started somewhere else and only ended here.

  Bodies were sprawled in the street, seven or eight of them allagi, and a couple of members of the Watch that were being pulled to one side and checked over for wounds. Four of the battered and unconscious forms were already tied up, their forms swollen by more than what a beating would account for, and Marie glanced away from distended jaws and bulging limbs as she followed Leam.

  He led them to a trio of bodies that were being restrained even in their unconscious state by Sirro, Dap and Quartz - the normally glib half-halfling sombre for once.

  Marie tried not to look at their features as she took her chain and manacles and locked them around the first two as Napoleon stood guard, Sharra following her example with the last one, but she couldn’t help but notice a gash in the leg of the one she bound that showed the white of bone under leaking blood.

  “He’s cut. Deep.”

  “Serves him right.” Sirro hissed, dabbing at a split under his eye that was already starting to bruise. “Leave it. He’s high enough level that he won’t bleed out. Not with the freakish way they regenerate in this state.”

  Marie’s protest died in her mouth as she watched the bleeding visibly slow, though the cut remained open. She was trying to figure out what to make a bandage from when the Watch came and dragged the now-bound forms off to the holding cells that had been specially prepared.

  Dap offered a healing potion to Sirro but the man waved it off after a few seconds of consideration. The leader of Sirrochon’s Spellswords looked to Marie and her team, and managed to flash them a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes as his breathing slowed.

  “They say there’s always one, but in reality there are usually a few more. Never seen something this bad before though. Don’t worry - they won’t get out of the Watch’s grasp.”

  “Nearly got out of our grasp though.” Quartz mumbled. “Not had to run so fast all year.”

  Sirro rolled his eyes as Dap flicked a stone at the small man.

  “Maybe that’s why we caught so few bandits.” The [Verseblade] made a judgement call and turned to Marie. “You guys close to the end of your shift?”

  “Just past it, I believe.”

  “In that case, let’s head back to the guild together.”

  —

  The interior of the guild was quiet despite the dozen or so adventurers taking a brief rest before their next shift started. The only illumination was from the great fireplace that Napoleon settled down next to despite surely not being able to feel the heat.

  As they entered, another group left, and the Spellblades paused only to grab a drink and a hot skewer of meat each before restocking their manacles and ropes and heading back out themselves.

  Maire and her team collapsed into a set of chairs around a table that had a platter of sandwiches on it, Lammaran and Sharra shaking slightly as the adrenaline began to wear off. Marie knew that feeling well, though compared to Forcastera, this night held no fear for her.

  Or if it did, it was not for herself.

  Next to her, Fila was reaching for a sandwich and inspecting the filling, before accepting it and leaning back to replenish her energy.

  “Did you see what they did to those poor allagi?”

  Fila flinched, startled by Marie’s whisper. She spoke back round a mouth of bread and cold cuts and cheese.

  “I don’t know if that’s how I’d describe them. You saw what they looked like. I’d not seen them… changed before. They look like monsters.”

  Marie glared at her.

  “They are people. The same people that you pass in the street every day - that you adventured alongside two weeks ago.”

  “Yes, but they turn.”

  “They can not help it.”

  “Can’t they? I’ve been told some can.”

  “It does not matter. They will change back come morning. Think of how that man will be, battered and bloody, lying in a cold cell, leg cut to the bone. He may well be crippled.”

  “We’re not animals. They’ll have a blanket or something. And you heard what Sirro said - they heal.”

  “From something that bad? Overnight?”

  “Well, I don’t know. Maybe? What does it matter? They turned and broke out, or went out, and we had to take them down to protect the rest of the town. Well, not us, but the Spellswords did.”

  Sharra demonstrated her race’s keen hearing as she leaned forwards from pouring herself a drink on the other side of the table.

  “Whose side are you on, [Scout] Marie?”

  Eyes narrowing, Maire considered the gnoll.

  “The side that is under threat.”

  “Well that’s everyone but the allagi tonight.” Fila said. “You saw Sirro’s face. That’s from an allagi that wasn’t even an adventurer. Probably only around our level. Imagine that. Without gear. Coming close to ripping out a Silver-ranker’s eye. Imagine if he’d been bitten; he could have become one of them.”

  Lammaran, who had been half-zoned out until that point, sat up and took interest.

  “Does that really happen?”

  All of them looked to Fila, who confirmed it with a nod.

  “It’s what made the allagi empire so dangerous when they tried to take over centuries ago. It wasn’t just that their leader had a way to let them turn even outside of a full moon, and to let them control it better, it was their ability to turn some of their defeated enemies into their own number.”

  “Some?”

  Fila focussed on Sharra.

  “Yes, most. Not all races are susceptible to the allagi curse. Genasi are entirely immune to it. People with elven blood are resistant to most things of that nature too. Dwarves as well. Really humans and beastkin and gnolls are the ones at real risk, though there are stories of goliaths being turned, and the destruction they caused.”

  “Why wouldn’t they just turn on the allagi once they’d changed?” Lammaran asked, face twisted in confusion. “Surely they wouldn’t side with their attackers.”

  “That’s just the thing.” Fila replied. “All the allagi needed to do was to infect a few individuals in each place they conquered and then move on. Come the next full moon, the ones they turned would run riot, biting and infecting more of the population and killing others. It meant that people had to either kill their own friends and family, or take the time to deal with the situation. And they infected anyone: elderly, children. Pregnant women were a favoured target of some of the warbands, but others would do it secretly to ones that had been knocked unconscious.”

  Marie’s brow drew into a tight furrow.

  “That was hundreds of years ago though. It does not mean the allagi today would do such a thing. Have other races not tried to conquer and committed atrocious acts?”

  Surely it is the same as home.

  Fila’s lips pursed.

  “Of course, no race is innocent if you go back far enough. But allagi don’t have control over their actions at this time of the month. If they did, none of this would be necessary. That’s what tonight is about.”

  “It still seems like a brutal response. Surely there must be a better way…”

  The others shrugged, not in a position where they had the knowledge or power to suggest an alternative.

  —

  The clock in the guild hall struck one in the morning and the four Bronze-rankers dragged themselves out of their chairs to resume their duties, grabbing restraining equipment from the dwindling supply on the table by the entrance.

  The route wasn’t long, and as the hours wore on and they patrolled the same path over and over, they found the endless tension too much to process.

  Lammaran trudged along in the lead, taking the turns down different streets from muscle memory alone. Sharra’s ears barely twitched as sounds drifted up from around the town. The only one that seemed unfazed and alert was Napoleon.

  Perhaps a thousand years of solitude does that to you.

  Lost in thought, it took a second for Marie to realise that someone was shouting not far off. It was only when Napoleon stiffened that she shook out of the trance she was in.

  “-re the beast!”

  She looked up a fraction of a second before Fila, with Lammaran and Sharra a moment behind. All three looked round to her as the call came again.

  “Ware the beast!”

  This time, she didn’t hesitate.

  “It’s close. Move!”

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