Hirrus put his arm out to stop Alric, guiding him to the side of the road. They had barely been on the Hari Path for two minutes, which, in Hirrus’ mind, was a new record for something going sour so fast.

“What?” Alric said, blinking the fog from his eyes and looking around. “I was fucking with my Arcana menu. What are we doing?”

Hirrus gestured ahead of them, where a cart had come into view. It was obviously wider than the road, and the pair of them would need to make way for it to pass.

Alric grumbled and stepped off the road into the ditch. “Alright, fine.” He was pouting, which made Hirrus’ eye twitch. “I don’t see why we have to move. They shouldn’t be on this road with that thing.”

“Where else would they go?” Hirrus asked, gesturing around them. “This is the Hari Path, the largest road in the country.”

“They shouldn’t be on any road,” Alric said. The adventurer pointed at the cart, gesturing down at its wheels. “Look at those. That thing could climb mountains. Why is it on the road anyway?”

“Hm,” Hirrus grunted, saying nothing else in return.

Unless he talked to the driver, he couldn’t speculate on their motivation.

But Alric was right. Not only did it have large, thick offroad wheels, but the engine was mounted higher up on the front of the cart instead of its usual position down near the front axle, where it would be vulnerable to uneven terrain.

It was obviously a cart intended for travel over any surface. Why, then, was it here? It was a large vehicle, half-again as wide as the average cart, with the cargo area in the rear being at least fifteen feet long.

Hirrus considered the tools at his disposal. More than a few Arcana in his arsenal could protect him from an ambush, with even more to let him escape if a situation was clearly stacked against him.

It was just a matter of activating them when the time was right.

He gave Alric a pat on the shoulder as a way of thanking the man for pointing out the strangeness of what was coming, so that he could properly prepare himself.

The cart pulled up short about twenty yards away, even though Alric and Hirrus were well off the road and out of the way.

Hirrus found himself resting his hand on the hilt of his sword, anticipating trouble.

A man poked his head out of the cart, tilting his head to peer curiously at them. He was wearing a half mask, covering his face from just above his upper lip to up over his eyes. Otherwise he was dressed like an adventurer in mismatched armor. His dark iron breastplate that didn’t match at all with the green leather bracers on his wrists.

The man considered them for a moment, and then reached back and slapped the back of the cart. Another man with the same mask poked his head out of the rear of the cart, regarding them with the same unreadable curiosity.

“Nope. I don’t like this,” Alric said, stepping back slightly, as if to take cover behind Hirrus. “I got a bad feeling about this.”

Hirrus tried not to laugh at that. As if two masked men in a giant cart wouldn’t normally be cause for alarm without the warning conveyed by his gut.

“Are you the guy?” the man in the back of the cart called.

“What guy?” Alric called back, his voice cracking from both volume and pitch. “You might want to be more specific. There’s a lotta guy-”

Hirrus held up a hand, cutting Alric off.

This wasn’t the time or the place for nonsense.

The adventurer pouted again.

Hirrus ignored him. “Yes, I’m the guy. What of it?”

The two men exchanged words at a volume that Hirrus couldn’t hear from this distance. The man in the front jumped down and moved to join his companion at the back of the cart.

It only took a moment for the situation to develop beyond his expectation.

The cart wiggled for a moment, moving more than the weight of two men could possibly explain. It suddenly jumped up, as if a large object had just been unloaded.

Hirrus’ hooked sword was in his hand in a flash as a violent hissing roar filled the air.

The two men emerged from behind the cart, each one holding one end of a thick chain. The chains glowed faintly greenish, as as they came around the cart and started up the road towards Hirrus, they dragged something out from behind the vehicle.

It was huge.

Hirrus wasn’t entirely sure how it had fit comfortably even into the overlarge cart.

It was a massive quadruped, about seven feet tall at the shoulder, six feet wide, and twelve feet long. Behind it a thick stubby tail scraped back and forth on the ground. From its shoulders, three snakelike necks sprouted four feet up to hold up three separate reptilian heads.

The chains the men held curved up to these heads, connecting them with a large, elaborate muzzle that locked the beast down.

“Hey guy,” one of the men called as they dragged the huge beast towards Hirrus and Alric. “It was great meeting you! Really, you’re a legend to us, man.”

“A whole guild was brought down,” the second man said with clear awe. “Not just any. Last of the Strong. Fidelis and his boys all turned to mush. Their vault dumped on the fuckin’ ground. Jesus Christ. Legendary doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

“Wish we could have met under better circumstances, though,” the first said, bringing the pair to a stop. “I’m sure you have a great story to tell about it.”

“Shame,” the other said, shaking his head as he yanked on the chain, pulling the huge creature along.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Alric cursed, slowly backing away. “What the fuck is that?”

Hirrus had no idea, but as the men jerked the chains with a twisting motion, and the three-mouthed muzzle came loose and fell to the ground, he identified it as his biggest and most immediate problem.

And as its jaws opened, revealing three maws full of needle-sharp teeth, it became clear that there was only one obvious solution to that problem.

The two men dragged the stone muzzle out of the way, breaking to run for the cart. One of the three heads snapped at one of their heels, narrowly missing the man as he got clear. Its stubby tail whipped into one of them as they ran back past it, sending him to the ground. The first man shouldered the weight of the huge muzzle alone, not stopping to help - focused entirely on getting the device back to the cart.

The three-headed monster whirled, one of its heads striking the man before he could get back to his feet. The man used an Arcana that blasted flames into its face, making it back off. He took the time to scramble to his feet and sprint to the front of the cart, hurling himself into the driver’s seat.

One of the monster’s head snapped at the door as it closed, but was too slow to catch him.

It sniffed at the doors for just a few seconds before obviously giving up. Hirrus wasn’t sure why, since it looked large enough to simply knock the cart over.

Regardless of the reason it gave up its earlier prey, when it did, its attention zeroed in immediately on Hirrus.

“Oh fuck, I get it now.” Alric was backing away, visibly at war with himself over his warring desires to help and to flee.

“Get what?” Hirrus asked, shifting his stance and preparing to pop a bunch of Arcana to buff himself once the fight was properly begun.

“MPKers,” Alric said, pointing at the monster as it sized Hirrus up, waddling its way towards him at a curiously slow pace. “They happen in all the big MMOs. They kill other players using monsters. Bring them where they don’t belong and fuck people over.”

From his experiences as a guard, Hirrus wanted to point out that a lot of adventurers did that, but instead of drawing monsters into fights with other players, they would draw monsters into fights with Hirrus and his fellow guards to make it easier on themselves. But a three-headed monster approaching him made it seem like now wasn’t the time for discussion.

Three heads tilted to one side, regarding Hirrus with a mix of strangely human confusion and curiosity. It could sense that he wasn’t a normal adventurer, and wherever it was supposed to be, it must not have encountered many guards. Just as he was unsure of how to approach it, it was unsure of how to approach him.

Most monsters that Hirrus had faced in recent years were packs of various wild beasts. Smaller foes from the wilderness around Yenon. As a mercenary he’d dealt with more threatening foes than what he’d seen as a guard, but nothing on this scale. He feared, for a moment, that this might be one of those “raid bosses” he’d heard about. If this creature was a match for a fight with Orlina and all her friends at once, it was possible that he might be outmatched.

As it approached, the curiosity in its gaze was starting to turn to hunger. To anger. A deep sibilant growl began to grow in its three throats as its approach sped up.

All he could do now was activate Going Ape, Pumped Kicks, and Iron Tempest and hope it was enough.