Octavius’s face was grim as he walked towards the thrall’s makeshift cell. The people of the Sanctuary had begun to grow used to seeing him over the past day and a half, but some still stared and whispered. The whispers followed him as he quickly approached the cell, his armor and the silver spear that rested on his shoulder, making him easily identifiable to any passers-by.

Soon, the woven branches that made up the small enclosed clearing came into sight. The door was slightly ajar as he approached, and he quietly slipped in, closing it behind him. He stepped past the two guards that were watching the thrall that was held tightly to the wooden post.

Approaching David, who was standing to one side of the clearing holding something in his hands, he spoke softly, “I figured out how to beat the compulsion to forget these things.”

David looked up at him sharply, and he continued. “To fight it, you need thirty-five will, and to completely negate it, you need forty,” he explained.

Furrowing his brows, David responded slowly. “That’s good to know, but I only know two people that even have a will above thirty off the top of my head,” he said with an annoyed expression, ”The only thing we know that will is good for is for mages. It helps them with casting spells faster.”

Octavius’s eyebrows rose slightly; that was new information to him, but not immediately important. “I assumed that'd be the case,” he grinned slightly, “but I figured out that you can trick it. If you think of doing something about the thralls, you will be compelled to think about something else, but if you think about doing the same thing for a different reason, you won’t.”

David’s easy grin began to return, “That’s good. We can use that.”

With his mood noticeably lightened, David gestured to a pouch in his hand, “We found this stuff on the thrall.”

He passed the leather pouch to Octavius, who held it open so that its contents caught the sunlight from high above. Inside, he saw various clear vials. One of the vials contained a green liquid, and another held a bright red liquid; the rest of the vials all were either a vibrant blue or entirely empty. He used identify on them, just to be sure of their contents.

Health Potion (Tutorial) - A potion that restores all of the user’s health over 3 seconds. Can only be used in the tutorial. Only one can be used per day.

Stamina Potion (Tutorial) - A potion that restores all of the user’s stamina over 3 seconds. Can only be used in the tutorial. Only one can be used per day.

Mana Potion (Tutorial) - A potion that restores all of the user’s mana over 3 seconds. Can only be used in the tutorial. Only one can be used per day.

David gestured to the potions, “You said that you thought these things weren’t undergoing the tutorial with us. If they have potions, either you were wrong, or they took them from humans.”

Thinking back to the first thrall that he encountered, he was almost certain that the thralls didn’t start the tutorial with him. Why else would the thrall be at such a high level, with such good equipment, and kill itself to avoid answering questions? Not to mention, none of the other thralls had potions. It was likely that if they all started with potions, they’d have them.

He nodded at David, “Yeah, I’m sure.”

David’s frown returned as he turned to glare at the back of the thrall before holding out a metal knife to Octavius. “This was strapped to its belt,” he explained, “It’s yours if you want if.”

Octavius looked at the knife. It was small and single-edged. It looked more like a knife for eating than for any type of combat. Shaking his head, he said, “You can keep it or give it away if you want; I don’t need it.”

David slipped the knife into his own belt and turned to face the thrall. “So,” he sighed, “What are we going to do with this thing?”

The lingering good mood that had built up in Octavius after he discovered how to negate the effects of the compulsion disappeared. “Now, I’m going to ask it a few questions.”

David nodded, and they circled around the thrall so that they were looking into its alien eyes. Octavius approached it. “I know you can understand me,” he said almost gently, “You see, I’ve spoken to thralls before. So, how about you answer some questions for me, and this won’t have to get messy.”

The thrall’s only response was to glare hatefully at Octavius.

Octavius sighed as he drew his dagger from his belt. He was genuinely saddened about what he was about to do. In his opinion, so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” were distasteful at best. At least against humans, information gained from torture was usually unreliable, and there were much better methods to gain intelligence.

Developing a relationship with an informant was almost always the best way to gain information. That was Tradecraft 101. His problem was that he didn’t have much experience with tradecraft. Although he had been lightly trained in tradecraft, he’d been dragged into the tutorial before he reached OTC, or the Operator Training Course. Beyond that, even if he had reached it, in-depth tradecraft was something taught in the OTC’s fourth block, multiple months into the course.

More training would have hardly fixed his current problem, however, simply because it took time to develop that kind of relationship with an informant. Without the weeks, or even months, that were often required to follow through with such a route of information gathering, he was left with one of the oldest forms of intelligence gathering around, torture.

He tapped the dagger against the thrall’s chest. Looking into its eyes, he saw the beginnings of fear. “Are you sure you won’t answer my questions?” he asked.

The thrall’s eyes firmed, and it fought the ropes holding it still as it managed to speak a few words. Its voice was strained as it said, “You’re all going to die! My brothers will make you suffer a thousand times worse than what you make me!” Octavius tried to scare it into elaborating on the “you are all going to die” line, but it refused to so much as open its mouth again.

Octavius sighed. He needed information, even if he disliked how he was going to get it. The thralls were just too much of a threat with their abilities, spying, and likely killing humans to get potions. Now with the thrall’s perhaps idle threat of them all dying, not knowing their plans could lead to disaster, and he wasn’t going to let that happen.

His expression shifted to be perfectly blank as he moved slowly and efficiently. He ran his dagger down the thrall’s chest. It skated harmlessly off its hardened exoskeleton but sliced cleanly through the worn fabric and thin leather of its clothes. He was careful to avoid the ropes that held it down. Pulling the clothes away, he exposed the stone-grey skin of the thrall’s upper body to the air.

He knew little of the thrall’s anatomy, but he knew they felt pain. Carefully, he pressed the edge of the dagger into the thrall’s arm. He steadily increased the pressure, but the blade failed to break through the thrall’s hardened exoskeleton.

Looking over his shoulder, he stared into David’s eye. “You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to. Just send two guards who won’t have a problem with this in here with a few buckets of water,” he said.

David shook his head slowly, and at that moment, he truly appeared to be his age. “No. I’ll stay,” he asserted before turning to the two noticeably uncomfortable guards, “You two, go get Andrei and Dimitri. Tell them to bring as much water as they can carry, then wait outside.”

The two moved quickly, and soon Octavius was alone with the thrall and David. He considered for a moment before approaching David and whispering quietly in his ear, “Does the Sanctuary have any powerful tranquilizers? I once used evolved valerian to knock a thrall out. I haven’t even seen any since then, and I had to throw out what little I collected when it spoiled.”

David shook his head, “Not really. I mean we have a little bit of medicine, but nothing that would knock something level 20 unconscious.”

Octavius sighed, “Ok.”

The thrall looked straight ahead, but now with noticeably more worry. They waited in silence for the two new guards that David called over to arrive. Octavius looked at David and asked quietly, “Who are Dimitri and Andrei?”

David frowned at the names as if he found thinking of them distasteful. “They’re FSB,” was all he said, and Octavius understood. The FSB was the domestic successor to the KGB and was alleged to have done some pretty terrible things. Octavius understood that the Sanctuary had a policy of 'if it happened before the tutorial, it didn’t matter', but he hadn’t expected to meet any FSB guys in the tutorial.

Less than ten minutes later, two men pushed the door open. Each was carrying a few massive animal skins that sloshed with water as they moved. They both wore armor made from plates of the carapace of the beetles from the swarm. The craftspeople of the Sanctuary had begun to turn out armor made of it, Octavius had begun to see it around, so the fact that these two wore it wasn’t surprising.

The larger of the two was about Octavius’s height, but broader. He had a condescending smirk on his face that made it clear that he believed he was better than everyone else. The sun reflected off his bald head and a white scar that ran along his jaw. All in all, he looked like a stereotypical enforcer type.

The other Russian, on the other hand, looked like a spook*. Perfectly plain and unassuming to the untrained eye. He had an average height, average looks, and average build, but with his perception, Octavius could see sharp, lean muscles underneath the cloth portions of the man’s armor. Of course, it’s a fucking spook, damn it. Octavius complained internally. He did not have the best experience with even American spooks and was willing to bet that a Russian spook would be even worse.

Whatever, at least they won’t be squeamish, he consoled himself.

He used identify on the two so that he could learn which one was which, along with their levels.

Dimitri - Human (F) (Lvl 11) (Brawler)

Andrei - Human (F) (Lvl 11) (Rogue)

The enforcer, Dimitri, had a class that Octavius hadn’t seen yet, so he decided to learn about its capabilities after this ordeal was over. He’d been working on a mental list of every class and their associated skills, and adding more was always a good thing.

“Ok,” he addressed the two of them before they even had a chance to introduce themselves. Keeping the spook off his feet would be helpful, even if they didn’t have any enmity. He continued, “Help me pull the pole from the ground and lay it on its back.”

“Alright,” said Andrei the Russian Spy as his larger partner just grunted. After they set the waterskins onto the ground, they all approached the confused thrall. They gripped the pole together, and on a three-count, pulled the dense old-growth log from the ground. Tipping it back, they set it down.

The crossbar on the top of the log that was used to hold the prisoner dangling above the ground now kept the log from rolling. The thrall’s hands, which were tied behind the log, were pressed firmly into the ground. The hardened exoskeleton that covered them was able to keep them from being crushed, but Octavius doubted that would be the case if the thrall’s hands weren’t flat and instead were fists.

Octavius stood and collected the piece of cloth that was once the thrall’s shirt and returned. His face was entirely devoid of emotions as he laid the cloth over the thrall’s face. Turning to the spook, he gestured to the cross beam, “Can you two please hold that steady?”

Dimitri grinned, almost looking eager as he grabbed the cross beam. Andrei, on the other hand, kept his expression neutral as he moved to do the same. Nodding slightly, he grabbed one of the massive water skins and opened it. Leaning down, he whispered into the thrall’s ear. “Remember, this can stop at any time. You just have to answer my questions,” his voice had a sweet quality to it as he reminded the thrall as it futilely began to try to struggle once more.

**Waterboarding Starts Here**

When the thrall didn’t even try to speak, Octavius tilted the animal skin and let a stream of water run down and onto the cloth covering the thrall’s face. He was crouching in the sun with the sound of running water in his ears; the scene was paradoxically serene. That is, it was as long as one didn’t look at the thrall on the ground that was bound so tight that it could barely make a sound as it strained desperately at its bonds.

Octavius lifted the animal skin after only fifteen seconds and leaned down again. “Are you ready to talk? You don’t have to suffer anymore. Just tell me what I want to know,” he said in the same false sweet tone.

In the end, the thrall lasted for five entire minutes before it broke. Octavius was genuinely impressed. While he’d never waterboarded someone before, he knew that almost no one lasted that long.

As Octavius lifted the third animal skin of water, the thrall’s raspy voice reached his ears from under the soaking wet cloth. Lifting it, Octavius redrew his dagger and sliced through the length of rope that held its jaw mostly shut.

**It's Over**

As soon as the thrall could open its mouth, it began to hack and cough. Octavius let it for almost a minute before he spoke. “So you’re ready to talk?”

The thrall tried to nod, but its head was still held in place by a rope that wrapped around its forehead. Instead, it spoke with a raspy voice. “Yes! Yes! Just please, no more water!” it begged.

Octavius kept a clamp on his roiling emotions at what he’d done to the thrall to reduce it to such a state. He firmly believed that he did the right thing, but that didn’t make him feel any better about it.

Octavius knew of a technique that was commonly used to try to get more accurate information in these situations. If he asked for extreme details in regards to every question, the thrall would likely not be able to come up with believable lies fast enough. If the thrall was somehow able to come up with lies like that, Octavius would remember a few key details and return in a few hours. The thrall’s recent ordeal and pumping adrenaline, or the thrall equivalent, would make it nearly impossible for the thrall to remember the details of those lies.

“Okay,” Octavius started with a random question to catch the thrall off-guard, “Who is the fourth in command of the thralls within the tutorial?”

The thrall paused at the unexpected question, but Octavius slapped it before it could possibly formula any lies, “Answer quickly, or you’re going back in the water.”

“Ok!” the thrall screamed in a hurry, “It’s Lord Artificer Psiz!”

Octavius filed away the name but didn’t give it time to think. “Who is Dral?”

Now the thrall began to panic after half a second’s thought as it heard the made-up name. “I don’t know! I swear, I’ve never he-”

“What is your favorite color?”

“Huh?” was all it said, and Octavius lifted the wet cloth, ”Blue! It’s Blue!”

“How many intelligence points do you have?”

“A hun-”

“What is the class of Lord Artificer Psiz?”

“He’s a mage.”

“That’s it?”

“No, he’s on his second evolution.”

Octavius smiled internally as he managed to train the thrall to not even think before answering using only a few questions. Now, if the thrall paused, he would know to scrutinize whatever it said afterward.

“Are there more thralls around the Sanctuary?” He could easily guess the answer to that one, but needed more information before he could act on it.

The thrall hesitated, but when Octavius lifted the cloth again, it answered, “Yes.”

“Is the reason that you haven’t tried to wipe us all out yet because you wanted to lower the average level for the Emergence?”

“Yes.”

“What is your mother’s name?”

“Dieli.”

“How old were you when you reached level 2?”

“Eleven.” Octavius’s smile sharpened. The thrall had confirmed that they had the system before the tutorial.

“What direction is your main base in?”

“A bit north of east.”

“What is used to light it at night.”

“Illusion magic.”

Octavius guessed that the thrall had given up trying to lie during the rapid barrage of questions, but he would still have to be careful in case one of them was false.

“How many thralls are in the area around the Sanctuary right now?”

“Nine.”

“Where do you sleep and recharge mana while out here?”

“Across the river to the south, in a cave hidden in the roots of a massive oak."

“Will you try to wipe out all humans after the Emergence?”

Even through the thrall’s scattered thoughts, it paused its autopilot answering and looked at Octavius with a great deal of trepidation. That answered the question as well as any verbal reply, and Octavius moved on.

“Where is the entrance to your main base?”

“If you follow the stream to the north and take the third tributary, you’ll find a cliff that overlooks grassland. Follow it to the East for ten miles. It is in a cave halfway down the cliff.”

“What causes the compulsion that makes us forget about you?”

The thrall actually froze at the question, and a horrible realization entered its eyes. It was the first time Octavius saw true terror on its alien features. Not even when it was threatened with being waterboarded again did it look so afraid. Its voice was soft and scared as it asked its own question, “You know about the compulsion?”

Octavius immediately realized his mistake. He’d thought that the thrall was giving up information too easily and truthfully, even for someone who’d been tortured. Apparently, the thrall was counting on the compulsion preventing Octavius from acting on any of the information he learned from it.

Looking down at the thrall, he watched its expression cycle from fear to completely blank. “How many thralls are in the tutorial?”

It remained silent, and Octavius sighed. “I’ll give you the water again if you don’t answer me,” he threatened, but the thrall didn’t respond.

He groaned as he stood. The knees of his pants were stained with mud as he stretched. Andrei was the first to speak, “So are you going to explain what this thing is?”

Octavius grinned ruefully, “That interrogation gave more information than anything I knew beforehand; I bet you can piece it together.”

There were two main types of spooks: the patriotic type and the selfish type. While Octavius didn’t trust Andrei, he did mostly trust that Andrei wouldn’t go joining the thralls. After all, Andrei was smart enough to know that if he approached the thralls, he’d likely die before he could pitch them a partnership. Octavius didn’t even consider that the hulking Dimitri might join the thralls. That was mostly because the stereotypically unintelligent enforcer types might be deadly in many situations but usually followed their leader well enough. Andrei would keep him in line. Besides, the compulsion would catch the two of them unprepared.

Bending again, he and the Russians hoisted the pole back up and placed it upright once more. Octavius used the wet shirt to gag the thrall before turning to the slightly pale David. Whether David was pale from the torture or the information the thrall divulged, Octavius didn’t know, but that didn’t matter for the moment.

“It’s going to take a long time to get it to talk again,” Octavius explained as he exited the makeshift cell, “And we need to go warn Robert of the nine that are around the Sanctuary. Andrei, Dimitri, thanks for the help. You guys can get back to whatever you were doing."

David nodded and carefully closed the door behind the four of them. Octavius turned to the two guards that flanked the doorway, “Go watch it. Don’t let it so much as move, and don’t let yourself get distracted. You might forget to even watch it if you do.”

The guards nodded and entered the enclosed clearing. Octavius and David quickly began to walk towards Robert’s lodgings. With new information about thralls in the area, they needed to decide what their next actions would be. The two Russians peeled off to wherever they were going, likely to not even think about the thrall for a long time.

*Spook - a slang term for a spy