The sun shined brilliantly through Roze’s window. A symphony of birds and insects heralded the beginning of her new future as she awoke to her first morning in the guildhall dormitory. Roze sprang from her mattress and threw the curtains open wide screaming out of the window on the streets in excitement. Roze’s exuberant whooping was cut short by Hazel, who had silently stepped behind her and placed her hand over Roze’s mouth.
“If you ever do that again… I’ll kill you,” Hazel threatened, with a tone that implied she fully intended to follow through.
Roze nodded her head in understanding but her eyes beamed with no less excitement. Hazel reluctantly returned her hand to her side, but as she was sliding back to her burrow beneath her blankets the door was abruptly opened. Standing in the frame was another member of the guild, a flame-touched woman who glared at Roze and Hazel with slight contempt. The woman stood just barely taller than Hazel but her demeanor made her seem to take up more space. Her deep red skin and orange toned eyes drew extra attention to herself. Just around the edges of her face were cracks in the skin where light flickered beneath like a fire dancing in the dark.
“Report to the first floor for orientation immediately. Your fellow party members are already assembled and waiting. Be quick about it.” The woman spoke in such quick sentences, Hazel almost missed the information.
“We’ll be down right away,” Roze started to say, but the woman was already walking away before she could even finish the sentence. The two women proceeded to get dressed and regroup with their compatriots at the front desk in the main hall. Once the party was fully assembled they were reapproached by the same flame-touched woman.
“Hello Palamedes. You may call me Mirage. I have been assigned to be your guide through your guild orientation. The process is not long but does contain necessary information so please listen carefully until the end.”
The party crowded around Mirage as she continued to explain the guilds many systems
“There are six official ranks to the Knights of Yellowfield; Apprentice, Rookie, Official Member, Senior Member, Premier, Knight, and finally the rank of Master. Naturally the current master is Artorius, the leader of the guild. Then your masters, the Questing Beasts, have attained the next highest rank of Knight.” Mirage paused and her expression changed to a disinterested glare as her eyes fell on the party.
“You, on the other hand, are mere apprentices, interns, if you will. As apprentices you are the lowest rank and only eligible to remain in the guild if you are claimed by another member of the rank of Senior member or higher. Additionally, your rewards and earnings from all of your quest will receive the typical deduction in dues to the guild but also a deduction in fees that go to your masters at a minimum of fifty percent.”
The party all began to protest at the mention of the fees, but Hazel seemed particularly bothered by the large deductions.
“Fifty percent just for our master’s? So they basically don’t have to work. That’s exploitation. It’s free labor! And how much is the guild taking out on top of that?” Hazel protested.
“First of all, you aren’t free labor, you’re paid in experience,” Mirage responded, “Second of all, the guild takes a modest fifteen percent which is perfectly reasonable for a guild of our caliber. You’ll understand after seeing all of the amenities afforded from being in our guild.”
The party members each looked unconvinced by Mirage’s rationale but none of them dared to contest the claims. Mirage gestured to the quest board near them and continued her speech.
“Here is the request board. We post any calls for aid and sort them based on locale and estimated difficulty. As apprentices you are only permitted to take the lowest ranking jobs. Be wary of what you choose as we get requests from all across the continent. Don’t take something from a country you’re wanted in or can’t afford to travel to because we will expect you to finish the job.”
After finishing her explanation, Mirage led the group through the guild hall showing them the many rooms available. The group was led through the guild’s extensive kitchen and dining hall, the courtyards and training grounds featuring dueling squares and spellcaster circles, the library lined with bookshelves containing everything from fighting manual’s to spellcasting journals, and the third floor which the party had already explored. Mirage stopped at the door’s to one of the meeting rooms.
“This is the private conference room for the Questing Beasts. You can usually find them here if they aren’t working or training. They asked me to drop you off here after your orientation.” Mirage threw the doors open as she finished her sentence and yelled into the room. “I brought your projects. By the way I’m not some errand girl. Next time you need somebody, get your lazy asses up and get them yourself.”
The members of the questing beasts were all sitting around their table, some of them sharpening weapons or packing bags and other’s looking over plans and maps. Lance started to speak but was quickly cut off by Fay.
“Did you guys hear something? Oh, our interns are here. That’ll be all Barrage, you’re dismissed.”
Mirage’s face turned a bright red. She opened her mouth to begin a screaming contest with Fay, but the wizard calmly raised her hand creating a small doorway consuming Mirage and leaving just the party facing their new bosses.
“You couldn’t be bothered to bring some coffee and biscuits from the kitchen on your way up? Tristan sneered while sorting small knives into a belt on the table.
“We don’t have time for your jokes Tristan,” interjected the Mistmoor drow.
Tristan looked as though he might say something else but Lance was quick to speak before the argument could develop.
“I am sure your orientation was thorough. You’ve been summoned because we have no time to waste." The party's looks of stunned horror at the exiling of Mirage failed to faze Lance. "The Questing Beasts have been tasked with retrieving a certain relic for the master and we believe we have a lead on its location. That being said, it's a lengthy trip for us so we will be gone for a few months. Now I am aware we are to be overseeing your training and progress but no need to worry because I have arranged for you to be trained by a trusted master of my own.”
Lance directed the party to a larger map that was pinned to the wall of the room. The map depicted the topography of the continent of Roriaun with each of its countries labeled. He pointed to a smaller country south of the kingdom of Dunberland called Vulnia. The country was completely enveloped by a larger nation labeled as the Jhaogosian Empire.
“The monastery you’re heading to is in the Vulnian mountains. Each of the members of the Questing Beasts has made this journey at some point in their lives to seek training. I will warn you it's not a safe trip to get there and the training will be grueling. Jhaogosia is at war with Dunberland and Vulnian, this isn’t so much a problem for any of you as you aren’t soldiers and can cross borders freely since you work as adventurers. Unfortunately, as you cross the borders it becomes lawless and uncontrolled. Bandits are able to pillage and raid and easily evade authorities. Despite what these maps say, it's impossible to claim jurisdiction over any of these border regions. You’ll need to be particularly careful as you enter these areas.”
After receiving the barrage of information Kesh'gar had to stop trying to copy Fay's prior dimensional doorway to interject his own set of questions.
“If the bandits are such an issue then why don’t we just deal with them? We have plenty of manpower in this guild alone.”
Tristan looked baffled by the question. “Who would pay us? The bandits only attack after they’ve scouted and determined there are no powerful adventurers in the groups they raid. It takes a few raids in an area before a request is made to adventurers to deal with the situation. Until a request is made any actions we take can either blow up into a major incident or get blown off as our own self defense and we don’t receive any compensation. It’s good for business to let a few raids happen before intervening and the bandits know this.”
“That’s a terrible philosophy!” Niera yelled. “You have an obligation to protect people. You’re supposed to be heroes.”
“The standard policy is for travelers to turn over all of their possessions and they typically avoid any harm. The bandits know they’ll attract attention quicker if they actually hurt people so most travelers go unharmed. It’s the price you pay for doing business across those borders. It’s unavoidable,” Tristan responded with unsettling nihilism.
“How do you expect us to cross the borders then if they’re so dangerous?” inquired Rhenigan
“There is a sky ferry that will take you from Yellowfield to a town not too far from the Vulnian mountains. You’ll have to walk the rest of the way from there. The sky ferry is actually your first job. We’ve been given a request to ensure the safety of this trip. Just basic guard duty to supplement the crew already on the ship. It’s easy work and since you have to travel that way regardless we may as well receive a payment for it,” said Galeas “Your second job will take place in a village on the way to the mountain monastery. The village has put in several requests to deal with some animal attacks, but every team that has gone to investigate has never reported in at the village or reported back to their respective guild’s.”
“So you’re sending us? Cause we’re incredibly experienced?” Moss asked sarcastically.
“We’re sending you because you have no choice but to cut through this village, so you might as well deal with the situation,” said Lance, “Plus, if you can’t handle this then you’ll never get past the mountain giants by the monastery.”
“Giants?” asked each member of Palamedes, almost in perfect unison.
“Your flight leaves in an hour by the way. If you’re late for your first job, know that you’re fired.” Lance shot back quickly.
As the party scrambled to rush out the door and collect their things Lance tossed a crystal to Niera along with a stack of envelopes.
“Use that if you need to get into contact with us or the guild hall for any reason. The envelopes contain letters written by each of us for you all. Within the envelopes are our thoughts and advice for you as you take this journey. Read them as you have time and need encouragement.”
Lance smiled a genuine reassuring smile at the party. “Good luck out there. Please return safe and sound.
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