-1 day, 0 months, 0 yrs in Malkuth

A six-foot man carrying loose maps stops and glances over to us, his eyes hidden behind a pair of slim sunglasses trying to slide down his long how-hanging nose. He pushes them up with one hand and places the maps in a large container beside him. Swiping his hands free of dust he struts on over to us his snobbish nose high in the air, "Vice. Captain?" 

He glances over me for just a second before returning to Issac and Charlie who hold his respect and attention, "I delivered all the maps we found from the Sweep. Books and historical artifacts are being taken to another location, and any important variables are being sent to the higher-ups to split among the highest ranking guild members." 

Issac raises a hand, "I'm not concerned about your work, I actually wanted you to meet someone." He pats my shoulder pushing me forward, "This is Jack Well, he came with the Sweep from yesterday. And he just agreed to join our guild. I want him in your squad." 

His cocky grin spreads across his face, "Pleasure to meet you, Jack. I'm Eldin Grove, a native of Malkuth, and been training my entire life to climb towers. I am also the leader of our little squad." He gives me a hand and we shake. He shakes roughly his grip tight and testing. Gritting my teeth not willing to let him beat me, I tighten my grip, "Nice to meet you as well." 

He laughs, brushing back strawberry blond hair behind oval long ears that are decorated with hanging plastic green aliens, toy babies, and other strange things like moth-man, hairy ape-like man, and more. Around his long neck, he has a variety of different-sized necklaces some metals, other leathers, and fabrics. He stretches, the bracelets clashing against one another and then hitting rings across his knuckles when he drops his arms back down, "Come follow me, I'll take you to the nearby pit. It should have all the basic stuff you'll need." 

Eldrin politely bows before Issac and Charlie, "I will take my leave. If you need me, please do not hesitate." 

Isaac slaps Eldrins back, "Not as of now, go! Show our newbie how we do things." He turns back to me, "If you have any trouble go to Charlie, he's your founder so he's responsible for any questions you have." 

I glance over to Charlie who smiles, "You know where to find me, Jack. I will be leaving Vice. Captian." 

Eldrin swiftly exists and I rush after him, "Can you tell me a bit more about squads? How long have you been a part of Oath of the Boar? What are all the other guilds like? What does it mean to me a native Malkuth? Why does everyone introduce themselves with their homeworld involved?" I trail off with more questions a little surprised but happy that Eldrin is listening to me before he answers. 

"You got way too many questions," He smiles still, "Let me get to the basics, Squads are just a group of fighters who team up to defeat Uraqur's, Quests, and Towers. We however are an unnumbered squad meaning we are not an official squad. I'm still the leader. And let's see how long I've been a member... Almost my entire life. Both my parents are part of the guild, thus I am." 

"Who's part of our unofficial squad." I tease curious. 

"Shliya, Ahumiaq, Kailee, and Ghal." 

"Kailee? As in the student to Charlie, Kailee?" 

He flicks his hair out of his face, lowering his glasses enough for me to see his dark green eyes ringed in gold, "You've met her. I haven't really seen her in a few days so I haven't heard of you. Most times we go off and do our own things, I help the higher-ups, Ghal does my bidding, Kailee follows her teacher around, and well the other two just go off on their own. I have no idea what they do." 

 I comment, "We aren't really... a close squad are we." 

He snorts, taking me to an outer area of the camp, "Nope. Ghal is probably the only person I get along with truly. He's a very chill man, you'll like him too. Kailee is too annoying and a stick in the mud. She always argues against me and won't let me take charge." He grumbles, "Even when it's obvious I am the best choice." 

Um... I may end up agreeing with Kailee about Eldrin's leadership skills. He's a bit much. A good guy, but a lot to handle as a leader. 

The pit is a huge area halfway dug out like a garbage lot, with a low fence around it not for protection but for definition of placement. There are larger piles the deeper you go, full of clothes, armor, weapons, backpacks, and random items like glass cups, plastic plates, and the like. 

"Wow! This is the pit?"

"It's where us newbies and weaklings go to look for gear." He pushes open a creaky gate, "Ghal is in here, he's pretty good at sniffing out the good stuff." 

I look around, "I've never worn armor before, what would you advise?" We pass by people pulling out thick black vests, others dropping chain mail coils over their heads and shoulders like some long vail. Everyone here is mismatched with random items and stuff that make no real sense put together but they try their best to make it work. 

Eldrin pushes up his glasses, "Don't worry about fashion at first, worry about safety. Fashion comes second," He smiles flashing his rings and brackets, "You can come up with a lot of amazing ways to look fabulous. Oh, there is Ghal." He points to a small pile where a tall wild-looking man is filling up bags with small items. Ghal's ear twitches, and he slowly rises to his feet. He's shorter than Eldrin and meeker in tone, but there's this presence to him that tells me he's not to be trifled with. Extremely muscular like one of those bodybuilders every inch of him is shiny with sweat and tan as can be. He's shoved off his leather jacket, laying it on top of his bags. 

His dull moss-green hair is a flat clean mohawk, with side cornrolls tightly braided against his scalp. It's long enough he can braid it along his back and it moves against the wind like a snake tail. His warm brown eyes beam with happiness as he shifts his belt the sword at his hip clinking against his metal shins, "Eldrin," He warmly gives him a side hug. There is no competition, no masculine dominance, or anything that shouts aggressively about the way he holds himself. Just this calm kindness that gleams off of him like a light in a prism. I find myself liking this guy immediately. 

"Who are you?" He directs at me, grinning, "I'm Ghal." 

"Jack." I shake his hand, a bit shocked by how large he is. They completely cover my own, and I am not a small guy. 

He waves us over to his pile, "Here," He hands Eldrin a bag of jewels, rings, bracelets, and other shiny objects, "Is this enough?" 

Eldrin grins, "Perfect, I can do a lot with these." He tosses a small gem, "How in the world do you find these? Not even the higher-ups gleamed them." 

Ghal smiles softly, "They just need to be patient." He ruffled around a few things and pulled out a small bag of light clothes like socks, gloves, hats, and more. "You will need a set of night clothes, comfort clothes, armor, and a spare set just to be comfortable." He looks around, "I will find you some armor, you go through these and find what you need. And here," He hands me a gym duffle bag, "Put what you pick in here." With that, he disappears into the piles of junk. 

I pull at my clothes noticing for the first time how nasty I am. They are covered in blood, dirt, mud, and sweat. I don't think I have had time to bathe or anything from yesterday to today. It's been... hectic and wildly insane. 

Eldrin reads my mind, "Don't you fret, once we get you all ready and packed we will head to the bathhouse." 

"There's a bath house?" 

"As much of one as we can." He smiles, "Magic makes everything so much easier. The Healer Guild Light Beacon Medical sets up with one every major raid. It's so nice, to have them." 

"Healers Guild?" 

He nods, "There are a lot of different types of guilds in Papilio. From citizen guilds to warrior guilds. You only should worry about the important warrior guilds. Tower Climbing, Healers, Guards, and Blacksmiths. You joined a Tower Climbing guild." He helps me gather some socks, gloves, scarves, and other items that he thinks I'll need to stay warm or stay cool during the seasons. He even laughed and helped me pick out a few hats. 

Soon Ghal is back with an armload of leathers and metals. I stare at them in surprise. "Wow." Ghal smiles, "It's always surprising for first-timers. Lift your arms up, let us see which one fits best." 

As we try them on, I ask, "What armor do you guys wear?" 

Eldrin flicks his wrist, playing with his new set of brackets. "I don't wear any armor. It hinders my movements when I cast spells." 

"Spells!" 

Eldrin smiles brighter and smugger, "I'm a mage, specifically a Jewel mage. Fire magic is my aptitude, but I can do others if I want to." 

Ghal smiles, "I prefer medium armor. Mostly leather and furs but I have bits of metal here and there. I'm dressing you in lighter gear at least until you decide which route you want to go." 

"Route?" 

Eldrin answers, "You have to decide what you can do in battle. Spell casting, sword slashing, axe hammering, shield bashing, all that stuff. Once you get an idea of how you want to fight, you can place yourself in a group and learn teamwork."

I frown not sure what to think about this. I have never been in a real fight before, and I can only think about fistfights or maybe fighting with baseball bats or something. Not swords, axes, or spells... 

"Hey Ghal! Found anything good!" Shouts a beautiful loud voice that is a little familiar but I'm not sure how. We all turn to two people rushing over to us, bumping into one another and gleefully prancing. 

I jump up shouting, "You two!"