Another desk greeted me in the next room, though this one had a window at least. A gruff half-orc woman sat behind it, shuffling papers around. She looked up on hearing the door open. "Beat it kid. This is no place for you."

I held up the paper. "You asked for me. And I'm no kid." She stood and was in front of me in two steps, plucking the letter from my hand. After a quick scan, her face went from mildly annoyed to slightly shocked. "You're Millsharp?" "I am." "You didn't mention your... height... in your application." "If it didn't relate to me doing my job, I didn't mention it." The half-orc grinned and waved me to a stool in a corner. "Have a seat. The rest of the people I'm grouping you with should be here soon enough. I'm Boss, by the way." "A pleasure." I heaved myself onto the stool and waited.

Almost back to back, three men entered without even noting my presence. I listened in as each had their invitation letter looked over by Boss. Colisair was first. I marked him for a wizard straight away just from his bearing and the robes he wore. Eladrin tend to look down on everyone around them, their cousin elves included, and he seemed like the snootiest of the bunch. Phantom was next. He entered as a gruff looking dwarf, then morphed into Boss, before reverting to his natural form, showing off his Changeling power. Albion was last, the large human dragging himself in as though he'd just woken up.

"Now that all four of you are here, we can get down to business." Boss said, clapping her hands together as she settled behind her desk. I watched the men give each other confused looks as I silently hopped off the stool. I cleared my throat, and watched with a bit of satisfaction as all three of them jumped, Phantom quickly pulling a hidden dagger as their eyes scanned the room. Then, their eyes dropped to me, and their mouths to the floor.

I ignored them as I stepped around to face Boss. "You really expect me to trust them to watch my back? When they don't even notice it's there?"

Boss just lifted her shoulders, leaning back in her chair. "I organise the missions and payments, the rest is up to you. In my experience, a party of four works best, and you lot fit that build. Now if you don't like it, you all can feel free to take your leave."

Nobody moved, and Boss continued. "I've been in this business a long time, and I've learned a lot along the way. You four have been put together because your skills complement each other, whether your personalities do or not." She gave each of us a pointed look, before pushing a piece of parchment forward on the desk.

"This is a contract for your first job. A simple bandit clearing, easy enough. You'll each be paid a hundred gold once the town guard confirms the deed is done. They prefer the bandits captured, of course, but handle it however you see fit."

One by one, we each took the paper and signed that we accepted the terms. Boss pressed a special type of parchment over the contract, making a copy for each of us. "Now that the formalities are done, the rest is up to you. It's still early yet, so I suggest getting it over with."