Chương 22: The Guild of Adventurers

Ch. 22 - The Guild of Adventurers The Adventurers Guild in Anwyn is an independent organisation, one that is willing to go to great lengths in order to remain so. The guild fills its coffers by taking a small cut from every request filled by an Adventurer, as well as from any loot or artefacts found in a dungeon. It is rare that an Adventurer takes issue with this, as the services of the Guild is the only thing that gives them legitimacy.

The influence of the Adventurers Guild varies from city to city, but a powerful guild is an entity to be reckoned with. - from the writings of Steadholder Eckhart The Adventurer's Guild was larger than Wyatt expected it to be. It consisted of two sprawling buildings, one of them with a second floor, and there was what looked to be a training ground set in between them.

It had the air of a military barracks to Wyatt's mind, and there were a number of people enthusiastically hitting each other with a variety of training weapons. They walked up to the front of the guildhall, pausing in front of the two large wooden doors that led inside. Before Wyatt could ask, Lera struck the doors with the palms of both hands, forcing them inwards with a loud crack as they hit the stoppers inside. The Protean winced at the loud sound, laughing apologetically.

"Whoops! Come on, you two." Lera breezily strode inside, Wyatt and Kit being pulled into her wake. The inside of the guild was simply laid out, but the interior was spacious. The flooring consisted of thick wood boards, upon which were numerous circular tables, ringed with stools. The guild was full of people either eating or talking, spaced off into many individual groups. There was a second floor with an inner balcony that overlooked the lower floor.

There had been a low buzz of conversation, but that had faded when Lera entered. A woman got to her feet, her face scarred heavily on one side. She appeared to be heavyset, but that might have just been the armour she was wearing. She had a rough appearance, and some truly impressive biceps that she kept bare. The woman smiled hesitantly at first when she saw Lera, but it soon morphed into a broad and genuine smile.

"Lera! I heard a whisper that you were still alive! Where have you been, girl?" Lera laughed delightedly, striding over and embracing the scarred woman effusively.

"Maev! Still kicking I see! That's a long, long story. I would have come and found you, but I only got back yesterday. How have you been? How's … Benji, was it?" Maev had both hands on Lera's arms, and was holding her at arms length, looking fondly exasperated.

"Benji? Long gone! Which you would know if you hadn't just up and vanished on me. I gave him the flick, he was getting a bit clingy … but you know what that's like, you heartbreaker, you!" Wyatt watched the two women catch up for a moment, then looked around the guildhall. It was full of Adventurers, but most weren't giving more than a cursory interest to the newcomers. At the end of the hall was a long counter, manned with a number of people in matching uniforms.

Along the wall near the counter was an area filled with pieces of parchment nailed to a large message board. It was being perused by a number of Adventurers. Wyatt glanced down at Kit.

"May as well get this over with, right?" The silver fox flicked an ear at him in assent.

'Best to get it out of the way so it doesn't tie you down.' Wyatt sighed.

"I know. Come on — watch yourself though, some of the people here look a bit drunk." Kit sniffed.' Thank you, but I dislike the implication that I would be stupid enough to let some oaf step on me.' Wyatt smiled at that, leading the way towards the front counters. Lera noted them leaving, but just waved at him encouragingly, being preoccupied in catching up with her friend. Most of the people behind the counters were busy with other Adventurers, but there was one free.

It was a woman, perhaps a few years older than Wyatt, with dark hair that was tied back loosely. She had a scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and she was currently leaning over a piece of parchment, her brow furrowed in concentration. She was adding notes to a document in front of her, and was using a pen to do it. Wyatt stiffened in surprise at seeing that — at first thinking it was a fountain pen.

He hadn't given it much thought, but he would have expected people in this world to be using feather quills, if only just to round out the aesthetic. As Wyatt got closer, he saw that the pen wasn't a modern equivalent — it looked to have a solid wooden base, upon which was affixed a shiny metal nib. The woman was dipping the nib into an open bottle of ink every now and then as she wrote. Wyatt approached, lingering in front of the counter, not sure if he should interrupt the woman at work.

Before he could announce himself, she raised a hand without looking up.

"One moment, please." Wyatt waited patiently as the woman finished up. She raised the parchment in front of her, carefully blowing on it to dry the ink. Then she placed the finished document on top of a neat pile in front of her. The woman then rested her elbows on the counter, clasping her hands together and resting her chin on her knuckles. She gave Wyatt a slightly tired smile.

"Hello, I'm [Receptionist] Hazel, how can I help you today?" Wyatt walked up to the counter, returning Hazel's smile. He cleared his throat.

"Well, you see —" Wyatt hesitated, thinking about how best to begin. The [Receptionist] frowned a little at the delay, and glanced down at her work. Kit nudged Wyatt in the leg pointedly, and he shook himself slightly. Wyatt took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders. He nodded at Hazel.

"Sorry. I was asked to come here and report an incident. I've just come from the dungeon, and I have the effects and Adventurer's tags of a group that … died. Their leader asked me to bring them to the guild. To tell you what happened to them." The buzz of conversation near the counters dropped for a moment as a number of Adventurers turned their heads to look at Wyatt. There was a general sigh that rippled through the listeners, then they turned back to their conversations, slightly more muted than before.

The [Receptionist] sighed herself, rubbing at her face tiredly. She pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and started to write down notes.

"I see. It's been a rough few days with Adventurers dying. Can I get your full name? Which floor did this occur on?"

"Wyatt Eckhart. And it was on the first floor." Hazel's eyes widened in surprise, and she paused from her note taking.

"… the first floor? Really? How did — did they run afoul of a death zone?" Wyatt shook his head, remembering. He kept his reply short, clipped. Trying to keep the emotion out of his voice, the pain of what had happened.

"No. It was Orcs. Two of them." The [Receptionist] regarded Wyatt for a long moment, then she frowned.

"Do you mean you found them injured after they'd returned from another floor?"

"No. I was there with them when they were attacked. It was the first floor." Hazel tapped a finger rapidly on the counter as she took that in. She looked at Wyatt searchingly.

"Hang on, I'm going to have to be a bit more official with this report. It really shouldn't be possible for — It's not that I don't believe you, but … are you fine with me using a skill going forward?" Wyatt shrugged.

"As long as it doesn't do anything to me directly." She shook her head distractedly.

"No, nothing like that. It just lets me, wait a moment —" Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The [Receptionist] pulled out another piece of parchment, this one looking far more official. She swapped out the bottle of ink she'd been using for one with a pearlescent sheen to it, and dipped the nib of a new pen into it. She carefully wrote down a few notes, then turned back to Wyatt.

"— sorry. Okay, [Verify Report]. My skill will let me know if anything you say is contradictory or unverifiable, so please don't exaggerate. Now, from the beginning, please." Wyatt checked himself, but it didn't feel like there was any skill affecting him directly. A glance at Kit confirmed this. Wyatt took a breath and started again.

"It started two days ago now. I had met them in the morning, and they invited me to travel with them." Hazel nodded as she jotted this down.

"Their names? Or their team name?"

"I don't know last names, but their first names were Raek, Losmer, and Marie. Raek said that their team was called Howler's Bane." A chair suddenly being pushed back from a nearby table interrupted Wyatt's account. A loud voice, rough and full of drunken bravado, came quick on the tails of it.

"Howler's Bane? Hah! Those cocky little idiots actually managed to bite it already? That's hilarious!" The man belched, taking another long swig from a drink at his table. He turned to his companions, laughing.

"Did you hear that? Didn't I say that they'd never make it — they didn't even last a week!" Hazel looked pained at the drunken outburst from the Adventurer, but she didn't say anything to rebuke him. She just looked down at her hands. In the rest of the guild, some Adventurers were looking on with distaste, but they didn't speak out either. One of the man's companions tried to get him to stop.

"I know, Jersh, but leave it — alright? They're dead, no point in going over it." The loud-mouthed Adventurer, Jersh, shrugged his friend off.

"Aw, come on! Remember how full of himself that lead runt was? Ten levels in a sword class, and he was swanning around like he was on the verge of hitting gold rank!" Wyatt tensed, struggling to keep his breathing even. The [Receptionist] eyed him worriedly, and subtly shook her head at him. Jersh went on, laughing as he continued trying to get his friends to join in with him.

"I will admit it's a shame though — a shame that the tasty little mage bit it too! Remember her? I knew I should have made her an offer, got her to 'party up' with us. It would have given her something useful to do instead of just biting it along with the rest of her useless team. First floor — hilarious!" Wyatt turned with clenched fists, striding up to stand in front of the man insulting his friends. Jersh, noticing Wyatt, grinned mockingly at him.

"And what do you want?" Wyatt looked into the man's face for a long moment, noting the flushed cheeks, the nose that looked like it had been broken many times over. Seeing the cruel look of anticipation and amusement he wore. Wyatt didn't care. He spoke, his voice flat, expressionless.

"Stop talking." Jersh blinked in surprise, then glanced over his shoulder at his companions.

"You believe this? All the newbies are too full of themselves these days. I ask you, where is the respect?" Jersh leant in close to Wyatt, grinning unpleasantly. The alcohol on his breath wafting out.

"You shouldn't try and give orders you can't back up, whelp." Wyatt didn't answer. He just stared at him. Jersh set himself, flexing the muscles in his arms, looking beyond confident. He lowered his voice more, speaking to Wyatt like he was just handing out advice.

"I'll give you one chance to apologise and back down — or I'm afraid I'm going to have to teach you some manners." Out of the corner of his eye, Wyatt could see Lera begin to edge closer to them, but she didn't move to intervene just yet. She just watched. Wyatt didn't let his eyes break with the man in front of him. He stared, refusing to blink.

"… that won't go down the way you think." Jersh's eyes widened slightly, but that was his only reaction. He chuckled, deep in his chest.

"Is that right, boy?" Wyatt refused to back down. It might be a bad idea, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Wyatt forced his muscles to relax, watching for any sign of sudden movement from the man in front of him. He could feel the anger bubbling away inside, but it was cold. Wyatt's head remained clear, his passive skills letting him keep his wits. The two men stared each other down. It was starting to feel hot, like there was a heat shimmer in the air between them.

There was a pressure growing, an intent, but Wyatt just gritted his teeth, not taking a step back, not letting it affect him. He could hear exclamations, curses from people around them, chairs scraping across the floor as Adventurers backed up. Jersh began to look confused, then a little worried. His eyes flickered, and then he looked to one side, breaking the stare. Realising that he'd just lost, Jersh tried to bluster, turning back to his companions with a slightly shaky laugh.

"Ah, this is pointless! Rookies biting it … who cares, right? Someone hand me another drink." Jersh went to sit back down, ignoring Wyatt like he wasn't still staring at him, when suddenly his chair was kicked out from under him. Jersh staggered, clutching at the table to right himself.

"What the — Why'd you go and do that for, you bitch!" Lera had appeared. There was a smile on her lips, but her eyes were hard and unyielding. She shook her head, gesturing over her shoulder with a thumb towards the door.

"You — get out. Don't come back for the rest of the day. Sober up, and act your rank." Jersh tried to bluster some more, but his friends were already backing up. One of them hissed at Jersh.

"Leave it! Don't try to — she's Silver!" Jersh suddenly paled, looking at Lera with a gaping mouth. He still tried to save face though.

"You can't just throw your weight around because your rank is —" Lera stopped smiling, and suddenly the air around her seemed dangerous.

"I can. And I am. Leave." Jersh snapped his teeth together so fast that Wyatt heard them click. He walked out of the guild hurriedly, keeping his head down. All the Adventurers watched him go, none of them looking like they wanted to speak up on his behalf. Lera didn't address Wyatt directly, but she did give him an approving nod. Then she went back to her friend; Maev already pointing at Wyatt, clearly asking Lera what that had been about.

Wyatt let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, feeling a little light-headed as adrenaline left him. He shook himself, then turned back to the [Receptionist]. Hazel was giving Wyatt a wide-eyed look. She leant closer, her voice hushed.

"Are you crazy? How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Hazel shivered. Wyatt noticed that she'd started to sweat, her dark hair sticking to her forehead. The [Receptionist] grabbed a handkerchief and mopped at her face.

"That Adventurer was high Iron! And he was using a skill on you, [Intimidate Foes]! It wasn't even directed at me, and it was all I could do to stay behind the counter!" Wyatt blinked. So thats what that had been, that odd feeling of heat. It hadn't worked on him though; Wyatt hadn't felt even the remotest bit intimidated. He wondered if it was because of his [Advanced Fortitude]. Wyatt shrugged at Hazel.

"I wondered what that was. I don't know, I guess he just wasn't that scary. It's not like he'd try and kill me in the middle of the guild, right? It was just posturing." The [Receptionist] still looked slightly incredulous, but she let it go. She shuffled some documents in front of her, and cleared her throat.

"Ahem. A word to the wise — I wouldn't necessarily take that on faith. But are you okay to continue?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Good. Uh —" Hazel still seemed a bit rattled.

"— Howler's bane. You said you travelled with them before you met the Orcs?" Wyatt nodded.

"Yes, but it wasn't just the Orcs. The day before, we ran into a group of goblins. Raek attacked them, and we wiped them out. He said there was a bounty on them."

"Goblins? Ah, they have been appearing in greater numbers in the lower floors. Especially since the Winter King is moving again. How many were there?" Wyatt cocked his head at hearing the [Receptionist] say 'Winter King', but as she sounded so casual he guessed that it must be common knowledge. He resolved to ask Kit about it when he had a chance.

"There were seven of them. No one got hurt, and they collected … ears. They are in one of the bags of holding." Hazel nodded along, writing. Unfazed by what she was hearing.

"Alright, I can process that for you as well. Just hold on, I need to make a note of another Goblin sighting on the main list …" She pulled out another parchment, this one already covered in writing, and amended it with an account of Wyatt's story.

"Okay … seven Goblins. First floor … done. Damned things do turn up everywhere. Did anything else happen?" Wyatt shook his head.

"Not after that. It was the following day that the Orcs appeared. They were attacking because we killed the Goblins." Marie raised an eyebrow.

"Unlikely, they don't seem to care how many of their kind are killed. You mean they were in the same band?" Wyatt eyed her for a moment, then shrugged.

"Maybe."

"I'll make a note regardless … how did they engage? Did you note their classes?" Wyatt let his eyes unfocus, remembering what had happened.

"My [Danger Sense] went off first. But there wasn't time to run. One of them used magic, and Marie said he was a [Shaman]. It … took out Losmer immediately with a spell. [Rock Spire] I think it was." Hazel's pen paused as she wrote. She looked up at Wyatt, concern in her eyes.

"A [Shaman]? Thats an advanced class, at least level twenty-five. That's … alarming. Do you know the class of the other Orc?"

"No. It was wearing armour though, and used a great-sword." Hazel continued to note all of this down, and then sighed, putting down her pen. She steepled her fingers in front of her face as she looked at Wyatt.

"My skill didn't detect any falsehoods in what you told me. Which is frankly amazing, because there should be no way that an Orc — let alone two — could remain undetected on the first floor. Is there anything else?" Wyatt shook his head.

"No, not really. Raek was still alive after the Orcs were dead. He hung on long enough to ask me to bring his belongings back to the guild, then he died. I buried them in the dungeon, then came here."

"I see." Hazel gave Wyatt a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sorry you went through that, but I extend the gratitude of the Guild for bringing back word of their fate. Not everyone does that. Could you give me their Adventurer Tags please?"

"Sure." Wyatt pulled out the three bronze tags out of the bag of holding. He held them in his hands for a moment, looking at them. Then he gave them to the [Receptionist]. She nodded, handling them respectfully.

"Thank you. Let me just … ah. I remember issuing these. It's always rough when … okay, these are indeed genuine. Let me get their files." Hazel turned around and dug through a filing cabinet until she found three sheets. She brought them back to the counter and went through them.

"It's a standard enough request for distribution of belongings. No dependants, but next of kin is clearly listed. You have their effects?" Wyatt wordlessly handed over two of the bags of holdings, all containing the personal items of the three deceased Adventurers.

"The goblin ears are in there too." Wyatt still felt uneasy about trading in the body parts of a sentient species, but he had become aware of how little currency he had. Whatever he was going to do next, he would need gold to do it. Hazel made another note.

"Alright, I'll see about processing those as well." The [Receptionist] quickly and efficiently sorted out the belongings in the bags of holding, comparing the more valuable items to what was on file. There wasn't all that much to go through, but she tallied up the sums nonetheless. After that, Hazel pulled out the goblin ears. She wrinkled her nose a little, but that was her only reaction in handling the severed parts.

"Everything seems to be in order, I can assign you the bounty. At four silver a pair, that comes to two gold, eight silver. Just one more thing and we are done. I need to append your identification to the report into the deaths of Howler's Bane, as well as make a note in your own file. Can you hand over your tag, please? It's routine, but we like to keep track of everyone where we can." Wyatt shifted, noticeably uneasy for the first time.

"Oh, uh — about that."

"Yes?" Wyatt smiled awkwardly at the [Receptionist].

"I … don't actually have one. An Adventurers Tag, I mean." Hazel had been nodding along, still making notes, and she didn't register what Wyatt had said for a few seconds. Then she paused, looking up at him slowly.

"… you what?"