There was a pattern to navigating cities similar to the forest, alleyways and side roads constantly split from the main thoroughfare like lesser game trails and like those wooded paths it was always a temptation to see what secrets, mundane or magical, they held at their ends. I kept focus, and after a brief conversation with a persistent [Fruit Hawker], I had directions which kept me on the main road until I came across the Guild Hall.
Constructed unlike any building I had ever seen before. A massive four story keep and a small inn connected by a walled courtyard made the Guild Hall. Built from dull grey stone and cornered by four octagonal towers capped with squat conical roofs tiled in various shades of blue. The fort dwarfed the inn and loomed over it like a protective older brother. While one of the larger structures in the surrounding area, the buildings that loomed over the horizon to the south dwarfed the keep.
In stark contrast to the keep, the inn was only a story tall and made from timber and reinforced plaster. The early morning light illuminated a poorly maintained thatch roof filled with sections that had molded. As I neared, small spiderweb cracks in the plaster became clear.
Yet something about the disrepair of the building was off. It was too uniform and contained. Rather than enter the Hall. I went up to the fa?ade and inspected the plaster. Small chisel marks littered the area around the cracks, barely noticeable unless you knew that to look for
That prompted me to look closer at the roof, which revealed the mold as paint. Shades of green, blue, white, and grey were beautifully mixed to portray a myriad of lichen and mold species across the roof. Part of me wondered why the Guild pretended disrepair, but from a far the inn wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Cult’s most far-flung villages and that was probably the point.
---***---
Maggie collapsed onto her desk with a huff. Whoever closed last night left a mess of paperwork and now she had to do it before people filed in and buried her under more. Basic Bureaucratic Deduction was a godsend for dealing with paperwork and her Aura Retention Structures helped even more, but by the time sunlight replaced candle light on her desk, Maggie wished she had followed her dad’s advice and picked up a writing skill. She’d finished three quarters of what needed doing in the time it took the sun to rise, but when she looked at the unfinished pile of loose paper, her wrist ached in protest of future pain.
‘I swear to Erhard when I find Cael I’m going to wring his neck for this,’ she thought and with a sigh pushed the rest of the paperwork to be finished at the end of her shift.
The Guild’s youth program was about to start, and she’d pushed to get a shift as a receptionist in anticipation of all the kids who’d sign up for it. To help with that, she brought out the rarely used blood clock from the dark stained wood of the reception desk.
Fifteen minutes later saw the clock hooked up to the mana outlet inlaid into the woodgrain and her space organized to her liking. Another thirty minutes of boredom and stubborn refusal to touch Cael’s ignored paperwork saw the first patron of the day enter.
The man had to duck and shift his shoulders to enter the room, and with gentle care, he closed the door behind him. Once he was in full view of reception, Maggie flooded her appraisal skills with mana and will.
The man was tall and powerfully built, muscles like uncarved blocks of stones strained against his clothes. Know Their Worth was the first skill to return with a verdict, the giant before her would earn a small fortune to the right labor camps or arenas. That knowledge got confirmed immediately when Stable Foundations and Recruiter’s Gaze told her that the man was not only extremely well suited to physical combat, but that he had also received intensive training in the subject.
Recruiter’s Gaze continued to prod at the man’s aura, looking for signs of training, experiences that had stuck with him, lessons he’d learned, the way he carried himself, how tense he was. It looked for everything that might suggest a background in combat and returned with a grain barge full of evidence.
Maggie kept from using any of her more intense aura reading skills as they weren’t nearly as subtle and she didn’t want to offend the massive stranger. Maggie kept her focus on the man’s body as he approached. She watched his gait for subtle hints about the way he fought; noted the slight tension in his shoulders, along with how he kept his hand close to his belt knife.
Once the stranger was close enough to no longer be silhouetted by the shadows, she focused on his face.
A proud chin and aquiline nose anchored hard lines and sharp features. His pale skin and long black hair that fell loose to his shoulders made him look carved from marble. What drew her gaze the most was his eyes. His irises comprised two colors, an inner layer of deep purple surrounded by a layer of gold which quested towards his pupils in mist-like tendrils. Maggie had never seen eyes like his before, and while she’d be lying to say they were anything but beautiful; they had an inhuman quality that unnerved her.
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Maggie leaned back in her chair to look up at the man as he loomed over her like an obelisk. Sunlight glinted off the gold in his eyes. With the sunlight framing him, Maggie noticed his face was criss-crossed in small faded scars and a jagged fresh-looking one that ran from the left side of his chin up to the bottom of his lip. The Lines of Their Skin pinged with insights as she looked as his scars, the vast majority had come from combat but there was a cluster of circular scars under his hairline that all came back to her as ‘healing’, something she’d never seen before.
“Sorry to bother you, ma’am. I’d have waited if I’d known it’d be so empty.” The man’s accented voice carried a distinctly musical sound, like the rhythmic beating of drums, as if he was chanting instead of speaking.
“Not a problem.” Maggie smiled, and activated Building Connections, shaping her aura so it appeared friendlier and approachable. “We’ve been open for a few hours now, but Adventurers tend to be late risers. What can I help you with?”
“I’ve come to enroll in the Guild.”
“Fantastic! Any idea which beginner program you’re looking to join?”
“No.” The man replied. “I was unaware that was a thing.” A small scar stretched upwards to accommodate a raised eyebrow.
“Before we get to the senior programs,” Maggie said, buying time as she looked for the pamphlets for the senior programs. “If you want to sign up any kids or younger relatives – we have the youth program in a couple of days, which is exciting!”
“My daughter is much too young. Hold old do you have to be before you’re no longer allowed to take part.” Huh, Maggie’s parent sense was getting better.
“Eighteen is the oldest we allow in the youth program. After that, we shift new adventurers to the senior programs.”
“I’d like to enroll in the youth program in that case.”
Maggie, who’d begun to flip through the various ‘welcome to the Guild’ pamphlets they kept in a side drawer to find the senior programs, paused. Unsure if she’d heard the man right.
“How old are you, sir?” Maggie asked.
Maggie looked over the man (kid?) in front of her again and tried to recontextualize his features into that of a teenager. But all of her skills, his size, the scars not only on his face but everywhere visible, and his clean-shaven face all told a story of long, hard years.
“Sixteen.”
“You’re sixteen?” The words slipped out before she could stop them. Irritation flashed over the kid’s face before he could control his expression.
“That’s the second time in two days someone’s doubted me.” He replied. Maggie gave a polite chuckled and focused on flexing her aura through Building Connections to make up for the slip.
“If you’re interested in the youth program, I’d be more than happy to register you, but I have to confirm your age. Guild policy.” She said, forcing her voice to be both firm and apologetic.
“That’s fine. Is it like the census lamp at the gate?” The man asked as Maggie ducked under the desk and grabbed the blood clock from the outlet.
“Pretty much, but where the lamp focuses on class, ours’ focuses purely on age.”
The blood clock was a flat disk of mana-suffused stone that looked like obsidian but was as soft as velvet. In the center of the disk was a small hollow glass bead with a thin needle that she pointed towards the kid.
“In layman’s terms, once you prick your finger on the needle, the clock will read the mana and aura in your blood and confirm your age based on that. It’s more reliable that status reading.”
“Are there really people who can get past the System like that?” The man asked, though his accent made it sound more like a demand.
“I’ve never seen it, but there are people who have figured out tricks to get around the System. This is supposed to find those people.” Maggie said and pointed to the blood clock.
The man said nothing and just stabbed his finger down onto the needle. Blood swelled quickly and absorbed into the glass bead, where it transmuted into silver mist. A minute of awkward silence later, and the mist congealed into the number sixteen. Now that she had confirmation of the kid’s age, Maggie was very interested in his future.
As a steward, one of the administrative positions within the Guild, her job was to organize campaigns, manage the day to day, and handle public perception of the party under her care. If this kid had the ability her appraisal skills told her he did, he could be her flagship by himself with the right guidance. The man broke her concentration with a small cough. When she looked back up at him, she promised herself that she’d be scouting him as well during the youth program.
“Great! Now that it’s confirmed, I just need you to sign some paperwork, and I’ll get you enrolled in the youth program.”
“Sure, but what actually is the program?”
“Oh! It’s a five-day event the Guild holds every two months. Basically, we bring all the new blood together to be evaluated by the trainers and mingle with one another. The whole idea is to give everyone a crash course on the basic of adventuring, and allow you to create a party with people around your skill level.”
“Handy. When does it start?” The man asked as he filled out the sheet of paper she’d slid to him.
“Two days. Oh, and once you’re done, I can just grab the paperwork from you.”
She gave the sheet of paper a quick once over and scanned the specialities section. The kid had listed three things there: shield, hammer, woodcraft. Which aside from the woodcraft made perfect sense for a kid his size, he’d be wasted on anything but a sentinel build.
“Everything looks to be in order, now just the sign-up fee of a silver and we’re good to go.”
Maggie expected him to give some reaction to the price because while his clothes weren’t shabby, they certainly didn’t look like the clothes of a person who could afford to toss silvers around like they were nothing. Maggie felt her eyebrows raise when the kid slipped a hand into a coin purse on his hip and brought out a hefty silver like it was nothing.
“Perfect.” Maggie said, concealing her surprise. “All that’s left is some work on my end. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Is there anything I should do before the youth program starts?”
“Nope, but it’s tradition for new recruits to spend the last couple of days before their program starts partying. I can recommend a couple of taverns if you’d like?”
“Thank you, but no. What time should I be here for the program?”
“We usually start two hours after dawn, but you’re more than welcome to come early. In fact, it’s encouraged.”
“Thank you.” The kid said before he pivoted and left with the same fluid grace as before.
When the door shut behind the colossal man, Maggie broke into a small grin. It was a shame he hadn’t taken her up on the tavern offer. It would have provided her with more opportunities to scout him. But no matter. This youth program was full of promising talents, and she’d be damned if she let someone else become their steward.
