The guild-clerk’s gaze was intense, I felt like as if I was under a microscope, or maybe a butterfly ready to be pinned to a piece of cardboard, to be archived for later. It was not so much power that kept me pinned but intensity and experience, the woman I was facing had seen so much more than I.

“Very well. What information do you need from me? And how much does the registration cost?” I asked, pulling a little on the crystal in my chest to strengthen my presence.

“Your name. And registration is five silver each.” She said with an amused smile. I looked over to Sigmir and she frowned, signaling me that we were lacking a little in the money departement. Rai, however, spoke up, telling us that he would cover the cost for us.

“I’m called Morgana, a traveller.” I introduced myself. As I spoke, the woman stood and moved a bit back, to one of the cabinets. Due to that, I saw more of her, realising that she was missing her left leg, from the thigh down. I could not help but stare for a moment, seeing the primitive prosthetic. She turned back and noticed my gaze.

“What girl, never seen an retired adventurer? Most of us take a job with the guild if they are too wounded to continue and have the standing. One even tried to retire after just taking an arrow to the knee, damned slacker, they sorted him out post haste.” she told us in an annoyed voice, before mockingly adding, “I hear he became a guard somewhere.”

After looking us over once again, she continued in a slightly nicer voice. “In a way, the guild-standing is your retirement as an adventurer. So, don’t screw with the guild, it might be all that keeps you off the street in the end.”

Finally, she pulled out a box, carrying it to the counter and pulling a few thin metal plates out of it. Rai placed twenty, round silver-pieces on the table, each with a square hole in the middle, for a stick or a string to be put through, allowing for ease of carrying.

“So, Morgana. I see.” the woman looked me over once again and I felt a strange sensation, one I had felt before when Kallista had demonstrated what it felt like to be subtly observed. Out of reflex, I pulled at the shadows and the darkness around me, trying to shroud me from the invasive gaze.

“Stop that, I need to observe you.” the woman growled.

“Next time, tell a gal that you invade her privacy.” I growled back, but let the shrowing fade away, even as if it felt uncomfortable.

“Didn’t think that you’d notice or be able to do something about it. The last few fools got here without even learning from their tribes, a few hadn’t even managed to get to level ten. Plumb fools the lot, running out into the world before they are ready. But if the rumours are true and Travellers truly can’t die, maybe that makes them reckless.” the woman explained with a slightly grudging respect.

Feeling peevish, I used my darkness magic to conceal my own use of observe on her, learning a little about her.

Female Caprakin, Level 104

So, she was a goat-beastman. Or beastwoman.

She twitched for a moment and glared at me, before breaking into laughter.

“Well played, little elf. You can call me Saya.”

“Thank you, Saya. Before, you said something about bonded and non-bonded quests, can you explain a little more?” I asked, trying to get more information during a moment of levity.

“Mhm. Sure.” She said, slightly distracted as she moved her hands in distinct patterns and I got a slight whiff of magic in the air. Peeking through Lenore’s eyes showed me a maddingly complex magic formation, completely different from everything I had seen to that day.

“Don’t peek!” Saya admonished me. I curbed my curiosity, unwilling to make the clerk even more annoyed with me. She continued her hand-movement and started talking.

“Bonded missions are those the guild takes serious. They are more expensive and most of the time they are protective in nature. For example, guarding someone important would most likely be a bonded mission, even if a caravan might allow others to join, for a fee. The guild selects those who take such missions quite carefully, as the guild’s reputation hinges on each and every one of them. People trust us because the guild’s word is binding. If a bonded mission fails, the adventurers undertaking it better have a damn good reason and don’t try to run, or the guild will hunt them down.” Saya explained, before finishing the spell she was using and handed me my card. It was a slim, metal rectangle, no larger than a credit card with a simple engraved name, Morgana, on it.

Saya looked me over once again. “Now, I need a drop of blood from you.”

Frowning, I looked at her, before asking “What for?”

“To imprint the card on you.”

The idea was quite uncomfortable, even I could to quite a bit of damage with a drop of blood and there were uncountable ways that it could be used to target me and I had only very rudimentary ideas how to defend against such attacks.

But I wanted the guild-card, so I had to bite my tongue and deal with my apprehension.

Creating a tiny sliver of ice on my fingernail, making it razor-sharp, I used it to slash open a small gash in my other hand, letting a bit of blood well up. Seeing the blood, I tried to pull my essence back from it, basically using blood magic in reverse, leaving only the smallest amount of it in the blood, an amount that should rapidly dissipate, before letting the blood drop onto the receptacle Saya had prepared for me.

“How paranoid.” Saya remarked as I did so, causing a slight blush, but I would not apologize for my caution. The receptacle flashed a little and I saw the blood vanish and felt a small change in my card.

I peeked at it, using Lenore’s vision, curious what it would look like, but I only got the barest glimpse of a dense and highly complex magic formation that was concealed within the card. What little I could see, was far too complex and confusing to understand.

“You can look at the card, but I would not try to alter the information encoded within. You will fail and we will know. In addition, your information is now in the system, so don’t try to fool anyone, claiming to be a new adventurer. We will know.” Saya explained.

“Now, for you, Miss Giantblood.” she looked over to Sigmir, who took my place.

They went through the name and observe-spiel and as Saya was preparing Sigmir’s card, she continued explaining about quests.

“So, bonded quests are serious. Unbonded quests are a lot more relaxed, with them it doesn’t really matter if the adventurers fail, they just die and it’s no longer our problem. Unbonded quests are mostly tasks to go somewhere and kill things or gather things, if you succeed and bring back proof, you get paid, if not, tough luck and someone else can cash in. By doing such quests and demonstrating reliability, you can gain guild-standing. But the standing is mostly left to the experienced clerks, most of us can smell a problem from a mile away. For example, the little wolf back there,” she said, looking at Rai, “that one is green as spring grass and you, miss elf, are a ruthless little monster, aren’t you?” she said, with a smirk on her face as she looked at me.

“Such compliments.” I answered in a mocking voice. “Let’s just say, I do whatever is necessary to get the job done.”

“I’ve seen others like you before. If they care for someone, they will happily burn down the world for them, smiling as they go. And if they don’t they will happily stab them in the back, for their own gain.” she said, speaking without heat in her voice.

I took Sigmir’s blood as well, draining it of most of her essence, so she was safe, before placing a gentle kiss on the cut and closing it with my magic. Sigmir blushed a little at my affection, but I did not care.

“Next, miss dryad.” Saya called for Adra.

They went through the same song and dance, but this time, Saya explained about a few quests in the area. We could get paid for hunting wolves, mostly in the east, where we came from, we could get paid for hunting wind raptors in the southern mountains or we could get paid for hunting fire-birds in the northern mountains. In addition, there was a premium for meat-delivery to the town, during the winter-months. During spring time there were more ways to make some cash, but that did not really help us.

After making sure that Adra’s blood would not be abused, Sigmir took out the wolf-pelts we had gathered on our way here, learning that we could get paid for them at the guild or sell them in town. Hoping to get a better price in town, Sigmir decided to keep them for now, only showing the amount of pelts we had and the quality, so Saya could get an estimation of our fighting prowess, even if only a very rudimentary one. There was a huge difference between killing forty wolves during forty days, a wolf each day, or killing them all at once, in a single, huge fight.

Finally, she registered Rai, before giving us a couple of hints where to go next.