Archbishop Bors sat on his gilded throne, facing towards the giant doubly doors of the cathedral, his large blue robes, expanded to contain his massive size, contrasting against the red velvet of the chair greatly. The main room of the cathedral was well lit, making the gold rimmed red carpet leading up to his throne shine slightly underneath the coloured light coming from the stained glass windows. He sighed tiredly as he motioned for the paladins standing at the doors to open them

As they did, a short ma, dressed in dirty brown clothes walked in, thanking them both before approaching the Archbishop. Bors couldn't help but sneer in disgust as dirt was tracked onto the clean carpet, either from the mans shoes or falling off his clothes with each step.

"This information you have had better be good Rat. If not, then you have no excuse for not getting yourself out of those filthy clothes." Bors said, the man hurriedly bowing as he reached the steps leading up to the Archbishop.

"I must apologise Archbishop. I thought you would want to know of this as soon as possible." Rat said, still bowing low as he waited for a response.

Bors scoffed, "Well. Get on with it then." He commanded, gaining a nod from Rat. Rat was his personal spy and information collector. He could get his hands on information before almost anyone else, and could deliver it just as quickly.

"Well, Archbishop, I have two pieces of news. Firstly, it appears that the Guild has gained a new Adamantine adventurer."

Bors froze, looking down at Rat in thought. He stroked his chin, leaning back into his throne. "This is indeed troubling. Tell me, who was it? That knight Brant? Or maybe even that accursed elf mage Elsyn." While the Guild gaining a new Adamantine adventurer would usually be a cause for celebration as it meant the country's defences would be bolstered, it was the opposite for Bors.

Adventurers were troublesome, always meddling in affairs they had no welcome in. As such they had obstructed the moves he had been making for years. As a response to this, he had begun planting his own warriors within the guild, even buying out the current adventurers. Eventually the Guild had caught on to his antics and began to fight back against the infiltration, making sure to send his warriors on quests far away from where Bors wanted them to go.

As far as he could remember, Brant and Elsyn were the highest leveled Platinum adventurers, and had also been a massive pain in his backside. Them ranking up to Adamantine simply meant that they had gotten both more powerful and were now considered some of the best fighters to exist. Of course, while he had powerful warriors of his own, this development would simply make things more troublesome.

"Neither, Archbishop." Rat said, surprising the fat Bors. "In fact...we know next to nothing about him." Rat said the last part almost like an apology, bowing down even deeper. This however, surprised Bors even more. Rat always knew at least something about everyone.

It amused Bors.

"So then, can you at least tell me this mystery man's name?" He said, failing to hide the smile coming to his face from how unique this situation was.

"...Well, there is a small problem with that." Rat admitted, licking his lips nervously. "It appears that he is hiding his True Name. At current, his Chosen Name is 'Abyss Watcher'."

Bors frowned in thought. "How did we not know of him joining the Guild?" He questioned. "Surely you must have noticed him rising through the ranks."

"That's the thing though...He only just joined." Rat now looked both ashamed at him not being able to do his job, and worried at how this person had slipped under their noses.

Bors, pursed his lips in thought. A brand new adventurer. Starting out at Adamantine. This was unheard of. Usually some faction or another would swoop in to recruit them either before or after they had joined the Guild. And now, Bors wasn't sure which faction had recruited him.

In the Kingdom of Redmere, there were several different factions within, vying for power. There was the Royalists, who supported the King and Queen, however their support had been dwindling greatly for a long time. Now, the Church had large amounts of sway over the King, causing the Royalists to direct their support toward the Queen instead.

There was the Church, his own faction. They were the holiest faction and so would undoubtedly come out on top, supported by their growing numbers among both the peasants and the nobles, as well as the high level warriors they had under their sway.

He sneered inwardly as he remembered the next one. The Guild. They were an integral part of Redmere, having sunken their evil roots deep into the country via the adventuring system they had designed. As a result of this they had gained enough power to rival even the Church's holy might.

Finally, their was the Secessionist faction, made up of a variety of the large noble houses in Redmere. They had grown disgruntled, claiming that the Church was the real power and the King was simply a puppet of theirs. While they technically were correct, this simply meant that they were just as blasphemous as the Guild for wanting to leave because of that. The most active among them was the House of Balthana, and had been coordinating with the Guild to harass the Church.

Ah, that reminded him of something, "Tell me, how did those mercenaries we hired handle Lady Sarena?" He asked, awaiting the good news.

Rat gulped, rubbing his hands together as he glanced from side to side, "About that. It appears that they failed. From what we can tell, the Abyss Watcher killed them before they could get to the Lady."

Bors stared silently at the now terrified Rat, who fell to his knees, placing his head on the floor as he begged forgiveness.

"Rat, tell the Archmage to begin." Bors said simply, Rat's eyes widening in response, as he hurriedly stood up and bowed.

"Yes Archbishop!" He yelled before hurriedly walking out the doors, breaking into a full sprint as soon as he left.

Bors sighed. He didn't want to do this before it was ready, but now that this unknown player had stepped onto the field, he had no choice. He looked out of the windows, onto the city streets of Angelhelm.

It was time for a [Summoning].

Rain fell in thunderous waves outside, reduced significantly from the thick wooden walls of the tavern and the hum of lively chatter. Myrrh smirked as she listened to the rambling dwarf [Bombardier] across from her, bragging about how he had jumped on the dragon's back.

"The only reason you even managed to get onto it's back Yurem was because Myrrh was blasting it to kingdom come with [Solar Ray]." Marcus interrupted, gesturing to the elven [Mage].

The dwarf let out an indignant squawk, and opened his mouth to counter only to be interrupted by laughter. He looked towards Myrrh, raising an eyebrow as she continued to chuckle. She waved a hand, telling them to just ignore her, but to no avail as they looked on in confusion. Rolling her eyes she opened her mouth to explain before the door to the tavern slammed open, flooding the room with the torrent of rain.

A cloaked man stood in the doorway, dripping wet and panting as he moved towards the bar. He sat and ordered a beer from the bartender before scanning the room for something. When his eyes settled on their group, they widened before he turned backed to the drink. He chugged it down like a madman, as if it was the last drink he ever had.

After that he got up and approached them, the symbol of a grey shield with crossed swords emblazoned onto his cloak signifying him as a Guild messenger. He bowed as he approached, the group smirking in amusement as a response.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance I am from the Guild." He greeted, "I have arrived to inform you that there is a new Adamantine adventurer. He currently resides in Duskrock."

"Duskrock? Can't be Brant then. Maybe Elsyn, but last I heard she was in the mountains." Marcus said, gaining nods from both the elf and dwarf.

The messenger shook his head, "It's neither of them actually. In fact, from what we can tell, he showed up out of the blue. The Guildmaster in charge of the Duskrock Guild has requested that you give him the...special treatment. Something about testing his capabilities." The messenger clearly didn't understand what the last part meant but the others did.

"Hehe, remember when we did that to you Myrrh." Yurem said with a chuckle.

Myrrh responded with her own laugh, "And now I have the opportunity to do that with the new guy. What's his name anyway?" She directed the question at the messenger, who shook his head.

"Believe it or not, the guy's got a Chosen Name." This shocked the gathered. Getting a Chosen Name was very rare, and usually required a very powerful [Mage] to implement. The reason it was so difficult was because of it's ability to take priority over a person's true name. So this person having a Chosen Name either means he is a powerful [Mage] or knows one. "And it's a strange one to be sure. Abyss Watcher or something like that."

Myrrh noticed a cloaked figure seated alone at a table near them shift their head slightly in their direction. Paying it no mind she turned back to her comrades, she idly shifted the Adamantine band on her wrist, smiling in anticipation.

This was going to be fun.