Same day and not far away- the Narrator

The cold autumn air blew mercilessly promising the arrival of a more ruthless cold in the nearing future, as icy fleet formed in the chilling moisture of the oncoming storm.

The sky was dark with malevolent thunder clouds eager to unleash their natural wrath, lighting up the dreary city streets with a flash of blue illumination every time the storm let out a roaring boom.

In the labyrinth city of Octaal, the pedestrians quickly found shelter in nearby inns or taverns or perhaps even still open stores, rare at this time of day.

But not every person was able to find shelter so easily, among these unfortunate individuals, a diminutive and unhealthily slender figure ducked her head, the hood covering her face shielding her, albeit poorly from the biting winds.

Clad in a ragtag leather tunic that looked almost worn through, the slender figure, her bony thighs exposed to the open air, made her way toward her desired location, the adventurers guild.

Turning a city street and finding her goal in sight, the skinny figure pushed on towards the guild, her weakened limbs protesting her actions as she moved through the growing storm.

Arriving at the guild doors, a large double-doored thing of stout wood and iron plating, the figure with great difficulty pushed the doors open.

Stumbling into a wide, well-lit room that gave off a merry atmosphere, the slight figure blinked at her surroundings, enjoying the warmth of the room that had begun to wash into her and the rooms drastically different atmosphere.

The room was large and a pair of stairs leading to a second-story level could be seen, a brightly burning hearth was roaring in the centermost wall, and round tables were strewn about the room, some of the chairs surrounding those tables being occupied by armed and sharp-eyed men and women, adventurers.

The doors, seemingly of its own accord slammed shut behind the gawping figure, attracting the attention of the whole room to her lone self, while some of the sitting adventurers focused a steady gaze upon the small newcomer, watching her movements, most glanced once before losing interest and returning to their prior conversations.

Nervously, the hooded figure moved towards one of the counters on the right side of the room, opposite the stairs.

Approaching the closest counter, the figure spoke aloud, “uh- uh- excuse me,” The counter attendant dozing off with his face in his hands didn’t stir, the small figures voice being too quiet to wake him from his stupor.

More forcefully this time, the small figure clenching her fists said loudly.

“uh- excuse me!”

Awakened from his stupor, the counter attendant jerked, blinking rapidly before letting out a stifled yawn.

“Hmm wha- oh hello there,” without acknowledging his slothfulness, the man addressed the waiting figure. “are you here to hand in a request or receive pay-“

The man catching the slight figures ragged state and attire frowned slightly, perhaps he found the figures state of dress distasteful or perhaps…

“you look a little young to be here, I am going to have to inquire of your age.” the man said without any warmth in his voice.

The adventurers guild did not accept applicants under the age of 14 as such young individuals were far more likely to perish and dilute the quality of existing adventurers, this was a professional question and not a personal one that the man had to ask.

In response to his stipulated question, the slender figure answered, “It's ok I'm- I'm 14.”

Ignoring the young girl's earnest expression, the counter attendant glanced at the small orb on his left, it remained green, if it turned red it meant the girl was lying, it was a lie detector orb and while it wasn’t foolproof, it was reliable enough.

“Hmmph, well, that checks out.” scrawling something down the man asked in quick succession “name, place of birth and skills, if any?”

In response to the quick questions, the girl answered if somewhat nervously. “ ahh yes um my name is Lescar gestalt and I was born in this city and… I can handle a sword-”

The counter attendant looked at Lescar doubtfully hearing that last part, staying quiet momentarily before overriding Lescar with his own assumption.

“Hmm, I am going to assume that you are an aspiring newcomer wishing to become an adventurer right?”

To this, the girl quietly nodded prompting the man to scratch his nose in irritation, sighing the man said, “you know that this isn’t a free service right? Any services you take here must be paid for in full, upfront, the guild no longer accepts promises of future payments.”

The man waited for this to sink in before continuing, the man believing he had already nailed down Lescars aims for being here.

“The privilege of joining the guild isn’t free either, and requires at least 30 copper coins for a basic entrance if-“

Interrupting the man's steadily growing voice, Lescar lifted up her hands, holding up two fistfuls of copper coins.

“I have the coins… is this enough?”

Taken aback, the counter attendant looked a little deflated, but soon regained his prior stoutness.

“So you have the coins…”

The counter attendant again looked Lescars ragged form up and down before a more serious glint sparked in his eyes and he leaned forward.

“Do you really want to join the adventurers guild? The adventurer's life is hardly as glamorous as others make it out to be.”

The attendant said this as a whisper, his eyes making sure no one was listening.

“It is also quite possible, no most likely, you will die, especially if you cant find a party to group with.”

The attendant's voice while quiet was deadly serious. “So do you still want to become an adventurer?”

Without hesitating a beat, Lescar responded “Yes!” having practically ignored everything the attendant had said.

Leaning back and taking up a professional air again, the attendant scooped up 30 copper coins.

“Well then, that just leaves the registration, if you would, please follow me.”

The counter attendant's voice sounded cheery and upbeat but inside he was embroiled in guilt, his failure to dissuade the youth from joining would likely result in her death in the immediate future.

As he left the wide room into a small room reserved for registration affairs, the small form of a beaming if skinny girl followed behind him.