I opened my eyes.

I was forced to squint as morning sunlight seared into my peripherals. A high-sloped wooden ceiling rested above me. I was lying on a stiff cushion, and an itchy discomfort bristled against my skin. I felt like I had the worst hangover in the history of hangovers. I sat up.

That was a mistake.

My head exploded with pain, and my back screamed at me. I felt like I’d been hit by a train.

Stratholm.

The bone-white Fomorian’s late-night sucker punches had left their impression on my body in the worst way. It hurt my neck to move even a little. My head pounded as I glanced around the room.

I was on the top mattress of a double bed in a long room filled with bunks. Each set of beds had simple cotton sheets and a scratchy brown blanket, just like the one I was on top of. At the base of each unit was a wooden box I could only assume were for belongings. It looked like the sleeping quarters of medieval soldiers.

Not surprising, considering Malicious Intent’s motif.

There were a few windows on either side of the stretch, and I judged the room to be about sixty feet long. Each bed was immaculately made, save for mine. They were all empty.

My health bar was still low.

9/50 HP!

Before, when I’d fallen asleep, I woke up to having recovered my HP, but for some reason, through the rough night, I’d not seen a single increase.

“Well, how the hell do I heal myself?” I asked out loud.

Good Morning!

The message sprang up so suddenly that I tumbled backward out of my bed.

“Ah!” I yelped, and landed on the floor below, taking one point of damage as I did.

I stood up quickly, my head still pounding, and tried to focus on the annoying message.

You’re low on health! As a member of a Guild, you have access to certain benefits!

Would you like to Access Guild Benefits?

Yes/No

I’m reasonably sure that nothing in this crappy guild will be beneficial to me, but okay.

I clicked in the affirmative and a follow-up message populated.

Guild Benefits

Home Base Health

From this point on, any time you enter the area designated as part of your Guild Hall(s), you will instantly gain the benefit of a full rest, restoring all Stamina, Health, and Fey points. Be sure to learn where these parameters are! Be careful, you will still need to sleep, or your Stamina will begin to decline!

Room and Board

You will be provided with a sleeping area and three square meals a day for the length of your membership. Please check with your Sponsor to find out meal times.

Training Dome

You have access to the Guild Member Training Facility to hone your skills and hopefully acquire the abilities to become a thriving and helpful member of the team. Remember, laziness is the hallmark of the incompetent, and the elite!

Area Map

You now have access to Maps detailing areas your Guild controls. This includes Guild Halls, Estates, territory and anywhere else your Guild has planted their meager flag. You don’t want to be a tourist forever, do you?

Allowance

As a member of your Guild, you have access to a monthly stipend. This is a designated amount, depending on your Rank. This allowance can help you purchase weapons, armor, supplies, or even auxiliary services of leisure or pleasure. Be careful with your funds, nobody likes someone who begs for cash because they can’t manage their money!

Your Current [ Apprentice ] Rank Monthly Stipend is [ 8 Silver, 5 Copper ]

Clout

As a member of a Guild, there is an amount of esteem (or lack thereof) associated with your group. You may find that your Reputation will modify, depending on which Guild you ally yourself with. Certain regions, cities, and people will consider you with varying degrees of regard based on this. You can also view which other Guilds you are allied with, or those you share an animosity toward. Keep in mind that different Clout amounts will affect how certain individuals treat you. This information is accessible from your Reputation break down in your Menu.

Call for Help

If you are out in the field and require assistance, you can request back up from any nearby Guild Members. Whether or not they respond is an entirely different story. Keep your friends close, and your enemies...well, keep them away from you unless you’re sure you’re going to win!

Whew!

It was quite a bit of information to process. After looking the screen over a few more times, I closed it out. Instantly, my Health was replenished. My Fey had not altered, as I still hadn’t figured out how to use Magick.

You have received [ 8 Silver, 5 Copper ]!

Your Reputation has increased +1!

YOU HAVE NEW CLOUT!

With great Reputation comes high expectations. Don’t let down those you’ve recently convinced to like you!

I considered the new benefits I had received. It actually seemed logical to have the safety net of a Guild backing. Even one of as ill-repute as Malicious Intent. I just had to accept that, for now, I was one of the baddies.

I felt great after receiving my benefit of Home Base Health, and finally picked myself up from the hard floor and stretched.

I could see some movement outside the windows. A few hundred feet away, It appeared as though a small contingency of Guild members were making their way toward the Training Dome. Every single one of them had the large, bulky frame and easily-identifiable forehead horns indicating they were Fomorian.

Am I the only Guild member who isn’t one of those lumbering beasts?

I’d have to assume so for now. I’d definitely stand out. If that was the case, and based on my experience so far, I’d have to be ready for push back. Which meant I’d need to be better than I had been. In the meantime, though, I wanted to check out this new Reputation I’d received.

I opened my Menu.

Name: Vale

Title: None

Level: 1

Race: Sidhe

Class: Scamp

Guild: Malicious Intent [ Apprentice ]

Reputation: 1 [ * ]

I selected my Reputation, and read through the detail.

Reputation

Here you can see your standing with various denizens and factions of Aimsir. Be careful in how you conduct yourself in your interactions, as you can never be sure how your actions will affect others. Your Reputation can also change things like merchant prices and Quest availability.

Reputation: 1

Personal Clout: Not Available at this time.

Guild Clout

Settlements

Marlbrand [ +4 ]

Gruoch [ +3 ]

Caraig Abhainn [ + 1 ]

Ciniod [ - 1 ]

Giric [ -1 ]

Farrenborough [ - 1 ]

Lipsely [ - 2 ]

Foal [ -100 ]

Guild Allies

Holy Scubs [ Rank B ]

Order of the Fish [ Rank C ]

Wr47hBr1ng3r5 [ Rank C ]

Guild Enemies

Fushi no Raibaru [ Rank A ]

The Beatdown Brigade [ Rank B ]

Kitikyattogirudo [ Rank B ]

drobilka [ Rank C ]

The Wyyches [ Rank C ]

Dead Paragons [ Rank C ]

Bastard Daughters [ Rank C ]

Hot Bone Patrol [ Rank D ]

Cool Handsome Studs [ Rank D ]

Hell Razors [ Rank D ]

Will Quest for Food [ Rank E ]

blood wolf xmas [ Rank E ]

Victory Picnic [ Rank E ]

It seemed that all of my Clout at the moment was reserved to the graces of my Guild. I’d definitely need to be careful, since I had no clue where most of the settlements mentioned were even located. Still, it seemed Malicious Intent’s modus operandi was to piss off as many people as possible.

The negative one hundred to Foal was very worrisome indeed.

What had happened there?

I could only imagine that, based on what little I knew about the Guild, their “kill first, ask questions never” approach to the world had at least a little bearing on their record.

Looking at the list of Guild Allies and Enemies, I had to shake my head.

Honestly, it was impressive how many foes Malicious Intent had made. You don’t get to that level of enmity on accident.

I went through my Menu and selected the Map. Suddenly, a huge brown parchment unfurled in front of me, and as always, an accompanying message.

Welcome to your Map!

This is your window into the world from above! Your Map will show you your immediate area, and can also allow you to view the wide world as a whole. However, you won’t be able to see a location unless you have its Area Map, or you’ve been there before. Happy Adventuring!

I could see that at the top of the Map, the name of my current whereabouts were signified.

Malicious Intent Estate - Horn Keep

Beneath it was another option:

to Aimsir

I took note of that and drank in the sight of the entire grounds surrounding Horn Keep. The first thing I noticed was the layout. It was a top-down, bird’s-eye view that was drawn in the style of the maps you see in the beginning of fantasy novels. There were illustrative terrain features, as well as opaque shapes representing different buildings.

The depiction showed several structures on a large land mass. Trees surrounded the outside edge of the map, marking the boundary of the estate. I was surprised. There was much more to it than I had seen in the rain last night. The Training Dome was easy to spot, as it was the only conical building I could see. The Apprentice Barracks as well, was obvious by its long, rectangular shape. A red dot blazed merrily in the center of the bunker.

That’s obviously me. I understand things. I’m smart.

A large area on the map was devoted to what I assumed was Horn Keep. It was huge! I didn’t realize how austere Malicious Intent actually was.

I looked this over for another moment, and then selected to Aimsir.

This map was a lot different. It was mostly blank, but there were a few areas filled in. Different small sections were available, looking as though they’d been cleared from a foggy window. On the side of the map were different names, each corresponding to the locations I could see.

> Caraig Abhainn

> Draoigheann

> Gruoch

> Marlbrand

> Miodog Forest

> Mountaintown

I’d been to the Miodog and Gruoch, but the others were completely foreign to me. Kellmen had mentioned Caraig Abhainn, or C.A., but it the others must've been locations that Malicious Intent had stake in.

I’m definitely in trouble. These guys have more spots of influence than I’m comfortable with.

I clicked on C. A., and the Map switched to another view. This one was a much more modestly sized square, perhaps a third of the size of Horn Keep.

Hornhome

So they have a type.

The space was completely blank surrounding it, so I was led to believe that I was only able to see their Guild Hall locations in Caraig Abhainn, and not the whole city itself. That was slightly more comforting than the thought of Malicious Intent carving out their own swath of what Kellmen had indicated was a fairly large and important locale.

Next I clicked on Marlbrand.

Oh.

I had to eat my words—er, thoughts, because as the Map converted again to a new view, I could see an entire village had populated. A few dozen buildings dotted an area dominated by a narrow river. I could see a large, central structure butting up against the hills near the edge.

Malicious Manor

The name was in the vein of what I expected.

I guess when you have an aesthetic, it’s important to stay on brand.

It was perplexing to me that there was a whole town that seemed beholden to Malicious Intent in some way. I made a mental note to find out more and made my move back to the world map to do more exploring.

I was preparing to go through the other locations, but the sound of a door opening made me jump, and I whipped around, closing my Menu. Standing in the doorway of the barracks was the motley-covered, ample frame of Halec. He was silent, but his smug, fanged smile split his pewter-colored face. Unlike last night, his red hair was now combed, coifed delicately at a backward angle. Combined with his archaic clothing, it gave him the appearance of an Industrial Age servant.

“Oh,” I said, rolling my eyes, “it’s just you.”

Halec chuckled.

“Just me,” he said, shaking his head, “that’s no way to refer to your Sponsor, Vale.”

Gross.

“You’re my sponsor?” I asked, sighing, “what happened, was the toilet too busy to take me on?”

Halec chuckled again, but his eyes stayed severe and deadly.

“A fantastic joke, that,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning his back against the wall, “implying that I am of a lower standing than an excrement deposit. Truly remarkable.”

“Yeah, well, explanations ruin funnies,” I said and threw my hands up in defeat, “are you here to drag me to my first day of back-breaking labor and indentured servitude?”

Halec nodded.

“Something like that,” he stood straight again, and without looking away from me, opened the door.

“Out.”

“Wow,” I responded, slowly moving down the narrow aisle between the beds, “just like that, eh? No preamble or anything?”

“Just like that,” Halec said, the door still wide open to the outside.

“Your wish is my command,” I said, and stepped out into the cold air.

Halec closed the door behind us with a loud thump, and we began walking. It was silent for a time; the only sounds were Halec’s boots and my naked feet sloshing through the wet grass. Mercifully, it had stopped raining some time during the night. But that hardly helped against the sensation of marching barefoot through frigid sod. Halec seemed to notice and stopped me.

“Vale, where are your shoes?” he asked me, “did you eat them in a fit of rage after losing our sparring session last night?”

I scoffed.

“You call that a sparring session? Seemed more like an ambush to me. Two against one isn’t a fair fight. Not a very chill way to kill someone.”

“If I had been trying to kill you,” Halec snickered, “I would have done it. You’re hardly a threat. You don’t even have socks.”

“Well,” I said, “if someone’s dumb ass Guild hadn’t attacked me while I was sleeping, maybe I’d have some of my belongings with me. You’re lucky I’m even wearing pants.”

“Yes, I’m sure we’re all quite fortunate,” Halec responded, “and that’s your dumb ass Guild now as well. Dipshit.”

Halec paused and opened his Menu. He clicked through a few options and suddenly, a Trade Window opened up in front of me.

Halec would like to trade with you!

Yes/No

“What are you giving me, a disease?” I asked, incredulous that he would give me anything useful.

“Just accept it. This will be the only kindness you deserve,” Halec said.

I shrugged and selected yes.

Will you accept

[ Fair ] Cotton Slippers?

[ Clothing ]

Rarity: Common

Durability: 8 / 10

Accept | Decline

“Why are you giving me these?” I asked. I didn’t trust that he wasn’t up to something with this maneuver.

“If you walk around inside of the Guild Hall with your dirty Sidhe feet, then I’ll be the one to answer for it. Do us both a favor.”

“Dirty Sidhe feet? Jesus, dude. I haven’t been here for very long, but I’m pretty sure that’s not okay,” I said.

“You’re more than welcome to complain to management, but I think you’ll find that to be a pointless endeavor.”

I very much wanted to refuse just to spite him, but my feet were feeling like blocks of ice at the moment.

They’re probably covered in piss, but anything is better than another soggy mounded being squished between my toes.

I selected yes.

Would you like to equip [ Fair ] Cotton Slippers?

Yes/No

I equipped them, and just like in the Miodóg, I felt the instant, partial relief of warm clothing as the slippers appeared on my feet. They were blue and looked designed for little more than sleeping.

“Ah, look at that,” Halec said, smirking wide, “they match your shawl.”

I tugged on the tattered edges of my vest and rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, well, this is all I have left of my usual attire. Cowardly night attack, remember?”

Halec didn’t respond, and the two of us trudged on through the grounds.

Now that there was no longer rain or darkness, I could see the estate a lot more clearly. The grounds were very well maintained, with sloping hills that ran in all directions for hundreds of feet before being rebuffed at the edge of a handsome forest. Despite my circumstances, I could still appreciate the beautiful scenery that seemed to be ubiquitous in this world. Even in such an awful and oppressive environment like the Malicious Intent Guild, there were nuggets of niceness that I could focus on.

I found that we had been heading to the Guildhall. The large, looming structure seemed crafted out of ancient stone. It reminded me of an old Scottish manor, with its sharp angles and tapered rooftop. It was an immense and awe-inspiring building I found, as we got closer. A large banner hung down from the roof, covering a sizeable section of the front, ending just above the huge double doors of the entry. The flag was black and white, with a massive, red eye depicted on it.

An angry butthole. Must be the mascot.

We entered through the main door, and I was struck with the shimmering beauty.

An enormous, perfectly polished foyer met us inside. The floors were crafted of fine, white marble, polished to a sheen that reflected everything that passed over them. They stretched dozens of feet toward a marvelous grand double staircase, above which hung a sparkling chandelier. There were massive doorways along both walls that disappeared into the recesses of the hall. At the same time, the second level was clearly visible through the pristine marble pillars that held up the ceiling.

A few Fomorian milled about, on some mission or another, laden with various degrees of armor or weaponry. Beneath the arch of the staircase’s first landing, far back enough that I had to squint, was a walnut-colored counter. A surly-looking Fomorian wearing plain clothes and a cloth smock, drooped lazily behind the desk, his tawny-haired head propped up against the palm of one hand. Behind him on the wall, the words JOB BOARD were painted neatly in a large blue font. Below the marquee were dozens of different colored pieces of parchment, likely describing various missions for the Guildmembers.

What in the Barbie Dreamhome hell is this place?

This was not what I expected out of such a seemingly wanton group like Malicious Intent. I would have assumed the hall would be covered ceiling to doornail in mud and urine stains, where big, brutish Fomorian drank old beer out of the heels of stale bread, and locked their horns together to settle disputes over who smelled better.

“Pretty slick, eh?” Halec asked, nudging me with his elbow.

“Yeah, if you like crap,” I said with a snort. I’ll admit it wasn’t the best off-the-cuff remark I’d ever made.

“If you’re smart, you won’t speak that sort of heretical bullshit in front of any of the other Guildies,” Halec warned, “unless you enjoy having the teeth pounded out of your skull against the edge of a staircase.”

“I went to public school, pal,” I said, “I don’t fear your words.”

Halec sighed and led me down a magnificent hallway. After a minute, we reached a wooden door with an intricate woodland scene carved into its face.

“Fancy,” I said, as we stopped, “I’m excited to see where this leads.”

“Oh, it is quite nice,” Halec said, grasping the door’s iron ring and wrenching it open, “nothing but the best for you.”

I stared in shock. A dusty, cobweb-filled passage greeted me inside the doorway. Rough stone walls rested above a cracked and broken granite staircase that curved down and to the right, disappearing behind the bend. It was dark, but flickering torchlight gave a dim view of the spectacle from somewhere deep within the belly of this place.

“What the hell,” I said, taking a step back, “where are you taking me?”

Halec turned and smiled.

“Why, to your first assignment, of course.”

I shook my head.

“The dungeon?”

Halec sighed and pressed his palm to his forehead as if I were too stupid to deal with.

“No, Vale. As much as it would please me to see you howling with rage, fettered to a wall in a dank cell, you will be working.”

“Working where,” I asked, now nervous.

“In the kitchens,” he said, nodding toward the stairwell, “as I told you yesterday, we are down some help. So, let’s go see if Chef can put that Cooking Skill to good use.”