“Sophie, you can go now. Thanks again.” Jacob said as he ushered her out of the room.

“Jacob wait. I’ve never inked that design before…What is this notification? Have you seen this?” Sophie asked as the door shut behind her.

“Why was she so agitated? What’s going on?” Deacon asked starting to get nervous.

“You should probably check your slate. It’s all good information. Once you’re done, we can discuss a few more things.” Jacob assured him as he sat back behind his desk.

Deacon could hear a commotion in the hallway. It sounded like people running back and forth asking each other questions. Checking his slate messages now sounded like a great idea.

You have joined the Adventurers Guild- You have earned five general ability points to distribute as you wish.

You have completed a Secret Quest- Lowest level ever to join a guild- You have become the lowest level ever to join a guild. You have been given a unique mark as a reward. You have earned one level; you might need it.

You have completed a Secret Quest- First Champion ever to join a guild- You are the first Deific Champion to ever join a guild. Your guild mark has been upgraded to a Legendary Mark. A Legendary Guild Mark grants you a legendary guild perk, bonus guild points for completing guild quests, saving other guild members, and bringing renown to your guild.

Legendary Adventurers Guild Perk earned- Healthy Party- while traveling with other guild members, you and your party regenerate 5% of your health every minute out of combat….

Deacon then heard, more like felt, that old familiar landslide hitting a burning fireworks factory otherworldly sound that indicated his Rule Breaker boon had activated. Deacon realized he’d never had so many notifications.

Healthy Party has been evolved by Rule Breaker- Triage- - while traveling with other guild members, you and your party regenerate 5% of your health every minute stack-able with any other regen ability. This perk only lasts while you are a member in good standing.

Guild Notice-Your guild is now aligned with the Champion of Cheshire. The following benefits are granted to all Adventurers Guild members in the Griffin Kingdom: Increased chance to find secret or hidden quests, random danger levels from previously assessed guild quests, your status will be seen as neutral to followers of Cheshire, and Increased loot from all sources.

Quest Update- Houses of Worship- Cheshire would like you to consecrate new locations in his name. 1 of 5 complete.

You have reached level 10. As a Champion of Cheshire, you have earned one new champions item to be decided by Cheshire. You have six unassigned stat points.

“What the hell? Did you know this was going to happen?” Deacon asked with a scowling.

“Molok mentioned some unique circumstances could come about from your induction. I had no idea it would be this far reaching. Every guild in the whole Kingdom? We will far surpass the other organizations if we can dig up all those hidden quests. They have the best loot by the way. I’m so excited for us.” Jacob beamed.

“Why keep it a secret? If you just came out and told me, I would likely have still joined.” Deacon said.

“The trial is more than just combat. It is a test of your character. You refused to give up when prompted. You decided to show mercy and warn Philip about that spinning blade thing. Side note, I want to explore that ability with you. I’ve seen something similar before. Finally, you tried to catch Amanda showing you aren’t heartless. I wouldn’t want you to join just because you had your eye on loot from some bonus quests we couldn’t really confirm. Do you understand?” Jacob asked.

“I think so. I still think it was dick move dropping me down that hatch.” Deacon said surprised at how miffed he was about that.

“Same thing happens to all new recruits. Alright, based on the notifications I got, you now passively heal all guilded party members. Did I get that right?” Jacob queried.

“Yea, that’s what it says. What did you mean you’d seen that before?” Deacon asked.

“You aren’t the first monk class I’ve ever run into. A lot of them control their elements in an area around them. The strongest ones can project their auras quite a distance. Something about meditation and training. I’m not a monk but I have a level ten mentors ability. It lets me assess a persons strengths and weaknesses. It comes in handy with training here at the guild. I think with some time and effort I could figure out a training regimen for you to help increase your skills. The ability is a trade off for me. Since I don’t go out on quests as much the more you learn the more my own skills improve. Interested?” Jacob asked.

“Wow that sounds great. I’ve been trying to learn on my own, but I mostly stumble upon technique manuals and the like. Some focused training and growth would help a lot.” Deacon said.

“Ok well I have other responsibilities, so we’ll pick this up later. Now let’s discuss guild points. The guild tallies your contributions in the form of points. Once you reach a certain point threshold you can raise a tier from your current level of Novice to Generalist and so on. You can do this by completing quests, bringing back loot to sell to our Guild Bank, or performing feats of renown that elevate the guilds standing in the kingdom. Most people just focus on the quests and loot part. Shame really. The Guild Bank can exchange silver and gold found from any region into Griffin standard. If you like you can open an account and you won’t have to walk around with everything you are worth all the time. Very few people want to leave their money with the bank. They just don’t see the benefits.” Jacob trailed off toward the end.

“I come from a place where banks were very prevalent. I just had a great idea.” Deacon said.

“Great. We’ll investigate the training stuff tomorrow. For now, let’s get you situated with the bank and track down Bloodbeard. I’ll sniff him out.” Jacob said as he got up and headed toward the door.

Jacob opened the door to a sea of questions from what looked like everyone who was at the guild hall today. Since there was no way past Jacob’s bulk, Deacon was effectively trapped in the room. This seemed like a good time to assign those six points he just got. Intelligence was still rather low, but he did want to increase his agility. No point in being as fast as he was if he was constantly stumbling over everything. He wanted that good parkour hoppy flippy shit. Deacon put four points in Intelligence and two points in Agility.

Attribute

Score

Intelligence

15

Strength

36

Speed

36

Agility

17

Wisdom

15

Luck

300

When Deacon looked up, he noticed Jacob had the mob quieted mostly down. He could hear Typhus asking what happened. Jacob moved into the hallway enough that he finally get out of the office. All he saw was a sea of unfamiliar faces staring at him mouths agape.

“This guy? He looks like a vagrant with his burnt-up shirt and holes in his pants.” Said a random guild member, “Who is he to align all of us with Cheshire?”

“Now I know this may rub some of you the wrong way, but I assure it will be good for the guild. I’ve already been alerted to new quests that are populating my queue randomly as other guild members come across them. This is a good thing. Now let us out of this damn hallway.” Jacob placated.

The crowd started to disperse at the mention of new quests. Typhus ran up to Deacon with a scowl on his face. No doubt he was about to blame Deacon for some new perceived disaster. When he finally got there he put a hand on Deacons shoulder and pulled him into an alcove nearby.

“You left before I could give you your share. We made a killing. I think we should go to the arena at Breakneck Lake. We could really clean up.” Typhus said grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

“Sure, just not today. How much do I get?” Deacon asked.

“Fifty silver. That’s half of what we made. No one believed you could beat those two. They heard you were level nine and thought it would be easy money. They don’t know your damn knack for beating the odds.” Typhus said.

“Fifty, that’s five gold, right?” Deacon asked.

“Yep, I suggest you spend it on new clothes. Maybe some armor. Five gold could probably get you an enchanted set of armor. Help protect your damn clothes at least. Also a shower.” Typhus said.