“Now that we’ve been well acquainted with one and other, let’s get a move on.” Karl said with great enthusiasm, jumping up into the driver’s seat of the cart.

Connor stood in stunned silence, unable to keep up with Karl’s pace. Suddenly he felt a weight on his shoulder, glancing back he jumped in surprise. An armored hand was resting on his shoulder and the cloaked form of Death Knight Heinrich loomed over him.

A surprising soothing voice flowed from the intimidating warrior. “Don’t mind Karl, he has a tendency to move at his own pace, which usually leaves people sprinting to catch up. Don’t hold it against him, he’s a nice guy, when he’s not insulting with flowery language of course.” He chuckled a bit. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to journeying with you. If you have any questions don’t be reluctant to ask.”

Although Connor couldn’t see his face he could tell that Heinrich was smiling. “Thanks Heinrich, I'll make sure I will.” ‘Wow, he’s a really nice guy. Not at all what I expected.’ Taking his hand of Connor’s shoulder Heinrich nodded at him then started to walk around to the other side of the cart.

‘I might as well walk alongside Heinrich, he seems the most friendly.’ He glanced at Grave Warden Nikolas and then at Acolyte Manfred who was staring intently at the corpses on the cart, ‘and the most sane, well besides Karl but something’s off about him. I don’t know what but something about him bugs me.’ Connor broke away from his thoughts as he rounded the back of the cart. Taking up a position next to Heinrich as they started to move out of the square.

Connor turned to Heinrich and began his interrogation. “Karl introduced you as a Death Knight Acolyte, what does that mean?”

“Well, Death Knight is my occupation and Acolyte is my rank within the Guild.” Heinrich began in his soothing baritone voice. “I assume you don’t know much about the Undertaker’s Guild so I’ll start with the basics. Acolyte is the rank given to a Body Refining Cultivator and considered the first actual rank in the guild as they have completed their basic training and can be trusted to go on missions. Acolytes are above Neophytes who are Qi Gathering Cultivators or gifted who are just beginning. Neophytes Are trainees and thus have very little independence. Speaking of Neophytes that’s your rank.” Heinrich pointed out.

“Good to know.” Connor responded motioning for Heinrich to continue.

“Above Acolytes are Undertakers, the guilds namesake, which are Qi Condensing cultivators. Undertakers are trusted members of the Guild and therefore are allowed to operate how they please as long as they perform their duties to the Guild. Above the Undertakers are the Grave Wardens, Grave Wardens are power houses in their own right. Obviously no where near the level of Core Formation but they are great assets to the guild. I’ll stop the ranks there as above that is the leadership of the guild and not just members of the guild.” Heinrich paused for a moment to recollect his thoughts.

“Wow, if Grave Wardens are so important than why is Grave Warden Nikolas here.” Connor asked with incredulity.

“Venerable Grave Warden Nikolas,” Heinrich stressed the adjective, “is here because you are important. You are a great talent and the guild has high hopes for you so in order to make sure you make it to the Guild safely Venerable Grave Warden Nikolas,” stressing the adjective again, “is here.”

“How kind of Venerable Grave Warden Nikolas.” Connor answered, scepticism evident in his voice.

Heinrich gave a subtle nod then continued. “On to jobs, like I said earlier I’m a Death Knight but that’s more then a title than anything. I’m not an actual knight but that’s besides the point, Death Knights are the soldiers of the Guild.”

Connor interrupted with a question. “I thought all of the cultivators of a sect were warriors?”

Heinrich shook his head and sighed. “Yes and no.”

“Yes and no?” Connor questioned.

Heinrich raised his hand to stop Connor from speaking and continued. “Yes, all of the cultivators do have at least some combat ability and when the sect is in grave danger,” he paused and chuckled to himself then continued, “they will fight, but a lot of our Guild’s members have different professions.”

Connor tilted his head in confusion. “Like what?”

Heinrich shook his head again. “I was getting to that. Let’s start with the most numerous, the necromancers, they are cultivators that control and raise undead for battle or to perform simple tasks. They are the profession our Guild is most famous for along with the corpse crafters, cultivators who prepare dead bodies and create higher tier undead. Most necromancers are corpse crafters as well because of how related the two professions are. Another important profession is the spirit caller, cultivators who deal with spirits and incorporeal undead, quite a strange bunch although not the strangest.” He shuddered a bit. “Damn occultists.” He whispered softly.

“Another important profession is the plague doctor, although it’s more of a category rather than a monolithic profession. Plague doctor encompasses poison masters, alchemists, and actual doctors as a profession. A word of advice for the future, don’t piss off a plague doctor as a group they have a lot of power and influence within the Guild and they’re the ones that are gonna keep you alive. The final profession is the most esoteric and strange, the occultists. They are the darker side of the guild if you will, they try to contact unknown powers, more often than not devils and demons. We generally keep quiet about that though considering it’s quite a taboo subject and would reflect badly on the Guild.” Heinrich explained, becoming very serious as he spoke the last part.

“I only mention the last part because I want to be honest with you about what the Guild is. Obviously you probably knew going into it that we weren’t all sunshine and roses but we have our dark parts just as we have our good parts. As an organization we are very grey when it comes to morality.” Heinrich placed a hand on Connor’s shoulder. “You’re one of us now so you deserve to know, welcome to the Undertaker’s Guild Neophyte Connor.”