Unknown

Eons upon eons passed in the unchanging void. Nothing stirred, nothing could after all. However, after a long, long time, a new feeling I never had before weld up in me. ‘Curiosity’ is what many call it now. I wanted something more than eternal dark, so to see what I could make, made what they call ‘light’, and it was good.

Poius Adventurer Guild

The inside of the building was just a beautiful if not even more so than outside. Ornate carvings were everywhere. Statues depicting hero’s of old stood on both sides of the entry hall, greeting new visitors with their weapons held high.

The long entryway broke into a large room, separated by a counter. The wall farthest from them held two boards. One said JOBS in bright blue, the other said BOUNTIES in bright red. It was interesting to see them separate bounties from regular jobs, something he hadn’t heard about before. Nerxus sighed softly in anticipation. He was know a companion to god himself, of course just two days prior, if Fallion had told him he was god, he would have challenged him to put him in his place with such blasphemy. In truth, part of him didn’t believe, but after yesterday, there was too much proof. It was impossible to deny what had happened on the battlefield.

The group stepped over to the counter, where a young female Liedersul sat, organizing paperwork. “Welcome to the Poius adventurer guild hall. As I have never seen you before, either you are wishing to join, or have a job request?”

Fallion nodded, “We wish to form an adventuring party with the guild.”

Smiling professionally “Wonderful!” She pulled out five small stacks of paper “I believe you are forming a party of five? Each of you must fill this out. Who is the leader of the group?”

Neumien stepped forward “That would be I.”

The receptionist pulled out a single piece of paper from a different drawer “You will need to fill this out as well. Once you have filled out the paperwork, we can get started, yes?”

The group nodded and walked over to a nearby table. The paperwork was standard stuff. It asked things like your name, age, and combat experience, as well as explaining various guild functions, services, and how the ranking system worked. Since they were a party, they got to skip rank F and were automatically Rank E. While this level skip is nice, getting out of rank F was very easy, in fact even unskilled people would be rank E within four days of signing on, as well as the fact its well known for groups to take longer to rank up. This was due to the group was not ranked E but the members. Thus each member had to prove themselves worthy of the rank increase. The ranks were F, E, D, C, B, A, S, X, Z. Rank Z was equivalent to an elder dragon in fighting prowess, a beast several very well trained armies, filled with fighting experts would be needed to slay with great difficulty. Of course only two people currently were ranked Z. The female Mountain Cleaver Valarioz, and the King of the Dwarves. Of the two, only Valarioz was still capable of action, as the Dwarf king was old and weak after living for twelve centuries, long lived even for dwarves.

After about half an hour, Neumien finally got to the extra paper she was given and frowned “What should our party name be?”

Fallion laughed “Is that a question? The 33rd of course!” The others found that identifying themselves as their former platoon would be a bit wrong. However, they also felt it honored their fallen comrades so they ended up agreeing rather quickly as it for the name.

Bringing back the forms to the receptionist, she once again gave her professional smile as she reviewed the paperwork, before stamping ‘approved’ on all the documents. She pulled out a basket that held small button-like badges. “These are your official guild badge. Do not lose, as you cannot receive a replacement easily. These badges will be tuned to your life force, and will grow more ornate the higher your rank. As you may have read, since you are a group larger than two, you shall start at rank E, and as such can take any job up to D. To rank up to D, you either must complete two D ranked missions successfully, complete five rank E jobs, or ten rank F jobs. May I interest you in some special gear? The guild sells communication crystals for groups, and pretty much anyone who wants one. Don’t worry about eavesdropping from others, as the crystals will be attuned to each other.”

“How much?” Valder stroked his beard curious

“We give a small discount to groups, as such it will be only one white stone piece.” Everyone flinched, most people barely earned a gold piece in a year, let alone a white piece!

Fallion reached into his pocket, manifesting a white stone piece. Who says being god doesn’t pay? “Here you are.” He drops the coin as it clinks onto the counter. The women grabs the coin and studies it, checking to make sure it wasn’t fake. Satisfied she pulled out five blue and white crystals, each with a hole near the top to be put on a belt if one had one.

“These are your crystals, a pleasure doing business. On a side note, any jobs you complete you must bring to me. Once you complete a job, the contract will have a symbol appear, as all contracts are magically bound. Once I make sure the symbol is there, you shall receive all payments due. Also please show what job you are taking, as some clients want to know who is doing it.”

The receptionist, who they eventually learn is named Vortunia, gave them other pieces of guild gear, such as a few backpacks in case they went on any gathering missions, or needed to transport supplies on a long trip.

Eventually though, it was time to pick a job. They needed money, and everyone was pretty sure Fallion didn’t actually have a lot of it, even though he had a white stone piece. Well, all except Nerxus at least.

“What kind of job should we do?” Fallion turned towards Neumien, she was the leader after all

“Well, for now lets try to rank up quickly. So, lets pick a good D rank mission right off the spear.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Elyisia noticed a bounty mission for rank D “Dead or alive, the Bandit One-eyed Jacs? Wanted for theft and attempted murder.” Neumien decided we would undertake this job, it could be fun after all.

--------------------

As always leave any comments and criticism you have, I am slowly becoming worried from the lack of it honestly.