Vigil found himself striding down the street, his boots lightly brushing against the worn cobbles - cracked and broken from years of neglect. His strides were evenly placed, the rhythm of his steps in direct contradiction with the evening's innately mellow nature. Minutes dragged themselves by and with each second the scowl on the man's face only seemed to deepen. It perpetually annoyed Vigil when a client missed their appointments. It wasted his time, yes, but that was only a minor inconvenience. The real problem was that it was a precursor to how they would inevitably act when he had to guide them - the trips always seemed to dissolve into babysitting. However, he still couldn't cancel the meeting; there was a certain etiquette which pathfinders had to follow, so if they didn't come to him, he would go to them.

Reaching the adventurer's guild he lightly grabbed the handle and slid the door open, the irritation trapped, writhing, underneath his skin. His eyes moved sporadically around the room, quickly scanning it for any signs of his clients, but it was utterly useless - he had forgotten to ask for their appearance when agreed to the job. Right hand pressed against his forehead he quickly rubbed his temples before retracting it back to his side and walking to the front desk where a smaller kid greeted him.

"Hello again Ethan", he started before looking further behind the counter "I don't see the others today. They leave you behind to go off and play?".

Ignoring Vigil's prod Ethan flashed the man a tentative smile "N-no they're off getting food for tonight, we have cooking duties for the next week" taking in a deep breath he continued "We almost got you last time. We'll get you this next time".

"If you think getting caught in the first two minutes is almost then sure, you were close" Vigil snorted, pulling out a piece of paper as he did. "While I'd love to talk to you more I need to ask you if you've seen a 'Green archer who thinks she’s the shit, an Assassin who acts like a wuss, a mage who can’t wake up to save his life and a very handsome warrior'. Why the errand boys assign themselves roles is beyond me, but that's not the point" he waved dismissively "Apparently, the leader is named Ralph, you know where they are?".

A frown forming on the boy's lips he pointed at a table in the corner "Yeah, they're over there. They just got back from a big job a few days ago. They had a bit of a rough patch before that, so ... y'know. Take it easy on them?"

Waving Ethan away Vigil walked towards the table - his irritation dispersing after his short conversation.

"Hey newcomer" The soft drunken voice of the assassin sung to him "who might you be".

"I'm your pathfinder. I was waiting for you by the city gates, but you never showed, so I came looking" he stated, taking a seat as he did.

A loud thump resounded through the building as a skull smashed into the table, "God damn it. That was today, wasn't it? We're really sorry I completely forgot about it".

Facial expression lightening slightly Vigil replied "It's fine. You can reschedule for tom- the day after for assistance. It'll cost you slightly more, but nothing overly expensive". They would likely be hung over tomorrow and going on a hike with hung over people was never a good idea.

At that the archer finally spoke up, her speech slurred "You'd do that? Thanks man you're the best".

Standing up Vigil quickly grabbed a napkin, pulled a pen out of his pocket, and quickly scribbled down a reminder. It read 'Meet the pathfinder at the western gates on the 18th'.

"It was nice meeting you all, but I'll be leaving for now" and with that, he darted out of the hall. If he had to stay there any longer and listen to their drunken speech he might have to go against Ethan's wishes".

Thirty minutes later Vigil opened the door to his own Guild Hall and sprawled himself out on the nearest couch and called out "Hey Maruccio, are there any jobs in the next two days? The mountain party got drunk and will be out of action for a while".

A larger man with long red hair, which descended to his ears, walked out from one of the back doors and sat down on the couch opposite to him, "Aye, there are some jobs ... but I'm only going to give you training ones" he stated with a sour look in Vigil's direction.

Maruccio and Vigil had a very tentative relationship. They had known each other for a long time and helped make the pathfinders what they were today, but their differing thoughts on how to handle pathfinders made it difficult for either to communicate. Pathfinders, as they are now, were hard to find. Becoming a pathfinder was an arduous journey which took many years to complete and very few people managed to make it, thus their numbers were low. Both of them realized this, but Vigil wanted to keep the requirements high and have a few high-quality individuals while Maruccio wanted a large number of somewhat quality pathfinders.

Smiling through grit teeth Vigil stood up "Sure, I'll take the job. Where are they?"

Pointing over towards the town square he replied, “Currently waiting at the training field practicing fencing or something. I’d better hurry, if I were you wouldn’t want guild master finding out you had another of your jobs pushed back”

Walking out the door Vigil held his middle finger held high as he yelled out behind him, “I hope you get bitten by an Uare".

***

Alright, first rewrite's done. I have a lot planned for this story and a lot of interesting plot points to hit later on.