Simone hesitated, she didn’t have a reason to keep anything she had learned down there a secret but she didn’t have a reason to share it either. Talis had proved that the Adventurer’s operated very differently from the local humans and didn’t care much about racial differences-or at the very least he didn’t. At the same time, were they even her secrets to give away? It seemed to her like some of the things that Roe had told her were more than a little important, especially since none of the common knowledge journal entries had any reference to her and her people.

She felt a bead of sweat start to collect on the back of her neck, she should have trusted her gut earlier when they were on the main street. Something was definitely wrong here, he had practically rushed her in, putting her on the spot as soon as he had the chance. Was he hazing her? She was new so it was possible.

She glanced to the right where Roe was looking between them with a confused look on her face. Simone swore inwardly, she hadn’t given any info to Roe either, the Labyrinthian had no idea what was going on. She cleared her throat and turned her focus back to Talis, “Now hold on a second, I haven’t agreed to join up or anything.”

Talis’ expression didn’t change, much, but his eyes narrowed just a little bit to be noticeable. He had a freakishly good poker face, “You’ve got a lot of challenges up ahead of you, especially looking the way you do under that hat, wouldn’t it be nice to have some back-up from the guild?”

“Yeah,” She agreed, “But don’t I get a little time to make that decision for myself? Kinda railroading me here a bit,” Simone countered, straightening her shoulders a little more. She had to find a way to at least buy a little time to think. She rubbed her eyes, they’d been itching since they got out of the catacombs. How long had it been since she last slept? It felt like she was operating on nothing but guts at this point. She could barely think.

“You aren’t worried about what’s in your Journal, are you?” Talis pressed, raising an eyebrow.

“What? No!” She stammered.

Roe cut in, “I don’t understand how she can make this kind of decision without knowing all the benefits, you’re asking her to commit without any sort of recompense. Seems a bit shady in my opinion. But what do I know? I have no idea what an ‘Adventurer’ is either, I’ve been living under a rock for the past five years,” She said with a shrug.

Simone and Talis both blinked, looking to Roe. Roe frowned and crossed her arms, looking Simone in the eyes. That was the look of someone who expected a return on her favor. Simone cleared her throat and looked over at Talis who’s expression had become even more controlled than before. He looked down at the tablet that the elven woman had pushed forward and back up at Simone. He was about to say something when another voice chimed in on the conversation.

“Talis, what the hell are you doing?” The voice was gravelly and backed by a pair of powerful lungs. The sound carrying across the large room with little effort.

Simone whipped her head in the direction only to see an enormous red-haired man with a trimmed beard march over. He had to be at least two heads taller than Simone and built like a tank. Easily three hundred pounds of muscle if not more. He came to a stop at the gathering and crossed his arms. Talis’ faux expression dropped entirely, a scowl crossing his features as the big man looked him up and down. “I’m… recruiting.”

“That’s not your job,” The big man said, “You were on guard duty today.”

“And I found her during my shift,” Talis pointed out.

“So you bring her to one of us and we handle it,” The big man shot back, “It is not your job. Get back to the palace.”

“But she-” Talis wavered.

“Get. Back. To. The. Palace,” The big man growled, leaning forward and looking Talis in the eyes. The smaller man’s expression twisted a bit harder and he glanced Simone’s way. He turned his attention to Simone’s group and then back to the big man before letting out a sigh.

Talis huffed and turned to Simone, “My hat,” He demanded, holding out his hand.

Simone had the wherewithal to follow what was going on well enough. Talis had been overstepping his bounds for whatever reason. He’d claimed that she had to register and then meet with someone important but the big guy seemed to be of a different opinion. So this was a hazing. She frowned, already bracing herself for what came next, and took off the hat. The feeling of something coating her body faded and she held out the hat. That sensation was followed by something far more disconcerting, silence fell over the hall. She caught a few glances out of the corner of her eye and frowned. Nothing she wasn’t used to. Talis snatched it back and looked her up and down, “I hope you wise up before too long, newbie,” He growled and stalked away, out the door and into the street beyond.

Simone watched him go, feeling more tired than ever. She swayed a little but caught herself, shaking her head to get some focus back. “Thanks,” She muttered rubbing her face.

“How long have you been here?” He asked.

“Over a day, almost two,” She said.

“Experience total?” He asked.

She sleepily pulled up her stats and glanced at him, “Eight twenty five.”

He shook his head, “No wonder you have the exhaustion status effect,” He said and turned to the woman at the desk, “Put that away, she’ll be back down tomorrow.”

“Of course, Senior Haggart,” The elven woman said cheerily, putting it away.

“You can see my status effects?” Simone asked, squinting at her own hud and seeing the small square with the symbol of a bloodshot eye over her health bar. She rubbed her eyes, why hadn’t she noticed it before?

“Talis can too, come with me for a moment, we can sit and talk,” He said, nodding to the stairs leading up beyond the station they were standing at. “Your friends can come too, of course. I’m sure they’re exhausted from whatever you’ve been through.”

“That sounds good.”

Roe and the others followed in relative silence, Kik making occasional commentary about the surrounding woodwork but otherwise observing as they made their way up the stairs and to the second floor. From there they moved to a room furnished with a trio of couches around a center table. There was little decoration in the room beyond some potted plants and the fancy curtains. The big man, Senior Haggart, offered them all a seat before sitting himself. He let out a breath and rubbed the back of his head. “You must have a pretty bad first impression of the guild.”

“You could say that,” Simone said, “What was that all about?”

“Talis is a member of one of the factions that has popped up in the guild, Lorekeepers. They believe that everyone should be sharing all of the information that they collect in their journals,” He glanced at Roe and Steward, “Regardless of how sensitive it might be or who it might hurt.”

Simone leaned back in her seat, it was stupid comfortable. She rubbed her eyes groggily, “So what you’re saying is that I don’t have to?”

“Most don’t notice it right away but in your Journal there’s a tab on each page to set it to private,” Haggart said, “It makes it so that when you synchronize your journal that page will neither share information nor update. Fair is fair.”

Simone blinked and summoned up her Journal, she immediately pulled up the page on Labyrinthians that had been created after her conversation with Roe and examined it carefully. There, at the top right of the page, was a little symbol of an eye. She tapped it and it turned into a red eye that was closed. She let out a weary breath and slumped in her seat, quickly pulling up all the other new pages that it had made and starting to set them to private. Roe cut in while she did so, leaning forward to look Haggart in the eye, “What is a Journal? I don’t understand any of this, who are you people?”

Haggart glanced at Simone and then back at Roe, “Journals are an inherited ability that all Adventurer’s possess. When they see or hear something they acquire information about it. That information is recorded in their Journal for reference later. Here at the guild we have a way of sharing that information with one another.”

Roe’s throat tensed but she kept her cool, “I see. Adventurers?”

“People who died in another world and were brought here as part of the Cycle to help fight the Demon Lord, Teyva Akura,” Haggart said, “We possess a number of abilities that set us apart from people from Orum. Including the Journal and the ability to resurrect a limited number of times if we die. These days though with the Demon Lord keeping to herself in her territory we’ve turned our focus on helping the people of Orum with their problems while undermining the Demon Lord where we can.”

Roe looked at Simone who shrugged, setting the last page to private, “I told you it was complicated.”

“Explains why you said you hadn’t picked a name yet,” Roe said cooly.

“She hadn’t even picked a name yet,” Haggart groaned, “Talis,” He shook his head.

“So where do you stand in this guild?” Roe pressed.

“I am one of the senior staff, I’ve been here since the first year of this Cycle five years ago,” He glanced at Simone, “I’m level thirteen. Though I have spent the past three years focused on administration so I’ve stifled my growth a little.”

Simone blinked, so he was straight up stronger than Steward when he was a Tomb Guardian. That’s insane! She tried to process it all but was frankly too tired to even wrap her head around it. Roe herself was starting to look lost again as well. She sighed, “So what do I do from here?”

“Well, registering will help, I’m sure Talis used your race choice as a way to get under your skin but he was probably not wrong about what he had to say. The Humans are at war with the Azar and the tension is very thick. You’ve obviously set the pages in your Journal that matter to private just now so I think it’s safe to sync your journal at this point,” Haggart said, “But not every Adventurer joins up so I’m not going to force you to. Just keep in mind that you’ll have easy access to information, travel expenses for quests, permanent lodging, and food all handled for you and any formal companions.”

“Sounds like Adventurers that don’t join up don’t exactly have a long life expectancy,” Roe pointed out.

“They don’t,” Haggart said bluntly. “Frankly there is a faction among the guild that resents them so that leads to other problems for them out on the field where senior members like myself can’t cut in.”

“Adventurers attack eachother?” Simone blurted.

“It’s a dangerous world out there,” Haggart said.

Simone groaned, “I’m too tired for this.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry, but I wanted to clear the air before I set you up with somewhere to stay for the night. I want you to seriously think about this, I know you had a bad first impression of us but the benefits far outweigh the problems folk like Talis can cause,” He got to his feet, “For now, let’s get you fed and some rest. I’ll let the tellers down below know to take you to my office when you ask. We can talk after you’ve rested and leveled up.”

Simone let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you.”

“We’re all in this together,” Haggart said and lead them away.