Sky was not happy. Not a bit. But she is extremely grateful for the food. She doesn't talk much aside from telling a few people her name. She eats an incredible amount for someone so light.

Drek stands up on a table and describes the fight with more than a fair bit of embellishment. He produces smaller scale versions of his magic in order to help explain, sparks and fireballs flying through the room in a controlled manner.

Cliver, happy that someone is getting into the spirit of the thing, sits near Drek and injects his own embellishments whenever possible, hyping up his story and making the whole guild sound like even bigger damn heroes. The sparks fly and the men love Drek, hanging on his every word. As the tales draws to its bloody climax another cheer goes up.

Lilith then tugged on Cliver's sleeve since he was sitting right next to her.

"Hey, I don't mean to be rude and ruin all the fun, but is there a place we can go to discuss payment? I'm worried about the guild being already collapsed by the time we get there."

"Back office." He replies. "Come on, I'll show ya."

Cliver leads Lilith toward a door to the back of the room. Through it is a small room well lit by an outside window. A Shelf along one wall holds what looks like work related papers and maps. In the middle of the room is a large, ornately carved desk and behind that desk is a gaunt, thin faced man in his early forties. He looks up from his breakfast as the two walk in.

"Thought from the racket you might be back." he says, then his eyes drift to Lilith and he raises his eyebrows.

"The guild you sent for, boss." Cliver says. "This is Lilith, their leader. They've solved you're monster problem."

The man reaches into the draw of his desk, withdrawing a pen and a little black book dispassionately. "And how much does the young miss want?"

Lilith smoothed down her frizzy hat-hair in an attempt to look professional as she entered the room; now that she was doing business, there was no excuse to look like an unkempt child. As the man looked her up and down, she did the same. He seemed reasonable, so she didn't want to screw up her very first transaction and set a trend on how other future patrons would see the guild.

"Wood." Lilith stated, "Wood and man power. Our guild is very old and very small, so I'm afraid that despite my best efforts, the place is falling apart. If you could supply us with the material and assist us in rebuilding the place, it would be much appreciated."

She tried her very best to not show that she was sweating a little bit.

The man waits a long while, then flips open his book and makes a show of going over the numbers inside of it. "I can spare some wood." He says finally. "But I can't afford to give you any men. We'll have to make up for lost time now that that monster is dead. How much wood do you think you'll need?"

Sky finishes off the last of her food then tries to slip out of the hall while the men cheer and celebrate the battle.

Lilith bit her lip. It was a LARGE guild. 3 stories with 50 rooms in total...although, luckily the the basement was made mostly made of stone, so only the ground and top floors needed repair. Lilith explained the layout of the building, how much rot there was, and the estimated amount of wood she needed before shuffling through her satchel of mysteries and pulling out an old blueprint she had found in Elliot's old office.

"Really, we'll take what we can get."

He took the blueprint and opened it up, considering it for another long moment. Cliver looks with him. Finally he takes a page out of his book and writes an amount on it, sliding it across the table toward Lilith. Cliver looks at it, and nods to Lilith.

"Have you brought something to transport it with?" Mundy asks her.

Lilith looked down, ashamed. "We..uh..we don't own a cart, sir." she admitted.

Mundy looks back at the blueprints, then gets up and walks to the shelf to unfold one of the many maps of the area. "Grayfall Guild." he says. "You're fairly close neighbors, aren't you." He doesn't say it like a question, but it's the closet thing to interest the man has show since Lilith and Cliver had stepped into the room. "We'll deliver it then. Give us short while to prepare it and we'll carry it and you back to your guild. Anything else?"

"No, the wood will be more than enough, thank you. We're already taking so much of your livelihood that I'd feel bad taking any more from you." Lilith smiled sweetly in response, this had actually gone better than she thought it would.

Emmerling Haust was a fat man. Around him was always a musk of liquor and beer from the stains that covered his clothing. Grease trickled through the straggle of beard on his chin as he tore apart helpings of sausages with savage abandon. Around him was a crowd of rabble rousers and woodsmen. A motley sort who loved to lie and tell tall tales.

“I’ll tell ya, that wolf wouldn’ve stood no chance if ole’ Emmerling was awake,” he pounded a flagon of beer on the table before him and pointed at the men around him. “Four flagons of beer! Ya’ll remember that! Four flagons an’ I still was able to put Thomas through the table!” The men around Emmerling roared with laughter.

“Yeah! You’re twice my weight!” A young man yelled back. He held himself as if he could not push his shoulders back and sit with an assertive posture, “When that beast showed up you were asleep on the dock!”

“Hah!” Emmerling roared as he tilted his head back pouring the beer down his throat and down his dark red pourpoint jacket before he placed it lightly back on the table. He adjusted his felt cap carefully and then wiped his hands across the breast of his overcoat. “I like ya Thomas, you’ve got spirit. Maybe ya could be like me one day.”

“No one wants two Emmerlings!” Another man shouted over the raucous din of the conversation which warranted a laugh from all.

“Hah! There is already two!” He shouted in return as he slapped his hand against his belly. “Any of you lot want to know how I’d’ve killed tha’ beast?”

“We already know you scared it off because you pissed yourself,” Andrew of Methalous jabbed his elbow into Emmerling’s side playfully which summoned another spirited laugh from the fat man who swung his palm into Andrew’s back and struggled to regain his composure.

“Aye! Ya’ll should be . . .” Emmerling stopped amount trying to catch his breath, “. . . Ya’ll should . . .” He began to cough rapturously and wetly and his face began to glow bright red from the force. After a moment of coughing Emmerling poured more beer down his throat before a smaller cough sent beer spraying over his plate and he was left gasping. “ . . . As I was sayin’, ya’ll should be happy I scared that wolf off. One whiff of my piss an’ that wolf knew tha’ it was in the turf of a real pack leader.”

“You’re a fat drunk, not a mighty warrior!” Thomas said.

“I’m a carpenter! We’re the mightiest warriors in these parts.” Emmerling shoved a handful of sausage into his mouth, and suddenly the room went quiet.

Cliver had entered the hall, but not alone. A motley band entered with him. They seemed to be all sorts. A girl with wings, a strange wolf, a Halfling, two young looking girls, and a short young man. None among them really looked like warriors, and by the reactions the men in the hall collectively had, they had never seen such a band before.

“Make way for the conquering beast slayers!” Cliver yelled over the quiet, and the men cheered and shouted. Emmerling joined in heartily, but he looked to the others with marked incredulity.

“That is the guild that Mundy called for?” Emmerling asked the others.

“It appears so.” Andrew replied over a mug of honeyed almond milk.

“They don’t seem too guild-like,” Thomas said pointing over at Emmerling, “You said Cliver died.”

“Of course! I thought he had!” Emmerling raises his hands up in faux defense, “Listen, giant wolf attacks, Cliver goin’ missin’ in the night an’ not returnin’. Why do ya think I drank so much last night?”

“Because you’re a drunk.” The men said in unison.

“No.” Emmerling pounded his palm onto the table, “Out of respect! If I die I want ya’ll to get drunk for me, and I suspect Cliver would want it too!”

“I’d probably want ya’ll to look for me before getting drunk,” Another man chimed in.

The men laughed, and breakfast continued on. They feasted longer than usual because of the news, and the men traded tales and jokes with the adventurers. Before long most of the hall had finished their food, but they had gathered in large clumps around the guild members to listen to their stories. Except Emmerling. He had removed himself from the table after finishing his meal, and he now lugged around a heavy wooden box on his back that contained all of the tools of his trade.

With a huff, Emmerling sauntered to Mundy’s office and pounded on the door with a meaty fist, “Oi, Mundy. Should we keep workin’ on fixin’ the wall now that the beast is dead?”

Mundy sucks air through his teeth at the pounding of the door, then walks over and opens up the door.

"Emmerling." He says slowly. "We were just discussing business. The full repairs have to wait, Miss Lilith here has requested a good sum of our stock in paymeant for the death of that creature."

"She's using it to repair her guild." Cliver amends hastily. "She also needed some professionals to help with that, but boss said there was no way he could spare the men."

Lilith nodded at the larger man who came in with respect, smiling a little.

"I realize that taking your stock will be trouble for your business, so I'm sorry...but our guild is literally coming apart at the seams, so we really need the wood."

Emmerling mustered a grunt in response to Mundy, and stepped into the office scratching at his chin with a foul look on his face. His eyes looked over Lilith listlessly for a moment before he turned to Mundy.

“Mhm, yes business. This is business Mundy.” He smacked his palm and picked his teeth with his tongue, “Ya know, we lose more wood an’ we gotta cut some more pay. The men ain’t gonna be happy with that given that we’ve lost plenty of shipments already.”

Emmerling sniffed the air. The whiff of Mundy’s breakfast catching in his nose and roused hunger in his stomach once more. For a moment he gave a look as if he would be sick, but it passed. “The men already been yellin’ at me because there ain’t an outhouse for the latrine pits yet, but I can’t build any outhouses if we ain’t got any wood. Not to mention we are in the middle of dangerous woodland with a hole in our wall.” Emmerling huffed staring at Cliver then to Lilith. He adjusted his cap once more and nodded, “I ain’t ruining your guild, an’ I don’t want to lose wood ‘cause we are on commission. Pay should be straight coinage Mundy.” Emmerling looked at the boss with a tired expression.

He remembered the last wage cut. The men had been happy initially. Four men had been cut from the fort and everyone’s wages went up for some time, but their productivity had been slashed and Mundy had to reduce the daily wages for everyone below previous wages. There had been talks of mutiny, and Emmerling was the one who made the compromise with Mundy.

With a click of his tongue Emmerling declared, “I’ll take half pay and ya’ll match me so none of the men get angry bout no pay cuts. Then I’ll offer this guild my services till the debt is paid, put Thomas on wall duty. The boy’s gotta learn how to build a proper wall.” He took a sharp breath, "In exchange, my share in the company will be doubled."

Mundy nodded along as Emmerling spoke, taking in his every word with deep consideration. Mundy was more of a surveyor by trade than a lumber man, and he valued Emmerlings advice as he wasn't quite suited for the logistics of running such an operation. Why such a man had suddenly set up a camp in this backwater area was anyone's guess. "That seems to be an accepetable compromise to me. Does it suit you, guildmaster?"

Lilith nodded quietly. It would be far more inconvenient this way, but she didn't want to make things hard for the actual loggers who worked here.

"I'm a reasonable woman, so I'm willing to compromise. If paying us would be easier so we can buy the lumber from somebody else would work better for you then let's do that."

Drek kicks open the door and stumbles in, clearly wasted from the celebratory alcohol. Rhubarb is stuffed in his shirt, her little head poking out from his collar.

"Lilth! I don't know where Sky iz an Rhubab just peed on the floor. We shou go."