Swymport was bustling. After all, it was their busiest time of year. Just before the summer festival when all of the neighboring cities and towns visited. The streets were filled up to the brim with people preparing. With stalls being put up and decorations being hung, it livened the streets. For those who lived in Swymport, this festival marked the founding of the town. Though, nobody cared about that. For the majority of the town, it marked three days of relaxation and partying. Surprisingly, the guild hall was an entire different story.

It wasn't just busy for the citizens of Swymport, it was also a huge undertaking for adventurers. The sheer amount of logistics and supplies they needed to collect for the festival made no shortage of work. The smell of rewards were in the air, and as a result, most of the adventurers in the guild had journeyed far and wide to collect their share of summer rewards. Save for the drunkards and sheepish low-ranked members, the guild was completely empty. It was rather calm. Much more than usual. That was, at the very least, until a boy had entered, frantically looking for some help.

---

---

"I get that you're trying to recover your goods ma'am, but we haven't checked to even see if your goods are still there," Maya calmly told Ahnciel, "all of our high-ranked adventurers are out. Not to mention, it's much too risky to send a bunch of new adventurers to check it out. Especially without anyone here to watch them."

As if a sign from god, a party of four adventurers had entered the hall the exact moment Maya had said that. The first adventurer that came in was upright and, for lack of a better term, stuck up. She instantly ignored everyone else in the guild and came forth to the reception desk. A large slam resounded as she smacked a large pile of papers down on the wooden desk.

The second adventurer was much more ambiguous. She seemed to keep a large sword on her back and held a helmet at her hip. She also appeared to be much more friendly than the rest of the party - appearance wise, at least. She took a nice position against the wall and closed her eyes, waiting for her party to be finished.

The third adventurer looked cold. Emotionally uncaring about the world. He didn't look like he would say much or care about anything, so it was a surprise when he made a beeline directly to the bar. Without needing to say a word, the bartender placed a cornucopia of fruit and meat in front of him. In a flash, he began to gobble down the food like no tomorrow.

The final adventurer was the most enigmatic of the group. He was massive, wore a strange armour, carried what seemed to be the corpses of numerous monsters and seemed to, like the rest, ignore everyone else. He went directly to Rolf's desk directly right of the entrance. Without so much as a word, Rolf opened a door to the side of his desk. The final adventurer entered, placed the bodies inside, and left. Still silent, Rolf pulled out a deck of cards and they began to play some sort of esoteric card game.

"Each request completed to perfect specifications. All cadavers have been accounted for and..." the first adventurer said before being interrupted by a hushing Maya.

"Yeah yeah, perfect job Leonore, let me think..." Maya said before getting up. She walked over to the job board and pulled down two pieces of parchment. They were jobs that needed to be completed immediately. She placed them on the table and smiled at Leonore. "Everyone!" Maya yelled out, "we have three jobs to do. None of them are extremely difficult, but they're all urgent. Get all of the C and D ranks you can up here." The drunkards did not move an inch, but a certain group of adventurers who seemed destined for greatness heard the call.

"Also, Noelle," Maya said as the second adventurer opened one eye, "get up here. Laurence too."

Laurence, the adventurer who was eating at the bar, let out a long sigh before slowly ambling towards the desk. Noelle, the adventurer against the wall, briskly walked to the desk.

"Dale," Maya said meekly as she looked at the large and imposing figure playing cards with Rolf, "you can just do you." Dale grunted in response. But Laurence, Leonore, and Noelle are going to teach some newbies the ropes and make sure there are no big accidents." Laurence let out a rather long sigh and Leonore seemed to be extremely peeved at the prospects of teaching newbies. Noelle didn't seem to mind, however.

Maya looked through the two pages. She quickly pulled out a third - empty - and scrawled out a quick title and description. She gave each of the three B-ranked adventurers a mission and began to speak. "Noelle, you're going to escort a horse cart of medicine. No one really knows it's going out, so it's pretty safe. But this is to just make sure it gets there. Laurence, you're going to deal with some goblin burrows. Two of them, if you want to be precise. Get some supplies from Rolf. And Leonore, you're going to find some supplies that crashed. All three of you, get some C and D ranked people to help."

And with that, the adventurers were called to action. Three missions were laid out before them, each one as urgent as the next.

The figure that had just stepped into the guild was a familiar sight for it's members, but to those who had never met her before, she could be rather intense. She was a nearly six foot tall, distinctly Half-Elf woman with a fierce, crimson gaze and scarred face. Her long, bright red hair was tied back in a relatively neat pony tail. Her dress was simple and she wore very little in the way of armor, but it was easy to tell that this woman was a warrior. Every ounce of her was made up of pure, well defined, muscle. The greatsword, which was nearly as tall as she was, strapped to her back said that the muscle wasn't just for show.

Yuella Whitewing, known only as Yuel, had been a member of the Iron Rose for eight years. Despite her intense appearance, she was known to a good friend and loyal ally. If you could get past her oddities. If not for her lack of intellect, or the fact that she tended to scare away new recruits, she may have been a B-rank by now. But instead had been stuck as a C-rank for nearly six years. It didn't seem to the bother the crimson haired woman though, very little did.

"Hey, Sexy! Which one do you need me for?" Yuel's loud voice carried through the guild, up to where Maya and the B-ranks were gathered. The warrior had walked in just in time to hear about the three, urgent missions.

Sexy was a nickname she had given to Maya one night a couple years ago when she had been extremely drunk. Despite not remembering most of the night, Yuel remembered that particular fact and it just sort of stuck. It was an especially odd choice of name, considering Yuel did not swing that way. The crimson haired warrior moved up to where they were standing. "You know I'm not picky, send me wherever I need to go. Me and Fluffy will get the job done."

---

It is believed by all that the life of the adventurer is filled with excitement and challenges. The title is self-explanatory. In reality, the truth isn’t at all far from expectations, but sometimes there is an interval of events that will occur. Those moments are not common, but they will always be constant, with periods of lulls broken, only to be renewed afterwards.

It is not surprising, therefore, that some will seek out for excitement in what they can find, in order to slake what their bottled up desires for adventures and journeys. But as a warrior, these feelings must not overlap with the objectives that they are given. He knows there are things best resolved quickly, than left to satisfy a few individual’s thirst for joy.

---

It was time.

The missions had been issued at last.

The young Alexander was sitting inside the waiting lounge of the Iron Rose Guild, as he held a book about world philosophy firmly in his hand, as the first rows of adventurers began to flood the room. Their expressions glimmered with excitement and joy as missions began to be issued again in the period. It’s not surprising, however, after everything that happened at the Botan’s island. The Simones were one of the most treacherous pirate gangs in the high seas, one that guilds had spent countless times, effort and blood trying to bust out their location, and catch them. For such a reputation, the beauty of irony came when they were apprehended, all of them, on a small island without putting much of a fight. For all their years committing astrocity, looting and stealing, no one would have expected such outcome. And as a result, criminal activities had decreased for a few months ever since, until now.

Having settled into the lounge, Alexander took a glance of the fellow adventurers inside the room. The variety of such races and culture were indeed apparent. Alexander was inclined to agree with his father, that such variety can be chaotic. It took a rather powerful and strict regulations to hold these people together. He could not say whether the guild he was in was that strong, but after a few years serving here, it had temporarily assured him.

He glanced through it again, noticing a few interesting faces. He had to study them well in advance, because who knows when the string of fate would tie him and them together, either as allies, enemies, adversaries, lovers or friends. There was this blue-skinned bald woman, who were sitting quietly the whole time, a half-elf red head who were buzzing up and down, a huge orc and a some sort of homunculus. These were the most noticeable, and probably only except for the homunculus and and the blue-skinned woman, who he had little information to determine their origins, he could dictate a general overview of how they would react. Hopefully, this would serve as useful in his endeavor.

Then the papers detailing the missions were issued. Three missions. With three different rewards. The delivery mission would strike Alexander as straightforward, fast and had a solid reward. But that, unfortunately, did not really help to serve his goal. The same could be said for the goblin mission. Despite being tempting, as it was in Alexander's specialty to deal with such pests, the goblins weren't that big of a threat to Alexander's allegiance. He ought to seek out for potential threats in the world, and he seek to obliterate them, before they could actually cause any damage to his home world. The goblins were just too petty for that definition.

The goods recovery mission. It appeared with much less of rewards, potentially dangerous locations. But that was all that mattered. It was said that some sort of ship had crashed there, but for what cause was not mentioned. Such vague information might be a piece of the puzzle that would lead to the picture of what Alexander was looking for. And for that, was more worth the time he would spend.

Alexander, as decisive as he would be, stood up quickly, his hand holding the paper for the goods recovery mission. He approached the red-haired woman, and the commonly known S-ranked adventurer Maya to hand the paper in.

Let's learn who shall be on route for this task.

Diana

Diana rests comfortably still on a couch, her eyes closed and her lips smiling, as though a pleasant dream lay in her mind, yet she was awake, if only in a cloudy capacity. She hears the patterns of footsteps as people walked across the room, a low whirl of energy stirred gently in the room. She could feel a mix of everyone’s energies swirling in the room. Anxiousness, anticipation, thrill, hope, curiosity. All of these thing dwell in every adventurer's heart, and hers was no exception. Her trusty sword leaned on a neighboring chair holding her belongings, facing away from Diana. Argus draped from her neck to her legs, providing comfort and warmth to the reclined hermit.

The low hum of energy raised ever so slightly as she heard erratic footsteps dashing from the entrance towards Maya’s desk. Diana lifts her eyes and head up slowly to address this unexpected visitor. She(he?) appears young and small, and possessing the most adorable fluffy little cat ears on their head, Diana just wanted to reach out and pet them. They certainly gave off an aura very similar to a cat. She couldn’t hear what they and the receptionists were talking about, though her gaze was quickly changed as she heard a series of footsteps at the front door.

Four figures strolled into the hall, all of them armed and sporting B class tags. Diana’s body began to rouse from her rest as she slowly rose to her feet to greet them with her attention as a sign of respect, though they did not seem to take notice. She was curious about all of them though the towering man in armor grabbed her attention the most, both for his imposing appearance and his ability to effortlessly haul their trophies, a testament to their skills as warriors. Rank isn’t everything, but these guys are definitely the real deal. She saw the large man sit down next to another scrawny man playing cards which have abstract symbols on them. Interesting.

Maya lets out a great yell, calling everyone to draw their attention towards the back of the room. Everyone almost immediately sprang to life and started gravitating towards the back. “Well my friend.” addressed to Argus softly; “Time for us to earn our place here.” Argus straightened himself with excitement. This is going to be their first mission and he will be going to see new horizons. Diana too was eager, if more subtly so. She wanted a chance to do some good for the world, to help others in need of her special gifts. She also wanted to learn some magic and other esoteric secrets, but in due time.

She approached Maya and signed up silently for the medical delivery mission. “I want to help those people in whatever way I can.” She told Maya. “Thank you.” She said as she gave a small bow. This seemed the most pressing to Diana. She did not want others to perish slowly and painfully from sickness and disease. She walked backed and started grabbing her belongings. It will not be long now before she goes forth with her new companions to help those in dire straits.

The mistake could have easily been made, and Ahnciel in his paranoia was hardly keen on correcting the receptionist who refered to them as ma'am. In another land, surrounded by people who hopefully had no connection to the faded and worn crest on the tapestry cloak, he still toiled in worry over every set of eyes that fell upon him. Ears folded back and tail curving around his legs, all that stood out from the cloak with his shaded face and the glint of metal adornments on his boots' toes and heels. Ideally, he looked like a nobody...or at least someone trying to look like a nobody. This was poorly done, however, as he'd waited until nearly half way into the hall before actually pulling his hood back up after it'd been blown off from running.

Still, he was at a loss for words since there didn't seem to be much hope of persuading the woman to bend the rules even with the promise of every coin to his name, for what it was worth. Ahnci 'hrm'd and hummed softly, pacing in thought and almost even considering going back to the shore by himself until the doors of the hall swung open. In paraded a squad of seasoned-looking individuals and their stock of horrific corpses.
'Monsters' was about as detailed as Ahnci could tell by looking, having little experience with the bestiary of his homeland, if he could call it that, let alone this strange new place. When seeking similar help for the matter which was almost perceivably dismissed by the guild secretary, townsfolk suggested taking the matter to the guild. Not only did they seem to know about monsters, the returning group appeared proficient at slaying them as well. Perfect!

In his enthusiasm, Ahnci almost made to speak up his proposal until getting chills from the first adventurer who nearly pushed him aside in her assertion to reach the receptionist. The cloaked creature flinched from the slam of palm and paper, urging him to back away and simply let their business transpire. His heart sank, the thought having not occurred to him that there was other work going on than his petty re-theft of choice ship cargo from a craft he was a stowaway on, details he neglected to mention when explaining the situation to the receptionist.
Yuel's shout and approach compelled Ahnci to retreat back a few more steps as not to get in the growing group's way. They all seemed acquainted and human, and crowds were hardly what the homunculus wished to be in the middle of in spite of knowing he was hardly done here...especially as the receptionist began reading off the new quests.

Certain his request was the final addition, and cemented by having it given to the uppity lady, his enthusiasm was rekindled by the order to begin recruiting.
"Ah- I Insist zeht I accompany you for zee requisitioning ouf zeh cargo!" Ahnci chirped, probably a bit louder than he would have liked, but determined to be heard. While he had never fought a monster in the literal sense-, "I haf...personal investment in a stocked article" he explained, a tad on the flowery side of prose but hopefully still understandable. As he spoke up, Ahnci regained a lost step closer to the group though still remaining out of immediate arm's reach.

---

Clara walked towards the guild building, humming merrily as she carried a large vial of potion in her hands. She had been asked to create a medicine for a blight that had just hit a nearby town, so she had been making the thing for the last three days, with the only lead given being the blood of someone infected by it. If she were her master, she would've probably been able to whip out a cure right away, but for her, she had to isolate and crystallize the vector of the disease first from the blood, examine its properties, and then devise the cure. She had to read some books about medicine and plagues to help her in her efforts, borrowed from the guild's libraries. It wasn't exactly easy, but when everything was said and done, she was glad she had been able to do it as it was another milestone in her journey to become an alchemist as amazing as her master. She ended up only eating once a day, with her having not eaten at all this day though. She was always like that when she was wrapped up in her alchemy work. Instead of cooking or just eating out, she would just eat bread and water. She couldn't cook as the cauldron was being used and eating out meant leaving her workshop, which she didn't want to do. She had to do it as quickly as possible after all, since it was a blight.

Well, now that the cure was finished, she would hand it over to the guild and then get something to eat.

When she arrived however, she heard some loud shouting coming from the inside. Wondering what was the ruckus about, she immediately walked towards the receptionist desk.

"Miss Maya, here's the medicine you asked me to make!" she said cheerfully as she showed her the large vial in her hands, putting it down on top of her desk, ignoring the other adventurers that had gathered there.

"Ah, just in time! Wonderful! Now, Clara, we have another mission to deliver the medicine you just make with the others to the diseased town. Would you like to join that mission?"

"Sure!" Clara immediately responded. "I feel more at ease if I can administer my medicine myself."

"Great! So you will be accompanied by Noelle here. She will be your leader for this quest."

"Ah, pleased to meet you, Miss Noelle!" Clara turned around and bowed a little towards the B-ranked adventurer. "I hope we can work together nicely! Who else will be joining us, if I may ask?"

@SilverDawn

Considering the overall feeling of new that pervaded virtually everything about being in a guild, Liv had to admit that they were doing well. Sort of. As well as two people crammed into one body could do. The girl tapped her fingers onto solid wood, a poor method of seeming occupied while not actually being occupied at best, a dead giveaway to the fact that she was wildly unfocused on her surroundings at worst.

'I thought being in a guild was supposed to keep us busy.'

'It was.' came the reply from inside her own head. Vitus, her ever-present peanut gallery and semi-frequent sounding board for inane thoughts. 'But it's almost time for the yearly festival; even the highwaymen and general riff-raff take a break to get ready for it.'

'Of course, there'll be pickpockets and swindlers out the ass when it starts, so maybe it'll pick back up around then. Try to keep a hold of our coinpouch, will ya?'

'Hmm, think we'd get in trouble if I happened to 'defend' myself against one?' Her fingers tapped the wooden surface again, this time with noticeably more force than before. It was hard for Liv to keep a low profile, but to keep a low profile and be robbed of frequent activity was borderline torture. 'I haven't forged a weapon in aaaaages.'

'Defending yourself probably wouldn't normally be a problem. However, I've seen the way you defend yourself. They might have an issue if they have to clean a pickpocket off the streets with a wet rag.

But hey, I've not been bored. You fall down the stairs enough to keep me busy. And I can never tell if that smell is your body starting to rot, or your terrible bathing habits.'. If there was a mental equivalent to a smirk, Liv could probably feel it in the part of her brain Vitus lived in.

I seem to remember all those stair incidents being your fault sir 'can't-walk-straight.'' The mental roll of the eyes was accompanied by a physical one quickly hidden away by the act of a very deliberate blink. And my bathing habits worked out fine for you before we got here.' Not that Liv spent especially long trying to find the nicest smelling soaps--if it cleaned her, it was enough, better still if it managed to keep bugs off their cold, dead body. Her fingers drummed against the wood again.

'Besides, it's not like I've gotten any blood on us recently.'

'Your legs are short.' Vitus replied, his tone remaining smug. 'And yeah. Not on us. Everybody around us though, that's a waaaay different story!'

'You say that like it's a bad th--' Before the pale-haired girl could finish the retort, her attention was forcefully redirected by shouted commands. Well, maybe she wouldn't be so bored after all. Sweeping a few unruly locks over her shoulder, Liv adjusted her scalemail before moving toward the call. C- and D-Ranks--that included the dynamic duo, she supposed.

Listening to the brief explanation, there was no doubt about what Liv wanted to do.

'We're going to the burrows.'

'I'm shocked. Truly. Surprised beyond measure.'

A pause. Wait, if a ship crashed, and had goods on it... 'Unleeeess...'

'There you go. Using your noggin' for once, and I didn't even have to say anything. My little Liv, all grown up and not being a dumbshit.'

There was a slight pause before Vitus continued, as if waiting for Liv to explode. 'Plus, we really don't have to breathe. Would make underwater recovery far easier.'

"And think of all the fish we can get in the process." Not something that her homelands had in abundance, but something that Liv had taken great pleasure in. Carefully stepping around a few people, Liv raised her physical voice, the words accompanied by a quick motion of the hand. "One more for the ship over here."

'Bleuck' came Vitus's reply, a mixture of disgust and displeasure. He wasn't exactly a fan of seafood, which was an absolute treasure because Liv seemed to love the stuff. A circumstance that made sharing the same tongue annoying as all hell.

'Between you and the mascot, this little operation of ours is about to be 50% small, adorable children.' Vitus scoffed, making sure to put extra emphasis on 'adorable', if only to irritate Liv.

'Yeah, I sure was adorable when I ran you through.'

'I couldn't tell, I was too busy scorching you to death. Which I probably wouldn't have done if I'd known how many souls I'd have to blow to fix that'

'Harhar. Better this one than the mess yours ended up as.' Liv settled into place, her expression surprisingly well kept despite the bickering in her head. A distant part of her wondered if a telepath would have had a field day with their situation, but the adventurer didn't linger on the thought. Better things to do.

"Pretty sure we could use someone particularly hardy over here."

'Pshhh. Hardy. All we've got around here is 'hardy hardy har', if you ask me...'

---

---

---

To those sitting in the Guild Hall, there was an unusual and somewhat distressing sight. In the middle of the lounge, there sat a fully-grown orc, long brown hair shaking on his back as he took in deep, shuddering breaths. The skin on his face and torso was on the border between green and red, seeming to go back and forth with every exhalation. To someone who had never seen an orc before, he looked unstable. To someone who had, he looked even more so. Head bent, intense eyes boring a hole in the floor, his face was twisted, gnarled eyebrows knit together through tangled scars. His large tusks were fully showing, the edge of his lower lip pulled back to reveal carnivorous teeth gleaming in the natural light of the hall. At the man’s feet, there rested a beast larger than himself, a mass of dark grey fur with twitching ears and paws as large as dinner plates. The quiet sound of bone splintering sounded from its maw, the animal’s fangs stained red as it tore the last remaining flesh from an ox’s femur. To someone who did not know them, it would be an imposing sight.

Korgath, however, simply hoped no one else noticed that he was trying to keep down his lunch.

Today would be his first day with the Iron Rose Adventurer’s Guild, and first days meant first impressions. This was certainly the place to find strong Hunters, just… He wished there weren’t so many people. The orc had been alright for the most part until the four B-ranks appeared, but then, all of a sudden, the receptionist had declared jobs that needed done and already his peers were swarming over, eager to collect on whatever bounties they saw. The hunter would need something impressive, something dangerous to win over the best Packmates or at least cement his position, but for now he was frozen on a wooden bench, panicking.

Idly, the orc felt a tail slap against his reluctantly clothed leg, and glanced over to see Kitty staring up at him, ears tucked back and panting slightly as a few speckles of blood and saliva dripped from her muzzle.

That got a smile out of him, and was enough to shake him from his reverie. They could do this.

Slapping his face a couple of times, the Hunter stood up, popping a stiff shoulder as he slung his pack over a bare shoulder. Already a few of his peers had joined the receptionist, and there appeared to be an errant… child? Someone rather small, anyhow. They seemed distressed. Walking over, Korgath did not realize that Kitty was running ahead, hounding the smaller figure’s backside. The orc was too focused on keeping his cool, all too aware of his skin as he tried to smile at strangers. Human customs were so strange.

“H-hello, Receptionist Maya, human male, and small girl with horns!” Off to a good start, keep it rolling... “I see quests are posted, and you ask for someone hardy. I hope to fill that position.” Hell, this was easy. Grinning at his grasp of the new language, the orc continued. “I am that. Hardy. I am hardy. So is Kitty.” He moved his hand beside him, swiping at the air a few times before glancing down. Kitty was not there. Green changed to a deep crimson.

What Korgath had failed to notice was Kitty taking a great interest in the small, alchemical creature. The beast had dropped her oxbone and was rapidly circling the humanoid, sniffing frantically. The wolf drank in the creature’s scent, slapping her tail against the counter with a steady thumping and nuzzling his chest with her head. She was still covered in oxblood.

Irene Rendower

Irene arrived at the Guild, intent on finding new work. She had been here for three years now, and still she did not have the funds to purchase something befitting the ideal of "beauty". The paltry room she was renting at a nearby inn was far too meager to satisfy her; she needed a stately manor overlooking the sea at the least. Beyond that, one day she hoped to have an enormous palace erected somewhere in Rhode, opulently decorated with the most extravagant furnishings known to man. She was sure she would achieve that beautiful ideal someday. For now, however, she would have to make do with oddjobs paying coppers and silvers.

As luck would have it, there was a fresh set of jobs available upon her arrival. It was quite easy for her to make up her mind as to which one to volunteer for. The "Burrow Destruction" offered the greatest pay, and presented the greatest thrill. It was the most "beautiful" mission upon the board by far. Granted, the other missions may prove more challenging than they initially appeared, but Irene could count on the extermination of two whole burrows of those filthy goblins to provide plentiful entertainment. Not to mention her summary of those gathering for the missions as well. The recovery mission fell to Leonore, a woman of noble looks and countenance, but lacking in noble spirit. Her physical beauty could not compensate for her lack of spiritual amiability. Working with her willingly was out of the question. The other mission was headed by Noelle, with whom Irene had no quarrel, but no great desire to follow either. The mission she had chosen was assigned to Laurence. While Laurence looked like he could care less for it all, Irene had heard the man had a bigger heart than he let on. He was by far the most fitting leader to rally behind here. Her decision was only cemented as she eyed those that were volunteering. The medical delivery attracted the participation of Diana. While Irene bore her no ill will, she could not help but think that baldness was a most unattractive trait in a woman. Strangely, her blue hued skin was of much less bother. As for the recovery mission, of all the things to appear, an Orc strode in and declared his desire to join with the group associated with it. She had heard of these Orcs to belong to a savage culture, and was sure he would prove to be most "unbeautiful". Her mind was made up; the goblin extermination was the only choice for her.

Approaching Laurence, Irene greeted him with a curtsy. "Good sir Laurence, might I accompany you on your quest? I promise to be of the utmost assistance against the goblin hordes." Irene's thoughts were primarily on the rich reward to be had, though she did her best not to show it, and not showing her thoughts was one of her greatest talents. Indeed, she made a point never to communicate her true feelings to anyone when she thought they could be of offense. It was the only "beautiful" thing to do.

@SilverDawn

---

"There; that should do it," Granoda Onyxfall set the quill that she had in hand down, and folded a parchment of paper that she'd been writing on once, and then once more. Sliding it carefully into an open envelope, she then held her tongue on the open flap and slid it gracefully along the edge, before pressing it shut. Granoda picked up the quill one last time as she flipped the envelope over on the other side, and wrote a single name at the center: Reikhulin Onyxfall. This time, Granoda place the quill inside an ink bottle that was on her desk, taking the envelope with her as she rose from her seat and left her room.

It was as she entered the main hall that Granoda noticed things were starting to happen. Leonore, Laurence and Noelle had just returned from a mission with the latter two seeming to want to recuperate... only to immediately be resummoned by Maya, the girl who had been seemingly filling in for the Guild Leader that had vanished since oh so long ago. Those three always got the good job of supervising the lesser-ranked adventurers. Rolling her eyes, Granoda watched as the C and D ranked adventurers rummaged around the hall signing up for missions. There where only three present up on the job board, and all of them were ranked below Granoda's level. They seemed urgent enough to warrant a closer look at each however, judging by how urgently the other adventurers had shuffled around.

The first mission that Granoda looked at was an escort one. That was literally all Granoda needed to know, as from her experience, most low-ranked escort missions tended to run smoothly. Too smoothly. As in, hardly worth her time.

The second had to do with destroying goblin burrows. Granoda always loved killing goblins, and one more goblin head on her wall never hurt.

The third involved collecting resources from a shipwreck, and apparently had not been properly vetted out. There was a sense of mystery as to what dangers could possibly be involved, and Granoda found this mystery intriguing. Some of the recovered goods were promised to be a part of the reward for completing the mission as well, and perhaps they could be just as valuable as the extra gold.

While Granoda certainly didn't care for the escort mission in the slightest, she couldn't really decide between good old-fashioned goblin beheading and the whole shipwreck investigation shtick. She'd have to cross that bridge when she got there, but first, she needed to drop this envelope off so that it could be delivered. It was no sense holding on to it any longer than she had to, after all. With that, Granoda looked over towards the receptionist station, where Maya had settled herself.

"Oi! Maya!" she called over, before walking over to her direction, "I've a letter here that I need delivered to Stavemt. Whenever you get the chance to fetch a messenger, yeah?"

Placing the envelope squarely on Maya's desk so that she wouldn't forget it was there, Granoda looked around where she was currently standing, seeing if Leonore, Laurence and Noelle had their backs mostly turned before turning back to Maya.

"Also where are my new recruits, woman? You know I've been waiting for this chance to take up some lads in me own mission," Granoda placed her hands on her hips and immediately pouted after she said this, not too happy that the other three got chosen for the cut.

---

"How bothersome..." Grisia couldn't help but sigh softly as he made his way from the bar - where he originally planned to eat - towards the reception corner, his azure blue eyes expressing such a terrifying melancholy that someone who didn't know him would even think that something terryfying happened with the young man, making him so utterly emotionally wounded that he couldn't even hide his grief anymore. The truth, though, was away more obvious for those who knew the young man - surprisingly a lot of the present adventurers, for he was indeed quite the old member of the guild, being already sort of a member since before his twelfth birthday - as the same tjing happened whenever he finished expending all his money and had to once more work to maintain his carefree lifestyle - an utterly disastrous event for the not so eager to work Grisia.

Surprisingly, though, he didn't actually maintain his overly exaggerated melancholy for long this time, as his expression quickly changed into one of mild happiness as he heard Maya's announcement - quite the unusual reaction, for he normally liked to play the victim until he managed to make the surprisingly soft receptionist pity him and give him some of the easier jobs with a good pay. It wasn't that hard to infer what made him change his usual strategy this time though, as even the most ignorant of the adventurers would notice that he seemed delighted to be able to get some easy money by accompanying a B ranked adventurer, to the point where he quickly made his way towards the reception, immediately registering to go for the medicine delievery mission.

The reason for such a decision? Easy peasy: while he was in pretty good terms with most of the guild's B ranked adventurers - save for the ever cold Lenore, who didn't seem to be willing to talk with anyone under her rank - Grisia simply had an amazing compatibility with Noelle in specific, as both where absent minded to the point where they wouldn't really pay attention to the others small transgressions, with Grisia being more than fine with leaving Noelle alone to sleep and the higher ranked adventurer hardly paying attention to his carefree behaviour, leaving him alone to pass his time as he wished as long as he carried his own weight in the mission. As such, it was more than clear that he was pretty satisfied made his way towards Noelle to announce his decision of joining her mission to the senior adventurer, going as far as talking to her and the alchemist that also joined the group in cheerful way as he approached the area where she is. "Hey there, girls, seems like I'm joining you for the next few days so please take care of me~"

---

@Hammerman@SilverDawn

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---

The elf thumped down onto the ground, feet in the air and head buried in his hands. He growled and pushed himself back to his feet, scratching his head with a tired look on his face. He had stood up too fast, his vision had blurred into nothing and he'd fallen like a downed tree. He looked over the room for the first time since he'd gotten here, before he'd always sat in the corner and focused on dreaming up song ideas. He had been surprised by the number of strange people there, there was the regularly scheduled humans, a half-elf or two, and even an orc!

Derrien's posture improved as he saw the B-class heroes assembling, each having jobs to do. This was it, he supposed, the first mission he'd go on as an adventurer, he didn't care what it was honestly, he just wanted to excel, get promoted, be able to see the world wherever he wanted. He pulled his flute from where it hung at his side and looked at it. He thought back to when he had first gotten it, the look of disappointment his father had given him when he revealed it. It was hard to think about, but it was his past, this flute was all of that, it was the only thing that he had kept from that time, and to him it was a representation of all of it. The sadness, and the good times too.

Derrien smiled and clenched the thing in his hand, pulling it up to his mouth.

He played a soft, slow song. It was for his father, who was sure to have a good reason for doing what he did. His eyes fluttered close as he thought of that. There was never a good reason to leave your child, it had broken him. All he wanted was to have a father, but that had been taken from him.

Derrien pushed through his chest tightening as he thought and kept playing, dancing from note to note as he strode slowly up to the gathering of adventurers.

He finished the song with a flourish and gave a bow, the performance calming him considerably. He moved up to a standing position and addressed the B-class adventurers.

"I'm willing to go wherever I'm needed, thank you for considering me," he said woodenly before stepping back into the crowd.

When Wren heard the call for C and D-rankers, he quickly shoveled the rest of his meal down his throat before moving towards the front desk. “Food wasted is a farmer’s time wasted” had been a common saying when he was growing up, and he would be hard-pressed to disregard the mantra after having it drilled into his mind for nearly two decades.

When Wren reached the desk, he examined the adventurers around him before seeing what jobs were available. There was quite a mixed bag of races and occupations. Warriors, priests, and alchemists. Elves and humans. All manner of people seemed to join the Iron Roses. He had only recently realized just how much of a sheltered life he had lived back home. For example, until recently Wren had never seen an orc, but now one stood right in front of him.

Returning his focus to the matter at hand, Wren took a look at the three jobs. Not very glamorous, he reflected as he read through them. Although, he thought, it's not like a D-ranker can expect much better. The goblin burrows job stuck out to him as the most interesting, but he eventually settled on the medicine delivery. A village in distress struck too close to home for him to ignore, plus, he didn’t like the idea of those people languishing in disease any longer than they had to.

He signed the paper in clumsy print and then looked around at the others who had selected the same job. There was the orc he had noticed earlier, as well as a girl alchemist, an apathetic looking man who introduced himself cheerfully to Noelle, the leader of the group, and a blue-skinned woman with a shaved head. Never in a million years would Wren have imagined he would actually be adventuring with such a strange entourage, but here he was, a member of his uncle’s guild ready to embark on his first quest. Maybe wishes do come true, he thought whimsically.

Next, he turned to Noelle. “I’m thrilled to be working with you, miss,” he said with a smile. “I’m Wren Harper, by the way.”

As the adventurers filled their groups and conversed, Maya had scrawled a small note on Noelle's mission. She was worried about this. All three of these missions were on such a short notice. She couldn't help but think that these young adventurers were going to take on missions that they barely knew anything about. Of course, that caring thought was slashed as soon as she heard the word "sexy" come from Yuel's mouth.

Maya despised that nickname. It made her feel as though she was being denigrated - belittled - by Yuel. Despite this, Maya didn't outwardly show any change. She remained the smiling and caring receptionist that she always was. "Hold on Yuel. If you're willing for any mission, we should let the others choose first," Maya said.

While speaking to Yuel, Alexander had suddenly appeared in front of her. Alexander had held up his hand as if to receive the paper. Maya was instantly taken aback. She didn't expect him to be like that. In fact, she didn't even know why he was there. He just appeared, not even saying a word. It was incedibly awkward. He must had stood there for at least an eternity. At least, that's what it felt like for Maya. She looked down at her papers. She quickly picked one up and put it into Alexander's hand. By some miracle, it was the quest that he wanted - goods recovery.

After subtly nudging Alexander to go wait by Leonore, Diana had chosen to help the sick. As quickly as Diana appeared, she had left to prepare. Maya liked this attitude. It made things go by much more easily than it would have.

The odd one, Ahnciel, had asked to join. Maya quickly went to deny his request, but bit her tongue as she realized that he was the only one who had known where the ship was. "I suppose that, as a one time thing, we can allow you to come along," Maya said to Ahnciel before turning to Leonore, "and make sure he doesn't get hurt."

Leonore rolled her eyes. After all, guarding others was Leonore's least favourite job.

Despite Clara speaking to Noelle, Noelle was dead silent. In fact, she didn't even respond. Not even a cursory glance. Oddly enough, the large blade on Noelle's back had managed to move to be firmly planted on the hard-oak floor. Noelle's head was already resting on the guard, her eyes barely open. She had managed to fall asleep.

As Liv had chosen to recover some supplies, she acted as a perfect segue for the large Orc to introduce himself. Maya didn't reconize him, so, while the large orc was embarassed by his kitty-wolf's actions. Maya decided that she needed to help him. "Well Hardy, it's great to have such a strong man as yourself to help. And your wolf Hardy Jr. seems to be such a sweetheart! Good luck on the mission!" She had sweetly said.

Laurence, however, was much less receptive to introductions. Upon seeing Irene curtsy, he snapped back at her. "Don't be so polite. This isn't some thing to be proud of. This is dirty work." Laurence, be it by his mission or the politeness of this woman, was extraordinarily cold. Moreso than his regular self.

Granoda had placed the letter on the reception desk. Maya, keeping it a secret to herself, was actually surprised she could reach that high. "Of course, I'll mail it out this evening," Maya had said before leaning over the counter to whisper to Granoda, "But, as for the teacher bit, I think we both know how it's going to end up if you get some... recruits. But this is important. Don't tell the others but... delivering this medicine is bad news. This was all kept hush, not a soul should know have known about it, but we've been getting some threats about delivering the medicine. So, as a special mission for you, I would like you to protect everyone who's heading to the village."

Almost as if a curse, the first bad thing happened. Grisia's introduction had awoken Noelle. Almost instantly, Noelle panicked. She quickly let go of her sword. It clambered to the ground, letting out a loud clang as the sword laid flat. "I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake!" Noelle exasperated in a panic. She quickly held her heart. That terrified her. It took a while, but she had managed to control her ragged breathing. Almost instantly, her paniked expression had turned to an blank face. Expressionless, calm, and collected. She was pretending that her shock never happened.

Derrien had volunteered to go wherever was needed. Which was nice, in fact. Laurence had been largely ignored, save for Irene wanting to be beautiful (and get coin).

However, not everything was sunshine and rainbows. Wren, as a result of eating his food too quickly, had succumbed to severe cramps. He almost instantly dropped to the ground, clutching his stomach. Rather quickly, a man came from the bar, picking up Wren and carrying him outside before he could yarf all over the good rugs. Maya had a look on her face. It was unable to be described. However, upon seeing it, every one of the adventurers knew that they should not talk about this moment ever again.

"Well. You folks have 3 hours to prepare. Yuel, Derrien, head out with Laurence to help destroy some burrows. The two carts to head out is just outside. Get to it when you're all ready. Laurence, Yuel, Derrien, and Irene: You guys are on foot. Good luck! And Lumi! Don't think I don't see you twiddling your thumbs over there. You're going to the village with Noelle!"

---

Clara had expected some kind of response from Noelle. But instead, she just stood there, not even bothering to look at her.

Clara soon realized she was asleep.

Clara let out a small, awkward laugh. That took her by surprise for sure. She didn't expect such a high-ranked adventurer to just suddenly fall asleep while standing like that. And when she panicked when she was woken up by Grisia, that was another blow to her usual image of a calm and collected adventurer.

"Hello again, Miss Noelle," she reintroduced herself, bowing slightly once again. "I'm Clara Sol, an alchemist. And I will be joining you in your mission,"

Their talk was rudely interrupted by Wren's cramps. It might be rude but Clara couldn't help but giggle at the display. She really found it quite funny.

"Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself to the others," she said to Noelle as she returned her sight to her. She then turned around to face the rest of the group, who had been standing in front of Maya also. "Hello, everyone!" she said cheerfully, slightly bowing once more. "I'm Clara Sol, an alchemist! If you're taking the medicine escort quest, then you'll be partnered with me!" she said, just in case her voice reached someone else who didn't belong to their group. "If you need any medicine, then I'll be happy to provide! Oh, and I also should introduce Pam, my bison! But she's at my house right now, unfortunately..."

When Clara finished her introduction, she awkwardly stood there, blushing a little, waiting for their reaction. She was never good at stuff like these.

Ahnciel's eyes narrowed from how the expression that flickered across Maya's expression, about to shut down his request before it sank in how he'd used the lack of information on the location as leverage. Perhaps a dirty tactic, holding someone else's goods ransom, it did not entirely matter since Ahnci would have gone with in sheer spite of a human's orders. He hadn't killed for his freedom just to be bossed around so simply.
The plan seemed to be working, save for the order being given to the stuck-up looking woman to ensure his safety much to her displeasure. The receptionist's shifting of pronouns was quickly dismissed since he frankly didn't care what she thought he was as long as she didn't pry into irrelevant business. His main focus was on the eyes of the woman he'd gathered was named 'Leonore' and how they betrayed her air of professionalism by whispering insidious layers of flippancy. In all honesty, the less than noble nature of a human hardly surprised Ahnciel, however, with what he heard of the 'heroes of the Iron Rose' from townsfolk he nearly had a heartattack just speaking to, he couldn't help but be disappointed.

Regardless of Leonore's status, he didn't trust her for an instant.

None of these errant suspicions and gripes really mattered so long as the guild could manage at least a small handful of humans who took their job seriously. With that, it was out of Ahnciel's hands and he finally had a moment to breathe and take in the guild hall. There was little in his memory that he could compare the architecture to, being essentially held prisoner in a mansion's kitchen and cellars. The major familiarity was the haunting allure of cooked food that warmly pervaded the air, reminding him of the weakness in his frame and the difficulty in recalling when he'd had more than a few bites.
Then came an oppressive stench of blood that seemed to surround him. Pupils sharpening from the damning stink of murder, Ahnci's hand trembled against the hilt of his sheathed blade in the cloak. Faces of the duke and his son blinked into existence only long enough for the chimera to be broken from the trance-like daydream by reflexively jumping with an audible "Bwagh!" from the abrupt attention to his rear.

With a growl, Ahnci swung around to come face-to-face with the beast with a measure of surprise. Its muzzle was awash of blood and dog slobber, the connection quickly made with the huge bone it had set aside to accost him. Ahnci sighed with a small measure of relief, unfamiliar with wolves and only really understanding its behavior being something akin to interest. His annoyance with being spooked simmered as it circled him, though it quickly melted to a mild confusion. "H-hey! Vhat are you-?" he began with small dancing footsteps away to avoid tripping over Kitty who pursued him in the motion until he stood his ground to catch its comparatively massive head with both hands to stop it. "Stop zeis. Iz rude, you should know!" Ahnci softly growled, smooshing the big doggo-face while scolding as if it could understand him. "My name is Ahnciel, ehn I expect an apology for startling-hu-HUAH!" he began to continue with wasting his time until Kitty nuzzled into him, promptly pushing him over and smearing bloody drool all over his cloak.
Though he cared little for the state of the cloak, he was quick to express, "Agh! Iz gross!" Ahnci wailed, squirming and arms flailing in attempts to push Kitty away so he could retreat.

Diana

After Diana was done gathering up all of her belongings, she approached the group of people who are to be her compatriots for this vital mission with a smile. “Hello everyone. It is a pleasure to meet you all.” She gives a small bow. “My name is Diana.” She points to her robe. “This is my good friend Argus.” Argus waves his hood side to side to simulate a handwave. “This will be our first mission in service to the Guild of the Iron Rose. We want to do whatever we can to save those villagers and complete our mission. You have my word.” She gives a good glance to everyone. Quite an arrangement of people to be certain.

Diana heard Clara introduce herself and responded in kind. “It's an honor to meet you Clara! You must be the one who made the medicine we are delivering. I’m sure the villagers will be very happy to see you and taste the fruits of your labor.” Diana is glad the woman who made the medicine is coming along on this mission. It is a very comforting prospect knowing that Clara has the determination to deliver the life-saving vaccine personally.

“Would it be alright if I asked the rest of your names? Seeing as we’re going to be covering each other's backs, it’ll be good to know who will be fighting by your side.”

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Slowly turning, Korgath was mortified at the sight of Kitty stepping over the prone child, slurping at his face with her long, wet tongue. The orc's voice grew terse as he barked a short command towards her bulky frame, “Kitty! No!” The hunter dove at the she-wolf, slamming into her side and wrapping his muscular arms around her frame with a grunt. The impact pushed the beast aside, both members of the duo growling and swearing as they rolled across the ground, blood and spittle flying through the air.

After tussling for moment, the beast gave up. Korgath scratched at the wolf, rubbing at her belly while his legs were still locked around her form, keeping her from darting back at the fluffy-eared man on the floor. The hunter panted as he whispered soothing words to the wolf, still growling on the ground. After he was positive she was finished with their squabble, he let her loose, standing up with his skin an almost neon red. “Apologies, newfound friends. Kitty is very friendly. Maybe too friendly.”

The wolf still sniffed at the rest of the group, but was clearly done with more intimate investigations. She huffed, walking over to the oxbone once more and strode over to the hearth, tail held high above her back. Korgath’s eyes followed her out, idly chewing his cheek as she went. She was not used to society anymore. He would have to fix that.

Taking in a deep breath, the now filthy hunter turned to face the counter once more, his skin baring his embarrassment as well as a fair bit of blood and saliva. “Receptionist Maya, I thank you for your kind words. I am Korgath, and that is Kitty. We are both happy to be here. Mister… human fancy-man, I do not know you, but you look like a serious magic type. It will be good to work together. Miss with the scale armor, I am sure it is a pleasure. And for you, friend…” The orc paused, averting his eyes from the figure on the floor and flashing a quick grimace. “I am sorry for Kitty. She is a good girl, I promise. She likes you!” The large man flashed a quick grin, glancing over to the corner of the room. The wolf wagged her tail from across the room, almost eye-level with the cloaked stranger on the ground. “And I will do my best to make sure this does not happen again. Probably.”

The orc bowed low, offering a hand to the prone figure. At this point they were both covered in blood and slobber. “We have three hours. Maybe we all eat together? Nothing like a good meal to unite people with purpose. My treat!” He laid his eyes on the rest of the group, trying his best to ignore the mess Kitty had made. “Or… maybe we get clean first. Then food. Yes?”

---

"Don't tell the others but... delivering this medicine is bad news," although she was still mostly in her prior pouting pose, Granoda couldn't help but tilt her head slightly to the side and raise an eyebrow. Hearing this from Maya got her thinking. Could this medicine be going to a known assassin or the like? Was it a type of poison that had been labelled as medicine so that the person delivering it wouldn't ask any question? And if it was either of those, what could Maya possibly ask of Granoda? Sabotage the trade route? The cart? The package itself? Granoda could even possibly see herself being tasked to replace the vial of "medicine" with one filled with water or something equally harmless, without Noelle or the others having the slightest awareness of it. However...

"...we've been getting some threats about delivering the medicine. So, as a special mission for you, I would like you to protect everyone who's heading to the village." the sigh that came afterwards was the sound of Granoda having gotten her hopes that the escort mission would be spiced up enough to finally be one that was ultimately worth her time, only for Maya to completely blow it for her. Granoda folded her arms, and shook her head in disappointment.

"I realize we're supposed to be taking any and all threats seriously, but it's been years since any escort mission we've ever gotten has gone south. And even if these threats happen to have some amount of bite to them as opposed to being all bark, Noelle and the others can probably..." just as she looked over at Noelle's current squadron, Granoda noticed Wren writhing in pain from stomach cramps before he was whisked away, and immediately slammed an open hand all over her own face, before saying, through gritted teeth and not an ounce of reluctance being held back mind you, "...never mind then; I'll be off..."

With that, Granoda trudged over towards Noelle's direction, where she met Clara Sol, the alchemist, Diana, the blue-skinned woman with the shaved head, and Grisia Greyrat, the one male of the bunch... or rather, the one male that was still able to participate in the mission at hand. Of course, one would imagine that the first question to be asked was why a bruiser like Granoda would willingly accept a mission where the aim was to save lives. The answer? Granoda didn't exactly accept said mission willingly...

"Hello. I am Granoda Onyxfall, and Maya asked me to accompany you lot for the escort mission," surprised she was able to say this with a straight face, Granoda immediately sank her head low, unleashing another sigh, "I really need a pint after this. I really do..."