Horace was amused by Measha. Energetic kid, like Sam. A lot more.. Disciplined though. He talked the way people talked to him not long ago. He glanced over to Sam happily stirring a pot like it was going out of style. He hopped two barstools closer to Beatrice and Measha, putting him in the rare position of being at eye-level with someone. "So we can assume they are wizards themselves. Now why would wizards attack a wizards guild? Rivalry? Revenge? Extortion? Self-Defense?" Horace sat down, pondering aloud. "Let's assume it's neither of the first two since this is guild doesn't have a history long enough to make enemies. And they don't want anything from you, or this would be the moment to declare their demands. So self-defense?"

Orin answered him. "Bah, I am fine. Nothing that can not be sorted. Besides they started it."

Then a little girl said, "Hello. Yeah, he is right. They... Pretended to be us on our last job and wrecked a entire town. Kaldis and Orin fixed it though"

He raised an eyebrow as they said that. But before he could say anything he saw that Elliot walked over, "Well, that's... odd," she said quietly, "Why would people be wanting to ruin our image? We're just barely a guild... It's not like we are a threat to anyone..." She pursed her lips, "Maybe it has something to do with the job that you guys were doing..."

"There are many reasons...why people do these things, question is how sane are they? if they are insane then well forget about even trying to reason why they did."

He noticed her looked at his forearm with the tattoo on it and smirking He sighed He could expect more taunting from her later on. She looked back at Orin, "Did they say anything?"

Hector thought about what had happened, if they were trying to impersonate the guild it could be for a couple of reasons...to make the guild look like a bunch of bandits, to either ruin it before they get started, perhaps they knew how many strong wizards had already joined. or to use the cover for their gain, Now with them attacking and fleeing... it could be a way to provoke us to attack them so they can sit back and tell the magic council we attacked them, and with the guild being so new Beatix wouldnt have much sway in the matter and the guild would be disbanded before they even took traction.

He finally spoke up." They are probably trying to provoke us or scare us... As to why we can only guess. "
Looking down at the kid who was sleeping he heard a man ask if everyone was ok. He glanced to see a blue hair man with a sword. He didnt answer but he reached down and picked up the sleeping kid with one arm and flopped him over his shoulder. " Come on... lets go tell Beatrix." He turned and walked back into the guild and saw the Fire wizard reporting to Beatrix. He shook his head... the kid had energy, but he was a fire cracker about to go off.

He plopped the kid on his shoulder on a table near the bar and said. "Well Beatrix, figure out who has a grudge against you yet? I can have them here in twenty four hours if you wanted..., or you gunna give me that class crap again?"

Noticing that the targets were gone, Kael lowered his hands and descended onto the ground. Now, where was his pizza? He saw Orin walking in with Kaldis in hand. Something was up. Why would somebody attack a newly formed guild? Was it a grudge against somebody in the guild? Taking this chance, he moved up to Beatrix, waiting to be noticed by her and Orin.

If you would like any help, I will go. Nobody harms the guild or disturb the wind like that without being punished. The question is what happened on the job? Were they targeting somebody you were trying to protect?

He used the wind to pull a chair to him, sitting himself in the process. Around him, the wind started to pick up a bit, making it seem a bit dangerous to approach him, but weak enough that it would not disturb any of the surrounding items or people. Kale put his hands together and waited.

The world suddenly went a few shades darker as the sunlight coming in from the open windows was blocked by a tower of a man.
A massive collection of leather and chains loomed over him, he probably hadn't even noticed him. Horace looked up to look at the mountain that cast a large shadow.



"I agree. I'd suggest they are from a nearby guild feeling threatened. Is this place on someone else's turf? I know a thing or two about turf-wars."

Sam came strolling out of the kitchen holding a tray with 5 red smoking flasks on it. "No stories about the island Hor, freaks people out I tell ya."

Orin just sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he was trying to think for a moment but with everyone talking to him it was easier said than done. "I have no clue why they would do something like this. Heck I only just saw them just now, they had already left by the time we reached the town... I was also too far away to hear them from this distance." It was at the point when they started walking towards the guild that Sophia spoke up "That would mean they had to have intercepted the mail on its way here right? There is no way they could have come in and seen the job before us.

As they made their way back to the guild Orin waved off Akira "Everyone is fine uhh..." The large guy looked shy, and was trying to keep his distance from Elliot. By the time he reached inside of the guild, he took a good look around at all the new people that had turned up, and some late old faces. "Mother, what have you been doing? W-Where did all these people come from?"

---

"They came here and wanted to join. So I let them. The raccoon and the boy behind the counter are now my new shop staff too." Orin was clearly taken back by this, though to be fair to the guy, anyone would have been at the suddenness of all this. Of course Beatrix just ignored this...

With people reporting to her she gave the book a rest for a moment to answer them, and of course Hector had to be the first. "No, you are just not strong enough... If this is a guild there is no way you can take them on your own. I would like to remind you that guild masters are powerful people in their own right. Just give me a moment to figure things out will you? Now, is anyone here going to report on who they saw?"

Thankfully a few of them did, including Orin, though Measha was among the first. "The one brought in by Hector is our resident carpenter and wood mage. The large softy with a fetish for chains is my son Orin" Orin looked pissed at that comment" "Hey! Don't go telling people strange things-," Beatrix just ignored him "And the cute girl is my Apprentice Sophia." With those questions answered she now started to look through the book of guilds as descriptions of the people were given.

Everyone gave their own outlook on the matter and Beatrix was about to give her conclusion but suddenly she picked up a magazine and whacked Kale around the back of the head. "I said stop it with that wind stuff! You are messing up my concentration.. And my hair." With a sigh she passed the magazine to Sophia who went to join Sam behind the counter, introducing herself as Beatrix;s apprentice. "Right. We can assume they are local, and that they have something against us. We are too new to draw any real attention" Of course she did not know that they had, but the ones attacking them were small time as suspected.

"Ah... Here. Serpents Dagger." Pushing the book across the counter, it was opened onto the page of the guild in question so that everyone could get a good look at the information provided.

Name: Serpents Dagger
Founded: Year X690
Type: Legal Guild
GuildMaster: Axcel Goulard
Former Guildmaster: Simon Goulard


Below the profile was a history, a huge one in fact given that the guild was very old. It had many pictures along with it. The former guildmasters was standing with his members, and throughout the ages they of course changed and the like, but most interestingly other guilds joined in on the pictures as well with the words 'will never forget' on a sign the guild master was holding up. This went all the way up to Simon where he was joined by his father a old man and his son, both of which looked unhappy during all the photos with the other guilds.

By the time it was Axcel's turn to take over the photos with the other guilds had stopped and the old members were now gone with more and more strangers joining. Along with this there were several profiles on the key members of the guild, and of course they matched the ones that had attacked them.

"Hmm.... Well, we are going to have to go and see them, they have a history of helping out starting guilds it seems, well they did."

---

Within the lake where Rukia was bathing, a single shadow dashed across the banks, and only when it came to a stop did it make any noise. "Miss Rukia... I have a errand for our Lord. Your task is to continue your work with Azure Dragon, however our Lord wishes them to go to what is known as the 'Dark Tower'." This was the S-Class job they had obtained, the only one in fact... "However... If you wish he has 'other' tasks for one of your Beauty"

Well, they are not helping now. Kael said, rubbing his head from the smack he had received from Beatrix. He had yelped when it happened so he scooted back away from her.

He began thinking what he could do to help when he remembered his pizza was still there. Taking this chance, he hurried over to grab it. Nobody was eating his food!

"Serpents dagger huh? Nope, doesn't ring a bell. But then again I'm not from round here. Are you planning to send a scouting group or do you want to march over there with banners raised and trumpets resounding?" Sam wasn't sure if he was joking. He walked over to the bar and looked at the piece of paper while putting corks on the bottles.
"Look's like no one's hurt, bummer. I wanted to show these off.. Oh well. I'll just save these for the inevitable later. I bet it won't take a day... Say is there any of that goop left on the ground outside?"

Horace smirked at Sam "Now look who's freaking people out."

Sam didn't listen, he was already on his way outside, leaving the potions on the counter and wielding a bunch of vials and a small shovel.

Horace shook his head then turned to Kael making large eyes hoping for another slice. "So... what's cheese?"

Measha couldn't help but feel a wave of joy overcome him as Beatrix introduced him to some of the guilds members. With all the commotion he had forgotten how new he was, it was nice to know a few names. "I wouldn't consider those chains of yours strange, they look pretty cool to me!" he remarked after Beatrix's comment about Orin. Measha waved to Sophia with a smile as they were introduced. When Beatrix began to assess the situation, it all seemed weird to Measha. He spoke in a confused tone. "I don't understand, they used to help beginner guilds, what caused them to attack us?" He took a look at the key members of the guild, taking note of their magic. Measha crossed his arms. "They started this fight, master. I'm don't want to let something like that go." He chuckled at Horace's comment. "I don't think trumpets would compete with whatever type of magic that girl was using. Geez, that sound was horrid. I feel like I should invest in ear plugs before we head over there."

---

Akira walked back into the guild with Hector, Elliot and the others. He simply stood amongst the crowd of wizards during all the commotion. The Guild Hall had an air of confusion mixed with excitement. He realized he wasn't yet an official member of the guild, but now wasn't really the time to bring up something like that, or give his input for that matter. Akira noticed Hector lay a boy on a table, he seemed to be asleep which was rather interesting. As Beatrix introduced one of the newbies to the guild members she mentioned the sleeping boy once more. "A wood mage huh?" Akira thought, and suddenly found himself walking over. As he got closer, the boy's antlers came into view, sparking his interest even more. He stood beside the table the boy slept on and bent down, poking his chest and speaking in a friendly tone. "Hey, wake up. Things are getting interesting, you don't want to miss out."

"...Zzzzzz....zzzzzzzz" was the only sound to escape Kaldis ever since he'd lost consciousness in the wagon, sleep held a much tighter grip on him than most, to the point where he'd only turned slightly in his sleep when he'd heard the horrible screeching noise coming from somewhere...but that didn't matter, now was nap time. He felt some sort of heat pass over his head after he felt like he'd been flung like a ragdoll, but that didn't matter, now was nap time. He heard some familiar and unfamiliar voices around him, and felt his body be placed on something hard and flat...he recognized this feeling, even in his sleep. He built that table. But that didn't matter, now was- "Hey, wake up. Things are getting interesting, you don't want to miss out." Kaldis' eyes opened slowly, and rather regrettably stayed open; he didn't know why, but he absolutely hated when he was woken up...then again he didn't mind as much seeing as he'd managed to fall asleep in the middle of the day and...somehow wind up on a table back at the guild.

What really opened his eyes was when he saw all the unfamiliar people inside of the guild hall. Carefully rising and getting off the table, he stretched quietly as he looked at all the unfamiliar faces in the guild, including the man who'd woken him. Realizing that it would be rude to not at least acknowledge the guy for doing him a favor, Kaldis turned to him and gave a small bow before saying: "U-um, thanks for getting me up, but..." He rose from the bow and looked over all the new people, apparently they now had a raccoon, and a guy who was even bigger than Orin! "But...who are you guys exactly? "

As she heard the shadow figure speak, Rukia's interest span aroused her curiosity, the naked fox walks out of the lake and hurriedly get dressed, she clearly knew that her fellow Spider was with Azure Dragon thus losing a bit of interest. "I have no qualms and no interest about that new guild, let 'him' handle it however it doesn't mean that I won't be keeping my eye closely on Azure." Rukia states her opinion straight forward and honest, things like this doesn't interest her greatly.

"I am more keen on what Lord Johann offers and as for the Dark Tower, the least I can do is have a damsel in distress as a bait. Humans have the capacity to be deceived and feel thus making their emotions run wild. Let me make it clear, I have no interest on Azure Dragon, its just coincidence that I operate accordingly to Lord Johann's wishes. Farewell, I will be going, I want you to awake the Aetherius Troops and while you are at it, I want you to unleash that mindless demon, Walpurgisnacht and send it to the Dark Tower. I wanna see if these Dragons are capable of taking a miniature prototype of the original and only then shall they gain my interest."

Carefully Sam collected some of the goo using the small shovel and slid it in the vial. He held it up against the light, it wasn't transparent and seemed to sport every color ranging from baby puke to wagon wheel grime. "Thick, sticky, almost rubber like construction... No evidence of it being very acidic or basic... Smells of rotten eggs, so that and the color suggest large amounts of sulfur, maybe. Either way it isn't natural in the slightest... Faint magical residue, some form of negative energy..." He mumbled as he took mental notes.
He filled another vial and closed them with care, as to not get any of the stuff on him. He had no idea what it would do, but he could guess it wasn't great.

He marched back inside satisfied with a vial in each hand. He set them on the counter next to the others and looked at Kaldis with wide eyes of wonder.
"Hello... Can I.. Uhm, my name is Sam.. Can I touch those?" He asked carefully while staring at the antlers on Kaldis head."

"No, you are just not strong enough... If this is a guild there is no way you can take them on your own. I would like to remind you that guild masters are powerful people in their own right. Just give me a moment to figure things out will you? Now, is anyone here going to report on who they saw?"

Hector folded his arms and gritted his teeth. Here she was, trying to baby him again like she did when he first met her. Didnt she remember he was a bounty hunter? Son of a Dragon. He lived for hard battles, some of the battles he fought nearly killed him but it only made him stronger. He took his massive sword from his back and leaned it against the table next to him as he sat / leaned on it as well.

She found the guild they where looking for and heard the name. He had heard of them...never really crossed their path though before...he did pass many members of other guilds as he grabbed many marks from them before. He didnt have a good reputation among many of them.

He looked down at the boy who he carried in, now woken by the new samurai. He then asked who was everyone. Hector raised an eyebrow as Sam asked to touch the kids antlers. He then said, "The only thing that surprises me about this kid is he slept through all that commotion with the wagon being blown up and all and he gets woken up by someone saying hes missing out."

He shook his head and looked back to the group who were all talking amongst themselves. just a bunch of kids, in over their heads. the only one who looked capible was the samurai who wasnt a member yet...Elliot...despite being a fire wizard, and Orin...whom he had seen fight before.

He moved over to the bar and grabbed a bowl of ice and walked back to his seat and started to eat it lie pop corn. Despite what ever was going to happen...might as well keep up his strength.

Lach was still in shock that there was a talking raccoon among them...even after the whole ordeal he sat there with the pizza in his mouth. finally coming too when people came in and started reporting. Continuing to finish his slice he moved over to the group. and listened to what happened.

Everyone was talking and it was hard to follow, so he decided to go talk to the new guy, who was a samurai. "Hey! My name is Lach, You deciding to join the guild? That would be awesome, its been a while since i've crossed swords with another swordsman. " He held out his hand to shake with a smile on his face.

He then noticed Hector eating ice like it was a snack and gave a weird look. What ever floats the guys boat.

Elliot stayed out on the road while everyone else walked inside. Why would someone be attacking them? She walked over to the spot that the people had disappeared in their goo from and crouched down. She shifted the dirt around before picking some up and rubbing it between her fingers. She pursed her lips, it didn't look strange or out of place, which meant the magic, although it came up through the ground... Didn't come up through the ground. Which meant, they were at square one of who, what, where, why and how. She tossed the sand aside and stood, dusting it off on her pants.

She walked into the guild first to see Hector talking to Beatrix. He seemed to get shut down before he grabbed ice and wandered off. The next thing to catch her eye was the book with a guild name. It seemed they had found out a who. Finally, she saw Lach chatting to someone new, someone with a sword. She walked passed him and smiled, "Stop flirting, Lach," She teased.

Her final destination was in a seat across from Hector. She looked at him, "You want to go after them..." She looked over her shoulder at the group, "Bea won't let you go alone," She turned back and smiled at him, "So, don't."

Kael looked to the raccoon, with a amusing look.

Cheese is a magical ingredient that brings a rich flavor to the mouth. It is taken in a liquid form from cows, which is also delicious to dip cookies in, and then stirred around until it grows solid. Only those trained can make it and I am not one of them.

He looked up to the ceiling, wanting to think. He grabbed another slice and started to nibble on it. This guild, Serpents Dagger. Where could they be? If they knew, they could either send a complaint to the Magic Council, who may not do anything, or take matters into their own hands. He decided to walk around, as his legs were going to cramp. Standing up, his legs buckled for a second before regaining their strength and he began to walk out, when he remembered the book Beatrix was glancing at. Could that help? He walked up to her cautiously, not wanting to make her angry again. The wind was a simple breeze now.

Hey Beatrix, could I take a look in your book? Or is there another copy in the library?

Kaldis was still bewildered by all the new people in the guild...did they really get this many new applicants in just a day? He was glad that they'd have some more hands around, at least, because if jobs like THAT were going to be the norm, he'd prefer to have more people around to do them with. Naturally, he'd prefer if everything were easy, but hey, gotta make money to buy apples. He was slightly unnerved by the guy with the talking raccoons for a buddy asking to touch his antlers, he'd never really trusted anybody after a few people tried to yank them off as if they were fake, and he barely knew anything about the guy, aside from that his name was Sam. Facing the man, he tried to guess what kind of mage he was from looking at him...but then he realized he didn't know jack about other magic types. Sighing a bit while nervously rubbing the area on his head around the antler's emerging point, he replied to Sam with: "U-uh, sorry, I have to say n-no. But if you do need to know, they f-feel like real antlers." before taking a seat in a chair.

When he heard about all the things he'd slept through from the tall (and really scary) new guy, who started eating ice like it was a treat. Kaldis nearly feel back in his seat, and quickly steadied himself before thinking: "...Th-there's just no way I slept that deeply...did I?" while scratching his head.

Orion was pretty Lost. everything happened pretty quickly but he didnt even bother to relax. He had been to spent to engage in any kind of combat anyway. so he Listened. As his guild master spoke about Serpent dagger.... nothing came to mind. Not even the Name rang a bell. but it was extremely suspicious that all these bad coincidences were occuring on the same day. The opening day of the official Guild status. But WHY? that was the question of the hour. That was what everyone else probably wanted to now as well.

At Serpents Gate Guildhall

Sayuri looks around the guild masters office as she enters.  It was fairly plain with what looked like mementoes hanging on the walls. The guild master, whose name was Axcel, was sitting at his desk his usual cigarette lit. She was careful to stay away from the smoke as she knew how dangerous his magic was. She looks at him as she adjusts the bandages on one of her arms annoyed. She had been inturrupted in one of her daily training sessions which she hated, "I was told that you wanted to see me. Is there something you needed?"

Sam wanted to reach out and grab the antlers, but didn't, with difficulty he kept his hands down.
"I heard stories of a beast that lived in a forest not far from my home. A beast almost no one has ever seen.
It was the perfect monster, large as a hill and faster than lightning. The forest was old and dark and the beast was just as old and dark, all of the other creatures had formed camouflages or speed. Surviving in this forest meant not being near the Apex Predator. And there was this curse, or blessing, depends. It was possible to meet the monster and live, sometimes he'd let you live, no one knows why. Survivors, human and animal alike would grow antlers and gain heightened intelligence. They could commune with any other infected creature like they were the same race. Many called these witches or cursed and they were always hunted and feared alike. My school teacher used to believe that the curse may have been one of the old magics." Sam spoke fast and without taking breaths. His eyes glimmering and fixated on the horns. "Is there a chance you are from there?"

---

Horace looked puzzled. "Cows? Cookies?"

Beatrix thought for all but a moment before she had chosen what they were going to do. They had to take action, after all they had already attacked and that could not stand, since if she did allow it she would show that she may be weak to them... People were such fools sometimes, but that could not be helped. "You can borrow this one. However, it seems these people have attacked my shop so I will deal with them if I have too. If you all don't want to I wont blame you. After all you are only members, and some of you are brand new so..."

Orin nodded with a smile to Measha, that was the nicest thing anyone had ever said about his look, other than some women calling him rather 'manly'. However as Beatrix was speaking he soon moved forwards to place his hand on her shoulder, giving a thumbs up and a bright smile when she turned around to see the supportive face of her son, and of course Sophia's behind the bar and she knew full well Hector would do anything she told him.

"I suppose I am not that alone in this. Right then! Let's go teach these pansies what it means to mess with us!" Orin cheered along with Sophia, soon following her out the door, but of course on the way Beatrix did have something less sappy to say. "That was not me asking people. Get your asses moving or I will move them for you!"

---

The Lake


Lifting her head the girl could be seen for who she was; Gwendolyn the Guild Masters Bodyguard. None of the guild had ever seen her fight, or even lift a finger to protect the guild master, and yet for some reason the master held her abilities over all others, but it was unknown why. "So it shall be... Though do not be surprised to be in distress for real within that accursed tower. Even so, is Walpurgisnacht not going overboard on this guild? They are new and have not much profit to sate your greed" The girl mouthed off with such a dull tone, almost as if it was normal for her...

---

Serpent's Dagger Guild Hall

Axcel was smiling away as he was smoking, only when Sayuri spoke did it go away from his lips as he was reminded why he should have been pissed off. "Yes. You see some unwanted visitors are on their way. A little guild full of scum that think they can take us on despite us having over two hundred members to our name." She would have known it was the guild they had been basically bullying out of town, now they were coming for payback. "The others are already set up and waiting for them to enter. You may aid them however you wish... Prove yourself to me heh"

-



Beatrix was leading the guild members towards the Dagger guild, of course ti would not have been that easy as over one hundred people stood before them to block their way. "Well.. I suppose this would be a nice incentive." She ignored the huge gang and turned around to the group. "Today is your test day! This will decide your rank within the guild and not only because of protecting it. Don't worry. I shall be watching you all, but first we have to get you inside... I and Sophia shall deal with the ones out here. Theere should be plenty within for you." With that BEatrix nodded to sophia who got her ink. The two moved forwards and displayed a long forgotten magic, "Unison Raid!" With one swing of her book a paper line formed before bursting up into a wall, parting all the enemy guild members as it did. At the same time ink greww across the pages, turning it into a seemingly real stone tunnel all the way towards the front door, clear of enemies.

"Well? Move it!" Beatrix shouted as she took the left, and Sophia took the right.