Screaming. Blood. Panic. Abject horror. Again. The same nightmare that he always had. How many years had it been? Surprising what the human, or in this case wulver, brain could get used to. Even the horror of being helpless and watching his parents die every night had become simple routine. Austen opened his eyes with a start. As always. His head hurt. As always. Although he suspected that was the empty flagon of alcohol by his bed. He decided to remedy that. He pulled out a flask from his coat pocket and drank. Body temperature, as it always was.

His head pounded. Or was that the door? Sighing, he rolled out of bed and pulled the door open. He hadn’t had the presence of mind to think about putting clothes on. Luckily, he doesn’t usually have the presence of mind to think about removing his clothes before passing out either.

[Fargy] GOOD MORNING MR BROMWELL. WE GOT TO GET GOING OR ELSE YOU’LL MISS YOUR MEETING.

In the past few days since he’s been here, he’s gotten to know the bull beastman well enough to know that it was easier to just get going. For some reason his incredibly positive attitude was hard to yell at or say no to. He learned that the hard way when Fargy was manning the gates and took an interest in his job.

Nothing to do now but to get going. Out of habit he ran his hands over his snout, his head, his ears. Not that it did anything to improve the limp off grey hair. It never did.

[Bromwell] Wouldn’t want to be late meeting with Lord Lasarim Sakillen.

There couldn’t have been more venom if Bromwell was a cobra. Unfortunately, the idea was utterly foreign to Fargy, who grew up in a city where everyone knew everyone and life moved slowly.

[Fargy] No we wouldn't! That would leave a bad impression. Let’s get going.

Bromwell had to dodge Fargy’s attempt at pulling him along. He knew that he would never escape that grip until they were at their destination if he was caught.

[Bromwell] I can walk by myself. Let’s go then. You’re only to wait outside the nest until the meeting is over.

[Fargy] Yes sir!

Bromwell sighed again. It was going to be a long day.

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Fargy was told to wait outside. Bromwell knew well enough that allowing Fargy to meet high ranking people was bound to be nothing but trouble. He was too straight forward; acts too close to people. Even now he was sure the bullman would be helping some old lady carry her luggage.

Bromwell plodded through this tower they called the nest. It smelled clean. Too clean, even for something brand new. It’s like everything was constantly sterilized and the lack of scent stung his sensitive nose. He was used to the muck and piss and unidentifiable smells of the streets. The real streets, not what those nobles call a neighborhood. His thoughts wandered as he climbed the stairs. There were magic lifts of course, but he never trusted those. It was like letting a stranger place a dagger at your throat and asking them to give you a shave.

He took his time reaching the meeting room. If he was lucky, the meeting would be finished and he would be kicked out, or better yet, demoted. With a shake of his head, he pushed open the wooden doors of the meeting room. Enchanted in one way or another no doubt. Several pairs of eyes focused on the newcomer.

[ ] Well well. Finally here Bromwell? I’m glad the Chief of Security could grace us with his presence.

Bromwell glanced at the crow headed man sitting at the seat closest to the door and growled.

[Bromwell] Mitrick Maganti. Careful to keep your feathers on you this time. Wouldn’t want you going bald.

Mitrick thoughtfully raised one gnarled and abnormally long claw and lightly caressed the spot above his right eye. Although hidden by his feathers, the scar was still there. His wings ruffled slightly, although his demeanor remained calm.

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[Mitrick] Oh of course chief. I certainly wouldn’t want any trouble.

Before Bromwell could respond to the taunting tone, a clap rang out and captured everyone’s attemption.

[Lasarim] Sit down Bromwell. We certainly will not be having any more troubles from Mr. Maganti. I’m sure he will find the newest rules much preferable to being consumed by the rats again.

A small silence. It did not take much to convince everyone present that the Lasarim could and would throw anyone in the dungeon with hungry rats should he think that it was for the best. Rather, the Sakillen family did not try to hide any history of it.

[Mitrick] Of course Lord Lasarim.

Bromwell said nothing and simply sat down at his spot, far away from the crow.

[Lasarim] Good. Now I’m sure there are some familiar faces amongst us, but I shall introduce everyone anyhow.

[Lasarim] First off, I am Lasarim Sakillen, appointed Lord of the lands between the lake and the wasteland, as well as lord mayor of Calchet and its recent expansion towards the dungeon. You will all be reporting to me as well as following any rules that may come. While I am granting the lot of you power, do not forget from whom that authority extends.

[Lasarim] Then first, shall we introduce Mitrick Maganti. A high corvid and soon to be in charge of the largest change, the thieves guild. All thefts will be reported to us and the thieves guild shall have a monetary limit as dependent on the number of residents. Any victims of thefts can seek partial reparations from the city. In addition to paying taxes on thefts and handling unauthorized thieves, they shall also provide a protection service to ensure you are not a target, for a small price of course.

Mitrick did a small bow with his wings for a little extra flourish. Lasarim then gestured towards an old goblin.

[Lasarim] Next we have Gliox, the goblin soon to be in charge of the crafting guild. He was previously the guildmaster of a branch of the alchemist guilds. The crafting guild shall compose of the previously separated guilds such as alchemy, smithing, and carpentry. Their main job will be to distribute and control licenses to each crafter and control their ranks, as well as working closely with the merchant’s guild for pricing and material purchases.

The withered looking green goblin gave a wide smile and nodded.

Bromwell mentally rolled his eyes at this. Of course it was a goblin in charge of crafting. Greedy and deviously smart and somehow managed to make most things dangerous. The display of discolored and misshapen teeth did nothing to sooth his disaffection.

[Lasarim] And the merchant’s guild. The human Nathaniel Golbloom. The link between our crafting guild and the general public. Of course with such power comes the tough task of controlling inventory, merchant taxes, stopping unregistered merchants, prices, and so much more. Not an enviable job I must say. Of course failure to do well will resulting in dire consequences, for everyone involved so do do your best.

Nathaniel could only furrow his brow and nod. Despite a well groomed beard and mustache meant to hide his reactions, there wasn’t much point in front of Lasarim. Rather showing that you understood the seriousness of the position was probably the only right move.

[Lasarim] Of course there’s the adventurer’s guild, to be led by Gnet the half orc. He was nominated by several adventurer’s guild masters that I know so he should be quite competent. He is also formerly part of an A ranked party. All dungeon related business will go through the adventurers guild. Of course any damage done to the dungeon or by adventurers shall be their responsibility as well. They will also be establishing a series of adventurer classes. As you all know, the dungeon is new and has several levels that are well suited for new blood. I hope you will be able to establish a friendly relationship with the merchant and crafting guilds without me having to step in.

Gnet responded with only with a grunt. He was fairly well toned and the weight of his metal boots made sure nobody doubted that he was once part of an A ranked party.

[Lasarim] And although the adventurer’s guild will be starting a school, the magician’s guild will also be hosting a school, led by the tiefling Rilxori. Their university will not be as single minded as the adventurer’s school, whose main goal is survival and retrieval of materials. The university will be a place of higher learning and research. I’m sure everyone knows about Tree of Origin, which allows citystate of Yuan to become a neutral superpower. There are suspicions that the dungeon of the Tree of Origin has sentience for sometime and is assisting the government there. Between their adventurers and what is widely acknowledged as the best university that accepts people of all nations, they are impossible to attack without upsetting most of the nations on this continent. We will see if, in time, we can obtain similarly grand results with the help of our dungeon.

The pink and purple tiefling grins and winks at Lasarim. Her long thin tail swaying erratically but energetically behind her almost seemed like a happy dance. If a happy dance was done by a high level mage that was casually leaking mana and tracing out complex and sometimes destructive magic circles before just as easily erasing them that is.

[Rilxori] Of course my dear. Now that you have granted me enough authority to fight off those old pests and their traditions, I’ll show you just what I can do. Of course I’ll be relying on you to pull some of the more ah well mannered kids from the well to do families.

[Lasarim] Then of course we have Bromwell, the wulver newly promoted to Captain. He shall lead the guards who will… deal with all the manmade troubles without our borders. Of course this includes investigations and punishments, should any of your guilds be found absconding our agreements.

Bromwell completely ignored the wary looks he got from the rest. He’s got wary looks all his life. His gaze was simply trained on Mitrick.

[Lasarim] And last, we have Sylcor the high elf who shall be handling the team dealing with much of the bureaucracy and paperwork formalities. Since he’s someone native to Calchet, he will also help with integrating the old and the new. I’m sure the new temple to Hasaat will do much to ease tensions.

And there sat a high elf looking quite out of place, his nervousness and uncertainty stood out like a torch amongst the group of confident and unwavering new leaders. Of course, Bromwell was confident and unwavering in his belief that this was going to be an absolute mess, not that anyone could tell.

[Lasarim] Well then. This has been a productive meeting. You all may leave.