The Hunter's Guild was as crowded during the mid-morning as Markus expected it to be as the members, Players and NPCs alike, shuffled through the large, marble-floored building and chose Jobs for the day or longer before leaving.
"Markus, dear boy," Inkfingers called to him as the Gnome stepped around the legs of a Party of Players. "We got word from the Princess that you were able to finish her Job! Excellent work!"
"Honestly, I'm surprised she was being so secretive about the particulars of that Job," Markus told the older Gnome as he scooped him onto a shoulder and moved toward his desk.
"Ah, thank you! By the Light! Thank you," Inkfingers exclaimed gratefully as Markus deposited him in his chair. "It's always more nerve-wracking than most people realize when you're moving through the lands of giants."
"I'm sure," Markus agreed with a nod.
"Yes, indeed," Inkfingers said as he shuffled through a pile of papers on his desk before pulling one out and handing it to Markus. "This form is a formality, but I do need you to fill it out. When the specifics of the Job were reported to us by that Major Albricht, lovely man that, the Guild's higher ups determined that you weren't to remain as Wood for long after that. Once this is filled out, you'll be Copper ranked. Congratulations."
"Thanks Inkfingers," Markus grinned as snagged a spare pen from the Gnome's desk and found an unoccupied counter to complete the bureaucratic paperwork. Once completed, he returned the paper and pen to the Gnome as he grumbled over a Job paper that someone had failed. Mechanically, he took the paper from Markus, stamped it and offered 'good luck.'
"Inkfingers," Markus said gently pulling the older man's attention from his grumbling about rats being exterminator's jobs. "That was the paper you had me fill out.
"What? No it wasn't," the Gnome said reaching for the just discarded paper. "It was- Light forgive me! Sorry, Markus. I'm a bit frazzled today. We're short a secretary, he's fallen ill and needed to visit a healer."
"It's not a big deal," Markus told him amicably. "Do you need me to fill it out again?"
"No," Inkfingers waved him away. "I can take care of that later. That aside though, here."
Markus accepted the offered copper cube with confusion from the Gnome.
"Just touch that to your Wooden token and watch the magic," Inkfingers told him.
Following his advice, Markus pulled his token from beneath his shirt and touched the cube to it. The cube suddenly melted and flowed upward, surrounding the token before hardening itself again, the carved words on the token standing out sharply from the rest of the token and the entire thing taking on a metallic shine from the metal covering it.
"Now that was pretty cool," Markus said with a grin.
"That little bit of magic is something that the Guild's in-house casters researched for years," Inkfingers told him. "When they finally finished it, all the secretaries rejoiced, we didn't have to carve tiny, delicate, little letters into small pieces of metal anymore. Each mistake meant the whole token had to be melted down and started over. After the first one with a mistake at the very end, we were all fed up with the whole thing."
"That sounds awful," Markus told him with a wince.
"It was," Inkfingers nodded before extending a hand to Markus. "Now, since you've done that little Job for us, we have a promise to keep. One Silver coin for whomever completes the Princess Marianne's Job. As promised."
With a flourish, the Gnome flicked his empty hand in a circular motion and snapped his fingers together, before a Silver coin, brighter than the Iron coins Markus saw most places, appeared on his palm. Smiling, Markus reached to accept the coin before stopping.
"Can you actually give me fifty Bronze?" he asked. "I didn't finish the Job by myself and even if she's not a member of the Hunter's Guild, Stella deserves half of this."
"I certainly can," Inkfingers told him with a grin, the Silver coin disappearing as he extended a small bag toward Markus instead. "Fifty Bronze coins. I'll personally make certain that the little fire-haired Halfling gets her coin."
"Thanks Inkfingers," Markus grinned at the Gnome. "I appreciate it. Now, I just need a new Job and a new shield."
"For both items, I recommend that you make some time for the young man that has been waiting just behind you this entire time," Inkfingers said with a grin. "He's looking rather impatient at having to wait his turn."
Confused, Markus turned to look and saw a Human man in gray robes with a pattern of a closed eye on the right sleeve waiting patiently for him.
"Good morning, Sir Markus," the man bowed lightly to him. "I am a member of the Church of Grindel's clergy, Rankins. Would you be so kind as to come with me?"
Markus followed the priest into the cathedral that stood almost as tall as the Palace and competed with the Mage's College towers for second place. The spacious room was lined with columns depicting the gods and their servants performing acts of grace and miracles. The sick and crippled were healed, the dead were laid peacefully to rest, and evil was thrown back with impunity. Oddly, Markus also noticed that some columns were showing the gods performing more evil acts. Cities put to the sword and burning, children taken forcefully from their homes, sacrifices of all sorts of creatures, many of them sentient. The whole thing was a bit unnerving for him.
"What's with the columns?" he asked Rankins as he followed after him through the large building that took up close to nine blocks from the city.
"The Gray Pantheon has always been the keepers of balance," Rankins told him without stopping. "In times of all-consuming darkness, the Gray Gods lead their armies and churches to crusade against the Dark, keeping the Light from being snuffed out. Conversely, in times of blinding light, they have used their wisdom and grace to stop the Dark from being eradicated, even if it means standing against the Light. To remember that those we worship are not Paragons of Virtue or Lords of Sin, each of our cathedrals is carved with their likeness in acts of good grace and vile evil. Lest we forget that they are Keepers of Balance."
"Neat," Markus said, unsure of where to take the conversation. "Can you tell me where we're going now?"
"To see someone who wishes to speak with you," Rankins answered as he had the other three times Markus had asked that question. "Do not worry, Sir Markus. We are almost at our destination."
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As he spoke, Rankins lead Markus toward a door that he opened to reveal stairs descending into the ground. Left with no other choice, Markus followed after him as he began to move down them and deeper into the earth. The stairs were lit with glowing lanterns, washing them in warm light and guiding the way. Markus thought they were just there to make sure that people saw the depictions of armored men and women charging toward the massed armies of clearly undead creatures.
Ignoring the artwork lining the stairway, Rankins continued down the stairs before stopping at an iron-bound door. Raising his fist, he knocked several times before the call to enter sounded from within. With another slight bow to Markus, he opened the door and gestured for him to enter the office with three other people inside. Sitting behind a large desk, was a Halfling man with brown hair. Standing in front of his desk were two Humans, a man in armor with the same closed eye symbol on his shoulder as Rankins, and a woman wearing blue robes with hands clasped in prayer over her chest.
"Sir Markus, welcome," the Halfling said as Markus entered the office with Rankins following closely behind him. "It is wonderful to meet you. I am the Head Priest of Grindel's Church here in Hero's Crypt. My name is Chesterfield. Most people call me Chess, so please feel free to do so as well."
"Thank you," Markus said with a nod to the man.
"The armored man is Rankins' superior officer within the Paladins of the Long Sleep, Sir Godfrey Nargen, Grand Paladin of the Long Sleep," the Priest told him as he motioned to the grizzled, graying man in plate armor.
"A pleasure, Sir Markus," the Human said with a slight bow. "I trust Rankins behaved himself professionally?"
"He did good," Markus nodded to the man. "Answered almost all of my questions without a problem."
"Wonderful," the armored man said.
"The lady is the High Priestess of Brandi, Lady Helena Albricht, Saintess of the Lady Brandi," Chess said with another motion to the brunette woman in blue robes.
"Any relation to Major Albricht in the King's Army?" Markus asked curiously as he examined the woman.
"My oldest brother," she said with a graceful smile. "He's already told me his own impressions of you, but I hope you don't mind if I take his words with a grain of sand. Stanley always thinks highest of men that know how to take care of mounts."
"I'd be very happy if you allowed my actions to color your impression of me instead of your brother's opinion," Markus returned her smile and dipped his head to her.
"Now that the introductions are complete, we can move to our reasonings for asking you here," Chesterfield said, pulling Markus' attention back to him. "Sir Godfrey?"
"Of course," the Grand Paladin nodded before launching into his explanation. "We were informed of a new Marquis and we wished to make both an offer and a request of you, Sir Markus."
"What sort of offer?" he asked.
"Our priests spend much of their time travelling the lands, seeking restless dead and decayed burial grounds so that we can lay them to rest before things grow out of hand and cause an issue," Chess explained.
"Ahem," Godfrey cleared his throat pointedly and the Halfling looked almost sheepish at his interruption. "As the Head Priest expained, the priests find restless dead and lay them back to rest, blessing them to move beyond our world and into the embrace of Grindel. In the event that they arrive too late or a Death magic user breaks their restrictions, the Order of the Long Sleep is called to arms and we put the roaming hordes to rest by any means necessary. Unfortunately, we have found signs of a cabal of Death magic users that have spent far too much time raising the dead and causing issues. For some time, we were only able to follow after them and put the dregs of their raised hordes to rest, but now we've managed to trap them upon the Ubarion Penninsula. With their movements limited so heavily, we've been building our forces to attack them and have put out the call to members of the Hunter's Guild and the Mercenary's Guild as well as the nobility. We unfortuantely have not had very much luck with building the numbers we need."
"Sir Godfrey fails to mention the pact between the members of the Gray Pantheon that will allow the Church of Grindel to call on the Paladin Orders and Priesthoods within the other churches of the Pantheon," Helena said. "Their request of you is one I have argued against, though I do understand their position."
"The Lady knows that if we were to do that, then other evils would be free to move beyond the purview of our churches as the Paladin Orders were moved to aid the Order of the Long Sleep," Chess said. "To keep from allowing such a thing, we have chosen to move forward with asking for your aid as a Marquis of the Gray Pantheon's Races."
"You want my help?" Markus asked. "Why me? Another noble with a more intact powerbase would be better wouldn't they?"
"It is your position as a Last Star that affords us the leeway we require to ask for your help," Godfrey explained. "Most of the other Last Stars that accepted a position with us temporarily have been unruly and difficult for what we require. Some have even left us, complaining that we are moving too slowly and suffered at the hands of the hordes when they attempted to enter the Ubarion Penninsula without aid or supply lines. We feel that if another Last Star were to be in a position of power to rein in your fellows, then things would go more easily."
"Of course, should you accept, you will be well compensated by all Gray Churches," Helena interjected.
"And the Church of Grindel will be happy to offer our own seperate reward for your efforts," Chess said.
"I might be getting ahead of everything, but what sort of rewards?" Markus asked carefully. "If I don't know what I'm working toward, then I'm not going to be very motivated; that's the way Last Stars like to do things. Tell us concretely what we're getting out of the deal, and we're happy enough to complete the deal."
"The Church of Grindel will give to you, immediately upon acceptance, one Orb of Clan Forming," Chess told him after a moment. "You will be able to use the Orb to create your own Clan. Additionally, you will be given armor and weapons that will be useful against the undead and Godfrey has offered to train you in combat further than you might already have been."
"All Gray Churches will grant you a sum of two Platinum coins," Helena said. "These coins will be used to build your forces for the subjugation of the Ubarion Penninsula and any remainder will be returned to our churches immediately. Upon completion of the subjugation, you will be offered more suitable payment than simple coin."
"The Order of the Long Sleep will also fight alongside your forces and we will offer our Battlepriests for the use of your people," Godfrey said. "Additionally, Rankins will be your aide for the duration of this campaign."
"A clan, funding, healing, and an aide to get started," Markus muttered to himself. "You guys are really pulling out all the stops for this."
"We have to," Helena told him. "If we were to give anything but our best to stop this, then we risk a protracted war between our forces and the cabal that started this. Such a war would weaken our influence greatly and that would allow the Light and Dark Pantheons to advance toward war between each other."
"What sort of rewards would you offer to the other Pla- Last Stars that would join up?" Markus asked, nearly slipping up. "Some of them will be happy enough to fight for nothing, that's why they're here, but others will need something concrete to fight for. Money's good, but they won't want that forever. You'll need to give them something more than a few coins."
"We hadn't considered that," Godfrey admitted to him. "Do you have a suggestion?"
"I'll need to talk to some people first," Markus said. "They can help me come up with some ideas and they'll be happy to help too. Probably."
"Then does this mean that you'll accept our request?" Chess asked hopefully.
"I accept your request," Markus told him. "Give me some time to work things out and I'll get back to you."
"Wonderful," Helena said with a smile.
"Don't go running off just yet," Markus told her. "I'll need you to give me some way to get in touch with you and the other Gray Churches. You all govern either the races or the magics and I've got an idea about how to get some extra help easily."
"Rankins will have freedom to move between all Churches without being stopped," Helena told him. "I'll personally make certain his likeness and name are spread throughout the Churches."
"Thank you," Markus nodded gratefully to the woman. "If you'll all excuse me then, I've got some errands to run. Rankins, if you're my aide for all this, can you get me a sword, shield, and heavy armor and take all that and the Orb to the Barfing Minotaur tavern? I'll be there by dinner time."
"Of course, Sir," the priest bowed. "It will be done by the time you arrive. Shall I offer my aid to the Lady Helena before that?"
"If it'll make things easier for her then yes," Markus nodded. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I've got to go talk to a Gnome and then I need to find a crazy man."