Guild Tour

"Wow, you sure have a lot of these motherfuckers around here," Azroc commented as he followed Tom on a guided tour of the Vanguard guild building.

Tom looked at Azroc confused.

"Non-Warlocks," Azroc replied to his unspoken question.

"Oh. I don't actually know what everyone's classes are. We more than likely have a few Warlocks. Brian would have the information." Tom answered, realization dawning on him.

"We do. Not a lot, but there are some. They are a bit of an odd bunch though." Brian interjected at the mention of his name.

"Too bad. Kinda hoped there were more like you here. If he thinks they're odd, then they're just like the others. I'm sure they aren't terrible like some but keep an eye on them. Warlocks are notorious for getting a bit absorbed in their quest for power. Shitstains don't know how to get true power." Azroc said as they continued walking.

"This is the cafeteria where we eat our meals. Charlene over there has been so helpful in preparing food and menus for us so we aren't just eating canned goods." Tom explained pointing at, then waving to Charlene, who noticed him and waved back.

"Can I get a meal? I love trying local cuisine." Azroc asked.

"Um, sure. I didn't expect you to be hungry, but let's see what she has for you." Tom replied walking toward Charlene.

"Hi, Tom. Who's your...friend?" Charlene greeted as Tom came near and she stared at Azroc with a bit of trepidation.

"This is Azroc. He is my patron and has asked for a tour as well as to try your food." Tom said, looking at Azroc, then back to her.

"Oh! I wasn't expecting to be serving someone so important. Let me whip something up really fast, especially for your excellence...I mean Your Majesty....I mean your honor...how should I address him?" Charlene stammered and finally whispered trying to sound professional.

"Almighty is fine," Azroc said grinning widely at her unease.

"No, Azroc is fine," Tom corrected her as he stared at Azroc with a disapproving look.

"What? It was funny." Azroc replied shrugging his shoulders and looking innocent.

"Please behave. These people have been through enough." Tom sighed as he facepalmed.

"Oh, come on. You gotta lighten up and have a little fun." Azroc teased Tom.

"Let's go sit. Charlene will send the food out when it's ready." Tom resigned and moved toward one of the tables.

Sitting together, the team waited for the food to be ready and talked about some things that were going on around the guild.

"We have a basement area as well that has our larger crafting stations. We can go there next to see what they are up to. A lot of the space is dedicated to simply housing people. But we do have a garden near the roof." Tom explained as they waited.

"We also have an orchard of sorts out back along with a livestock pen. We still need to decide how to expand properly." Brian added.

After about fifteen more minutes of conversation, Charlene came over with several kitchen staff and placed down a plate in front of each of the people at the table.

"I present you with, Goatamus steaks, medium rare, along with a side of hashbrowns, eggs over easy, bacon, and toast with homemade apple butter from the apples in our orchard. I hope you enjoy it." Charlene said bowing awkwardly as though she couldn't decide if that was the right form of deference. "Almighty."

"For fucks sake," Tom said.

"Thank you, Charlene. Your offering pleases me." Azroc replied picking up the steak and sniffing it.

"Thanks, Charlene. Don't mind him. Please continue with what you were doing." Tom said becoming frustrated.

Charlene backed away slowly and then turned and power walked back to the kitchen. Once inside, she peeked through the service window to watch Azroc's reaction. He put the steak back down and looked at Tom and the others who had picked up forks and knives and were cutting their meat into pieces. He picked up the fork and knife provided to him as well, which looked ridiculous in his oversized hands, and tried to copy their movements.

"Why don't you just pick this shit up and shove it in your fucking gobs like normal people?" Azroc asked getting frustrated with the tiny utensils.

"Some foods are finger foods, like bacon, but steak is messy if you eat it with your hands," Tom replied. "Don't feel like you need to use the utensils for us."

Azroc sighed with relief and set the fork and knife down. Grabbing the steak between two claws he placed the whole thing in his mouth and began chewing.

"Uh, that has a bone in it you know, right?" Tom asked him, as he stared in horror as Azroc chewed the entire steak, the sound of crunching bones coming from his mouth.

"Right? That's the best part. Gives it a bit of a crunch. Great texture addition." Azroc said seeming very happy with the meal. "I've never had Goatmus before. It was delicious."

Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he grabbed the hashbrowns next and popped them in his mouth like a tater tot. Then staring at the eggs, he looked at them quizzically. Poking one of the bright yellow yolks with a nail, he watched as the liquid insides began to run out of the hole he had made and onto his plate.

"Ha! Amazing! My food bleeds! This is a wonderful bonus!" Azroc said joyfully at the oozing breakfast staple.

He reached for the bacon before deciding to try the eggs popping a strip into his mouth and began chewing. A moment later he paused. His eyes went wide, and he let out a very long, slightly disturbing moan of pleasure.

"Oh, my fucking shitholes! That is the greatest thing I have ever put in my mouth. What do you call it again?" Azroc asked.

"Bacon. Its salted and cured pork belly sliced thin and fried." Tom explained looking at him with confusion. "Have you never had it before?"

"No, and now I feel like my life has been a fucking waste until now! Untold centuries of eating and this...this has been what has been missing!" Azroc spoke with conviction about the food.

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"I mean, it's great, sure, but I'm not sure it's that amazing," Tom said uneasy at the moaning Azroc continued to do as he ate another piece.

"Mmmmmm....sweet mother of a whore that is so amazing. Trust me, kid. This is it. This is the fucking shit." Azroc said, chewing slower now to savor the flavors.

After polishing off his bacon, and some from the other's plates who had already eaten today, Azroc grabbed his plate and tipped it up over his mouth letting the eggs slide into his awaiting maw. With food complete, they all stood, and Tom led the way to go visit the basement. As they walked down the stairs the sounds of Roland banging on his anvil could be heard echoing up the stairwell. Reaching the basement floor, Azroc turned and immediately walked over to the smithy.

"I definitely need to see what you got going here. You know I did a little smithing myself in my younger days." Azroc said as he walked off.

As he reached Roland, the man looked up and jumped, dropping his hammer.

"Vat ze hell?!" Roland cried at seeing Azroc.

"Don't worry Roland!" Tom tried to calm the large man. "He's a friend. This is Azroc, my Patron."

"Oh, phew. I vas vorried ve vere being invaded by ze lizardfolk. Ze are being very sneaky sometimes." Roland replied.

"What the fuck is wrong with his voice?" Azroc asked.

"He's German, Azroc. That's just his accent." Tom explained.

"Es ist gut dich zu treffen. Jeder Freund von Tom ist ein Freund für mich." Roland said as he nodded to Azroc.

Azroc stood still for a moment looking at Roland and then replied, "Ich sehe jetzt. Du sprichst eine andere verdammte Sprache."

"Wait, you speak German?" Tom said, now thoroughly confused.

"No, but I have a translation skill. It's universal. As long as the planet it originates from is integrated into the System." Azroc explained, then looked to Roland, "Menschen, habe ich recht?"

Roland didn't move, too stunned to say anything.

"So, what are you working on big guy?" Azroc asked, looking down at the anvil and then at the hammer that had fallen to the floor.

"Uh, I have been vorking on ze armor for ze teams zat go out and clear ze monsters," Roland replied, bending down hastily to pick up his hammer and holding it tightly.

"What kind of metal are you using?" Azroc asked.

"Mostly steel. It's vat ve have on hand," Roland said, still not even blinking.

Azroc spent the next thirty minutes talking to Roland about some tricks to making the metal harder as well as how to shape certain objects better. Roland grew more comfortable with Azroc and was soon letting him use the forge to demonstrate what he meant.

After watching Azroc, Roland took the hammer and gave it a try. He smiled as he felt the differences in the way the metal moved and formed.

"Try that out for a while and let Tom know how it goes. I think you'll start seeing a difference, at least in the XP you get." Azroc said, then promptly turned on a heel and walked toward the back of the building.

"Isn't this a little out of your purview, Azroc?" Tom said jogging after him.

"Normally, yes. But you guys have a fucking Space Pirate problem, and I don't want to have to find another Warlock I like." Azroc replied moving toward where Herbert and Harold were busy working on projects.

"Hey, fuckheads! Whatcha working on?" Azroc announced his presence as he neared.

Herbert and Harold both turned to see who was speaking and their eyes went wide.

"He's with me! This is Azroc, my Patron." Tom explained.

Both men nodded and stood up to greet their guests.

"I'm Herbert, I'm the guild engineer in charge of projects, and this is Harold our weapons expert." Herbert began and extended a hand to shake.

Azroc accepted the hand in his giant one and Herbert immediately regretted his decision to shake hands as his was almost crushed in Azroc's. Herbert grunted and bent forward as he tried not to show how much pain he was in. Derek quickly cast a healing spell on Herbert when his hand was released to ease the pain.

"Ahhhh, thanks. Um, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Azroc," Herbert said.

"Yeah, sure, whatever nerd. What projects are you working on?" Azroc asked.

"I have been focused on some new mana batteries. We are going to need them if we expand and have more buildings." Herbert replied.

"And I am working on figuring out how to harness ambient mana to charge weapons. I'm taking Herbert's design on the mana collectors and trying to make them smaller so that weapons don't have to be charged by the user." Harold said, pointedly not extending his hand to Azroc.

"Can you show me?" Azroc asked.

"Uh....sure. It's right over here," Harold said, looking at Azroc suspiciously and then gesturing to his workbench.

They walked over to the table and Harold unrolled his plans on the table and moved the small device to the middle of the blueprints.

"I have the transmission of the energy figured out here. And this is a controller for the output, but scaling down the mana collection keeps leaving me with the issue of reduced efficiency. The smaller it is, the less mana it is able to collect in the same amount of time." Harold explained as he pointed to the different pieces of the device.

Azroc picked up the device and turned it over in his clawed hands, making a face that showed he was concentrating. Finally, he looked up and pointed to a small filter in front of the collector.

"Are you using the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution to explain the movements of mana? It behaves like most natural gases with the exception that it can be affected by creatures with the mana manipulation skill that acts on it with a magnetic-like force." Azroc asked.

Harold stared at Azroc with unbridled astonishment.

"No, I was assuming it was some alternate force as we can't feel mana in the same way we feel air," Harold said through his surprise.

"Well, there's your problem. You can't tell the difference with your physical body between mana and air. How would you know?" Azroc asked.

"Mana is a relatively new phenomenon to us. We haven't exactly had time to study it." Harold replied, looking slightly embarrassed.

"That's understandable. Instead of trying to figure out more about what mana is, try experimenting with forces that might attract it instead. Study the body of a mage and see what might affect their mana regeneration." Azroc offered.

"Any clues on how to do that?" Harold asked.

"I can't give you everything. But I can try to point you in the right direction." Azroc winked as he handed the device back to Harold. "All that to say, think more about particle speeds and how their interactions, however brief they might be, will change their energy and momentum. I think you'll be surprised with your findings."

"I'll do that, thanks," Harold said accepting the device from Azroc, still unable to shake the shock he was feeling.

"Cool! What else you got?" Azroc asked as he walked back to the stairs and ascended into the lobby.