Grud appreciated the usual morning noises that echoed through the Hafeld adventurer guild hall. He watched the people coming and going from his convenient vantage point in his office on the mezzanine floor. As the guild master, he felt a certain responsibility in keeping his finger on the pulse, so to speak. To him the continuous hubbub sounded like a choir, with its integrated elements of altos, sopranos, bass, and tenors.

Take for instance the soprano duet of Siri and Renata, the two guild receptionists, talking through the adventurer quest selections. Both the voices were interwoven with each other as they clarified the quest descriptions of the quests to each adventurer they dealt with. They didn’t know it, but they really worked quite well together to the point where one would talk and then the other would reciprocate without missing a beat.

Interspersed around the duet, the supporting baritone notes of the male adventurers acted like a background hum. Naturally, he played the role of conductor, dutifully directing the productive sound of his well-coordinated choir.

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

Came the voice Suryman, his visitor from the east.

“Of course I’m listening…”

“No, you’re not. You’re staring at that cute catkin receptionist, aren’t you?”

He huffed in indignation because Suryman knew him better than that and was obviously pulling his leg. Suryman and he steadily climbed through the ranks of the guilds together, and both of them sported the calluses and scars to prove it. There was hardly a high-level quest in the last three decades that they didn’t attend together, and he lost count of the number of times they both found themselves camped out in the wilderness. Grud didn’t like to admit it, but he probably knew more about those scars on Suryman’s body than his wife would like him to know. And she also knew Grud well enough to know that.

“I’m not going to even justify that with an answer.”

“How’s it going with your parents?”

“That was a change of tack, what brought that question on?”

“I’m just curious. When last did you go to see them?”

Grud sighed.

“Did my mom put you up to it?”

Suryman made a sour face, as if greatly affronted by that statement.

“Ouch. What makes you say that?”

“Firstly, for some reason you get on better with my parents than I do. Secondly, my dad is far too proud to ask anyone to go and see him, and lastly my mom would definitely ask anyone to tell me to go see her.”

“You know, whenever I go and see them, they always ask me how it’s going with their Lone Wolf.”

Grud winced at the use of that awful nickname. He hated it as much as it took him to overcome the misspelling of his name.

“Please don’t call me that.”

“What? I think that’s a great name. You should be proud to be half orc.”

Smiled Suryman sarcastically. He knew Grud’s parents kindly adopted him after finding him abandoned in the forest. The story they told Suryman was that Grud’s biological parents died after an attack on their homestead by monsters. They discovered him in the ashes of the house still protected by the hidden aethereal shield his parents put up around him during the attack.

Poor settlers couldn’t afford aethereal shields, let alone the tools for everyday survival. So who exactly Grud’s biological parents were, or how they came to possess such a sophisticated tool remained a mystery. Whatever the situation, it saved Grud’s life.

“Half orc my arse.”

“Why did they call you Grud?”

“You might be my friend and the best ranger I know, but that doesn’t stop me from giving you a good beating. So change the subject.”

Growing up with a tribe of orcs wasn’t something he liked to boast about, after all, most adventurers only knew orcs from the subjugation requests on the quest board. To say his childhood was unusual remained an understatement.

He didn't mind Suryman talking about it, besides it was typical familiar banter between the two whenever they got together, although those days seem to be fewer between with each year that passed. But that didn’t stop Suryman from poking Grud about the origins his name each time he visited from Northport, and each time just as funny as the last.

“Why do they call you Lone Wolf?”

Came the voice of a young boy standing wide-eyed at the door, no doubt overhearing the conversation between the two guild masters. The boy sported a white long-sleeved cotton shirt, armless leather jacket and brown tucked in trousers, all finished by a well kept set of leather laced boots. A vision any mother wanted to hug from cuteness overload.

“Haven’t I told you to knock before you enter?”

Grud admonished the boy.

“I did but you didn’t hear me.”

“You knock like a mouse. Next time knock harder.”

To survive in the wild, both guild masters honed their awareness skills to a knife edge. Both of them long ago realised Tommy stood there listening. Despite the lower floor racket, they clearly heard him coming up the stairs.

“Hi Tommy. How’s it going with your mom?”

Suryman asked with interest.

“Why is it you want to know about everyone else’s moms?”

Complained Grud.

“Just because you don’t bother to visit your parents doesn’t mean we need to ignore ours, hey Tommy?”

Tommy may have been the youngest trainee adventurer in the guild, but he was old enough to understand that giving an answer to that question might land him in a lot of trouble later. Suryman saved Tommy from answering the uncomfortable question we asked another one.

“You’ve grown taller since I last saw you. When was that, six months ago?”

Tommy nodded in affirmation.

“When are you going to come visit me in Northport? We could do with the young man like you.”

He liked being called a young man by Suryman, it made him feel special and wanted, especially when the Northport guild master personally asked to join his guild. Also, something about being ranger appealed to his sense of adventure and he secretly hoped one day to be just like him. That's why whenever Suryman visited, he snuck in an opportunity to meet him. He liked his guild master, but he just liked Rangers better.

“I brought you some tea.”

He said to Suryman.

Only then did they pay attention to the tray in his hands.

“Excellent. You always just know what I want. I like your tea, that's one of the reasons why come here. It’s tastes far better than your guild master’s company.”

Grud's sudden cough caused them to pause and stare at him. He waved at them dismissively.

“Ignore me, just got something stuck in my throat.”

“When you're finished serving the tea, please ask Melody to come see me.”

“Yes sir.”

“They Tommy, do you know where Grud got his name? It's because orcs can't say runt.”

Suryman laughed at his own joke but choked down his laughter when he got the evil eye from Grud.

When Tommy was done, they watched him disappear around the corner. Only then feeling free to talk more openly.

“You spoil him you know. I take it you're not just visiting to recruit my youngest trainee from underneath my nose.”

“You know I’m always looking to recruit new guild members. Besides, I can recruit him right in front of your nose without being surreptitious about it. And no, I'm not spoiling him. But there is no harm in buttering up a future adventurer for my guild. He’s going to make a good guild leader one day. How did you manage to get Tommy’s mom to concede him being here?”

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He chuckled to himself at the thought of the pint sized lady giving the bulky Grud a dressing down.

“She forced me to promise the boy wouldn’t so much as see the edge of the Helfen Forest. What’s more he will be escorted every time he operates in the city surrounds.”

“You mean she convinced you to arrange adventurers to escort him?”

“If you think that’s draconic, she originally wanted me to do the escorting, but I managed to negotiate her down to a couple of personal guards. But that’s a side issue. You’ve been verbally dancing around the whole time. I know you well enough to know something troubling you, come on spit it out.”

Suryman appreciated Grud for his straightforwardness, but it still sometimes felt like being hit by an armour piercing arrow.

“I did notice a red dragon fly over Northport a few weeks before I left.”

Grud understood Suryman's concern. A red dragon that far north didn't bode as a good omen.

“A red dragon, eh? I didn't take you for the superstitious type.”

“I'm not. It’s not what’s bothering me the most, and you’re not going to like it either.”

What could be worse in a red dragon? Grud wondered to himself.

“Lord Charles started recruiting again.”

Grud let fly an obscenity that could curdle milk.

“I thought the man gave up on that idiotic idea.”

He scowled.

“He did, until the Eastern Trading Company suddenly sponsored him out of nowhere.”

“Why would they do that? They know just as well as anybody else it's a pipe dream to set up a port out there. Are there not enough corpses in that place to prove that by now?”

“You're preaching to the converted. He's promised heaven and earth to anyone willing to follow him. He even promised some of them nobility titles.”

“I'm assuming the palace knows nothing about this. Bah, by the time they find out it'll be all over. Either he'll be everyone's hero, or he'll be dead along with everyone else. I can see why you're here now, and I don't blame you.”

“Who’s dying now?”

Interrupted Melody, her pleasant elven voice even calmed the most agitated soul. Her distinctive elven ears and long blonde hair clearly marked her as the chief guild administrator that ran the Hafeld Adventurer Guild with kind, iron fist. If anything like that ever existed. Grud didn't manage the guild, she did. Not that anyone could tell on the face of it, she hid it that well. Grud discovered the mother lode the day he recruited Melody. Suryman always became jealous when he thought about Grud's unfair windfall in finding Melody. One melody equalled five administrators on a good day. How the heck she managed to be that proficient at a job he never discovered. Only that she produced the goods.

“No one hopefully. Suryman was just telling me Lord Charles started recruiting adventurers in Northport to go on his dumb port establishment quest.”

“You’re kidding?”

“I wish I was. He started recruiting three weeks before I left for Hafeld. A quarter of the guild members accepted the quest and heaven knows how many since.”

“I thought his funding ran dry.”

“The Eastern trading company heard some half-baked story about the orichalcum mine the last delving team discovered in the dungeon there and it obviously didn't take much more convincing for them to sponsor Lord Charles. I'm not sure what he did to convince them, or perhaps they know something we don't.”

Grud slammed the desk with his fist, creating a loud bang.

“I told that man not to put his idiotic ideas into people’s heads and look now, he’s got everyone lining up to die with him.”

He shouted.

“Oi, quieten down.”

Melody said firmly in a soft voice.

“You’ve got the entire guild upset and we could hear your swearing across the hall just now. Do you want Tommy’s mom visiting you again?”

Grud humphed and fell quiet.

“Hey Melody, would you like to join my guild?”

“My answer hasn’t changed since the last time you asked me.”

Grud must have been fairly upset since he didn’t feel compelled to comment on Suryman’s blatant recruitment attempt on his chief guild administrator.

“What are you going to do now?”

Asked Grud.

“I’m not sure. I’ll take whatever people I can get and head back to Northport within the week. By the way, when I stopped over at your parents’ village in the northern forests, I noticed a lot of beast sign in the surrounding woodlands.”

The northern forests were synonymous with beasts. You couldn’t move a few hundred strides into those woodlands without bumping into one of them. Beasts came in all shapes and sizes but the common denominator between all of them were their tendency to use teeth and claws with extreme prejudice when encountering humans. Commonly an adventurer could handle most low-level beasts like forest hares although only more advanced teams could deal with grey wolves because of their habit of forming large packs. The moment beasts congregated in groups the level of adventurer needed to deal with them correspondingly increased.

“Yeah, we’ve noticed a steady increase in the number of beast sightings in the last few months but there’s been no serious incidents up to now. We are planning to increase the number of commissioned quests to penetrate deeper into the forest. Hopefully, that should stem the tide of whatever’s going on there.”

“Have you sent some scouts out to investigate?”

“We did a few months ago, but we didn’t find anything of interest. Probably worth our while sending a few scouts out again. Mel, can you organise that?”

“I’ll send out Scott’s reconnaissance team, but they are still dealing with Cawick’s disturbance investigation. They should be back a bit later today. I’ll give them a couple of days rest and issue another reconnaissance…”

“Sorry Mel, can you just hold on a bit.”

Melody and Suryman wondered what shifted Grud’s attention when a shift in the flow of the voices below drew Grud’s attention. The terse voice of an irate adventurer arguing with Suri cut the atmosphere like a knife.

“Why am I still being forced to take on bloody rabbit subjugations? I’m telling you, I’ve been doing this for months now and I’m sick of it. This is blatant favouritism. Why can the guy just in front of me get to subjugate an armoured deer and I’m forced to hunt the lowest beast in the forest?”

“I’m sorry sir, but the guild rules are clear. If you haven’t been adventuring for a minimum of two years or received the guild master’s permission, you cannot proceed onto harder quests.”

“What you mean harder? It’s a flipping armoured deer not a pack of forest wolves.”

“It doesn’t matter. You have less than two years’ total experience. We cannot issue you a more difficult quest.”

At that point Grud sighed and stood up from his chair, apologising for interrupting their conversation.

“Please excuse me, we have a difficult customer.”

“Take it easy on the guy. Promise no fisticuffs.”

Melody commented dryly.

“Yeah, I promise.”

Melody and Suryman watched the unfolding scene with interest. The adventurer below looked dressed to the nines. Everything on his kit that could be buffed he polishing to a shine. The man was anything if not meticulous, but he didn’t notice Grud’s arrival.

“Don’t get me wrong,”

Suryman commented softly while watching the spectacle unfold beneath him like a captain on the poop deck keeping a close eye on the crew activities below.

“It’s good that the man looks after his equipment, but do you think the beasts will appreciate his polished boots when they eat him?”

“Are you referring to the noisy man?”

Melody played dumb, not wanting to be baited into gossiping about guild members. However, her reservations didn’t stop Suryman from continuing.

“He typifies adventurer wannabes, fresh off the wagon from Port New Hope after travelling over the plains for three months. By the time the arrived in Hafeld they think they know everything about adventuring because of their experiences on the plains. Hasn’t he figured it out yet, that those beasts frolicking around on the plains look like hapless sheep compared to the monsters roaming the northern forests?”

Melody agreed but she didn’t answer. In the past she commissioned enough gravestones with adventurers’ names on them to know he spoke the truth.

The adventurer, a man in his late twenties, still argued his point with Suri, who noticed Grud’s arrival and quietly waited for the adventurer to read the room.

“Excuse me sir.”

Grud interjected the man’s tirade, causing the adventurer to spin around and lambaste Grud for interfering when his brain finally caught up with his mouth and with a shock recognised the guild master. Grud’s Intimidating frame stood at least a head height above him, so he nervously looked up at to speak to address him.

“Uh, uh, apologies guild master. I didn’t realise you were standing there.”

“That’s fine. I understand. I don’t normally stand here so it’s natural that I wouldn’t expect you to either.”

Normally, at that point, anyone who knew Grud well enough knew to find any reason not to be there. Excuses like, I caught the plague I better go to the hospital, or a monster just mauled my team I better go save them, would suffice. Anything except standing there and gawking that is. Naturally, being a newbie fresh off the wagon the adventurer didn’t fully understand how the system worked and made a typically newbie mistake by trying to defend his point.

“I’m sorry Guild Master about all the ruckus, but if this catkin would just listen, it wouldn’t be necessary to make such a fuss.”

“I see.”

Was all that Grud said, followed by an uneasy silence in which no one said anything for at least a minute in which they just stared at each other. Grud then broke the silence by smiling and inviting the man to meet his office.

“Why don’t you come and tell me all about it in my office?”

“I feel sorry for that man.”

Commented Suryman.

When the adventurer arrived in the office, Grud gestured to a chair indicating for the adventurer to sit as if inviting a friend for a drink of tea and a chat. However, he didn’t ask the man’s name because he didn’t care.

“So, what seems to be the bother, sir?”

He emphasised the sir. At first the adventurer thought he had a golden opportunity to lay down his complaints and get that stupid catkin girl removed, but something seemed wrong about the situation. It may have been that nobody but him sat on a chair, the rest opting to stand for some reason making him feel uncomfortable.

“I’m not sure, but when I asked that catkin girl to give me a quest, she started coming up with reasons not to, even though I’ve been here long time now and finished many quests.”

“I see. Why does that bother you?”

“Because she is not listening to me.”

“I see. Why do you think that is?”

“I’m not sure, I don’t know why she’s not listening, perhaps she’s not good at her job. You should really consider getting someone else.”

“I see.”

Grud seemed to think awhile, as if considering something.

“Are you happy at the situation here the moment?”

“No, not in particular. This place has been pretty dismal ever since I arrived.”

“I see.”

At about this time the man realised the guild master liked the words ’I see’.

“I feel very bad about your treatment here, we always try to give our adventurers the best but we are properly not the best place for an adventurer like you. I’m not sure if this place could ever meet your standards. Take it from me, there are far better places than this dump. Why don’t you consider going to the Northport guild? This man sitting here is the Northport guild master and he would be absolutely thrilled to have you join his guild. He has just been telling me how he is looking for adventurers to join him. I’m sure he can give you far better service than we could.”

Grud oozed sarcasm, but he truly battled not to laugh at the look of disdain on Suryman’s face, something the adventurer failed to see because he wasn’t facing Suryman.

“I, I don’t think I’m going to Northport.”

“I see. What you’re telling me in a nutshell, is that you prefer to work in this dismal place with catkin who don’t now to do their job and don’t listen to you?”

“I, I guess you can say that.”

“No sir, you said that.”

Again, a silent moment ensued.

“Excuse me. I, I think I better go.”

There watched the man stand up and headed to the door. But just before he got there Grud said something that made the man’s blood freeze.

“I can tolerate difficult people and situations, but if you want to keep working here, I suggest you never call Suri a catkin in her presence again. I really suggest you take the Northport guild master up on his offer, it’s a great guild.”

After the man left Suryman couldn’t hold himself in anymore

“Are you trying to destroy my guild?”

“What, I thought you were looking for new guild members? I was just trying to help you.”

“I thought I made it clear I was only looking for your best adventurers, you really scraped the bottom of the barrel palming that one onto me. Tell him Melody.”

“I wasn’t here. I didn’t hear your conversation at that time.”

“Sheesh you’re no help. I’m still offering you the best spot in my guild.”

“The answer is still no.”