Cooper followed Darren through the city, looking around with curiosity and excitement. He noted that most of the wagons had turned left but a few had gone further into the city, assuming they were headed to their shops and the like. After passing by some shops and what Cooper thought looked like a barracks, they turned right to a wider road and a sight of a larger, half stone, half wood building with a sign hanging above the entrance with the words 'Adventurer's Guild'. They headed straight in to a desk at the front.

"Hey. I've got someone who wants to register with the Guild and our group." Darren explained to the man at the desk.

"Tabetha, come out here, new blood!" The man yelled towards the back. After a brief wait, a woman in a dark brown apron arrived at the desk beside the man.

"Hello, my name is Tabetha and I'll be doing your interview. Uh, which one of you will I be doing the interview for?" Tabetha asked, looking at the group.

When nobody spoke up for a few seconds, Cooper decided to. "Me."

"Great. If you'll follow me to the side over here, we'll have a bit of privacy. If you require even more privacy, we can go to a room in the back."

"No, this will be fine."

"I'm coming along too, he wants to be part of our group too, so I'll be there to approve officially." Darren said to Tabetha, walking towards the designated interviewing spot.

"Okay, that's fine, I haven't done one of those before so I have to look over my notes." Tabetha said, embarrassed. Darren nodded.

Cooper sat down on a tall chair, facing Tabetha who looked at him over the counter. "Name?"

"Cooper."

"Just Cooper? No other names?"

"Just Cooper."

"Class?"

"Ranger."

"Level? You don't say your exact level, but an estimation is required."

"Ten."

"Age? This one you don't have to answer at all, it goes in our records, just in case."

"Twenty-two."

"Combat experience?"

"Low."

"But gifted." Darren interrupted unexpectedly, his comment making Cooper smile.

"Alright. I don't see any, but since you're a Ranger, any companions?"

"Yes, actually. Him, over there." Cooper pointed towards a corner behind them.

Tabetha looked over and saw Cooper's Stalker, laying down and looking at them. "Oh! I didn't even see him. You should get him a scarf or something so that people don't think he's a wild Stalker. Actually, hold on a bit." Tabetha walked into a room behind her. Cooper heard the opening of drawers and cabinets from the room and soon Tabetha came back out.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Here, put this around his neck." Tabetha offered a red, patterned cloth to Cooper.

"Thanks." As if on cue, Cooper's Stalker arrived at Cooper's feet. Cooper wrapped the cloth around the Stalker's neck.

"Okay, back to the questions. Why do you want to join the guild?"

"I need to, in order to be part of the group, right?" Cooper said, turning to Darren, who nodded in response.

"Okay. Usually there's a bit more but since you've got a trusted guild member to vouch for you here, we don't need to go into that. Now for the next part, joining Captain Gort's company."

"I'm surprised you know that." Darren interjected.

"He's pretty famous around here, you know." Darren eyed Tabetha suspiciously.

"I suppose. Continue."

"So you'll be wanting to join Gort's Group, correct?"

"Yes." Cooper responded.

"I'll assume he's joining at initiate rank or the equivalent?" Tabetha turned to ask Darren.

"Correct."

"I'll need you to sign here." Tabetha spoke to Darren and pointed at the bottom of a scroll. Darren grabbed a quill and signed it.

"Well, I said it would be quick and it was. Hope I'm not forgetting anything." Tabetha looked over her notes again. "Well, you're free to roam around the guild hall, just don't go into closed rooms. Tavern is over there," Tabetha pointed past the desk the had been at first. "the questboard is up next to the reception desk, there aren't many for the experienced among you," Tabetha looked at Darren knowingly. "but it should have plenty of starter stuff. Lodging is upstairs, which I assume you'll be taking the usual, Darren?"

"I don't believe we've m-. Oh. The signing. Yes, the usual."

"Well, if that will be all, I've got work to do." Tabetha took her leave.

"Right, that was a bit weird but we should grab Tommy and go look at the quests, if he hasn't already looked them over."

Cooper and Darren headed over to Tommy and Reta, who had sat down at a bench and were chatting.

"That was quick." Tommy said, getting up from the bench. "Quest time?"

"Quest time." Cooper repeated.

The four of them walked over to the board and started looking at the quests.

"Not a lot to select from." Reta muttered.

"It's Trand, I don't know what you expected." Darren said back.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to say that out loud, I talk to myself a lot."

Cooper looked at one of the quests, it had two stars at the top and three lines next to the stars.

"What do the stars and lines mean?" Cooper asked.

"The stars represent the approximate level difficulty of the quest, one star is ten levels. So the one you're looking at here has two stars, meaning its for levels between ten and twenty. One star is one to ten. The lines represent amount of people recommended for the quest. One line for one person." Reta was the first to open her mouth to explain.

"So all three of the people for that quest should be between levels ten and twenty?"

"Actually, no. The level difficulty is divided by the amount of people, so their total level should be between ten and twenty. Or eleven and twenty to be exact but one level isn't going to make the difference." This time it was Darren that did the explaining.

"Oh, I see. Thank you." Cooper went back to looking at the quests but before he could properly look at one, Tommy spoke up.

"What about this one? It's an escort quest, material gathering, east, two stars, three lines."

"Well, lets have a look at it then." Darren said, grabbing the quest posting.

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**||| Escort quest: Materials.

Vorhen, the son of Duke Inder Vorn has requested an escort for his foraging trip to the east woods before the river Julon.

This escort has been requested for a total of three days, food and camping supplies will be provided.

Completion of quest is dependant on Vorhen's safe return, not materials gathered.

Reward: Sixty silver split between party members, complimentary potions and tonics from gathered materials, any and all proceeds from combat during the quest and a gift from the Duke.

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"This does seem appropriate, especially if Reta goes along." Darren rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Which I will." Reta said, interrupted Darren's thought process with her tone.

"Right, right. Well, like I said, I don't see anything wrong with it. If you're okay with the quest, you should take it."

"Well Coop, what do you say?" Tommy asked.

Cooper thought it over and agreed. "I'm not an expert, but it seems good for us."

"Before we head out, I think we should grab some actual food at the tavern." Reta suggested.

"Sounds good to me, I'm starving." Tommy immediately started walking towards where Tabetha had pointed out the tavern was.

"I think I'm hungry too." Cooper said.

"Better not let Tommy wait for too long, he might eat the chairs." Darren quipped.