The wide lobby of the Redcloud’s HQ in Balrech, which consisted of separate spaces for the receptionist’s desk, the several feet-wide job boards where requests were posted, and a bar and tavern area full of tables and chairs, looked fully packed with people. Tahir, Meti, and Theo practically had to squeeze in as they made their way to the most dense area. The job board had a small part of it sectioned off for any announcements from the guild, and currently they could hear most of the chatter and discussion coming from the crowd looking at the board.
“Are there really this many gold members?” Theo asked, while the three of them stood at the back of the crowd. People moved up to glance at the board. Some stood for several seconds as they read the announcement sections, and some walked off immediately after giving it a glance. An even smaller number of people actually went up to look at the rest of the job board itself, so this arrangement created a bit of congestion. “Isn’t it kind of a high rank?”
“It’s hard to believe at first, but gold ranked Redclouds can outnumber silver and bronze when recruiting is low.” Tahir answered. He couldn’t quite call gold rank members ‘standard’, that would fall into silver. If he had to give it a good designation, he’d call gold ranked members the experienced veterans. Those who’ve worked for a good while and honed their skills, really coming into their own with mana or aura. Platinum ranked members stood at the very top of this category, with mithril and adamantine members being something of an outlier.
Many people found the gold ranking a good stopping point. As someone could easily live off a couple of silver requests - which gold members are expected to be able to complete by themselves - or the pay of a single gold mission split three or four ways in a party. Tahir worked with Hurida as often as he could, since she had a knack for finding gold missions that even she could clear with a couple of silver lackeys. The incident with the troll was an enigma they wouldn’t soon forget, but she could probably last a month or so off of the 50 gold she got from the mission.
The three of them waited, moving up inch by inch as people walked up to the board and walked off or shifted to the side to allow a new set to see, as others filed in behind them and closed them into the crowd. Tahir tried listening to the talk around him, to see if he could get an idea of what people saw on the board. Any specific names, descriptions, cries of lament that they didn’t get the sponsorship. He couldn’t get anything out of listening, so he resigned himself to waiting with his companions to get to the job board himself.
Fifteen minutes passed, though it felt like hours as the trio approached the board. Tahir’s nerves built all the while, and his mind swam with thoughts of the future if he didn’t get the sponsorship. They had a lead on a leyline access that they could travel to, and Tahir had his own ideas about things he wanted to do in that area of the map that he hadn’t brought up to Meti or Theo just yet. Otherwise, they could reliably do gold, or even platinum missions, especially if they found another party member.
While lost in his thoughts, he felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced over to Meti. Still looking forward, with the neutral expression he’d come to know from her. On his other side, an arm looped around his, and Tahir turned to find Theo giving him a reassuring smile as they reached the end of the crowd standing in front of the board. He smiled back, to both of them, and took a deep breath as the last group of obstructing Redcloud members in front of them shifted, and made way for them to take a look at the announcement section of the board. They stepped forward, and Tahir’s eyes scanned the board. He didn’t have to look long before he spotted the announcement, right in the center of the board.
Redcloud Sponsorship
Applicants selected:
* Kazadi Bohm
* Raline Omi
* Tahir
* Naevys Aedove
* Hasio Liberalis
* Larissa Rosin
Tahir blinked, unsure of how to feel, as he read a smaller note that told all that were accepted to head to one of the meeting rooms in the Redcloud’s building. A nudge from Meti had the three of them moving out of the way toward the tavern area. All the seats were filled already, but they could find a spot on the wall to lean against.
“Congrats, Tahir, looks like you got it.” Theo beamed.
Tahir stared back toward the board for a moment before he registered what she said. “Yeah, thanks. I’m still reeling. It feels a little crazy. I’m not complaining at all but I only qualified for gold barely a week before the deadline.”
“It is likely they took your prior missions into account.” Meti spoke. “From what you’ve told us about prior sponsorships, it isn’t a random selection. Clearing out the void corruption and opening the ruin probably put you ahead of most gold applicants. As you said, it was a platinum mission that we completed. Not just the priority on scouting, but actually clearing out the glade.”
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“I guess so. Give me a second to compose myself, then we can go see about heading to the room the notice mentioned.” Tahir said. They leaned against the wall in relative silence for a while. Tahir managed to let his nerves finally settle and relax. He’d done it, they’d chosen him for the sponsorship. In no small part thanks to Meti and Theo’s help, but they wouldn’t let him forfeit that he lead the charge on all of it. After managing to live through a fight with a lich - even if he didn’t quite live up to the legendary dark magic users from the tales of old - Tahir felt like he’d be able to handle whatever they put him up to for the sponsorship just fine.
Nerves settled, he led the girls to the room where the notice indicated with a confident stride. When he opened the door, he blinked in surprise at a room full of people. “Ah, there he is. You must be Tahir. You’re the last to arrive, but don’t worry. You’ve all come much earlier than expected.” The voice belonged to an elf, a man with long blond hair and green eyes, wearing an elaborate set of formal clothes and sitting in a large chair at one end of the room. “Come on in, and is that your party behind you? They’re welcome as well.”
The room had so much space, Tahir had a hard time figuring if they used it for meetings or as a classroom. Tables had been pushed back to the edges of the room, and several people either sat in chairs near them or leaned against the walls. He recognized elder Carlsen, one of his examiners for his promotion to gold rank, and Ester sitting beside him. Near those two was a man wearing the Redcloud elder’s robes that Tahir didn’t recognize, notably balding with gray hair and a short beard. Around the rest of the room, people that he only vaguely remembered the faces of from seeing around the guild occasionally sat or stood.
Tahir and company made their way in and sat at an empty table near the front, and the elf wasted no time continuing to talk. “Pleasure to meet you, and the rest of you for that matter now that all of you are here. I am Fenian Olamaris, your erstwhile sponsor. I hail from Isanthyr, the elven city. I act as an intermediary between them and the Redcloud guild.” This piqued Tahir’s interest. He rarely saw any elves, not counting half-elves. Their city had a strict isolationist policy and rarely let outsiders in.
“And now with all of you acquainted with my identity, I believe we can get to business, and I can tell you what I’m sponsoring you for.” He pulled out a large scroll from underneath his chair and unrolled it. With the verbal components of a simple spell, he let go of the scroll and let it float in the air, revealing a large map of the continent of Itera, with several spaces circled in red ink.
“At this moment, several ruins have been discovered across Itera of Aglan and Vudranian, the most recent of which being cleared by young Tahir. Regardless, this sponsorship concerns an expedition for two of them in particular. The first, being in Isanthyr, and the second in the center of the Osni desert. With the first, the resulting void corruption significantly weakened a portion of the city’s magical defenses, hence allowing me to commission outside help so that they could continue to guard those gaps. The second, happens to be one of the largest Vudranian ruins ever discovered. The exploration of the second will be a joint effort between several Redcloud branches, and many of them will also have another ruin serving as a preliminary expedition to that one.”
All of that information at once sent Tahir’s mind reeling - but he didn’t have time to process all of it before another voice interrupted the speaking elf.
“A moment, sir Olamaris.” The Redcloud elder that Tahir didn’t recognize spoke, and Tahir got a bad feeling as the old man pointed his way. “Before we truly begin, I would like to suggest that you remove him. He is a liability.”
The room went silent. Tahir felt a dozen pairs of eyes look his way, while he looked on in surprise at the exchange. Fenian, thankfully, only looked confused and asked. “On what grounds?”
“You see, sir Olamaris, records from the Mage’s collective here in Balrech indicate that he is a user of volatile spirit summoning magic. Likely what he used to attain his gold ranking. He’s summoned a tier one spirit as early as the past week, and certainly already had a contract with one beforehand. You’ll run the risk of him losing himself and being possessed by the spirit during your operation.”
Tahir could feel himself getting angry. So this was how Albanus wanted to get back at him - or maybe drive Tahir toward working with him. He opened his mouth to defend himself, but before he could find the words, other voices came to his defense first. “Bah, that’s all hogwash, Martin. I watched his qualification for gold ranking myself. If the spirits held him back at all I would have known about it.” Elder Carlsen replied.
Elder Martin shot his fellow elder an annoyed look as he spoke. “Tier-zero spirits, as was indicated to be used during his examination, run little risk of possession even to the weakest of mages. Tier-one spirits require a force of will to control and a fairly high mana pool to avoid creating an unbalanced bond that opens up the risk for possession, something that a mage of his caliber will struggle to attain I suspect. Without them, he will barely qualify for gold, and with them he will certainly be at risk of possession.”
“I was well aware of his use of spirit magic when I selected him, Martin. I’m rather shocked that you would question my judgment in this way.” Fenian leaned forward, looking between the Elder and Tahir with an unreadable expression.
“Certainly not, sir Olamaris.” Elder Martin stammered out quickly. “I simply believe that he should prove himself capable of operating without the risk of possession, and whether or not he is capable of holding up against the other gold ranked members that you’ve chosen for this sponsorship.”
“Very well, what do you have in mind, Martin?” Fenian asked.
“A trial, of sorts. Let him prove his worth against, say, a platinum ranked member to see if he’s really worthy of gold. In that case he’d at least be able to hold his own.” Elder Martin looked toward Tahir with a self-satisfied smirk. Unable to get him off of the expedition outright, this must have been his back up plan. “I have several who would be up to the task that I could call upon on short notice-”
“I’ll do it.”
A quiet voice seemed to ring out incredibly loud for how it stopped the elder from speaking. He looked to his side, past Elder Carlsen, at Ester who volunteered to hold this trial.