Gilliam with Savia in his hair and Cera in tow got some looks, not something he was unfamiliar with so besides noticing that it happened he just ignored it. Walking over to the board there were a lot of papers which was just impaled on a nail sticking out. Based on what others did it seemed the idea was that the jobs were placed on the board and you just took the paper with you, the clerk also mentioned this not long ago so it all seemed fine enough.
Taking a gander over the jobs between the ranks, just to get an idea of the differences in rank, the rewards differed a lot between the jobs even on the same board, but rough averages placed each rank monetary reward around double the one below, starting with an average of 30-40 gold. Certain jobs didn’t have a monetary reward but a service, item or something similar. For example, one had two healing potions as a reward instead of money. The jobs also paid per job, so if you were a party of three, you’d have to split whatever reward you got between yourselves.
It was a simple system, simple to use and simple to understand. Based on what Gilliam saw on his way into the Guild they took information outside, in booths or perhaps sent them inside if it was a sensitive or important matter. Then it would end up on the wall.
Without checking, Gilliam assumed the Guild took a cut of whatever the people paid and were possibly government-subsidised. If that was the case it would make sense as the guild did jobs for the people, perhaps also jobs given in by the government or local guard force.
For now, there didn’t seem to be any jobs that jumped out as more interesting than the others. Gilliam’s speciality was without a doubt combat, so perhaps he should just take some extermination job to get started.
He looked around and didn’t find anything incredibly interesting initially, but he saw one that stood out on the Steel-ranked list.
There was a description of a large creature, a Dreadfang Alpha. It was described as a monstrous predator with a hulking, muscular body covered in thick mottled grey fur, piercing yellow eyes, massive jaws with sharp teeth and long canines. If that wasn’t a large enough problem it had large claws on each finger that could tear people apart in a single move. It stood easily twice as tall as a grown man. The Dreadfangs weren’t a huge problem in the forest normally as they were culled and kept in check, but the Alpha had suddenly showed up which tipped the power dynamic drastically.
The forest was a few days on foot North of Poline, which in turn was about two days on foot west of Aestu. There was a simple ink drawing of the rough area to work as a map. Gilliam made a note of this as it seemed that Savia’s teleport took them past not only the capital but also Poline, skipping two cities on the way instead of just one.
According to Ettine, this was out of his range. Though he could perhaps get special permission due to his testing scores. The note itself listed that it recommended at least three Steel-ranked adventurers.
It had a high reward of 500 gold pieces, and any parts of the Alpha they could bring with them would most likely be separately rewarded by the Guild, both for inspecting reasons but also as certain monster parts were important in magical and alchemical crafting.
Gilliam took the piece of paper for now, noticing that he got some looks from a few who specifically saw what he took. They seemed to know what job it was, so it was probably a good reason that it was there still. He had no idea how long it had been hanging there but he kind of just wanted some action and to get started.
Turning around to check if Ettine had returned to her desk, he was happy to see that she had, though a person was speaking with her now so Gilliam did what any man from the modern Earth would do; he queued up!
The process didn’t take too long, it was the same introduction block that he got an hour or two ago, but he seemed to need some help reading and writing and was guided through a door for aid.
Gilliam walked up to her with an expectant expression. She seemed to not waste time and placed a twisted leather string with a grey metal square stick on it. Picking it up he found it more interesting than he expected now that he was holding it. As he had seen before it was about as thick as a normal pencil and about four times as long as it was thick. It was a square bar that had the edges filed off making a clean bevel. At the top near the string, It had three solid horizontal lines near the top part, engraved and inked in, making them clear and black, and the bottom of the front had his name engraved or etched in. The bottom of the back had a vaguely glowing magic circle that, when he looked at it he got a mental sense that this was indeed real.
“Thank you-” he started with as he was done with his inspection. “-I also know this isn’t the correct place with this, but I found a job I would like to go on.” He smiled as he placed down the job poster for the Dreadfang Alpha.
She looked slightly annoyed as she took a look, her expression changing to surprise. “I don’t think I can send you alone on this... I need to check with the Guildmaster.”
Without waiting for his response she got out of her chair and left through the same door into the hallway and testing room as before.
Gilliam turned around and halfway leaned against her desk as he waited. Savia hadn’t moved in a while and was back to resting in his hair as normal, Cera was incredibly uncomfortable standing as far from a corner as she was. Gilliam assumed she felt exposed given her ‘stay out of sight’ mentality.
It only took a few minutes before Ettine returned and sat down with the poster. “I can give this to you but not alone. If you can persuade another person of Iron or higher to join you, we can send you out on this.” She put the paper back down and pushed it towards Gilliam. “You can try calling out for attention or check the party board.” Her voice was toned in a sarcastic good-luck tone, hinting that there was no chance of this happening.
“Okidoki.” Gilliam commented as he took the paper. He had ideas, one of them was to just ignore them and go anyway, but he wanted to at least try their way. He could also try to hire someone or promise they could keep most of the gold and not have to enter the forest; so they wouldn’t even be in danger.
There were many ways to his goal, but he wanted the proper experience!
Walking over the party board, it was conveniently located next to the job boards, so no problems finding it. Cera followed close seeming to not be fond of the larger people walking around. He put his Guild badge around his neck on the way to the annoyance of Savia in his hair as it touched her on the way.
A very quick check of the board seemed like it was just like a mini CV, name, rank, speciality and so on, as well as some extra info. Though it didn’t list many people at all, most were newbies of Copper or Bronze wanting to start a more permanent team, as well as much higher ranks like Mithril wanting specific people with specific skills of their rank for more dangerous jobs. There was just one that stood out, a single Iron rank looking for a group, any group.
A man named Rhyan Ironhide. Though that name made Gilliam think of a Dwarf the info listed him as a Human. He was an Iron rank and specialized in defence, he would also complement this with tools and magical items. He had combat experience from earlier in his life and fought in the Fracturian invasion. He was Iron ranked and a few other people were looking for anyone to aid their group, so Gilliam was a bit unsure why this man was still available.
Not know how this worked, as there was no description or cellphone number, email or anything that let him track down this Rhyan. Not that the latter two would help him much as his smartphone ran out of power, and was lost, over four years ago.
The second to easiest was probably just to ask the staff, but the easiest was far simpler.
Gilliam took the note off the board and turned around. “Is there a Rhyan here?!” He simply shouted it out into the room, getting the attention of everyone in there.
Before he suffered a little from stage fright, or at least being the centre of attention like this, but years as the leader of a whole people had him in the centre almost constantly. In short, he got over it quickly.
Looking around for a reaction, there didn’t seem to be any. Perhaps he mentioned the name too fast. “Rhyan, is Rhyan around?!” Now that he had their attention, mentioning the name again should work out.
One man seemed to react, a tall fellow came over, clad in enough metal to build a boat. Gilliam also noticed that there were a few chuckles or murmurs, but decided to ignore them as much as possible.
The man stepped into arms reach and stopped, giving a simple nod-bow. “I am Rhyan.”
He was smiling slightly, seeming to like being called up. He was a tall man, a bit taller than Gilliam, the difference was mainly in width, Rhyan looked like he was built very, very well. Carrying his massive full metal armour probably did its part in that. He had short black hair without any proper styling done to it, his skin was a little dark but not too much, something akin to Earthen Hawaiians. In addition to his metal armour, he was also carrying a massive metal shield, looking like an elongated, vaguely rounded hexagon-shaped door he just strapped to his arm. Gilliam had doubts he could carry it. He was also carrying a rather sizeable leather satchel over his shoulder.
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“How can I help you.” He smiled. If he expected or assumed that Gilliam would try to recruit him, he didn’t show it.
“I need a party member for this.” Gilliam wanted to gauge his reaction and handed him the paper with the job.
He took it and looked through it, took a glance at Gilliam, then at the little metal stick on a string around his neck before he looked back at Gilliam properly. “I don’t recommend this one, you’ll probably die.”
“No, I think I’ll be fine.” Gilliam countered, he knew how arrogant this sounded but he felt quite certain that he could handle this. “To be brutally honest, and I apologize for how this will sound, but I’m only considering you because getting another member for the team was a requirement by the clerk.”
He kind of hated how this sounded, even though it was true he didn’t like throwing metaphorical shit like this.
“Hmm... Two Irons like us, I don’t think that m...” Stopping himself mid-sentence he noticed something on the paper. “You said that they are OK with this as long as you got one more member?” He eyed Cera for a moment, something that had her halfway hide behind Gilliam. “I don’t see a badge on her, and the job requires three Iron-rank, why are they allowing this with just two of us?”
His voice seemed like he was pondering a few things, trying to analyse this.
“Yes, I feel confident that I could do it alone, but they required one more.” Gilliam again confirmed. “If it helps, you can stay outside of the forest and I’ll still give you half of the reward.”
“No can do, if I join this I’m doing my part, but it still feels... off...” He seemed to be analysing Gilliam, almost as if he was trying to find something weird hiding in a pocket or something.
“It’s probably me.” Gilliam replied honestly, whether this man would be interesting or not, at the moment it wasn’t too important for him He had backup plans.
“If you’re interested, then you’re on board. If not I’ll find someone else or find a way to do it alone.” Fessing up was better than trying to be smart in this case.
Rhyan pondered for a moment, he seemed to weigh his options mentally. “Well, before I give you my answer, tell me more about yourself and your little friend.” Nodding to the hiding half-canine behind Gilliam as he ended his sentence.
“I’m an artillery mage, I have a vast knowledge of runes and spells and I have combat experience.” None of these were lies, some were even understating things.
Rhyan stared at him for several seconds, specifically at his eyes, and this prolonged eye contact was weird.
“And her?”
“She’s a friend of mine, she won’t be fighting but she has sharp senses, we’ll be handling her protection.” Gilliam poked at Savia, but based on Rhyan’s expression it seemed he might have assumed that he pointed at his head.
That would totally make him look sane... pointing at his head and referring to ‘we’.
He turned around, showing the back of his head and pointed again at the little avian-hybrid which was tangled up in his hair.
“Oh, that makes more sense...” Rhyan commented. “But you know, I can’t help but notice your furry friend’s collar.” His voice didn't sound too happy about it.
Gilliam turned back, Rhyan was keeping his poker face very well, had it not been for the little glip in his tone of voice and how he worded the comment about the collar, he might not have realised that he was against it.
“She was a slave, but she’s free, she is with me until she feels like leaving.”
Though he was being honest, and that they were having a talk in public there seemed to be surprisingly little involvement, or rather; perhaps the ones listening in were just good at hiding it. There was a certain volume to the room, a lot of different discussions at once, so all in all there shouldn’t be too many listening in.
“That’s very easy to say. But how can I be sure that it is, in fact, true?” Rhyan sounded incredibly suspicious.
Gilliam was a bit surprised. He was in V’ida, slavery was entirely legal here, so why was he so against it? On one hand, it was weird, on the other hand, Gilliam was agreeing with him entirely.
Gilliam turned to Cera. “Cera, consider what I’m about to say an order. Forget any other order I have given you and comment of your own free will and as you wish without fear of repercussion. Are you my slave?”
She looked at him weirdly, almost as if she didn’t properly understand him. But after a few seconds, she looked at Rhyan and nodded rapidly. “It’s true. He saved me... I asked to come.”
She looked as shy as a young child being introduced to some scary unknown friend of her parent, but she did manage to properly answer.
Gilliam looked back at Rhyan, letting Cera hide behind him again. “There, you satisfied with that? If it helps I can tell you the story of how I killed the noble who was her master in a duel. I own her on paper but that’s just to keep her free.”
At this point, he knew he was being overheard, but he didn’t care. If he was branded some slave lover, helper or whatever, he couldn’t care less. Luckily only the closest people would have overheard this, he just hoped there wouldn’t be any issues following it.
Rhyan again looked into Gilliam’s eyes for several seconds after taking a good look at Cera. “Alright, you have me persuaded.” He extended his right hand for a handshake as he returned the paper with his left.
“Name’s Rhyan Ironhide, at your service.” A wide smile seemed to solidify it.
“Good. Glad to have you on board.” Gilliam smiled back, he didn’t have too high hopes for this, but for all he knew this could be a good man to have with him in the future.
“Let’s go over and get registered properly.” Gilliam commanded as he let go of the, very firm, handshake.
Rhyan nodded and followed Gilliam over to the registration desk, which was still the wrong desk, but Gilliam wanted to speak with Ettine.
There was no queue this round, so they got there right away, and they were met with a sigh. “So you managed to get someone, after all.”
“Yes, now get us registered so we can get this started.” Gilliam smiled widely.
Ettine had her hand out, reaching for the paper which Gilliam handed her. She took some notes in a tome of sorts before she placed the paper in a drawer on her desk.
“The job is reserved for you for a week, I assume that will be enough time?”
Gilliam nodded. “Yeah, we should be fine with that.”
Rhyan broke on, looking confused. “Wait, that’s not enough. It’ll take us at least four or five days to get there, not counting the time we’ll use there or get back.”
“Don’t worry.” Gilliam smiled as he placed his hand on his shoulder, and his other hand on Cera’s.
“Savia, can you take us to the closest human place that way?” He nodded towards the west, where Poline should be.
“Savia teleport!” She shouted as she struggled in his hair. He felt her stop struggling without climbing out, at the same time the energy built up in her for several seconds, to the worried expression of Rhyan, before the energy pulsed.