The mage didn’t come to training the next day, and Mennick seemed to be even more dour than usual. Eventually, Bordan braved the instructor’s ire.
“We’ve been wondering… If the girl mage is an adventurer now, doesn’t she have to train with us?”
The question seemed to irritate Mennick, and the other recruits, who were inconspicuously loitering nearby, prepared for an eruption. The moment passed, however, and the old instructor let out a sigh.
“If ye ask me, yes. But they don’t ask me, do they?” He ran a hand through his hair, then turned his steely gaze at the rest of the recruits.
“I hate eavesdropping, so either get over here or start running laps, ye lazy buggers!”
As the four of them gathered around him, he continued.
“Ye would think that the rules apply to everyone equally, but they don’t. I spoke to the Master about this, and he said she doesn’t have to train if she doesn't want to. Apparently the first mage to join up set a precedent, and now any mage adventurer basically gets to do whatever they want.” He said the last words with more than a little acid, then spat to the side. Edwin was taken aback, but he realized that for somebody like Mennick, who had spent his whole life within the rules of the Guild, to see them put aside like this had to be a punch to the gut.
“So, she doesn’t have to do assignments?” Leodin asked.
“It’s not that bad.” Mennick answered, calming down a little. “Ye could say that mages need to adhere to the charter, just like any of us. That means the assignment quota and all of that stuff still apply. But a lot of our rules are unwritten, like who needs training and who doesn’t. Seniority. Party formation. There are a lot of things that you will figure out in time, and mages can ignore most and get preference in the rest.”
“Why?” Edwin asked. “I mean, sure, mages are powerful and probably incredibly useful in a party, but why would you go to these lengths?”
“I asked the same thing.” Mennick nodded. “The Master said that those benefits were offered to the first mage to join and have been like that ever since. Of course the Guild could change that, but we barely get any mages anyway - there hasn’t been a mage adventurer in my lifetime until now. If we make it less favorable for them, might be we won’t get any ever again.” He shrugged, apparently calming after having gotten it off his chest. “I understand it, too. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
She will probably join a team and be off soon then. Good. Having the only mage adventurer in decades around would only draw attention. I came here to have a normal life as an adventurer, and I won’t have it ruined by some second-rate thrill-seeking Journeyman.
--- ----- ---
Three days later, Mennick was called away by a worried-looking Fiona during the afternoon’s sparring practice. Half an hour later he returned, an unreadable expression on his face.
“Kollig, go ahead and put away the gear. Once you’ve tidied up the yard, you can leave early. Bordan, Leodin, Edwin, with me.”
Sharing confused looks, the three of them handed their practice weapons to their dour companion, then followed Mennick into the guild house. He didn’t lead them to the entrance hall, instead taking them deeper into the building and up two flights of stairs. He finally stopped in front of a decorated door and knocked. A voice answered from inside, and the instructor entered, ushering them in after him.
They walked into a large room, tall windows that gave a spectacular view of the central square illuminating the carpeted space with the bright afternoon sun. Bookcases and cabinets full of rolled-up maps and scrolls took up most of the walls, except where a large and detailed map of the duchy dominated one side of the room. At the far end, in front of the windows, stood a large desk. It seemed to be carved from one piece of wood and made to look like a dragon on all fours, the back polished to provide a flat surface and the head eyeing the newcomers distrustfully. It reminded Edwin of Walter’s old office, large and full of books, except where Walter’s had been solely a place of study and retreat, this one combined style and utility beautifully.
The room took up so much of his attention that Edwin only spotted the Chaptermaster after a few seconds. He was standing off to one side, looking down at the square with crossed arms. After a moment he turned, waving Mennick and the recruits towards the comfortable looking seats in front of his desk.
“Please, take a seat. I am sure that you are wondering why you are here, but I must ask for patience, as we will be able to start in a moment.”
Edwin sat, inspecting the desk further. It was truly impressive, each scale individually textured and beckoning him to run his hand over them.
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“Our founder had a bit of an obsession with dragons.” The Chaptermaster was smiling at Edwin, obviously having noticed his appreciation. “This was his office, back when the Guild’s headquarter was still here in Pel Darni.”
Edwin was saved from a response by a knock on the door. At the Chaptermaster’s call, the door opened, revealing Fiona. The receptionist stepped to the side, gesturing for the mage girl in the corridor behind her to enter the room, then closed the door from the outside. The mage was motioned to take a seat next to the other four, and finally the Chaptermaster sat as well.
“Now that everyone is present, we can start. I am sure you are all wondering why I have called you here.” he repeated, looking at each of them in turn.
“Let me explain the circumstances first. Earlier today, we received troubling news. There was an incident with one of our parties, and several of them were injured.” The room grew deathly quiet, and he raised his hands reassuringly. “They will be fine, nothing that a bit of rest and the care of a healer cannot fix. Adventuring is dangerous, and these things happen. It does present us with a problem, however.” He stood up, walking to the windows and looking out for a few seconds, then slowly pacing along them.
“As I am sure you are aware, the last few years more and more monsters have been spotted. What you may not know is that on top of that, in the recent months the number of requests has risen exponentially. This is what we call a monster wave.” He stopped when he saw the questions in their expressions. “A monster wave means that disproportionally many monsters leave their caves, burrows and hideouts and venture into human lands to find food or prey. Many different things can cause this, and most of the time we never find out why it happened. Maybe one of the dragons has shifted its hunting ground in the mountains, maybe an especially powerful pack or tribe is driving the monsters in their vicinity south, or maybe a change in the surrounding magical field is causing them to become aggressive. It could be any one or any number of these explanations, or something else entirely.
He paused, letting the news sink in. After a few seconds, he continued.
“The news is not entirely bad. There have been several monster waves in the last two centuries, so we know how to deal with them. The monsters’ numbers are not endless, which means that if we withstand their incursion for a short while longer, the assault will peter out. Since so many of them will be dead, a wave is always followed by a lull in activity. To put it succinctly: We only need to hold out for a few more months and the number of monster attacks will drop sharply, giving us all a much-needed reprieve.” He smiled tiredly at the confused recruits.
“That was the good news. The bad news is this: All of our parties are out there, rushing from village to village to fulfil requests, and we are barely holding on. Or rather, we were barely holding on before one of our parties was taken out of commission. Usually in this situation, we would ask for assistance from the army. With Marrad threatening our border like never before, that is obviously not an option.” He sat down, clasping his hands on his desk. “I have decided to offer you, no, to ask you four to form a party so you can help us in overcoming this threat.”
Edwin was stunned. He looked at Bordan and Leodin, who seemed just as astonished. The mage hadn’t changed her aloof expression once since she sat down.
“Are you sure?” Edwin asked hesitantly. “I was expecting at least another month of training, if not more.”
“Usually, you would have been correct. We like our recruits to be more than prepared when they go on their first assignment. I have spoken with Mennick, however, and he assured me that you three are some of the most promising recruits he had the pleasure of training, and as long as you show sufficient care when approaching combat, we are convinced that you will be fine.”
Edwin glanced at the instructor who looked very unhappy. Edwin wasn’t sure if that was because he hadn’t wanted his words repeated this way or because he hadn’t said them in the first place.
“Wouldn’t we need more members?” Bordan asked.
The Chaptermaster looked uncomfortable. “While we like to have parties with five or six members, that is mostly us being overly cautious as there are no definitive rules on party size. In ideal times, we would have waited for more recruits, then paired five of you with an experienced adventurer as party leader, at least for a while. Since the beginning of the monster wave, many parties have reduced their numbers, and some six-member-parties have even split to form four-member groups. Also, you have a beneficial composition: Two fighters, a marksman and even a mage, a truly rare advantage. The only experienced adventurers who are not already on assignments are Mennick and I, and we cannot leave our duties. With Bordan’s combat experience to guide you, however, Mennick and I are confident that you will be just fine.”
He leaned forwards, fixing them each with a look. “You all have read the charter, so you know that the Guild is required to fulfil requests within a certain time once they have been received. Never in the history of the Adventurer’s Guild have we failed to do so. If we cannot come up with at least one more in the next two weeks, this will be the first time. We have already borrowed as many parties from other cities as they can spare. The army has their hands full. The Guard needs to defend the cities and towns. There is no one else I can ask.”
Again, silence descended on the room. Finally, Edwin spoke up again.
“Would that be so bad? I mean, from what I have heard, our parties are barely holding on. Can you not simply ask the duke to waive the requirement for a few months, because of the aggravating circumstances?”
The Chaptermaster grimaced. “We could. But that would not solve the real problem. In the grand scheme of things, it does not matter much whether we fulfil a request a few days sooner or later. What matters is if the Guild is seen as unable to protect our citizens. With the situation as it is, the people already feel very unsafe. The duchy is balancing on a knife’s edge right now, and the Adventurer’s Guild failing its charge for the first time in history might push things into chaos. Whether we actually fail or admit failure publicly does not make much of a difference in that regard. The Guildmaster has made his position on the topic very clear: We will hold off the monster wave, no matter the lengths we must go to.”
He leaned back in his chair, regarding the recruits with a hint of nervous anticipation.
“So, what do you say?”