An Adventure of a Different Kind

Adventurers Guild

In the wake of the Great War, Guild Halls began to pop up in towns, cities and even villages. These halls brought people from wide and far, which increased trade bringing wealth to place that would otherwise struggle to pay their taxes. People filled the market squares at the front of the Guild Halls to sell their products to adventurers and civilians alike. The world became a much safer place after the Great War but with the Adventurers Guild around the number of monsters dropped dramatically however due to the adaptability and quick breeding speed, they never quite disappeared. Nowadays adventurers rarely hunt monsters, instead, they take jobs like protecting caravans, guarding nobility or serving as mercenaries in the military. Growing up my father always told me stories of the Great War, the Heroes and the grand adventures his friends went on. Now that I've come of age he allowed me to leave the mountain and see the world for myself. I've spent my life training my skills and hunting the monsters on the mountain. Finally I got the chance to make my mark and go on grand adventures. It was rather troublesome that the closest Guild Hall to the mountain was actually in the city of Whitehold, it took two months to walk there. Travelling so far almost made me go broke, now I only had enough to pay the joining fee for the Guild. I walked around talking to people to get directions to the Guild Hall since the city was so big. Everyone gave me strange looks, whether it was due to the colour of my hair, my clothes or the star shaped medal on my chest to show my status as son of a Duke. 

As I had dreamed the Guild Hall was huge, there were at least five levels and it took up an entire block. I was so excited to be so close to my dreams. As I pushed open the huge door a most pleasing sight beheld my eyes. Many different races wearing different armours and weapons talking as equals. It was just as my father told me. I looked around for the administration area and found it. I had to wait in a long line. When my turn finally came around I was greeted by and elven woman wearing the official Guild uniform. "Hello young man, what can I help you with today?" She smiled, 

"I would to register as an adventurer." I replied, 

"Excellent, please fill out these forms. The joining fee is two silver and we will require your ID card to officially register you, if you do not have one you can get one from the Royal Information Department two blocks over." She handed me the paperwork and a quill. I handed over the two silver and my ID card. The ID system was created by one of the heroes in order to keep track of citizens during the war as well as identify those with magic potential and prevent spies or shapeshifting monsters from infiltrating cities. It uses a blood enchantment on a plate of magical imbued metal. The blood enchantment identifies everything about the person including what they look like. The attendant's jaw dropped when she read my card and her eyes widened. 

"Is there a problem?" I asked, 

"N-No, ah, please fill out the forms..." She seemed flustered. I filled out the forms. It was mostly about legal stuff like informing me of dangers of the work as well as who to inform of my death, who to send money to when I die and where to bury me. She handed me my ID and directed me to next stage of registration, which was the testing stage, I was taken to an underground arena where applicants show off their skill to determine if they are fit to be adventurers. The first part of the test was potion brewing. There were four others in the testing arena. One wore the robes of the Church of Heroes, the woman held a staff and was human. One had a bow and arrows, male and an elf. One had heavy armour, I assume it was a man, I couldn't determine for sure what race but judging from their height I'd say it was a dwarf. The other one had leather armour, a woman with a scar across her nose and was a beastkin. All of them went about brewing various potions with various herbs, all were for minor healing, despite there being better ingredients. I used vampire blood, nightshade and strawberries. Vampire blood regenerates wounds while nightshade numbs the pain and strawberries adds flavour without affecting the properties of the potion. The judge came around and looked over our list of ingredients then tested the potions by making a cut on his wrist then drinking the potion. That was until he got to me.