19 – Transcendental Path Specification Form

The guild office loomed over the rest of the town. Not so much menacing or foreboding, but more that it was so large and out-of-place that it couldn’t help but stand over all of the other thatch and clay roofed buildings around it. It was as if some giant child had decided that the small, quaint village they were playing with needed a grand stone building from a large city. And, rather than trying to build it or make it fit, had simply plucked it up and placed it on the northern edge of town.

“It’s kind of…” Jax began.

“Large?” Kaylin said.

“Out of place?” Ren took in the wide, square building wrapping around the stone courtyard. “Like, where did they even get windows like that?”

“The second rule of the the guilds,” Kaylin said. “Look as impressive as you want people to feel when they see you.”

“Second rule?”

“The first is that power is responsibility.” She laughed, high and without any humor in it. “Quite the irony if you ask me.”

“Well, it does look impressive, you gotta give them that.”

“I don’t have to give them anything.” Kaylin said, voice flat. “Let’s get this over with.” Without waiting for the others, she strode forward through the two-story ornate stone arch, into the courtyard.

Ren glanced over at Jax, eyebrows raised in silent questioning.

“It’s a long story.” Was all that the large man said before following after his cousin.

“Well, it can’t be that bad, right?” Ren muttered to himself before joining the others.

——

“Next.” The thin, nasally voice of a tall, gaunt man called out from behind a long ornate wooden counter. The woman he had been talking to—a miner judging by the dark streaks on her clothing— trudged past them, her face downcast and shaking her head.

“They just need to send one person,” she grumbled as she moved by.

“Hello, good morning.” Kaylin walked up to the counter, her back straight, hands clasped loosely behind her. “We’re here to potentially turn in a brood bounty and we’re hoping to speak to Reynold.”

The man did not look up from where he was making a note on long sheet of parchment, the tip of the white feather quill he was holding twitching, his thin glasses resting precariously on the edge of his down-tipped nose. He held the other pale hand out. “Bounty slip.”

“Ah, yes, about that. We did not see the bounty posted for this.”

Well that’s a fun bluff, Ren thought. There was a distinct lack of any aura coming off the man, or, for that matter, any of the other few workers milling around the large chamber of the main office.

“It was a nest of giant scorpions not a days journey into the Eln, on the outskirts of the wilds.”

The man sighed, still not looking up. “We do not make a habit of letting members create their own postings. Guild ID.”

“Again, if we could just speak to Reynold, I’m sure…”

“Guild ID.” The man finally looked up at the three, eyes flitting first from Kaylin’s dirt stained tunic and disheveled blonde hair to Jax’s torn, bloodstained shirt and pants, then finally to Ren in his too-short trousers and dark kitchen work shoes. “Please.”

Though he couldn’t see her face, Kaylin’s shoulders tighten. “Ah, well, we are newly refined from a wild nexus, and this is the first guild office we have had the opportunity to visit.”

“Well then, of course you don’t have it. You could not even claim a posted job without an ID, much less the clearing of an unlisted ‘brood nest’.” The man let out a long breath. “Have you completed the Transcendental Path Specification forms?” He gestured over to a series of tables lined up against the row of tall windows looking out into the courtyard, each one with several tall stacks of white paper on it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Ren Smirked, I guess some things are the same in every dimension.

Jax stepped forward. “What’s all this boju dung? Of course we don’t have your ridiculous form. We are some of Valdoris’ newest refined and what we do have is these!” He thumped the bag of scorpion stings down on the desk. The jostling of the monster parts released a distinctly noxious aroma.

Kaylin pinched the bridge of her nose. “Registering was also part of us coming here.”

“What’s the problem, Alistair?” A plump, dark-tan skinned woman looked over from down the bar, straightening the white pile of sheets she had been looking at. Her voice warm and friendly.

“Newly refined rabble looking to create and then claim an unposted monster bounty.”

The woman glanced at the group of three as if noticing them for the first time. “Have they completed the Transcendental Path Specification forms?” She also gestured to the row of tables.

“It would not appear so.” He turned back to Kaylin, nudging his glasses up as he backed away from the damp bag of stingers. “Unless I am sorely mistaken.”