Bob leaned up against the side of the Adventurers Guild, protected from the lashing rain.

It was technically light outside, but the shadows had wrapped their arms around Harbordeep, and the city would be much more accurately described as "twilight" at this point.

He'd hoped to do some more exploring, but the wind, rain, and gloom had urged him to seek shelter.

Bob had intended to duck into the guild immediately upon arrival; however, a group of Adventurers were blocking the door as they drunkenly warbled through what Bob suspected as a drinking song.

Given that each one was better than six feet, and the faces he'd seen all had scales, Bob wasn't about to try to edge past them.

So he sheltered from the rain around the corner and waited for the unintelligible song to cease, which would likely be an indication that they'd left.

Bob half-closed his eyes, trying to see into his inventory. Trebor had told him that his inability to see into his inventory with his eyes open was entirely psychosomatic.

Bob had been practicing ever since and was slowly overcoming the mental block.

He narrowed his eyes a touch further and was able to make out his inventory, which was rather full, between Monroe, his litterbox (which had been upgraded some time ago by Jimmi), his bed (again upgraded by Bob's favorite carpenter), his feline overlord, who chose to nap on Bob's neatly stacked clothing rather than in the bed, and finally, the five-foot sphere of swirling energies that represented Bob's control element spells, as well as his plant growth, root, and eldritch aura, all cast with persistent effect.

His tiny little terrarium was doing well and slowly increasing their levels.

Bob sighed and opened his eyes fully. He'd wished he could gain more experience, but the sad truth was that even the little he gained was far better than gaining none during his time out of the Dungeon.

He idly thought that Elli must gain experience toward his swords skill during his daily training.

Bob was broken from his reverie by a voice from behind.

"Excuse me, are you by any chance seeking to enter the Adventurers Guild?" The voice was light and lilting, with a precise diction that Bob hadn't heard on Thayland before.

He turned calmly and faced the speaker.

Brunette curls fought to escape a hooded cloak, which failed to conceal the pale skin, pert nose, and slender features of a young woman wearing an elaborately stitched dress.

"Less seeking, and more waiting for the drunken Adventurers currently blocking the door to move along," Bob replied.

"And why not simply push past the ruffians?" She asked quizzically.

"I suspect they are tier six, and as I am tier five, I felt that the discretion was the better part of valor," Bob responded dryly.

Upon a second inspection, Bob was more inclined to allocate the term "girl" rather than "woman" to the figure.

"That matters not," she said with a trace of indignation, "Harbordeep is a free city, a beacon of hope and light to the world; there is no distinction of rank amongst the common peoples."

Bob grimaced and looked down, his blue eyes meeting her hazel, and replied, "I'm only just arrived in Harbordeep this morning, Ms, however, I've been warned by a number of people that such distinction not only exists but is maintained by the use of force against those who transgress against the established order."

She opened her mouth to respond and was cut off as Bob raised a finger for silence.

He could hear the drunks, and their song, fading.

"It would seem that they're moving on, leaving the door clear," Bob said as he turned and walked around the corner, pleased to see the drunks wobbling further down the boulevard.

Bob moved through the door and nodded to Zoey and Jakob as he headed for the servant's tavern.

"Ah, excuse me," the girl had apparently followed him in and had now tugged on his arm.

"How does one join the Adventurers Guild?" She asked.

Bob gestured toward the agents perched behind their desks, "The agents seated there are representatives of the Guild, employed for that very purpose," he said.

"Thank you," she responded and strode over to Zoey's desk.

Bob shook his head and continued towards the tavern. While lunch hadn't been that long ago, he wouldn't mind a long, leisurely dinner, and Monroe's bundle of emotions indicated that the big cat wouldn't mind another meal either.

~ ~ ~ ~

Nora frowned at the departing figure.

He'd been easy to spot against the pale yellow stone, and all dressed in leather armor and green no less.

He was most likely from one of the smaller towns that lay on the edge of the kingdom, she'd decided as she'd inspected him from across the street, and his speech had born that out. He didn't so much carry an accent as he structured his sentences a tad oddly.

The fact that he'd been reluctant to pass by a group of tier six men and women was surely the sign of a rural bumpkin, as she'd never heard of such a thing, and she'd lived in Harbordeep her entire life. She walked by armsmen and artisans that were six every day, and they'd naught but a kind word for her.

With a shake of her head to clear her thoughts, she approached the woman sitting behind the desk and nodded to her as she said, "I'd like to join the Adventurers Guild if you please."

The woman, Zoey, the man from the street had said, nodded and pulled out a ledger from her desk as well as a pen and opened it, her pen poised over top of an empty line and said, "Name and age?"

"Nora," she replied, "I'm sixteen years old."

Zoey glanced down at her dress, and Nora fought back a blush.

"No family name Nora?" Zoey asked.

"None I care to claim," Nora responded stiffly.

"Very well," Zoey said, "and what level are you?"

"Zero," Nora replied quietly.

Zoey sighed and set down her pen.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Zoey began, "but you must be level five to join the Adventurers Guild in Harbordeep," she raised a finger for silence and continued, "judging by that dress and your cloak, I'll hazard a guess that you've parted ways from your family and that further, your family was well to do."

Zoey shook her head, "The life of an Adventurer is an offer of freedom to all, but you'll need to see yourself on a path to join."

"Why haven't you taken a path?" Zoey asked quietly, "by your dress, your family has the crystals, and I doubt they'd begrudge you two hundred and fifty you'd need."

Nora steeled herself and replied, "I'm afraid that they would begrudge me the crystals, as I parted with heated words spoken on both sides, and while I've funds enough for the moment, I don't have the full two hundred and fifty crystals needed to gain my path; hence I was hoping to join the Adventurers Guild and find a group to grow with."

Zoey grimaced and said, "At level five, groups form every day, adding a member here, losing a member there due to family obligations, or simply the natural drama formed by hormonal teenagers facing life-threatening danger."

"The normal course of things is that either someone comes to us freshly pathed, with no practice using their skills, having been gifted their mana crystals by family," she shook her head, "or they are shepherded through the first five levels, earning their crystals and learning their skills along the way."

She smiled sharply at Nora and continued, "You can likely guess which method I find preferable."

Nora let out a quick sigh of disappointment. She'd known only the barest of facts about the Adventurers Guild, as her teachers had never deemed it necessary to delve deeply into its working, assuming that she'd never interact with the Guild in any capacity.

Zoey shrugged her shoulders and went on, "There is a process in place where you can hire a Shepherd from within the Guild, but while there are enough with a skill to accomplish the task, fewer have the temperament and even fewer of those volunteer for the task."

Nora's spirits lifted, and she quickly asked, "I do have some funds, might I see a list of Shepherds?"

Zoey sighed and shook her head, "Therein lies the rub girl; there hasn't been a Guild sanctioned Shepherd in sixty years. Nobles," Zoey ran her eyes down Nora's dress again, "have retainers which will act as Shepherds for the children of their house. At the same time, a merchant will conspire with their friends to take a few weeks off, each in turn, to shepherd a group of their children through particularly trying floors."

"Couldn't I simply hire someone with a healing spell to follow me through the Dungeon?" Nora asked.

"And now we come to it," Zoey said, "you can't enter the Dungeon, save that you're a member of the Adventurers Guild, and yes," she waved her hand to forestall any questions, "Nobles, the Clergy, and members of the Royal Family are all given admittance to the Guild," she grimaced, "without charge."

"So you'd need a Guild member to follow you in, and one of the rules of the guild, nearly as old as the guild itself, is that you cannot Shepard a non-member of the Guild unless you are designated as a Shepherd," Zoey finished.

"I appear to be at an impasse then," Nora said sadly.

"I'm afraid so, unless you can convince an Adventurer to become a Shepherd, an unlikely thing," Zoey warned, "given the one hundred mana crystal cost and having to register as such," she shook her head, "which would make them liable to be called to Shepherd at any Adventurers Guild they were to call home."

"Could I at least ask someone?" Nora was quite certain she didn't plead.

"If you've three crystals, you may enter the Tavern for the purposes of seeking an Adventurer to employ," Zoey said slowly, "although that is rarely done, most prefer to simply post a request on the Job board."

Zoey shrugged, "I don't believe there any Guild laws that will prevent you from doing so."

Nora smiled and pulled three crystals out of her pouch, sliding them across the desk towards Zoey, who pulled out a token shaped like a coin, crossed by a shovel and saw, and pressed her hand to it, causing it to glow a light blue for a second.

She made to slide Nora's crystals into a box, then her eyes flew open, and she reached out and pulled Nora around the desk until their faces were inches apart.

"Are you trying to get your pretty little throat slit?" Zoey hissed quietly.

"What?" Nora whispered fiercely as she struggled against Zoey's grip.

"Please tell me you've not been spending level forty-five crystals around town like a fresher in their first wave?" Zoey fumed.

Nora blushed and whispered stiffly, "They're the only crystals I have."

Zoey shook her head in disgust and said, "I knew you were some nobles get, with your fancy dress and cloak, but I had thought that anyone would have more sense than that, even a noble child."

"What does it matter the level of the crystal I'm using to pay?" Nora asked indignantly.

"It matters," Zoey whispered harshly, "because enchanted equipment that provides a bonus to its user can't provide a bonus higher than its level."

She gestured with a free hand, "If you want to build a home, grow food, expand a space, whatever have you, then any crystal will do, but for items that push your attributes and skills over your potential..."

Zoey shook her head again.

"Tell me you've not spent any of those crystals save for just now," she said as she practically shook Nora.

"I haven't, although I'll need to soon enough," Nora whispered, "and what are you about, suggesting that people might hurt me for them," she grew more indignant. However, she kept her voice low, "Harbordeep is a safe city, and the Guards see to it that none are harmed inside her walls." she finished her last spoken in rote.

Zoey laughed, low and harsh, before replying, "Things are different off your parent's estate. While you'll not find trouble so easily in the inner city, in the outer, things are much looser, and there isn't a week goes by that a body doesn't wash up with the tide," she said.

Zoey had released her shoulder and used her freed hand to poke Nora in the chest.

"Most who come here to delve the Dungeon in Harbordeep are close to pushing into their second tier," she said, "and as such are powerful enough to at least make a ruckus if they were to be attacked."

Zoey grimaced and went on, "And those that live in those areas are known, and unlikely to be troubled, but if a tier five, with no path, and unknown were to start displaying those crystals..."

"Haven't you ever heard of a crystal exchange?" Zoey asked fiercely.

"No," Nora protested, "I've not."

"Nobles," Zoey muttered, making it sound like a curse, "listen well, there are folks in the city that will take your higher-level crystals, and exchange them for lower leveled ones, normally at a decent rate of exchange. The Guild offers this service, but only for members, and I'm given to understand that the rates are fairly awful here at the Guild."

"You can also exchange them at the Church, although the rates there are even worse than the Guild, although you needn't be a member of the Clergy to employ the service," Zoey continued, "and of course, there are those in the city who will exchange them for a higher value, but they're doing so outside the boundaries of the King's taxmen, and as such might choose to take advantage of your weakness and simply take them off you."

"I'll not ask how many of them you have, but I will say that if you have a hundred of them, you can likely turn that number into four hundred and fifty, before the King's tax and the clergy get their cut, so keep that in mind when you try to sway some poor sod into Shepherding you," Zoey stood up and drew a deep breath, running her hands through her hair.

"Thank you," Nora whispered.

She wasn't entirely certain that she believed Zoey about the dangers of Harbordeep, but Nora had little use for high-level crystals and great use in having simply more crystals in general.

"If you dislike nobles so much," Nora said, "why did you warn me?"

Zoey grimaced and replied, "I left my own family behind when I was near your age, and I had the good fortune to run into a few people who steered me away from danger," she shrugged, "warning you is a way of repaying them."

Zoey handed her the token, and Nora accepted it with a nod.

Turning, Nora walked towards the door she'd seen the leather-clad Adventurer walk through.