The day started like any other, for the elven man only known as Ace. He spent the morning completing his daily bathing ritual, which felt like it was getting shorter every day. He cleaned his nails, tied back his hair and slipped three rings into the spaces punched in one of his ears. Ace sighed, taking a moment to look at himself in a mirror. Green as always. Why was it that he had to be born the colour of goblins? He slipped on the great golden mantle and robes which signified his place as Guild Master, then made for the main hall. 

Dawn had barely split the sky with its blue light, and so the dining and lounge hall was quiet, Ace being the first soul to breathe life into it as with every day. He looked up to a window which sat above the guild’s entrance, one of the only to be allowing the first lights in. 

‘Good morning, Gafou, Randouin. Here I go again, pretending to be as good as you at this.’ He turned, and from the hall of living quarters came a young human man, Sterin. The two exchanged a smile and greeting, before a young woman came stumbling out. Her golden hair dishevelled, eyes dreary and posture slouched, Lily made a direct course for the kitchen. Nearly tripping her along the way, two hounds came bounding from the hallway and into the main room. One of the dogs appeared like any other, brown fur and floppy ears, however, the other was covered in white scales, heavily built and released a faint frosty mist into the air with every breath. Both ran circles around the guild, enjoying the freedom of the empty space.

‘What’s on today’s plate, Guild Master?’ Sterin made his way to the large pair of front doors in the guild. He found a set of keys at his hip and began to work at the locks.

‘Oh, there’s plenty of the usual stuff. Letters from the other guilds to go through, empty threats to read, the odd repair payment, searching for connections to new job sources and so forth.’ Ace found himself leaning against the bar bench. ‘There’s also that big job request to help Basti develop direct relations with Mid’Ligan and Dardenann.’

‘Wow, those are some big capitals,’ Sterin remarked. He thrust the pair of doors open, springing the faint morning light upon the guild’s timber walls and floor. ‘The world is really moving forward.’

‘Yes, indeed.’ Ace noticed Lily approaching the bench with three mugs of a brown liquid. ‘Gone are the days of Oceansky being a mystery to the people of Lanthar. We’re on the cusp of the world finally becoming whole, even with half of it in the sky.’ He gratefully accepted a mug from Lily, taking the first sip of caffeine for the day… first of many.

‘Well yes, though connections with the other continents of Igharias are few and far between, we know that Tellus’ power didn’t affect just one continent. It’s about time the ground world stopped separating itself from the sky. Harmony is key to prosperity.’ Sterin obtained one of the other mugs from Lily and gratefully took a gulp.

There was a sound like sniffing from somewhere nearby.

‘Caffeine? Coffee!’ An older man with browned skin, tattered and worn from years of life-threatening experiments came screaming from the hall of bedrooms. Juni scampered to the bar, and had a mug pressed swiftly into his face, as Lily, still bedraggled, took a sip of her own. ‘My thanks!’ Juni skulled the drink in a split moment.

‘Good morning, Juni.’ Ace flinched seeing the inelegant gulping from the strange man and the very clear caffiene buzz blitzing a destructive course through Juni’s body.

‘Good day! So, here’s the thing–I need more funds.’

‘Do you mean to say good day as in you wish me a good day, or that I should have a good day nonethel–’ Ace could already see his joke going directly past Juni’s one-track mind. ‘Why do you need more money so suddenly, and how much?’

‘Well, you see I thought that because Clay and Illytra’s little team are off and don’t need their ship right now, I could make some big modifications to their ship! So it could be starting at one hundred thousand unusual.’

Ace took one slow sip of his coffee.

The first of the newer guild members began to enter into the hall.

‘Let’s get to that conversation later today. Come and see me in the afternoon and we can discuss a monetary plan, as well as the details of these modifications.’ Ace nodded to Juni, who nodded back and shot off towards the lab like a firework in a festival. 

‘I don’t know if we’re getting enough jobs to fund that kind of thing,’ Sterin groaned.

‘Goodness.’ Ace looked to the half empty job board. ‘Randouin, I know you’re a dragon, but how did you pull this off with a tankard of ale in your hand?’