The day started like any other for Ace. He took a bath before dawn broke, which felt like it happened faster every day. He cleaned his nails, tied back his hair and slipped three rings into the spaces punched in each of his ears.
Ace sighed, taking a moment to look at himself in the mirror. Green skin wrapped him like an ivy curse. Why was it that he had to be born the colour of goblins? His family line of Elven nobility was no more than that—Elven. He slipped on his great golden mantle and robes, stating his place as Guild Master, but reminding him of his missing predecessor.
Time to make for the main hall.
Sunlight barely split the sky with its brilliant blades, so the dining and lounge hall rested in the absence of its patrons. Ace breathed the first of its air just like every other day. He looked to a window above the guild’s entrance, as if it waited to greet him.
‘Good morning, Gafou, Randouin. Here I go again, pretending to be as good as you at this.’
From the side of the hall where the living quarters lay came a young human man: Sterin. The two exchanged greetings 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, two hounds came bounding from the hallway and into the main room. One dog appeared like any other—brown fur and floppy ears. However, the other sported white scales, a heavy build and released a faint frosty mist into the air with every breath. Both ran circles around the guild, enjoying the free space.
‘What’s on today’s plate, Guild Master?’ Sterin arrived at the large pair of front doors in the guild. He found a set of keys at his hip and worked 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 leaned against the bar. ‘There’s also that big job request to help Basti develop direct relations with Mid’Ligan and Dardenann.’
‘Those cities have never had a thing to do with each other,’ 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 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… the 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.’ Sterin accepted a mug from Lily and gratefully took a gulp. ‘It’s about time the ground world stopped separating itself from the sky. Harmony is key to prosperity.’
There was a sound like sniffing from somewhere nearby.
‘Caffeine? Coffee!’ An older man came screaming from the hall of bedrooms. His tan skin carried the scorch marks of several life-threatening experiments from the previous day. Juni scampered to the bar. Lily slammed a mug into his face, his nose clicking from the impact. ‘My thanks!’ Juni chugged the drink in seconds.
‘Good morning, Juni.’ Ace flinched at the inelegant gulping from the strange man. The caffeine buzz set the little fellow to vibrate.
‘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 will be a baseline of one hundred thousand unusual.’
Ace took one slow sip of his coffee. Unusual—the Oceansky equivalent of a gold piece.
The first guild members stumbled 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 along with 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.
Two more guild members approached with papers in their hands—likely monetary requests of their own. Behind them, a team of adventurers stumbled through the main doors, looking like their latest adventure didn’t go so well. They immediately made for Ace.
‘Goodness.’ Ace rubbed his temples. He immediately took stock of a 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?’