December 27th X786
"A letter from the Guild Committee, Master Blake."
An elderly man dressed in the style of a butler stood in the doorway of a dimly lit room. A bright and crackling fire illuminated some of the room with flickering orange light. The curtains were mostly drawn on all of the many windows, letting only thin rays of light through. An ornate high back chair, flanked by a couch on either side sat directly across from the fireplace.
A haunting melody of classical music filled the room - A beautiful symphony of violins, cello and the families of strings and woodwinds with a chorus helping to set the tone for the music. A pair of hands, clothed in black sleeves and white gloves, fluidly moved as if they were conducting the piece themselves. The butler stood there, back straight and eyes closed - Any other day he would have doubted that the Master had heard him. Today, this was far to important to ignore...
The hands stopped and they snapped their fingers. The music stopped abruptly and the curtains flew open, flooding the room with bright light. It was decorated in Victorian style. Much of the wooden furniture was dark and covered with some violet table cloth. The room was a mix of dark reds, purples and greens.
"Thank you kindly, Geppo," A smooth male voice said. The butler approached without hesitation and placed the envelope he had come to deliver in the Master's open hand. With a wave of his hand, the red wax marker sealing the envelope came loose and he withdrew a blank piece of paper from within. A holographic image of one of the Guild Committee's many messengers appear.
"This is an official letter of notification from the Fiore Branch of the Magic Council addressed to Blake Foxhern. This letter is to inform you that your Guild Renewal process has been completed and your Guild, Avarice Hand, is once again Legal. All previous strikes have been removed from Avarice Hand's record, and as such, these discrepancies will not hinder the work your Guild does. The same rules still do apply before you can officially receive jobs from through the legal channels: that you must have at least eight mages under your employment. When that is done, you merely need to send in a letter with the signatures of all of your current mages, the necessary amount I repeat, and all matters involving the finalization of your renewal process will be complete. We, the Magic Council, look forward to hearing from you in the near future."
With that, the hologram disappeared.
"It seems as though it all went rather smoothly, Sir." Geppo said. The Head butler to the Foxhern Family, Geppo was a tall man standing over 6'0" in height, and a man of advanced age, made evident by his light grey hair and his receding hairline. What hair he did have curled and branched out in to three spikes on either side. His eyebrows were thick and curled upwards at the ends in to spirals, as did his equally thick mustache. He was on the lean side, with broad shoulders. His attire consisted of a violet coat with twin coattails that curled at the ends like his facial hair, with a golden buttons and white gloves. His grey suit pants stretched to his ankles and black, shined shoes adorned his feet.
"Yes, yes it does..." Blake replied, setting the letter on of the table next to his chair next to his tea. He took a moment to take a sip from the fine, ornate porcelain and then he set it down, "Now... for me to find new and worthy recruits."
"If I might suggest, sir," Geppo started, bowing lightly, "For the sake of mine and Hilda's sanity, do try to avoid the... Crazies, as she puts it. The rowdy ones. We're not in the primes of our youth."
"Speak for yourself, you old goat!" A disembodied voice shouted from another part of the manor.
Blake chuckled to himself and Geppo merely tugged at one end of his mustache and he cleared his throat.
"I will do my best, my friend," Blake stated as he stood up from his chair. Slightly shorter than his butler, he was a youthful man with light wrinkles around his eyes, a shimmering silver in color. His black hair, his sideburns petering off in to grey, was messily swept back with a single lock of hair curved forward at his hairline. He was dressed in a black peacoat adorned with golden buttons with a white shirt and knot of a violet tie peeking out. His suit pants, violet purple in color like his tie and his shoes a shiny black as well.
He straightened his coat and he turned to face the long time servant of his family, "You almost made it sound as though you were a frail, old man, Geppo. I almost believed you too, hmhmhm."
Geppo nodded his head, "Old, yes… but anything but frail. My request is for the sake of your new members. I don't want to have to show them what for like that last bunch!" The man stuck his chest out and held his head high. Blake laughed at his butler's antics, though his head fell slightly.
"I'll do my best…" He pulled at the hems of his gloves, "
In the Kindgom of Fiore, miles from other civilization sits the Foxhern Manor - Owned by the oldest son of the Foxhern family, Blake Foxhern. It was a large U-shaped structure made of brick that was shades of grey, violet purple roofing and pristine, white windows and violet purple shutters on the outside. White marble columns lined the red brick walkway to the twin, wooden doors to the mansion, red and violet rose bushes lined the house in between the columns.
A large circle of forest had been cleared out around the manor, and its place a large maze, hedge-garden had been erected behind the home covering a fourth of the open land, stretching from the back of the house to the tree-line. Two luscious gardens had been planted on either side of the home for fresh vegetables and flowers for decoration. In front of the building, on brick foundation was a circular fountain topped with a gyroscope.
Blake stepped outside with a black top hat on his head now and a black cane in hand that tapped against the stone walkway as he made his way. He was flanked by two of his personal guards that doubled as butlers, dressed mostly in black with the lower halves of their faces covered, the only distinguishing features were ones short and curly blond hair and the other's shaved head void of hair. He stopped midway between the fountain and the walk to the entrance. A smile graced his face and he tapped his cane against the ground, and a violet magic circle stretched out underneath his feet.
"Avarice Hand is alive and well once again!" He stated. He tossed his cane in to the air and caught it, spinning it several times, he finally shouldered the walking stick. When that happened, the magic circle disappeared and under his feet now was a symbol that had not been there prior. His pride and joy - A black hand with the symbol for the Fiore currency, Jewels in the center in white.
"Geppo! I require a messenger service and I need them here Yesterday!"
"Right away, Master Blake!" His Head Butler called from one of the upper windows.
"Hilda, would you be so kind to help me with the renovations?" He asked. It only took mere seconds for his Head Maid to appear near him. She was taller than Geppo, stout and plumper. Her stern face was not entirely devoid of wrinkles which showed her age. Her silver hair was pulled back in to a high and neat bun, held in place with two, crossed needles. She was dressed in traditional maid attire with a black dress, with white frilly trim and a violet apron with white frills as well.
She bowed lightly and stated, "Would be a pleasure, Sir Blake."
"Could you bring out a few of the other maids and butlers as well? This will be a fairly large project!" Hilda smiled and with a snap of her fingers several magic circles appeared on the ground around her. A dozen of his servants, seven butlers and five maids appeared, the rings on their fingers glowing with violet light that steadily died down. They bowed lightly.
"At your service, Lord Foxhern," They chorused.
"Excellent!" He proclaimed with joy. Blake turned his back to them and motioned for them to follow with his cane, "We have much to do! I expect a large turnout for my trials!" There was much for them to do and a short amount of time to get everything ready and perfect it all! A smile stretched across the man's face and he tipped his top hat forward so that the brim shadowed his eyes.
The coming year was going to be a fun one for certain!
A mass of people gathered around the message board inside of Onibus Train Station, some of them waiting for their trains to arrive while others were arriving. The crowd was growing steadily larger as more people came in. Murmurs, both excited and weary, were being thrown around. Others hollered with excitement and cheered.
"What's with the crowd?"
"Some rich guy, Blake Foxhern, is holding some initiation test for people looking to join his Guild."
"How do you know he's rich?"
"He's offering one-hundred thousand jewels just for showing up, that's how!"
"EH?!"
Papers were being passed around. Shimmering, golden yellow fliers sighed with bold, black calligraphic writing that read…
I, Blake Foxhern, cordially invite any and all willing mages to come and join my Guild, Avarice Hand! We're a Treasure Hunter Guild, if you didn't already guess it, treasures and rare valuables are what we deal with! Some of which could be yours…
I am obligated to warn the one or the many who read these fliers that my test with be grueling. Not for the faint of heart.
If you feel you have the bravery to face this mysterious challenge head on and the skills necessary to press forward and claim one of the few spots for yourself, then come! Come to the coordinates I have listed on this page
To reward your bravery, I will even give those who show up one-hundred thousand jewels. These words are my binding contract and I will make good on it. You have my word. Both in spirit and in writing!
You have until December 29th to decide and arrive. Think fast and be swift!
Come one! Come all! Avarice Hand awaits you!
"I thought that this guy was dead..."
"Apparently not..."
"That... There's got to be a catch!"
"Screw catches! One-hundred thousand jewels just for showing up? Tch!"
"It does sound like easy money..."
Many took pens from their person and wrote the coordinates on to their skin before taking off. Others made sure to snatch one of the fliers and attempted to race off only to be tackled by one or multiple people who hadn't had a chance to see the coordinates for themselves.
Nighttime…
"Magnolia… Crocus… Hargeon… Freesia…" Blake named off each location as he watched areas light up with violet purple dots across the map of Fiore spread out in front of him. Slowly but surely he was watching as confirmation of his fliers being spread evenly across the Kingdom was being sent back. It was late in to the night, and he had paid the Messenger service quite generously for their job, making sure that word would spread fast throughout the day.
It had been hours since then. Everything had been prepared and triple-checked to make sure that everything was working properly.
"Such a splendid sight. Splendid indeed… Not only will I have a plethora of potential Mages by the deadline, but I'll hopefully have spread the name for all to know. That should make this year even more exhilarating!" He spun around and twirled his cane, doing a little jig out of joy, "I just cannot wait!"
Ending Author's Notes...
I don't know how I feel about the name of the Guild, but with nothing better and a concept behind the name that I do like, I'll stick with it.
Hello and welcome all readers and hopeful submitters...
This is a Dark Guild Fic. I figured I should say that here, and the more important stuff, like the form, is on my profile. Hope to see a good turn out :)