Entry #1 - "The Captain"
Tharsis, Saehrimnir Inn, 3 A.M.
Captain Weiss Baldory sat quietly at a small desk, a notebook open in front of him. The desk lamp dimly lit the darkened window before him, and in his reflection, he could see his face - young and unmarred by the trials of combat, which he accredited to his training and being born into nobility (House Baldory was rather steadfast in its determination to make him as presentable to all potential female suitors as possible) - and the dark bags under his eyes, combined with the unhealthy paleness of his skin and the horrid mess his otherwise tame brown hair was, put about ten years on him that he didn't have.
It was no secret that Baldory was tired most days - whether from stress in combat, anxiety plotting the next moves for his guild's mission, exhaustion from trying to keep up with everybody's training regimens and their present strengths and weaknesses, or simply because of the fact that he was a near-insomniac level of workaholic, he couldn't say. But he had lost his once vibrant glow, and some days it was all he could do to even drag himself out of bed, let alone wield his sword and heft his heavy shield, set his feet, and stand fast against a bone-shattering blow from a monster on the offensive. When he was a knight for his homeland, the days were somehow easier. With the knowledge that any moment could lead to combat, Baldory never had the time to feel fatigue, and on the days where the combat was mellow or nonexistent, he could even get away with sleeping the day away to replenish his strength.
Not so, now that he was a guild captain.
Thirty. Thirty was the number of names in his guild's roster. Thirty was the number of people he was tasked with overseeing; commanding; disciplining; training; outfitting; feeding and boarding; the list went on. Funds were always short. Resources were whatever could be gathered in the field to save what little money the guild had. Free time was a punchline in a pub joke, because if anybody was without a task to see to, they were put on skyship cleaning duty for the guild's vessel, the Sedassis. Nobody could say that Baldory worked his people like dogs and never took any responsibilities for himself, because he would jump in on any task that was lacking vigor and do the job with his own two hands, oftentimes collapsing unconscious from his perpetually overtaxed state and throwing his guild into a fretful frenzy trying to resuscitate him. If there was a day that Baldory had to himself - one where he wasn't in the inn's clinic, that is - he might have worked through it without realizing it was even there.
In short, the guild life was not an easy one. Not by a long shot. And making it all the more difficult was that Baldory had received a request from the Outland Count, the ruler of Tharsis who was sponsoring Baldory's and so many other guilds, to evaluate his entire roster as well as himself and hand in a full report so that the Count could determine how worthwhile it was to keep them on the mission. This wasn't ordered in spite towards the guilds, it was simply that the Outland Count was trying to look out for his city, and that so happened to include their funds. Several newcomer guilds had joined the effort recently, Baldory's included, and in order to weed out the pretenders from the trustworthy names, something was going to have to give.
Baldory sighed and put his pen to the paper, hoping that his words wouldn't spell the end of his guild. Returning home a disgrace was a less than favorable situation for him.
Guild Captain's Evaluation, Entry 1/15: Self-Evaluation
My name is Weiss Baldory, youngest son of noble House Baldory, veteran knight and first time guild leader. I am captain of Guild Bernoryn, a rookie explorer's guild numbering thirty-one strong including myself, on a mission in service to the Outland Count of Tharsis to reach the great Yggdrasil tree.
By the Outland Count's orders, I write this report of my ranks, that we may hopefully prove ourselves worthy of remaining an active part of this mission, though I am aware that the decision ultimately lies with the Outland Count, and not myself.
As I am the one writing this report, I feel it only fair that I begin with an evaluation of myself; I only hope that my words are honest and unbiased, because I like to think of myself as a humble soul, and it would be... unfortunate to discover myself otherwise.
The land I hail from is far from Tharsis. In that land, my name bears the same weight that the Outland Count's does in this city, but that is neither here nor there. I was trained as a knight of an esteemed Order, whose sole objective is the peace and prosperity of the land which we call home.
My position in the Order never once came close to that of a commanding officer. I was, in layman's terms, a "grunt." From the time I was recruited, to the moment of my honorable resignation, I was the frontline soldier who was duty-bound to say "yes sir, no ma'am" when addressed, to follow my orders without complaint even if they disagreed with my moral stance (which they thankfully never did), and to handle any menial task presented to me promptly and professionally. And I was content with this. I never saw myself as a commanding figure, and what the faces of those who were said could write the pages of the darkest tale you would ever read. My only responsibilities were to look after my own well-being, that of my comrades, and especially that of my commanders, to serve with honor and dignity, and to return home to my family alive, with my head held high.
I succeeded, of course, else I would not be writing this now. But, that was probably obvious, and I had no reason to insert it into my report, which I now can't erase lest I begin a fresh page, because there is no such thing as "erasable ink," damn it all-!
Beg pardon; my thoughts escaped me temporarily. Rest assured, it will be the last time they do so in this report.
As I was saying, I was never a commander as a knight. So, you can imagine how strange it felt to suddenly find myself in that position when I was given the task by my family to come to Tharsis and lead a guild in the task of reaching Yggdrasil.
Why did my family make me come here and undertake this task? Because we've fallen on hard times. The people are losing faith in our leadership. In perhaps another three years, we may well be exiled by our own people because of our lack of dependability, and it's thanks to my uncle that this is so. The man thoroughly ruined our standing with the people, just like he ruined the city we are sworn to govern. Rather than risk offending the populace by initiating a draft when war threatened our doorstep - and really, at that point in time, I could have named several families who would have gladly taken up the blade in our honor - he instead called upon a strong, but shady group of mercenaries to do the job for us. They were victorious, but when the time came to pay our dues, they suddenly decided that they wanted the city for themselves and raided the place. It was the first and only time I ever drew blood upon the soil of my youth, but in spite of my efforts to restore my family's damaged honor by defending our people, what was done could not be undone. Ergo, when we received word of this mission to reach Yggdrasil, my family jumped at the chance to redeem ourselves by aiding a foreign land in a history-making effort, and I was the one they volunteered to the task.
And here we are now.
When I first arrived in Tharsis, I felt a bit ashamed to even be here. This city is flourishing under the careful and wise guidance of a single man, and yet my entire family could barely even stand against a single threat to our own city. I heavily considered turning around and leaving, but I couldn't pack yet more disgrace upon my family's name and still be able to sleep at night, so I carried on with my request.
The Guild Hall was my destination, and there I laid down the first building blocks of Bernoryn's foundation. The name was perhaps the only easy part of the whole process - Bernoryn was the name of a man I greatly respected, who had often spoke of venturing out and making a name for himself as an explorer before he passed away. It made too much sense to me not to go that route, and so i went with it. Admittedly, I received strange looks from some of the people who were nearby enough to here me announce the name of my fledgling guild, but what they think versus what I feel is no concern of mine.
I thought at first that nobody would give my guild a second glance, and that I would be reduced to making a fool of myself, sitting at a table in the streets, shouting empty promises at anybody who would lend their ear just to get one of them to lend their blade to my endeavors. To my surprise, I was very, very wrong. In fact, the line of potentials going to land a position in my ranks stretched almost out of the Hall entirely. Even the veteran guilds who were used to having long lines looked a bit seasick when they witnessed mine. To this day, I still don't know if it was because my name somehow got around or if Bernoryn was just that inviting an opportunity for people. I do have a feeling that part of it might have been sex appeal, given how many of them were young women who were doing a poor job hiding their lustful blushes. Worry not, they did not find a way into my ranks... or, I certainly hope they didn't. If I'm going to command the lives of others, I'd rather have people who hate me but would lay their lives down to defend me at my beck and call so that they could continue hating me, rather than lovesick puppies who would let me get slaughtered and never lift a finger to try and stop it because they were blinded by the hearts in their eyes.
As I have mentioned, the number was narrowed down to thirty souls - the majority were Landsknechts, followed closely by Fortresses, then Snipers, Medics, Runemasters, Dancers, and finally Nightseekers. I... tried to be as indiscriminating as possible, but I find myself greatly put off by the Nightseekers, only recruiting about three of them out of the fifteen or so who applied. If I may be blunt, Nightseekers are just creepy. I have no doubt that they are very skilled, but it seems that one of the prerequisites is an unnervingly perverse, almost sexual infatuation with death. The three that I recruited - Nachtdol, Schatolch and Kreuschat - were the only ones who didn't follow this trend. But, I'll get into that when I get to their evaluations.
In the end, I came away with a full roster, and once I went to register my guild in your office and received the test to find the Iridescent Ore that powers Tharsis' skyships, my job unofficially began...
The Old Mine, 7 AM (several months prior)
Captain Baldory glanced to his left and right occasionally as he marched through the thickly-wooded area, in search of the mine where the Outland Count presumed he might find the Iridescent Ore he was tasked to retrieve. He had been warned ahead of time of monsters in the area, perhaps not overly difficult to defeat, but certainly a challenge to the inexperienced fighter. Baldory had the experience under his belt - fighting both men and beast in order to keep the barracks standing strong had served him well in that regard - but he remained on guard anyhow, just in case. Hell, that man Whirlwind, who had kindly explained about the need to chart out one's own maps and shown them where in the area the mine was, had nearly gotten himself impaled when his sudden appearance startled Baldory.
For the sake of proving his worth to his men, Baldory had gathered four of his recruits to come with him. Thinking that fights would be more a matter of attrition than who struck first, Baldory brought a Landsknecht, a Medic, a Fortress and a Runemaster. He, himself, was adorned in full steel, marked with the colors and symbols of Noble House Baldory and the order to which he formerly belonged. A shield about the length of his torso was strapped firmly around his left arm, and he carried a long double-edged sword in his right hand. As a general rule, Baldory never sheathed his sword when in the field - attacks could happen anywhere, at any time. Being unprepared had cost him many allies in the past.
"I don't mind telling you, but that armor looks ridiculous," the Medic - a white-haired young boy garbed in dark medical attire - piped up.
Baldory kept his eyes on the front and refused to acknowledge the statement.
"I mean, I suppose it's practical if you're getting attacked, but you kind of stick out, you know?"
Baldory smirked. The Medic was certainly one to talk about "sticking out," as he was the only other person in the group aside from Baldory who wore dark colors.
"...He's ignoring me, isn't he?" The Medic asked his three comrades.
"I get the feeling he's not much of a conversationalist," one of the women - the veritable she-titan Fortress of the group - noted.
"Do you think he speaks a foreign language, and just doesn't understand what we're saying? I wanna see..."
The woman the voice belonged to - the Landsknecht - suddenly ran in front of Baldory, stopping him in his tracks.
"DO-YOU-SPEAK-OUR-LANGUAGE?" She asked loudly, and slowly.
"...Fall in or I'm cutting you from this mission," Baldory ordered.
"Oh! Oh, he was just ignoring us, okay..." The Landsknecht scratched her head nervously as she returned to her place behind Baldory.
"...So, about your armor-" the Medic tried again.
"My armor was designed to protect, not conceal. If you're so worried about not being seen, I'll put you in a team of Nightseekers and let you figure it out on your own," Baldory interrupted.
"Well, I mean I get that, but there's monsters-"
"I'm well aware that there are monsters here. The Outland Count said as such before we set out. That's why I'm wearing armor in the first place." Baldory turned and faced the mouthy Medic. "Something which you could stand to benefit from doing, yourself."
The Medic's expression turned indignant, and his face red, but as he tried to find the words to store back, he fell silent as he realized that Baldory had the upper hand in the matter, and so decided to simply glare at the ground quietly.
"... Speaking of monsters," Nordauber, the Runemaster said quietly. His was the only name Baldory remembered - though he had told himself not to get too connected to the group in case the guild didn't work out, something about how cold and emotionlessly Nordauber had introduced himself during his recruitment had stuck with Baldory.
Nordauber gestured in front of Baldory. "I said, speaking of monsters..." he repeated.
Baldory turned around and had just enough time to lift his shield before a large rat threw itself against it. Caught off-guard, Baldory didn't have the time to set his feet and stumbled back a step. He was wick to regain his stance, though, and brought his sword to bear as the rodent shook itself out and bristled for another attack.
"Fortress, to the front!" Baldory called.
The lady Fortress quickly took up her stance beside Baldory and smacked the rodent away a second time as it leapt for the Medic, who ducked quickly behind her and took a knee. His wasn't technically a fighting role, so it was prudent of him to be as small and unnoticeable as possible until somebody was injured.
Still dazed, the rodent was only aware enough of its surroundings to jump back from the Landsknecht's attempted stab, leaving her sword stuck in the ground, but was warded off by a sudden burst of flame before it could counterattack. Nordauber had been readying his shot from the moment the fight started, and only now released it in order to prevent injury to his comrade.
Now surrounded, the rodent became even more ferocious. It charged at Baldory, ducking around the Landsknecht and managing to dodge a swing from the Fortress and another bolt of fire from Nordauber. The Medic jumped out and managed to tag its back end with his staff as it raced by, but that only seemed to make it angrier as it leapt at Baldory.
Once more, a shield met the rodent's face, and as it rolled over onto its feet this time, the sharp blade of Baldory's sword came down through its spine to ensure that it would be the last time.
"...So did we win?" The Landsknecht said as she finally freed her sword from the dirt.
"This fight. But I rather doubt a single rat is the end of our struggles," Baldory replied. And then he looked past the Landsknecht. "And sometimes I hate being right."
The group turned around, and several paces behind them was a baboon, several times larger than the average human being, stalking towards them angrily. Evidently, they had stepped into its territory, and the gesture was not appreciated.
"I assume you understand now why I stress the importance of armor?" Baldory asked the Medic.
"Yeah, alright, I get it already! What the hell do we do about that thing?!" The Medic asked worriedly.
"We avoid it. I can't be sure that we're as prepared to handle it as we were for that rat." Baldory motioned the group to follow him, and they moved back along the path, ducking into cover once they were out of the creature's line of sight.
Confused by their disappearance, the baboon made after the group, unaware of their hiding spot in the brush just beside it. As it slowly stomped past them, the ground shaking slightly with each step, Baldory quietly led his group around behind it, and up the path out had come from. He made sure to dutifully fill in the map as they went.
"If there's one, there's bound to be more," Nordauber cautioned.
"Yes, and I have the worst feeling that I know where they're going to be," Baldory replied.
Sure enough, as they reached the clearing which led to the mine, Baldory spotted two more of the oversized simians wandering around the mine. Almost as though they were guarding it.
"Great. Now how are we going to get at the ore?" The lady Fortress grumbled.
"The same way we got past the first of these beasts. We just have to be smart about it, is all," Baldory replied.
"How are we supposed to get by two of them?" The Medic asked.
"Two is hardly the worst number you can hear when it comes to sneaking about. Just follow me," Baldory said.
It took some doing, but Baldory was able to lead the group around the baboons and into the mine. He opted to stand guard at the entrance while they fished around for any leftover ore, as he had no experience mining and wouldn't know what to look for, and after a moment, he found himself staring down one of the angered beasts as it noticed he was there.
Damn. No getting around this one. We're fighting our way out, Baldory realized.
"Damn it, don't tell me we have to fight that thing, now!" The Medic groaned as he and the others came back to the entrance, bags stuffed with their mining spoils.
"You must have read my mind. We may even have both on our hands. I sure hope you all have enough experience to deal with this," Baldory said.
"Their fur is thin because of the heat, and their primary strength lies in their arms. Fire would be our greatest asset, and if we can bind their arms, they're practically defenseless," Nordauber explained.
"Good to see one of us is detail-oriented," Baldory remarked. "Fortress to the front! We're getting out of here!"
The lady Fortress took her enormous, wedge-shaped shield by its side handles and hefted it like a giant spearhead, and with a loud cry, she charged at the baboon directly in front of them, stabbing it in the right arm with the sharp tip of her shield and pushing it with all her strength onto its back. She ripped her shield or of its arm and jumped back into formation as it writhed in pain, and Baldory rushed to the back of the group in order to shield Nordauber and the Medic from the incoming surprise attack of the second one.
Baldory felt his eyes shoot open from pain as the second baboon's attack connected with his shield and knocked him off his feet. It felt as if his arm had just exploded. He tried to move it, but it seemed to suddenly weigh a ton, and pain wracked his body with every little twitch.
The Medic got his eye on Baldory and quickly rushed to his aid, keeping behind the wall of fire Nordauber had thrown up to ward the second baboon off while the Fortress and Landsknecht did what they could to distract the injured first one.
"Don't move your arm! It's broken!" The Medic shouted over the din of the fight. "Just hold still, I can fix this..."
Baldory grabbed a small dagger from his belt and bit down hard into the hilt of it as the Medic began his work. In the ten agonizing seconds that followed, the Medic had set his arm forcibly and cast a healing spell over him that reconnected the broken limb. Baldory instinctively flexed his arm. He could move it without it hurting as bad, which would have to do for this instance.
The Medic backed away as Baldory rolled over and stood back up. Nordauber saw him from the corner of his eye and reformed the wall of fire into a large fireball, which he promptly threw in the baboon's face. As the baboon let out a ghastly shriek, Baldory ducked under its flailing arms and stabbed it through the chest down to the hilt. He pulled back and ducked out of the way as the beast swung wildly at him, and discovered an opening at the side where he was able to get a second stab in. This time, Nordauber had unleashed a second fireball that again struck the oversized simian in the face, knocking it off balance and onto its stomach. Baldory jumped onto the baboon's back and jammed his sword into the base of its skull as far as he could. The beast went limp, indicating that the job was done.
Baldory turned at the sound of a shout to see the Fortress go flying in much the same way he did. The Medic rushed to her side, with only the Landsknecht to defend him as Nordauber tried to fight the baboon back with fire. It didn't look as though much had been done to it, and it almost seemed like the fire was doing nothing to it.
Baldory winced at the prospect of re-breaking his arm, but somebody had to take up the Fortress' slack. He rushed in and braced as hard as he could, shield held above the Medic's and Fortress' heads in both hands.
With a resounding clang, the baboon's good arm came crashing down on Baldory's shield and sent him sprawling on the ground once more. This time, it wasn't just his arms that were broken - it was both of his legs as well. His knees had snapped like splintering wood from the impact.
"Holy hell! I just fixed you, Cap!" The Medic exclaimed as he finished up with the lady Fortress, who quickly sprang to her feet to block a second incoming shot from the baboon that threatened to wipe out the Landsknecht and Nordauber along with it.
The lady Fortress was successful in blocking the attack - but, unfortunately, the attack landed hard enough to throw off her balance, and she unintentionally whirled around and took her shield upside the back of the Medic's head, sending him straight to the ground, unconscious.
"Oh shit," the lady Fortress gasped.
"Stop worrying about us, just finish that damn thing off!" Baldory barked, each word like hellfire across his body.
Nordauber turned and unleashed a fireball which struck the beast in the sternum, and as it recoiled in pain, the lady Fortress moved around it and dug her shield into the ground behind its right foot, effectively taking its legs out from under it as it tripped over her. The baboon landed hard on the ground, and the Landsknecht took her chance to jump atop it and stab her sword as hard as she could muster into its neck. Blood spurted skyward as the creature shrieked its last breath.
"Good damn riddance," the lady Fortress spat.
"Captain!" The Landsknecht called out worriedly, jumping off the beast and rushing to his side.
"I can't move," Baldory grunted in pain.
"I'll take care of the little guy - it's my fault he's all banged up anyhow. You two are gonna have to carry the Captain out," the lady Fortress said, slinging the unconscious Medic onto her back.
Nordauber picked up Baldory's sword and placed it back in its sheath, laid his dented shield over his chest, then took the captain's waist, and the Landsknecht hooked her arms across his sternum. They lifted him up as gently as they could, and he did his best not to cry out as pain shot through him in spades.
After many hours of slow going - and an intense few minutes as the group did their level best to sheesh around the remaining baboon again - the five finally arrived back at the entrance of the area, where Whirlwind was waiting for them.
"So I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say you made some new friends at the mine," Whirlwind said in an attempt to make light humor, but Baldory could tell he was horrified by what he saw.
"Well, I'm sure that you can get yourselves fixed up back in town. For now, let's see how that map of yours turned out..."
Tharsis, Saehrimnir Inn clinic room, 8 PM
Baldory woke up groggily, discovering himself in a sterilized bed at the inn. Next to him, the Medic sat, joking about with some of the other Medics Baldory had recruited. The rest of the team he had been traveling with were all loitering about on random places in the room.
"Well, doctors, how long am I to stay in bed?" Baldory asked groggily.
"Hey, look who finally woke up. You passed out about the time we got back into town. The whole guild was freaking out about what happened to you two," the lady Tower reported. "By the way, doc, sorry for knocking you out back there."
"How many times are you going to apologize for that? Like this is the first time I've ever taken a hard knock, come on," the Medic replied.
"The innkeeper was pretty sure we had tried and failed to make you into a marionette, too," the Landsknecht added.
"Let me be a good lesson for if any of the rest of you happen to break all four limbs at the same time," Baldory said, sitting up. He was pleased to see that his arms and legs were back in working order again.
"It's incredibly painful?" Nordauber said.
"Oh, you have no idea," Baldory replied.
Tharsis, Saehrimnir Inn, 3 AM (present)
...And as the story goes, once I recovered from my injuries, I and my team presented the Iridescent Ore to you, and our guild was made official. For my first time ever being a leader of anything, I'd say it could have gone much, much worse. Yes, I was in a bad state, and yes I had gotten my Medic injured; but nobody died, we successfully charted the map of the area, and we were able to complete our mission in the same day that it was assigned. Overall, as far as this self-evaluation goes, I'm confident that I'm capable of taking this guild far... Perhaps to the Yggdrasil, even. But, that depends on the rest of this report.
Baldory put the pen down and closed the notebook, making sure to stow it in the desk drawer. He turned off the lamp and dragged his tired body to his bed. The rest of the evaluation would have to wait for when he was more of a mind to write anymore.