Montag directed Derik made their way over to the guild. It was a moderately sized building that wouldn't have been easy to differentiate without the sign that labeled it as the Sava branch of the guild. The symbol on the sign displayed a scale that held coins in one pan and a sword in the other. They walked through the front doors into the main lobby, which was filled to the brim with all manner of different characters milling about. There were people clothed in everything ranging from fine silks to dirty padded armor. More notably was the presence of lizard people and half-beasts. Derik had seen them only in illustrations as a guard, but he wasn't phased. It wasn't that odd in comparison to the giant insects. They pushed their way through the crowd towards the front desk.
A young woman waved them over to one of the free spots. "Welcome to the adventurer's guild...ehem. I mean the covenant of contractors, what can I do for you?"
Montag sat down across the other side of the desk. "Oh is this the wrong place? We were looking for the guild."
"No this is still the guild, the name was just changed recently due to the senate passing a new law."
"We're looking for our companions, and we were wondering if they are here?"
"Do you have the name of your group? I can direct you to them."
Montag glanced over to Derik who just shook his head.
"I don't have a name of the group, no."
"Do you have any sort of other identifiers?"
Montag thought for a moment then reached into his pouch. He pulled out a medallion with the symbol of a three-headed wolf.
"Does this work?"
"We just had a group register using that symbol. Follow me."
The woman stepped out from behind the counter and led the two to a separate wing of the building. She unlocked the door to a side room and opened it.
The door revealed Lina sitting at a table near a bar with Gonzalez and Iris. Derik sat down next to them.
"Well, well, what's this?" Derik commented. "You organized our meeting at the equivalent of the local Applebee's. I feel like I'm back home already."
"I rented a space," Lina responded. "I figured we could go over our plan for the next week."
"So, I take it everyone found success in their endeavors?" Montag asked.
"I was making some progress but it's going to be a while to form any sort of substantial following," Iris elaborated. "With so many different religious groups, including the remnants of the reformed church of Mesburg, something major will have to happen to cause any change."
"I got what I needed," Gonzalez patted his belt. "I had to go commission some new web nets."
"Since everyone is here, I guess I'll begin," Lina said. "Now that we are in Palatine we can accomplish the main objective. We have a week to prepare before we leave with the army."
"We're joining up with the military?" Gonzalez asked. "And I was getting excited when you were talking about how important this would be."
"It's only a temporary arrangement," Lina mentioned. "We are just going to be tagging along until we get into Baliskar territory."
"I see we are helping the army form a foothold in Baliskar?" Montag questioned.
"Not exactly," she continued. "Our objective is a stash of magical items held near their capital."
"Now that's interesting," Derik commented. "So what's in there, a frozen sword that lets you summon zombies, an oversized scythe, a dagger that controls time, oh oh, or even a sword-shaped like a key?"
"Well… I don't actually know what's in it."
"Hang on," Iris said. "We are going to find items that we don't even know what they do? Do we have any information on it at all?"
"My informant has told me it is quite the haul," Lina said.
"And why are we searching for these items?" Montag asked. "Surely we could better spend our time protecting villages near the border."
"Yeah, I'm all about finally seeing some cool loot as the next guy-" Derik mentioned. "but this seems awfully risky."
"We don't really have a choice in the matter. To kill the demon king we will need an extra edge. He has proven to be difficult to kill both on and off the battlefield."
"Ah yes, regicide and of a demon no less," Derik placed his hand on his head. "How did things escalate so quickly. What kind of demon is it, one of the hot ones or the ugly ones?"
"What? Demons are just fantastical creatures fought by heroes centuries ago. It's just a title. We can figure out a plan of action once we return to identify the items. For now, we can head to the housing and get ready for tomorrow. You have the week to prepare however you would like."
"Oh, and what did you name our group?" Montag asked. "We were told you registered."
"I just gave them the name I used with my old group, The Hounds of the Publicans. After all, our symbol depicts the hounds that searched for demons in the stories. I thought it was appropriate."
The group slowly shuffled out of the room and out the door. They made their way towards the outskirts of the city where the housing was located.