The adventurer guild was exploding with chatter and mead, a group of three kobolds was trying to convince their roachman friend to play a game of poker with them, four gnolls were angrily shouting at each other over what type of girl was the most beautiful, at the far corner a newly formed party of a human, a cat sith, a dragon, and a phoenix were trying to put out a small fire made by their latter companion.
Cheers and beer, food and laughers shared among those of similar lifestyles alike, in the middle of this there was a lone dwarf covered in enchanted steel of his own making, a crossbow with a link chain to the ammunition box and his morning star - weapons he put blood and sweat to make and money to find a good enchanter, at his hand he carried a mug full of beer, laughing while walking towards the quest board, he'd been going solo for far too long and wanted to experience the joys of adventuring with a group once again, make new friends, share woes and laughter together.
His previous party had disbanded due to some members that had found better opportunities while others wanted to explore the wide world, it was both a sad but joyous event to see his companions grow and he was ready to do it all over again!
But what Dwelm didn't account for was meeting an old war brother, sitting alone on a table with the same expression he had ten years ago, defeated. But there was a spark in his eyes, one that he had hoped Tenpao would reignite in his lifetime. Without further ado, Dwelm chugged all his beer and promptly slammed the bottle near the table with the gnolls then rushed to his old friend, "Ten! Finally moving those saggy old bones eh?! Let's get something to drink!" His only remaining friend, Dwelm, said with a broad smile at the sight of that saggy old black man.
Tenpao sighed, "I'm too old for beer, Dwelm." His words provoked Dwelm's face to contort.
"Too old?! Nobody is too old for good strong ale!" Dwelm said while pulling a seat next to Tenpao, "So, how's the twins?"
"Great at home, need to polish them soon though." Tenpao replied and smiled, "Say, do you want to-"
"Party up? Of course!" Dwelm said, slamming his hand at the table, Tenpao once again let out a sigh escape as a sleek smile formed on his face, noting Dwelms name down, "So, how much do you plan to take?"
"Four," Tenpao said, that's the minimum for a party to be formed and he felt more comfortable leading a small group than a large one, it keeps the past at bay.
Dwelm, however, frowned and put his hand on Tenpao's shoulder - for that, he had to stand up in his seat. "Look, while it is better to let the past sometimes you must confront it to become a better man." Dwelm said.
Tenpao looked ahead, his eyes peered at the distance and then he nodded.
As the clock ticked the chatter only grew, some bored adventurers began an impromptu group singing session and the situation escalated from there, but thankfully eventually they got their first soon-to-be companion interested, he was a human with sun-yellow spiked hair, an eastern fancy sword at his waist, a black leather coat with chains decoration, brown pants, and red sandals. Despite the adventurer going for a punk-like appearance he was nervous, his legs unable to stop shaking.
"No need to work yourself up sonny," Tenpao began, "State your mana capacity, magic affinity, if your flow is inverted, and your specialization."
"F-first of I-i'm not worked up!" The spiked-hair punk began sweating, "I'm ranked average seven, not awakened my magic affinity yet, my flow isn't inverted, and I'm going to become the best swordsman on this continent!" Dwelm and Tenpao looked at each other and then at the noodle arms of the spiked-hair kid.
"What's your age?" Dwelm said, in the most gentle voice his rough cords could make.
"F-fifteen sir!" Spiked-boy said and saluted for some reason.
His age settled it, adventurers were quite popular among youngsters and while the adventurer guild guidelines said that the minimum age was thirteen, no thirteen-year-old could ever become an adventurer, and that is for an obvious motive. "Sorry sonny, but that's a no. I'm sure you'll become a great adventurer in the future." Tenpao said.
"A man that works hard and takes risks is bound to find success at some point in Life, keep trying pipsqueak." Dwelm said, the boy looked at the iron dwarf nearly two times smaller than him and bowed offering his thanks before going away. "What a promising lad."
More time passed, Dwelm had gone to get some beer leaving Tenpao to his devices, by how the day was going Dwelm thought that he'd have enough time to come back before somebody else came. He was wrong as a blue dragon crashed on the table breaking it in half, he had two white horns evenly separated on top of his head, black spikes running along his spine, and a round muzzle, quickly brushing off the dirt and wood off of his wings he smiled at Tenpao, "Hello! Stormclaw at your service!"
Tenpao immediately raised an eyebrow, the dragon was small, barely a meter tall, and about... Sixty centimeters long? That must be the size, yes. An adult dragon would be a meter by seventy centimeters or somewhere close to that. Not counting the tail. "Mana capacity, magic affinity, flow, and specialization?"
"Above Average three, Thunderbolt Generation, Medium-close range combatant!" Stormclaw said, with each word his chest puffed up and his wings spread wider, after done with his display he picked up one of the chairs that weren't destroyed to sit.
"Mhm. How many spells do you know?" Tenpao said, this was the deciding factor.
Stormclaw looked at him then faltered, "...One." He said, shrinking down. Dragons were a bit difficult to deal with, too prideful and emotional to take a simple no - even more young ones like this one.
"You're a very talented dragon sonny," Tenpao said, the Stormclaw immediately perked up, "Great potential and very powerful affinity, success is sure to follow you, but," And then he withered, "Those wings might need a bit of work, and if you found a trainer with similar magical affinity you'd become the perfect adventurer material, but for now, it's a no."
"B-but I'm great! You said it yourself..." Stormclaw said with tears welling up in his eyes, "A-and- that I could be perfect adventurer material, so why?"
Tenpao sighed, wondering where Dwelm was when he needed him. "Look, while most quests aren't dangerous all adventures will have to fight monsters at some point, while dragons are quite combat ready," Tenpao pointed a finger to the dragon, "you having only one spell isn't reassuring. I'm not denying your entry to the party because I hate you, but because I care about your safety."
"R-really?" Stormclaw said while wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Really, sonny." Tenpao replied with a smile, Stormclaw nodded and walked off, his wings tightly shut on his back.
It was at this moment that Dwelm returned with seven mugs in his possession, "What happened?!"
A new table was employed and even more time passed, the chatter began to die down and both Dwelm and Tenpao were thinking of packing their stuff and going home, however, another to-be companion came in, a gnoll whose fur was darker than night with battered light armor, a rusty broken great sword, and a pumpkin on its head. Her fluffy ears pivoted and her paw seemed to be perpetually on her snout, while her free paw carried a flower pot, "Henlo! Name's Pampkin!"
"Hi, mana capacity, magic affinity, flow type, and specialization please." Tenpao said.
"Genius ten, nature, not inverted, and long-close combatant!" Lulu spoke and pulled a chair to sit.
"Genius ten?!" Dwelm said, to which Lulu reached for something on her waist, pulled out a golden token with a carving of an apple, and showed it to Dwelm. The royal mark is given to those who truly are talented. Dwelm stared blankly at the gnoll, his mouth gradually opening and beer flowing out much to Lulu's disgust.
"How many spells do you know?" Tenpao said, trying to keep calm.
"Seven!" Once Lulu said that Tenpao had to stop the urge from writing her name down.
"Previous fighting experiences?" Dwelm said while droplets of sweat flowed down from his forehead.
"Oh! Pampkin was on a trip at Pulalia a few days ago and set an investigation at an ancient ruin in there!" Lulu began, Dwelm and Tenpao's eyes widened by the second, "One of Pampkin's hirees betrayed her then she threw a centipede on his face and the others beat him up good!" Lulu punched the air for further impact, "Then a huge band of kobolds came! There were like fifty of 'em, so Pampkin her space wizardry artifact and bam! Also, Pampkin needs some cash."
"You're in!" Tenpao shouted, immediately writing her name down.
"Yes!" Lulu shouted while striking a victory pose raising her fist in the air, Dwelm looked at her and laughed, offering a mug of beer for the gnoll which immediately made her shrink her neck like a cat having a flower on the head.
"Well, then it's time to pack up-" Tenpao sa-
"Waaaaaaaaaaait!" A shout in the distance drew the attention of all, an elf was running through the tables while avoiding the leaving adventurers "I want to apply tooooo!"