"Can we go now?" Baldy Bill let out a dry laugh.
"Quite flexible when it comes to knowing when to yield and when to stand firm, but unfortunately your eye for things is lacking," Anser said calmly.
"You're absolutely right," Baldy Bill replied with a placating smile, though inwardly he could not help but vent furiously: 'Do you people want to look in a mirror first? Filthy and tattered from head to toe—the one in back looks like a savage, the one in front is a laborer, and the weapons look ancient. The three of you together couldn't scrape up a single suit of armor…'
Anser had no idea what the other party was thinking; he had always felt rather good about himself.
"I want to ask you something. Have you seen any magic apprentices from Fabian's Wizard Tower, also coming from the Brampton District?"
"Uh," Baldy Bill thought for several seconds, then still shook his head. "No impression."
"Then who did you hear saying that Wizards can't cast spells?" For them to dare provoke a Wizard, there had to be something fishy going on.
"It's spread everywhere. There's a cult recruiting people, saying the world is about to undergo a great change, that a blue storm sweeping over everything is coming. As long as you join them, you can obtain the legendary blessing: the Sacred Spellscar, and gain the power to wield this and that kind of magic…"
"Order of Blue Fire?"
"That seems to be the name."
"You may go. Hopefully we won't run into each other again."
"We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare…"
Anser swept his gaze around, and the people nearby all avoided his eyes.
"Let's go, to the Adventurers' Guild."
The three of them left at a brisk pace. Someone had already taken notice of what was happening here, and if they did not leave now, trouble would easily follow.
Bratt's expression did not look very good. If he had not softened earlier and made the other party think they were easy to bully, the conflict might not have happened.
"It has nothing to do with you." Anser took a few steps and came up behind him. "Some people have noses sharper than dogs. We're carrying so many things—conflict was inevitable. This was a good chance to use it to deter others."
"Mhm," Bratt responded.
Now that everyone had formed a team, the matters he had to consider inevitably increased.
"What is the Order of Blue Fire?" He deliberately shifted the topic.
"A heretical cult that arose during the Arcane Cataclysm. With the return of the Goddess of Magic, it vanished from history long ago. It's most likely certain ill-intentioned people impersonating it to profit from the name," Anser explained briefly.
"Oh." A strange smile surfaced on Bratt's face. "Who would have thought there'd come a day when spellcasters would become soft targets."
Anser let out a short laugh and said nothing more.
Wizards had always stood high above others, long synonymous with status and wealth. Now that they had fallen into the mud, many people wanted to step on them.
But he knew this was only temporary. The Wizard community had never lacked geniuses.
...
The Rivington District was not very large. A single main avenue extended southward from Wyrm's Crossing, running through the entire district and leading straight to the coastal road outside the city.
This street was the most prosperous in Rivington, also known as Middle Street. The buildings on both sides were tall and imposing, with constant patrols on guard. Public order and sanitation were far better than elsewhere.
With Bratt leading the way, they found that iconic gray-white stone building on the eastern side of the central avenue.
The stone building had five floors and covered over a thousand square meters, with a backyard, and behind the backyard an even larger warehouse.
"I've been here before," Anser recalled.
He was a local and knew of this place, but had never gone inside, because those adventurers carrying blades and swords looked rather dangerous.
"This is a branch of the Watchers' Guild. The headquarters is in the Seatower District. It's one of the most famous adventurers' guilds in Faerûn…" Bratt explained.
Toril was vast, and the overwhelming majority of guilds were local organizations. Even the strongest guilds could not cover the entire continent of Faerûn—communication alone was a major problem.
Baldur's Gate had multiple adventurers' guilds, and the Watchers' Guild was the largest among them. It was mainly distributed across the Sword Coast, with dozens of branches. Its influence extended over an area of more than a thousand kilometers around Baldur's Gate. Even among all adventurers' guilds, it could rank within the top ten, making it quite powerful.
Like other adventurers' guilds, the Watchers' Guild's core business was accepting commissions, including adventuring, exploration, escort missions, and procurement. In addition, it also dealt in intelligence trading, equipment and material sales, lodging, meals, medical services, and skill training.
In essence, it was an adventurer service organization operating for profit.
"There are a lot of people." Finn looked at the constant flow of the crowd, and the stiff expression returned to his face—the textbook image of a socially anxious youth.
Anser patted Bratt. "Next is your turn."
"Come on. Let's first get a grasp of the latest information." Bratt stepped up the stairs and headed straight for the hall; Anser and the other quickly followed.
The ground-floor hall spanned the height of two stories. The three surrounding walls were covered with various commissions, divided into five areas by color.
Directly opposite the main entrance was a row of service windows, dedicated to providing all kinds of services for adventurers.
Bratt swept his gaze around. Familiar memories surfaced in his mind, and a hint of nostalgia showed in his eyes.
He led the two straight to a row of notice boards in the center of the hall. "This side is the bulletin area. Everything posted here is public information—you can quickly get an idea of what's been happening recently…"
Anser scanned the boards and found that most of it concerned major events around Baldur's Gate, arranged along a timeline. All the key news from the past three years was there, but the content was far too brief.
"Pretty much like the Baldur's Gate Gazette," he shook his head.
"Haha, it's basically all excerpts from the gazette anyway," Bratt laughed. "Truly valuable intelligence wouldn't be shown to you for free."
Following the posting dates forward, Anser found the most recent notices.
[Summer Tide, Month of the Valleys' Reclamation, Year 1699. The Weave is in turmoil, triggering continual natural disasters. Districts of Baldur's Gate have fallen, linking to the Underdark…]
[Duergar invade Baldur's Gate; the Flaming Fist suffers a crushing defeat…]
"There's nothing useful here." He shook his head, somewhat disappointed.
What he really wanted to know was how the other factions within the Lords' Alliance were reacting—whether there was any aid; whether other regions across Faerûn were experiencing disasters; and whether there existed banded storms like the blue flames.
Information in this world was far too closed off. One could only have a rough understanding of the local region, while other areas were shrouded in fog, known only through hearsay. It made him very uncomfortable.
"You can pay to buy intelligence, but it's expensive," Bratt said with a smile. "Come on, let's get settled first."
"Alright."
He led the two to the northern window area, then along a side corridor into another small hall. A banner was mounted horizontally on the wall, bearing the words Adventurers' Home.
The small hall had a counter, behind which sat a halfling, idly fiddling with several dice.
Bratt took a small silver, shield-shaped token from his chest and placed it on the counter. "One large room."
The halfling glanced up at the group, picked up the token, and began registering it. "Blade Wolf, registration number 0071-02-05-237529, intermediate adventurer. One large room, 5 silver coins per night. Room and water only. How many days?"
"Just one day for now." Ignoring Anser's strange look, Bratt took a large money pouch from his pack and counted out 60 copper coins, placing them on the counter.
Seeing that it was all copper, the halfling looked somewhat displeased. He leaned over the counter, extended his small, heavily furred hands, and counted for quite a while. After confirming there were 10 extra copper coins, his face immediately split into a grin.
"That's right, that's right…"
He muttered as he slipped the 10 copper coins into his own pouch, then swept the remaining copper coins into a drawer. Reaching under the counter, he grabbed a key and tossed it to Bratt.
"You came at a good time—only two rooms left. Third floor, room 28. Sunny, clean, with a washroom. Stay with confidence. If anything goes missing, it's compensated."
"Many thanks, many thanks." Bratt retrieved his adventurer badge, waved to Anser and the other, and headed up the staircase in the corner of the small hall.
Anser watched the entire process without saying a word, letting Bratt handle everything.
Once they reached the third floor and saw the corridor was empty, he could not help asking, "Blade Wolf? Is there really such a species?"
He had almost lost his composure when he heard the name earlier.
Bratt let out an awkward laugh. "There is. I have green eyes, and when I was young my canines stuck out. My companions all said I looked like a blade wolf, so… haha…"
"Haha…" Anser smiled faintly. Bratt's canines were indeed rather distinctive. "There are actually vacant rooms here. I thought it would've been full long ago."
"The adventurers' guild only provides lodging and food to intermediate adventurers and above," Bratt explained. "Each person can open at most one room, but they can bring two others."
'Mm. If there were no threshold, we probably wouldn't have had a chance to stay here,' Anser thought with quiet relief. "How are adventurers ranked?"
"Both adventurers and adventuring parties are divided into ranks one through five," Bratt replied. "People are just used to calling them beginner, intermediate, advanced, master, and legendary.
"Some guilds also name them by badge material—bronze, silver, gold, platinum, arcanum…"
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