Azure: Gunner

I was told that I have to add a Wasted introduction to this thing so here goes. This is the manda-fucking-tory introduction. How to use this book:

It’s a book, morons, you read it. Or just fucking skip to whatever section your instructor told you to read next. Or, you know, whatever sounds like fun. I don’t give a shit.

Also, let this be a lesson to you: DO NOT piss off the Guildmistress ‘cause then you get assigned shit-work like updating the fucking handbook!

- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 0 – “Introduction to the DGH”

There were sentries atop the wall, but they made no move to stop us as we walked right up and through the open gates and passed under the thick walls. Once inside, we looked out into the valley they protected. Ahead of us loomed the ridgeline of the Eastern Range, several thousand feet above us. To the sides, the valley widened from the several-hundred foot opening spanned by the wall until it was perhaps half a mile across.

Scattered throughout the space were a variety of buildings of different sizes with different training areas here and there, none of which were in use. Everything seemed very quiet, but then I didn’t know what to expect. Mason didn’t hesitate in leading us towards a large building relatively near the gate. It was three stories high in the center, with a two-story wing on one side. A few broad stone stairs led us up to the entrance.

Inside, it was the most luxurious building I’d seen, easily surpassing the inn in Sunland. Mana lanterns with decorated glass shades hung from the ceilings, while the stone floor was covered in red carpet and the interior walls were paneled in wood. The air was markedly cooler than outside, more than I’d expected, and felt refreshing.

Across from the door we’d come in through was a large, wooden desk with a young man behind it. As we filed in, he jumped to his feet in surprise, looking back and forth between Mason and the orcs.

“Sir! What can I do for you?” he asked Mason, and I suppressed a snicker. Strangely, Mason didn’t object to the title.

“Brought in my group of recruits, need to get them sworn in. Where’s Kiana?”

“One moment, I’ve alerted her of your arrival,” he replied, sitting back down slowly.

It took maybe two minutes for the door behind the desk to open. The woman who emerged looked to be early middle aged, with lines around her eyes and steel-grey hair. She was about my height, though broader in the shoulders, and was dressed casually in clean jeans, a white long-sleeved blouse, and a silver necklace. Her eyes were grey and piercing in their intensity as she glared at Mason. Identify.